Do you believe in God?

[Strittan]

Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.
-Hebrews 3:12 (NLT)

I encourage you to look up a bible reading plan if you ever decide to read the Bible. You can find them on the Internet. It basically breaks the Bible down into digestible chunks that you are able to digest if you like. I encourage anyone to read the Bible, but just picking it up and reading from Genesis to Revelation will most likely just leave you confused and exhausted.
It fills my heart with so much pain that so many people dismiss Christianity due to the surrounding response or previous events in their lives, but try and take it from my point of view. I'm trying to help others and lead them into salvation, not because I am being a troll or by ignorance, but by kindness of heart. I really want to help people, rather than just be an annoyance in which I feel I'm being in this thread.

One can be a kind and helping person without being religious though. You almost sound like a bible salesman.

 

[Exorcet]

Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.
-Hebrews 3:12 (NLT)

I'm trying to help others and lead them into salvation, not because I am being a troll or by ignorance, but by kindness of heart. I really want to help people, rather than just be an annoyance in which I feel I'm being in this thread.

Well that's good. I very much agree with Danoff that if you really think non believers are going to suffer, then you should try to intervene. However

It fills my heart with so much pain that so many people dismiss Christianity due to the surrounding response or previous events in their lives, but try and take it from my point of view.

I believe some of us have already seen it from your point of view. Tic Tach has said so. So have I.

For me it was not: devoutly religious > traumatic event > atheism

It went more like: devoutly religious > thinking for a really long time > atheism

I even resisting giving up faith, considering that it was my weakness or lack of understanding, etc. I tried my best to make sense of the world in a religious context. And when that did not work, I tried it again. I even looked to the Bible for guidance at times. In the end though, I found it impossible.

I found the Bible to hold no special purpose, attending mass to be pointless, and even being religious unnecessary. If God was as I was brought up to believe, then it had to be that way. He would care more about people being good, then people being religious. Religion had to be wrong. Even after coming to this conclusion though, I still held out belief in God, but it wasn't long until I applied logic to that too.

 

[TankAss95]

One can be a kind and helping person without being religious though. You almost sound like a bible salesman.

Yes, but you missed the point. I want you to be saved. And about the Bible, you can get it free on the IPhone or on the net.

 

[Famine]

Read Genesis chapter 1-3 for answers.

Through the many translations of the Bible over time, words cannot always be taken literally.

That doesn't sound much like answers.

Oh, and don't forget that it's an anthology of books created by a Roman Emperor - some books were not included in the Bible and the order of books is entirely one man's decision.

 

[dylansan]

It fills my heart with so much pain that so many people dismiss Christianity due to the surrounding response or previous events in their lives, but try and take it from my point of view. I'm trying to help others and lead them into salvation, not because I am being a troll or by ignorance, but by kindness of heart. I really want to help people, rather than just be an annoyance in which I feel I'm being in this thread.

Once you realize that we atheists feel exactly the same way, you'll be much better prepared to discuss the concept of god without needing to discuss your personal faith or belief.

We just think if people used more logic and reason in their everyday lives, society as a whole would be improved. People deserve to know what life really is before they decide how to live it, and I hate to think how many people gave up on this life thinking there would be an afterlife, only to vanish forever, never having truly lived. You've already admitted your beliefs are irrational, based on personal experience and not testable evidence. We just want you to take in the evidence so you can

The difference between you and I is that I honestly want to be proven wrong. I really wish there was an afterlife so I could live comfortably forever, but there's no evidence for it. The Bible tells us to believe in God, but that's not a choice I get to make. You don't choose to believe in things just because you'll be punished if you don't; if there's enough evidence for something, you automatically believe it because it's been shown to you. You have somehow turned off this important part of your brain and made the conscious decision to believe something unbelievable, to know something you know might be wrong.

Until you admit there's even the slightest possibility that you're wrong, stop posting in this thread. You are physically incapable of discussion if you've already decided not to listen to the other side. Go listen to some music, take a nap, and think about this, but don't post anything else until you want to be proven wrong.

 

[Strittan]

Yes, but you missed the point. I want you to be saved. And about the Bible, you can get it free on the IPhone or on the net.

Dude, hold your horses. Saved from what? It sounds like you're trying to convert me, and it gives me the creeps.

 

[TankAss95]

That doesn't sound much like answers.

Oh, and don't forget that it's an anthology of books created by a Roman Emperor - some books were not included in the Bible and the order of books is entirely one man's decision.

He was questioning the Christian God. I was giving him a source where he could gain information from.

And yes it is entirely your choice the order of books to read it from, but it was just a suggestion based on my experience.

 

[Famine]

He was questioning the Christian God. I was giving him a source where he could gain information from.

Since we've already established that - and you've agreed that - the Bible is a non-literal, allegorical source due to editing and multiple retranslation, it's not a great source on anything factual.

And yes it is entirely your choice the order of books to read it from, but it was just a suggestion based on my experience.

Err... you missed the point. The order of books in the Bible is defined by one person - Pope Damasus I at the behest of Emperor Constantius.

Different sects of Christianity may have slightly different book ordering, but largely they follow the anthology set by Constantius.

 

[Akira AC]

I encourage you to look up a bible reading plan if you ever decide to read the Bible. You can find them on the Internet. It basically breaks the Bible down into digestible chunks that you are able to digest if you like. I encourage anyone to read the Bible, but just picking it up and reading from Genesis to Revelation will most likely just leave you confused and exhausted.
It fills my heart with so much pain that so many people dismiss Christianity due to the surrounding response or previous events in their lives, but try and take it from my point of view. I'm trying to help others and lead them into salvation, not because I am being a troll or by ignorance, but by kindness of heart. I really want to help people, rather than just be an annoyance in which I feel I'm being in this thread.

I have read the bible and the Quran long enough to acknowledged that neither provides a personal support to be applied RL, by reading the bible you can notice a lot of things about tolerance and dignity, but such things do not help an individuals mental help grown because the bible also promotes fanatical believes(unreal and potential dangerous). These believes do not help in an individual psyche development since the human psyche is composed by a very different arrange of emotions that composes an individual personality, the ideas professed on the bible outright denies some elements that composes the human condition, and I know also about the whole forgiveness business, but it doesn't apply since the bible works as a rulebook, rather than a teaching tool.

What Christians fail to acknowledged about the bible is the fact that it works as a rulebook, as a rulebook that only provides a guide for behaviour which is not the same as a teaching tool. Just like the bible, the Quran also follows the same basis and it needs to be mentioned that the Quran serves as a base for the Islamic lifestyle.

 

[TankAss95]

Once you realize that we atheists feel exactly the same way, you'll be much better prepared to discuss the concept of god without needing to discuss your personal faith or belief.

We just think if people used more logic and reason in their everyday lives, society as a whole would be improved. People deserve to know what life really is before they decide how to live it, and I hate to think how many people gave up on this life thinking there would be an afterlife, only to vanish forever, never having truly lived. You've already admitted your beliefs are irrational, based on personal experience and not testable evidence. We just want you to take in the evidence so you can

The difference between you and I is that I honestly want to be proven wrong. I really wish there was an afterlife so I could live comfortably forever, but there's no evidence for it. The Bible tells us to believe in God, but that's not a choice I get to make. You don't choose to believe in things just because you'll be punished if you don't; if there's enough evidence for something, you automatically believe it because it's been shown to you. You have somehow turned off this important part of your brain and made the conscious decision to believe something unbelievable, to know something you know might be wrong.

Until you admit there's even the slightest possibility that you're wrong, stop posting in this thread. You are physically incapable of discussion if you've already decided not to listen to the other side. Go listen to some music, take a nap, and think about this, but don't post anything else until you want to be proven wrong.

I suppose the end of me posting in this thread then. Obviously I am not being useful or productive in this discussion.

 

[dylansan]

I suppose the end of me posting in this thread then. Obviously I am not being useful or productive in this discussion.

Just to clarify, I want to be able to have a discussion with you, but by dismissing arguments as unimportant to your faith, you make it impossible for the conversation to be productive. I have noticed you expressing interest in many subjects, and I do hope you continue to learn about the world, as it will benefit you greatly.

I'm curious though. Am I wrong in anything I wrote in that post? Do you understand why it's impossible to believe something you know probably isn't true. That's the biggest issue here, and I really want you to think about it, for your own sake.

 

[arora]

Does belief in god show one to be irrational or not measuring up to the intellect of an atheist? All of the arguments from believers in this thread are subject to scrutiny(rightly so) and attempts to show implausibility. All things cannot be explained or proven by science, so ignorance is chosen in favor of anything outside this strict logic, but why? Lets take the past for instance, are there any good arguments for it's existence?

There is no logical impossibility in the hypothesis that the world sprang into being five minutes ago, exactly as it then was, with a population that "remembered" a wholly unreal past. There is no logically necessary connection between events at different times; therefore nothing that is happening now or will happen in the future can disprove the hypothesis that the world began five minutes ago..

Does anyone here believe the world began five minutes ago? I'm pretty sure we all believe in the past and we do it in a rational fashion, even though the past is subject also to scrutiny and plausibility. Are we irrational or of a sub par intellect for that? No, it would be irrational not to believe in the past. Is it something in our dna or maybe we have been indoctrinated to believe in the past? I would like to see some factual scientific evidence to prove the past exists and exactly what it is.

Yeah yeah of course it's going to be said what a ridiculous leap I make between the existence of past and the existence of god but I disagree......

There's now a lot of evidence that some of the foundations for our religious beliefs are hard-wired. All humans possess the brain circuitry and it never goes away.

So, we are 'hard-wired' to believe in things like the past, maybe each other, maybe god, etc etc. Proof? I don't have any, but people, an overwhelmingly amount of them(90% of the world?) believe in some sort of god like thingy simply because it seems natural to them and certainly acceptable.

 

[El]

Lol there all in the same boat. It's called confidence in yourself.

Dude, this is why stuff gets really complicated very fast lol. I dont care what people choose to call it, im just glad someone understood what I was trying to say.

 

[Famine]

Does anyone here believe the world began five minutes ago? I'm pretty sure we all believe in the past and we do it in a rational fashion, even though the past is subject also to scrutiny and plausibility. Are we irrational or of a sub par intellect for that? No, it would be irrational not to believe in the past. Is it something in our dna or maybe we have been indoctrinated to believe in the past? I would like to see some factual scientific evidence to prove the past exists and exactly what it is.

Information cannot travel faster than the speed of light. If the universe popped into existence just five minutes since, we wouldn't be able to see the Sun.

 

[CMvan46]

Information cannot travel faster than the speed of light. If the universe popped into existence just five minutes since, we wouldn't be able to see the Sun.

Hahahaha yep.

Sun takes 8 minutes (?) to get to he Earth.

There are so many things wrong with that theory I'm not going to start going through them.

 

[Drifted]

Im learning about this in religous studies... yay


I believe, no there is no God unless I see proof.

But there are many theorys to this like the big bang etc


I dont tend to mix into religion as its rather perplexed for me

You will see God once u die. Everyone does. Then who created you? we do not come from a monkey.

 

[El]

You will see God once u die. Everyone does. Then who created you? we do not come from a monkey.

Are you trolling?

 

[huskeR32]

You will see God once u die. Everyone does. Then who created you? we do not come from a monkey.

Who says we did?

 

[TJC_69]

You will see God once u die. Everyone does.

Really ? Did you die , come back to life & jump on GTP to tell us ?
Or alternatively , have you just been taught that as a child & grown up believing it to be the truth ?

Drifted
Then who created you?

I think my parents did .... But if you're asking a question regarding the origins of life then no , you were not created as a human in Gods image to walk the Earth . Evolution completely washes that fantasy down the drain .

Drifted
we do not come from a monkey.

No we don't , obviously a topic in which you cleary have no clue about . If you had ever been taught properly about this subject or have even browsed 2 lines from a factual scientific website / book on this subject , then you would clearly understand what an uneducated statement that is.

 

[Joey D]

we do not come from a monkey.

This is correct, we did not come from monkeys, but rather a common ancestor.

 

[shmogt]

Evolution doesn't show what created us it shows the process in which simpler creatures turned into us. The answers to who made the first creature ever allowing it to than start the process of evolution is unknown.

 

[Keef]

This is correct, we did not come from monkeys, but rather a common ancestor.

And we adapted to the environments we lived in. Theirs were full of trees, and ours were full of problems.

 

[TJC_69]

Evolution doesn't show what created us it shows the process in which simpler creatures turned into us. The answers to who made the first creature ever allowing it to than start the process of evolution is unknown.

I agree with that .

Although , why does it have to be a " Who " ?

It could much more easily be a " What " ?

I find the Panspermia theory very interesting , although if this theory is every verified then it still does not answer the question of who or what created us . Merely it would open that whole question even wider into an added " Where " .
Link is here for anyone interested - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia

 

[Maxymilan]

I believe in the monkey revolution, still respect for other religions, no offense!
I have christian friends and Islam friends.
No offense!

 

[TJC_69]

I believe in the monkey revolution, still respect for other religions, no offense!
I have christian friends and Islam friends.
No offense!

Evolution isn't a belief , it's scientific observation & theory which has already been discussed at length in previous pages . 👍

It's good to be wary of religious feelings on the matter but I don't see your comment to be any offense .

 

[shmogt]

Evolution doesn't have anything to do with hating on religion. Religion is more how to live. "god" may have made the first creature and allowed it to evolve. Any religion that gets offended by evolution may actually be hating on god on this decision.

 

[Crushed]

I believe in God but recently its been hard. For 1 thing, there is nothing scientific that can make me not believe in him. I believe in evolution, the big bang, and everything! I just think that God made it like that HIS way! But the thing that recently has made me iffy on the subject is that when i look at the big picture. I mean what if there was just some crazy person named jesus who THOUGHT he was the sun of God. And EVERYTHING in it is based on faith. It says to keep praying for help and if it doesn't come than God is either waiting to give it to you or not. And there isnt "proof" because if there was everyone would be catholic so its all on faith.. But all the other religions are too... So what makes it any different? To me, its just on which family your born into! But i want to believe its just hard... And i will always go with the catholic morals if i believe or not because i think its a good way to follow and the whole world be kind

 

[shmogt]

I believe in God but recently its been hard. For 1 thing, there is nothing scientific that can make me not believe in him. I believe in evolution, the big bang, and everything! I just think that God made it like that HIS way! But the thing that recently has made me iffy on the subject is that when i look at the big picture. I mean what if there was just some crazy person named jesus who THOUGHT he was the sun of God. And EVERYTHING in it is based on faith. It says to keep praying for help and if it doesn't come than God is either waiting to give it to you or not. And there isnt "proof" because if there was everyone would be catholic so its all on faith.. But all the other religions are too... So what makes it any different? To me, its just on which family your born into! But i want to believe its just hard... And i will always go with the catholic morals if i believe or not because i think its a good way to follow and the whole world be kind

This is the number one problem with all religions. They are no longer about choice and freedom. It's all about your parents are this so now you are this and all these made up rules you must follow if you wanna be part of it. Than they guilt trip you into thinking your bad because you didn't do something they told you to. Forget being Catholic give up on that. It doesn't mean you have to give up in god. Just live your life how YOU feel is right and believe that you're making the right choices. I'm not sure why god would find this so disrespectful according to religions.

 

[TJC_69]

I believe in God but recently its been hard. For 1 thing, there is nothing scientific that can make me not believe in him. I believe in evolution, the big bang, and everything! I just think that God made it like that HIS way! But the thing that recently has made me iffy on the subject is that when i look at the big picture. I mean what if there was just some crazy person named jesus who THOUGHT he was the sun of God. And EVERYTHING in it is based on faith. It says to keep praying for help and if it doesn't come than God is either waiting to give it to you or not. And there isnt "proof" because if there was everyone would be catholic so its all on faith.. But all the other religions are too... So what makes it any different? To me, its just on which family your born into! But i want to believe its just hard... And i will always go with the catholic morals if i believe or not because i think its a good way to follow and the whole world be kind

Science isn't belief , but I understand your point in your post . 👍

 

[Crushed]

This is the number one problem with all religions. They are no longer about choice and freedom. It's all about your parents are this so now you are this and all these made up rules you must follow if you wanna be part of it. Than they guilt trip you into thinking your bad because you didn't do something they told you to. Forget being Catholic give up on that. It doesn't mean you have to give up in god. Just live your life how YOU feel is right and believe that you're making the right choices. I'm not sure why god would find this so disrespectful according to religions.

No that's not really what i'm saying. I believe in Catholicism the most out of any religion and it feels right to me by far! My parents never pressured me into any religion. It's just that when your born into a family the first thing you know about religion is what your parents first tell you. So i or anyone else im sure would believe what they were traditionally brought into than anything else. And i WANT to be a catholic, i dont believe in anything else. Its just hard sometimes to grasp onto if its really real or not!