Do you believe in God and why

[Odysseus123]

6 minutes ago, hyku1147 said:

I recall Steven Hawking saying that when we observe the realm of quantum mechanics - we are getting a glimpse into the mind of God.

 

I find it telling that none of the ancient creation texts ever mentioned the dinosaurs.

Umm..why should they do so?

 

Homo Sapiens is a latecomer..only 70-80 thousand years.

 

But they managed to kill of the megafauna in Australia toot sweet..yes indeed they did.

 

By the way Marco Polo did not mention the Great wall of China either..presumably because he thought.."yet another blinkin' wall!"

[Odysseus123]

7 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Russia and China to start with. 

The patron saint of Russia is St Andrew.

 

Which is why the modern Russian army marches under his banner-as well as the banners of the old Imperial army.

 

I note that they now include the hammer and sickle again-so they are apt to be a colourful crowd.

[baboon]

32 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

How about those who deny medical treatment to their children in the name of god?  How about those who stone women in the name of god?  How about those who commit mass suicide in the name of god?  Is that OK?

Well not really, no. That is forcing their beliefs on others which I am against.

[mauGR1]

17 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

I watched the nature of the priests when I was in the seminary and it was not nice.  I find it impossible to believe anyone with a formal education can really believe in a god.  My Irish almost illiterate mother and her mother I can understand.  They sent me to school and were surprised when I returned not believing anything they ever told me again.    

You are confusing organised religion and intelligent design, not surprisingly.

Obviously, if you think that accumulating wealth and having sex are the top of achievements, you are not going too far on developing some knowledge.

[55Jay]

43 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

We can't understand the concept of infinite, we can't understand lots of other things.

I think it's logical to think there are superior beings, and an intelligent design.

You don't throw around randomly screws and bolts and metal planks to build an airplane, right ?

People who mock God, mock something they don't understand.

Ah yes, the mystery of religion(s) and god(s) is beyond the understanding of non-believers.  Although many of the most strident atheists are recovering/former believers.

 

IMO, it's not logical to assume there are superior beings and a "designer" in order to fill the gap in an area you can not understand or even fathom.   It would be more logical, and honest, to simply say you don't know if, in fact, you don't know.  Not doing that is what invites the mocking. 

Edited April 14, 2019 by 55Jay

[Aforek]

I don't  especially believe in what we call God, but ...

at the age of 16, I almost died in the sea, in Ivory Coast; exhausted by the waves that prevented me from going out my head, I said to myself; I give up fighting, I'm too tired, I'm going to let myself die
at that moment, I heard a voice in my head, very clearly , who said to me "no, your time has not come, take the next wave that comes, it will take you back to the beach", it's what I have done : it was 53 years ago , never had an other experience like this since then
everyone was standing on the beach watching me back
since then, I wonder if we are masters of our destiny and if everything is not written in advance

Edited April 14, 2019 by Aforek

[Odysseus123]

4 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

Ah yes, the mystery of religion(s) and god(s) can NEVER be understood by a non-believer.  Many of the most strident atheists are recovering/former believers.

 

IMO, it's not logical to assume there are superior beings and a "designer" in order to fill the gap in an area you can not understand or even fathom.   It would be more logical, and honest, to simply say you don't know if, in fact, you don't know.  Not doing that is what invites the mocking. 

Perhaps..it's good to think about these things tho' and understand that our ancestors thought about them too..

 

Infinitely preferable to an industrial serf sounding forth about cheap sex...all day,everyday.

[mauGR1]

4 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

Ah yes, the mystery of religion(s) and god(s) can NEVER be understood by a non-believer.  Many of the most strident atheists are recovering/former believers.

 

IMO, it's not logical to assume there are superior beings and a "designer" in order to fill the gap in an area you can not understand or even fathom.   It would be more logical, and honest, to simply say you don't know if, in fact, you don't know.  Not doing that is what invites the mocking. 

Mocking what you don't understand is just silly imo, i didn't say that i know that god exist, i just said that my logic, not your logic, tells me that there is an intelligent design.

[55Jay]

Just now, Aforek said:

I don't  especially believe in what we call God, but ...

At the age of 16, I almost died in the sea, in Ivory Coast; exhausted by the waves that prevented me from going out my head, I said to myself "I give up fighting, I'm too tired, I'm going to let myself die"
at that moment, I heard a voice in my head, very clearly , who said to me "no, your time has not come, take the next wave that comes, it will take you back to the beach", it's what I have done : it was 53 years ago , never had an other experience like this since then
everyone was standing on the beach watching me back
since then, I wonder if we are masters of our destiny and if everything is not written in advance

Do you consider that divine intervention? 

[Odysseus123]

5 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

Mocking what you don't understand is just silly imo, i didn't say that i know that god exist, i just said that my logic, not your logic, tells me that there is an intelligent design.

I am undecided about two viewpoints that have been with us through at least 3000 years and probably 10 millennia..

 

1.God in everything (pantheism)

2.Everything in God (panentheism)

 

These two memes are found across all cultures and religions...difficult to decide.

Edited April 14, 2019 by Odysseus123

[Aforek]

6 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

Do you consider that divine intervention? 

I don't know how to call it, just as if we were puppets manipulated at the top
now I do not believe too much at random

( sorry, I translate with Google, i am not sure it's correct )

[seasia]

No.

 

I do not.

 

If it gives comfort to some and they are not trying to preach/convert, fair enough.

 

A crutch for some.

[CharlieH]

Someone once said that religion was merely a way of controlling people, for one, or a small group to control a larger group.

The imposition of rules in order to control behavior. Often with threat of some awful result if not obeyed etc.

 

 

[mauGR1]

4 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

I am undecided about two viewpoints that have been with us through at least 3000 years and probably 10 millennia..

 

1.God in everything (pantheism)

2.Everything in God (panentheism)

 

These two memes are found across all cultures and religions...difficult to decide.

My less than perfect intuition tells me that both are true, but we are wired, or trained to see the reality in 3 dimensions, and it's logical to think that there are more than 3.

 

[Odysseus123]

2 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

My less than perfect intuition tells me that both are true, but we are wired, or trained to see the reality in 3 dimensions, and it's logical to think that there are more than 3.

 

Hmmm..well it's hard to debate with a follower of Ecclesiastes....because there is "nothing new under the sun"

 

Nevertheless..the 'Everything in God' position would,I think.take care of the dimensions whereas the 'God in everything' would not..

 

What say you?

[55Jay]

Just now, mauGR1 said:

Mocking what you don't understand is just silly imo, i didn't say that i know that god exist, i just said that my logic, not your logic, tells me that there is an intelligent design.

No, what I said was it's the dishonest nature of religious explainers is what attracting the mocking.  

 

Whether you believe in the existence of a particular god, or not, is irrelevant. 

[mauGR1]

1 minute ago, Odysseus123 said:

Hmmm..well it's hard to debate with a follower of Ecclesiastes....because there is "nothing new under the sun"

 

Nevertheless..the 'Everything in God' position would,I think.take care of the dimensions whereas the 'God in everything' would not..

 

What say you?

Really, i thought "nothing new.." was from Confucious, my bad.

Well, the solar system is an atom, and everything is made of atoms, but it's late here, and atm i can't go further than that.

 

[55Jay]

17 minutes ago, Aforek said:

I don't know how to call it, just as if we were puppets manipulated at the top
now I do not believe too much at random

( sorry, I translate with Google, i am not sure it's correct )

Thank you for mentioning you are translating to English with Google. 

 

As to the voice in your head, possibly attributed to your brain and a strong survival instinct providing you a burst of energy/adrenaline.  I don't believe this is limited to humans.  I'm no expert so I stop there.

[mauGR1]

7 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

No, what I said was it's the dishonest nature of religious explainers is what attracting the mocking.  

 

Whether you believe in the existence of a particular god, or not, is irrelevant. 

Ok, i am with you in mocking the imposters, who use god and religion for personal gain, and the fanatic, ignorant followers who hate followers of other cults.

In fact i'm not religious at all, but i am curious about the origins and developments of various cults.

[bermondburi]

A Pakistani colleague once told me that Islam is like the most beautiful car in the world, but like with any car you can have bad drivers. 

 

This can be applicable to all religions to explain the problems caused by religion. 

 

They all pretty much have the same moral standard in one way or another. 

 

I'm an agnostic personally.

[luckyluke]

I don't believe in a particular god. 

 

There may be "something", but it never had, and doesn't influence my life in any way. 

 

70+, and I have always, and still try to, do good, and not do bad intentionally. 

[Elad]

If God created the Universe then who or what created God?? ????

[worgeordie]

Religion used to be the Opium of the masses,now i think its FaceBook,and Reality shows.

regards worgeordie

[mauGR1]

4 minutes ago, Elad said:

If God created the Universe then who or what created God?? ????

That's a good question, perhaps God is the existence itself.

[worgeordie]

6 minutes ago, hyku1147 said:

set the stage for chimpanzees - from whom we evolved

Wonder why the Chimpanzees never evolved too ? 

regards worgeordie

[PJPom]

I came to understand at an early age that the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Fairies in the garden and Father Christmas were part of growing up and were introduced to me by Parents that loved me.  

Religion however was not the happy tales a child would expect," who made me, God made me,  why did God make me ,  to know him ,love him and SERVE him in this world and in the next, a life of servitude with the promise of hell if I didn't comply, what a terrorising thing to teach a child. Any question was met by the answer " you must have faith" a catcall phrase I heard many times.

Religion was very soon put in the same category as the Tooth Fairy, I have no religion but mainly respect those who have as long as they don't preach.

As a proud boast as to my convictions I was in a small twin aircraft flying out of Sydney in bad weather and was vectored into an unseen downdraft ( weather radar was out) and watched the vertical speed indicator peg at -4000fpm with only 1000 on the altimeter, 15 secs to ground and all I thought of was my wife and daughters and my insurance would look after them, god never entered into my thoughts. We luckily hit the updraft before we hit the roofs and that was due to nature, nothing else.

[Elad]

12 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Wonder why the Chimpanzees never evolved too ? 

regards worgeordie

They're still evolving but we don't see any changes in a human lifetime.

[Odysseus123]

8 minutes ago, hyku1147 said:

"Umm..why should they do so?"

Some claim that God told them how life started. None mention how life emerged from the oceans - then evolved in to dinosaurs. None mention the meteor strike that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs - which allowed mammals to flourish, and set the stage for chimpanzees - from whom we evolved. Any bright adult would include these facts when explaining human evolution, so I find it implausible that a supreme being would omit such relevant information.

 

 

How could they do so?

 

Homo Sapiens is at most 80,000 years old-altho' some anthropologists believe that they put in a brief appearance 110,000 years ago only to be crushed.

 

They developed language and bounced back...

 

The Bible is but 2500 years old..the Epic of Gilgamesh is but a few centuries older.

 

Homer was written down in the 6th-7th century BC.

 

Our first putative historian was Herodotus (450 BC) and our next one (primus inter pares) was Thucydides in ?404 BC

 

It is but an eye blink in time.

 

By the way..I am not a Christian-so no use having a shot at me.

 

 

[user343434]

In God we trust, all others pay cash. 

[Elad]

If God exists then he's a rubbish planet builder! - he's placed our planet at a nice distance from the sun for life to flourish, but why the hell did he build the crust on tectonic plates. We get earthquakes, Tsunami, death and destruction with innocent people dying. He should be ashamed of himself. ????