to absolutely not know what i believe in

[bubbub]

i was christened and later on took bible studies and was confirmed, i was really too young to make my own mind up, and remember very little of it. my parents are not religious, but wanted me to be confirmed to "keep up with the joneses" fast forward to now, and i long for a rock solid belief in god, but i cant quite seem to allow myself to.
i cant bring myself to buy into the bible, its so contradictory, and a lot of the views i cannot agree with.
i mean, can science and a belief in god be compatible?
god created the world in 7 days, created man ect... but we know for a fact the dinosaurs roamed the earth way before man came along. so if that bit is wrong, is the rest of it right?
the thing is, although i have always wanted to believe i have never been able to, and have i suppose considered myself to be an atheist, who envies those with beliefs.
last week a friend of mine was given traumatic news, and was told to expect a real worst case outcome, they needed to wait for results, and during that wait, i prayed, i really prayed (thank god, the outcome was better than they had thought, though not, im sure, down to my or anyone elses prayer)
it suprised me that i prayed, i didnt think about it, i just did it, so that must mean deep down i do have a belief in god, but not the bible/religion/jesus stories. can you have one without the other?

if you believe, how do you balance out science with religion? what makes you able to believe?

Believe in yourself and try not to piss others off. That's all you need...

I think that in times of need, people return very quickly to faith as there is nothing else they can do.

My personal belief is that there is no God. No higher being, nothing. No luck, karma, ghosts, spirits, magic etc.

Everyone needs to figure out these things for themselves.

YANBU. It's more unreasonable to be sure of what you believe in with no evidence, isn't it? I'm an atheist in that I don't believe in god, but 'agnostic' in that its not absolutely provable one way or the other whether some sort of transcendent god exists.

It is possible to accept the findings of modern science and still believe in God - I used to, and know people that do. You just have to have an exception in your otherwise rational thinking for the faith part. There are many religions other than christianity which believe in god(s) but not any of the bible so of course you don't need to believe that. And even christians, other than fundamentalists, accept that much of it is myth not literal fact.

shit. am i going to piss people of with this thread?
i am not attempting to start a riot.

yea grimma, i do think that the bible stories are myths with a meaning. you know like the episodes of saved by the bell that always had something to learn from each one. a moral in each one.

wouldnt it be lovely though, if it were all true, and to be absolutely safe in the knowledge that we would go to heaven one day.
but another thing, if god exsisted, than how could it allow such awful things to happen in the world?

Belief comes from fear and arrogance. Man just can't and won't accept that they really aren't at all important in the grand scheme of things. They are determined there has to be more to it. We can't just be born, live and die like all the other animals on the planet surely?? We MUST be more important that that!!!

Nope.

I think it's absolutely reasonable to be in doubt. Some things are beyond the ability of the human mind to understand.

xp with pictish
to whom I would say that to believe there is no god is just as much an act of faith as to believe there is one.
That's not to say that any one religion or sacred book has all the answers, but that each person must look for their own personal faith. One of which may be atheism.

"if god exsisted, than how could it allow such awful things to happen in the world?"

www.bethinking.org/suffering/introductory/why-does-god-allow-suffering.htm

"can science and a belief in god be compatible?"

Yes!

www.bethinking.org/booklets/science.htm

I found answers to a lot of this stuff on an Alpha course - there's lots in christian churches all over the country. I found it's one of the only place you're allowed, and comfortable, to ask difficult/undermining questions, knowing the people there will answer from their own belief/experience and without being insulted.
uk-england.alpha.org/

I used to be a church goer. God seemed a natural answer to the unknown. I've lost that ability to believe now. I was on a first ald course today. If god ever meddled in human affairs how come the progression of medicine has dramatically changed the longevity and quality of life on earth? Why is there such a big change in it? Please don't tell me to look at the bigger picture when your religion promotes prayer etc.

Many Christians don't take the Bible literally - we are liberal Christians. The Bible is a set of books, where we see how people get it wrong a lot, and Jesus came to show a better way of relating to God and others. We tend to see Genesis as metaphorical, but we are still seeking God through following the teachings of Jesus. So a good place to find out more is by reading the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), rather than picking up a Bible and starting at Genesis.

Those who take the Bible literally word-for-word tend to be ultra-traditional or fundamentalists (biblical literalists). They tend to be creationists, against homosexual relationships, and often against women in leadership.

i believe.
that doesn't mean that i consider any holy book or religious leader infallible. and i could say exactly the same about scientists.
i believe God is.

praying when in trouble is just self-serving magical thinking, its doesn't have to implicate any faith.

I have no idea either op!

Science and God are not compatible in the slightest.

OP, do you need to know what you believe in, in fact, do you need to believe in anything? I just believe that we are here, so instead if bothering ourselves with why, enjoy it :)

"Science and God are not compatible in the slightest."

Can you give some examples WhiteWidow?

Do I really have to go through them all I'd rather not.

The fact that most of what went on on earth before humans were here isn't mentioned for one is a big indication.

Religion and science can never go hand in hand because science continues to disprove things and some people can't accept it.

"The fact that most of what went on on earth before humans were here isn't mentioned for one is a big indication."

This assumes that you cannot believe in a deity unless you take every word of Genesis as scientific fact. In reality, many Christians (perhaps most) are happy to accept that many parts of the Bible are allegorical or a late writing down of history as understood through the culture of that time. Even in the Middle Ages scholars maintained that the Bible should be read in other ways than as a straightforward historical account. If you read the Genesis as a hymn of praise to the Creator, then the failure to mention dinosaurs is pretty irrelevant.

So what then makes the Bible any different from any other 'book' or aural tradition or ledgends ?

There is a philosophical incompatibility between science and an interventionist god. One who breaks the laws of physics and biology to perform miracles is clearly problematic.

A non-interventionist transcendental deity could be compatible. But probably not very interesting since pretty much impossible to engage with.

When unthinking belief stops, thinking for yourself starts. Come on in, the water is lovely.