Do you believe in God?

[wyverary]

I just want to make sure the conversation remains respectful. When I or other mods take action, it is sometimes based on experience as to what is bound to happen. Feel free to keep a discussion going, but be VERY careful as to your tone and wording. I stand by my decision. Thanks.

 

[Balkan1996]

Yes, I'm a deist.

 

[Tom]

Yes. I also follow and accept science. I tend to keep the two separated. One is for interacting with others and understanding the world, and the other is my inner journey and sanctuary.

 

[Slithytoves]

I believe in the possibility of God, which for me has always been enough. At one point I was training to be a rabbi, a program that is full of tests and inquiries, and found it interesting that nobody ever asked me whether I believed in God or not. The progressive (largest) arm of Judaism is unusual that way; lack of belief in the God of Abraham doesn't necessarily exclude you from becoming a spiritual leader. To some, especially adherents to certain sects of American Christianity, this may sound absurd. One thing modern Jews have taken from centuries of diaspora and persecution is that the stories, spirit, and practice of our tradition don't actually depend on God being real. They depend on belief in the lessons thereof, and on being proud of our heritage. In my personal opinion, a potentially imaginary God who inspires kindness and ethical behavior is vastly better than a real one who inspires prejudice or apathy toward any living thing. As a guide to righteousness, the Divine within us matters much more than the Divine without.

 

[DogwoodTree]

Unequivocally, yes. And that He is good. And that He loves me personally.

But being AS...and being a CSA survivor...my internal existence feels very far removed from where He is. I still believe He is closely involved in my life. I just can't feel His presence like it seems other people do. I do feel Him and hear Him and see His hand in my life. I just feel very far away from Him, just like I feel with other people.

 

[TragicKingdom]

Yes, I believe in God; I believe He/She/It initiated the Big Bang and used Evolution to produce Homo-Sapiens from Primates. I also believe other sentient life forms exist outside of our planet, created by God (Many call these other life forms "Aliens").

I was a very hard-core Atheist until I was 29-Years old, then I had an epiphany from God. That did not mean I jumped directly into religion. I did not, but I contemplated God.

Years went by and I began exploring Christianity. I am now a Christian.

 

[TimBob]

I believe in God and identify as a Christian.

I can't logically believe that all the amazing, beautiful and complex things in the universe just happened on their own, even over billions of years. Everything in the universe shows an intelligent and purposeful design. As an analytical, logical "architect," I can see a common pattern and design to everything in the universe. Being an Aspie, there are many things that take considerable energy, effort and thought for me to accomplish. Knowing what it takes for me to accomplish relatively small things, I can't imagine the complexity of the universe just happened.

I've worked on teams that have built multimillion dollar office environments, where we covered items as simple as plumbing and as complex as fully integrated audio/video equipment. What we built took a large project team of talented people, working with more talented people on design and implementation. All that was after even more talented people engineered and created the materials we use. Before them came those that mined the Earth for the raw materials.

My point is that, even the simplest of human creation takes effort by many people. We've given awards and accolades to the people that discovered DNA, other planets, weird self-illuminating creates in the deep ocean, cures for diseases and more, and we should honor them for the discoveries. However, the items we've discovered, like DNA, are far more complex than anything ever created by humans. An entire modern skyscraper is still simpler than human DNA.

I can't scientifically prove the existence of God, but I can't deny the intelligent design I see everywhere.

 

[Omega]

I have no problem believing in a divine being, but neither do I believe it can be accurately contemplated or described.

 

[apsie]

How does ''complexity'' prove intelligent design? Things that are designed are relatively simpele.
I don't ''believe''.

 

[TimBob]

How does ''complexity'' prove intelligent design? Things that are designed are relatively simpele. I don't ''believe''.

Do you mean to say, "things that are designed well are relatively simple?"

I've been involved in a lot of projects over the years and in my experience, everything that appears simple from a user's perspective, is complex underneath. There's a lot going on behind the scenes in our bodies, but it's a pretty simple interface for us. If we get hungry we eat, if we're tired, we sleep, etc. We deal with other issues, Autism, health issues and such, but we don't have to understand DNA or manually fire receptors in the brain for things to work.

 

[Adora]

I'm agnostic while I am not in a religion I do believe in a possibility of a god.

 

[Sass]

I don't belive in God as presented by major religions.

My gods are the things that make me happy, the things that drive me to keep on existing. Family, friends, good food, beer, and words, and probably tons of other things. I don't need to know why they exist to enjoy them, nor to do I need thank anyone.

I'm part of why they exist, part of a long tradition of beings who can create, and do. So yeah, I enjoy their creations, and send out my own.

 

[Shawn D]

To me, Pascal's Wager demonstrates why belief is God is, in fact, not illogical, but one of the most logical things we can believe.
With that said, I believe that whatever God, or starting point to the existence of everything, there is, our puny human minds can't possibly begin to comprehend it. I believe that whatever we've come up with is far, far too simple.
When I think about it for too long, I actually feel my mind being blown [emoji15]

 

[Stik]

I'm agnostic while I am not in a religion I do believe in a possibility of a god.

What Adora said. Although, I do feel inspired by the teachings of Buddhism.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

Not really.

 

[gonzerd]

Meh, I don't. To me personally, the notion of a god is more a poetic vehicle than anything else, an expression of hope or despair. I do sometimes raise my hands to the sky or whatever, as some kind of recognition that there are things beyond our control. There is luck, good and bad, there is the unknown, but 'a' god, nah. Hope, pray, wish, it's all the same.

I don't consider myself an atheist too for that matter, or an agnostic or whatever. I'm just… nothing. Or I'm just me, to make it sound a bit more positive; a human being. I don't need to have a full fledged analysis of everything, rational or irrational. Not everything can be explained, nor does it need to. If I feel it, I feel it; I don't need to know why.

I'm not saying I'm not a spiritual being though; everybody is a spiritual being. You don't have to go to church for that, or read the right books, or get on your knees or stare at a wall, wear the accompanying accroutrements or follow a particular diet or any of those things. It doesn't matter if you read the Bible or the Bhagavad Gita or Biggles, go to temple or CBGB's, light incense, candles or cigarettes, drink corner shop piss or Ayurvedic Yogi Tea®. None of that matters, and it doesn't necessarily make people any more (or less) spiritual, more (or less) pure, or provide them with some kind of spiritual authority over others, which, in the end often turns into a vehicle to judge and put people down, at least in my experience. Whatever works is good, and try to do the right thing along the way.

I just believe in… me, or at least I try to, and I believe in those few people whom I connect with on some level, or even truly love and I do feel a great reverence to whatever moves me. That's enough for me, that's really all I need. Those are the things that get me through, which is probably what the whole god concept is supposed to be about anyway.

Actually, there is a Lennon song that sort of sums it up for me...

 

[Princess]

Why I sure do.

 

[Dominic]

I find it really difficult to answer the question with a simple yes, no or undecided answer. My position on the matter is as follows - I live my life as if there was no god as there is no evidence (in my eyes at least) that supports a god's existence. The onus of proof rests firmly in the hands of those making the claim that a god exists as I cannot prove a negative and I would never therefore, say that a god definetely doesn't exist. However, I would if pressed say that the chance of their being a god is very low indeed.

What is more important for me however, is that we respect each others beliefs It is in trying to understanding how two people can look at the same evidence (or lack of it depending on where your coming from) and arrive at different conclusions that I find fascinating.

 

[Maelstrom]

I find it really difficult to answer the question with a simple yes, no or undecided answer. My position on the matter is as follows - I live my life as if there was no god as there is no evidence (in my eyes at least) that supports a god's existence. The onus of proof rests firmly in the hands of those making the claim that a god exists as I cannot prove a negative and I would never therefore, say that a god definetely doesn't exist. However, I would if pressed say that the chance of their being a god is very low indeed.

What is more important for me however, is that we respect each others beliefs It is in trying to understanding how two people can look at the same evidence (or lack of it depending on where your coming from) and arrive at different conclusions that I find fascinating.

Hi Dominic ,a understandable position I guess if one has had no contact with either supper natural side. I do get a little confused as to why everyone only asks if God is real, no one ever seems to get around to asking if Lucifer the father of death is real, if you have one you get the other.

It has never been much of question for me, things have always been hot around me on the supper natural front since I was a little child. I never understood why my angel chose to save my life as a child, or why the dark side takes such a interest in me. Sometimes I feel like a juicy bone that two giant dogs are playing tug of war with. My brother mocks me and claims I'm self important or imagining things, but he really has no clue what it is like to be ground zero...I get so tired of it all some times death looks like a pleasant vacation. And no sorry to disappoint but I'm government tested grade H/F autistic beef no schizophrenia...I am a little over jumpy, but that just comes from being messed with all the time by mankind and whatever. Perhaps there is the answer my greatest weakness is being overly sensitive to being messed with...and he knows it.
Well he messed up this time, picking on this little auti will cost him dearly.....for the first time in history Heaven and whatever you consider hell to be, are no longer beyond the reach of science.....everything is going to hit the fan any day now. Total war on all plains, I hope I live long enough to see the big show.

 

[granolaturtle]

I personally believe in God. It's just something I feel in my heart, a conviction, I guess. Call it irrational or whatever, I suppose. Belief inspires me to want to do good for the world. I've adopted a bit of a socially conscious Christianity. I just want to start going to church again, but I don't have a driver's license yet...