To Christians

<p>Why do you believe in God?</p>

<p>...not this again </p>

<p>I don't have time to explain now. Maybe later.</p>

<p>Because if there wasn't God, I wouldn't be here. Because if God didn't love humanity, most of humanity would never be able to love itself. Because in the name of the Lord, people do good things, miracles happen. Because science has no rational explanation for the presence of a soul.</p>

<p>G-U-NOT:</p>

<p>One can easily deny that there is a God, especially the existance of the Christian God. the entire religion is fraught with contradictions and is based solely on blind ignorance, ahem, faith, which many tend to question. what makes one believe in the religion they do? tradition? their upbringing? no actual knowledge is involved, and for those who pride themselves on their ability to reason and question, accepting such dogmatic principals just because it is what they were told to do is not a possiblity. </p>

<p>that said, im not an athiest. i just don't believe in the same "God" that the majors religions teach. it all depends on how you define God, really... i think all people have a sense that there is more to the universe than life on earth, and if you want to deem such a thing "god", than im betting you'd have a lot more people saying they "believe". </p>

<p>basically, just because one does not obsequiously follow religious doctrine does not mean that the universe just appeared; its much more likely that such people are not willing to live their whole life based on other peoples guesses, but rather try to seek the answers for themselves.</p>

<p>Because he's always there for me.
PS did you guys know that Allah and the christian God is actually the same guy?</p>

<p>It's easier to say something doesn't exist, then have faith that it does.</p>

<p>i guess im an agnostic....
im not religious but i tolerate all religions and think religious meetings r cute~~
maybe there is a god, the problem is just that who is ur god~ whether its Christian God, Budha, or Physics........ u just got to find ur god :)</p>

<p>"It's easier to say something doesn't exist, then have faith that it does."</p>

<p>i disagree with that. to say that God doesn't exist is to accept that there is no salvation, no reward for good behavior, no ultimate heaven to look forward to, no one to beg for protection, guidance and forgiveness, and no one to take the blame for things that go wrong; to reject the idea of God is to take full responsibility for one's actions and accept the unknown, that life is random and there is no pre-determined path for all to follow. </p>

<p>it does not make a person better or worse if they do not believe in God, or lack faith, but it is certainly not easier than following a religion in which everything is nicely planned out, and morality, good and evil, the afterlife, and one's purpose is defined, leaving them free to live life without fear, questions, or doubt. to accept religion is easy, to truly believe in it is not, and if most people actually questioned their own personal beliefs and thought for themselves instead of taking the easier route of accepting that life is as simply defined as it is told by a religion, they would be faced with many difficulties.</p>

<p>by admitting that one does not know what no one possibly can, they are accepting a world that is far harsher than one in which a higher being holds ultimate power and responsibility. it is certainly not an easy thing to accept, which accounts for the high number of religious people, especially in underdeveloped countries in which people need to have something to believe in, to blame their problems on, etc...</p>

<p>i apoligize for the lengthy response, but it is foolish to assume that it is easier to reject faith than it is to just accept it and never have to question the surrounding issues.</p>

<p>It's impossible to know whether God exists. In fact, for some very complicated philosophical/logical reasons I can explain later, all statements about God's existence or nature are meaningless. </p>

<p>That doesn't completely destroy religion though. It means that everything comes down to an individual's own faith. Religion is a private matter. It is the individual trying to find their own personal answers to questions which have no objective answer.</p>

<p>stooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow</p>

<p>well, there is an objective answer, because if God exists in one form, then that is the objective truth, it just exists outside the realm of human knowledge and understanding. if there is no God, there is no God. because no person may ever truly know, which depends on what, if anything exists after death, each person searches for their own answers, but ultimately there is a definitive answer. its true that all statements about God's existence are meaningless, because they are based solely on speculation, and hold no influence over what is the actual truth; one can belief in whatever they so wish, but what actually exists, or does not exist, will not be changed by believing or not believing. one could say all they want about the nature of God, life, and human existence, but whatever exists, exists. there is no use debating such things as whether or not there is a God, a heaven, a devil, because no one has any basis for their knowledge, and there will never be an answer to any such question that can be obtained by a human being.</p>

<p>hahaha martha ...ok, im done, i promise :)</p>

<p>I believe that a God does exist and that he gave his only begotten son to die for my sins. Thus I am saved. God himself created the universe and evolution is not true. Don't believe me? Here's an expert SCIENTIFICALLY PROVING that there is such thing as Creationism. His name is Dr. Kent Hovind. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.drdino.com/articles.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.drdino.com/articles.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Search around the website. You will be amazed.</p>

<p>lux perpetua 43- what I think you said was that it's pretty much impossible to know what form God is and whether He exists or not, but there never the less is an answer to the question, Does God exist? You just seem to think we can't know the answer, but that it exist. Ok, I agree with you. You just kind of took my idea one step further, good for you. </p>

<p>I'm tired, I can go on literally for pages about why creationism is not science, is not logically valid, and is self-contradictory, but I'm tired. So that can wait.</p>

<p>As is always the case, Christians are unable to convincingly substantiate their claims.</p>

<p>Christians don't need to convicingly substantiate their claims :)
We don't persuade people, people are coming by themselves -- because if christians have something that is worth more than anything on Earth why would not people come?
Guys, everything is done before us, if you don't want to take it -- for goodness' sake, nobody will carry you by force! Everyone has a choice, we made our choice and took eternal life and sense of life(oo years), you can make your choice and work for college (four years) or good job (max. 60-70 years) or money (max 60-70 years).</p>

<p>dude, I asked this on a Christian forum months ago, it doesn't get you anywhere. Religion has its place in society and there is nothing significantly wrong with it in general. I'm an atheist but I also believe it's a "ignorance is bliss" kind of thing. I'm not going to take away someone's bliss unless they want to debate about it and can be convinced. I go to a Hindu temple because it keeps me in touch with the Indian society, but I sure don't follow Hindu principles. I say just let Christians be Christians, if they don't have hard-core scientific-secular mind, it's not my problem, but I honestly find it weird.</p>

<p>What's wrong with being scientific and christian? Science is a very unstable matter, I'm saying as someone who was studying science all his life from first grade.
We have a specific bunch of postulates that are right only in a current moment and so, I'm sorry, something that's changing every century cannot be oppposing someone who was stable for thousands of years.
I'd say, study science!</p>

<p>Mr. Chipset- I have to disagree. There's a reason why scientific theories are constantly changing.</p>

<p>Scientists make up explanations as to how the world works. Their theories are attempts to picture the world as it is. There are some postulates within these explanations that may or may not be true, depending on how nature actually is. Scientists then go out and observe nature. If their observations confirm their postulates, their theory is upheld. If they contradict their postulates, it shows that a new theory must be developed to better explain how the world works. Scientists then develop that theory, and test in the same way they did the old one, until it fails to explain a fact of the universe. Then scientists develop another theory, and so on.</p>

<p>Scientists are trying to picture the way the world works through their theories. And as scientists make more observations, and get better data, they find holes in their theories (inconsistencies in their pictures). They then take in those new findings and make a new model. Scientific positions don't just change randomly, they change because scientists find out what's wrong with their old ways of thinking and they fix them. In fact, scientists are getting better at picturing the universe as time goes on. The theories we have to day still explain the phenomena that were explained by the theories of the 1900s AND they explain even more. The theory of relativity still explains that which is described by Newton's laws and also goes on to say something about how our perceptions of space and time change depending on our viewpoint. It goes further than Newton's laws, but the basic premises of Newton's laws didn't change. And the theories 100 years from now will be much more descriptive and more accurate than our current theories. So science may be changing, but it's changing for a reason and it's changing for the better. It is the nature of science to change. </p>

<p>Religions may have been around for thousands of years, but that doesn't mean they're right. Just because an idea is old does not mean it's correct. People have believed in witches and magic for millenia, but that doesn't mean there actually are witches or magicians.</p>

<p>I'd like a proof that proves god exists kthxbye~</p>