Help .. A Serious Question

I would like to preface this thread by stating that this is a serious question.

How can someone believe in God?

I have a university education and evolution is as far as I have studied is correct. There are dozens if not hundreds of transitional fossils, and new ones found all the time. 14-15 found just in the last few months. I am not a big fan of Darwin and his literature but I have read them. The forces of natural selection are obvious and easy to see. You just have to think of the battle between antibiotics and bacteria. Why do you think doctors insist on you taking the whole round of antibiotics? There have been hundreds of Gods people have believed in over our collective history. Most are not believed in anymore ie, Zeus, Apollo, etc. They had faithful followers like the ones today. What makes them wrong and the ones today any more credible? Is it just because their believers are still around? Zeus and the Catholic God have the same amount of evidence of their existence…zero. I understand that some people see miracles where others do not. What is the difference in perception? Only one can be correct. Is there a correlation between education level and having faith? Is seems like the more education someone has the less likely they are to have faith. If that is so what does that say about the validity of faith.

I know faith is something either you have or do not, but the same thing can be said about schizophrenia. It seems like science has answered a lot of the questions that faith filled in the past. Science cannot answer everything but it has concrete methodology to examine it. I understand that the idea of an afterlife is comforting and appealing. I see some of the faithful living more for after their corporeal death than the time they have on Earth. That line of reasoning seems insane as there is no proof besides anecdotal evidence of Heaven or Hell. They might be wasting their life they have here. Or are they? What makes people dismiss evidence in favor of faith, because the evidence points to the cold hard fact that we are alone in this universe. We are stardust, billion year old carbon. Not a warm and fuzzy thought but reality does not have to be..I guess. Am I missing the calling? Can I not hear the grandeur of God? I can’t see it… If there is a God and don’t believe and I going to Hell? I have hurt no one in my life and love my children, but does my lack of faith make me evil?

 

You believe there's evil, right? That's provable...happens every day. What's so hard about believing in the opposite?
All in what you choose to see.

 

Evil is a choice that someone makes, so is being good. How does that help in the God issue. So by that line of thinking..satan makes you do evil and God makes you do good??

 

If they are happy in their faith, why would anyone care? If you are happy without it, it does not bother me. I see no wasting of life just because someone has faith and goes to church, etc.

I can think of very few things that are more of a waste of life than typing messages on an internet forum. But, it can be a pleasant diversion at times so why not.

 

In my opinion if someone spends time doing activities that go towards a falsehood I would consider that a waste of time, or at least of effort. I consider what is true important and what is untrue unimportant. People are free to chase their tails as much as they want but it's a waste, even if they want to do it. Nothing unreal exists.

 

And yet I still ponder why you would waste time being concerned about how someone else chooses to spend their lives. If they get joy out of it and do no harm, what does it matter? Religion does a lot of good things (and of course some bad). Just as science does.

I have often entertained the thought that a lack of religion is often just as much of a religion as religion. It certainly has its zealots and its preachers and often its intolerance.

 

People can do whatever they want. They have free will and do what makes them happy. So by that idea nothing is a waste of time. So by that line of reasoning those people are not concerned with what is ultimately true or false.. "whatever" is their mindset. I do not judge them as any other than people and people do some crazy things...so be it. My point is the pursuit of what is true and what is false. Not the subjective view some people have. I am just trying to get some ideas to my original posting.

 

An interesting question that can't be answered IMHO.

I'm not a church goer. Never have been and had that choice as a child. I chose not to go.
I was married in a Lutheran church. My wife was raised Lutheran and has gone through a few other phases as well.

Bottom line with me is who cares? I suppose that is a reach to some. I also figure that's part of the reason this world is such a messed up place.
Religion has caused a lot of trouble through the ages but what if we didn't have it?
Would it be better? I doubt it sincerely.

 

And this and other statements are why I made my statement about non-religion being a lot like religion.

Peace out.

 

Why cant you believe in a God and Evolution? If God is just that a God and created the universe etc then by thet very definition he/she/it should be able to create evolution suerley and to give mankind the desire to unravel the secrets of the universe

 

I don't mean to do any damage to your reputations De Orc and Stu, but I find myself agreeing with you both.

One who hasn't felt God's presence in their life isn't listening.

 

Stujoe... rationality is not a belief or religion. Rationality is the study of what is real and appropriate. Faith is not needed, just a keen mind.

Only sheep need a Sheppard

 

I have been thinking about this quite a lot in the past few days and have come to some personal conclusions.

I am going to stick with what is real and not imaginary. I am a Atheist and proud of it.

Responding to a previous post ... God is God so he/she/it can do anything to fool us into believing in Science or anything else he/she/it wants. Therefore evolution and God can coexist. Seems like an incredible cop out. Why have the need for a big super being when everything can be explained without bringing the supernatural into it. Needless complexity as I see it. Faith is something somebody has in things that do not exist. Why would a God not just show themselves. Do something…anything? Simple reason they are not there. Religion has made faith for some strange reason a virtue, a virtue of false reasoning. Organized religion is just a form of control over the masses…nothing more. Belief in things that do not exist is a disorder and is harmful to our overall human condition.

There is an obvious tip off that the whole religion thing is bunk… drum roll please ….. There are hundreds of them. All different claiming different Gods are true. Each believing the others is wrong and misguided. Ding, Ding, Ding…that should give you a clue.

Somebody’s feelings are not real to anybody else. They are not real in any sense of the word. It is just coordinated firings of Dendrites in your brain. Nothing unreal exists. There are many forms of brain disorders that can account for hallucinations and impaired judgment. You can get a 100 people in a room (let’s say church) that share the same delusion and it still does not give the delusion any credence. You can also get 100 people who believe their Napoleon to do the same thing. Give these shared delusions a long time to cook (say 2000 years) and yes it is still just a delusion. Long lengths of time do not give things backing or validity if it is fundamentally flawed… Just look at the Federal Reserve. Just shows a deep need some people have to feel like they are loved and not alone. Personal need or weakness should not be basis for faith. We all die and that scares the sacrament out of people. Guess what. We did not exist before we were born and we will not live after we die…deal with it. We will never see the ones we have lost no matter how much it hurts…but it won’t matter because you will be dead someday yourself. Completely devoid of consciousness and perception just like before you were born... you will not exist.
We are it. The limited time on earth is all we have. If you were dealt a hard life with lots of tragedies, that sucks. But that’s life. Try to make this earth a better place when you leave then when you first got here. Don’t do the horrible things in life like murder, rape, or adultery because of fear of some God smiting you and condemning you to burn for eternity. Don’t do them because it is the wrong thing to do. Your pleasure is not worth someone else’s pain. Simple message but difficult to understand for some.

In life do no harm and love your children. They are your future and the only true way to live eternal. Teach them well and they will teach their children well and you will live on in their D.N.A.

 

Awozny, Thumbs up!

 

Most people can find common ground on at least one thing.

 

Zealotry is zealotry. Preaching is preaching. And intolerance is intolerance. I think you have qualified under all 3 in this thread. Atheism is your religion and you seem to have adopted all the bad parts of other religions. Hope you have adopted some good parts too.

 

A religion is a system of human thought which usually includes a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, deity or deities, or ultimate truth.... so please do me a favor and stop calling atheism a religion , you're making me gag.

 

Yes let's just call atheism what it actually is....self indulgent arrogant negativity resulting from some type of traumatic experience during childhood. The kid that got beat up in grade school... the drunk/pothead in high school....the spoiled brat that mommy couldn't control and daddy didn't give a crap about.

 

awozny you asked how one could believe in God then threw in creationism into the Mix, I simply answerd your question regarding the possibility that if a god was cabable of creating everything then that same god would also have been cabable of creating creationism! Now there is no cop out at all in the argument, it is simply taking a theory and expounding on it.
So far no one has been able to conclusivly prove the existence of a god one way or the other have they? therfore scientificly you can not state that god dont exist.
If you do not wish to believe in a god or not that is your perogative but please dont try to belittle the faith that others might well find comferting.
You have asked a question with no intention of respecting the views of others so why bother asking if your mind is allready made up?

 

Have you noticed that it's always the non-believers who go on the attack? Why would you feel so threatened because I, or anyone else, believes in God? If you choose not to believe, so be it. If I choose to lead my life differently, so should you care? Why would you even worry about whether someone else believes in God or not? My guess is that there is a glimmer of doubt building up & you feel the need for reinforcement from other non-believers to support your feelings.
Earlier it was asked, how do you know? Well, I don't know. I have faith and believe that all will be revealed at the proper time. What reinforces my faith? When I look at my kids, I know miracles happen. When I see the beauty of nature, I know it didn't just "happen".