Reason why You SHOULD BELIEVE IN GOD

Some people believe in "God" some dont, it's your own decision. Get over it! I grew up in a Church of England school 6-7 years i was brought up with "God", guess what??? i dont believe in this "God", why... no proof no hard evidence, some say the "bible" wow it's a book, a fictional book.

My opinion

End Of

Peace

Alpal

reply to post by MrJelly


So you "believe" in God as a consequence of hedging your bets just in case the outcome is not very pleasant (hell).

Even a humanist like myself understands enough about what God is supposed to mean to know that that logic sends you to hell according to those beliefs! In other words you would like to do all those things but fear of death prevents you. God can see your heart and knows what you really believe........you are damned.

I live a good life with absolutely no worries whatsoever about death. When I'm dead (we all die) that's the end. In the meantime I'll enjoy life without harming others but help others to enjoy theirs. So here's my help to you : stop worrying there is no God

reply to post by MrJelly


Pascals wager? Seriously? Not a new idea. And you already raised the massive objection, there are actually a near infinite number of values instead of merely 'god exists' and 'god doesn't exist'. The could be the deistic god that doesn't really care. There could be the Muslim deity instead of the Christian deity. There could be the Christian deity...and then you've got to figure out which one of the several thousand interpretations of that deity you'd have to go with. There could be more than one deity. There could be a deity that is in opposition to the worship of the deity you are currently worshiping. Etc.

I don't get why people keep bringing something so sophomoric up.

reply to post by MrJelly


Interesting post. If you assign a point system to your belief in God or you believe in God for the purpose of "just in case" then the entire reason for faith and believing in God is lost and is insincere, which in my humble opinion is just as bad as not believing in the first place. I personally believe in God, but if someone else does not then that's fine. I have no problem with atheists in general, as long as said atheist knows why they are an atheist. It is the atheist that can not articulate their reason in a logical manner that I have a problem with. I think you atheists know what and who I'm talking about. The atheist that says they are an atheist for the purpose of rebellion or because it seems like the cool thing to be. They are the atheists that make all of the other decent and logical atheists look bad. In all fairness, the same can be said for Christians, Catholics, etc.. There are fanatics/zealots on both sides of the argument. I for one like to meet in the middle, at least in regards to articulation and reasoning, because I always enjoy a respectful and intelligent conversation/debate with an atheist. I have no time for debate with an atheist if that person has nothing to offer but contempt or insults. Instead of someone, from either side of the argument, wasting their time and energy with contempt and insult, try proving me wrong with logic and reason.

I have spent countless hours on the Dawkins.net debating Atheists. More often than not, their answers are pure bias and insult. You are correct. Apart from the bias, they have no ground to stand. Have you ever read the book Verbal Judo? George Thompson's best quote in the book is, "Think for the other person in the manner that they should be thinking for themselves." His main point in the book is that bias only builds ground for the other person to stand against you. Of course, this goes both ways. The Cristian perspective is often confused by the Atheist. The subject convicts, not the object delivering the subject. The Atheist confuses this and focuses his bias toward the object delivering the message. This reveals the weakness in the substance of the Atheist message. He can only build ground for his argument from bias and not a subject that can be defended.

Originally posted by OptimusSubprime
reply to post by MrJelly

 

Interesting post. If you assign a point system to your belief in God or you believe in God for the purpose of "just in case" then the entire reason for faith and believing in God is lost and is insincere, which in my humble opinion is just as bad as not believing in the first place. I personally believe in God, but if someone else does not then that's fine. I have no problem with atheists in general, as long as said atheist knows why they are an atheist. It is the atheist that can not articulate their reason in a logical manner that I have a problem with. I think you atheists know what and who I'm talking about. The atheist that says they are an atheist for the purpose of rebellion or because it seems like the cool thing to be. They are the atheists that make all of the other decent and logical atheists look bad. In all fairness, the same can be said for Christians, Catholics, etc.. There are fanatics/zealots on both sides of the argument. I for one like to meet in the middle, at least in regards to articulation and reasoning, because I always enjoy a respectful and intelligent conversation/debate with an atheist. I have no time for debate with an atheist if that person has nothing to offer but contempt or insults. Instead of someone, from either side of the argument, wasting their time and energy with contempt and insult, try proving me wrong with logic and reason.

the OP is crippled by logical mistakes
which is kinda strange for an OP referring to logic in the opening sentence.

As I have experienced in previous threads on the subject, it really doesn't matter what arguments one formulates to defend the atheist position, I will not enter this debate any further.

reply to post by Tephra
Prove there ain't no God.

reply to post by bdb818888


okay, but you first give a definition of "god" so we know what it is that we have to proof.
ah, while we're at it, which of the 3781 gods people tend to waste time for do you had in mind?

reply to post by MrJelly


You think it makes perfect LOGICAL sense to spend your life in devotion to a magical mystical being who promises happiness or hell? Do you believe in unicorns and fairys too? Or how about aliens and ghosts?

reply to post by MrJelly


I live a life free of "sin" as such as I strive to help others and do my best not to harm anyone or anything. I do this solely because I feel it is the right thing to do, not because some divine being demands it, or because of some esoteric notion of a reward and punishment system that may or may not be real.

I take full responsibility for my actions, I do not need to pass them off to divine will or gods plan.

And because I do all of this in the absence of organized religion, I can also be interested and involved in science, genetics, quantum mechanics... All subjects that would be at odds with the "lords" teachings.

So lets see.

I live life to the fullest: +100
I try to help others in need and ask nothing in return: +100
I take full responsibility for my actions: +100
I can understand the word around me with science not dogma: +1000
I can live every day as if it were my last as there is no need to plan for the next : +100000000000

Think i win.

Originally posted by MJZoo
I'm sure God would appreciate us believing in him just because we don't want to end up in Hell.

Well, as far as I can tell...that's the reason most believe. All throughout childhood, I saw others growing up who would say, "We shouldn't do that. We might go to hell." Clearly they "believed" because otherwise they would go to hell. It was this threat that motivated them.

I never met someone who said, "We shouldn't do that because God told us not to."

Personally, since I believe Consciousness is "God," and We are all Creators of the Now through Our Consciousness, I have to see "God" as the spectrum of behaviors I see in this universe, created by Consciousness.

Thomas Aquines "proved" the existance of god more eloquently and intelligently and I still don't believe in the Christian god. What a hoot.

reply to post by MrJelly


I think OP is correct: a betting man should bet on the existance of God for the optimal payoff, given the choice.

However the trick is in the nature of what we're talking about: belief. You can't "choose" to believe in something for some payoff. For instance if you believe that capitalism and free markets is the superior to communism, you can't decide to one day start believing in communism. You can pretend to, but you can't actually just change like that.

So the whole thing is pointless, in a sense.

pseudo-buddhist/agnostic here.

reply to post by here4awhile


Why are you taking his words out of context????He says if you believe you will have no need to kill and rape...and how are you so certain that there is no hell?I believe in God and try to love him with all my heart but i am pretty sure i will go to hell for the life i am living...pls open your heart to the Lord and he will bless you.Accept Jesus as your Lord and you maybe stand a chance,i am pretty sure there is hell out there.Just look at some of the universe,that is the power of our God!

I hope people learn to love and respect because love is the only way

reply to post by gghhgghh


Your statement is somewhat true,but you have to take in account that God is not a yeti,or santa...God is love,you need to believe and accept love,because God loves us for who we are not for what we posses or how we look like.

You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight. Luke 16:15

I hope this helps!

Originally posted by AlwaysStoned
reply to post by gghhgghh

 

Your statement is somewhat true,but you have to take in account that God is not a yeti,or santa...God is love...

There's a popular theory that states that God exists as an external manifestation of a person's superego. That is to say, whatever a person thinks is right, individually, they apply to God. For example, a loving person will say that God is love, a vengeful person will say that God is vengeance, etc. (although it's unlikely that someone would admit to vengeance, outside of Westboro baptist). I'll need to look up the study for more details.

The problem with that is that in addition to the basic stuff, they'll also attribute their own individual morality to God by thinking that God hates the same things that they hate, etc.

It's an awkward thing, since people often don't want to accept that every individual creates their own God. It implies that for every individual, there's a different God.

Since I don't believe in god, do I really have to kill as well as rape? Can I just do the rape part (line up men!)?

reply to post by MrJelly


your " logic " has a fatal flaw - the presumption that you beleive in the correct god

Pascal the mathematician combined probability theory with zero, infinity and God to make Paschal's Wager, a famous equation quite similar for finding the rewards waiting for the religious and atheist after death.
In the end, he found that NBGs got zero or negative infinity, while GBs got zero or positive infinity. Needless to say, he was a devout Catholic from that point on.

Seraph

Originally posted by amaster
reply to post by MrJelly

 

You think it makes perfect LOGICAL sense to spend your life in devotion to a magical mystical being who promises happiness or hell? Do you believe in unicorns and fairys too? Or how about aliens and ghosts?

makes a lot more sense than believing that feeble humans who can't even keep up with their car keys, are supposedly God them selves, or that humans used to be tad poles