POLL: Is belief in God due to a failed search for meaning in life and fear of death?

Is belief in God the result of a failed search for meaning in life and fear of death?

  • Yes

    Votes: 25 50.0%

  • No

    Votes: 25 50.0%
  • Total voters
    50
I am a deist. I believe in a creator, in whatever form or shape it existed.

I am less sure of the moral and ethical connections to that force, for I have seen wickedness that calls into question much of what organized religion of all flavors espouses - wickedness among men and nature itself.

As for the afterlife, I would be lying and/or delusional to pretend to know what awaits us after our bodies expire. I think whether there is or is not an afterlife, mankind tends to gravitate towards a belief that there is because it comforts them and relieves them (to what degree is a matter of debate, and degree of their faith in such a belief) of the fear of the unknown.

Time and space (and physics) are essential topics of debate in theology as the strongest rebuttal to deism is the mere question of 'what preceded the creator?'
 
Why must something have preceded a creator?



Quote from ByLoSellHi:

I am a deist. I believe in a creator, in whatever form or shape it existed.

I am less sure of the moral and ethical connections to that force, for I have seen wickedness that calls into question much of what organized religion of all flavors espouses - wickedness among men and nature itself.

As for the afterlife, I would be lying and/or delusional to pretend to know what awaits us after our bodies expire. I think whether there is or is not an afterlife, mankind tends to gravitate towards a belief that there is because it comforts them and relieves them (to what degree is a matter of debate, and degree of their faith in such a belief) of the fear of the unknown.

Time and space (and physics) are essential topics of debate in theology as the strongest rebuttal to deism is the mere question of 'what preceded the creator?'
More...
 
Quote from OPTIONAL777:

Why must something have preceded a creator?
More...

I'm not saying it must.

I said that this is one of the strongest rebuttals to a deistic belief, IMO, because it's difficult for me and maybe others to contemplate a lack of a beginning in a physical universe that is constantly expanding outward.
 
We really don't know that the entire universe is expanding, do we?

Maybe parts are contracting?

My argument is pretty simple. The universe is actual.

What is actual is preceded ever time by the potential to be actual. That is an axiom that I don't think is in dispute.

The potential of the universe exists, even if the universe ceases to exist.

Many empiricists are bound by the concept and belief that only the physical that can be perceived by the senses is real, but no empiricist can tell you what the size, smell, feel, color, etc. of the very concept they are embracing is...

They are experiencing and accepting as real a concept they cannot prove to be real with a sensory bound empirical approach...

It is really quite funny, when you think about it.

The empiricist employs the mental field to say the physical field is all that exists, then they try to use the mental field to verify that is too must be physical because they experience it...though not with their senses.

No one has seen, touched, smelled, heard, of felt an idea, concept, or belief system with their senses...

They verify the theory of empiricism with the very same instrument they cannot measure with empiricism...

This is why I suggest that the logic the atheists employ is ultimately circular...and in denial of their own human nature.


Quote from ByLoSellHi:

I'm not saying it must.

I said that this is one of the strongest rebuttals to a deistic belief, IMO, because it's difficult for me and maybe others to contemplate a lack of a beginning in a physical universe that is constantly expanding outward.
More...
 
You've made an appeal for the the actual.... followed by an inference to abandon the actual

Brilliant.


Quote from OPTIONAL777:

We really don't know that the entire universe is expanding, do we?

Maybe parts are contracting?

My argument is pretty simple. The universe is actual.

What is actual is preceded ever time by the potential to be actual. That is an axiom that I don't think is in dispute.

The potential of the universe exists, even if the universe ceases to exist.

Many empiricists are bound by the concept and belief that only the physical that can be perceived by the senses is real, but no empiricist can tell you what the size, smell, feel, color, etc. of the very concept they are embracing is...

They are experiencing and accepting as real a concept they cannot prove to be real with a sensory bound empirical approach...

It is really quite funny, when you think about it.

The empiricist employs the mental field to say the physical field is all that exists, then they try to use the mental field to verify that is too must be physical because they experience it...though not with their senses.

No one has seen, touched, smelled, heard, of felt an idea, concept, or belief system with their senses...

They verify the theory of empiricism with the very same instrument they cannot measure with empiricism...

This is why I suggest that the logic the atheists employ is ultimately circular...and in denial of their own human nature.
More...
 
Quote from OPTIONAL777:

What are ideas and concepts made of?

What about advanced abstract concepts in math? What physical components is math composed of?
More...

Some say the conscious mind could be an electromagnetic field created by firing neurons.
 
Quote from Thunderdog:

I understand your view, and your rationale has some merit to a point. But how do you explain the belief in an afterlife of one kind or another, which is a feature of all of the major religions?
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I'm not sure of the appropriate reference (Durkheim?), but a popular theory in anthropology is that the idea of an afterlife was a solution to two different mysteries that have always confronted human beings; namely, the "endless sleep" of death, and the "other world" of dreams. Put the two ideas together and you get a permanent journey to the dream world after death.
 
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