Do you believe in God?

[The Phantarch]

Thank you. Finally I can understand you perfectly.

One question though: If it is religion that guides your steps then isn't your life dominated by religion?

 

[Warbsywoo]

Not necessarily. There may be some things that are dominated by religion, but some really aren't. My morals are practically guided by my religion, but that's as far as stuff goes.

 

[Lymus kun]

This thread is far ahead but Im new so Ill talk like it started. Yes I believe In God but No I am not judgemental and dont go around saying you satanist because someone believes in something or someone else and hope I can be treated normally too, I question the bible sometimes on things which cant be answered so Im not too sure on whats what but I was born a catholic so Ill stay a catholic.

 

[dimmufan]

I was born a catholic so Ill stay a catholic.

Nobody is born anything. Catholicism is a set of principles and values that were instilled upon you from your parents or guardians. Saying that you stay catholic because you were born catholic is like saying a 50 year old was born as a gamer before video games came out and it was his destiny to play video games the rest of his life. You choose how you want to live or what you believe in. You are not born that way.

 

[Lirael]

I sometimes think it as rather... well, not immoral - but not moral either - to bring small kids up into a faith. I think all kids should be shown the wider ideas there are. They shouldn't be brought up to believe what their parents do 'cause, quite frankly, they don't have a choice at that age if they're not given one. They probably won't consider the ideas of other religions until they've been persuaded that theirs is the one and only right faith. I know everyone does have a choice to decide on faith, but upbringing will have a great impact on how someone views religion. While there are those that reject the faith they've been "born into", one must ask why. It's more likely they've found a teaching they dislike or don't want to abide by. So long as someone likes their religion, I think they're more likely to accept it as the right one before experiencing others.

 

[Gabe]

If there was no god? how does everything happen? Did the human race just *pop* up randomly? There has to be. So yes, I am a christian and I believe in god.

 

[dimmufan]

If there was no god? how does everything happen? Did the human race just *pop* up randomly? There has to be. So yes, I am a christian and I believe in god.

Have you ever heard of amino acids? Those are the naturally occuring building blocks of protein. Get a few protein molecules together and it breeds life. Life evolves into more life, and so on, and so on. Eventually humans evolved from that life.

And everything happens because of science. An apple falls to earth because of gravity. Gravity is the result of an object with mass. God didn't create gravity. Massive objects create their own gravity. God created nothing because there is no god.

If God created us, then why did he make us so damn violent? Why does he create an animal that kills or harms itself? Why does he allow the worst gain control while the good die young? Why does he let bad people destroy his places of worship? Why does he create criminal minds and let them hold a gun to the head of a baby? If God is real, then it seems to me that he is just like a kid with an ant farm. If he really wants us to worship him in all that we do, then why did he make us into a free-thinking animal? I'll tell you why. Because god didn't create us. We are a product of the living universe. We strive to thrive and take over all that we see. There is no god.

 

[Lirael]

I'm not religious, but I can answer some questions from a Philosophical perspective...

If God created us, then why did he make us so damn violent?

In this, we're really looking at the Problem of Evil. Why would God allow evil into the world? Well, some would argue from the side of free will. God created us in his image, yes, but how can we be truly good unless we choose it? We have to have a choice between good and evil in order to show our true morals. If we were bound to be good, could we truly say we were resonsible?

Why does he create an animal that kills or harms itself?

Many would use the garden of Eden to explain that one.

Why does he allow the worst gain control while the good die young?

If he didn't allow them, they wouldn't be free. It's people who allow the worst to gain control. People vote for them and support them. Without supporters, the worst wouldn't find it easy to gain control.

As for the latter part, religious believers would say that God has another purpose for those he allows to die. If there's an afterlife, this life doesn't matter. It's what comes after.

Why does he let bad people destroy his places of worship?

If he stopped them, they wouldn't be truly free. Also, they will be punished in the next life if there is one.

Why does he create criminal minds and let them hold a gun to the head of a baby?

Some would say that he didn't create those minds. Those people followed the path of evil, opposing God and His teachings.

Look at judgement. If God created our minds, it wouldn't be fair. If He was the one to shape our thoughts and moral direction, we would neither be free nor respnsible.

I once said that God couldn't hate homosexauls 'cause he created their minds, but it's not the exact same. It's biological makeup that dictates a person's sexual orientation. As far as I know, they haven't discovered anything biologically different in "evil" minds.

P.S. I'm agnostic. I'd argue against either side for the sake of discussion. =]

 

[The Phantarch]

As an agnostic you should be looking for an argument to support, not try to knock down everyone else's. Anyway, the Bible says effectively that God lent the world to Satan and it's been that way for ages now. That kind of goes against the idea of him being benevolent. Also the idea that he's immortal means he doesn't experience time like we do which goes against the idea of him being omniscient.

I haven't seen any proof of him being omnipotent either.

my argument anyway, also if you look in Genesis carefully, there are two alternate creation stories that contradict each other. The other fallacies are too numerous to mention at any one time but they will come up as this debate progresses.

 

[AddleBoy]

If there was no god? how does everything happen? Did the human race just *pop* up randomly? There has to be. So yes, I am a christian and I believe in god.

They say that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. Which means that just because something cannot be proven does not mean that it cannot exist. This applies to both those that do and do not believe in a religion. Just because there is no evidence that God exists does not mean that he doesn't and just because the creation of the universe has not been completely devised through the use of science does not mean that God created it.

And everything happens because of science.

For the record, everything does not happen because of science, but rather science is the method that humans use to understand the world and everything that is happening around them. In other words, science is not the thing that makes things happen, but the way to help us understand why they happen.

Another note that I would like to point out is that I, myself, am an atheist. I do not believe in God, but I do have the belief that there may be a God (or Gods) because it is possible. I also do not carry any belief in the books of God (whichever god it may be). The reason why such books as the bible carry such inconsistencies is because it was written by humans, who are, of course, far from perfect. I would only believe in such a thing if God himself wrote the book and actually had a book-signing and autographed the front page of my copy.

All jokes aside, I do not believe that people should have blind faith in either religion or science, saying that one thing definitely happened and one didn't. That just makes a person close-minded.

 

[Warbsywoo]

Have you ever heard of amino acids? Those are the naturally occuring building blocks of protein. Get a few protein molecules together and it breeds life. Life evolves into more life, and so on, and so on. Eventually humans evolved from that life.

And everything happens because of science. An apple falls to earth because of gravity. Gravity is the result of an object with mass. God didn't create gravity. Massive objects create their own gravity.

And how did these massive objects get here in the first place, I wonder?

God created nothing because there is no god.

This sentence doesn't make any sense. Using your logic, how can God create nothing when you attest that there is no god. Inherent contradiction.

If God created us, then why did he make us so damn violent? Why does he create an animal that kills or harms itself? Why does he allow the worst gain control while the good die young?

What happens when you die when you believe in Christianity? You go to heaven. Why would God want evil people to come to his Kingdom early in life?

Why does he let bad people destroy his places of worship? Why does he create criminal minds and let them hold a gun to the head of a baby? If God is real, then it seems to me that he is just like a kid with an ant farm. If he really wants us to worship him in all that we do, then why did he make us into a free-thinking animal? I'll tell you why. Because god didn't create us. We are a product of the living universe. We strive to thrive and take over all that we see. There is no god.

You're saying this all forgetting that there is the other entity that is the Devil. What does the devil do, you ask? He corrupts our minds and makes us do bad things.

 

[dimmufan]

But there is no such thing as the devil, either. No such places as heaven or hell.

God created nothing because there is no god.

This sentence doesn't make any sense. Using your logic, how can God create nothing when you attest that there is no god. Inherent contradiction.

I can see how this sentence could throw you a little bit. The point I was trying to make with this sentence was that how can God create everything when there is no such thing as God.

What happens when you die when you believe in Christianity? You go to heaven. Why would God want evil people to come to his Kingdom early in life?

What about those evil bastards who are christains that get murdered? Do they go to heaven? According to every christain that I know, being murdered automatically puts you at the top of the list of souls gaining entry into the kingdom of heaven. I would say that it is not right.

For the record, everything does not happen because of science, but rather science is the method that humans use to understand the world and everything that is happening around them. In other words, science is not the thing that makes things happen, but the way to help us understand why they happen.

True we use science to explain things, but there is a good reason for that: SCIENCE EXISTS! Science explains why things happen. An apple falls from a tree and hits you in the head while your sittin under it because of gravity, not because God detached the apple and dropped it. The stem holding the apple was withered enough to be unable to carry the weight of said fruit. It breaks clean off the branch. The wind is blowing just right so that it happens to hit the giant X located at the top of your head. There was a science to everything that happened in that sequence.

And how did these massive objects get here in the first place, I wonder?

because mass and energy are interchangeable.

 

[Howl]

What about those evil bastards who are christains that get murdered? Do they go to heaven? According to every christain that I know, being murdered automatically puts you at the top of the list of souls gaining entry into the kingdom of heaven. I would say that it is not right.

I'm not protesting what you're saying. As a matter o' fact, I already made a huge post in this thread. But...
Does this "list" really exist somewhere? o.0

 

[dimmufan]

I'm not protesting what you're saying. As a matter o' fact, I already made a huge post in this thread. But...
Does this "list" really exist somewhere? o.0

Not really a real list. Just a figure o' speech. Just trying to say that the christains I know say that every christain goes to heaven. Lot's of madmen out there are christains.

 

[Howl]

I myself try to avoid anything and everything that has to do with organized religion. I think it's wonderful for people to have faith in something, but...it's the ones who push their beliefs onto other people who make the entire complex look bad. But it's just as bad to try to prove to a believer that they have false faith. Best just to leave everyone to do what they do on their own. ^.^

 

[Goragu]

People often confront me when I say I have a strong disbelief of God. People would day 'There is as little evidence to prove he doesn't exist than proving he does' etc, but I always thought that to be false.
Many stories in the bible now have flaws, considering discoveries made over the last 120 years putting holes in what used to be considered solid truths in the bible. That leads me to question whether everything about God and Jesus is a flaw too, and was only people's created belief that they would use for comfort and choose not to believe that it was fake.

At any rate, which so much scientific discoveries emerging that further support the scientific theories of creation and species development, it just becomes impossible to believe in something that has had no evidence other than a book written over 1000 years ago.

 

[The Phantarch]

Well that is a classic logical fallacy isn't it. It's like saying prove dragons don't exist and hobbits, elves and bearded dwarfs.

I mean, all theists here, prove to me that there is no such thing as a pixie.

 

[Host]

I for one don't believe any type of god exists. There are too many paradoxes and impossibilities for its existance to be, which makes its existence impossible. Famous philosophers have whole theolodgins saying how God is which that cannot be thought of by the human mind, but that just seems like a cop out. If we could even fathom God, that discredits the theolodgin to begin with.

Religion specific gods are alot easier to argue at that.

 

[Nyte]

Do I believe in God?

Hmm...how do I explain this without sounding cocky...?
I believe that I am god. No wait just hear me out.
Ok, in the bible it says that god created man in his own image, upon creating us he gave us one gift that seperates up from the rest of earths creatures; we are able to think for ourselves and choose to obey or defy god. Since he created me and gave me all this power and made in his own image I think that god and I are equal same as everyone else. We are all gods/goddess blessed by the lord himself, it is up to us how to use this power. God gave his only son to die for my sins, so the least I could do is use the power he gave me and adknowlege the sacrifice that he made.
Make sence?

 

[The Phantarch]

Do I believe in God?

Hmm...how do I explain this without sounding cocky...?
I believe that I am god. No wait just hear me out.
Ok, in the bible it says that god created man in his own image, upon creating us he gave us one gift that seperates up from the rest of earths creatures; we are able to think for ourselves and choose to obey or defy god. Since he created me and gave me all this power and made in his own image I think that god and I are equal same as everyone else. We are all gods/goddess blessed by the lord himself, it is up to us how to use this power. God gave his only son to die for my sins, so the least I could do is use the power he gave me and adknowlege the sacrifice that he made.
Make sence?

Very vague sense, abouts as much sense as the Bible makes and with so many people believing that tripe, anything's possible I guess.

I for one don't believe any type of god exists. There are too many paradoxes and impossibilities for its existance to be, which makes its existence impossible. Famous philosophers have whole theolodgins saying how God is which that cannot be thought of by the human mind, but that just seems like a cop out. If we could even fathom God, that discredits the theolodgin to begin with.

Religion specific gods are alot easier to argue at that.

It's all fairly easy to knock down but I can see what you're saying. Sense and reason, cause and consequence, putting otherworldly beings into this one is a paradox in itself thus if God rules heaven and Satan rules hell, there's no possible way either could have dominion over the earth. Taking catholicism there but even with other branches there are similar obvious fallacies.