I believe in God because the evidence is all around us. If you do not believe in God, please list your reasons.
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its a story told to me by people who might have other motives to tell it, and have been wrong before.
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the concept of it makes no sense.
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human capacity for making up stories and believing in them is shown everywhere, as a natural human need. Thus is far more likely that stories are not true. Combined with the transparently human construction of the idea of God, the usual tendency of such a creature to make such constructions especially in uncivilized society.
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human biological need for superstition, to prevent the human mind from damaging itself by asking questions it has no business asking (death, ultimate causality, etc).
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Santa Claus- never recovered
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different conflicting religions give me no reason to decide which one is right, any choice would seemingly be arbitrary.
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Bad experiences in youth group and with Christians not being so Christian-like.
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the bible is an incredibly ill-written book considering the author was a perfect being, and hopelessly outmoded, obviously written with human sensibilities, obviously interpreted in different ways by different followers- in short a hermeneutical nightmare- the reason they made hermeneutics in the first place.
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The world is a dismally small, pathetic, unoriginal place considering it was created by a perfect being with infinite time on his hands.
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The world is a horribly painful, evil place considering it was created by a being of infinite goodness and love. - followup, the idea that the world is a test or an aesthetic environment set up by god to test our reactions just sickens me.
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If I turn to wager, I rather take the chance that this life is all I have, and not depend on it being eternal if I don’t know for sure, because I value it so much. Wasting that seems a worse consequence than the consequence of not believing in god, since I act just as good without it and the only difference is I don’t believe in him, screw him if he doesn’t like it and wants to punish me for making my mind so that it would make a rational decision in the situation he put me in.
Care to elaborate what is this?
I am going to regret replying so let’s keep my answer light hearted.
As Ricky Gervais said:
“Now, for me, Darwins theory of evolution seemed pretty water tight. The idea that we evolved - yea, it made sense. However, I came across a theory that deviated slightly from Darwin. I just found it in a dusty old book in the library. It’s called, “The Bible.””
“Now, er, Darwin was…wrong. We didn’t evolve. God made us. [pause]. I’m going to take a moment now to explain exactly how that happened.”
“By the way, some of the things you are about to hear do seem …a little far feched. But, I thought that too until I found out that the other name for the Bible is ‘The Gospel’! So, it is all true! 
”
" …‘In the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth.’ [pause] Doesn’t go in to detail… but, well come on. You’d ask, and he would explain it but you wouldn’t understand, because your brain is tiny and his is huge."
“Later, God said ‘let there be light’ and there was light! Hah! Brilliant! Ah, come on - that’s amazing! He made light up! - It’s not like he saw some on holiday and thought ‘That’d be good back on Earth’. It’s not like he had twilight and just said ‘let’s have that a bit brighter!’. He made light up! Incredible!”
[pause]
“But…that means…! He must have made heaven and earth…IN THE DARK! Holy crap! I would have gone ‘Right, let’s have a bit of light, see what we are dealing with…I need some planets…’. God went ‘There’s everything, let’s have a look - brilliant!’”
And so on. Truly funny man - dvd called ‘Animals’.
Anyhow, let’s have a look at the Bible - the foundation of Christian faith. It has been translated so many times under so many different human fallible beings with their own agendas and reasons for wanting it to say certain things that we can hardly expect it to hold any real value as to its original form.
That’s the main reason, and that I cannot believe we would still think that the world before Jesus is somehow irrelevant, with what we know about history now. Christianity has been on the face of this planet for less than 1/3000000 of the time that humans have, and less than 1/3000000000 of the time the actual planet has been here. (not actual figures!).
I envy those with true faith but it just cannot be the case, unfortunately. It’s a nice idea, and a very neat way to explain things back in the days when many more things needed explaining.
To me all religion represents nothing more than human ignorance. This is more apparent when you consider the overall vagueness and simplicity of almost all religious thought.
Lets just say I’ve had some very unflattering personal experience with Christians, who scheme and plot against one another, and would ruin a man’s life, for petty, selfish reasons.
Oh that’s not uncommon. It always happen all around, even right now in my situation.
But my point is do you know what it ‘should’ be and how do you know it?
Well, I assume that “Christians” would act the way Christ taught them to act. Doing good works, not being selfish and stuff.
This is along the lines of Ghandi when he spoke of Christianity being a good idea, “I think someone should try it”.
So if “Christians” are not “Christian-like” it proves Christ is false? That’s the implicit logic as I see it. Is that your line of reasoning? Or you, like Ghandi, think it is a good idea, but then, on the evidence of your experiences, do not think it doable, and hence again, either the idea or Christ himself is false?
…And all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What’s Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, etc.
Insert GOD for “Hecuba” for the full meaning of the play since the beginning of time!
whoa, there is no ‘hences’ or ‘therefores’ involved here. This contributes to the reason I don’t believe in God, because it furthers my evidence that faith in him doesn’t tend to accomplish much. And, it was a personal experience that shook my faith in god. As a matter of fact, I think that Christianity is perfectly ‘doable’ or else it would never have been such a hit with the folks. It certainly works well, I think.
Why don’t I believe in god? it depends on your definition.
I certainly don’t think this definition is correct:
ilovephilosophy.com/phpbb/vi … b5aa4d07c0
but at the same time, I don’t think that christianities definition is correct. and will explain why.
Christians believe that they are morally superior to non-christians. They believe that god and the bible give them that moral superiority. It’s a bunch of crap if you ask me, and no different then the guy above comparing god to a server. Everything you know about god was written by men. You say you think christ is god, but yet NONE of you are “christians” it’s like Ghandi said, not one christian alive today is very christ like.
But that alone isn’t reason enough for me not to believe in the christian god. There’s also them putting the weight of original sin on everyones shoulders, and the only thing that can lift it off is… “believing in christ”
Have you ever thought about what that actually means? What does it mean to “believe in christ”? Does it mean to believe he is god? Believe he died for your sins? at what price though? I believe that believing such a thing actually makes you morally inferior. Because you believe you’ve got a “get into heaven free” ticket, you think that “well I’m doing the best I can but because I believe in christ I’ll get into heaven while that guy over there who believes in Hinduism won’t”
or
“The jews are going to go to hell, because they denied christ was their savior.”
How logical is that? It’s fundamentally flawed logic. That a “holy book” gives you divination, and transcendentalism. Your better for reading a book of parables and stories and myths. The ethos of some of the stories is good, and certainly can make you better. Unless you believe that it is the absolute truth of what god is. Then you are no better off than the Atheist who says that there is absolutely no god.
Where does all this stem from? Probably the recent election with 11 states voting homosexual marriage as immoral and illegal. Like, holy hell do you really feel the need to press your “morals” and “ethos” onto the whole “damned” nation? You believe that Homosexuality is a “sin” fine. Ever since when do you feel that you should integrate the government WITH that belief. Have you heard of the seperation of church and state?
if not that how about when christ says “give to ceasar what is ceasars and give to god what is gods.” Otherwise, christ was telling you, that you should keep the government SEPERATE from your belief in god.
So. In conclusion:
The christian god is flawed.
That doesn’t mean there is no god.
Yes, the human tendency to tell stories is obvious, but tell me, as a child when you made faces and your mother told you they would stick if you kept making them, did you believe her? My point is, the human tendency to doubt is stronger.
You are right, the notion of moral superiority is crap. That is not what Christianity is about. Christians are no more morally righteous than non-Christians. The difference is that God chose to see true Christians as righteous, albeit undeservingly; and thereby allowing them to come into a relationship with him and attain freedom: freedom from death and the meaninglessness of mortality.
And you have also asked a very good question: ‘What does it mean to “believe in christ”?’
The fact is, there are Christian who dont ask, and don’t ponder what it means. And yes you also allude to the ulterior motives for people believing: the reason for doing a thing is more important than the doing itself.
True belief can be illustrated thus: the 9/11 hijackers truly believed what they believe: they died for it; and if you believe the chair will support your weight, you sit in it. The irony is that there are people willing to die for something false, and yet for something true, people hesitate.
Believing Christ died for your sins, means you are now sinless, and you can approach God without fear. But God forgive sins against him. It is still man to forgive those that sinned against him, and to seek forgiveness from those he sinned against. [See the Lord’s prayer in Matt 6] And sin is this: not to love.
It counts for nothing to say you believe. What matters is your beliefs demonstrated: in thought, attitude, word and act; and faith is belief in action. And it is faith that saves, not belief. The devil and demons believed Christ too.
Flawed “Christians” imply a flawed God?
How do you know this?
dude you know that’s total crap, don’t even try to pull that one. Let’s not even bring up homosexuality, abortion, or Stem cell research. Let’s talk about how they think they are “good” people because they follow god. That fact alone, is a key, to them thinking they are better than non-believers.
again complete crap, your just reciting whats either in the bible or been taught to you by other christians.
that sounds like something said by a famous eastern philosopher that came about 400 years before christ… ah yes I remember Buddha taught the golden rule.
ok, that shows the problem with cult fundamentalist religion.
you by chance friends with pinnacle of reason?
I don’t have to believe in a chair I can test it.
you shouldn’t have to die for someone, the fact that christians assign christ as dying for their sins is barbaric in my opinion.
I can do that right, now I don’t let the mind control tactics of religion and sin taint my mind.
ok so what if a murderer came to god after killing his wife, then went to god for forgiveness. “please forgive me oh lord, I will not do it again.”
Then he goes out and does it again. Then asks for forgiveness again.
do you think he’ll get into heaven?
or how about a less extreme example, a catholic friend here, had a baby out of wedlock, and before getting married by the church he is going to get that sin remissed. But it’s not going to change him or his stance with god, it’s only going to change his stance with the church.
ok… where are the devils and demons today? where is god today? in the early church it was quite common for him to come down and visit his disciples why did he stop when they died?
their “godview” or their view of what god is. and yes flawed christians implies a flawed view of god.
How do you know there is a god?
How do you know christ was god?
I know there is a god, because I prayer with deep belief in him, and feel an overwhelming sense of peace come over me. People who meditate feel the same thing. apparently we are programmed to believe in god.
I don’t believe in god because the concept is wholely absurd, and rooted in metaphysical stupidity. I don’t believe in god because the notion of absolutes offends all the reason I possess. I don’t believe in God because it is an unjustifiable scapegoat that allows people to adopt previously constructed beliefs, and allows them to justify any belief with a simple phrase. I don’t believe in god because it can be reduced to a psychological tendancy that allows people to disingage the here and now, for hope of the otherworldly. God as a concept is the result of intellectual dishonesty.
If I were to believe in god, then I would have to give credence to ALL claims of fairys, elfs, devils, unicorns, gnomes ect… Obligatory demands from a diety are absurd and anything(Christianity) that chooses to reduce the whole of human actions to a good v. evil shouldn’t be trusted. Anything to reduces life to punishment v. rewards shouldn’t be trusted.
For the life of me I cannot get past how absurd the notion is. It instantly induces nausea, and begs the idea of “that is completely absurd, why the hell would you believe that”.
Why would a mother say that to a child if they didn’t believe it?
I think bringing kids into this will only burn you, dude. How come kids believe in the tooth fairy and shit if their natural ‘doubt’ is so strong?
I don’t believe in god or even the possibility of a god because gods and goddesses come and go. Humans are good at finding gods that make what we like okay. Or what we don’t like not okay. Or to scare the crap out of children. But I am not and never was the type of person to put you down for your religious beliefs. All I have to say is. If thats what you believe and you believe it with all your heart then don’t let anyone or anything tell you different. I had heard that dietys like to talk to humans through inanimate and animate objects like bushes and snakes.
- I’m not the center of the universe.
I don’t look at a beautiful rose and assume it’s beauty is for me. I appreciate it just as much. But I accept the beauty was designed more for bees to appreciate than anything else.
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I believe when I die that will be it. So I live my life for it’s memories. They’re mine while I’m here. And they’re for those who care about me to enjoy when I’m gone. That’s all I’ll leave. And I’d like to leave good ones.
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A person designs their own god and not vice versa. That makes it easy for us to learn a lot about that person when we have them define their god. We get to know if they’re mean spirited, judgemental, bigoted, compassionate, gregarious, or even just considerate of others.
What I find most interesting about faith is how we seem to need to package it. And it’s when we package it that it loses it’s clarity. Look at a child. They have pure faith. It’s faith in their world based upon experience and nothing more.
youre damn right
you god doubters out there, dont confuse george bush’s favorite retards with religion. they have never talked to god, they dont know what god is, they wouldnt understand god if the bible proved god damns all of their favorite hated minorities.
people are retarded, religious leaders know that they can use this to take advantage of them. thats how religions are created. unless its quakers, ie unless all the religion consists of is the golden rule and an ambiguous faith in an afterlife. dont stop believing those things just because evangelicals are the scum of the earth and happen to call themselves a religion.