Comment by Unseen on September 9, 2012 at 2:38pm

i mean, why not believe in God? or a god? What is there to look forward to after you die? Do you guys believe in an afterlife or is it just nothing?

Why not believe in God, you ask? Do you just post or don't you ever read. Try reading others' posts a bit and you should have a laundry list of good reasons not to believe in God, starting with his non-existence. If that's not enough, then there's the worthiness issue: is his personality worthy of worship (should he exist)? After that, which of the many gods to believe in.

Comment by Pope OoO (Out of Order) on September 9, 2012 at 10:52pm

Don't you reject at least one or two other religions?

And why? (Have you asked yourself these questions?)

Comment by warofages on September 10, 2012 at 9:40pm

@Diane & Reg

i appreciate the more positive replies and i thank you :]

i believe in God because i've had things happen in my life that isnt explained, that could only be, such as "an inside joke," that makes me realize "aha, somebody up there has a sense of humor." now it sounds pretty idiotic, yes, so no need to continue your hate rants that dont particularly daze me, but nonetheless, i just have a presence sense around everywhere i go.

i apologize again for the title and the crude intro, but anywho, have you guys ever thought, "what happens if i'm wrong?" like one of you said, "wishful thinking does not make something true." i've always longed for long lost answers to how the Big Bang supposedly went down, and it just isnt logical. nothing --> something? no offense, but even if you say you have sufficient evidence, what stops this from happening again? and why hasnt it yet? and what exactly "banged together" if nothing existed @.@? lots of questions, i know, but rather than being negative, i hope you guys could be helpful to my thinking. 

...oh, and why is the year only 2012?

Comment by warofages on September 10, 2012 at 9:41pm

i forgot to insert ..v

at the part where i said if you guys ever thought to yourselves "what if you were wrong?" i mean, what if you DID die and instead of just eternal nothingness, you actually stand in front of God and he asks you "...why didnt you believe in me?" 

Comment by Heather Spoonheim on September 10, 2012 at 9:48pm

@warofages

You mention that you have a 'presence sense around' you everywhere you go - I would highly recommend a regime of anti-psychotic pharmaceuticals and see if that persists.

You ask, what if I'm wrong.  I'm not - the Christian concept of god contradicts itself in so many ways that it is, for a fact, wrong.  Given that, if I were you I would worry a lot about the possibility that Islam is correct.  Since you have never given serious consideration to other gods, what are you going to do if you end up standing in front of Allah trying to explain why you were worshiping one of his prophets instead?

You mentioned the Big Bang but have obviously read nothing scientific about it - please upgrade your knowledge of the subject before trying to engage in a discussion about it.  About the 2012 thing - that is a joke, right?

Comment by Kris Feenstra on September 10, 2012 at 10:09pm

"what happens if i'm wrong?"

Once you introduce supernatural entities -- that is to say entities not bound by the laws of nature -- you really open up infinite possibilities, none of which are predictable.  Whichever god a person may believe in is actually just one possibility out of infinity.  This includes an infinite number of possibilites where worshipping the wrong god, or even worshipping the right god in the wrong way still results in eternal damnation.  Can we favour one supernatural explanation over another?  Probably not.  How would that be possible?  What methodology would we use?

An all powerful being could, without a doubt, deceive us.  A being powerful beyond our comprehension cannot be restricted by a human line of reasoning or interpretation.  This question, "What happens if I'm wrong?" applies evenly to everyone once we open up the door to supernatural explanations.  There are no sound foundations on which to place bets.

That being the case, one might as well live by the sincerity of their convictions.  If someone searches earnestly with an open mind and that leads them to God somehow, I really don't have an issue with that as long as their faith is not used to justify hate, oppression or violence.  I don't agree with a godly viewpoint, and if my opinion is called upon I will argue against it, but I don't fault or condemn that person for reaching such a conclusion.

In my life, I have simply not encountered a compelling reason to hold faith in any religion or supernatural view I have encountered to date.  While a naturalistic explanation of all the universe is far from complete, it does have plenty of supporting evidence to date and is largely cohesive.  If my views change, it will not be due to a fear of being wrong -- when it comes to nature and the universe I can guarantee a number of my views are wrong --, but rather because evidence and reason compels me to change my stance.

Comment by Unseen on September 10, 2012 at 10:15pm

@warofages

You really need to get an education. Then, if you still have reasons for believing better than your New Agey horseshit, come back and we can have a serious discussion.

For one thing, if someone up there likes you, how do you know it's God or Jesus? (I assume you're a Christian.) If a god is possible, there's a plethora to choose from.

I hazard a guess that if you are Christian, it's because you've been exposed to Christians, and perhaps were even raised in a Christian home.

What happens if we're wrong? About what? The existence of Odin? Krishna? Ahura Mazda? To come here with Pascal's Wager tells us you are really at the beginning of your understanding of religion.

Like I said. Get an education. The fact that our criticisms don't "daze" you is an indication you're still very naive.

Comment by SteveInCO on September 10, 2012 at 10:30pm

Why is it only 2012?  I can answer that and you don't even have to be an atheist to find it a sensible answer.  Because that's how long ago Christ was born (or rather, it's the best guesstimate a monk living in the Dark Ages could come up with)... not how long ago the earth was formed.  Creationists understand this; they will claim the earth is at least 4000 years older than the birth of Christ--this is of course wrong but the point is no Christian could seriously believe the year number has anything to do with when the earth was created when it is supposed instead to have something to do with the birth of Christ.  (Note the the Jewish (5771) and traditional Russian Orthodox years (7521 I think) are intended to be counts from the creation according to the bible--but also note they disagree with each other by about 2000 years in spite of meticulous scholarship behind those numbers, never mind Archbishop Usher putting it 6016 years ago and having that date of 4004 BC appear in KJV bibles' marginalia for centuries.)

Your question makes no sense to anyone on either side of the creationist/natural sciences dispute who has even the remotest clue what they are trying to uphold.

Comment by Logicallunatic on September 10, 2012 at 11:11pm

Hi warofages

"what if you DID die and instead of just eternal nothingness, you actually stand in front of God and he asks you "...why didnt you believe in me?" 

In the extremely improbable scenario of a god existing and for the sake of argument, I would say: which god are you? Why didn't you present any evidence of yourself? Why did you go to such great lengths to conceal yourself? Why did you allow rivers of blood to be spilt in your name and in endless religious conflict? Why all of the needless suffering when you could have intervened any time to fix things yet you did nothing.

You see what I mean? Any being who behaves like that is not worthy of worship. But it's ok because no such being exists in my view.

Comment by Pope OoO (Out of Order) on September 10, 2012 at 11:55pm

stand in front of God and he asks you "...why didnt you believe in me?" 

When I saw so many people describing you in so many different ways, logic says most of them have to be wrong! And they just tend to believe the same thing the people around them believe, even though it's clear (to me) that none of them (or myself) have a direct line to you to confirm such beliefs.

If I'm taught by wise lovers of Allah that virgins are waiting for me if I just believe in you, am I supposed to believe it just because my village does, or because they'll harass me if I don't believe?

Sorry, but I was just using the brains that you gave me. I don't believe in things for selfish reasons. I just believe in things I think are probably true, and even then, I don't believe everything I think. I keep an open mind. Which is why I'm talking to you, right now. Hello?

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