Does God exist? (15 Viewers)

[want2bdifferent]

To inasero, emy, etc, have you ever actually thought 'What if I'm wrong?'.

yeah. but then again, what do i lose? If i am wrong and there is no God then, i rot in the dirt, however, if i am right, then I live eternally.

However if you are wrong, and christianity is in turn correct,then you spend eternity in hell.

I think overall of i am wrong i have not lost anything, i am loving living as a christian

 

[*TRUE*]

you provided links to sites which debate the theory of evolution...

Ohhhh dear , want2bdifferent , bad move

 

[*TRUE*]

what did i miss while i was at camp?

hI Emy

 

[*TRUE*]

To inasero, emy, etc, have you ever actually thought 'What if I'm wrong?'.

Many , many times.

 

[Captain Gh3y]

I now believe Satan exists and he is leading us into temptation by making us forget to use the enter key regularly.

 

[blakegman]

You know, for all the wall of text, that was actually quite a good post.

 

[KFunk]

...only that confirming evidence had been provided in abundance in times past and would no longer be provided not because there wasn't any, but because people wouldn't believe it anyway and it would contravene God's requirement that we come to Him by faith.

This is exactly the kind of criticism-resistant interpretation that I had in mind. Can you not see how such requirements place these kinds of claims outside of scientific enquiry?

However, if you do accept that faith based claims are outside of empirical enquiry then I want to ask how you decide whether to endorse one faith based claim over another (and also to point out that, across individuals, the determining factor often turns out to be cultural background - which is fairly telling in my mind).

 

[*TRUE*]

This is exactly the kind of criticism-resistant interpretation that I had in mind. Can you not see how such requirements place these kinds of claims outside of scientific enquiry?

I can see it.
If you place God anywhere near scientific enquiry he kind of seems lame though.
Oh well i dont know.

 

[xeuyrawp]

I dont believe that God exists and lemme tell you why...

Within every civilization throughout history humans have believed in some sort of deity or supernatural occurrence.

Yeah exactly.

It's quite straightforward to even trace Christianity and note its changes all the way to primitive beliefs.

I now believe Satan exists and he is leading us into temptation by making us forget to use the enter key regularly.

Because it's so hard to read ~250 word paragraphs.

 

[*TRUE*]

It somewhat disqualifies you from the argument because it shows you're not entering with an open mind.

Yeah true that.

 

[Slidey]

The extent of self-denial exhibited in this thread by fundamentalist Christians is unfathomable.

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

I think it would be easier for religious people to argue their position on God if all the peripheral beliefs that come with the religious package, so to speak, were treated as irrelevant. For example, belief in demons and devils and so on. You can easily believe in God, or a force which could be named as such, without literally believing that said God created Adam from clay or that the world was literally created in six days. The trouble is that people don't just believe in God, they believe the rest of it too, and the fact that the "rest of it" is so easily discredited by science and rational thinking thus discredits their entire argument. I mean, we cannot definitively prove that a God does or does exist, but we can sure as shit establish that neither Shaytaan nor anybody else is urinating in your mouth when you fall asleep during prayer (well unless you have awful friends).

Am I making sense, or have I missed a big point, as I am prone to do.

 

[Captain Gh3y]

Because it's so hard to read ~250 word paragraphs.

No, but it was 270 words

 

[Charizard]

This thread always reminds me of the song

Billy Joel - Only the good die young

 

[Slidey]

Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad,
Other things just make you swear and curse,
When you're chewing on life's gristle,
Don't grumble,
Give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best.
And...

Always look on the bright side of life.
Always look on the light side of life.

If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten,
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle.
That's the thing.
And...

Always look on the bright side of life.
Always look on the right side of life,

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin.
Give the audience a grin.
Enjoy it. It's your last chance, anyhow.
So,...

Always look on the bright side of death,
Just before you draw your terminal breath.

Life's a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life's a laugh and death's a joke it's true.
You'll see it's all a show.
Keep 'em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.
And...

Always look on the bright side of life.
Always look on the right side of life.

Always look on the bright side of life!

 

[TacoTerrorist]

Within every civilization throughout history humans have believed in some sort of deity or supernatural occurrence. I mean does general human history every strike you as illogical? The inhabitants of ancient Egypt would argue severed donkey heads bring them luck. In medieval times, Doctors would argue the cure to their patient’s ailment is to drill a hole in their skull to release trapped demons. Muslims argue Jinn dwell in bushes and trees, Shaytaan lives in the nose, if you fall asleep while praying Shaytaan urinates in your mouth and Allah once turned Jews into monkeys and so forth. So what exactly is it that separates your God from the hundreds of thousands of others that man has created? I think that God did not create man but rather, man created God to rationalize what he could not understand. Today, I believe, God only exists within the imagination and fear of humans.

I could point out verses in the Bible where the all-loving God kills kids because they insulted a bald man, where he tells you to kill homosexuals, that you're allowed sell your own daughter into slavery, etc.... BTW, the bible also is full of scientific errors as is the Quran. They both seem to have the impression the earth is flat and that the sky is held up by pillars. I dont think that its really that hard to find these things, but if you're in that religion it is hard to get to point where you're ready to question it. I mean just about all religious people are programmed from early youth to never question what was imposed upon them. They're threatened with torture of hell and given promises of a wonderful paradise in the afterlife. And all successful religions offer something. Some make you feel important in this massive lonely universe or subside your fear of death by telling you that you'll go to some magical land where you will happy forever. (Some religions like Islam promise sex and wealth.) Anyways they play on your emotions, fears and desires to control you. And I guess it would be hard to give those "joyous" things up-even if they are empty promises. Whenever I first debated theists I was dumbfounded by how much in denial they can be. But then I realized that religion had nothing to do with intelligence; its about an emotional attachment. Its like calling their mother a whore. They'd never agree with you and defend her by any means even if what you're saying is true.

Wow! You're totally right! You've opened my eyes! There's no mystery to life, science holds all the answers and God's just a giant spaghetti monster!

 

[lemonOFdoom]

Enter Darwin, center-stage left.

Who still believes in Creationism?

As a side-note, has anyone actually read all 576 pages of posts?

 

[Captain Gh3y]

Wow! You're totally right! You've opened my eyes! There's no mystery to life, science holds all the answers and God's just a giant spaghetti monster!

zero credibility

 

[Slidey]

Wow! You're totally right! You've opened my eyes! There's no mystery to life, science holds all the answers and God's just a giant spaghetti monster!

Why don't you enlighten us on your 'complex religious beliefs'?

 

[sam04u]

Wow. I wanted to make a contribution to this thread so I skimmed back a few pages looking for a salient post in order to contradict/provide counter contentions to, but I couldn't find any.

The quality of posts in this thread is terrible. I'll try to change that with my post (even though introducing rational debate is not exactly my forte)

I think with years of experience in these sorts of topics in order to have a rational debate, we can't keep going around in circles. The major contentions which can be argued regarding this debate are generally overlooked. But I'll give a few examples of sub-topics that ruin these threads.

1) Any discussion of a particular religion or religious beliefs. (Including mock religions like FSM and other such nonsense.)
2) Any discussion on a persons other personal beliefs, past beliefs, or anything not pertaining to the topic at hand. (whether God exists)
3) Intelligent design.

Basically if those rules are followed it narrows down the debate to really deal with whether God, which also needs to be defined by any two parties before they get too deep into the debate.


So... with all that said, how do you define God? Usually as is the case with these things although the "burdon of proof" lies with the people who argue in favour of God's existance, so does the rights of definition.

I define God as such.

1) Existing outside of our universe.
2) Having the ability/power to create our universe
3) Having the ability/power to modify and create all energy within our universe.
4) Having in the past modified energy to communicate with man and other beings in the universe.

So now that the definition of God has been established, who would like to debate?