Question... For people of all Beliefs

you do realize there’s more than the big bang? I believe in the claps theory

seao2florida: I don’t have faith God doesn’t exist. I simply can not find any good reason to believe he/she/it does.

Do leprechauns exist:

A) Yes, I have faith in them, and you can’t prove they don’t exist B) No, that’s absurd. They’re obvious mythological creatures. C) I don’t believe in leprechauns, but it’s a personal matter of faith for everyone, so I respect the beliefs of those who do

Now just substitue ‘god’ for ‘leprechauns’ and you’ll understand.

jesusismysavior,

What about the possibility that religious sensations and experiences with God are the result of activity in certain parts of the brain?

actually proved that there was a God

No, he didn’t… you STILL don’t understand what PROOF means…

jesusismysavior, notice where I said: I will never say that “God does not exist, and that is a fact”.

Please read the answers clearly if you wish to comment on them.

Let’s substitute ‘god’ for ‘leprechauns’ in your original statement:

“Why do people who don’t believe in leprechauns say as if they know it for a fact leprechauns do not exist… But when a person says leprechauns do exist they get so angry and think that we are ignorant or less intelligent for believing in leprechauns”

You have no evidence that leprechauns don’t exist. Their existence is so unlikely that you would probably be justified in the blanket statement “leprechauns don’t exist”. And yet, if someone were to insist to you, without proof, that leprechauns absolutely do exist, and you must believe in them or else suffer eternal torment, wouldn’t you get a little irritated?

ichibanarky If someone pushes the idea that my faith is far-fetched and unworthy - I’m going to get angry.

I do remember you doing that to my belief earlier.

If all God’s believers can just say “I respect your faith, and I will not try to refute it.”, then I will do the same.

I don’t try to refute your belief, and I said I respected it, but you have tried to refute it.. But hey I’m sure you didnt mean to so no hard feelings.

ichibanarky

I really appreciate that and respect your beliefs. I just think its not right for someone to say that they know for a fact that god does or does not exist because like I said To the unbeliever there is no evidence but to the believer there is an abundance.

ally_xo

I said that to the unbeliever there is no evidence to prove that God exists and To the believer there is an abundance of evidence proving that God does exist.

religionisgood

Aaaahhh I see. I’m interested in hearing why. But, that is also personal.

ally he means no evidence pertaining to gods existence.

ha…Buddhism is far fetched…reincarnation? nirvana? but hey…scientific evidence…and all that junk

It all boils down to Faith.

“I’m just saying that, just because YOU didn’t See, Hear, Taste, Feel, (whatever) me doing, feeling, seeing or tasting something doesn’t mean I didn’t do it. Therefore what is evident to me wont be evident to you.”

The beauty of modern science is, I can observe you doing all of those things. I can verify through observation and measurement, that you are seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, etc. What I can’t observe and verify, is that you are “experiencing God”. You can certainly claim to be, but I can’t verify it. That’s why belief in God is just that: belief. Faith. Speculation. Evidence is not involved.

jesusismysavior,

That is true, many former atheists have converted to various religions. It’s also a moot point. The original argument from stevenw1987 was that people who are not religious are closed minded to “the truth”. I am just saying that viewpoint is obviously flawed.

I am a firm believer that ‘God’ does NOT exist. I do not get angry when people try to tell me otherwise and tell me their stories about their faith. I don’t think of them as ignorant. I kind of take offense to you generalizing in such a manner. I believe in what I want; I have that right. I also believe that anybody and everybody has the right to believe what they want. I celebrate our differences. I don’t separate you from me because you are a theist and I am not. You are a human and so am I. We may not have come from the same place but we are the same species of creature. We are living amongst each other so we might as well get along.

“the bible talks a about a flood…world wide. recently science has proven that this is a fact. “

Really? Care to back up that statement with a reference?

I have no proof that the God of the Bible does not exist. I just can not find any good reason to believe in that God.

What do Christians think of Zeus and Shiva? Can they prove these gods do not exist? How can be they be so darned sure? When Christians look at how they feel about other religions they can understand how atheists feel about theirs.

I had an exchange with a believer a while back:

believer: How can you not believe in God?

atheist: Do you believe in Zeus, Thor, or Isis?

believer: mere myths

atheist: Do you believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny?

believer: just children’s tales

atheist: Do you believe in invisible pink unicorns?

believer: now you are just being silly.

atheist: Than I put it to you that we are atheists and disbelievers. I simply disbelieve in one more god than you do.

It’s all personl belief and personal opinion…as there is no proof there IS a God, it has to be proved there is NO God…Many here, who profess atheism, are still young…And every reason for it I’ve heard on here, I said myself… 45 years ago…lots of things have happened in that near half century, that have made me question my beliefs…

Time is an equalizer…

p

I for many many years believed only science had the answers to our existence. The older I got, the more I read, as far as we have progressed and the knowledge we have gained, we still can’t answer the question of how life began. Some scientists put the answer in the hot vents in sea floor volcanoes. Others a primordial soup that was cooked up, in the steamy early earth and others that one key element had to have been added to that soup by meteorites. Others are seeking the God particle in the Swedish based accelerator to explain how the Universe began.

To answer your question: People do not like having their faith or the lack of it questioned. I for one do not know how life began any more than anyone else on this website. For every quote that can be made for one argument, another can be given to counter it. And both sides are hard to defend without “proof”. Atheists have faith God doesn’t exist. Others have faith God does. I think to each his own. I will not attack you for your beliefs either way. It is all a matter of faith and should remain such.

why is it that people get so bent out of shape over a discussion about God, and Jesus. this is not the case with other “religions”. the reason I bring this up is because it is just another piece of evidence. because the bible says that unbelievers will scoff and scorn his name, that they will hate him. and it is due to spiritual warfare. satan and his followers have unbelievers right where he wants them when they are so closed minded towards his name. and especially when they do not believe in anything. though that baffles my mind to think that someone could believe in nothing. they must have more faith than I do. to believe that the universe and all life in existence just is what it is…to me that’s hard to believe. or to believe that supernatural events are just coincidence… its almost as if in the back of their mind they know the truth, but just keep pushing it back there and convincing themselves that it isn’t true. why? because God contradicts human instinct. we want things our way.

jesusismysavior- that fact is that you took a shower. Just because I say you did not dosen’t change it. even though the evidence is nill, the evidence is there. we can deduse that the likeyhood of you taking a shower is good. you have a shower in your house, you dont stink, that kinda thing. the evidence for God is less than that. If I choose to ignor it or not dosent mean that the evidence is difrent for me. However what if I though you took a bath in the tolit? my evidence is that you wet. every christian that trys to prove God to me that much evidence and not much more.

“”I know that to the unbeliever there is no evidence, but to the believer there is an abundance.”” evidence is there or not there, not up to each person

“”the bible talks a about a flood…world wide. recently science has proven that this is a fact”” Christan science is the only one that says this not real science

“I am sorry for saying that unbelievers are close minded to God”” I say the same for most believers. you scoff at others beliefs on this thread alone. Saying that they are far fetched.

religionisgood- “”I never had a personal experience with God. The subject was always a source of doubt and frustration. Reading the Bible confirmed my suspicion that God is a human invention. “”

I absolutely agree with religionisgood as well I never had a experience with God cause hes not real.

I am ashamed to say that in past threads I have done myself a disservice. I as a wiccan believe that all paths are important and possible and I have denied one such path. although I don’t agree with the views of those that follow that path I have let these views change me. I apologies.

religionisgood

You have never had any experience with God during your “bible thumping days” I really just want to know, this is not to start any argument or anything.

“The original argument from stevenw1987 was that people who are not religious are closed minded to “the truth”. I am just saying that viewpoint is obviously flawed.”

Ok cool I see what you are saying.

From what I’ve seen & experienced, those who don’t believe are defending themselves against those who do & shove it down other’s throats. I couldn’t care less what people believe. But DON’T shove it down other people’s throats, otherwise expect retaliation. I’m not denying that there are people who do jump to offence out of sheer ignorance, but there seems to be more believers that jump to offence because other people’s beliefs don’t match their own & start preaching & arguing that their way is the only one true way. That IS ignorant & closed minded & shows lesser intellectual stature. No one knows what the one true way is. Those who will say the bible specifies, the bible was created from man, man is flowed, thus the bible is flawed. Those who says that God inspired them, who is to say it was God? It could of just as Easily have been Satan.

“There are also former Atheists that are now believers” There’s former Christians & other biblical religions who’ve converted to be atheist, agnostic, or just of no religion but certain spiritually, so really it’s nothing to boast about.

imprudent I am a firm believer that ‘God’ does NOT exist. I do not get angry when people try to tell me otherwise and tell me their stories about their faith. I don’t think of them as ignorant. I kind of take offense to you generalizing in such a manner.

Pardon me, I didn’t mean every person, because if I did I would include myself, and I have stated that everyones Beliefs should be respected.

so scientifically…they know that you as who you are right now…were once something or someone else in an entirely different life. that’s ridiculous because it is entirely mans theory… the things I believe in are true because God said they are. that’s pretty simple to believe…and he is not in the sky…nothing can contain him. he created the sky.

jesusismysavior,

No, I never had a personal experience with God. The subject was always a source of doubt and frustration. Reading the Bible confirmed my suspicion that God is a human invention.

the bible talks a about a flood…world wide. recently science has proven that this is a fact. EVIDENCE, that’s just one thing. and I am sorry for saying that unbelievers are close minded to God. what I meant is that according to my belief, their are spirits that influence a nonbelievers viewpoint…

ichibanarky That is your opinion. But in that case, So is the Big Bang, your belief, evolution among other things. All I ask is that people respect each other and their belief.

why get angry? it doesnt help anything… I could get angry when you say that God is a made up deity trapped in the sky, but I dont…because I know your wrong.. and if you KNOW im wrong it shouldnt anger you…

“I know that to the unbeliever there is no evidence, but to the believer there is an abundance.”

This statement confuses me. Evidence is not relative to individual perception and belief. If it can’t be demonstrated, for all to observe and verify, then it is speculation.

I say I do not believe in God, because there is no sustainable evidence to prove him.

Since we can not dissprove it, I will never say that “God does not exist, and that is a fact.”

That’s what’s great about my religion - it gives us room to grow when evidence is true, however, there must be scientific proof in order to make it a fact.

“If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change.” ~ H.H. Dalai Lama

stevenw1987, your theory that “unbelievers” are closed minded to the Christian faith is flawed. Many atheists and other irreligious people were once very religious. What happened is, these people read the Bible critically, rather than just accepting it as a divinely inspired text because someone told them it was so. They also learned more about the natural world as science has observed and explained it, rather than relying on superstition and ancient mythology that is based on nothing. I look back on my Bible thumping Christian days as the most closed-minded period of my life. I’m just glad I decided to read the Bible, rather than thump it.

religionisgood

There are also former Atheists that are now believers. I am proof. No one forced the bible on me, no one told me to believe it. Like I have said before none of my family and not many of my friends share my faith. The bible says put your faith in no man and I didn’t. My faith is in God.

By the way I’m a Biology major and my faith is still in God.

I always respect the beliefs of others.

I allow everyone to follow their own faith, and I firmly believe that everyone has the RIGHT to their own faith.

Now, if someone tells me that I shouldn’t believe in my faith - I’m going to get defensive.

If someone pushes the idea that my faith is far-fetched and unworthy - I’m going to get angry.

If all God’s believers can just say “I respect your faith, and I will not try to refute it.”, then I will do the same.

the reason I bring this up is because it is just another piece of evidence. because the bible says that unbelievers will scoff and scorn his name, that they will hate him.

There’s nothing special about that. ALL people are persecuted for their beliefs at some point, by others. Christians are no different.

I dont…because I know your wrong..

No you don’t… you BELIEVE… nothing more…

Jester X, my buddy my pal “evidence is there or not there, not up to each person” what evidence do you have that I lets say for example, took a shower. you did not observe it, ( at least I hope not) and you may not believe that I did. But the people who experienced it with me I.e. my mother who wanted to use the bathroom and could not, know that I did it. So, my evidence is not everyones evidence. and will not be conclusive to everyone. Only those who have experienced it.

stevenw1987, you can say that Buddhism is far-fetched, but it’s no worse than your image of a great magical being in the sky.

I also stated that if science proves Buddhism wrong, then it will have to change…Buddhism has many beliefs, but if science can prove those beliefs otherwise, we will not sit and argue about it, we will accept that this new scientific evidence is fact.

God is also entirely man’s theory…no proof = theory

“”He had stated that you could prove love, on an MRI test”” Even if you could it dosen’t prove God cause to believe God is love requires you to believe in God in the first place. To pove God is real you have to prove it from a standpoint that dosen’t require any former assumtions.

This statement confuses me. Evidence is not relative to individual perception and belief. If it can’t be demonstrated, for all to observe and verify, then it is speculation.

I’m just saying that, just because YOU didn’t See, Hear, Taste, Feel, (whatever) me doing, feeling, seeing or tasting something doesn’t mean I didn’t do it. Therefore what is evident to me wont be evident to you.

ichibanarky

My quote was my opinion, all I said concerning you and your comment is that I appreciate what you said and respect your belief. The End.

We don’t believe God is a Great Magical Being that lives in the sky. My God and Magic have nothing to do with each other (well besides the fact that he said it was wrong). But I’m not on here to argue. Like I said I respect your beliefs.

CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION YOU SEEM LIKE AND OPEN MINED PERSON.HOW DO YOU THINK WE CAME TO BE