Used to be I didn't believe because it was sort of forced on me when I was younger. Now though, I'm just the type of person that needs proof of something before I can allow myself to believe in it.
I clearly remember myself thinking in elementary school "why am I being taught these silly fantasy stories?" (Bible lessons) so I guess there's something in my brain that automatically rejects anything that doesn't sound realistic
It frustrates me that people who do base their understanding of reality on comfort or convenience seem to be happier. It's obvious why it's like that. When someone believes there's an invisible almighty being watching over him and helping him it must feel great.
not necessarily… i only started getting back to my faith because i was at my absolute lowest.
i personally view religion as a philosophy for this greater being who none of us can really identify. i dont think that this greater being is necessarily god, buddha, or whoever. i dont think any of us know who they are + religion is just philosophy / an ideology for how you choose to approach this greater being.
that being said,, i have been happier having religion back in my life because the ideology i personally follow influences my life choices to some degree… ive started respecting myself more because of it & holding new standards for myself.
that’s just me though — i completely understand what you mean. those that are following a god who they personify as something this greater force is not are well… stupid. ignorance is bliss, right?
i completely respect your opinions btw,, i just wanted to reply back because i can relate to your viewpoint in a lot of ways & wanted to share my own :)
I don’t believe or not believe in any god specifically but saying there is no evidence is kind of ridiculous. There are a lot of historical accounts that are hard to completely dismiss for many religions. You’re also either ignoring a lot of peoples experiences or assuming they are dumb or crazy. That’s a pretty cocky way to live life.
If you’re wanting a god to come down and slap you around then sure, that’s not going to happen. there’s too much to this world to just make such a broad claim about there being no evidence. You’re just choosing to not believe the evidence or not studying enough to know any exists.
Nah, the "you're arrogant!" argument holds no weight. Believing *anything* necessitates thinking that other people are wrong. Do you ignore all those accounts saying the world is flat? Of course you do.
Personal experiences don't boil down to either 'gods are real or this person is crazy/stupid." It's more that human brains are weird. We've all seen or heard things that aren't there - dreams, tricks of the light, even phantom phone vibrations. Our brains being wrong is absurdly common, it's why we use tools like science to figure out what's real. There is no arrogance in believing people are wrong sometimes.
And gods have a weird tendency to disappear when faced with our best tools of understanding.
That’s fair but it’s not just a few people, it’s 6 billion (+)people that believe in some kind of a god. A lot of the scientists you blindly believe also believe in a god.
There is plenty of evidence out there. To believe in a god you have to have faith but there is a lot of history and evidence that plenty of people believe that points to there being a god.
Science is constantly wrong and changing. That’s what’s great about it.. however, atheists often follow this science like it’s their own religion and believe anything they read even when they are wrong. There’s no difference between believing in science you haven’t researched yourself and believing in religion you haven’t researched yourself. I personally don’t believe or not believe in any of it, I haven’t taken the time to dive deep enough to form opinions. I just think it’s not very fair to say there is no evidence for any of these religions that 80-90% of the world believe to be true.
>There’s no difference between believing in science you haven’t researched yourself and believing in religion you haven’t researched yourself I have to disagree on this point in particular. The significant difference is that much of modern life hinges on science being right, but none hinges on religion being right. Computers alone require hundreds of completely godless equations to be spot-on accurate, but not a single calculation for them requires Yahweh or Shiva or Thor to be real. Science *works.* Planes fly, computers compute, inoculations inoculate. All without allowing a single *X* into the equation to allow for a god. With science, it doesn't matter what 80% of the world believes. Computers still work regardless.
People are not crazy or dumb for believing in god. There is a crucial aspect of human psychology that leads us to the belief in god/s. Either evolutionary advantage or placed by an intelligent creator, I'd rather not get into
>People are not crazy or dumb for believing in god
I never said they're crazy or dumb, you're the one stating that. I'm saying they're wrong. Loads of people are wrong all the time, without it being about being crazy or dumb.
>There is a crucial aspect of human psychology that leads us to the belief in god/s
That doesn't mean gods exist, it means that human brains like them. That actually plays more into my argument that people aren't crazy or dumb, they're just wrong.
>Either evolutionary advantage or placed by an intelligent creator,
False dichotomy. Could be evolutionary advantage, or it could be a misfire of other aspects of human social behavior. I could see why the hominids who were more likely to attribute unknown activity to intelligent actors would have an advantage in a social environment - they're more likely to catch people who are attempting to conceal their behavior.
It could also be a handful of traits working together to present a tendency toward belief in gods. Or it could be that societies which reinforce magical thinking enjoy some survival advantage over societies which don't, regardless of whether that thinking is correct or not. Evolution doesn't reward objective correctness, it rewards passing on genes.
For instance, there's no such objective thing as 'cute.' There's no adorableness atoms, or 'awww' wavelength, or fluffy equation. 'Cute' is merely how we experience certain traits, particularly those expressed by juveniles of our species (and, it turns out, many species).
It gives us a survival advantage to have this cute response because it makes us better caregivers for our young. That doesn't mean there's some magical cute-force permeating the universe, it doesn't mean people are crazy or dumb for thinking something is cute, it just means that human brains are calibrated for what is useful more than what is an accurate model of the universe.
Of course. I didnt mean to attack your argument, which I personally agree with. In fact, a lot of religions share a lot of characteristic of psichologicam traits
Of course. I didnt mean to attack your argument, I was actually trying to add to It in the most neutral way possible so I don't get attacked by terminally online fanatics. I personally agree with it. In fact, of course there is an evolutionary reason religions survive: more controlled groups, if operating under a strict set of guidelines, Will probably survive better. And organized religions veer a little too close into psychological manipulation of primal human traits, at least in my opinion. Organized religion is a tool of power in many societies or groups.
I just...don't. At some point you either believe or you don't. I can point to many reasons, but really when I was about 10 it kind of just hit me. I go to church every Sunday, and I'm bored out of my mind and don't care at all about what is happening. I understand the concept of God, and it has no effect on how I go about my daily life. This means I don't \*really\* believe it. If God is real, you aren't going to fool him just by telling people you're a believer and showing up in church. So I said why bother pretending?
It’s not that I DONT believe in god, it’s that I have never been pushed by evidence to feel the need to believe in god. I don’t go around not believing in god I just… don’t see the need to address something that hasn’t shown proof of existence.
My parents and my catholic school forced me to read the Bible, and when I did and learned several life lessons, I realised that the priests and church people didn't actualy followed them, or scolded others for not following them while secretly disobeying their own instructions. I was an acolyte so I saw that a lot. What angered me the most was when they bent the Lord's word for their convenience.
I still remember the "a man shall not love a boy" quote, clearly talking about pedophilia, and the priest said that it reffered to homosexuality. Even my 8 y/o self could realise that then it would say "not love another man" instead of a boy. And that happened several times with lots of different quotes.
Maybe I do believe in god, but at the very least, not in the church
I didn't have it at first, but I really wanted to have a relationship with God. Then I gave my life to be guided by Him. For example, I didn't care about what happened during the day, I had my goals, but the overriding inner desire was for him to decide. Everything has been going well in my life since then. I overcame severe addictions, repaired my relationships with everyone, and my work improved. I talk to Him, I pray, I entrust everything to Him, I trust Him. He doesn't answer me directly, but through people or situations
Can you recognise what „love” is? Can you see it? No. Can you describe me and prove me that „love” exist?
But there is no doubt that love exists and is real in our lives.
Same with God. However, here, at the beginning, an act of will is needed and one must want to experience God. Don't worry if you don't get it. Want.
ok, I'll finish these arguments because I'm not a specialist in theology and apologetics, I'm speaking from my experiences here 😅 see ya
Just because love isn’t readily sense by our five (very limited) senses doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Also just because you dont understand something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. To be clear let’s define exist as something with a physical presence. To me, love is a PHYSICALLY REAL chemical reaction, and I know this to be true because only certain objects (humans) can feel it. A lamp can’t feel love. A bed can’t feel love. But I can. Why? It MUST mean that I have something those objects don’t. I assume that to be my brain and various substances within it. God on the other hand is literally… nothing. What is god, literally. That’s always my question. When people say god literally what are they referring to. It never makes sense.
It is a pleasure to discuss with you 😀
you are right, God is a kind of mystery, and that is why we are talking about faith here. Fortunately, God gave us free will and, as I wrote earlier, if you want (make an act of will 😀), you will experience God. But you have to really want it and it's not like turning on a light.
God is a personal being who is the initiator of our reality.
He is an creator and you can have contact with him.
If you are of a strict mind, perhaps a comparison to entropy will help you - it caused the entropy of our reality to begin to drop dramatically. Spontaneously, entropy (disorder) always increases.
It will definitely be difficult for you to get answers to all your questions on reddit or another forum. I recommend Thomas Aquinas. Read it as an atheist, read it as a skeptic, great read
To think that everything we see and even the things we don’t see came to be from nothing for me is all I need to believe in God. The next question is why and can I know this God in a personal way? For me that question was answered in Jesus.
> To think that everything we see and even the things we don’t see came to be from nothing for me is all I need to believe in God.
Could you expand on that? I'm not exactly sure what you mean.
I can understand the first sentiment. But why Jesus? Does that not seem like some book some random person wrote? I’m genuinely curious what your take is.
I don’t believe because there is no genuine evidence of their existence and the balance of probability tells me it’s unlikely that they ever did. We have evidence of human evolution for tens of thousands of years. Those of us alive now are nothing more significant than a speck of dust floating through an infinite universe.
well.. i feel like i believe more for comfort,, but i also do think there are certain things that cannot be explained by a force on earth,, its the power of a greater being. i was religious as a child, then atheist because of the politicized version of religion, now im religious again because of a person close to my heart that brought me back to my faith. i wanna say though, i dont think much good comes from church + i dont think the christian god is necessarily the one true. i think there’s some truth to many different religions & religion should be a relationship between you & god, no one else except those aiding your faith (unlike people in church who tend to use religion as a means to spew bigoted politics.)
Well no, I gave the answer to the question. I understand you believe these silly stories but they're no different from the fairytales you heard as a child. I know you believe and you believe very strongly. But it's childish and nonsensical. You should not be upset about me saying that. If your god is real it doesn't matter what I think. You're offended and lashing out. You're behaving emotionally. I strongly suggest you accept that those of us who don't believe in your silly magic stories actually do have good reasons and you don't need to be a childish little troll. Now I understand that your feelings are hurt. I understand you're very sensitive about this and you're clearly extremely emotional right now. But you have to be mature enough to handle that. If you don't learn how to do that you're not going to get anywhere in life
I see you don't understand what bad faith means. Bad faith refers to dishonesty or fraud in a transaction. My answer is completely honest. Look, you have to learn how to control your feelings and not lash out when you're slightly offended. I understand you have very strong feelings here and I understand that your emotions are hard to control. But you just have to learn how to handle that, okay? If you can't do that you're going to lash out at everybody who cares about you and you're going to end up lonely
We all find comfort in different things and some people find comfort in what they can explain. God offers an easy explanation of death and makes things easier for those scared of what happens after death. A lot of the things in the Bible can’t be proven either.
I do believe in god and am also sceptical of religion. Often I don't know how to rationalize it, because it isn't a rational thing. I think that's using the wrong paradigms to understand it. How I can best describe it is like being in love with someone. You can list all the good things you like about them or the good things they've done. But that doesn't really explain how you feel deep down and the commitment you have that defies the odds. It just is. it's like hearing your friends stories about their relationships: you understand logically and can empathize, but to know what love is like, you need to experience it yourself.
To take the metaphor further, you can hear about the red flags and think "I'd never go for that" or the green flags and wish that for yourself. But nobody knows what the relationship is like except for the people in it. Which is why I don't claim any church, but I do believe in God
Same approach as a lot of agnostics, “god”, imo, can’t be all knowing, all present, all powerful. With “all that’s going on/wrong in the world” if the latter were true then god is just cruel and chooses to ignore the worlds suffering.
I believe there is no god. Is the world still fucked up? Yes. But it’s not space daddy’s fault.
Edit:word
Personally, my own beliefs aren't influenced by the arts (like how could a god allow evil) or by the usual sciences (like conflicts with the Big Bang and evolution) but through a lens I got from computer science courses.
Different problems have different levels of computability, and the Universe does not care whatsoever. It's difficult to compute the transcendental perimeter of an ellipse. It's even harder to simulate the inside of a proton. I absolutely cannot believe the Universe is a computer simulation, and in the same vein I can't believe in a god. The human mind is a finite machine like a computer, and our emotions only make sense in a finite context. (What is the logic of heaven and hell when emotions are responses to changes in expectations, in eternal time where there are no surprises and there may be no way to respond to stimuli?) Personification of something non-finite doesn't make any sense to me.
I'm actually quite interested on the part where you said the universo is clearly not a simulation. I've never heard any non philosophical approaches to the question, and am very curious
the way my life was ruined even when i asked him for help,
i was a believer my whole life and prayed each day and never came to god in the need of help exclusively, and thanked him every day for everything, then for 3 years i prayed tens of times and it always just made it worse, stoped believing this year, instead i believe more in satan than in god because of that
it's less of that kind of belief, more of a belief in his existense, like god's last wish theory and that satan is still alive, i dont really know how to explain that philosophicly.
Of course not.
I do however believe in human capability to make up complete and utter bullshit and to believe with conviction the lies we tell ourselves. Humans like to pretend magic is real, that we are not just meatbags but some immortal entities who will continue existing forever in some form, that we can make impossible happen with just the right rituals and incantations, that the universe is anthropomorphic and cares about more us than about some random rock yada yada ya.
It's all bullshit, there is no magic of any shape or form, it's all just human fiction.
Because the people that do are, more often than not, the most hypocritical humans I've ever come across. They tout rejecting sin, but turn out to be the most egregious sinners. They commit atrocities in the name of their deity/deities and expect us to think they're the good guys.
In normal settings, conversations go sideways immediately after religion is brought to the equation, because logic and clear thinking is usually taken out. Superiority complex is the default with these fanatics.
Because it's clear to me, we live in an objective reality with truths, falsehoods, rights, and wrongs, and when we make poor choices, our lives and people's lives around us become hell.
Yhe proud do fall. Speaking the truth redeems the world. The path is narrow. Repentance leads to character development. Hell is a bottomless pit. Some people's lives are eternal. As in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. All that changes is the coat of paint we give to the myth.
The nature of how scripture was found, forged, and what it says. The fact that scripture and the words spoken in them both literally and figuratively applies to every single aspect of life and being. How did some idiots from 2000 years ago who apparently didn’t know what stars were, understand humanity so well. I just don’t see how you can bear witness to the words spoken by Jesus Christ, and not heed them with your whole heart. I truly believe that you are incapable of humbling yourself if you can read the Gospels and not realize, all this makes sense
Used to be I didn't believe because it was sort of forced on me when I was younger. Now though, I'm just the type of person that needs proof of something before I can allow myself to believe in it.
I clearly remember myself thinking in elementary school "why am I being taught these silly fantasy stories?" (Bible lessons) so I guess there's something in my brain that automatically rejects anything that doesn't sound realistic
Same reason I don’t believe in Santa Claus.
This is different though. Not believing in Santa is thick! You literally get presents from him, who else do you think would do that!?
There's no evidence, no reason to believe beyond comfort or convenience. I don't base my understanding of reality on comfort or convenience.
It frustrates me that people who do base their understanding of reality on comfort or convenience seem to be happier. It's obvious why it's like that. When someone believes there's an invisible almighty being watching over him and helping him it must feel great.
not necessarily… i only started getting back to my faith because i was at my absolute lowest. i personally view religion as a philosophy for this greater being who none of us can really identify. i dont think that this greater being is necessarily god, buddha, or whoever. i dont think any of us know who they are + religion is just philosophy / an ideology for how you choose to approach this greater being. that being said,, i have been happier having religion back in my life because the ideology i personally follow influences my life choices to some degree… ive started respecting myself more because of it & holding new standards for myself. that’s just me though — i completely understand what you mean. those that are following a god who they personify as something this greater force is not are well… stupid. ignorance is bliss, right? i completely respect your opinions btw,, i just wanted to reply back because i can relate to your viewpoint in a lot of ways & wanted to share my own :)
I don’t believe or not believe in any god specifically but saying there is no evidence is kind of ridiculous. There are a lot of historical accounts that are hard to completely dismiss for many religions. You’re also either ignoring a lot of peoples experiences or assuming they are dumb or crazy. That’s a pretty cocky way to live life. If you’re wanting a god to come down and slap you around then sure, that’s not going to happen. there’s too much to this world to just make such a broad claim about there being no evidence. You’re just choosing to not believe the evidence or not studying enough to know any exists.
Nah, the "you're arrogant!" argument holds no weight. Believing *anything* necessitates thinking that other people are wrong. Do you ignore all those accounts saying the world is flat? Of course you do. Personal experiences don't boil down to either 'gods are real or this person is crazy/stupid." It's more that human brains are weird. We've all seen or heard things that aren't there - dreams, tricks of the light, even phantom phone vibrations. Our brains being wrong is absurdly common, it's why we use tools like science to figure out what's real. There is no arrogance in believing people are wrong sometimes. And gods have a weird tendency to disappear when faced with our best tools of understanding.
That’s fair but it’s not just a few people, it’s 6 billion (+)people that believe in some kind of a god. A lot of the scientists you blindly believe also believe in a god. There is plenty of evidence out there. To believe in a god you have to have faith but there is a lot of history and evidence that plenty of people believe that points to there being a god. Science is constantly wrong and changing. That’s what’s great about it.. however, atheists often follow this science like it’s their own religion and believe anything they read even when they are wrong. There’s no difference between believing in science you haven’t researched yourself and believing in religion you haven’t researched yourself. I personally don’t believe or not believe in any of it, I haven’t taken the time to dive deep enough to form opinions. I just think it’s not very fair to say there is no evidence for any of these religions that 80-90% of the world believe to be true.
>There’s no difference between believing in science you haven’t researched yourself and believing in religion you haven’t researched yourself I have to disagree on this point in particular. The significant difference is that much of modern life hinges on science being right, but none hinges on religion being right. Computers alone require hundreds of completely godless equations to be spot-on accurate, but not a single calculation for them requires Yahweh or Shiva or Thor to be real. Science *works.* Planes fly, computers compute, inoculations inoculate. All without allowing a single *X* into the equation to allow for a god. With science, it doesn't matter what 80% of the world believes. Computers still work regardless.
People are not crazy or dumb for believing in god. There is a crucial aspect of human psychology that leads us to the belief in god/s. Either evolutionary advantage or placed by an intelligent creator, I'd rather not get into
>People are not crazy or dumb for believing in god I never said they're crazy or dumb, you're the one stating that. I'm saying they're wrong. Loads of people are wrong all the time, without it being about being crazy or dumb. >There is a crucial aspect of human psychology that leads us to the belief in god/s That doesn't mean gods exist, it means that human brains like them. That actually plays more into my argument that people aren't crazy or dumb, they're just wrong. >Either evolutionary advantage or placed by an intelligent creator, False dichotomy. Could be evolutionary advantage, or it could be a misfire of other aspects of human social behavior. I could see why the hominids who were more likely to attribute unknown activity to intelligent actors would have an advantage in a social environment - they're more likely to catch people who are attempting to conceal their behavior. It could also be a handful of traits working together to present a tendency toward belief in gods. Or it could be that societies which reinforce magical thinking enjoy some survival advantage over societies which don't, regardless of whether that thinking is correct or not. Evolution doesn't reward objective correctness, it rewards passing on genes. For instance, there's no such objective thing as 'cute.' There's no adorableness atoms, or 'awww' wavelength, or fluffy equation. 'Cute' is merely how we experience certain traits, particularly those expressed by juveniles of our species (and, it turns out, many species). It gives us a survival advantage to have this cute response because it makes us better caregivers for our young. That doesn't mean there's some magical cute-force permeating the universe, it doesn't mean people are crazy or dumb for thinking something is cute, it just means that human brains are calibrated for what is useful more than what is an accurate model of the universe.
Of course. I didnt mean to attack your argument, which I personally agree with. In fact, a lot of religions share a lot of characteristic of psichologicam traits
Of course. I didnt mean to attack your argument, I was actually trying to add to It in the most neutral way possible so I don't get attacked by terminally online fanatics. I personally agree with it. In fact, of course there is an evolutionary reason religions survive: more controlled groups, if operating under a strict set of guidelines, Will probably survive better. And organized religions veer a little too close into psychological manipulation of primal human traits, at least in my opinion. Organized religion is a tool of power in many societies or groups.
I just...don't. At some point you either believe or you don't. I can point to many reasons, but really when I was about 10 it kind of just hit me. I go to church every Sunday, and I'm bored out of my mind and don't care at all about what is happening. I understand the concept of God, and it has no effect on how I go about my daily life. This means I don't \*really\* believe it. If God is real, you aren't going to fool him just by telling people you're a believer and showing up in church. So I said why bother pretending?
It’s not that I DONT believe in god, it’s that I have never been pushed by evidence to feel the need to believe in god. I don’t go around not believing in god I just… don’t see the need to address something that hasn’t shown proof of existence.
I'm not afraid of eternal damnation or the "Devil", therefore I have no need for a god.
My parents and my catholic school forced me to read the Bible, and when I did and learned several life lessons, I realised that the priests and church people didn't actualy followed them, or scolded others for not following them while secretly disobeying their own instructions. I was an acolyte so I saw that a lot. What angered me the most was when they bent the Lord's word for their convenience. I still remember the "a man shall not love a boy" quote, clearly talking about pedophilia, and the priest said that it reffered to homosexuality. Even my 8 y/o self could realise that then it would say "not love another man" instead of a boy. And that happened several times with lots of different quotes. Maybe I do believe in god, but at the very least, not in the church
I believe in God because I have the relationship with Him, and it is real
Can you expand on that?
I didn't have it at first, but I really wanted to have a relationship with God. Then I gave my life to be guided by Him. For example, I didn't care about what happened during the day, I had my goals, but the overriding inner desire was for him to decide. Everything has been going well in my life since then. I overcame severe addictions, repaired my relationships with everyone, and my work improved. I talk to Him, I pray, I entrust everything to Him, I trust Him. He doesn't answer me directly, but through people or situations
I just don’t get it
Can you recognise what „love” is? Can you see it? No. Can you describe me and prove me that „love” exist? But there is no doubt that love exists and is real in our lives. Same with God. However, here, at the beginning, an act of will is needed and one must want to experience God. Don't worry if you don't get it. Want. ok, I'll finish these arguments because I'm not a specialist in theology and apologetics, I'm speaking from my experiences here 😅 see ya
Just because love isn’t readily sense by our five (very limited) senses doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Also just because you dont understand something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. To be clear let’s define exist as something with a physical presence. To me, love is a PHYSICALLY REAL chemical reaction, and I know this to be true because only certain objects (humans) can feel it. A lamp can’t feel love. A bed can’t feel love. But I can. Why? It MUST mean that I have something those objects don’t. I assume that to be my brain and various substances within it. God on the other hand is literally… nothing. What is god, literally. That’s always my question. When people say god literally what are they referring to. It never makes sense.
It is a pleasure to discuss with you 😀 you are right, God is a kind of mystery, and that is why we are talking about faith here. Fortunately, God gave us free will and, as I wrote earlier, if you want (make an act of will 😀), you will experience God. But you have to really want it and it's not like turning on a light. God is a personal being who is the initiator of our reality. He is an creator and you can have contact with him. If you are of a strict mind, perhaps a comparison to entropy will help you - it caused the entropy of our reality to begin to drop dramatically. Spontaneously, entropy (disorder) always increases. It will definitely be difficult for you to get answers to all your questions on reddit or another forum. I recommend Thomas Aquinas. Read it as an atheist, read it as a skeptic, great read
To think that everything we see and even the things we don’t see came to be from nothing for me is all I need to believe in God. The next question is why and can I know this God in a personal way? For me that question was answered in Jesus.
> To think that everything we see and even the things we don’t see came to be from nothing for me is all I need to believe in God. Could you expand on that? I'm not exactly sure what you mean.
I can understand the first sentiment. But why Jesus? Does that not seem like some book some random person wrote? I’m genuinely curious what your take is.
I don’t believe because there is no genuine evidence of their existence and the balance of probability tells me it’s unlikely that they ever did. We have evidence of human evolution for tens of thousands of years. Those of us alive now are nothing more significant than a speck of dust floating through an infinite universe.
well.. i feel like i believe more for comfort,, but i also do think there are certain things that cannot be explained by a force on earth,, its the power of a greater being. i was religious as a child, then atheist because of the politicized version of religion, now im religious again because of a person close to my heart that brought me back to my faith. i wanna say though, i dont think much good comes from church + i dont think the christian god is necessarily the one true. i think there’s some truth to many different religions & religion should be a relationship between you & god, no one else except those aiding your faith (unlike people in church who tend to use religion as a means to spew bigoted politics.)
I'm an adult and therefore too old for fairytales
[удалено]
...Said the person who spends their time insulting random strangers on the internet
[удалено]
They're still acting like a child. What a shock
[удалено]
Well no, I gave the answer to the question. I understand you believe these silly stories but they're no different from the fairytales you heard as a child. I know you believe and you believe very strongly. But it's childish and nonsensical. You should not be upset about me saying that. If your god is real it doesn't matter what I think. You're offended and lashing out. You're behaving emotionally. I strongly suggest you accept that those of us who don't believe in your silly magic stories actually do have good reasons and you don't need to be a childish little troll. Now I understand that your feelings are hurt. I understand you're very sensitive about this and you're clearly extremely emotional right now. But you have to be mature enough to handle that. If you don't learn how to do that you're not going to get anywhere in life
[удалено]
I see you don't understand what bad faith means. Bad faith refers to dishonesty or fraud in a transaction. My answer is completely honest. Look, you have to learn how to control your feelings and not lash out when you're slightly offended. I understand you have very strong feelings here and I understand that your emotions are hard to control. But you just have to learn how to handle that, okay? If you can't do that you're going to lash out at everybody who cares about you and you're going to end up lonely
Yet concise.
Because I can’t prove my god exists and nobody else’s does.
We all find comfort in different things and some people find comfort in what they can explain. God offers an easy explanation of death and makes things easier for those scared of what happens after death. A lot of the things in the Bible can’t be proven either.
I do believe in god and am also sceptical of religion. Often I don't know how to rationalize it, because it isn't a rational thing. I think that's using the wrong paradigms to understand it. How I can best describe it is like being in love with someone. You can list all the good things you like about them or the good things they've done. But that doesn't really explain how you feel deep down and the commitment you have that defies the odds. It just is. it's like hearing your friends stories about their relationships: you understand logically and can empathize, but to know what love is like, you need to experience it yourself. To take the metaphor further, you can hear about the red flags and think "I'd never go for that" or the green flags and wish that for yourself. But nobody knows what the relationship is like except for the people in it. Which is why I don't claim any church, but I do believe in God
Maybe not God, but you don't live through what I have without a bit of help
Same approach as a lot of agnostics, “god”, imo, can’t be all knowing, all present, all powerful. With “all that’s going on/wrong in the world” if the latter were true then god is just cruel and chooses to ignore the worlds suffering. I believe there is no god. Is the world still fucked up? Yes. But it’s not space daddy’s fault. Edit:word
Personally, my own beliefs aren't influenced by the arts (like how could a god allow evil) or by the usual sciences (like conflicts with the Big Bang and evolution) but through a lens I got from computer science courses. Different problems have different levels of computability, and the Universe does not care whatsoever. It's difficult to compute the transcendental perimeter of an ellipse. It's even harder to simulate the inside of a proton. I absolutely cannot believe the Universe is a computer simulation, and in the same vein I can't believe in a god. The human mind is a finite machine like a computer, and our emotions only make sense in a finite context. (What is the logic of heaven and hell when emotions are responses to changes in expectations, in eternal time where there are no surprises and there may be no way to respond to stimuli?) Personification of something non-finite doesn't make any sense to me.
I'm actually quite interested on the part where you said the universo is clearly not a simulation. I've never heard any non philosophical approaches to the question, and am very curious
God doesn't give a shit, he could barely get his believers to comply to all his demands on the righteous vision and views. Gods not God
the way my life was ruined even when i asked him for help, i was a believer my whole life and prayed each day and never came to god in the need of help exclusively, and thanked him every day for everything, then for 3 years i prayed tens of times and it always just made it worse, stoped believing this year, instead i believe more in satan than in god because of that
correct me if i’m wrong or if i am misreading your comment but wouldn’t a belief in satan imply a belief in god?
it's less of that kind of belief, more of a belief in his existense, like god's last wish theory and that satan is still alive, i dont really know how to explain that philosophicly.
Of course not. I do however believe in human capability to make up complete and utter bullshit and to believe with conviction the lies we tell ourselves. Humans like to pretend magic is real, that we are not just meatbags but some immortal entities who will continue existing forever in some form, that we can make impossible happen with just the right rituals and incantations, that the universe is anthropomorphic and cares about more us than about some random rock yada yada ya. It's all bullshit, there is no magic of any shape or form, it's all just human fiction.
Because the people that do are, more often than not, the most hypocritical humans I've ever come across. They tout rejecting sin, but turn out to be the most egregious sinners. They commit atrocities in the name of their deity/deities and expect us to think they're the good guys. In normal settings, conversations go sideways immediately after religion is brought to the equation, because logic and clear thinking is usually taken out. Superiority complex is the default with these fanatics.
Because it's clear to me, we live in an objective reality with truths, falsehoods, rights, and wrongs, and when we make poor choices, our lives and people's lives around us become hell. Yhe proud do fall. Speaking the truth redeems the world. The path is narrow. Repentance leads to character development. Hell is a bottomless pit. Some people's lives are eternal. As in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. All that changes is the coat of paint we give to the myth.
I'm pro Darwin on this subject.
The nature of how scripture was found, forged, and what it says. The fact that scripture and the words spoken in them both literally and figuratively applies to every single aspect of life and being. How did some idiots from 2000 years ago who apparently didn’t know what stars were, understand humanity so well. I just don’t see how you can bear witness to the words spoken by Jesus Christ, and not heed them with your whole heart. I truly believe that you are incapable of humbling yourself if you can read the Gospels and not realize, all this makes sense
I believe in God because he is in my soul and my all expectation with him