Why should God be any more believable than the Tooth Fairy?

[revots33]

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I mean it doesn't make sense for people to lie to themselves over and over their whole lives to the point where they don't even realize they're doing it anymore.

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Well I don't believe in god myself. But for whatever reason, some people need that belief in order to function. People on this board have stated very clearly that their lives would be completely meaningless if god didn't exist. I'd say that's a pretty good incentive to keep believing.

[BIG NIGE]

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I mean it doesn't make sense for people to lie to themselves over and over their whole lives to the point where they don't even realize they're doing it anymore.

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Well I don't believe in god myself. But for whatever reason, some people need that belief in order to function. People on this board have stated very clearly that their lives would be completely meaningless if god didn't exist. I'd say that's a pretty good incentive to keep believing.

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Well that may be, but only because they put themselves in that position that they are beholden to the perceived existence of God or else their lives have no meaning. I mean God forbid (sarcasm, pun) that anyone's life should ever have meaning that doesn't include God. Unfortunately in most cases, it's the parents who indoctrinate their kids into believing that God gives them meaning, what this actually does it deprives them from having meaning from anything else, so they can't act autonomously and have to be captive to God (even though they don't see it that way, that's the reality).

[T50_Omaha8]

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I mean it doesn't make sense for people to lie to themselves over and over their whole lives to the point where they don't even realize they're doing it anymore.

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Well I don't believe in god myself. But for whatever reason, some people need that belief in order to function. People on this board have stated very clearly that their lives would be completely meaningless if god didn't exist. I'd say that's a pretty good incentive to keep believing.

[/ QUOTE ]I think that religion can do a lot of good things for some people, but when Christians say this I can't help but come to one of two conclusions:

(1) They are showboating their faith in a subtle attempt to convert non-believers.

(2) They have become compeltely caught up in church stuff, praying constantly, and 'feeling' God's love around them to the point that they equate God with aspects of life that would still exist whether they believed in it/him or not...like mountains, love, music, literature, math, etc. These people don't realize that if you're an atheist (or God was found not to exist), all that crap is still here to enjoy. Basically, how the hell do they know how they'll react if they find out (realize?) there is no God after all?

FWIW my life religion progression has gone atheist --> Christian --> atheist, so it's not like I'm a complete outsider to the other side.

[PairTheBoard]

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The only reason that God exists in some people's minds is because they can't handle the fact that some things are presently unexplainable

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You are really Trolling here then aren't you? You are not here to listen and discuss but to Proclaim the above messgage. Regardless of responses to it you are going to keep repeating it like propaganda.

There's no way for you to know that what you are saying is Fact. Your position presumes God does not Exist. If he did exist and people had an inner experience of connection to him, you would still say the same thing. You are just proslytizing the position of a Strong Atheit.

PairTheBoard

[BIG NIGE]

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The only reason that God exists in some people's minds is because they can't handle the fact that some things are presently unexplainable

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You are really Trolling here then aren't you? You are not here to listen and discuss but to Proclaim the above messgage. Regardless of responses to it you are going to keep repeating it like propaganda.

There's no way for you to know that what you are saying is Fact. Your position presumes God does not Exist. If he did exist and people had an inner experience of connection to him, you would still say the same thing. You are just proslytizing the position of a Strong Atheit.

PairTheBoard

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No, I was making a legitimate comparison to the tooth fairy, which kids believe in because they can't handle (or so their parents think) losing teeth, so some adults invented the tooth fairy as an explanation (and of course, giving the kid MONEY for their tooth is probably the real source of comfort nowadays, not the tooth fairy). SImilarly, adults can't handle not knowing stuff, so they write "God" into all the blank parts of the script so that everything "makes sense" but they are really selling themselves short with this pseudounderstanding. This isn't propoganda, or trolling, or anything pernicious like you suggest. It's just a thread in the Philosophy forum intended to promote discussion, which I think ti has succeeded quite well at.

[luckyme]

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The only reason that God exists in some people's minds is because they can't handle the fact that some things are presently unexplainable

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You are really Trolling here then aren't you? You are not here to listen and discuss but to Proclaim the above messgage. Regardless of responses to it you are going to keep repeating it like propaganda.

There's no way for you to know that what you are saying is Fact. Your position presumes God does not Exist. If he did exist and people had an inner experience of connection to him, you would still say the same thing. You are just proslytizing the position of a Strong Atheit.

PairTheBoard

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Whether god exists or not it's their inability to understand that experience in any other way that is the cause of their belief. People, who have had that experience, sometimes come to realize that using it as evidence for god is just that, the final Gap claim.
Essentially, believers on this gap basis are saying, "how else could I understand what I experienced?"
Again, this is true whether god exists or not. God could exist and not be using channeling as a method of belief inducement, he has other widely claimed options.

luckyme

[PairTheBoard]

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Whether god exists or not it's their inability to understand that experience in any other way that is the cause of their belief.

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I don't see how this makes any sense. If some God exists, and they have an experience with him which they convey to us according to their best understanding, how is that limited understanding the cause of their belief? It is the product of their belief combined with their limitations in understanding. Under the assumption that some God does exist, their belief was Caused by their experience with him.

The fact their explanation to us might be garbled is no proof that an experience with this assumed God did not Cause their belief.

PairTheBoard

[JussiUt]

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Whether god exists or not it's their inability to understand that experience in any other way that is the cause of their belief.

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I don't see how this makes any sense. If some God exists, and they have an experience with him which they convey to us according to their best understanding, how is that limited understanding the cause of their belief? It is the product of their belief combined with their limitations in understanding. Under the assumption that some God does exist, their belief was Caused by their experience with him.

The fact their explanation to us might be garbled is no proof that an experience with this assumed God did not Cause their belief.

PairTheBoard

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This comes pretty close to what I was talking about in my first post in this thread. That religious people have "evidence" for their faith in the form of religious experiences.

Are these religious experiences subjective? Yes. Does a person of Christian faith interpret it as a sign from a Christian god? Yes. Does a person of Islamic faith interpret is as a sign from Allah? Yes. Does a person of no religious believes whatsoever interpret it in non-religious way? Probably yes. Therefore we can't talk about religious experiences with that guy, maybe we can use the word mystical experience.

Do you claim that the source of these mystical experiences is God? Is it the Christian God? Or are all the gods from every religion basically the same, all different interpretations of the universal God of Love? If so, isn't every religion right? And if not, why is this one particular religion correct and others are not if they all are based on the same mystical experience?

Why are these mystical experiences products of God? It surely can be something completely different, right? It can be a product of our minds, yes? Well do you think that our minds are a product of God? And if so, do you believe that because of the mystical experience you had? And if so, do you see why we're running in circles here and that God cannot be proved or disproved? So we must all be agnostic about God, right? And some agnostic people just believe in God because of that mystical experience and some people do not because they interpret those mystical experiences differently?

I would really appreciate answers to this especially from PairTheBoard.

[arahant]

You're kidding, right? Let me lay out the differences:
1) God wrote a book...the "Tooth Fairy" (if that is his/her real name) did not even CLAIM to write a book!
2) God created the universe, the earth, and all life...thus EVERYTHING is evidence that god exists. Tooth Fairy? Quarters...like that's 'evidence'
3) Let's examine the inconsistencies in the tooth fairy story:
a)payment - why does it keep changing? used to be, you'd get a nickel, I usually got quarters, now kids get a buck or more?
b)currency - what, the tooth fairy has access to ALL currencies? does he/she only pay kids in the civilized world? If so, is that because the tooth fairy is a judeo-christian angel (evidence of god!)?
c)outfit - if there WERE a tooth fairy, would he/she really have that silly, silky outfit on? NO...he/she would be naked, as ALL fairies are, but that would be too scandalous....

So basically, your tooth fairy story is full of holes (or cavities, whatever).

God, on the other hand, is so obvious it's not even funny. And there are no inconsistencies in the bible, despite thousands of years of people trying to find them.

I also don't understand why atheists like you are so hateful and bigotted and stupid and sinful.

But I love you, and Jesus does too.

[RoundGuy]

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God, on the other hand, is so obvious it's not even funny.

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Not to me. I think you're "funny".

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And there are no inconsistencies in the bible, despite thousands of years of people trying to find them.

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Have you been living under a rock, or what?

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I also don't understand why atheists like you are so hateful and bigotted and stupid and sinful.

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This is so sad. There are few groups of people on this planet that are more hateful, bigotted, stupid, and sinful than Christians.

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But I love you, and Jesus does too.

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I love you too.