Does anyone actually believe in God or are they just afraid...

[Lucrum]

Does anyone actually believe in God or are they just afraid of the personal ridicule they would receive if they said they didn't?

There are absolutely people who believe. I grew up being surrounded by them.

I can't imagine too many people now a days being afraid of saying they don't believe in God.
In certain circles it's even encouraged and applauded.

I can imagine a desperate women willing to say nearly anything to get a steady boyfriend though.

 

[Joe]

I could easily see there being a creator. It's possible though that thing is no longer with us. If we bread animals and released them into the wild they may think to themselves that we are gods, but we pass just like them.

Also it's often said that god sent Jesus so that he could forgive our sins. I find this a troubling statement, when God being all powerful would have to send someone for this to happen. God creates the rules, he doesn't need to send anyone for us to be forgiven.

 

[futurecurrents]

Well, there are no such thing as atheists, IMO. Agnostics, yes. Atheists, no.

Many folks answer "belief in God" from a reflex of their upbringing.

Personally, I am uncomfortable with the ideas of both adamant atheists (so-called) and adamant theists for roughly the same reason.

Atheists (so-called) think they have a definitive answer to one of humanity's oldest questions, yet they cannot answer a question like - what are the natures and types of life forms in, say, Andromeda. How they then manage to make the leap to a definitive answer about God is beyond me....

Theists (IMO) tend to anthropomorphize God, ascribing their own human characteristics. This ego-centric tendency makes God small. And I don't even think most realize they are diminshing the concept of God.

Also, when it comes to God - are they talking about a "personal/interventionist" God (the "I want a bike for Christmas" God)?
Or an impersonal God (Spinoza - this was what Einstein believed in when he said "He doesn't play dice with the universe").

Or something else...?

Yes there are. I am one. I am as certain that there is no God as any fact I know.

 

[fan27]

absolutely..

although faith can be simple or complex.... whether the religious or the sports kind ...

faith is a paradox... faith seems to require faith.
evidence of faith can be seen when one acts in faith on a promise or a belief.
good things seem to happen to those who confidently act in faith.
the subject goes far deeper and wider.. I could spend a career connecting performance and faith the zone and religions together.

but then perhaps this guy has figured a lot of the puzzle out...
I am concerned I am doing the reverse Slomo.



<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Xn87-mcnoVc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Slomo is God!

 

[WaveStrider]

Recall the line in the Bible

Isaiah 55:8-9
New International Version (NIV)
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.


The "to save us from our sins" is the pat answer given in church and sunday school - the rote memorization to be accepted without much critical thought.

But "My thoughts are not your thoughts" means that the first explanation that you think up for "why" (like - Why the crucifixion?) is pretty much guaranteed to be wrong - because you are thinking from your ego-centric, human point of view.

Applying your (usual) thought process is to create God in your own image.

So the first inclination you have - discard it. And start the process of thought over again. Some things that are paradoxes may instead start to resolve themselves if you start to see things differently (at least to a personal level of comfort - because that's all it is supposed to be about).

Why do I think there are no atheists? Because of a 3-letter word (no, not "God"...)

Because an atheist will say "There is no verifiable proof of the existence of God."
But the problem is, the more honest sentence is: "There is no verifiable proof of the existence of God - yet."

Yet means "possible". It does not require degree of possibility - just possible.
"Possible" is Agnosticism, not Atheism.
The only way an atheist can truly finish the sentence is: "There is no verifiable proof of the existence of God - now or ever."

Which means he/she can see for all time into the future.

Good luck.

 

[stu]

This may explain why a person, who does not have the subjective evidence that you do, finds faith in infinite universes and random chance easier than faith in a creator.

Which suggests faith often isn't all it's jacked up to be.

 

[stu]

I could easily see there being a creator.

But why would you.

 

[FortuneTeller]

But why would you.

Because the Universe itself is too stupid to create itself. It had to come from some kind of intelligence.

Next time you look at a rock ask yourself if that rock created itself even though it has no intelligence. After you answer yourself, ask the question again. You might become enlightened by your answer.

 

[stu]

Because the Universe itself is too stupid to create itself. It had to come from some kind of intelligence.

You're saying it takes intelligence to create a stupid universe. That doesn't really work, does it.

 

[fan27]

A lot of the debate centers around the idea that the universe was "created". My thought is it has always existed in one form or another and when the conditions are right, life comes into being. The issue is our minds are hard wired to think a linear manner. The concept of something having always existed does not work well with a "beginning/middle/end" model.

fan27