Do you believe in God?

[Varine]

If God did truly exist, then why keep his existence a secret?

Because this life is supposed to be a test to see if you have faith enough to return to him.

 

[Seb!]

Because this life is supposed to be a test to see if you have faith enough to return to him.

See herein lies the problem with the idea of a benevolent God. If he was nice, he wouldn't test your faith blindly.

 

[Varine]

See herein lies the problem with the idea of a benevolent God. If he was nice, he wouldn't test your faith blindly.

Which is where the scriptures come in with most religions. And prayer and things like that. If he were to show up and say I'm God believe in me, that would pretty much ruin the idea of faith, wouldn't it?

 

[Lord_Phoenix]

no, i dont believe in a big man sitting in a cloud. or do i believe that jesus christ was the son of god (and following zeitgeist, he might not have even been a real person). i do not (and dont want to) believe in adam and eve (cuz that would mean sex = having sex with family), or any kind of things in the 'bible'
but on the contrary i do believe there is something. not a man who can make virgins give birth, but something i cant explain.

1) Adam and Eve having sex does not mean that they were related in any way. God created Eve from Adam's rib, which does not necessarily mean that they are related in any way. This is more to show that Women is a not separate as man, and should be treated as an equal considering we are from the same person.

2) The Church does not say the Bible is historically accurate, especially the Old Testament. Many parts of the Bible (especially the history of the Jews and exile) are considered accurate as there were various historical documents showing that it is accurate.

3) GOD IS NOT NECISSARILY A MAN! We show God as a man because we were created in God's image, which means we are somewhat like God, but it does not necessarily mean that God himself is male.

4) God gave humans free choice. Even if the story of Adam and Eve is untrue, this illustrates that humans have always been given free choice, and that even though we chose original sin, God sacrificed himself (since Jesus is part of the Holy Trinity) for our sins.

If God did truly exist, then why keep his existence a secret? In order for some to see/speak/(?) with/to God, why is it always them? Why doesn't God just pop out in the sky and say: "Hey, <blank> religion is the right one! I exist!" ?

And no, I do not believe in God.

1) Speaking to God is easy, it's called praying.

2) If his existence was a secret, how do we know about Him?

3) Many people who has seen the divine radiance of God has been blind (such as St. Paul) or were ascended into Heaven.

4) God chooses specific people for various reasons. I'm not a good enough religious scholar, but usually it is to lead people to repent their sins, get through a very tough time, or something similar.

There's a principle about believing God, it goes something like this:

1) If you believe in God and Heaven/Hell doesn't exist, nothing bad happens and you have lived a decent life.

2) If you believe in God and Heaven/Hell DOES exist, then you will go to Heaven.

3) If you don't believe in god and Heaven/Hell doesn't exist, you're alright.

4) If you don't believe in God and Heaven/Hell does exist, you're going to Hell.

 

[Jedimindtrixxx]

so there is a 3/4 chance of not going to hell?

 

[Lord_Phoenix]

hey, if you want to take the chance 25% of spending ALL ETERNITY in hell be my guest.

 

[Jedimindtrixxx]

man now im scared >.>
you make it sound so scary! :'(

 

[Prometheus]

Oh noes, hell is for all eternity!
BS.

 

[Miz]

hey, if you want to take the chance 25% of spending ALL ETERNITY in hell be my guest.

Techically that all depends on what church and group you belong to... Universalist - 99.999% go to heaven the only people that don't go to heaven are like dictators that kill hundreds of people Oo

Though you can ask a group with stricter rules and ... etc.

Personally the Bible is just telling you a suggestion how to live a happy life, your not forced to follow it.

 

[Jedimindtrixxx]

lmao then you also get all the other religions and apperently (correct me if im wrong) if you believe wrongly you go to their hell and considering there is like a huge amount of religions that = like 75% chance to go to hell for every1

life sux eh!

 

[Pineapple]

This sums up my opinion on the matter.

 

[Jedimindtrixxx]

is god a taco shell? or is that the sun?

 

[TheDamien]

Massive post incoming. You have been warned.

no, i dont believe in a big man sitting in a cloud. or do i believe that jesus christ was the son of god (and following zeitgeist, he might not have even been a real person). i do not (and dont want to) believe in adam and eve (cuz that would mean sex = having sex with family), or any kind of things in the 'bible'

Well if you are concerned about this, then that is too bad. If other human beings were not your very distant relations then they would, at the very least, not be the same species as you.

Because this life is supposed to be a test to see if you have faith enough to return to him.

Just hope that you have faith in the correct god / gods / spirit / force / entity.

Which is where the scriptures come in with most religions. And prayer and things like that. If he were to show up and say I'm God believe in me, that would pretty much ruin the idea of faith, wouldn't it?

There is nothing wrong with ruining what amounts to a pretty bad idea. It seems suspicious to me that the basis of many religious beliefs seems to be that you should believe despite the lack of compelling reasons to do so.

1) Adam and Eve having sex does not mean that they were related in any way. God created Eve from Adam's rib, which does not necessarily mean that they are related in any way. This is more to show that Women is a not separate as man, and should be treated as an equal considering we are from the same person.

Adam and Eve were closely related enough to be able to reproduce, and their descendants would have rapidly succumbed to the effects of inbreeding depression. The story is almost undoubtedly false anyways, but the concept itself is not possible on a genetic level.

2) The Church does not say the Bible is historically accurate, especially the Old Testament. Many parts of the Bible (especially the history of the Jews and exile) are considered accurate as there were various historical documents showing that it is accurate.

I think the Old Testament can be disregarded as allegory. The New Testament I would expect to be (in its details) reasonably faithful to the period during which it was written.

4) God gave humans free choice. Even if the story of Adam and Eve is untrue, this illustrates that humans have always been given free choice, and that even though we chose original sin, God sacrificed himself (since Jesus is part of the Holy Trinity) for our sins.

There is no such thing as absolute free will. Whatever illusions you may hold, human behavior can be generalized and shown to obey certain laws and adhere to certain trends. It so happens, for example, that people have a greater disposition towards murder than they do towards incest. If it exists at all, our will can only be finite. Can you pick an evenly distributed set of random numbers from between 1 and infinity? You cannot. For a similar reason, free will is non-cognitive.

Although we may not have free will, we do have finite will (as I prefer to call it). It seems that god has set a baseline of human behavior that errs towards the side of evil much more than I would have expected, and one that seems to be overly dependent on cultural and environmental influences.

1) Speaking to God is easy, it's called praying.

The difficulty lies in deciding whether you are speaking to a god or whether you are speaking to yourself. The latter seems more likely, as the sum of spiritual experiences amongst the human race is wildly inconsistent. A Muslim speaks to Allah, a Christian speaks to God, an Oracle speaks to The Pantheon, a follower of one of the several New Age religions may speak to the universe itself.

I have a feeling that if speaking to your particular god was as easy as you make it out to be, the world would be quite a different place.

2) If his existence was a secret, how do we know about Him?

As a metacognitive and socially developed race, it is not surprising that human beings tend to attribute intent to everything. At its roots, religion is the result of man struggling to comprehend the world around him.

3) Many people who has seen the divine radiance of God has been blind (such as St. Paul) or were ascended into Heaven.

Surely God is able to reveal his existence in a concrete and non-personal fashion. It is strange that he does not.

4) God chooses specific people for various reasons. I'm not a good enough religious scholar, but usually it is to lead people to repent their sins, get through a very tough time, or something similar.

Considering how many people your god sentences to eternal hellfire each day, it seems unusual that he shows such concern for the people who are going through a "very tough" time.

There's a principle about believing God, it goes something like this:

That "principle" is known as Pascal's wager. It is widely acknowledged as being flawed to the point of being ludicrous and has been demolished time and time again by both believers and non-believers. I do not think it is worth beating this dead horse.

 

[esb]

No I don't believe in God. Altough I believe at some points religion is important in one's life, mainly to keep faith and hope in life and 'keep going'.

Somewhat related pic.

Spoiler

 

[Prometheus]

Fact: God exists because we have chocolate.

 

[Ninva]

I am a Christian. I believe Jesus is Christ who saved me from my sins. I've been granted this faith through the Holy Spirit from God's Word. This entity is part of the triune God. He choose me to follow Jesus into Heaven for all eternity. You may all join me and my fellow believers if you choose so. Or, you may go your separate ways to wherever that path leads. I don't go to this forum to preach, even though I do stand up for what I believe in.

Please, stop the offensive remarks on religious sects and Christianity. I know, when you're old and gray, you'll look for a meaning; you may find it in love, children, art, or literature, or God - whatever makes you happy. I'm fine with that, really. But I believe in God. Please don't crush my existence, which I cling onto.

 

[Seb!]

Eh, all this hellfire stuff is kind of unfair. I respect ethical "atheists" more than I respect moral "theists." Doing the right thing because it's the right thing is much more noble than doing it for a reward.

One thing I do respect about Christianity is the character of Jesus. His unique and universally-applicable message of love is so strong and in contrast to the moral civilization of its time that it almost appears divine. I feel that all other aspects can easily be disproved/rationalized etc.

 

[Varine]

So for the Universalist one, does that mean that murders and people get into heaven if they only killed a few people?

Just hope that you have faith in the correct god / gods / spirit / force / entity.

Well that's what wars are for. Whoever is winning obviously has God on their side and therefore that's the one you pray to. And it would be a lot easier to figure out which one is right if there wasn't that god damn separation of church and state clause.

And what's up with the percentages? I don't think that's really how it works... I'm sure that there is some other factors.

 

[sqrage]

closing this now. It reached the point of offending someone, probably way back on page one even, everyone got a chance to share their ideas but there is too much bashing in here and leaving this open will just result in more of that.