Why you do or don't believe in God?

[summerbloom]

Interested to hear people's views on why they do believe in God or on why you don't believe in God.....

Of course flowers have a purpose! Pollination, for a start!

We have been created without a shadow of a doubt in my mind.

But then imagine a chimpanzee, or an ant trying to make sense of why things in the world work as they do, or trying to understand how the a world began. It's clear to us as humans that their brains are simply not capable of understanding what we can understand. So isn't it possible that there is a whole other plane of brain power/understanding that we humans are not capable of? That would look at us and think 'well of course YOU can't understand it, you're just a human' the way we would scoff at an ant wanting to understand a book. But some species or being more intelligent than us WOULD understand how the universe could begin, with something seemingly coming from nothing?

I don't and neither does anyone in my immediate family. Although I have friends who are sincere believers and one who, If anyone could convert me , it would be her. She is such a good person. I aspire to be like her but I just cannot do God!

Reasons: no culture of it, went to Sunday school at my request, was dull and I remember clearly thinking at age 7, "this is a story, why are they so bothered by it all?".

Toddler - But flowers do have a purpose! They are designed to appeal to animals (insects, birds, bats) that pollinate. Without the pollination happening, seeds wouldn't form and the plant wouldn't produce seeds - no new plant. Flowers are not there for us to enjoy, ,unless you happen to be a pollinator, its just that we enjoy the same things that the pollinators do (colour, scent etc).

The whole idea of gods strikes me as nonsensical and idiotic. Childish, even. Invisible, ethereal, all around us and all powerful yet happy to let the most wretched and unimaginably cruel and horrific things go on for millions and millions of years. It's just an obvious nonsense if you think about it for more than five minutes.

I can see why you might believe in a god or gods if you have no idea where the sun goes at night or how trees come back to life after seemingly dying every winter, but now we have science that explains evolution, astrophysics, microbiology, neurology etc etc, I don't know why anyone would need to believe in some 'other' mystical, supernatural being, let alone any of the clearly human-created major religions.

I genuinely don't respect people's religious beliefs. I always am surprised when someone I thought was intelligent expresses a belief in gods, the same as I would if they expressed a belief in astrology, ghosts, alien abductions, reincarnation or Santa.

So the energy (soul) passes from one form to another Olderthanyouthink?

I believe in God and I believe that Jesus is his son.

I became serious about my faith when I was about 24, and have a scientific background. The older I get, the stronger my faith becomes

No. I believe in Science. I can't rule out that some 'thing' doesn't exsist as that technically hasn't been proven either but in reality I believe it's all a load of nonsense.

I understand why some people need religion and I guess if they are using religion with pure intentions then it doesn't harm anyone but people that genuinely believe word for word what is written in the bible baffle me completely. I just don't understand how sensible, inteĺligent people in this day and age do.

I am almost jealous though. My mother on her deathbed genuinely believed that she was going to heaven to see her parents. I can't imagine how comforting that must have been for her but the logical part of me just doesn't understand how people can believe in god.

Unless someone can show me solid evidence, I don't believe.
The way things are in the world, if he does exist, he's an arse!

Toddler, what of the people who are too ill, maybe from birth, to ever see or appreciate a flower?

Those talking about why do we have to die, um, I def don't want to live forever, what a terrifying thought.

I don't, but I'm actually quite envious of people who do. It must be very comforting.

Which god are we talking about?
No I don't. Theodicy.

In answer OP - I'd start with who or what is god?

The human race have worshipped many deities - in many forms, in many ways and with much bloodshed.

So no, I don't believe. Religion is and has been a tool to explain the unexplained, to give hope and also to enable power and control.

As science has increasingly explained that which was unknown, religious adherence has declined. Yes - there are still things we don't understand but that doesn't mean they never will be. It doesn't mean the gap has to be filled by any deity. Rather, to me, it's an exciting opportunity for science and research to improve our understanding of life and the universe.

Those who "have faith" are more than welcome to it. If it brings you comfort and joy then I am glad for you.

If you use it to frighten, subjugate or hurt me then I think you need to question the morality and purpose of the deity you embrace.

I love nature, and what blows me away is the time that it has taken to get here, the countless billions of steps along the way, that have brought me to this point looking at this flower or that sunset. Not a knowledge that God created it, or an appreciation of his work, but more an appreciation of how mind blowing it is that a simple law of physics (different wavelengths of light travelling at different speeds) can produce such a stunning array of colours in the sky. I don't need a designer. Or that this flower, or that animal, is there because of millions of years of evolution. it took time beyond concept, and so many chance events that my mind boggles, but that, for me is the beauty. No rhyme, no reason, no design or designer, but wow, look where it ended up.

I don't.

I can see no evidence at all (IMO) for the existence of god - only a lot of hearsay. (Along with a great deal of imagination/speculation/wishful thinking/brain washing.)

All religions can't all right, as they often contradict each other and therefore most of them must be slightly or all wrong. (So why not ALL of them are 100% wrong, would makes more sense to me.)

I was brought up nominally Christian. But once I left home and really had a think about the topic of religion(s) properly (at uni), I soon came to the conclusion that it's obviously all made up (folklore) nonsense which ppl have used/exploited to gain control over societies and make them conform to certain (desired) patterns of behaviour/guidelines. (Before that I had sort of gone along with it all thinking it was generally quite nice and completely harmless.)

Nb I studied a biology subject at uni which was amazingly interesting. But nothing I learnt ever convinced me to think there must be a god, as there are so many redundancies, mistakes and cruelties found in nature that the god who was in charge would have to be quite a rubbish designer and/or learning as he went and on the job (rather than infallible) and not very nice either.

For me now, believing in god is like believing in a combination of the tooth fairy, a lucky charm and the bogeyman ie a bit of fun/a hope for a reward if we are good (or for something nice to happen) and having a deep fear which keeps us in line/on track. (Our mums used to tell us kids that the bogey man would get us if we stayed out playing after dark ... to scare us into coming home on time, thinking it would keep us safe!)

I used to quite envy people their faith when I was younger, (never quite being able to believe myself) but as I have got older I am a lot less accepting of it, or of any other religion, as I have come to see all the problems religious belief systems can cause. (Especially the ones which whose rules are fixed and cannot be easily challenged/adapted.) So do not find being religious helpful to a society.

Apart from starting conflicts and aiding division/persecution, religions can also hold back scientific progress and new knowledge by saying we should not "play god"/go against certain religious teachings etc. So it can encourage ignorance/fear ... and prevent positive changes.

I think we are all susceptible to feelings of fear/insecurity and also fairly open to persuasion. So I can sort of understand the appeal of believing in a god one can turn to/ask for help in hard times . (That's the positive side of a religion - thinking someone powerful is on our side?) But for me, my reasoning just doesn't allow me think that a personal god is possible ... or even a good thing to exist. So I can draw no comfort there. In fact I consider faith in a personal god to be a weakness/cop out from reality now.

The idea of a creator (ie a higher power but not a personal god) who 'made' everything but who is indifferent to us (ie a god who doesn't exist to think or care about whether we are good/pray to him or her/wear certain clothing etc) is slightly easier to accept. But I still don't even buy that. (Prefer to just stick to the laws of physics etc.)

No-one understands why things are the way they are and it just blows my mind to think about the universe and how we got here. But believing in "a god" doesn't explain anything to me either. (Cos gravity could be classed as a higher power? But how does believing in gravity help explain why we are here?)

I think that humans have the mental capacity/ability to do what we can because it's gotten there over time. I also think that given enough time and if allowed to do so other animals could become intelligent (I bet it would be the fucking cats)

And yes I think that the electrical signals the are passing around my brain, the Ines that make me feel pain and the ones that make me care m will one day become heat that is lost as my corpse cools (sounds romantic doesn't it)

I don't believe. I grew up in Catholic N Ireland - everyone I knew was Catholic, I went to Catholic School and I lived in a Catholic town but somehow people who seemed to be devout were Others - I just couldn't get my head around why someone who had free will would to church. After years of lying to parents about my location during Sunday Mass I finally told them when I was 18...,no more would I pretend...I felt free but racked with guilt initially - my mother struggled to accept it but I freed the whole family, no one would go to mass after I had declared my stance. As my mum says "There's no God in this house!" Good bloody job too! I say!

Sorry sleep I keep forgetting to add ur name

Laughing at "flowers have no purpose".

And as a PP said, the earth is too perfect not to have had a creator. Flowers have no purpose but are given to us as an added extra.

What about dog shit? And AIDS?

East

I'm your opposite, lottachocca! I grew up in an atheist family in Northern Ireland, and used to sneak out in my teens to go to mass

I don't understand how people can think it's illogical that there's a god. To me it makes more sense that there is. Why are we here, why aren't we like robots, why is there a universe. To me that's the evidence, it can't have just happened. Well it makes sense to me anyway.

babybythesea I think there's a bit of a problem with humans where we don't really understand big numbers. We can understand 4 apples, we can imagine that and have experienced that but 40 billion apples is pretty much beyond us. Which is why I think that people don't really take into consideration the amount of time it has taken for use to get to where we are for a single cell to become a flower, a whale or a human.

But then surely you are just as close minded as someone who blindly accepts religious teachings without questioning them EastMidsMummy?

My husband is an atheist and refuses to accept that his is a belief system in the same way as a religion's is (like my agnostism).

Wondering about it all is rather thrilling.

There IS an answer. Logic decrees it. But what?