Is there a GOD?

[chicorita3]

So this thread is just to know your stance on god(s), your religious beliefs and all that jazz.

I don't believe in a god and I don't see how anyone else can but what do you guys think, why do you guys believe in a god or not believe in a god? because I genuinely don't understand how people believe in a god. does it have to do with family and friends, if so have you ever questioned your beliefs? is it something entirely different?

and to those who don't believe in a god, what made you not believe anymore or made you have doubts? Was there something that changed your views all together?

Pretty long background:
For me it was very gradual. So, one of my cats died about 4 years ago and I remember praying and hoping that he wouldn't die, unfortunately he died couple hours later. It was very traumatic for me and I kind of lost a little faith. 2 months later my other cat died I prayed like the other time, but this time I stopped midway I realized it was useless, he did die. from that day I questioned my religion and the idea of a higher power. I didn't tell my parents and I kept to myself. My brother at the time was an atheist and so he would always question god, he had a big impact on my stance on religion, but I didn't become an atheist right away. it took me around two years to finally label myself as an atheist. My Mom was not happy, she is catholic and that was something she didn't like. over time she understood and doesn't argue with me on the topic anymore. oddly she has steered herself away from the catholic church and now condemns the catholic church of abuses that they have taken over the years. she is considering turning protestant, but said that if her mom (my grandma) ever found out that she was just thinking that way, she would disown her! (good thing we live pretty far from her) My dad doesn't like religion, doesn't mean he doesn't believe in a god but he doesn't believe in a personal god, he is more like a deist. Which I always though he was since he never talked about god or religion and the only time he talked about it was in a negative way. Anyways the only people who know that I am an atheist are my parents and my siblings and some friends. I am Mexican, and considering that 99% are catholic. I don't think it would be wise to tell them, probably make them have a heart attack if I do.

*note: I didn't make this thread to insult those who believe in a higher power, just my curiosity on those who do and don't and why

 

[Sadib]

The Cylon God is the only true God.

 

[Alexander18]

I believe in God. I am open minded and I do think that God exists.

 

[DiaRubyTandem]

I believe in God, but I respect you and your faith

 

[Baba Yaga]

Define God. If by God you mean a being with capabilities beyond our current comprehension, sure. I'm sure if we ever met aliens that somehow figured out how to manipulate matter and energy effortlessly they sure would seem like Gods. If you mean it in the more traditional sense, such as a being that gets to choose which physical laws of the universe he/she/it wants to obey or not, no. The whole outside of time, outside of logic, omni-present, omniscient, omni-benevolent crap is just silly. Any "God"/imp/demon/trickster needs to obey the same physical laws of the universe that everyone else does.

 

[RainbowSupernova]

Going with Baby Yaga's second definition, no.
I was raised Greek Orthodox but I started having doubts towards the end of primary school (grade 6). By the time I finished grade 8, I stopped believing all together. I might sound very young and naive but that's just how things went.
I respect other's beliefs, it's their decision and so long as they don't try to force other people to follow their beliefs, I don't really mind.
Only my mum and my cousin know that I'm atheist as majority of my family are somewhat religious Greek Orthodox (my mum's protestant) and probably would lose their poop finding out the youngest in the family is atheist XD My mum didn't seem cool with it at first but after a while she got over it. My cousin is agnostic so she was all cool. I suspect my dad is atheist too since he has said he doesn't really believe, though I feel if I asked him he'd deny it (probably so it doesn't spread to other family members and cause trouble, though I wouldn't tell anyone)

I feel like this is too much information and I've gone off on a tangent, but this is my personal experience (so far) anyways

 

[Auraninja]

I'm really just agnostic.

I don't carry the belief that there necessarily is or is not a god. I find the philosophy of religion to be more important than the beliefs of deities. As far as which religious philosophies speak out the most of me, there is more than just one, making me not adhere to just one deeply held belief.

I take the scenarios of the existence of a god or series of deities as two different possibilities. The idea that there is not a god is just simply a null hypothesis to me.

This doesn't undermine the idea that proving a god to exist or not is NOT scientific. There are definitely religious clauses that can be disproved (creationism and evolution), but I don't believe that there is an outright way to prove or disprove a god's existence.

 

[GhostAnime]

Let's not forget that the terms agnostic and atheist are not mutually exclusive.

 

[Auraninja]

Let's not forget that the terms agnostic and atheist are not mutually exclusive.

Now that you mention it. There are different types of atheism. One of my sisters is an atheist, but she expresses doubt more than outright disbelief or hatred.

Hell, even the people I knew as being more "anti-theistic" were still decent people. The idea of liking or disliking the concept of religion does not really reflect that person.

The one thing that ticks me off is when people insult other people for believing in a god/gods. I find it to be like a religious person insult an atheist's lack of religion.

I'm not saying that many people are guilty of that, though.

 

[U.N. Owen]

I believe that there is a God. I believe this God is hard to understand as we are mere specs of dust compared to God's cosmic knowledge. I believe that we were placed at the perfect spot away from the sun at the right time and evolved in just the right way from the single celled protozoa that fill seas. I adhere to the belief that all religious people should find a way to bring people together rather than apart.

I don't adhere to the ideas of the straw anti-theists and strict fundamentalists who wish to drive people apart.

 

[GhostAnime]

I believe that we were placed at the perfect spot away from the sun at the right time and evolved in just the right way from the single celled protozoa that fill seas.

The Earth has the atmosphere it does BECAUSE of life. It is not the other way around. The oxygen available was minuscule until plants started to exhale it.

Another thing: If it wasn't placed in the right area, we wouldn't be here saying this anyway. I forgot the fallacy/argument for that but, yeah.

 

[raichuchu]

my views on God are sort of complicated.

i was raised in a lutheran belief system, but during high school i started identifying as agnostic. i was going to a private school and they shoved it down our throats so it just turned me off to christianity altogether.

i continue to identify as agnostic up until half a year ago. now i'm more spiritual that anything--i believe in God but I don't believe in a heaven or hell. I believe in reincarnation and past lives and God is within us, not an outside source at all. I think religion is ridiculous, though, and has twisted the main message completely. there's so many different denominations and they all contradict each other and they're always arguing amongst themselves and ignoring the personal relationship between them and God and think they are some sort of rule enforcers and know everything there is about the world. I don't believe in the "christian god" because that's not who he is.

i meditate on a daily basis, and have been able to open 4 of my main chakras and have been touched by an angel or some higher power. Most of my beliefs are based in hinduism because i have a Himalayan guru who teaches this all to me and to other people as well. he's an amazing man. i'm currently learning to read auras from him.

i respect all beliefs, though, but i find the church to be a problematic establishment on many basis. i guess that's my answer on it all haha.

 

[U.N. Owen]

The Earth has the atmosphere it does BECAUSE of life. It is not the other way around. The oxygen available was minuscule until plants started to exhale it.

I never meant to imply this. I know archaebacteria are the oldest living thing on the planet and they are killed by oxygen.

 

[Baba Yaga]

Also, how are anti-theists driving people apart? Maybe some are complete dicks that just like taking a dump all over religious people, but criticism of religion shouldn't be considered inherently offensive.

I meditate on a daily basis, and have been able to open 4 of my main chakras and have been touched by an angel or some higher power.

this right here could explain why you could have met some anti-theists that seemed like assholes. The temptation to be a jerk off can be hard to resist when you're confronted with something that's just so totally off the wall. We all believe things that are stupid and silly, part of being human I think is constantly subjecting your views to scrutiny, improving, and modifying your outlook. it's probably a big reason why lots of us are here to begin with, but the problem I have with religion (among many) is that it pushes the bullshit boundaries. What I mean by that is because religion typically always involves the supernatural in some way, so you could still believe in the craziest, most ridiculous things like 9/11 being an inside job or Obama being a Muslim, and still be more believable than religious claims. The former just has no evidence, but at least has the physical capability of being true. Religious claims don't have evidence AND they don't even make sense.

 

[raichuchu]

this right here could explain why you could have met some anti-theists that seemed like assholes. The temptation to be a jerk off can be hard to resist when you're confronted with something that's just so totally off the wall.

you might have misread what i said. i said i have had bad experiences with christians, not anti-theists.

 

[Baba Yaga]

Sorry, I wasn't addressing you in specific, just using your post as an example.

 

[Mordent99]

Is there a God? Well, if there is, He must have quite a sense of humor to have created a bunch of idiots like us...

 

[Aegiscalibur]

For any meaningful response, you really do need to define "God" more precisely. Are we talking about just any powerful alien, some specific being, a force of nature or some kind of concept?

The same applies to spirits; what are they exactly? If they are some kind of unknown physical phenomenon, provide a sufficient definition so that they can be identified. If you come across something unknown, how else would you determine if it's a spirit or not?

If you want me to believe in gods, spirits, the afterlife or any of that, then just go ahead and provide some legit-looking empirical evidence. For God, how about having him appear in a public space for starters?

Then there's the separate issue of whether these hypothetical gods are morally good. That would require different justification than the empirical side.

 

[Auraninja]

For any meaningful response, you really do need to define "God" more precisely. Are we talking about just any powerful alien, some specific being, a force of nature or some kind of concept?

I think one of the points of religion is that one doesn't necessarily know the true existence of a god/gods.

The same applies to spirits; what are they exactly? If they are some kind of unknown physical phenomenon, provide a sufficient definition so that they can be identified. If you come across something unknown, how else would you determine if it's a spirit or not?

Like a god itself, spirits are conceptualized differently.

If you want me to believe in gods, spirits, the afterlife or any of that, then just go ahead and provide some legit-looking empirical evidence. For God, how about having him appear in a public space for starters?

That isn't the point of a religion. A religion requires some realm of belief such as faith. If you don't want to go strictly by faith, that is perfectly okay. This is to many, the point for which people are atheists, the lack of proof. Asking for empirical evidence sidesteps the point and purpose of a religion.

 

[Aromatic Mist]

I, personally, don't believe in any faith with a singular, capital G, God. I don't think one force with the ability to change whatever it wants about the universe would allow there to be all these things that it hates in its own creation. And you could say, 'Oh, free will', but if it's say, the Christian God, who is said to love everybody, why would they allow all this bad stuff to happen? If it's a religion that believes in positive and negative afterlives, why would an all loving creator allow their creations to do stuff that leads to them being punished eternally?

It especially hits close to home for me, because as a gay person, my life, and those of others in the LGBT community, suffer from the concept of having a God.

Although I am open to the concepts of rebirth and the existence of the soul. I mean if the soul did exist somehow, which I believe it does, it'd need to conform to the laws of our universe, so it can't be destroyed, so it'd have to go somewhere, even if it was just as a ghost or whatever.