God

[New2Ya]

I realise that I'm posting this on a forum originally from North America/USA, where the majority of people are Christians, so my thoughts will not be appreciated.

However, I'd like to bring up a discussion.

How legit is the belief in God?

I have learned from early on that it's in human nature to understand why it exists. Why are we here? What's the purpose of life? Is this all there is?

The more we ask ourselves these questions, the more we realise how little we know.

For many people, this is a trigger to believe in 'something'. Something that can give us these answers. Something that, if we live by His rules, will free us from our neverending suffering; the unfulfilled human nature.

As far as we know, every civilisation before us and that are among us all believe in a higher power. A God or Gods. This is one of the most understandable facts of life, as a civilisation is built upon human beings, and every human being asks himself these questions every once in a while. For most, believing in something somehow gives us some satisfaction, some relief, some hope.

But honestly, how legit is this belief? Relgious people throw their Books at each other and non-believers, trying to convince each other that THEIR God is real. Does feel silly, seeing how the religious all believe in the same thing, yet the stories in their books are just a little bit different (all the result of time...)

I've come to understand that believing in God is nothing more than a comfort for religious people. That is my view on it, at least. That doesn't mean I judge them on it, or that I feel sorry for them, or that I disrespect it. Thing is, everyone faces life on its own.

However, I dont see why it is so important for people to believe in something like that. Why cant we just appreciate life the way it is. Look at the beauty of the nature around us, for example. Enjoying every day we can.

The answer to all our questions is that there is no answer. There is no meaning to life, we're just meant to live it. If that's the meaning, then apparently there is a meaning, but that means we already have the answer spelt out for us. No need to seek for it.

I'll be honest with you though, even I at times ask myself again and again if there is a purpose why we exist. If there is something higher that brought us here. And at those times, I can get really excited and try to search for answer.

However, I always end up with the conclusion I gave you.

So, what are your thoughts on God?

[Venus Adept]

My thoughts on God is that, if he does exist, that's fine; I have no problem believing in a divine creator if one does exist.

But thus far I have no reason to put my time and money into something that has not and will probably never do anything for me except waste what little time I have here.

Also, if he did exist, I'd have a lot of questions for him.

[HadesDragon]

I recall hearing this before: "Life doesn't have a purpose. It's up to you to give it one".

My thoughts on God is that, if he does exist, that's fine; I have no problem believing in a divine creator if one does exist.

But thus far I have no reason to put my time and money into something that has not and will probably never do anything for me except waste what little time I have here.

Also, if he did exist, I'd have a lot of questions for him.

And I pretty much agree with this.

[Blahmaster]

The purpose of life is to sustain.

That's what I think.

Anyways, we should let people believe what they want, but the problem with Christianity is that there are a few parts in the Bible that say that if you don't get "saved through Jesus" you'll go to Hell. So a lot of those religious nuts are thinking that they're doing non-believers a favor by trying to convert them.

And I think it's hilarious that Christianity's biggest rival is so similar to it (Islam).

[Dantez of Divinity]

Well I think he exists. I'm Catholic and believe that Jesus is my savior. I don't forsake science and I don't go see a movie just because the pope doesn't want me to. Every time the thought that he doesn't exist I think about it and always come to "he does". It’s kinda hard to think that it’s all selective evolution and its all small and huge particles that made everything. I think of God as the thing that binds us, keeps nature going through adaptation, and started the reaction that was the big bang.

He is the cause for the biggest reaction that ever existed. The universe.

He gave us the ability to think about him and chose for ourselves if we think he's real or not, and to find out more about the verse he gave us.

I mean information can't be erased or vanish so something happens when we die to continue on at least our information. (Thank Steven Hawking for solving the information paradox. ^_^)

God exists to me and that's all that counts.

[Fangking93]

I agree with Dantez of Divinty that god exists to me me personally im christian so im kinda offende that you think we go around trying to convert people to christ that were doing them a favor really were just trying to show you that god is real although some do take it to far. god has helped me when times are rough he has made miracles for me when i called on him . Hey im suppose to be mentally retarded yet im the smartest person im most of my classes god exists .

[Dantez of Divinity]

He helped me when I was suicidal so he's real enough to me.

Some people take trying to convert people too far but its not like there aren't pushy atheists, Jews, Muslims, or whatever in the world

[New2Ya]

Yeah but this is what I'm trying to light out.\

He helped me when I was suicidal so he's real enough to me.

god has helped me when times are rough he has made miracles for me when i called on him .

Did HE help you, or did your belief in Him help you? I'm trying to point out that it's not really Him existing that is what makes God important, it's the fact that some people, and in fact hte majority, need to feel like there's some sort of comfort in this world.

My view.

[Forever Atlas]

^ Its not just about comfort.... though that is there too

[Venus Adept]

I think a lot of it will have to do from comfort. Especially when I was younger and was Christian, I'd always draw positivity from the comfort (the idea, more-over) of God existing and that I can look to that idea for guidance. Though after a while, though, I started to feel this really isn't working because my own personal intelligence was also rising so I found no reason to believe in something that had no actual evidence.

[Forever Atlas]

Please note, as everyone else has posted their own thoughts, these are my thoughts too.

Well, there are so many things that could be said on this subject… I’d just like to touch on a few.

First off... through study and everything else, the first and main reason for believing and serving God is out of LOVE for him... a Love that can only be DEVELOPED.

Like I said, I don’t feel that faith should be based on comfort only. I know that is not what it is based on for me. However, because of my faith, I do get comfort for many things. That is just a benefit to having the faith.

I do believe in God, for many reasons:

Personal Study

Personal Experiences

Experiences I’ve read about and Seen personally of others

Bible Prophecy

And the list could go on…..

The Bible I feel is like a manual that should be used for our daily life and the way we live... it offers the best advice, council, and principles for living life in the best way possible....

I think the biggest issue that a lot of people don’t see is: God’s right to rule.

From the Garden of Eden, Satan raised the issue of God’s Sovereignty…

He said that humans didn’t need God to live life. He said that humans could do whatever they wanted and set their own rules for what is right and wrong. God being a just God in so many ways allowed this to happen. Since Adam and Eve sinned and wanted to do things their way, God let it go ahead.

Human history down to this day has proven as Jeremiah 10: 23 says -

I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.

The major problems still exist: War, crime, poverty, corruption, economic problems, sickness, and death. The list for human problems could go on and on and as the time goes on, things don’t get any easier.

This is all because of not wanting to subject themselves to God’s righteous standards. If they did, all these problems wouldn’t exist.

Under God’s Kingdom, these things would be a thing of the past. God’s kingdom is a government. Just like every country has a government, God’s kingdom is a government that will end all other governments and unite the whole world under one righteous rule.

(Daniel 2:44) “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite;

The things that God’s kingdom will accomplish are mind blowing… and it’s not just a fantasy to me. I’ve seen the results of those who subject themselves to this rule. A group of people united all around the world, lovers of peace, and honestly, they don’t have a lot of the problems that the rest of the world does (though they are not immune and still have many problems).

(For more on God’s kingdom that I believe in visit this link: God’s Kingdom—Superior in Every Way )

Now there are MANY MANY intelligent and intellectual ones who do believe in God very strongly… so I feel it has nothing to do with that. Many many scientists, professors, engineers, physicians, doctors, business people, writers, historians, and on and on believe in the existence of God or a god. It has NOTHING to do with intelligence or intellect.

However do note:

Matthew 11: 25 did say:

At that time Jesus said in response: “I publicly praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intellectual ones and have revealed them to babes.

Many people will NEVER see or understand the reality of God because of that very thing… their heart condition. As long as their heart condition is wrong, they wont see or they wont accept.

Jesus said it was only those who were humble and did not think highly of themselves, ordinary men that the deep things of God would be revealed to. These people would be able to see readily and recognize the things written.

However, once again as time and history has shown from ancient days down to this very day, people do change, and the heart condition can change. So some who may not have seen in the past may see later on for one reason or another. Circumstances change.

Still along the lines of intellect... Jesus said it would take a lot of thinking and reasoning and study and using the mind to understand and follow.... Each one is also encouraged to search out things for themselves. So it does take a lot of mind power.

The figurative heart is EXTREMELY important in the Bible…

But honestly, from what I’ve seen, experienced and so on, I do believe in God… not just as a comforter but because of proofs I’ve seen in my life and my realizing God’s right to rule. Under this rule, comfort is there, and yes, it does offer much much more.

Once again, I'm not good at all with words so I hope this was clear enough. But that’s just a little how I feel.

This is a very broad subject, so I didn’t really know what way to go, but I have seen evidences that God does exist that some people will never see, or want to see… yet many others have seen readily.

(This goes along with the discussion about why believe in God...for those who care to read, click this link here: The Right Reason for Believing)

[Ragnarok]

Im just going to say one thing. Why NOT beileve in God? It wont hurt to actually beileve in him. Your not losing anything. Thats all im saying.

[Forever Atlas]

^ Well... it depends on what god and how you choose to serve hin lol.... but just believing in itself doesnt hurt =p

[Sephiros_TH]

Well the concept of God is actually a very broad topic. The word God doesn't simply refer to the Judeo-Christian God, it could refer to any god or gods found throughout history. On an even more abstract scale God could simply be a reference to a higher power, not needing to be super natural, IE Gravity or other natural forces. Saying that God could be what ever you want it to be, its all up to you, it doesn't even have to be a religious view so you could acknowledge God as something of this natural world and not worship or care to understand. Personally I have no need to out and search for someone to tell me how to live life, I'll do that myself. As for a guiding hand, well thats why we have the Zodiac which seems equally as unlikely to be real but I like to believe in it anyway. And now that I think about it the 12 signs of the Zodiac could be considered "Gods" as well.

[HadesDragon]

Originally Posted by Ragnarok

Im just going to say one thing. Why NOT beileve in God? It wont hurt to actually beileve in him. Your not losing anything. Thats all im saying.

Uh, actually, believing in anything in the end might hurt you. Or well, not believing in anything can hurt you too.

Also, for me, I'd lose about as much as a christian would lose if he were to embrace Islam solely just because: he'd be abandoning his faith for no reason, and I'd be abandoning my facts, logic, and objectivity for no reason as well.