GOD: How much do you believe in him?

[NMH]

my point is that the god described by others on here, is a 'god of the gaps' and the gaps are getting less and less as we learn more. There will always be things we don't understand as science is a process of improving hypotheses. But why praise the bit we don't know.

there could well be a creator but there is no evidence for it so why believe it

I completely understand what you are saying, but for me the "evidence" IS there, and it is not only before your very eyes but behind your very eyes and is your very eyes.
The life force, your very existence and every function of your mostly-liquid being, is of God. Your freedom to choose and search for meaning without is also down to your creation as a being, and you are moving at all times through the complete structure of nature.
All provisions act around and within you according to nature. It does have rules of course, but you can make decisions within those rules.
i.e. you must breath and eat and drink, but how you decide to do those things is up to you.
You can choose a smoke, a glass of wine, and a curry.
I'm thinking about having chicken, or a veggie pizza.

 

[Mr Burns]

I'm reading the ESV because it's in plane English unlike the KJV and others. My main belief of why God definitely exists or more over why the devil exists is because of all the corruption, greed, worship of money, war and many other bad things and evil that goes on in this world. It is said that the devil is the prince of this world and it's pretty easy to see why when so much suffering goes on unnoticed. We have been given the bible and all the teachings of Jesus on a plate and all we have to do is follow the commandments and the teachings of jesus to enter heaven. And yet how many people can put there hands up and say they follow all these things, not many i'm sure, not even the most devout. But to come close is on the right path. But the devil puts so much temptation in the world it is easier to follow the devil than it is God. So to answer your question I believe there is a god, devil, heaven and hell because this world is a testing ground for 80 yrs (average human years) to see if you are good enough to go to heaven or like the many you will indeed not be worthy to get to heaven.

So what about the millions of babies that die each year? How does that work with them getting into heaven..... let me guess, they are taken by default. So what about a child that dies before reaching double figures? Default again.... where does it stop? Or do you have to have lived on the earth for X amount of years to quailify for a place in heaven?

 

[Mr Burns]

I'm thinking about having chicken, or a veggie pizza.

Why not combine the two. Feel will allows you to do that. Two great tastes in one

 

[DerbyGull]

...Am i right in thinking that if you believe in god and himbeing the creator of the world, then by default you must believe that dinosaurs didnt exist? Is that right or have i got myself REALLY CONFUSED.

Nope, God created EVERYTHING including the dinosaurs and APES. Don't take Adam and Eve LITERALLY! Humans didn't arrive until millions of years after the dinosaurs had gone.

 

[DerbyGull]

So what about the millions of babies that die each year? How does that work with them getting into heaven..... let me guess, they are taken by default. So what about a child that dies before reaching double figures? Default again.... where does it stop? Or do you have to have lived on the earth for X amount of years to quailify for a place in heaven?

They haven't had a chance to sin, so how can they go anywhere else but heaven!

 

[Mr Burns]

They haven't had a chance to sin, so how can they go anywhere else but heaven!

So how comes they go straight to heaven, whilst the rest of us are left on earth to prove ourselves? Why are they not tested?

 

[Mr Burns]

Nope, God created EVERYTHING including the dinosaurs and APES. Don't take Adam and Eve LITERALLY! Humans didn't arrive until millions of years after the dinosaurs had gone.

So we are not in gods image as the bible suggusts then? And how did we "arrive" here?

 

[bhaexpress]

So we are not in gods image as the bible suggusts then? And how did we arrive here?

That might explain why Palace fans look like a pig baboon hybrid with an IQ to match.

 

[drew]

Have been away so can't be arsed to read the whole thread so apologies if repeating what has already been said. My view depends on what you think God actually is. Is it a word to describe fate? ie fate saw the amalgamations of a hotch potch of elements and one of those concoctions proved to be primordial soup. Or is it an intelligence that controls and dictates what happens to everything and everyone. If you believe the latter then you are thinking along the lines that what you do during your three score and ten determines what happens to you after you die. You will also probably believe that you can pray to get 'God' to give you a helping hand along the way. My view is that God is just another name for fate and it doesn't matter how hard you pray nothing external is going to change whatever will be. Furthermore, when you die, that's it. There is no glorious afterlife for your soul to wander around for eternity. Take out praying and the afterlife and religion of any colour is nothing.

Having said that, if there is a God that can influence events then his actions suggest that he is not worthy of my respect and subservience. How can you worship a power that allows innocent children to suffer yet allows low lifes to live a life of riley. They will get their cumuppence in the afterlife I hear some of you shout. Well it seems that if they say sorry when at the gates then all is forgiven anyway.

So, to summarise, it's just a crock of shit.

 

[seagullmouse]

Where did hovagirl and ty go,they were more fun!

 

[DTES]

So how comes they go straight to heaven, whilst the rest of us are left on earth to prove ourselves? Why are they not tested?

The assumption "if there is a god, he couldn't possibly be a massive, omnipotent, omnipresent bastard" always makes me laugh. Arguments over right/wrong/moral/immoral have no bearing on the "does he exist" debate at all.

(No, he doesn't, btw...)

 

[Brian Fantana]

I do believe in God, but don't try and impose those beliefs on others.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Don't take Adam and Eve LITERALLY!

This is essentially the problem with all religion, in that any passage can be interpreted in any number of ways, hence all religions have various factions. Christianity has some 33,000 denominations, each with their own take on the Bible.

 

[Mr Burns]

I do believe in God, but don't try and impose those beliefs on others.

That's cool. I think if people keep themselves to themselves, then how can anyone have a problem with them. Its the ones that splurt a load of bullshit, because the bible says its right. I know someone who lives with the Jesus army. One of the nicest blokes you could meet, and a great way to live, if you want to live that way. He seems happy on the surface, but he was completey at breaking point when he "found" them. But if you want to live by the book, great, but logic says deep deep down, you can't possibily think its real, even if you choose to live that way. But if beleiving in god makes your life better for you, then go for it.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Nope, God created EVERYTHING including the dinosaurs and APES. Don't take Adam and Eve LITERALLY! Humans didn't arrive until millions of years after the dinosaurs had gone.

I thought on the last day he created life...which included adam and eve.

Thus skipping the whole dinosuar bit

 

[brunswick]

the atheists can never answer what created the big bang. for them it is always matter, and never consciousness.
some even think consciousness came from sea bacteria as this is the dogma school gave them....hehe.

as above, so below - we live in an illusion - we all share a unmoveable essence. What is behind this is unsure to tell - but it is more likely some form of consciousness than not. Gnostic, Platonic, Hermetic, Sufi, Taoist, Tantric, Pythagorean, and Qabalistic theosophies all go with this too.

without an understanding of mystic or occult principles, theosophy, and practical work, it is near impossible to have any glimpse at higher realms.

mainstream religions are about controlling large amounts of people, i prefer to seek answers elsewhere.

the word God in the bible is miss translation from Hebrew - so is Lord, this is how asleep people are, they do not even know this. God is certainly not male, research what the word ELOHIM actually means in Hebrew. Genesis is Qabalistic.

many great inventions and leaps in our species where from the great alchemists.

 

[DTES]

That's cool. I think if people keep themselves to themselves, then how can anyone have a problem with them.

Almost 100% agree with you - depending on how you define "themselves". If you literally mean as individuals, giving their own kids free reign to learn about all religions (and non-religious points of view) and decide for themselves then this is absolutely spot on.

But if a religious individual forces their child to take on a religion before the age that they are able to decide (be that through 'mere' indoctrination or through [insert less controversial word than mutilation here]) then that is still a massive problem. A child's right to choose far outweighs the parent's "right" to choose for them. IMHO, like.

 

[Mr Burns]

The assumption "if there is a god, he couldn't possibly be a massive, omnipotent, omnipresent bastard" always makes me laugh. Arguments over right/wrong/moral/immoral have no bearing on the "does he exist" debate at all.

(No, he doesn't, btw...)

Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do.. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! ..But He loves you.

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he 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? - Epicurus

 

[DTES]

the atheists can never answer what created the big bang. for them it is always matter, and never consciousness.

What a simply bizarre statement. There are many theories on what caused the big bang - and just because none of them involve a consciousness you simply ignore them/state that they don't count as answers? How odd.

 

[DerbyGull]

So how comes they go straight to heaven, whilst the rest of us are left on earth to prove ourselves? Why are they not tested?

You could say they are the lucky ones, though that sounds cruel as they never had a chance at some of the joys of life, they also never had a chance to do good or bad. When some one dies we're (christians) supposed to believe it's because god 'took them'. And because they never had a chance to commit sin (the thing that keeps us from being in gods presence (being in heaven) when we die) then they will go strainght to heaven possibly to be 'sent back' by god to have another chance.