Does God Exist? (2 Viewers)

[MoonlightSonata]

The posts in the other thread didn't address this.

Does God exist? Why or why not?

Please state reasons, not simply "I believe this."

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Instead of posting every single possible reason... i'll wait for a believer to post their reasons and i will rebut them

I would suggest some rules.... ie don't simply say 'i believe this because i believe', or anything like that.. before the discussion gets underway.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

An atheist will encounter many and varied claims for the existence of a particular deity. It only seems reasonable to ask for some sort of tangible evidence to back up these claims, does it not? After all, if I ran into the room and shouted "I have just seen a UFO! I was this close to being abducted!", you might not immediately take my word for it.

I think perhaps we should keep this in mind....

 

[neo o]

Admirable effort, but if youre after philosophy on this board

look somewhere else

 

[spell check]

i don't know enough about science to form a valid opinion

but, the idea of an entity that has no beginning and no end and no physical properties is too hard to comprehend, i can't believe in it without any solid proof and the Bible is certainly not good enough

 

[Ziff]

Do it without referring to a holy text. If you are going to refer to a holy text then you must justify using solid evidence why it should be believed taking into account the nature of the text, the origin, the content, the perspectives, the motivation for the composer, the audience it was intended for, and the reliability of not only the sources contained within it but also the text as a whole (i.e. textual integrity).

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Wow. The silence is deafening. Is there not one brave soul to put a single reason forward?

I guess that means, we can officially declare there is no reason to believe in God!

 

[Not-That-Bright]

oh! reasons to believe in god?

I think the only reason to believe in god... is if you're scared of death, or simply want to ignore reality for a while.

 

[Ziff]

What I don't get, is why people are willing to accept that God exists and not question where this entity came from YET they look upon the suggestion that time and matter has simply always existed with complete incredulity.

 

[Beaky]

Wow. The silence is deafening. Is there not one brave soul to put a single reason forward?

I guess that means, we can officially declare there is no reason to believe in God!

Yup are you satisfied with the answer you will only accept?

 

[Not-That-Bright]

ok, give us the reasons you have for gods existance then.

 

[jm1234567890]

God's existance is irrelavent like the aether.

I mean does it really affect our lives?

Sure, the belief that he/she exists might effect some people but his actual existance is irrelavent.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

jm... are you asking for reasons as to what bad things happen because people believe in god?

Religion represents a huge financial and work burden on mankind. It's not just a matter of religious believers wasting their money on church buildings; think of all the time and effort spent building churches, praying, and so on. Imagine how that effort could be better spent.

Many theists believe in miracle healing. There have been plenty of instances of ill people being "healed" by a priest, ceasing to take the medicines prescribed to them by doctors, and dying as a result. Some theists have died because they have refused blood transfusions on religious grounds.

It is arguable that the Catholic Church's opposition to birth control -- and condoms in particular -- is increasing the problem of overpopulation in many third-world countries and contributing to the spread of AIDS world-wide.

Religious believers have been known to murder their children rather than allow their children to become atheists or marry someone of a different religion. Religious leaders have been known to justify murder on the grounds of blasphemy.

There have been many religious wars. Even if we accept the argument that religion was not the true cause of those wars, it was still used as an effective justification for them.

Yes, religions do good things also... however these things would probably be done wether the person believed in that god or not (red cross would still exist without belief in god).

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Well like you said, the belief is highly influential over the world.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

jm... are you asking for reasons as to what bad things happen because people believe in god?

lol

I think you're fishing for a challenge on that one

 

[Not-That-Bright]

i am, i don't hide it... I like my beliefs being challenged, i'm in the mood for it

 

[jm1234567890]

jm... are you asking for reasons as to what bad things happen because people believe in god?

no, i was just saying that beliving in some thing is different to something acctually existing

 

[Not-That-Bright]

no, i was just saying that beliving in some thing is different to something acctually existing

arr ok.... damn

 

[danie]

you've missed the point of religion and god.

religion exists more than anything as something to lean on.

i think i said this managore's views but

just as marx said religiong is opium for the poor people and smashing pumpkins: could you believe in heaven if heaven was all you had is the main thing.

i don't know if you caught oprah but there was woman on it from rwanda and she was part of the tetsu (is that right?) that were getting flushed. she saw sixteen of her family memebrs hacked to death, killed, she was unmercifullessly raped over and over until the soldiers got over it. when htey slept she ran away.

oprah asked her what got her thru it

she said god and her kid.

i think that's enough to say that god exists.

and maybe im contradicting myself but essentially whether he/she is really there sometimes that's all that people have to hold on to.

 

[SipSip]

The existence of god is only a mere comforting tool for people to rely on and their most down times. When we at at our worst, we then to feel we have no hope...and illusions of hope and desires begins to take place...some are lucky and see then illusion of a god who is there to help, others see something else and end up dying...

God is what every one wants to believe in, and our inner desires to trust our beliefs....so yes, it is a good thing...but it's existence is only limited to the true desire of one person...it is also the true thing that our heart thinks and appreciates...