Really another thread about this? This is pretty much where all the debate threads wind up at. Wasn't the theism vs atheism one good enough? It was for me, I said all I have to say in that one.
o/ I don't believe in God, but I believe if believing helps you, then go for it. Just don't force it upon me. /thread
Exactly, I'm not really into blindly believing something. Living in an Italian family (i.e. Christian, as nearly all Italians are), I was happy to have parents who didn't want me to blindly believe in a religion just because it's their own.
Sad to see I'm just now getting in on this. As was stated, none of us (that we know of) can offer up a picture of their vacation to Fiji with the caption, "Me and God chillin' at the pool!" *sigh*....God and I Anyways, the existence of God is a different relevance to each individual. I'm a firm believer that God reveals Himself differently to each person. That is, those folks in countries who never personally hear from a missionary or something of the sort still have ways of knowing the existence of God. Ways include the ever-popular Natural Revelation or the Holy Spirit. All my religious speak aside, it's hard to comment on the subject from an un-biased perspective. I truly feel that, if one seeks a greater being or an originator, he will find that being. I believe that a couple, alone in a forest with enough resources and such to live out their full life, would eventually seek God. It's common to wonder, of course. Some find more evidence in what a man can say. That is, if Bob says that rock "x" is 600,000,000 years old and you believe it, you can't say my faith in a greater being is preposterous. I feel the way I do partly because of my lack of faith in mankind. I've seen him fail; I've seen him lie. Perhaps, I lack faith in mankind because of life experiences. A change in situation could quite possibly reflect on a change of perspective. However, given the times I've trusted in a world without a god compared to those times I've trusted in God, I personally see God as a living existence.
Your God isn't the only God out there though... so like I said, God is a fake, only the image of God is real.
Sorry. I don't support the, "you're wrong," statement as a valid disproving of my beliefs. Unitarianism shouldn't be used as a method of disproving God's existence in the first place. "Everyone has their own God; so, yours is fake, and I'm right." Nahhhh.
Clearly you mistook my words. I'm not saying you have your own God. I'm just saying God is a fake. That, only the image of God is real. I also in no way shape or form said that you're wrong. I just said that your god isn't the only god out their. In as, there's more than one religion that has God-Figures in it. Hell, there's even some religions that have even more than one god!
Do you feel God to not exist because you can't see Him? I'm sure you'll offer a more complex explanation than that, but it usually boils down to the,"Can't see+can't touch=not real." ###EDIT### An apology. I've suffered much idiocy in these forums in times of late. I noticed that you sort generalized me into falacy, and I retorted accordingly. Thank you for responding maturely, and putting me in my place. Now that that bit is over, I'd like to debate properly.
Hey i suggest you guys take a step outside the internet and check out a book. I suggest I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist. It talks about a lot of issues like: is truth real, is God real, how did the universe begin, how did life start, the reliability of the Bible, and other tough questions like these. For you guys who don't like reading scripture don't worry. The book only talks about scriptures when it looks into the reliability of the Bible, which it kinda has to. For those of you who believe in God and Christianity this book can help you back up your answers, and for those of you who don't believe in God what do you have to lose?
No, you're missing the point. I don't believe in god being real because no god has shown me proof that they are real and to my knowledge, the only way to know for sure if there is a good is if I die. I rather not take that chance. The only god that is real is the one people have led others to believe. AKA the image of god. You can go ahead and keep believing that there is a god out there. I'm fine with that. Just know that it's the image of god, and not actually god himself.
Doesn't an image reflect existence? I realize the inconsistency, but I believe that I could show you an image of this website's front page, and you would believe it to be ForgeHub.com. If you're speaking of my God as an ideology rather than a being, that requires a bit more evidence. That idea says that God was made up, meaning that He is not real. If that's the case, then I won't settle for anything less than substantial proof that what those people said wasn't true. The "people led others to believe" bit is why I'm assuming this. You're saying the same "I think those guys were lying" thing, but you're wording it differently.
An image can be easily be made up in someones head. I don't think you realize how easy it was for people back then to just start up a religion. I mean, sure, not all religion from the old times are around today... but all of the well thought out ones are. If you showed me an image of Forgehub.com then yes, I would believe that is in fact forgehub.com. But it was a bad idea on your half to pick it. Because you're comparing a man-made image to God. Assuming you believe that both are in the same ball park then you're saying that God is man-made. However, I'm saying that people made the image of God. And yes, I am basically saying that. But that is why people believe in what they think is right. They believe in their own images of god.
Correct- it was a poor analogy, which is why I noted that I recognized the inconsistency. I was hurrying, and it showed. Anyways, if that is your view, then the same can be said of everything else, can it not? Evolution, as a basis of origin, can be called an image. After all, we both know that a majority of those that follow it have not personally researched fossil dates and supportive historical records. Even better, the scientists in question have no way of proving that particular date. They can't compare the details of a rock to another rock that is 100,000,000 years old because they can't prove that either of those rocks existed that long ago. By that reasoning, I cannot foresee that you believe in anything. After all, it would be awfully illogical of you to apply that reasoning only to God. I am at a crossroad.
You should never rush anything. And yes, of course it can. A lot of what people see as real things could in fact not be real at all. Just an image of an image (It's way more complex than one may think though). RadioCarbonDating is what they call it. That's how the know the ages of rocks. (and other various stuff) What I believe in has nothing really to do with the topic at hand. Which is if God is real or not. Truth be told, he could be real... but there's no real proof that he is real.
And that is the stone that kills the bird. I said, in my own words, the same thing. To suggest the facts offered to be a bit absurd is absolutely correct. A virgin having a child that is the son of a great being that created everything- yeah, I can see the difficulty. I choose to believe it for my own reasons, similar to yourself. I was only perturbed by the fact that you somewhat disregarded God as a possibility, not that you disagreed.
A stone that could kill two birds is a very big stone. Agreed. It takes faith to believe in something like that. Which is why it's good to have it. Faith is the core of every religion. Not books, not other people, not god, nothing but your own thoughts. --And yes, sure, those things are a given in most religions... but like I said... faith is where it's at. Because with out faith, those other things are basically meaningless. Which is good, basically what I just said... And you're right I do somewhat disregard God as a possibility. For me anyways. It's just not what I believe in.
I have no religon but heres my thoughts. science makes more sense than religous views. Don't people who believe in creationism believe the world was created 6,000 years ago? What about carbon dating? That proves the earth is much older than 6000 years. Noahs ark? Think of how much bacteria and other monocellular organisms there are. You can't get all of those on a boat. Evolution? There are pictures of that. There are pictures of matching our DNA with a monkey's and comparing them and pictures of certain genes mutating. Mutating proves evolution (sort of).