Do you believe in God and why

[gunderhill]

if  your'e  going to believe in a god you may as  well "believe"  absolutely  anything you are told.

My God is a 3  inch pencil called Veronica and you can't  prove otherwise, it has as  much evidence as your  god so  must be placed on an equal footing.

You  must not mock my  god and you must respect my "belief"

[mauGR1]

2 minutes ago, joecoolfrog said:

Its all fun mate.

No probs, now, just to make things clear, do you believe in god, and why ?

[mauGR1]

4 minutes ago, gunderhill said:

if  your'e  going to believe in a god you may as  well "believe"  absolutely  anything you are told.

My God is a 3  inch pencil called Veronica and you can't  prove otherwise, it has as  much evidence as your  god so  must be placed on an equal footing.

You  must not mock my  god and you must respect my "belief"

Yes , i believe your god is a pencil called Veronica, nothing weird with that ????

[gunderhill]

Just now, mauGR1 said:

Yes , i believe your god is a pencil called Veronica, nothing weird with that ????

Good,  now can you give me 20$  to  help  build a  shiny temple to worship my  god?

Weird = anyone "believing"  with zero evidence,  just  look how  many people actually  do   this, it's a  pretty sad state  of  affairs.

[mauGR1]

1 minute ago, gunderhill said:

Good,  now can you give me 20$  to  help  build a  shiny temple to worship my  god?

Weird = anyone "believing"  with zero evidence,  just  look how  many people actually  do   this, it's a  pretty sad state  of  affairs.

If you want money from me, you had to come yesterday.

There are sad things in this world, i agree, but it's worth imo to focus on the positives.

[gunderhill]

4 hours ago, mauGR1 said:

If you want money from me, you had to come yesterday.

There are sad things in this world, i agree, but it's worth imo to focus on the positives.

As  long as that positive does  not  involve believing nonsensical mystical beings, go right  ahead.

How  about $10  tomorrow?

[1FinickyOne]

21 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Even more importantly...Neither do THEY. Not one person I've ever asked to explain describe and tell me what IT is...not one has ever been successful. They have no clue. Sometimes they utter some nonsense. No clue. They have no idea what they are referring to, nor why they believe it...so much as why I should believe it.  

good job on the research. i never ask. i guess i am aftaid they might tell me. 

[steven100]

I don't believe in any god. However, i also can't figure out how or when man was created .... it must have been millions ofyears ago.

[Grusa]

18 hours ago, ballpoint said:

And this all knowing, all seeing god that you are hedging your bets against won't be able to see through your little ploy?

Not mine. Pascals.

[marcusarelus]

11 minutes ago, Grusa said:

Not mine. Pascals.

Pascal was a pretty smart guy but I believe he lived about 400 years ago. Most 12 year olds now know more. 

[Grusa]

4 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Pascal was a pretty smart guy but I believe he lived about 400 years ago. Most 12 year olds now know more. 

So far as I can tell, most 12yos know practically nothing about anything, certainly compared to 50, 30, or even 20 years ago. 400years? Of course Pascal knew nothing about many of the things we now take for granted, but I am quite sure he knew more about the subject of this thread than any modern 12yo, and most modern adults.

[xylophone]

Is God willing to prevent Evil, but not able?

Then he is not omnipotent.

Is God able, but not willing?

Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing?

Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing?

Then why call him God?

[Damrongsak]

I sorta "believe" in that which is called God, in a way.  Simply because there are things beyond our understanding or rational thought.  As a teenager in a despondent mood, I looked in a mirror and thought "what if there is nothing". I wished for nothingness, obliteration.  But nothing is something ,  and cannot be. I think I short-circuited my mind and fell into the abyss.  That started me on the path to Buddhism. A <What the Fudge

> moment.

Nowadays, I don't expect much.  Just walk softly on the earth and do no harm.  Perhaps some day I will exert a bit more effort and get to the next level of wisdom. 

[ballpoint]

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

I don't believe in any god. However, i also can't figure out how or when man was created .... it must have been millions ofyears ago.

All present day mammals evolved from the small creatures that survived the dinosaur extinction, around 65 million years ago -  The forebears of the primates included.  The Great Apes branched off from the gibbons 15 million years ago, and the Hominins (of which only our species remains) from the chimpanzees around 5.5 million years ago.

 

If that doesn't seem a long enough time, then remember that the smaller ancestors would be breeding very quickly, so a generation gap would be as small as a year, giving plenty of time for mutation and adaptation to take place.  Even if the generation gap were 20 years, similar to present day humans, then consider that if, say, the length of the nose increased by 0.5mm between generations then, after 100 years / 5 generations, they would be 2.5mm longer.  And 25 mm longer after 1000 years.  And 25m longer after 1,000,000 years.  And 1.625km long after 65.5 million years.  It would be rather hard to see any change between grandmother, mother and daughter, but the end result is very apparent, which perfectly describes how species evolve.  Little change between generations, but a great deal of change over time.

[Kasane]

On 4/4/2019 at 1:32 AM, lannarebirth said:

I don't think he does, but let's say he's got a shred. Just a shred mind you. Is that going to change anything?

 

On 4/14/2019 at 11:46 PM, CMNightRider said:

It is difficult to believe anyone who has read the Bible would not believe it is the word of God.  The Bible is scientifically accurate (Joe 26:7) (Isaiah 40:22).

 

The Bible is historically accurate (Daniel 5:29) as an example.

 

The Bible is made up of 66 books, written by at least 40 different authors, in 13 different countries on three different continents.  It was written in three different languages by people of all professions.  The Bible doesn't contradict itself theologically, morally, ethically, doctrinally, scientifically, historically, or in any other way.  It was written over a span of approximately 1500 years.

 

The Bible is the only book in the world that has accurate prophecy.  Jesus Christ died for our sins, and will forgive all those who ask for forgiveness and believes in Him.  Jesus confirmed the Bible was accurate and the word of God, when He walked the earth.

 

It takes about 70 hours to read the Bible.  This is the most important book anyone could possibly ever read.  I'm not going to waste my time responding to silly comments or questions.  

 

 <removed>

It is not difficult to believe if you have an open mind. I do not want anyone to die for my sins, let alone put that burden on god. 

[transam]

2 minutes ago, Kasane said:

 

It is not difficult to believe if you have an open mind. I do not want anyone to die for my sins, let alone put that burden on god. 

Hitler gave him a very big burden.....????

[Kasane]

5 minutes ago, transam said:

Hitler gave him a very big burden.....????

And so would you and me.

 

[hansnl]

On 4/14/2019 at 9:32 PM, Benroon said:

No it is clearly utter lunacy but if it provides comfort for others then I'm happy for them!

 

Years ago they use to say live by the bible, however when it was forensically pulled apart and one disciple (John maybe ?) was found to be around 200 years old when he died they switched to you shouldn't take everything literally. We also know that a virgin birth didn't happen don't we so the whole thing is based on madness.

 

I would love to take comfort in something like this but come on ….

What has God to do with Jesus?

I believe in one, the other not!

[transam]

1 minute ago, Kasane said:

And so would you.

Why would I be a burden to a "god"...?

[Lacessit]

On 4/16/2019 at 8:06 AM, NotYourBusiness said:

 

And how much of that is lifetime conditioning and learned survival skills rather than genetics? If I grew up in a tribe my whole life, I can guarantee that I could survive as long as a native.

 

And conversely, if an Aboriginal grew up in London his whole life, wasn't conditioned, didn't learn outback survival skills, he also would not survive. There is no question that genetics plays a role, but not as much as you might believe. I say again that we are all remarkably similar and there is a reason.

Aboriginals can smell water. I've seen them do it. Permit me to doubt even with lifelong acclimatization, you could achieve the same ability.

Possibly your great grandchildren could evolve that facility, although it's a scary thought that your line would go that far.

[gunderhill]

1 hour ago, Damrongsak said:

do no harm

This  is  just another  human construct. 

[Jimbo1964]

Religion is a form of control, it also gives some people stature and wealth. Worst of all it makes people think they are better than anything else on this planet, which is why they are happy to kill / destroy other creatures that co-inhabit the planet without a second thought.

Not to mention of course the millions of people that have been killed, murdered, raped, torchered, disfigured etc in God's /  Allah's or whatever you want to call the invisible persons name.

 

So I'm happy not believing in a god that would allow all that to happen in their name. Because if it exists. It's not really a nice god is it. More satanic really. 

[NotYourBusiness]

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Aboriginals can smell water. I've seen them do it. Permit me to doubt even with lifelong acclimatization, you could achieve the same ability.

Possibly your great grandchildren could evolve that facility, although it's a scary thought that your line would go that far.

Water, in it's pure form, has no smell, but it is possible they are detecting humidity or the impurities in groundwater. And as I already said, I don't think the Londoner could do it, as that would be a learned skill, honed since birth.

 

My friend says he detects water with his divining rod, and sometimes he has, so can I assume you believe him? 

 

Please get back on topic, and personal insults merely shows everyone your weakening position. DNA scientists agree that we are highly similar, much more so than any other species, and much more so than would be expected from an evolution hypothesis. Do you agree?

 

From The Smithsonian:

 

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics

"People today look remarkably diverse on the outside. But how much of this diversity is genetically encoded? How deep are these differences between human groups? First, compared with many other mammalian species, humans are genetically far less diverse – a counterintuitive finding, given our large population and worldwide distribution. For example, the subspecies of the chimpanzee that lives just in central Africa, Pan troglodytes troglodytes, has higher levels of diversity than do humans globally, and the genetic differentiation between the western (P. t. verus) and central (P. t. troglodytes) subspecies of chimpanzees is much greater than that between human populations. "

 

Please take up your petty argument with them, not me thanks.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎4‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 2:38 AM, quandow said:

I believe life had some sort of intelligent design, and as I've pulled human remains out of a submerged plane crash and observed the lack of life, there is something about humans having a soul. It's even been weighed. As much as the method used to weigh the soul was sloppy science, I think the bible is sloppy narrative. Jesus was a short dark guy, not the European with flowing brown hair currently selling His book. It's been rewritten so many times with so many inconsistencies that it's difficult to fathom anyone taking it 100% seriously. There ARE many good parables, the lessons are good standards to apply to your walk through life. Do I believe we were created? Yes. Do I believe in the Judeo-Christian interpretation of God? No.

IMO, there is a difference between believing in something greater than what we can see, and religion. 

Religion was created by the men in funny hats so they had power and got rich. By their actions they certainly didn't believe in what they preached.

If someone can give me an explanation for how matter just came into existence to create the universe and everything in it, I'll accept there is no god, but they can't, so the possibility exists.

 

Where the atheist logic falls down is that they have no explanation for how everything came into existence, and can only attack the false, IMO, image of an old man on a throne in the sky judging us, and sending us to heaven or hell. If it is so, everyone is going to hell.

[thaibeachlovers]

58 minutes ago, Jimbo1964 said:

Religion is a form of control, it also gives some people stature and wealth. Worst of all it makes people think they are better than anything else on this planet, which is why they are happy to kill / destroy other creatures that co-inhabit the planet without a second thought.

Not to mention of course the millions of people that have been killed, murdered, raped, torchered, disfigured etc in God's /  Allah's or whatever you want to call the invisible persons name.

 

So I'm happy not believing in a god that would allow all that to happen in their name. Because if it exists. It's not really a nice god is it. More satanic really. 

It is certainly possible to believe in a god that created everything, but doesn't have a "hands on" attitude, so leaving humans to do whatever they want, for good or ill.

 

[NotYourBusiness]

35 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It is certainly possible to believe in a god that created everything, but doesn't have a "hands on" attitude, so leaving humans to do whatever they want, for good or ill.

 

This is good and getting close. The world is exactly how it needs to be if God's promises are true. Example: no one could receive a crown of long-suffering if there was never any long-suffering.

 

The problems of this world are not due to Satan,, and anyone that says so, even if it is Billy Graham himself, lacks understanding.

[mauGR1]

11 minutes ago, NotYourBusiness said:

Example: no one could receive a crown of long-suffering if there was never any long-suffering.

 

I generally agree with your post, but can you expand on this ?

[NotYourBusiness]

2 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

I generally agree with your post, but can you expand on this ?

Certainly sir. A good example is the parable of the man born blind:

 

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."

 

See? The world has been cruel to this man born blind, the obvious response would be that this was a work of Satan, yet Jesus didn't say that. He said "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.".

 

Question: what the heck does that mean? Answer this question and you will understand the world.

[jvs]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Where the atheist logic falls down is that they have no explanation for how everything came into existence,

And you do?

[Humpy]

It has been said that religion is the nearest thing to madness. Looking around the World today and having fought in religious conflicts I'm inclined to agree the statement !