Do you believe in a God?

I believe that My immortality at least counts to be at least as a false god small (g). Religion helps us continue working after a loved one dies; or when life happens to you. All it has to do is work it doesn’t have to be true. I get my answers from my mom YouTube and Fluther.

Yes, I do.
Why? Because I can.

I don’t follow any religion per se, though. Also, what you say goes exclusively for modern, monotheist religions.

Nope.
Why? Because there is no evidence of one.

Of course not.
The other guy though, love the horns.

@Sneki95 what do you mean, “what you say goes exclusively for modern, monotheist religions.”?

@SergeantQueen The hell threat. Old religions didn’t even have hell.

Not in the traditional sense

Nope

I find the question of belief in a god or gods to be inherently problematic.

Any other question of belief hinges upon an understood definition of the thing being believed-in.

Do you believe in the Loch-Ness Monster? or Bigfoot? or the female orgasm?

All the other things have at least a vague definition that most people can agree on – Bigfoot is a hominid mammal taking up residence somewhere in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. It’s definable.

There are thousands of different ideas of what the word “god” means, and most of them are mutually exclusive. Some people believe gods control humanity, some believe humans themselves are gods, others pay homage to folkloric characters, still others revere nature itself.

Who can keep track?

So, in short, no, I do not hold a belief in anything that I call “god” or “gods”.

It would be pretty shocking to me that no one has ever asked this, before. Religious/atheism questions were such a hot topic around here for a long time.
No, I don’t believe in any gods. I believe it is possible that there is such a thing, but highly improbable and even less likely that an existing deity has any impact or interest in what we are doing.

I’ll have to echo @ARE_you_kidding_me. “Not in the traditional sense”.

For me, that means that ultimately I do believe in a higher power, but it’s not a specific religion’s concept of a higher power. I do believe, however, that all religions have some spiritual truth to them.

No.

I barely knew who or what God was growing up. He was only mentioned in books and movies and in exclamations like “oh my God!” God was kind of like Samantha on Bewitched to me.

Yeah, kinda. I believe in nature as a power much greater than any individual on Earth. Einstein would probably call this the laws of nature, or physics. I don’t think my belief requires all the mythology and filligree of the more formal religions. None of that is necessary for me to be happy and content with this world. I was quite inured to all that by ten years of formal Catholic Catechism and watching others live misguided lives wrought with superstition.

My belief is rather simple and out front. But somethings are still quite mystifying to me, things I have no answers to in my private life. I like it like that. A little mysticism here, a little romanticism there. It’s good. If the universe has a god—a consciousness behind it—I believe it to be benevolent and has provided many paths to it, for those who require a path.

If there is sin, our sins are punished when we break natural law. If there is reward, we are rewarded when we obey the laws of the universe. That’s about as far as it goes with me. It’s just that simple.
.

I do, but I am also open to the possibility of there being multiple gods, or no god at all.

No.

Yes, I believe in God, and that Jesus was God in human form.
I am a Baptist, but I rarely attend church services. I do read the Bible every day.
Why do I believe? Where is the evidence? Everywhere. If there is no God, how do you explain prophecy, the existence of life, and the everyday miracles so easily ignored.
I know I am in the minority here, but I hope some of you, at least, will find the Lord. My life is better having Him in it.

No. I do believe in natural unity as @Espiritus_Corvus mentions. I believe we are all one and one is all, in terms of the origins of life but I do not believe in a omnipotent creator. I believe in evolution and that we all could have, just as easily, manifested as a frog or a fig tree and that one life form is not superior to another. Life is life.

I believe in the luck of the DNA draw not the work of a magical “God.” I rather wish I had been born a fish or a Leopard or an Eagle but alas, I was born a human animal.

I believe in gods and goddesses (etc) as spiritual entities and metaphors, but not in the strangely literal version that seems to somehow (often hand in hand with weak or nonexistent actual spirituality) have dominated the mainstream conception of “God” in much Judeo-Christian literal interpretations.

I think it’s unfortunate that the framing of thought around spirituality so often gets reduced to the level of “do you believe in a god?” (or worse, the various preachy conversations) when I think that tends to create huge obstacles to connecting to actual spirituality, especially when combined with moralizing and argumentative positions.

Before answering your question, I want to ask you something @SergeantQueen
As you have mentioned that you don’t believe in God, so do you believe it Satan/evil/bad omen?

No. With or without God, there are things in the Universe that I do not understand. God is just a personification of ignorance.

@mhd14 No

My answer depends upon how one defines the term God. I do not accept the commonly held belief that an Über male sits on a throne judging whom to accept into His heavenly domain and casting the rest into eternal suffering. Because most religious people do, I substitute Creator for the term God. I imagine Creator and creation as being the same. We exist in a continuously changing now. This Creator existing as an infinite transcendality and as a singularity at the core of every living thing is the source of the succession of instants manifesting our physical reality.

I’m agnostic. As Charles Darwin once said: “The mystery of the origin of all things is insoluble by us, so I, for one, must be content to remain an agnostic”.

I do not, and I find the arguments in favor of god vague and unconvincing.

I believe what I believe and feel no need nor wish to share that belief.

I do believe there is a creative force that would be very poorly described by the term god, goddess, deity, or anything else that humans could conceive. I am not able to prove this scientifically.

Dear God XTC

Only guitar Gods.

I am a Christian, but here are some things even I find problematic:

(1) Heaven is love, the presence of a wonderful God, and indescribable bliss—the best things any human can fathom; yet Hell is agony, fire, searing pain and even worse an eternal separation from God with the terrible remorse that you forfeited your opportunity for salvation—

For me, the extreme contrast seems— well, heaven being the best thing we can apprehend and hell the worst—

(2) God is all-knowing and all loving and I certainly have no problem with free will and God allowing us to make choices. So why would God allow certain people to be born, knowing that certain said individuals would never chose salvation and be eternally lost?

(3) Many people describe near-death-experiences and what lies beyond—yet their experiences—interpreted in literal experiences—seem inconsistent.

That being said, I do believe that the historical context supports that the resurrection occurred and Christianity could have never gotten off the ground to begin with if it had not. Yes, I’ve met and read brilliant atheists but they seem to not have an understanding of God or the origin of the universe the way Christianity and other religions define God. Most believe we believe in an anthropomorphic old man in the sky, or something the opposite extreme and very vague—practically nonexistent.

@Yellowdog

Do me a huge favor. I have an on-going argument with another jelly as to whether there is any extra-biblical documented evidence, in the form of contemporaneous record, of the existence of Jesus Christ. Roman records describing the trial under Pontius Pilot, Hebrew records describing the decisions of the Synod after the riot at the temple at Passover, the manhunt and arrest by Roman soldiers, the trial and resultant execution, and any other miracle or high crimes and misdemeanors he may have been involved in, all should be found somewhere in some record by somebody, if indeed he really did exist. Even a contemporaneous journal entry by a minor government official will do.

There exists historical reports by Titus concerning a radical being crucified around 33 AD near Jerusalem, but these do not name Jesus specifically and happened long before Titus was born and are cited without reference to primary historical documentation. In other words, they are hear-say.

There exists a reference by Josephus, but again these incidents happened centuries before Josephus was born and are cited without reference to primary historical documentation. Hear-say, legend.

I have been caught with my proverbial pants down for two years now. So, do me this favor—Please cite your extra-biblical references concerning the existence of Jesus Christ. I would love to win this argument.

I never thought that the concept of “God” was created to “Keep people in line,” as much as it was a method of explaining the unexplainable.

@kritiper I see those as two pillars in the function of religion: 1) keeping “people in line”, or to put it more pleasantly, making society run, setting moral guidelines and making sure people follow them, etc. 2) explaining what cannot be explained (this can be seen with various culture’s mythologies), 3) to give meaning to life beyond the brief life we have.

No. I don’t believe in the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy either. Nobody has ever provided me with any evidence that has dented my conviction that God does not exist.

Like @Kardamom, I do believe in guitar gods and I’ve seen some of them in action.

No. If a dog or a chimp or a worm can’t go to heaven or hell then neither can I.

@DominicY Yes, but I meant in the original, primary sense, since “Where did this or that come from” to me would have come first before “Be good or the boogie man will get you.”

When you look at yourself in the mirror that is proof that there is a god. Can you make a human being? No you cannot. Where do you think you came from. Human beings just have sex . They do not make babies. If they did they would be able to control what they look like. So how can you say there is no god. To think that is to be shallow.

What? @chinchin31 I am confused by your answer

it means ”I don’t know, therefore goddidit.”

Impeccable logic there.

@chinchin31 Equally shallow to assume there is a “God” whose existence DIDN’T require being made somehow… or by something… or by someone…

All that means is that we have evolved to such a degree that we can even wonder about things that don’t involve life and death. A dog can look in the mirror too. The difference is a won’t recognize himself, he just sees another dog and he doesn’t wonder. So what does that say about God?

I’m an agnostic, and I suffer from insomnia and dyslexia. I stay up all night wondering if there really is a dog.

@NomoreY_A Please never leave fluther. You are amazing

I’m still not understanding @chinchin31 answer. We don’t get to choose the way our baby looks, Genes, DNA, and all that fun stuff do. So God doesn’t choose the way we look either. It’s all hereditary. And no, you can’t “Make” a human being in the sense of choosing what it will look like, but you can “make” a human being by bringing it into existence.
Humans have sex, and that process starts another process in which a baby is created. God doesn’t just go * poof * and make the mother pregnant.

And I always thought a stork brought them?

~ A psychotic thinks he is God . A neurotic is afraid that he might not be.

Why would God “create” babies with horrifying birth defects? Oh wait. Only the devil does that.
Ok. Why would God create a perfect, healthy child and let them be killed 3 years later?
Why would God create a child knowing they would be born into horrifying abuse?
When I called myself a Christian THOSE are the questions I asked myself as I looked in the mirror.

Please explain @chinchin31.

@Dutchess_III I believe that God is trying to
create life more advanced than he is and is letting evolution improve humans beyond himself. NSFW life happens because it’s on the limits of evolution. Making everything perfect stunts progress. One rarely mourns the loss of a video game character when he dies . that is how God views us. He is that much advanced than we are.

With respect @RedDeerGuy1, we are no where near the limit of evolution. There is no such thing.

And if he views us as nothing more than characters in a video game, well then he is an…...I shall reserve my adjective.

There is just no way an intelligent, loving being could be pulling the strings on such horrific experiments.

@Dutchess_III Ok. So are you saving that God is a jerk if he exists?

I will say that is putting it mildly.

@SergeantQueen all those processes and DNA you talk about are created by God. Yes looks are hereditary but God decides which genes we get. God does go poof and make the mother pregnant. How do you explain that there are lots of people that are perfectly healthy that cannot get pregnant no matter what they do . It is because God is in control not you? You should think before you speak. You are simple minded and ignorant. None of us can truly understand god because his intellect is far above us. And for those of you who think God had to be created too. You are also simple minded. The concept of being created is exclusive to God’s Creations. When you all die you will see the truth. May god bless you because unlike me he loves you all although you are silly.

@Dutchess_III . Only God knows the true answer to your questions. When you die he will reveal it to you. I have a question for you. Why does God create any of us? We all have something annoying or irritating about us. Why do you focus on babies? It is a fact that all of us die. Why does God let any of us die at all? The answer to this is in your bible. Read it. You hate death because you do not believe in the afterlife. You think this world is it. If you believed in life after death you would not care to ask that question. I believe like most God believers that when we die we go to a perfect world. So I don’t think it is a bad thing to die. This life is just a journey . It is not the be all and end all of existence. You should not be completely sad when someone dies because you Will see them again. Some people just cross over earlier than others.

I believe I’ve been dissed!

@chinchin31 “I believe like most God believers that when we die we go to a perfect world. So I don’t think it is a bad thing to die.”

Would you be willing to stake your life on that?

@chinchin31 So, similar to what @Dutchess_III was asking, why does God create people with birth defects?
Why does God allow some people to have kids, but others can’t? A couple who lives in a nice house, has a nice job with income high enough to sustain 3 people, who really want kids more than anything, can’t because God says they can’t? Why would he do that? And then he would allow a single mother who abuses drugs and alcohol, who doesn’t have a job and live in an abandoned house to have a child? That child would be born with so many birth defects, and would probably be abused/neglected.

If God creates humans, does he have a life path set out for us? Couldn’t we just blame every murder, war, and terrible thing that happens in the world on God because he was the one that created us? Some Christians walk around saying, “God hates fags” why would he create gay people if he did? God must be a kickass troll. and an asshole

I should “think before I speak”? I do. This is what I am thinking about when people bring up the argument that you did.

@SergeantQueen Well thank you very much, Madam. Compliments are always welcome

I believe in God because heterosexual couples can have children but same-sex couples cannot, no matter how hard they try. Only the Judeo-Christian God worshiped by a basket of deploreables would be so gauche.

@Yellowdog What does that mean? I can’t tell if you’re serious or sarcastic or what. What does creating babies from boys and girls have to do with anything?

@Yellowdog

That is, far and away, the most nonsensical reasoning for God that I’ve ever heard.

^^AMONG the most nonsensical…........

God help us!

Sarcastic— guess its hard to tell with only words on a screen.

Not that much of a punchline, but its conservative Christian groups that oppose gay marriage— The God in whom they put their faith must therefore oppose same-sex marriages— and punish same-sex couples by depriving them the ability to have children even though they might be better parents than many heterosexual couples

I used to be a fundamentalist, even believed in the literal six day creation and rejected evolution. I am afraid to say I caused some distress in my family. I drifted away came back and finally realised it was all rather ridiculous, a collection of dangerous fairy tales which continues to cause so much trouble in the world. Although it cannot be proved that God does not exist I’m pretty sure he (she or it) does not!

“Only God can answer that question.” What a cop out.

@Yellowdog Sarcastic

Only a little!~

I omitted the tilde (~) in my original post!

Well, two gay or lesbian twentysomethings can always adopt a teenage child of the same sex, I suppose.

Why would they adopt a teenager instead of a baby?

Because it seems that everyone wants to adopt the babies. But once they’ve started to grow, no one wants them

Same way all them conservative christian right wing republicans work @Strauss. They will fight tooth and nail and undermine the rights of women in order to stop abortion but once a child is born it is “Fuck Al, take care of yourself kid“l

Who the fuck is Al?

Albertsons might be someone on @rojo‘s auto-correct.

@Strauss I wasn’t referring to adoption in general. I was responding to @Yellowdog‘s comment “Well, two gay or lesbian twentysomethings can always adopt a teenage child of the same sex, I suppose.” What does that even mean? What is the implication there?

I don’t know ANY pro-life groups that end support once the baby is born.

In my city, Life Choices, Memphis Area Pregnancy Services, and Hannah’s Hope (the latter which is more of a United Methodist adoption agency)—and Catholic Charities, ALL provide financial help, aid, and housing for women who give birth rather than abortion.

Now, if they could just provide housing for HOMELESS women who DON’T have children!
But to say “Conservative Christian Right Wing Republicans” undermine the rights of women or refuse aid is simply a lie.

@Yellowdog Interesting to contemplate that maybe more help to childless women might prevent them from becoming single mothers. You are basically saying the churches are rewarding getting pregnant and having a baby.

I think mostly what people refer to when they say Christians don’t care once the baby is born, is the life that child will have, who maybe was unwanted, or has a mentally ill parent, or lives in poverty, has a tough road to overcome those obstacles, and these problems can be generational. That’s not saying all single mothers are bad or that the children have their destiny written at birth, it’s just about average statistics. The charity given still has a hard time correcting for unsafe neighborhoods, bad schools, and unstable families.

@Yellowdog, @JLeslie _
...what people refer to when they say Christians don’t care once the baby is born…_

I’ve usually heard that description used to describe certain conservative politicians who are (generally) willing to legislate against women’s reproductive rights, but are unwilling to legislate in favor of government aid for the mom or the kid once a child is born.

@Strauss Oh, you mean RepubliCON politicians pretending to be religious? Gotcha…

@Strauss Great point.

Historical, contemporary evidence of Jesus? Not much, if you read Gibbon: “But how shall we excuse the supine inattention of the Pagan and philosophic world to those evidences which were presented by the hand of Omnipotence, not to their reason, but to their senses? During the age of Christ, of his apostles, and of their first disciples, the doctrine which they preached was confirmed by innumerable prodigies. The lame walked, the blind saw, the sick were healed, the dead were raised, daemons were expelled, and the laws of Nature were frequently suspended for the benefit of the church. But the sages of Greece and Rome turned aside from the awful spectacle, and, pursuing the ordinary occupations of life and study, appeared unconscious of any alterations in the moral or physical government of the world. Under the reign of Tiberius, the whole earth, (194) or at least a celebrated province of the Roman empire, (195) was involved in a preternatural darkness of three hours. Even this miraculous event, which ought to have excited the wonder, the curiosity, and the devotion of mankind, passed without notice in an age of science and history. (196) It happened during the lifetime of Seneca and the elder Pliny, who must have experienced the immediate effects, or received the earliest intelligence, of the prodigy. Each of these philosophers, in a laborious work, has recorded all the great phenomena of Nature, earthquakes, meteors, comets, and eclipses, which his indefatigable curiosity could collect. (197) Both the one and the other have omitted to mention the greatest phenomenon to which the mortal eye has been witness since the creation of the globe. A distinct chapter of Pliny (198) is designed for eclipses of an extraordinary nature and unusual duration; but he contents himself with describing the singular defect of light which followed the murder of Caesar, when, during the greatest part of a year, the orb of the sun appeared pale and without splendour. This season of obscurity, which cannot surely be compared with the preternatural darkness of the Passion, had been already celebrated by most of the poets (199) and historians of that memorable age.”

@Dutchess_III

“Why would God ‘create’ babies with horrifying birth defects?”... etc., etc.

That, along with Adam & Eve, Noah’s impossibly huge Ark, the Virgin Birth, pandemics, and a plethora of other weird stuff, is covered under “mysterious ways”. LOL.

Birth defects are punishment for sins committed in the womb, duh.

Doesn’t ethplain how you can get too of every animal in the world on a boat, though, smarty pants.

magic, duh.

With God all things are possible (except evolution).

And,also, he can’t renew the gas and oil deposits we’re stripping from the earth at an unimaginable rate.
Man, I ran out of gas in my car in Manhattan Kansas in 1978. It’s still sitting there, waiting for God to magically fill it up with gas.

@Dutchess_III I knew I recognized you from somewhere!

Probably Brother’s Tavern!

LOL