<p>well. i think that he is if you want him to be. if someone believes in God, then he/she believes in heaven and hell too. so its real to them. but people who dont believe in any of that stuff, makes it not real for them. so people can have their own opinions about things like that.</p>
<p>The most likely scenario seems to me: I die. I get cremated. Ashes get scattered. They get decayed and woven back into the fabric of the earth, and the nutrients somehow get used by some organism which reproduces. </p>
<p>Where's the soul in all this Lion Kingish magic? Gone. It's a very scientific kind of reincarnation: As Mufasa put it: the Circle of Life.</p>
<p>Animus-
Like you said, everyone has to make their own choice. Even if we don't have the 'intellectual capacity' to make a decision, we still have to make it. It's not like cause you're stupid or young you get out of them. I know that people's opinions are constantly changing, and it might seem kind of I guess arrogant to say you know what God is, especially at my age. But I think some people are just born with less of an ability to believe in God than others. They might be more skeptical about certain things, pessimistic, etc. and their own life experiences have shaped their belief. </p>
<p>It might seem too young to make a decision about God, but I really don't think age makes you any more wiser. I think it will make you less naive to a certain point but that's it (unless that's what you think is wisdom). It's how you interpret your experiences that give you wisdom. People's personalities tend not to change, from what I've seen, so why would their belief in God change that much either? Anyway, from as early as I can remember I had a lot of difficulty in believing in God, and I can't see any reason for that to change since I'm not one to have faith in people and so why would I have faith in the God that they say created them especially when I think their God is manmade to serve their own purposes?
But like la1993 said, if you believe in God then he's real to you, and if you don't then he's not real. It's not like I'm going to try to force my opinion on them though.</p>
<p>You say even the greatest philosophers haven't agreed on a definite answer to the God question. So, if they are supposed to be the most intelligent people on that matter, then what makes anyone think they'll ever be able to define God? That's why I'm not saying there is a God or there isn't one, I'm just saying I don't believe in any that humans have made since humans are too incompetent to even come up with the answer to the God question.</p>
<p>Sibelius: I agree; the SAT is stupid. I've never taken it and probably never will. What's your point?</p>
<p>The idea that high school students can't have an opinion on anything is patently ridiculous.</p>
<p>There's a very simple difference between an opinion, and belief, right? Opinions can't be wrong, because they're your personal preference. But a belief about reality can be mistaken. I can say that I hate Pepsi. I can also say that trolls hide in our school. Guess which statement is patently false? Of course HS students can have opinions. In fact, we're loaded with them, but the issue of an omniscient being that controls every aspect of is a far reach from pizza toppings and favorite books.</p>
<p>One thing that's always been confounded me. People say that God should be a personal experience, but if everyone's experience is different, then does that mean there is no absolute truth, and that God only exists in our minds?</p>
<p>Also, I'm sorry for being stupid. This subject intrigues me, but sadly I haven't done a much reading on it as other topics.</p>
<p>^You're not being stupid at all. Your way of thinking is logical. It's the way I think.</p>
<p>Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
-Epicurus</p>
<p>Death by far, is probably going to be one of those extremely stressful times in our lives. Perhaps a belief in something greater gives us a sort of reassurance?</p>
<p>I'm an atheist. Perhaps with that new definition of radical?
IlikeDice pretty much hit it on with my opinion of the Christian god.
KaznackFCRC's expresses my opinion on death.
I like to rely on myself, not a maybe he's real, maybe he's not, supernatural cloud that supposedly answers my prayers.
Lol, if I'm accepted into Princeton, god exists! :P</p>
<p>IlikeDice, God is so powerful that he can create good even from evil (c) Thomas Aquinas</p>
<p>no...good is created all the time from evil. all by its lonesome.</p>
<p>I agree with Chipset</p>
<p>Did anybody read that story about the professor-student discussion about God and evil? My friend showed it to me a while ago. </p>
<p>The text was basically about how God can be related to heat. There are various levels of heat- different temperatures, both high and low, no-heat, white heat, etc. But there is never cold. You do not measure cold, but only the absence of heat. </p>
<p>In slightly less scientific terms (ha):
There is no pure evil, but just the absence of God. </p>
<p>Animus: "One thing that's always been confounded me. People say that God should be a personal experience, but if everyone's experience is different, then does that mean there is no absolute truth, and that God only exists in our minds?"</p>
<p>About personal experiences with God, it's a rather difficult concept to grasp. Think about God as another person, say, a guy named Tom. I might know a "different" Tom than the one you know. I could use different terms to describe or characterize him, and I may have a different idea of who he is. After all, our perspectives of people differ with our unique experiences with them. But does that make Tom a mere concoction of my mind? No, it doesn't. Granted, it's a bit different when you're talking about God in his non-physical state. But it shows that if God does exists, it is the same, absolute God. </p>
<p>I think the notion of personal experiences in terms of God - in a way, that makes Him more real. More like us, I suppose. And isn't that only thing humans can relate to? Ourselves, right?</p>
<p>By the way, I am not a die-hard Christian. I'm still questioning, as many people are. So let's question together!</p>
<p>I believe in God and I don't understand how anyone couldn't. The signs of His existence are so evident. I've had conversations with God and I see Him in my day to day life so no one will be able to change my beliefs.</p>
<p>SHE maybe real</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What signs?</p>
<p>^ I think he meant the little things around you that no human (always screwing up everything they touch) could have ever made. I know that God exists whenever I study the human anatomy, because I know that all that crap in there needs some higher being to control it. I know He exists when I see trees, because of the fact that 1000-year-old giants came from just one little seed. It's just that small stuff that makes people (or me at least) know without a doubt that there is a God.
But that's me...</p>
<p>A new discovery!
there are more atheists in CC than anywhere else!</p>
<p>
[quote]
A new discovery!
there are more atheists in CC than anywhere else!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You forgot China.</p>
<p>There's a simple and complex explanation of my religion</p>
<p>Simple explanation of my religion:
I'll find out when I'm dead.</p>
<p>The more complex explanation:
I like to put myself as having no religion, since at the moment I'm not convinced there is a higher being, but at the same time not convinced there ISN'T a higher being for certain. I don't think I can be classified as agnostic since, as I recall, agnostics do believe in a spirit, where as I'm not sure there is one. So therefore, essentially, I believe in nothing.</p>