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Perhaps that is the same answer as to why there are different religions. Perhaps there were visual accounts of a a higher being, but over time those stories got scattered into different beliefs. Unless you studied it yourself, you can only go by off of what someone else wrote or studied.

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Here are reasons why I believe God exists without using the bible as a reference.

-We know that love exists by a feeling right? I don't care what science has to say on this matter because I don't study science. I don't have a BRAIN PET scan with me. If love can exist by us feeling it, why can't it be the same for God? Why do I have to see God to believe it ?

-The positive that I see when I go to a Church (I haven't been there in awhile, but I still remember the experience) or when I pass by one. I see people giving hand outs, shaking each other's hands, saying hello, smiling, crying in relief, more relieved, laughing, and singing.

-The homeless people I see when I go to the big cities around here. When I give them some spare change or some money, they say "God Bless You." Despite ALL OF THEIR TERRIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES, they continue to believe that God will help them, and they do it with a SMILE/NOD.

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-It withstood the test of time as mentioned before. Despite all of the scientific advances that man has made, there are millions of people out there that still believe God exists.
....The belief that the world was flat hasn't
....The belief that California was an Island hasn't
....The belief that Earth was the center of the universe hasn't

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At the end of the day, when it's all said and done, the main reason some Atheists are bugged by this God notion is probably because they truly don't know themselves. There is no possible way they can know without a shadow of a doubt. They can only speculate, they can only go off of what they read or studied from other people's accounts, and they will only know when they die if their lack of faith was justified.

I'd rather go off of a gut instinct or a feeling than an educated guess.

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You don't have to see God to believe it, but if I'm going to believe in something, there has to be some reason to believe in it. I have never seen a god, nor have I seen one do anything or felt anything that would make me believe in one.

You may see that when you go to church, but the church itself has always been very corrupt. When I step in some churches, I see hypocrisy, lies presented as truth, bigotry, and ignorance. Of course, not all churches are the same, and I understand and accept that.

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It has withstood the test of time because religion has always been ingrained in our culture. Those other beliefs aren't even part of our culture. That is the difference. I could go into detail about this, but I'd rather not unless you want me to.

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Yeah, pretty much. I can personally say without a doubt that I do not believe that Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, and quite a few other religions are correct; however, I cannot disprove a deity completely, and I won't even try to because at the end of the day I don't care. What I do care about is arguing against religious beliefs that hurt or discriminate against others and educating people. That is why I enjoy religious debate, typically.

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It apparently wasn't ingrained in our culture because if it was, then you would have thought differently. You'd believe it like I do. You would have been forced to believe a certain way that you aren't believing now. Since the beginning of time, humans have believed in higher beings. The Egyptians were beyond intelligent, yet they believe in such. What makes this society/time any different?

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Is it Christianity you don't agree with or is it the people that have represented it? I mean I don't know if you watched the video I posted about the wife swap episode, but a true Christian believes in loving everyone. It states it in the bible (despite it having many flaws.) If they aren't doing that, they aren't a true Christian and so your dislike for religions is based off of bad people.

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I don't get what you're saying exactly, so let me try to explain my point.

I'll use patriarchy as an example. Patriarchy has, for quite a long time, been ingrained in our culture. Men have long been the breadwinners, the protectors, and women have been expected to stay at home and act as emotional support. The patriarchy has been present in homes, in the workplace, and even in the government. Only recently have we begun to take strides away from patriarchy. This is both a societal and cultural phenomenon.

Just because our culture is drenched in patriarchy doesn't mean that I believe it or support it because I clearly don't. Homosexuality is another example. Heterosexuality is the obvious norm, and our culture revolves around it. For the longest time, we never saw gays in the media. Does that mean that I agree with the way our culture has revolved around heterosexuality? No way.

Religion has always been a part of society because humans are prone to make up stories and create reasons for what they don't understand. Back when humans didn't understand lightning or thunder storms, they chalked it up to Zeus. People in the past have worshiped gods for that feeling of safety and knowing. They fear the afterlife, so they believe in god. It has been this way for thousands of years.

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Religion has always been a part of society because humans are prone to make up stories and create reasons for what they don't understand.

Pookie

Feb 20 2014, 03:35 AM

-It withstood the test of time as mentioned before. Despite all of the scientific advances that man has made, there are millions of people out there that still believe God exists.
....The belief that the world was flat hasn't
....The belief that California was an Island hasn't
....The belief that Earth was the center of the universe hasn't

Zenet

Feb 19 2014, 09:32 PM

Tensa Zangetsu

Feb 19 2014, 11:41 AM

Zenet

Feb 18 2014, 06:36 PM

The known universe is about thirteen and a half billion light years out, and at the level of subatomic particles in. This is what we can see and understand using current instruments and/or math. The known universe may have a beginning and an end, but the infinite universe does not, cannot. You can never make nothing out of something; it just moves.

There should be something that caused the beginning. And this cause should have another cause that caused it to happen.

The chain goes on and on, until you reach a cause that has no beginning. This is exactly the Creator.

And the same goes for the origin of life. Life can't simply come out of non living things. Someone should have created it

Also God would need a cause. Our understanding of cause and effect is not complete. Its like this it is impossible to go faster than the speed of light no matter what but our common sense says in the non quantum world (the larger scale of the world) says if you were standing on a train going at the speed of light and you walked from one end of the train to the other, then wouldn't you be going faster than the speed of light relative to the ground It may seem like should happen that way. The problem with quantum physics is that it doesn't always work the way that it seems like it should be.

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I have a problem with this. The examples you have given are very specific, whereas 'belief in God' is a very broad subject. Yes, religion and the belief in God has stood the time, but so has a belief in Science, Geography etc. There are many specific examples of religion that haven't stood the test of time. A lot of the older religions have become extinct i.e. Roman and Greek, Egyptian, Mayan. I mean, the Christian religion itself is founded on a particular part of religion not standing the test of time: the Old Testament making way for the New Testament.

Pelador

Feb 20 2014, 04:56 AM

Do you think there's any circumstance that could make you start to question your faith? Some people travel the world and witness so much suffering and poverty that they question how their gods could allow this to happen to the people they supposedly love. Others just stop getting any fulfillment from their faith. You know like believing in Jesus is meant to feel good but everything involved just makes them feel bored or like s***.

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Its mission was to care for, in her own words, "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone."

It began as a small order with 13 members in Calcutta; by 1997 it had grown to more than 4,000 sisters running orphanages, AIDS hospices and charity centres worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless, and victims of floods, epidemics, and famine.[33]

In 1952 Mother Teresa opened the first Home for the Dying in space made available by the city of Calcutta (Kolkata). With the help of Indian officials she converted an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat Home for the Dying, a free hospice for the poor. She renamed it Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday).[34] Those brought to the home received medical attention and were afforded the opportunity to die with dignity, according to the rituals of their faith; Muslims were read the Quran, Hindus received water from the Ganges, and Catholics received the Last Rites.[35] "A beautiful death," she said, "is for people who lived like animals to die like angels—loved and wanted."[35]

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"Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear. The tongue moves but does not speak.”

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“I am told God lives in me — and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul,” she wrote at one point. “I want God with all the power of my soul — and yet between us there is terrible separation.” On another occasion she wrote: “I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing.”

Tensa Zangetsu

Feb 20 2014, 11:40 AM

Zenet

Feb 19 2014, 09:32 PM

Tensa Zangetsu

Feb 19 2014, 11:41 AM

Zenet

Feb 18 2014, 06:36 PM

The known universe is about thirteen and a half billion light years out, and at the level of subatomic particles in. This is what we can see and understand using current instruments and/or math. The known universe may have a beginning and an end, but the infinite universe does not, cannot. You can never make nothing out of something; it just moves.

There should be something that caused the beginning. And this cause should have another cause that caused it to happen.

The chain goes on and on, until you reach a cause that has no beginning. This is exactly the Creator.

And the same goes for the origin of life. Life can't simply come out of non living things. Someone should have created it

Also God would need a cause. Our understanding of cause and effect is not complete. Its like this it is impossible to go faster than the speed of light no matter what but our common sense says in the non quantum world (the larger scale of the world) says if you were standing on a train going at the speed of light and you walked from one end of the train to the other, then wouldn't you be going faster than the speed of light relative to the ground It may seem like should happen that way. The problem with quantum physics is that it doesn't always work the way that it seems like it should be.

Exactly. The rules have to apply to the universe, but it doesn't have to apply to God because God is a supernatural being.

There has to be something breaking the rules of science. Its makes more sense that its God, than the universe itself.