Do you believe in God?

[The Oi]

I do not know for sure. Based on scientific data the way that we use it today, there is no proof of a god/gods the way that we understand it.

I would not be shocked if technology was developed in the future that proved there was some type of creator.

At this point, I am not completely convinced by a “something from nothing” theory. I feel like there is more to that which we do not understand yet. Some type of physics we do not yet have a grasp on.

I vacillate between agnostic theist and agnostic atheist. Sometimes I feel very overwhelmed by the beauty in nature and my feelings for my family and feel like something very powerful must have created something so perfect. Other times, I feel like those things could have just been created by time. And similar things could exist elsewhere without the help of a god.

I know religious people who I’d describe as “nice,” but whom I really can’t connect with on a very deep level. Once I pick up on religiousness, I’m fine with people. That’s their belief system. If I pick up on judginess, I’m just totally out. All too often, that’s there.

I have a moral code. I don’t need someone imposing theirs on me.

 

[CleveRocks]

Agnostic Theist..

God and religion are different animals.

I have learned that religious organizations cannot be trusted, but religions are sometimes repoisties of wisdom and knowledge. I am certain there is a source of knowledge that is not mere logic

I think we dont understand God. Perhaps we will figure that out some day.

I think Christ was a savant, and correctly grasped the human condition. Buddha also had a point..

 

[bronko]

I believe in a higher power, but not a God as described in religions. I accept that there are some things beyond our human ability to comprehend them. Organized religions do nothing for me spiritually, but nature does. Thinking there is an omniscient being that controls our lives through luck and illness and such is silly, imo. It's the hubris of man that makes him believe he can understand all things. Some things we aren't able to understand. Time and consciousness are two big ones. We know what time is, but not why it moves in only one direction for us, a fact that I think is related to our consciousness. I have a couple books on quantum physics that I reread periodically that fill me with the warmth of understanding, though I truly do not. I imagine it's similar to what some get from the Bible.
Great thread!

 

[Tonedef75]

I believe in a higher power, but not a God as described in religions. I accept that there are some things beyond our human ability to comprehend them. Organized religions do nothing for me spiritually, but nature does. Thinking there is an omniscient being that controls our lives through luck and illness and such is silly, imo. It's the hubris of man that makes him believe he can understand all things. Some things we aren't able to understand. Time and consciousness are two big ones. We know what time is, but not why it moves in only one direction for us, a fact that I think is related to our consciousness. I have a couple books on quantum physics that I reread periodically that fill me with the warmth of understanding, though I truly do not. I imagine it's similar to what some get from the Bible.
Great thread!

Do you mind sharing the names of those books? May help me evolve my spirituality.

 

[Tonedef75]

Seems like almost all of us have the same opinion. There’s a possibility of the existence of a “God” but he/she/it isn’t what we’ve currently been taught and religion, though it does help some people be better humans, is too corrupting, manipulative, or horseshit to be trusted.

 

[prf100]

I'm an agnostic atheist.

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My personal experience is that the right of the line irritates me and the left of the line usually leads to interesting, informative discussions.

 

[jjvors]

I'm an agnostic atheist.

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I'm a gnostic theist. Before I became a Christian, I was an Agnostic theist. I couldn't understand Gnostic Atheists then because I couldn't see how they could prove God didn't exist. Sixty years later, I still don't understand them.

 

[Wrathe]

Yup, raised in church and Christian school through 2nd grade.
Parents split and stayed active via family until around 6th-7th grade, the stereotypical rebellion period.

Toyed w/ the occult which is about an equivalency of Parker Brothers Ouja board for a bit then just viewed it as a means of control.

Had my first kid and have been religious ever since.
Might change my mind if it ever becomes The Big Bang Law, but it's a theory right now, so you're just picking between what you choose to believe in w/o empirical data. I.e., faith.

 

[Zeus69]

It is better to admit a lack of knowledge about something than confidently assert poorly reasoned claims.

Would atheism be the default answer if Christians couldn't explain why their God would exist in the first place?? A lack of an explanation for something is not evidence for something else. We don't know why the universe exists; everything else is speculation. Parallel universes, multi-verses, universes created by black holes, universes created by quantum fluctuations... Science has a long history of demonstrating that phenomena believed to be supernatural in origin have natural explanations. The opposite has never turned out to be true… Never. That should give you pause when you think that anything science has difficulty explaining should automatically default to the supernatural.

There is no credible evidence that anything supernatural would even exist. It violates Occam's razor – if there are two competing ideas, the one that requires the least speculation should be favored. Even if we had no evidence scientifically of the origin of the universe, one would still need to provide credible evidence for the existence of God. Theists have been trying to do this for thousands of years without success. They can't even provide evidence that a non-material mind (soul) can exist. All credible evidence points to minds being an emergent property of brains, which inherently requires material space-time to live and function.

"You can't get something from nothing": one of the biggest complaints about the scientific explanation for the origin of the universe made by apologists. But when physicists refer to the above, they are not referring to the absolute nothingness that theists imagine existed before our universe. They refer to what you have left after removing all ordinary matter and energy from space. That still leaves virtual particles popping in and out of existence at the quantum level, and quantum fluctuations could explain the appearance of universes out of seemingly "nothing." The quantum realm could essentially be eternal; the same way theists mean when they claim God is eternal.

Ironically, it's the apologists who believe that you can get something from nothing. They believe that their God created the universe out of absolutely nothing. First, there was God; then he said let there be light, and then boom, the universe is created out of pure nothingness. So if the theistic explanation is valid, then the opposing scientific hypothesis is equally correct. The scientific model is actually more credible because we have no credible evidence whatsoever of the existence of God or the supernatural, but we do have proof of quantum particles and how they can pop in and out of existence. Our universe may result from a similar fluctuation, possibly on a much larger scale.

 

[KevinLoveFan]

Curious as to why you do or do not.

Always been a tough topic for me because I can’t fathom one way or another.

Yes. There was a time when I was agnostic, but I've come to be convinced over the years that there is something greater, eternal, and all-powerful, a reason for all of life being, and a purpose for life.

Of the faiths I've studied, I'm most impressed with Jesus' claims to divinity. So I'm Christian.

My husband remains agnostic. Our son will get to decide whether he follows my faith or not. Son comes with me to church on occasion, including today. Husband was glad I took him because we had an exhausting time with the little guy yesterday (he's teething), and he was glad to rest a couple of hours while I had son at church.

If my son follows my faith, one thing I want to be sure of is to explain to him that most of the ... social culture in the United States has little to nothing to do with what's actually taught in the New Testament. I want him to focus on what Jesus and the apostles actually taught, and not some of the weirdness that is attached to religion in our country. Thankfully I'm in a denomination that believes in "two kingdoms" doctrine, so it's not an issue where I take him.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Nope. I grew up Catholic and it all just seemed like such a sham to me. The richest organization in the history of the world needs you to give them ten percent of your wealth, most of whom absolutely cannot afford to give that much? Yeah, no thanks. Religion in general is, in my opinion, a tool used to control the masses. Religion probably originated as a way to explain death and mitigate the fear of it, but now it's little more than a money-printing machine that all too often tries to impose its hateful views on those who don't believe.

And in the US at least, my experience is that no one hates quite as well as Christians do, and so I want no part of their religion in my life.

I also think that, if a god does exist, he's obviously not a benevolent god that cares about us. One only needs to look at the state of the world to see that. Any god out there is as cold and uncaring as the vast emptiness of space, and thus isn't worthy of my worship.

 

[Scrote Squad]

I’m not religious but if this is it, life, what a bummer.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I’m not religious but if this is it, life, what a bummer.

And just think...we've got it better than about 99.9% of everyone else in the history of the world. Imagine growing up 500 years ago. You'd probably have died by the age of 35 if you were lucky. Also, everyone would have smelled like shit and BO.

 

[prf100]

I’m not religious but if this is it, life, what a bummer.

I’m a little less sad about life being potentially the only thing, but similarly hope there’s more after my corporeal existence concludes.

 

[KI4MVP]

I’m not religious but if this is it, life, what a bummer.

and what a waste, just as you get good at living, first your body and then your mind starts deteriorating. I've spent decades fighting that with mixed results.