How can you honestly believe in God.

Don't you just love these threads though...

Time is the only thing that can resolve this topic.

Does God Exist?

I believe He does and here's just a sampling of reasons why:

www.doesgodexist.org...

Actually its dumb not to believe in God, its in your best intrest . If you die and there is a God and you dont belive in him , your doomed. If you die and there is not a God than it does not matter. So why take a chance? Beliving in a higher power is also better for you mentaly, takes the burden off you so to speak. Unless your silly and send all you money in to some religious nut.

I suggest anyone here to watch "What the Bleep Do We Know??" It talks about quantum mechanics in a way that makes sense in normal life. It also talks about "god." I think what is commonly labeled as god is nothing more than a higher being we cannot fathom or explain at this point. Once that being can be explained, another higher being will be called god. I have been contemplating our perception of time and how quantum mechanics seems to lend itself toward a circular as opposed to linear time. In linear time, the inevitable what created the universe, what created god, etc cannot be answered because we are told everything must have cause. If time was one big loop, nothing needs a creator, like a cd or a record, once the last song is done it loops back to the beginning. It could have take an infinite amount of these loops to have life exist.

I appreciate everyone’s point of view for the simple fact that no one knows anything about this topic. The fact that people go to a religious institution 1 or more times a week does not interest me. However, sense we don't know anything about such matters as god, life, soul (who you are within your machine), and pretty much everything we can not simply discount God. Let me also express that the proof of evolution does not disprove God. I write software for a living and I make sure that my software evolves with the users that interact with it. Do you not think God (however you define the word) would also build self evolution into its creation? The bible is a historical document put together by humans but the thought of God has been around sense the beginning of human civilization. We are simple animals and we give things names and explanations but just because we have human made names and explanation for these things does not necessarily mean we understand them. So many people think science and/or religion has it all figured out. Our entire human civilizations existence is but second on the universal clock, furthermore our life span as individuals is a nanosecond on the universal clock(you get the point). Why can you not see that just like the men 100’s of years ago that we look at as blundering idiots are in the same position as we are in, in comparison to 100’s of years from now. Don’t think for a second that everything is figured out one way or the other. As far as the Easter bunny & Big Foot: no one claims that these terms represent the idea of a creating force in nature, but hey if you would like to start defining them as God within your own vocabulary then that is exactly what they are to you.

What is god?
God is the highest level of consiousness.

What is consiousness?
Science is based on observations. Science is nothing but reduction-nims i.e. we try to define things by breaking them in simpler terms but this cannot go to infinity. So we need something which can define itself or something which can observe itself. Which is consiouness.

If you remove consiousness you will left with nothing but cirular statements.

I am very much in agreement with the threadstarter. Except the Liger part, I didn't know people actually thought they were fake. I want one sooooo bad, theyre soooo big and cuddly looking!!


Ehem... back on topic. I don't think I have to really say much, I think my signature quote by Stephen Roberts pretty much sums up my opinion on the topic at hand. I don't beleive in him. My family is Catholic, but I can honestly say, that I've never beleived in him. Even when I was like 5, I just remember that I was always like, "wait, that cant happen."

We laugh at the ancient civilizations that had multiple gods and thought that they controlled the sun and rain and stuff, but people today are so overly obsessed with a figure that "Made all of space and time."

Look around, God said that he created Adam and Eve, and we pretty much debunked that myth with evolution, which is defenitly real, true, and has millions of supported facts. Man started as an ape, not in a damn fruit garden.

Just want to add something here, I've read in the Bible that those who are mocked at because of believing in Him, God, that they are truly blessed beings. Not because of the mocking but for putting the others in their disbelief.

What God is, is consciousness, that's something I could go with. The all knowing. 'All seeing' therefore all knowing. It's a consciousness. to be fairly true, i don't know how consciousness can create that which is created. Maybe out of itself. Consciousness creates.

thank you

Originally posted by _Phoenix_
Nicely said, I believe that we may be wasting our time talking here, maybe space exploration and future science and technology, would help lead us into the right direction to finding answers, if people, especially scientists open up more.

I agree when you say that science is what will lead us into the right direction to finding the answers but what has religion and faith ever done to try to help finding the answers?

Religion and faith have only been successful in slowing down science and human evolution in general.

Scientists need to open up? Need to open up to what exactly?

The grand majority of scientists don't believe in god and look at what where we are, as a society, as a species, thanks to science.
Maybe if 'scientists' would have 'opened up' we'd still be thinking that the sun revolved around the earth.

You say you believe in intelligent design. You think that intelligent design should be taught in school side by side with evolution?


"I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world." -- Richard Dawkins.

Originally posted by Schmidt1989
My family is Catholic

Don't live up to any standards, and you'll be yourself, as you are with God.

when you live up to a standard you're pulling yourself away from Him.

so he mentioned us, to not worship any idols, for you'd believe in false things. One to worship, his begotten son, know that he cameth into the flesh.

Originally posted by SJSJSJ
What is god?
God is the highest level of consiousness.

All these 'definitions' of god has being some high level of consciousness, or energy, or whatever is just trying to give some higher meaning to something unknown.

As some other member said before, men also thought that earthquakes were the work of god and were punishing them.

That idea is absurd nowadays because through science we have discovered what earthquakes are and what causes them.

Just because something is unknown to us, we don't have to create magical meanings and interpretations for them.

It's ok not to know everything about the universe, or death, or even ourselves. We don't have to make stuff up to make our living more comfortable. Well... I guess some people do.

I will be happy with the facts and reality, thank you.

Originally posted by etherical waterwave

Originally posted by Schmidt1989
My family is Catholic

Don't live up to any standards, and you'll be yourself, as you are with God.

when you live up to a standard you're pulling yourself away from Him.

so he mentioned us, to not worship any idols, for you'd believe in false things. One to worship, his begotten son, know that he cameth into the flesh.

when you live up to no standards, you've are with Him.

one can not judge God, only facets of Himself can be interpreted and such. God as a Whole is uncomprehensible for the human mind.

Everyone is throwing around faith and a fear of death like they must be the only reasons for someone believing in God. Well I believe in God and I don't rely on faith and I don't have a fear of death. Faith to me means believing in something without any logical proof or evidence, and I don't understand how someone can do that. My belief in a higher power has nothing to do with any organized religion or simply "taking someone's word for it". It also has nothing to do with what happens to me when I die. I believe something happens, but I'm going to live my life how I think it should be lived, and I'm not worried about not living up to some idealist moral standards thought up thousands of years ago.

In my opinion, most atheists don't believe in God because the concept is way too complex and they haven't taken the time to investigate it and decide for themselves. Of course there is no physical proof and probably never will be.

Originally posted by Schmidt1989
Look around, God said that he created Adam and Eve, and we pretty much debunked that myth with evolution, which is defenitly real, true, and has millions of supported facts. Man started as an ape, not in a damn fruit garden.

Most atheists are also too caught up in the notion that God goes hand in hand with the Bible/organized religion. If you want proof for God's existence, look inside yourself, not outside. You have everything you need to prove to yourself that God exists through logic and reasoning.

And by the way, I also believe in evolution. One of my previous posts in this thread already explains that. I don't understand why so many people use evolution as proof that there is no higher power.

But I'm sure not everyone agrees. So just go on believing that the chaotic physical world we live in where we can't stop killing each other is as good as it gets. Seems pretty pointless to me.

Originally posted by Schmidt1989
Look around, God said that he created Adam and Eve, and we pretty much debunked that myth with evolution, which is defenitly real, true, and has millions of supported facts. Man started as an ape, not in a damn fruit garden.

Who has been the first ape, how did he originate LOL

I should also add that science has proven through DNA analysis that every single human being alive today is descended from one person. That's a solid fact.

I dont see why anyone chooses to argue about it. Everyone will find out the truth the moment you die. I have my beliefs, others have theirs, and others have their non-beliefs. If you do not like what someone believes in, move on. How does my faith have anything to do with your daily life that you have to try and convince others it is based on heresy? To attempt to spread anti-faith by slandering people and making them look a fool?

If you want to find out the truth wait until the end of your mortal life, or if you want to know ASAP, the route I would not reccomend taking that will also lead to the truth is suicide. I believe that would be condeming yourself to misery though, but death is the only mortal path to the truth of it all.

So my opinion is wait it out, enjoy your God given mortal life as best as possible, do right unto others, and just be cool

Originally posted by TheCosmicSerpent
In my opinion, most atheists don't believe in God because the concept is way too complex and they haven't taken the time to investigate it and decide for themselves. Of course there is no physical proof and probably never will be.

The concept of god is too complex? No, sir.. science is complex. Having some magical all seeing and powerful entity creating everything in the universe is the easy concept.

You see.. science requires for things to be researched and proven. That's complex, making things up is not.

How convenient it is that 'there is no physical proof and probably never will be' of god... But you know what that (lack of evidence) might also indicate, right?

The whole reason the op is trying to 'debunk' God is that he is trying to prove it to himself. and don't say your not. let me counter ask you something. How CAN"T you honestly believe in God. oh and notice how you you said God and not god. you still believe. somewhere inside you believe.

and to the others who still don't belive, let me ask you this. what will happen at the end of your life. I see eternal rest in Heaven. what about you.

and this 'union' stuff. yes, if you read all of the bibleical books you see that God and the angels and Heaven is all Life energy. which we all have. so, your kinda right.

and for the people trying to find reasoning behind it all. you can't. He make it so that no one man can ever 'prove' or 'disprove' that He exists. that is call believing.

and for thouse who still don't, hear this, "If you don't belive in a God that loves you, you have an abusive father."

Read all of the Bible and tell me you don't feel anything.

So, the "god" meme has got to be one of the oldest examples of such a thing. I think that the only reason people today believe at all is because they are indoctrinated from a very young age. (Just as their parents, and grandparents, etc. were)

It's self-perpetuating like a virus, though, this mass delusion that most of the world is cursed to suffer from, in their ignorance.

While I realize that most people need this to function normally, I think that as man's brain evolves further, these antiquated systems of belief will fall by the wayside.

So many of the natural events once attributed to supernatural phenomena have been explained by science, that the beliefs of the ancients seem silly to us now. So will it be with today's religions in future times.

Belief in a supernatural, all powerful being just allows people to deny responsibility for their own lives and decisions. Seems to me we need to be going in the opposite direction: more of us need to take responsibility for our selves. We are in the drivers seat of our lives, not some invisible ghost!


[edit on 1-8-2007 by keeb333]