Preserved Topic: Do YOU believe in GOD? (Page 1 of 2)

I'll give my life story on this a little later.

Right now I want to know if you do.

Do you?

InSiDeR: Thats a question coming laden with all sorts of sorts of assumptions.

Do I believe in a Judaeo-Christiam God?

Slightly better might be:

Do YOU believe in a GOD?

or even better:

Do YOU believe in any GODs?

I'm going with something like 'Do YOU believe in the existence of some kind of divine creator entity?'

My answer is that I see no evidence for the existence of such a being but I can't disprove that one exists (its impossible).

Emps

Another almost similair question is also: "is there a God?" and "what is a God?" Is God the perfect creature, something that you strive to become like, or is (s)he just our creator?

I don't believe in any of the God's presented to us by the "main" religions, e.g Christianity, Islam. I do believe that there is something divine out there that created this place we call the Universe. But I doubt that this something has any kind of influence on our lives (except from creating the Universe), it is simply is here somewhere. It might even be possible that the something used all of its powers creating the Universe so it died when it was finnished?



-= Veneficuz =-
"Mundus vult decipi. Ergo decipiatur."

I think you people are intelligent to know what god I am talking about (christian) but if you believe in something else, share it with us and explain why! As of now I do not believe in the christian god or any god. I guess you could say I am athiest.

your question is certainly not obvious.
did you mean GOD? or God?
or did you mean GoD? or god?
please be more specific.
also, did u mean western or eastern or northern?
how can we answer without knowing what you mean?
sheeesh

Affirmative.

Generally, I am convinced a supreme being exists.

Specifically, I am convinced the God of the bible exists and is alive and well.

. . : newThing

InSiDeR,

What do you mean by atheist? Do you believe in the non-existence of God? Or are you just not convinced either way on that question? There are different brands of atheism and it is usually a good idea to know which is which.

For example, I've met atheists who vehemently say there is *no* god, period end of story. I've met others who are really agnostic on the whole question but still call themselved atheists.

. . : newThing

All one has to do is to look at the research into Chaos Theory to see that even with the chaos of the universe there's some sort of pattern to it. You then have to ask yourself whether whatever esoteric rules that exist out there to force this patterning is something that just spontaneously occurred, or whether the rules were set forth somehow before everything began in the first place. And if set forth prior to the Big Bang, then by whom?

Are we just microbes in some being's petri dish, or are we mere random specks of cosmic dust? I wish I knew. All I can do is make guesses, however educated...

For me, I believe in some higher power/destiny... Does it manifest itself into a singular being I would name as a god? No, not really. For me, I think that such figures are more shaped by beliefs than existing in such a state to begin with. Say, that I think the gods and goddesses we've purported to believe in over the centuries are more images reflected off / projected onto this higher state/entity/collection of entities., rather than distinct individual beings in their own right.

Is any one religion more right than any other? No. I think they all provide a purpose to humanity, helping us get to whereever it is we need to get in the grander scheme of things. I do believe in destiny, serendipity, divine coincidence.. But I also beleive in free will... I think as individuals, most of us have complete freedom to do as we will, whilst others seem drawn towards specific destinies. Humanity as a whole.. I'm not sure how much free will we have as a species, beyond the opportunity to destroy ourselves...

Heh.. seems I've delved a bit off the beaten track again. Ahh well. I'll not bother to delete it. Someone might actually find it interesting.

Witherin

i've read enough of these types of threads, and enough of bug's posts to say that until further notice, whatever bugimus says he believes, i believe too.
and as a side note - thanks bugimus, for communicating the christian faith so well.
so... yes, i DO believe there is a GOD.

- - r e i t s m a - -
(tifkab)

I think we should be sure of our terms:

Atheist

Agnostic

That puts me firmly in the old agnostic category - atheism is a belief based on a complete lack of evidence

My 'favourite' 'religion' must be Satanism - it must be the only belief sytem out there that has their diety defined by another religion (and one which they despise to boot!!). Never having met one (knowingly) I'm not sure how they would react to being informed that.

Anyway this stating what we believe is probably a little stale around here - more interesting might be why you want know InSiDeR?

Emps

well...if your talking the Bible God...I beleive that he esisits

well...interesting choice of favorite religion Emperor, santanism. Number one, their not the only religion to have their diety defined by another religion and second, they are responsible for a number of murderes, mutilations and rapes, so, ya, I guess their a good religion. (im being sarcastic on that last part, just so you know)

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 05-14-2002).]

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 05-14-2002).]

What if God turns out to be a big chicken??? Eternal consequences, thats what!!!!!!!!

. . .

Pascal's wager (one of the great thinkers of all time)

quote:

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Pascal goes on to propose his famous wager to show that it is reasonable to believe in God. Either God exists or he does not, and we cannot use reason to determine which alternative is true. However, both our present and our future lives may be affected by the alternative we choose. Since choosing to believe that God exists may lead to eternal life and happiness, and nothing is lost if we are wrong about the other choice, it is better to accept the theistic alternative.

---

btw, in passing I believe either you have faith or you don't
it has nothing to do with what you think or try to rationalize or reason
having said that, i do not have faith...i wish i did , but i can't ever
imagine having faith

strange?

I REMEMBER ONE TIME I TRIED TO CREATE A ROCK SO BIG THAT EVEN I COULDN'T LIFT IT. I'D MAKE THE ROCK BIG, THEN I'D MAKE MYSELF STRONGER, BIGGER ROCK, STRONGER ME, IT WENT ON AND ON AND ON... EVENTUALLY I GOT TIRED AND A BIT ANGRY AT THIS FOOLISHNESS SO I BROKE THE ROCK INTO MANY MANY LITTLE PIECES. ALL YOU LITTLE PIECES KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT, I ASSUME.

ER, HMM, DID I HAVE A POINT WITH THIS STORY? MAYBE NOT.

"NOBODY CREATES IT LIKE GOD"

Ok people, LISTEN (please don't skim through this like I have your posts before )

I hate having to repeat this over and over again especially to my friends, but lets begin.

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
When I tell people I don't believe in god (any god) they automatically suspect that I think that there ISN'T one. But not believing is simply not thinking that there is not to be confused with thinking that there isn't. Now could there be a god? Yes and that is a very strong possibility. Now is it exactly like the one the bible portrays? Now thats debatable and I personally think that if there is a supreme being he/she/it wouldn't be much like the one the bible portrays but then again I could be wrong.

Atheism in websters is someone that believes that there is no god. Now I have talked to people time and time again and I believe to be atheist is to not believe in anything. Some define it as needing visible and physical proof to believe in something. Others define it as having another opinion aside from god.

Why don't I believe in god you ask? Well after spending all of my elementary years in a Catholic Private School, listening to hypocritical teachers day to day, going to mass at 9:00 A.M. every tuesday, thursday, and sunday, I began to realize how much people devote to something that is very questionable. I remember my third grade teacher once telling our class that heaven and hell fought battles (I have no idea where that came from) and then she said that she believes we won the last one (right thats really from the chatholic bible). I have read most of the bible and see some of it as tall tales. Now see what we have here is the existance of exaggeration, lets take moses for example: Allegedly moses parted the see and set free to all the slaves in egypt from the tyrant pharo who enslaved them upon his monarch. Now supposedly there IS proof that the sea has been parted before, but also that there was an earthquake. Now could it be that then an eldar stretched the tale and told them the story of moses in relation to several other life expiriences of his, and then the kids believed it and the old man dies and that generation is left with an exaggeration. Now I am not saying that happened but it's a possibility in my opinion.

What do I believe in? I believe in the strong possibilty of the big bang or the open universe theory or the one that most people know me for and is my own: I believe that quite possibly there is an explination uncomprehendable by our minds. We can only understand so much yet there is an infinate span of knowledge left to aquire. Maybe we will find out when we die maybe we won't but I guess we will all find out won't we (thats rhetorical).

Now when you think about it more clearly you may realize that the belief and existance of how we came to be is understandable by a 3-year-old. To make it sound easier, a child 3 years of age can understand how we got here in the christian religion. Now I think that the explination of why we are all here is definately NOT that easy to understand, and is not as simple as "Oh it was God the Almighty." Sometimes I think of god as an excuse as a lot of the questions we cannot answer. But then again over the centuries people have molded and humanized him to make him more understandable for the common people.

If someone younger then I were to ask me if there was a god, I wouldn't say yes, and I wouldn't say no, I would say I cannot answer that because honestly I don't think anyone can answer that with factual evidence. They could say yes but really believe that there is not knowing for a fact, and vice versa.

Another thing that I Hate is christians that over abuse the religion. Like people that say If you don't go to church you go to hell, or people that say Harry Potter is satanic and that you shouldn't let your children see it, and especially the ones that say I pray for the middle-eastern cultures that will go to hell because they don't choose to believe in god OR because they have never heard of god. If you don't go to church, you shouldn't go to hell, and as to the rest above. Why go to church? Why go and sit and listen to someone bark about how you should live your life? (Methodist). Why should you go and sit and listen to a man while he reads to you from a book of his beliefs while you sing and eat a symbolic meal?(Catholic).

Now don't get me wrong. I don't dislike people that don't believe in god. Infact I admire most for keeping a strong will. Without the christian faith the world would be in chaos, not because of the 10 commandments and thal shalt not kill but because so much is based on the christian faith. Think now B.C. and A.D. If I were to prove the christian faith wrong then I would ruin historic knowledge.

What is hell? I have read on and on about hell and its really not a bad place! No really! Supposedly it is like a mountain growing underground getting large and wider the deeper you go, and there are 9 layers and as long as your away from the 4th ,5th ,8th , and 9th layer your in good shape! But I got some of this information from a cult website so don't go believing all of this.

I think that if you live a good life as a good person and a good attitude towards future then you will end up in an alright after life weather it's heaven, pergatory, hell, re-incarnation, or other.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Please remember this is MY opinion, I know there may be several contradictions and hypocrisy involved but when you point that out try to be a little nice about it .

I thank you for taking the time to read my theories, thoughts, and beliefs. No not you the one that skimmed through the paragraphs and ended up here I want you to go read it from the top! j/k

InSiDeR: Your main arguement against the existence of a God seems to be more an arguement against organised religions (don't even get me started on them - is it going to Catholic school that does it to a person as it worked for me too??) and you can always strike out on your own and find your own path to the divine if you don't like the flavours currently on offer (how would you like your metaphors mixed sir?). Then again I suppose the wide variety of religions could be an arguement against God but then it could be argued that they are like the three blind men describing an elephant.

And this:

quote:

---

I believe to be atheist is to not believe in anything

---

Now I thought that was Nihilism:
www.dictionary.com/search?q=nihilism

A true atheist believes there is no God.

Emps

I am suprised you read it!

Yes atheism can be debated.

Doobie, i am very weary of what I belive... but still I am convinced that theres junk out there, a spiritual side to stuff...

I think a good question to ask is this: do you believe that when you die... you are totally gone. No nothing. Zilch Zero... Like you never were?

Cuz... if so... and I believe in God... um... I wont know I ever believed... but IF there is a heaven I got mah seating covered.

[This message has been edited by eyezaer (edited 05-14-2002).]

"Sometimes I think of god as an excuse as a lot of the questions we cannot answer."

That is right along the line of my own theory. Primitive man didn't understand what was going on around him, so he made up spirits and totems and gods to explain his world. As the wonders around us were eventually found to be natural and not supernatural in origin (lighting, fire, storms, etc) then some religous thought was phased out and replaced by others. Religion evolved (I love saying that ).

There are still mysteries to be explained. How did it all begin? What happens to you when you die? I believe religions and their gods will be around as long as there are big questions to be answered.

I am an atheist. There is and never was a supernatural super-being.

quote:

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What if God turns out to be a big chicken??? Eternal consequences, thats what!!!!!!!!

---

CALVIN AND HOBBES!! omg that was the best comic stip, EVER.

Ok, continue your theological debate

I believe there are more 'evolved' beings than Man out there...and that some of them have a 'higher' consciousness...so, we would consider some of them to be 'gods' in comparison to ourselves...sort of along the lines of what BeeKay said.

As to an 'ultimate' being...well, that would be the end point of evolution, to finally evolve into perfection...whether or not that exists...I have no idea. One thing is sure...we will all find out, sooner or later...either there is, or there is not. Though I do believe in life after death, I'm still not sure if that would lead to meeting an 'ultimate' being...maybe there are diferent 'levels' of consciousness, death (for this existence) being only one step to the next 'level'...maybe one must go through many such 'steps'...

I have been thining about dieing yet again.... and um... I can not imagen myself not being. I cant comprehend an end to myself...

bugs beliefs line up with mine for the most part as well, which most of you knew anyway. and really, the unexplainable things i've seen and experienced give me a complete knowledge that there is a God who is just as the Christian bible describes Him.

insider, one initial observation is that the catholic church holds a lot of beliefs that aren't based in scripture, i wouldn't necessarily judge your thoughts on a christian God based on that.

one thing often missed is that what we know of the Big Bang, evolution, etc., lines up quite well with what the bible says. most christians, to stereotype, don't know much of what the bible actually says, they know what they heard from their parents or a sunday school teacher or a priest and have never read it for themselves. anyone wants some interesting recommended reading on this let me know.

my very brief view, as i've experienced different sides of all this (grew up catholic and fairly "good", ditched it all and did my own thing, then came to know God in a non-denominational setting) is that we're all designed with a God-shaped void, so to speak. we all fill that void, or try to, in different ways, whether it be with God Himself, or new agey spiritual stuff, or drugs, alcohol, sex, work, relationships, success, etc. but the only real completeness is found in God. your mileage may vary

chris


KAIROSinteractive

Well, that's all good and fine, Fig. However, let's propose a theory - that mankind succeeds in creating artificial intelligence, and that it doesn't believe in God, because it doesn't have this 'void'. So, who is correct? We humans, because we (as you put it) have this 'void' or the 'new' intelligence which doesn't?

On the other hand, maybe this 'new' intelligence would also believe. Who knows? It's just a proposed theory...

The description of the forum includes

quote:

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Is there a Dog?

---

I think that is the true question.

Can someone who is dyslexic truly believe in God?
or, is the best they can attain a love of Dog?

counterfeitbacon (and Emps I guess)

Not that I'm a believer, but i always find it a bit disturbing when people generalize so widely about satanism. There are plenty of different beliefs and practices within satanism.

You have the ususal nut-case devil-worshipers that actually believe in and praise something that resembles the christian devil.

But then you have the satanism of Church of Satan (LaVey).
They took the name as a counterpart to christianity since they believe christianity base much of their religion on fear of god and limitations in the way you live your life.

They despise sacrificing/violating other lifeforms which means no chopping of heads of chickens and eating babies. That part of satanism could be boiled down to:
You are your own god. If anything is to change you got to make it happen.
Then spice that up with a few wiccan-like rituals (sometimes quite sexual oriented).
(which suggests that they believe in a greater power, albeit a faceless one, beyond good and evil).

The Satanic Bible (like most books on religion) is actually quite a good read, regardless of your beliefs.

Just thought I'd mention this

Um, are we allowed to yell at God for using all caps and bold at the same time?

Yeah, I believe there is a God, but it's now getting very late and God is not going to save me from myself tomorrow morning if I don't get to sleep soon.

Nimraw is right - I was being distinctly stereotypical about Satanism. I have the Satanic Bible and it is an interesting read (and apprently tasty as one of my dogs has eaten the cover!!) - although for some reason none of my (even mildly) Christian friends will read it. I did once have a plan to get rid of Jehovah's Witnesses (and any other door-to-door Christians) by only accepting their literature if they took a copy of the Satanic Bible but I got enough funny looks buying one copy let alone 10-20!!

Emps

oh well...

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 05-14-2002).]

Did that answer your question bugs?

Anyone esle?

I had a satanic bible years ago, but the darn thing grew legs and ran away.

Where can one get a copy nowadays? It's not exactly spotlighted at any local bookstore ... Amazon maybe?

Does anyone believe in the tooth fairy?

How about santa claus?
in australia they have the christmas kangaroo
i know cuz i saw it on SNL.
your dad has to box the christmas kangaroo
and if he loses the kangaroo has his way with him.

is it true that during your life, i.e as you grow older:
1) you believe in Santa
2) you don't believe in Santa
3) you are Santa

Into some black magic there BeeKay?

I have tried some to hold some stuff, seances (spelling?) and such, nothing has happened yet. I have always wanted to try some black magic before. I am not really into the whole elemental magic, I am more fond of contact with the dead. But back to the topic!

well, i can tell you that many scientific facts/theories have come about/been figured out as a result of the christian bible. Such as

* the ten dimensional universe (the basis for quarks and the string theorum)
* how ancient dinosaurs could fly
* why people lived so old in the bible (age studies)

and many more, I just forgot them at the moment

Any book of fairy-tales would have been equally helpful to the progress of science IMO.
(Okay, Theology may have been influenced by the bible )

WebShaman, interesting proposition. my first instinct would be that no, the new intelligence wouldn't have that same void, because while it may have intelligence it still doesn't have a soul. interesting idea tho...

chris


KAIROSinteractive

Beekay:

You could pick up a new copy at amazon, here
Or just do a search for LaVey in there.

Fig, my people believe that all things have souls...so I believe that the new intelligence would have a soul...however, how do you decide what has a soul, and what does not?

To those messing around with what they call 'black magic'...I would leave that alone, if I was you...without the proper teachings, and guidance, you could get into real trouble. Now, I'm not about to get into a 'howto...' discussion on the topic. Just know (and witnessed) a few things, in the presence of somebody who knew what they were doing. Apparently, there are real dangers, and one has to take proper precautions...it's not really something that one should 'play' around with...

Of course, that depends on what one means by 'black' magic...many of the things that the shamans practice among my people have been considered 'black' magic in the past...of course, they knew what they were doing.

I'd second WS on that one - even if there is nothing in it things can scare the pants off you and it only takes someone who is slightly unstable or who has perhaps lost a loved one recently and things can get out of hand quickly (and you don't want nervous breakdowns and suicides on your hands).

Emps