Do You Believe In God?

[silentshadow]

I believe in God, I just don't believe in organized religion.

[Crusader]

i believe in a thing called love

 

(just listen to the rhythm of my heart)

[hum-an-ole]

I don't care what other people believe if they keep it to themselves.

If you bring up your religion to me, expect fierce debate; but i will not be the one to bring it up first.

Same here. The only problem I have with other peoples' beliefs is when it affects the way they treat me, in a negative way. I've got a friend who is the biggest stinge ever because she gives 15% of her income to her church, and was raised by a pastor, so she thinks that people shouldn't mind just giving her stuff. She was uptight for the longest time about chipping in for gas in my Jeep, when most of the time that we spend in it, we're running errands for her. Other than that she is awesome, so I dealt with it, but talk about annoying.

 

In my experience, I've also found that some religious people use their faith as a cover up for doing wrong things, maybe because they believe it can be forgiven. They go to church, then rip you off, but it's ok because they gather in a building every week and Jesus loves them

[supercanuk]

We have a high majority of atheists, agnostics, and some other folks who haven't specified but I've always wondered something. When your say, 70, or something, and you are dieing, and your scared shitless because you don't know whats going on, or whether you'll survive, do you at all hope that there might be an afterlife?

Remember your probably scared shitless, most people are I think when their dieing.

[Azalroth]

It'd be cool to have an afterlife, but I highly doubt it unless we figure out how to ascend into supernatural beings.

 

The fact that people believe in creationism, by one being...aka God..., is preposterous. If God created the universe...who create him? You can't use something as improbably as God to answer something that is equally, or close to, as improbably. It just raises the question...Who Created God?

 

Like Christine said...it just doesn't make sense to go and "sin" and to some building to congregate with others and be completely "forgiven".

[hum-an-ole]

I'm not afraid of death any more than I am afraid of tomorrow; they are both simply the unknown. I chose not to spend my life focusing on something I can not control. I hope I don't live until I'm 70 though, unless I'm super healthy by then, which is unlikely. Who wants to be decrepit?

[Guest Prosis]

I do but not in religions. I know some will say that makes no sense, but religions are human creations. But I think there is a creator somewhere. I mean, when I think of things like the creation of our world, universe, the fact that space is probably endless, etc, there has to be greater force somewhere.

 

As far as the afterlife is concerned, I think there is one but cannot say is what form. I do like most of us which is we'll wait and see. I am certain though that life is not so useless that you live it and then there's nothing else. You just stop being. I can't accept that. I may be wrong of course.

 

Religions are just stupid (in my opinion). They have a bunch of rules that make no sense to me. What does God care if you swear for example. I mean, a swear in english, in french, in japanese, does he have like a universal dictionnary of human invented languages to know who said what and was that a swear? Etc.

 

And, like someone said (I can't remember who) "if heaven's for clean people it's vacant". If there were less religions, I may believe in one but there are just too many and most of them make no sense. But they all have one thing in common: God.

[sodamntired]

I believe in God, I just don't believe in organized religion.

ditto

 

 

 

 

 

.....

[Sparq]

[Azalroth]

Hell, I could write a book now and have some morons quoting it in 2000 years too, but that doesn't mean it's real.

Just noticed this...the books not even that old, it was created hundreds (if not a thousand) years AD.

 

 

Also...that has to be the best post ever Sparq, one single picture that says it all. Well done.

[hum-an-ole]

Bahahaha, it's that thing! You've posted it before haven't you? I remember laughing then.

 

 

 

Good points Daniel. I can't imagine my being just stopping either, which makes it difficult to believe. I often wonder if we are not collectively that greater force, but the truth of our power has been suppressed by those who have figured out how manipulate the population. The wonders of the world had to of come from somewhere, and I doubt it's some magical creature.

[Guest Prosis]

Well I'm not thinking of a magical being either. But some things are bigger than us no matter how down to earth one can be. My best example for this is space. No one has gone really far in space. But is it really believable that, at some point, you go in space and there a wall. It just stops? That is hard to believe. So, if space is infinite, then why not a God? Or maybe God is space or rather the universe. Maybe it is the whole human race or even every living being on the planet and elsewhere in the universe. But there has to be something bigger. I mean, if the big bang created the universe from a single cell for example, then who created the cell? Was that cell infinite? Was it God? If so then, the Universe is that "God".

 

When I think of God I don't think of a man with a white beard or anything, I just think of it (I say it because it's not female or male) as just a bigger force that created the universe and us.

 

That brings us again to the afterlife. If there is an afterlife, maybe that reincarnation thing makes sense. Maybe we go live on another planet, maybe another dimension, etc. Who knows? But one thing I can't make sense out of is just a plain cold hard stop. There has to be more to life than just living and disapearing...

Edited July 26, 2007 by Prosis

[Some Random]

i like god as rendered by south park:

 

[Sparq]

Bahahaha, it's that thing! You've posted it before haven't you? I remember laughing then.

I have indeed! Flying Spaghetti Monster, lord of all that is or ever shall be. Which, according to the gospel, makes me a Pastafarian. There's an FSM emblem on the back of my car.

Edited July 26, 2007 by Sparq

[Muran]

I believe in God. I was raised a Catholic, and some aspects of Catholicism, helps me conceptualize just exactly what I believe in. That being said, I'm not an avid church goer, nor do I agree with a lot of things the Catholic church has to say.

 

I just know that deep in my heart, I believe there is some dude who has my back. And that makes me feel safe, and happy.

[sodamntired]

I just know that deep in my heart, I believe there is some dude who has my back. And that makes me feel safe, and happy.

wow, Tracy, you basically summed up every reason i believe.

 

;)

 

 

edit: and I don't believe in a hell. there is an all loving all powerful being that gives us all a chance to live the lives we choose, and I don't think he/she/it would punish us for making the wrong decisions....the worst punishment, as I see it, would be sent back here to live it all over again...

but probably in a worst situation than the one you left in.

Edited July 26, 2007 by sodamntired

[Ravenous Yam]

We have a high majority of atheists, agnostics, and some other folks who haven't specified but I've always wondered something. When your say, 70, or something, and you are dieing, and your scared shitless because you don't know whats going on, or whether you'll survive, do you at all hope that there might be an afterlife?

Remember your probably scared shitless, most people are I think when their dieing.

Is an afterlife necessarily eternal? Personally, an eternity of anything is the worst thing I can possibly imagine.

 

Perhaps we should define our terms here. Let's conceptualize.

 

When you (you in general, not you specifically) speak of an afterlife, what do you mean exactly? Does belief in an afterlife require belief in a soul?

 

For that matter, when one speaks of 'god', what attributes are they assigning to it? Omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence? Total benevolence? Is 'god' a distinctly humanoid being with a personality, as in the Abrahamic religions? Or is 'god' merely the nebulous idea of the general order, natural laws, and circumstance of the universe, devoid of any human attributes or sentience?

 

Is faith that is based simply on the grounds of not liking the thought of there not being some guy watching out for you, or some great payoff at the end of the only thing we know, truly legitimate?

[Zukiki]

I believe the universe was created because something/someone caused it to happen. Now if you wanna call the cause of that event God. Then so be it, but for me it ends there.

 

I don't believe someone is watching over us. I believe everything happens for a reason, and no not in the whole Karmic grand scale of things, I mean everything literally happens for a reason. You get into a car accident because you collided with another object. You could have been any where in the world, but you chose to be there. You die of a disease because some virus get into your systems and does it's stuff. God doesn't make anything happen, we do.

 

As for the aftelife, I sure as hell hope not. I draw comfort in the fact that after all this, it's over, and there's just nothing. So I may as well enjoy life now.

Edited July 26, 2007 by Zukiki

[Guest Prosis]

Is an afterlife necessarily eternal? Personally, an eternity of anything is the worst thing I can possibly imagine.

 

Perhaps we should define our terms here. Let's conceptualize.

 

When you (you in general, not you specifically) speak of an afterlife, what do you mean exactly? Does belief in an afterlife require belief in a soul?

 

For that matter, when one speaks of 'god', what attributes are they assigning to it? Omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence? Total benevolence? Is 'god' a distinctly humanoid being with a personality, as in the Abrahamic religions? Or is 'god' merely the nebulous idea of the general order, natural laws, and circumstance of the universe, devoid of any human attributes or sentience?

 

Is faith that is based simply on the grounds of not liking the thought of there not being some guy watching out for you, or some great payoff at the end of the only thing we know, truly legitimate?

I think I was pretty clear concerning God

 

As far as the after life is concerned, like I said, I don't know in what form but yes, endless.

[Ravenous megin-sane]

i don't believe in god 'cause i don't want to live my life thinking i owe it to someone.

 

 

that being said, i do find myself to be a very spiritual person but i cannot relate to any one religion.

[Monkey]

ditto

 

 

 

 

 

.....

Well written

[Lauren]

like tracy said, i take some of my beliefs from organized religion, but i believe in other stuff as well. i do put a lot of faith in myself, like ryan. not in a religious way i guess.. not really in a spiritual way either.. but just as some would pray to god from strength or peace of mind or whatever else, i look to myself to make it. i do believe that the good i do here and now will make a big difference in the end. i do live in the here and now, and on a smaller scale, i guess what i just described is karma, but thats not what it is in combination with my other beliefs on a larger scale. i believe something larger than ourselves has created the earth, either out of science or in conjunction with science and lets us do what we want. i believe we will be judged on our behaviour here on earth when we enter the afterlife, but i don't yet know what i think the outcomes could be.

[sodamntired]

Well written

you too.

 

 

...

[Seanathon]

Well I'm not thinking of a magical being either. But some things are bigger than us no matter how down to earth one can be. My best example for this is space. No one has gone really far in space. But is it really believable that, at some point, you go in space and there a wall. It just stops? That is hard to believe. So, if space is infinite, then why not a God? Or maybe God is space or rather the universe. Maybe it is the whole human race or even every living being on the planet and elsewhere in the universe. But there has to be something bigger. I mean, if the big bang created the universe from a single cell for example, then who created the cell? Was that cell infinite? Was it God? If so then, the Universe is that "God".

 

When I think of God I don't think of a man with a white beard or anything, I just think of it (I say it because it's not female or male) as just a bigger force that created the universe and us.

This is kind of my line of thinking.

I don't believe in god of any kind, but I sometimes think it's possible that some force kickstarted the universe and put it in motion. But that's the extent of it. Nothing watching over us, caring what we do, none of that.

 

As for the afterlife, I hope not. 70-80 years is enough. Living for eternity would suck.

[borntohula]

Is faith that is based simply on the grounds of not liking the thought of there not being some guy watching out for you, or some great payoff at the end of the only thing we know, truly legitimate?

word. rprznt.

 

throughout high school and into my first few years of university i bothered myself with the question of god's existence, as a lot of our identities are shaped around that belief... and that age is usually the time when most people go through a significant kind of identity crisis.

 

now i've come to the conclusion that it doesn't really matter and i don't really care. there could be a god, there might not be one. it could have a great influence on my life, and it might not. i can't prove it, nor can i deny it. so there's no point in spending any time concerning myself with it.

 

i'm surprised there weren't more responses along the lines of "i'm not religious, i'm spiritual." lolz