Do you believe in some sort of God(s)?

[davelin]

Bible-believing Christian here.

[Dids]

I've had this conversation a lot as of late.

I don't believe in God. I was raised in an environment totally devoid of religion, so the whole concept of faith is somewhat beyond me. When I'm feeling glib, I also point out that I don't believe in Unicorns.

El D's approach is pretty reasonable. I think that aspect of God/religion is great. It's when God starts caring about who you [censored] or how you vote that I start to think people are crazy.

[James282]

"Do you believe in some sort of God(s)?"

No, not really. I believe that nearly infinite time and space is powerful enough to get lucky every once in a while to produce a world like we have now. To me, our world is the equivalent of the Universe running the deck trillions of times and we are the outlying point where it spiked its one outer 100 times in a row. If someone came up to me and said, listen, here is scientific proof that that did NOT happen - what do you think now? I'd probably say that our universe was created by a being that doesn't remotely resemble anything we know, but who isn't divine in the typical sense of the word. I think about when I was little and I made a habitat for a turtle and a frog I caught in the back yard. To them, I probably seemed omnipotent, omniscient, and judging, but in reality I just thought it would be fun even though I lost interest a few days after making the little pond with the rocks in it. Think of 10 year old James with way more resources and time, and that's what I'd say God was if an infallible source told me that 'someone' made our universe and I had to describe what he was like. Sort of like the Deist God but who didn't particularly care even when he was making it.

James

[Your Mom]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't believe that God exists, but if I did it certainly wouldn't be in the Abrahamic God of the Bible (new or old testament), or Koran.

For an interesting read on the subject, read the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins which points out why God is not needed, why God almost certainly does not exist, and explores the roots of religion among cultures. link to wikipedia

Of those religious, how many are the religion of your parents?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll have to read this book, because to me, I can't think of one good argument that could be used to prove a God doesn't exist.

[davelin]

[ QUOTE ]
El D's approach is pretty reasonable. I think that aspect of God/religion is great. It's when God starts caring about who you [censored] or how you vote that I start to think people are crazy.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's why a discussion on religion is pretty difficult, because people have different contexts for specific religions. It would be great and ideal if we could all have a discussion on the historical accuracy of the Bible, Jesus's teachings and what his sacrifice meant, how Paul and the apostles taught his teachings to the church, etc. However inevitably the discussion turns to modern application and lifestyle choices, which in my opinion discolors the original discussion. I don't believe in God because I was taught in Sunday school not to swear or to have sex before marriage, etc. These issues are fringes of the faith, yet because they run mostly counter-culture they're brought up the most frequently and turns a lot of people away from the discussion at hand.

I agree Pat Robertson is a nutjob [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[maddog2030]

No, because for pretty much any reasonable description of God it's just not a rational belief.

I do have a hunch that there is/was an evolutionary advantage to having such a belief, and that's why many people may feel like they need to believe in some higher power. But you'd be stupid to think your belief has an equal to or higher chance of being true than the rational one.

[Your Mom]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't believe that God exists, but if I did it certainly wouldn't be in the Abrahamic God of the Bible (new or old testament), or Koran.

For an interesting read on the subject, read the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins which points out why God is not needed, why God almost certainly does not exist, and explores the roots of religion among cultures. link to wikipedia

Of those religious, how many are the religion of your parents?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll have to read this book, because to me, I can't think of one good argument that could be used to prove a God doesn't exist.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just read the wiki entry on the book and his arguments for why there can't be a God seem to be illogical at best. He uses quotes about Yahweh (Old Testament) to prove why there isn't a God, lol.

[MrWookie]

I am a devout Christian, but I'm not one of the crazy Fundies. I focus on love, forgiveness, and aceeptance instead of the all too prevalent messages of hate, damnation, and exclusion that are too often preached by the leaders of many Christian denominations. Fortunately, this is the attitude of many Christians, even though we don't get as much press.

I believe that God created the universe, but I'm not so foolish as to take the 7 days literally. The Biblical creation story was intentionally vague. The important parts were not in how many days or how many cubits or whatever, it's that God made this all, and "it was good." It's also written that for God, "a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day." I don't believe that evolution is incompatible with God creating the universe.

Lastly, the fact that this all is not backed up by a rational explanation or empirical proof doesn't really concern me. I operate on faith, and that is enough. I don't believe that reason is the ultimate human achievement.

[Boomhauer]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't believe that God exists, but if I did it certainly wouldn't be in the Abrahamic God of the Bible (new or old testament), or Koran.

For an interesting read on the subject, read the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins which points out why God is not needed, why God almost certainly does not exist, and explores the roots of religion among cultures. link to wikipedia

Of those religious, how many are the religion of your parents?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll have to read this book, because to me, I can't think of one good argument that could be used to prove a God doesn't exist.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well if you are looking for proof that God does not exist, you're not going to find it. Same reason that you can't prove that invisible unicorns don't exist.

I apologize on any derail.

[StukOnStupid]

I found this article on God fascinating. The basic premise is that humans are genetically predisposed to a belief in the spiritual becuase of their hard wired ability to seperate the physical world from the psychological one. A by product of this "survival instinct" is a belief in the spiritual.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200512/god-accident