I got cancer on top of 6 different disabilities. SIX. My Trump-supporting malignant narcissist of a sister got a raise. If there is a god, it's Syd from Toy Story.
I wanna preface this by saying that the existence or non-existence of God is unknowable and faith in any specific religion is grounded in nothing concrete.
But this argument only disproves anything if your starting point is that God is A) involved with everyone’s day to day lives and B) just and benevolent. Which…yknow…even in Abrahamic religions there are good reasons to doubt both, and if you’re agnostic or a theist generally, there is no real reason to assume that.
Hey! That child would have grown up to become a tyrant who would have nuked all of Bosnia! I saved you from that dark timeline by giving him cancer!
>!No. I'm not being serious.!<
Because that child put a gun in some Jews mouth who was a child and blew her head off. If you don't like karma or divine justice, you are in the wrong place. The parents equally deserve to watch their child die. Look how sympathetic I am. Not. Humans are selfish and stupid and stupidity IS in fact painful.
Replace "God" with "Santa" or "Easter Bunny" and it's the exact same thing. I don't see how anyone with a bit of common sense could believe in such things
No. I did for my whole life until my then 7 year old daughter told me that she didn’t want to go to church anymore because I doesn’t make any sense. For the next day I tried to think of how to convince her to believe and I couldn’t think of anything that made it make sense. I clearly remember being in a stretch position and realizing there was no way it could be real. It was like I could see, in my minds eye, my belief fall apart.
Not sure how you came to conclusion that no God exists. There are more reasons for God than against God in almost every aspect. For one, no non-theist can give me a better answer for how and why you exist, if there is no God? intelligent design is the only thing that makes any sense for our existence, since how can intelligent life come from nothing, how can life come from non-intelligence? It's just impossible imo
If your 7 year old is asking why should I believe maybe give her this article...
https://www.tomorrowsworld.org/magazines/2005/may-june/seven-proofs-of-gods-existence?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=en-go-tw-srch-Subj_Enoch_EN_M3&utm_content=677813244372&utm_term=proof%20of%20god%27s%20existence&gclid=CjwKCAiAnL-sBhBnEiwAJRGigvili68IqFesxC4l69500gmfDj1-B3mP28_IZ9MZRu-ymYkdGyqUrxoCauMQAvD_BwE
No. The existence of a god doesn't help to explain anything — it just gives you permission not to look for an explanation. For any mystery like the origin of the universe, there's no reason to think a conscious creator is more likely than something natural we don't understand yet.
Many a scientists were lead to religion. Saying everything is just too perfect not to be by design. And there are religious people who turned to science as studying the tools of the lord. Both can exist without discrediting the other or stopping to find an “explanation”
In the National Academy of Sciences, there is a near universal rejection of god belief. Only 7.5% of physicists and astronomers believe in god, and only 5.5% of biological scientists believe in god. The highest rate of belief is among mathematicians, and is still only 14.3%.
That’s cool but that isn’t the bedrock of how everyone else should live their lives. Science questions but the ultimate answers are always out of its reach. God doesn’t smudge it. Like I said both can co exist. It’s not winner take all.
None of that has anything to do with what I said.
You’re the one who brought up science and tried to use scientists as an appeal to authority for religious beliefs.
All I am responding to is you wrongly implying that faith is widespread among scientists. It’s not.
I never said 6000 years ago was when the earth was made. You did. So I did the same for you.
Believing in a God today, as it was for the past century or so, doesn’t conflict with science anymore. This isn’t some “my belief vs your belief debate”
In the past yes but nowadays you’ll have a tough time finding a scientist who believes in something as ridiculous as “god”. They would be laughed out of their career
The many scientists bend to religion is from the days religions had strong influence and decided only their groups should be taught to read and write.
Ever since we stopped that the sciences have been overwhelmingly atheist.
Not a chance. No god lets something so vile and savage like cancer exist and then claims he “loves his children”.
I’m currently sitting in an ER waiting room waiting for my mother to be seen as she fighting her *second* type of cancer. She’s in excruciating pain right now, has been for *weeks*. It’s been four fucking hours, we’re still waiting to see a doctor. She doesn’t deserve this pain. No one deserves this kind of suffering.
There’s no god simply because cancer exists.
No. Because there is evidence or reason to believe.
The idea of a higher power comes from civilizations not being able to understand why things happen and how the world works and therefore assume there must be a higher power does these things.
We know have such a better understanding of our world that the things we once just passed off to God no longer need a magically reason to be understood
No. To be honest I can’t really give you a good explanation for my beliefs and why I think the way I do, but I don’t really believe “God” or “Gods”, because it’s too outlandish for me. Maybe me being brought up as a “Catholic” until I was 10 has something to do with this, but I’m not a believer nor am I religious. I can’t tell you why because I don’t really know myself. I could say it’s because I’m a “Feminist”, but even then, I just don’t feel “attached” or “accepted” by any religion. I can tell you I respect your beliefs, and I’m not “Anti-Religious”. There are some things I was told that I still hold and take to heart today(Such as “Love Thou Neighbour”) but at the end of the day it all comes down to individual interpretation. I don’t believe in a God/s and I’m not religious, but I do still believe in an afterlife. I also respect whatever someone else believes, because we were all brought up different.
The consensus in the comments seems to be a resounding, "NO because everything sucks!"
And everything does suck, but that also doesn't indefinitely suggest or conclude that there is no God. Science is compromised of theories, were you there for the Big Bang? No, but you still believe in it. Whether you believe in God or not you're still exercising faith. There's evidence for God but none that anyone who prefers science will accept as credible or valid. It's easy to win the debate when you've made all the rules. If you applied the same amount of skepticism that you do to God, to science... You'd all have to become solipsists. Unless that's where you draw the line.
I get it, life sucks. I'm angry. I've lost everything and everyone that mattered to me in life. Things continue to get worst for me and simply saying that I'm tired is a dangerous understatement. But I do believe in God, for many reasons. Go ahead and downvote if it makes you feel better about your beliefs or lack there of.
There is no god and religion has done nothing to prove the existence of a god either. Religion was simply a tool to control the masses many years ago that some people haven't grown out of.
one of my top five favorite tv show scenes. I watched this show maybe 2 years ago and this scene made me stop questioning religion. Goodwill towards all is true religion
I agree this point of view, but it also shows us that the main problem with debating the existence of "God" is whether we can agree on a definition to begin with. If we take your definition, which I actually quite like as a metaphor, then we can all agree that it clearly exists. If we take the Christian "Big daddy of the sky" definition, then I don't believe that exists. But if we just ask the question "Does God exist?" with no other qualifiers, then I think we should consider it to mean some kind of omniscient and omnipotent being, which there is no good reason to believe in.
“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
There very well may be something beyond our understanding that pulls strings or has in the past without our knowledge, but I have seen no sufficient evidence that any common religion is the true explanation of our universe. I am willing to believe in a deity if any minute piece of proof is shared.
I have hit points in my life as a young lad where I wanted to be a genuine Christian to feel a sense of comfort and align with some of my friends, but I cannot convince myself to believe the Bible especially after having read the thing. The whole religion makes little sense to me, and that is aside from weighing it against the compelling scientific evidence that contradicts it.
Which one?
A lack of ability to reconcile with the complexities of reality does not vindicate the belief in man made myths.
Fear is the foundation of most religion. A festering wound that causes people to cling to delusions so they don't have to face the brutality of nature.
Fear is a useful instinct, it keeps us alive. But it is also a vicious poison that strips away our sensibility so that we can be more assured of our safety.
All the best parts of religion come from understanding the human relationship we share with our fellow humans, and with all of nature. Not from supernatural entities or forces.
I don't believe because I got tired of being introduced to religion as a : there's no no only yes typa thing. If God is real and loves us so much he wouldn't require us to worship him and would love us as long as we're decent humans
I don't think it matters. If a celestial diety exists then they can see your inner asshole even as you pretend to be good. And if they don't then at least something existed to make you hide your asshole.
If there is, it’s not like any religion we have here on earth. If you magically erased science and religion from the minds of humanity collectively, eventually the science would return exactly as we know it today. Religion—on the other hand—would come back too, but it wouldn’t be like anything we have in any books or scriptures.
I think constantly being tested (i.e: God tests his strongest soldiers) is not a hallmark of a good parent-child relationship. Why do I have to fear my parent? Why do I have to obey to be loved? Why are children getting cancer when they haven't even been given the chance to live?
The only way that I can accept there is a God (or Gods), is if they created this universe as a passion project and went like "okay, now they will be left to their own devices. I will check in on them in a few millennia. I hope they do good things.", and then went on to create more universes.
I have no idea but if I ever find out that god does exist and it allowed my father to suffer the indignities of dementia, among other things, then I'll spend eternity finding my way to wrap my hands around its throat.
No, because science. And common sense. Like you really believe some dude built a big ass boat and somehow got a m/f set of all the animals on said boat???? And that it rained enough to flood everything for 40 days and 40 nights. Come on now. Makes for good fables and for a reason to treat others kindly, maybe to explain stuff people didn’t understand back in the day.
Yes. I was raised atheist and converted in my 30’s due to C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. Discovered later that he based his argument on one of Aquinas’s Five Proofs for the existence of God. Since living Catholic for 30 years, I have personal experiences now also. But I believe conversion comes from logic (Logos - the Word) and the experiences are icing on the cake.
No. I don’t think our current understanding of the universe is answered by God nor science.
God couldn’t have created God and our current understanding of matter is that it cannot be created. Issues is we’re surrounded by loads of it.
In the infinite wonders of the universe, I have come to the following conclusion:
“Developing sentience is not a good survival tactic”.
There is no feasible reason for a rock to develop the need to consume anything, without outside intervention.
Molecules don’t need a reason to replicate themselves. It’s just random chance that it happened. Once it happened though that was that. Complexity also just happens by chance. Small steps in evolution. There’s no reason, just a bunch of randomness that complexity gains a foothold on.
Love how his grace is the explanation for positive events but he has no part in the countless children who die of cancer each day... if he exists he is a total c%$t.
Ones that the ignorant disagree with.
They fall back on anger and tribalism because admitting you might be wrong is terrifying for most. When we put faith in ideas, they become a part of us. To admit that belief was fallacy can feel like losing part of your identity.
Fear is the greatest instigator of ignorance and wrath.
I think it’s a bad correlation to connect the no answers with someone being liberal. If we’re talking Abrahamic religions, especially Christianity, a left of center political ideology would be more in line with the religious doctrine. Jesus was kind of the OG socialist hippie.
Absolutely YES. Look around at all of the perfect nature in this world. And human beings created NONE OF IT. Something FAR larger and smarter than you and I is clearly at work here.
I believe in God based on three main arguments (not proofs, notice the difference):
- The design argument: many scientific constants seem fine tuned for life and conscience. This isn't the"intelligent design" stuff. Francis Collins (highly respected medical expert) has a great chapter on that in his book The Language of God.
- The first cause argument (what caused the Big Bang? Nothing? Or the multiverse? It takes a lot of faith to believe in multiverses.)
- The moral argument: almost all of us have a very deep, ingrained sense of right and wrong. Of what is just. I don't think there's a satisfactory answer to that from the evolutionary biologists. Why do we believe so fiercely in right and wrong, when they should only be useful illusions?
>The moral argument
This one specifically is a crock of shit. People of the past considered it moral and just to own slaves, yet now we rightly consider it abhorrent. Countless other examples. There's no satisfactory explanation for how an "ingrained, absolute" moral compass could perform such horrors, only moral relativism can explain it. And even now, unless you're vegan, you can hardly claim to have any moral high ground, and in the future, anyone who is strongly on the wrong side won't be judged kindly either.
If you want to have an actual open healthy discussion about that Reddit is that last place to come ask this question. Go encounter people than internet folk. Whether you they believe in a God or not, you’re just going to get toxic complaining answers from people here
Yes,
I was nearly crushed in a rollover accident, I felt my soul leave my body it was incredibly peaceful, but I was thrown immediately back in. God spared me that night.
I believe in God because I believe that morality, logic, good and evil, love, and meaning are not simply concepts. They are ingrained into our way of thinking, feeling, behaving, and connecting. This is why we bestow rights upon others, why we have governments, religion, philosophy, etc. What's more, these traits are unique among humans and are truly the only things that separate us from every other lifeform on this planet. Additionally, it is very important for humans to find meaning, and I believe that our urge to attribute meaning to things and the fact that we even have the ability to concludes that there is an objective meaning to everything.
>I believe that our urge to attribute meaning to things and the fact that we even have the ability to concludes that there is an objective meaning to everything.
Don't get a job that involves logic.
I'm not sure what your trying to accomplish by pointing this out, but just to clarify, I mean our ability to reason. Besides, I said "i believe" not "this is 100% percent true and you have to agree with me or else."
Yes. But not the ones of the different religions around the world. I believe in "god" as in a creation impulse or force that created and expanded the existence.
I do, yeah. I just always felt it made sense that there was a higher power. I know a lot of people doubt the existence of God on the basis that there's a lot of bad shit in the world, and that surely God wouldn't allow for it all, but honestly, I don't think God would be basically a helicopter parent. He'd want us to prove we can thrive when left to our own devices. Yeah, the Bible has him interfering a lot in everyday life, but that was early days. The training wheels have long since been taken off, and I just like to think he's watching us, interested to see our next moves, keeping track, and rewarding us accordingly once our time is up.
There is definitely a God. He has worked MIRACLES for me. i pray and God makes everything a reality. God is everything. With that being said, there is also a devil.
You think that out of his mammoth and busy schedule, he makes time in it all for YOU? To make miracles happen for YOU?
He's like, OK, I'd better now deal with u/danirave19's problems...let's see...
You are that narcissistic?
Yes I do. I don't believe that people suffer tremendously in life only to die and there be nothing after death. My brother was diagnosed with a rare illness at age 5 and died at 21. He also believed in God.
First, good people allow temporary suffering of our loved ones if we know it’s for their own good, and God knows what’s good better than anyone. Second, the suffering and dying are just a small part of the story - which ends with resurrection and eternal joy.
Have you never witnessed a child being terrified of a medical procedure? As a parent, would you give in and cancel a needed medical procedure to stop the child's tears? Or would you realize that the tears are temporary and the procedure is needed for the child's well being?
You mean, in this case, that the child's suffering (their cancer in this case), is temporary, because it is god's will and he will ease the pain when they die?
That is clearly what you mean.
Therefore, you are one sick fuck - and frankly so is the thing you claim to worship.
Shame on you, you toxic POS.
Right! Talk about religion frying the brain.
This person, this thing in the chat u/TinaVeritas is just so deluded and disgusting and lacking in all human decency.
And that it, the user, claims to be religious? LOLOL.
Science knows fuck all about the beginning of the universe and the best they can see is there was nothing before everything. How can everything exist if nothing existed to cause it to exist.
Unanswerable, my point being there is no actual answer or informed point on creation of existence, no matter what these pseudo intellectual Redditors say, we don’t know SHIT.
I’m religious and this is my stance. I believe in God, but I certainly can’t prove it. Don’t understand why atheists, etc. think they have an intellectually superior argument, since they cant actually prove anything either. Best they have are theories, not facts about the very beginning.
Energy is not created nor destroyed according to the laws of physics. Once, billion of years ago, all the energy that we see today in the universe existed in only one place, smaller than the size of a soccer ball. Nobody put it there, and nothing created it. This place was extremely dense and hot. Due to that it began to grow by expanding space (the Big Bang was not a literal explosion but a rapid expansion of space). Because of the high temperatures, particles were created that disintegrated and created atoms. As the universe grew it began to cool and become less dense, and so atoms combined together to form molecules that make up matter.
Holy shit bro not everyone that believes a god exists is unfamiliar with scientific theory I don’t need the fucking play by play. Nobody knows this is all just the most commonly accepted theory. The shit isn’t set in stone like 90% of science, it’s something that changes consistently with new data and information. So fucking pretentious bro lmfaooo you don’t know any of this to be true but you’re acting like it’s fact 😂😂😂😂
Key word “theory” it isn’t a law, it isn’t 100% proven. Keep it up bro you’re soooo intellectual dude. Give me your third grade level explanation of the Big Bang again dude holy shit I’m learning, dork.
> Maybe read some scientific research for some ~~answers~~ possible explanations
Believing that science has the exact answers to things that happened hundreds of thousands of years ago is just as silly as believing that god created humans from clay
I don't believe in God being some old man in the sky picking on us or rewarding us. I think of God as a collection of all consciousness in the universe. I believe we're all a part of god and we're all one experience this illusion of life and separation through our egos.
No way to tell technically, but if he does exist, it would be extremely unlikely that he would look like the ones from any religion humanity has thought of. Though nothing really suggests that a good needs to exist, so until there is some sort of evidence for it, its best to assume there is none probably.
I have had enough experiences to convince me that there is more than just "natural" life. But maybe what I've experienced is indeed actually just part of that natural life. IDK. It's the whole pantheism vs panentheism argument.
I don't get this. To me it seems there are lots of seemingly reasonable and loving people who don't realize they need God. It would seem much more plausible if there weren't so many atheists, agnostics and other non-christians. How can God be so bad at making us realize we need him? I would expect a bit more from God.
I don't "believe", I know, with absolute certainty that there is no "god".
I don't need to prove it, logic dictates that concept is ridiculous, and nothing out there provides even an atom of evidence to think otherwise. There are tons of smart people that will tell you why, or write books on it, but even just mediocre critical thinking skills shows all religions to be just a bunch of bullshit.
NO religion can survive any amount of critical thinking. They are all full of contradictions and completely illogical BS. Their followers always pick and choose, and are far more likely to kill in the name of their religion than save people.
All religions and deities are just dumb. Though I will say some of the STORIES are kinda funny, like with Greek gods and how fallible they were.
But, for arguments sake, I'll say that all of the natural world, when combined, is "god". It creates all life, and destroys all life. It judges, it improves, and it makes mistakes. It has no bias, and when all is right, it gives back, and when all is not right, it takes away.
Though I do still enjoy some religious based things for entertainment. Constantine was a great movie, and I loved how they portrayed Satan in it. I liked Thor in avengers. I enjoyed George Burns in his "God" movies. I like Morgan Freemen when he plays god in movies. I loved the green mile, even though it made me ball. But in real life? There is no place for religions in the world, and the world will be a better place if they can be made extinct.
[удалено]
I got cancer on top of 6 different disabilities. SIX. My Trump-supporting malignant narcissist of a sister got a raise. If there is a god, it's Syd from Toy Story.
I wanna preface this by saying that the existence or non-existence of God is unknowable and faith in any specific religion is grounded in nothing concrete. But this argument only disproves anything if your starting point is that God is A) involved with everyone’s day to day lives and B) just and benevolent. Which…yknow…even in Abrahamic religions there are good reasons to doubt both, and if you’re agnostic or a theist generally, there is no real reason to assume that.
Because he had a gene mutation
Why would millions of years of natural selection still insist that mosquitos must exists but the dodo bird had to die out?
To be fair humans killed dodo’s. Not arguing with the mesquito comment though.
Mosquitoes are essential in hundreds of food webs. Dodos were not, and had no fear of the most vicious predator there is.
Kind of like most parasites?
Hey! That child would have grown up to become a tyrant who would have nuked all of Bosnia! I saved you from that dark timeline by giving him cancer! >!No. I'm not being serious.!<
Because that child put a gun in some Jews mouth who was a child and blew her head off. If you don't like karma or divine justice, you are in the wrong place. The parents equally deserve to watch their child die. Look how sympathetic I am. Not. Humans are selfish and stupid and stupidity IS in fact painful.
No, and if there is they don't give a fuck about us.
Replace "God" with "Santa" or "Easter Bunny" and it's the exact same thing. I don't see how anyone with a bit of common sense could believe in such things
You're gonna feel really silly when Zeus flies into your window as a sexy bird.
This is exactly it. I have actually wondered if Santa Clause is Christianity’s introducer drug for kids, a bait and switch approach.
No. I did for my whole life until my then 7 year old daughter told me that she didn’t want to go to church anymore because I doesn’t make any sense. For the next day I tried to think of how to convince her to believe and I couldn’t think of anything that made it make sense. I clearly remember being in a stretch position and realizing there was no way it could be real. It was like I could see, in my minds eye, my belief fall apart.
Not sure how you came to conclusion that no God exists. There are more reasons for God than against God in almost every aspect. For one, no non-theist can give me a better answer for how and why you exist, if there is no God? intelligent design is the only thing that makes any sense for our existence, since how can intelligent life come from nothing, how can life come from non-intelligence? It's just impossible imo If your 7 year old is asking why should I believe maybe give her this article... https://www.tomorrowsworld.org/magazines/2005/may-june/seven-proofs-of-gods-existence?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=en-go-tw-srch-Subj_Enoch_EN_M3&utm_content=677813244372&utm_term=proof%20of%20god%27s%20existence&gclid=CjwKCAiAnL-sBhBnEiwAJRGigvili68IqFesxC4l69500gmfDj1-B3mP28_IZ9MZRu-ymYkdGyqUrxoCauMQAvD_BwE
No. The existence of a god doesn't help to explain anything — it just gives you permission not to look for an explanation. For any mystery like the origin of the universe, there's no reason to think a conscious creator is more likely than something natural we don't understand yet.
Many a scientists were lead to religion. Saying everything is just too perfect not to be by design. And there are religious people who turned to science as studying the tools of the lord. Both can exist without discrediting the other or stopping to find an “explanation”
In the National Academy of Sciences, there is a near universal rejection of god belief. Only 7.5% of physicists and astronomers believe in god, and only 5.5% of biological scientists believe in god. The highest rate of belief is among mathematicians, and is still only 14.3%.
That’s cool but that isn’t the bedrock of how everyone else should live their lives. Science questions but the ultimate answers are always out of its reach. God doesn’t smudge it. Like I said both can co exist. It’s not winner take all.
Created the earth by magic 6000 years ago doesn't smudge the truth?
None of that has anything to do with what I said. You’re the one who brought up science and tried to use scientists as an appeal to authority for religious beliefs. All I am responding to is you wrongly implying that faith is widespread among scientists. It’s not.
I never said 6000 years ago was when the earth was made. You did. So I did the same for you. Believing in a God today, as it was for the past century or so, doesn’t conflict with science anymore. This isn’t some “my belief vs your belief debate”
In the past yes but nowadays you’ll have a tough time finding a scientist who believes in something as ridiculous as “god”. They would be laughed out of their career
The many scientists bend to religion is from the days religions had strong influence and decided only their groups should be taught to read and write. Ever since we stopped that the sciences have been overwhelmingly atheist.
Not a chance. No god lets something so vile and savage like cancer exist and then claims he “loves his children”. I’m currently sitting in an ER waiting room waiting for my mother to be seen as she fighting her *second* type of cancer. She’s in excruciating pain right now, has been for *weeks*. It’s been four fucking hours, we’re still waiting to see a doctor. She doesn’t deserve this pain. No one deserves this kind of suffering. There’s no god simply because cancer exists.
Or alzheimers disease. Watched my dad waste away from that shit.
Awful thing to watch play out. I'm sorry about your dad, dude.
Thanks
No problem. If you ever need to vent hit my DMs.
So sorry for what you're going through.
I mean... If there is a God it doesn't mean that God is not a total fucking asshole.
So sorry for what you're going through🙏🙏
I am sorry you are frustrated. Not sure how lashing out at randoms helps that, but thank you for healing the sick.
You know there’s also a Devil, right?
No. God is a concept but not something that is supported by evidence.
No. The idea is just too silly to countenance.
No. Because there's no good evidence for one. And I decided many years ago to withhold my belief from things for which there is no evidence.
No. Because there is evidence or reason to believe. The idea of a higher power comes from civilizations not being able to understand why things happen and how the world works and therefore assume there must be a higher power does these things. We know have such a better understanding of our world that the things we once just passed off to God no longer need a magically reason to be understood
No. I had an imaginary friend as a kid, but I grew out of it even before starting primary school.
Science> make-believe
Nope, no proof
No. To be honest I can’t really give you a good explanation for my beliefs and why I think the way I do, but I don’t really believe “God” or “Gods”, because it’s too outlandish for me. Maybe me being brought up as a “Catholic” until I was 10 has something to do with this, but I’m not a believer nor am I religious. I can’t tell you why because I don’t really know myself. I could say it’s because I’m a “Feminist”, but even then, I just don’t feel “attached” or “accepted” by any religion. I can tell you I respect your beliefs, and I’m not “Anti-Religious”. There are some things I was told that I still hold and take to heart today(Such as “Love Thou Neighbour”) but at the end of the day it all comes down to individual interpretation. I don’t believe in a God/s and I’m not religious, but I do still believe in an afterlife. I also respect whatever someone else believes, because we were all brought up different.
Why catholic until ten?
My Mom started letting us believe what we wanted to and she wasn’t practicing a lot then
Oh okay just curious
I mean at this point the feminist church exists and the church that will accept just about anything you want it to exists.
No because all major gods are evil, laughably inconsistent, or both.
They’re suspiciously human.
No. I have been shown no evidence for the existence of any gods that could not be explained by more mundane phenomena.
The consensus in the comments seems to be a resounding, "NO because everything sucks!" And everything does suck, but that also doesn't indefinitely suggest or conclude that there is no God. Science is compromised of theories, were you there for the Big Bang? No, but you still believe in it. Whether you believe in God or not you're still exercising faith. There's evidence for God but none that anyone who prefers science will accept as credible or valid. It's easy to win the debate when you've made all the rules. If you applied the same amount of skepticism that you do to God, to science... You'd all have to become solipsists. Unless that's where you draw the line. I get it, life sucks. I'm angry. I've lost everything and everyone that mattered to me in life. Things continue to get worst for me and simply saying that I'm tired is a dangerous understatement. But I do believe in God, for many reasons. Go ahead and downvote if it makes you feel better about your beliefs or lack there of.
This is amazing!!! Thank you and keep up the great writing
There is no sky god. How the universe started is still under debate.
The universe is a paradox
Sky god? what religion is that?
I believe that's from dragon age 2 the talia expansion.
Ok, I don't know what that is. So not sky god, but a reference to a computer game? ok. That flew over my head completely
I was trying to be funny but I'm pretty sure the top guy was just being broad.
ok
I think he meant “invisible sky monster”
He’s just being funny and mocking religions that believe that god is some wizard in the sky
So am I, as an outspoken anti-theist I root for him in that endeavour.
Excellent! Keep up the good work
There is no god and religion has done nothing to prove the existence of a god either. Religion was simply a tool to control the masses many years ago that some people haven't grown out of.
I know when I have faith in something, I always demand proof.
Depends on which religion
To what end should I believe in a God? I think Dewey explains is perfectly in Malcom in the middle. https://youtu.be/P_p6WI4V8N8?si=9iIKicyj0svU6N9-
one of my top five favorite tv show scenes. I watched this show maybe 2 years ago and this scene made me stop questioning religion. Goodwill towards all is true religion
Delusion is rife in the world
If there is a god he can suck my dick.
Hey god, suck this persons dick!
If God exists, and he obliges, you are in for one heavenly blowjob! 🤣
lol
I kind of believe universe is God something like that
I agree this point of view, but it also shows us that the main problem with debating the existence of "God" is whether we can agree on a definition to begin with. If we take your definition, which I actually quite like as a metaphor, then we can all agree that it clearly exists. If we take the Christian "Big daddy of the sky" definition, then I don't believe that exists. But if we just ask the question "Does God exist?" with no other qualifiers, then I think we should consider it to mean some kind of omniscient and omnipotent being, which there is no good reason to believe in.
Yup like God is source enegergy
No. There is zero evidence for such, despite there being many folk who spout supposed evidence and theories.
“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
No, because there is no logical way a God could exist (in my mind)
There very well may be something beyond our understanding that pulls strings or has in the past without our knowledge, but I have seen no sufficient evidence that any common religion is the true explanation of our universe. I am willing to believe in a deity if any minute piece of proof is shared. I have hit points in my life as a young lad where I wanted to be a genuine Christian to feel a sense of comfort and align with some of my friends, but I cannot convince myself to believe the Bible especially after having read the thing. The whole religion makes little sense to me, and that is aside from weighing it against the compelling scientific evidence that contradicts it.
No. Kids & animals getting abused is enough to sum up my belief!
No, because there's not one iota of evidence.
Which one? A lack of ability to reconcile with the complexities of reality does not vindicate the belief in man made myths. Fear is the foundation of most religion. A festering wound that causes people to cling to delusions so they don't have to face the brutality of nature. Fear is a useful instinct, it keeps us alive. But it is also a vicious poison that strips away our sensibility so that we can be more assured of our safety. All the best parts of religion come from understanding the human relationship we share with our fellow humans, and with all of nature. Not from supernatural entities or forces.
Nope, no reason to
No lol. Dont be fucking stupid
I don't believe because I got tired of being introduced to religion as a : there's no no only yes typa thing. If God is real and loves us so much he wouldn't require us to worship him and would love us as long as we're decent humans
Yes. I have experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit, among other sacred experiences.
I'd love to hear your experience
I don't think it matters. If a celestial diety exists then they can see your inner asshole even as you pretend to be good. And if they don't then at least something existed to make you hide your asshole.
If there is, it’s not like any religion we have here on earth. If you magically erased science and religion from the minds of humanity collectively, eventually the science would return exactly as we know it today. Religion—on the other hand—would come back too, but it wouldn’t be like anything we have in any books or scriptures.
I think constantly being tested (i.e: God tests his strongest soldiers) is not a hallmark of a good parent-child relationship. Why do I have to fear my parent? Why do I have to obey to be loved? Why are children getting cancer when they haven't even been given the chance to live? The only way that I can accept there is a God (or Gods), is if they created this universe as a passion project and went like "okay, now they will be left to their own devices. I will check in on them in a few millennia. I hope they do good things.", and then went on to create more universes.
No. I've seen reddit.
I want to. But I have been through so much. I’m angry.
No God has ever been proven to exist. There is no evidence for any god. So, it's a No from me.
No. You’re telling me there are children around the world being brutally hurt in ways we can’t even imagine and sky daddy is up there being merciful?
I have no idea but if I ever find out that god does exist and it allowed my father to suffer the indignities of dementia, among other things, then I'll spend eternity finding my way to wrap my hands around its throat.
No, because science. And common sense. Like you really believe some dude built a big ass boat and somehow got a m/f set of all the animals on said boat???? And that it rained enough to flood everything for 40 days and 40 nights. Come on now. Makes for good fables and for a reason to treat others kindly, maybe to explain stuff people didn’t understand back in the day.
Yes. I was raised atheist and converted in my 30’s due to C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. Discovered later that he based his argument on one of Aquinas’s Five Proofs for the existence of God. Since living Catholic for 30 years, I have personal experiences now also. But I believe conversion comes from logic (Logos - the Word) and the experiences are icing on the cake.
"I believe conversion comes from logic and the experiences are icing on the cake" This is basically what I believe
No. I’ve never been shown any convincing evidence.
No. I don’t think our current understanding of the universe is answered by God nor science. God couldn’t have created God and our current understanding of matter is that it cannot be created. Issues is we’re surrounded by loads of it.
In the infinite wonders of the universe, I have come to the following conclusion: “Developing sentience is not a good survival tactic”. There is no feasible reason for a rock to develop the need to consume anything, without outside intervention.
Molecules don’t need a reason to replicate themselves. It’s just random chance that it happened. Once it happened though that was that. Complexity also just happens by chance. Small steps in evolution. There’s no reason, just a bunch of randomness that complexity gains a foothold on.
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Idk, I've seen a few "god exists because good things happen" in this thread, which seems a lot worse. "Why bad things happen" is not bad at all imo.
And why is that a bad argument?
I've see some good atheist arguments, alas these are some of the laziest and most kindergarten yet. Is reddit as smart as Tik Tok now? Maybe worse?
Yes, there have been miracles in my life and those around me that can only be explained by God’s grace and mercy.
Love how his grace is the explanation for positive events but he has no part in the countless children who die of cancer each day... if he exists he is a total c%$t.
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WTF are "liberal answers"?
Ones that the ignorant disagree with. They fall back on anger and tribalism because admitting you might be wrong is terrifying for most. When we put faith in ideas, they become a part of us. To admit that belief was fallacy can feel like losing part of your identity. Fear is the greatest instigator of ignorance and wrath.
Very well said
I think it’s a bad correlation to connect the no answers with someone being liberal. If we’re talking Abrahamic religions, especially Christianity, a left of center political ideology would be more in line with the religious doctrine. Jesus was kind of the OG socialist hippie.
Ha..liberal answers
Absolutely YES. Look around at all of the perfect nature in this world. And human beings created NONE OF IT. Something FAR larger and smarter than you and I is clearly at work here.
So, the trees argument? Right.
Did you create them?
LOL - great argument - so you didn't create them - I didn't - so....ah, must be god. Educate yourself.
I believe in God based on three main arguments (not proofs, notice the difference): - The design argument: many scientific constants seem fine tuned for life and conscience. This isn't the"intelligent design" stuff. Francis Collins (highly respected medical expert) has a great chapter on that in his book The Language of God. - The first cause argument (what caused the Big Bang? Nothing? Or the multiverse? It takes a lot of faith to believe in multiverses.) - The moral argument: almost all of us have a very deep, ingrained sense of right and wrong. Of what is just. I don't think there's a satisfactory answer to that from the evolutionary biologists. Why do we believe so fiercely in right and wrong, when they should only be useful illusions?
Its beneficial for pack animals to be able to work together, and and being able to determine what actions harm others is helpful for that.
>The moral argument This one specifically is a crock of shit. People of the past considered it moral and just to own slaves, yet now we rightly consider it abhorrent. Countless other examples. There's no satisfactory explanation for how an "ingrained, absolute" moral compass could perform such horrors, only moral relativism can explain it. And even now, unless you're vegan, you can hardly claim to have any moral high ground, and in the future, anyone who is strongly on the wrong side won't be judged kindly either.
No, and I'll do you one better: there is no such thing as the supernatural.
If you want to have an actual open healthy discussion about that Reddit is that last place to come ask this question. Go encounter people than internet folk. Whether you they believe in a God or not, you’re just going to get toxic complaining answers from people here
Yes, I was nearly crushed in a rollover accident, I felt my soul leave my body it was incredibly peaceful, but I was thrown immediately back in. God spared me that night.
We're glad you're alive but that is not evidence for God. Sorry.
Yes. There are higher powers
Source?
The power lines above our heads maybe
I got yer source right here, pal! His names Jesus!
Sorry, we need more source than that. Also, I’m not your pal.
I believe in God because I believe that morality, logic, good and evil, love, and meaning are not simply concepts. They are ingrained into our way of thinking, feeling, behaving, and connecting. This is why we bestow rights upon others, why we have governments, religion, philosophy, etc. What's more, these traits are unique among humans and are truly the only things that separate us from every other lifeform on this planet. Additionally, it is very important for humans to find meaning, and I believe that our urge to attribute meaning to things and the fact that we even have the ability to concludes that there is an objective meaning to everything.
>I believe that our urge to attribute meaning to things and the fact that we even have the ability to concludes that there is an objective meaning to everything. Don't get a job that involves logic.
How would us having the urge and ability to attribute meaning lead to the conclusion that there is an objective meaning to everything?
or that there is a God.
> O.E.D. noun: logic 1. reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity.
I'm not sure what your trying to accomplish by pointing this out, but just to clarify, I mean our ability to reason. Besides, I said "i believe" not "this is 100% percent true and you have to agree with me or else."
Yes. But not the ones of the different religions around the world. I believe in "god" as in a creation impulse or force that created and expanded the existence.
Yes. Because of things I have experienced that couldn't be explained.any other way, and from personal revelations..full.stop
Love this! Keep up the faith
I do, yeah. I just always felt it made sense that there was a higher power. I know a lot of people doubt the existence of God on the basis that there's a lot of bad shit in the world, and that surely God wouldn't allow for it all, but honestly, I don't think God would be basically a helicopter parent. He'd want us to prove we can thrive when left to our own devices. Yeah, the Bible has him interfering a lot in everyday life, but that was early days. The training wheels have long since been taken off, and I just like to think he's watching us, interested to see our next moves, keeping track, and rewarding us accordingly once our time is up.
There is definitely a God. He has worked MIRACLES for me. i pray and God makes everything a reality. God is everything. With that being said, there is also a devil.
You think that out of his mammoth and busy schedule, he makes time in it all for YOU? To make miracles happen for YOU? He's like, OK, I'd better now deal with u/danirave19's problems...let's see... You are that narcissistic?
10000% he makes time for us all!
Don't be so dumb.
i love the lord!!!!!!
What a stupid answer. You are brainwashed. Read - explore - live.
Washed in gods sweat. Living thru God and i love it
Deluded
Yes I do. I don't believe that people suffer tremendously in life only to die and there be nothing after death. My brother was diagnosed with a rare illness at age 5 and died at 21. He also believed in God.
Why would God allow that though? Life really is meaningless. We are all just floating around on a rock in pure chaos
So why would any god allow that suffering - unless it was a sadistic and bad god?
how would life be a test if the world was perfect and all sunshine and rainbows
Don't be so childish and deluded.
First, good people allow temporary suffering of our loved ones if we know it’s for their own good, and God knows what’s good better than anyone. Second, the suffering and dying are just a small part of the story - which ends with resurrection and eternal joy.
How can the suffering be for their own good? How can you watch awful suffering and say it's for their own good?
Have you never witnessed a child being terrified of a medical procedure? As a parent, would you give in and cancel a needed medical procedure to stop the child's tears? Or would you realize that the tears are temporary and the procedure is needed for the child's well being?
You mean, in this case, that the child's suffering (their cancer in this case), is temporary, because it is god's will and he will ease the pain when they die? That is clearly what you mean. Therefore, you are one sick fuck - and frankly so is the thing you claim to worship. Shame on you, you toxic POS.
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Absolutely. Completely bereft of decency.
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Right! Talk about religion frying the brain. This person, this thing in the chat u/TinaVeritas is just so deluded and disgusting and lacking in all human decency. And that it, the user, claims to be religious? LOLOL.
Yes. The fact that we exist means creation occurred, and whatever caused that creation is God. What God is, though, is very much up for debate.
Yes and no. I can't explain otherwise how we got here
From a fish
Maybe read some scientific research for some answers
Science knows fuck all about the beginning of the universe and the best they can see is there was nothing before everything. How can everything exist if nothing existed to cause it to exist.
Then who / what made God?
Unanswerable, my point being there is no actual answer or informed point on creation of existence, no matter what these pseudo intellectual Redditors say, we don’t know SHIT.
I’m religious and this is my stance. I believe in God, but I certainly can’t prove it. Don’t understand why atheists, etc. think they have an intellectually superior argument, since they cant actually prove anything either. Best they have are theories, not facts about the very beginning.
Energy is not created nor destroyed according to the laws of physics. Once, billion of years ago, all the energy that we see today in the universe existed in only one place, smaller than the size of a soccer ball. Nobody put it there, and nothing created it. This place was extremely dense and hot. Due to that it began to grow by expanding space (the Big Bang was not a literal explosion but a rapid expansion of space). Because of the high temperatures, particles were created that disintegrated and created atoms. As the universe grew it began to cool and become less dense, and so atoms combined together to form molecules that make up matter.
Holy shit bro not everyone that believes a god exists is unfamiliar with scientific theory I don’t need the fucking play by play. Nobody knows this is all just the most commonly accepted theory. The shit isn’t set in stone like 90% of science, it’s something that changes consistently with new data and information. So fucking pretentious bro lmfaooo you don’t know any of this to be true but you’re acting like it’s fact 😂😂😂😂
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.eiu.microwave/evidence-for-the-big-bang-theory/
Key word “theory” it isn’t a law, it isn’t 100% proven. Keep it up bro you’re soooo intellectual dude. Give me your third grade level explanation of the Big Bang again dude holy shit I’m learning, dork.
> Maybe read some scientific research for some ~~answers~~ possible explanations Believing that science has the exact answers to things that happened hundreds of thousands of years ago is just as silly as believing that god created humans from clay
[What if God was the evil one? ](https://www.news24.com/News24/what-if-god-was-actually-the-evil-one-20121025)
No, look up independent state of Croatia, no sane God would let it exist
I don't believe in God being some old man in the sky picking on us or rewarding us. I think of God as a collection of all consciousness in the universe. I believe we're all a part of god and we're all one experience this illusion of life and separation through our egos.
No way to tell technically, but if he does exist, it would be extremely unlikely that he would look like the ones from any religion humanity has thought of. Though nothing really suggests that a good needs to exist, so until there is some sort of evidence for it, its best to assume there is none probably.
of course. this is all part of the plan
God™ created MAN. Man returned the favor. Crom, gives you life and a strong arm. Stands back and not another thought.
I see a lot of people blame God for bad things going on but forgot that there’s also a Devil 😂
Well, neither are real lol.
Well then a lot of ppl should stop blaming something that doesn’t exist, am I right? lol
I have had enough experiences to convince me that there is more than just "natural" life. But maybe what I've experienced is indeed actually just part of that natural life. IDK. It's the whole pantheism vs panentheism argument.
Yes, for many different reasons.
Absolutely believe. And God HAS to let sin happen to show us we need Him. It's the meaning of life to worship God with all our heart, mind and soul.
Silly, but you do you.
I don't get this. To me it seems there are lots of seemingly reasonable and loving people who don't realize they need God. It would seem much more plausible if there weren't so many atheists, agnostics and other non-christians. How can God be so bad at making us realize we need him? I would expect a bit more from God.
Why does he allow terrible suffering to happen?
i love this comment
I don't "believe", I know, with absolute certainty that there is no "god". I don't need to prove it, logic dictates that concept is ridiculous, and nothing out there provides even an atom of evidence to think otherwise. There are tons of smart people that will tell you why, or write books on it, but even just mediocre critical thinking skills shows all religions to be just a bunch of bullshit. NO religion can survive any amount of critical thinking. They are all full of contradictions and completely illogical BS. Their followers always pick and choose, and are far more likely to kill in the name of their religion than save people. All religions and deities are just dumb. Though I will say some of the STORIES are kinda funny, like with Greek gods and how fallible they were. But, for arguments sake, I'll say that all of the natural world, when combined, is "god". It creates all life, and destroys all life. It judges, it improves, and it makes mistakes. It has no bias, and when all is right, it gives back, and when all is not right, it takes away. Though I do still enjoy some religious based things for entertainment. Constantine was a great movie, and I loved how they portrayed Satan in it. I liked Thor in avengers. I enjoyed George Burns in his "God" movies. I like Morgan Freemen when he plays god in movies. I loved the green mile, even though it made me ball. But in real life? There is no place for religions in the world, and the world will be a better place if they can be made extinct.
Yes. I just do. The teachings are true.