AIBU to ask your opinions on God?

[Violetduck]

Do you beleive there is a God? I would like to, but how can he exist alongside modern science?

Aibu to believe in something more?

oh oh oh!

I did think of ONE GOOD THING TO COME OUT OF COVID today!

For the first time in 14 years (I have three well spaced children) I won't have to go to a fecking nativity play at the primary school.

Almost worth the previous 9 months.

I did, then I didn't, then I did, now I don't.
I'm what Christians would call rocky ground I suppose.
I think I just wanted to believe in an afterlife, but now I don't. I'm not sad about it either. People 'live on' in other peoples memories.

The ‘rocky ground’ stuff is like network marketing. Try harder and you will make it

[quote TheSandman]@EileenGC I don't have to prove anything. I just wish people who 'believe' totally ludicrous and unprovable things would have to 'prove' them to get the tax breaks and weird respect that they seem to get.

When only one person believes something he is called delusional. When a lot of people believe something their representatives get seats in the House of Lords and get to shape the policy of governments. When does the lone nutter become a religion?

Why should I be asked to think the Archbishop of Canterbury's opinion on anything is more important than a sad bugger on the bus who thinks Venusians poisoned his dog? Both are irrational beliefs with no foundation.[/quote]
@TheSandman You will think it's weird, but I fully agree with you. Because like I said, religion and believing in God are two different things.

Organised religion is horrible. And even more when it gets intertwined with politics or like you say, our governments use it to gain more financial benefits for themselves.

But I certainly do not get any tax breaks for believing in God  nor do I have anything to do with the Archbishop of Canterbury (I'm not even CofE, or RC or a 'big' religion if that matters).

Society has been shown the ugly face of religion. This is why so many people are opposed to the idea of God, because people in positions of power have abused this concept and used it as justification for anything really, as long as it suited them.

Religion has nothing to do with God. Religion is about certain individuals taking advantage of others when they're in positions of power. God is about aspiring to be a normal, nice person who enjoys helping others and being an important part in their community, without looking for any financial or political gain. Most of these people will never set foot in a church by the way. I am happy to elaborate in the morning should you want me to.

@EileenGC you can be a normal nice person without god

@80sForever

So where do you get your hope, strength, joy and comfort from if you don't believe? There must be a niggling hole, emptiness then surely

I get them from relationships with real people. I get some of those things from the natural world, some from seeing the advances in human knowledge. Why on earth should you suppose other people have a 'niggling hole'?

Who is Thor? Nobody

Never heard of or respect other people's god's then. He is a god people believed in years ago why is he any more relevant than yours.

@80sForever

So where do you get your hope, strength, joy and comfort from if you don't believe? There must be a niggling hole, emptiness then surely

This is a really nasty way of speaking to people. I get hope, joy, comfort and strength from people I love, doing things I enjoy, being proud of my successes and also of how I deal with difficult times, from sharing laughter with people, my work having a positive impact on people... I don't have a gaping hole in my life whatsoever. I am loved and I love. God isn't part of my life. It is so incredibly horrible an attitude to tell people who have different beliefs Ro you that you can't fathom how they experience any of the positive emotions you listed with an absence of belief in god.

I see there is many here who are saying they have experiences with God and that's why they believe ,but they don't seem to say anything else about them experiences as they more than likely can be disproved.

[quote tallastrees]@EileenGC you can be a normal nice person without god[/quote]
Of course you can! I never said you couldn't. That's why I also said - most people that are following God don't even know they are. They won't be going to church every week or knocking on people's doors offering books and prayers.

I was primarily trying to point out the difference between God and religion. Because I think that's what we lack understanding of!

,but they don't seem to say anything else about them experiences as they more than likely can be disproved.

🤣

@TimeForDinnerDinnerDinner

I always find it amusing when someone says "I don't believe in God" one minute and then the next minute they're singing the national anthem "God save the Queen" with gusto ...and observing Christmas and Easter. And probably other things. It's not to say they're hypocrites, it just means our existence is made up of many parts. It is difficult to avoid including God in our lives to a greater or lesser degree.

Of course most of us are not including God in our lives at all when eating an easter egg or decorating a tree. That's just entertainment. And as you know those are pagan symbols anyway.

Non-believers can do what they like of course, but I sometimes wonder how Christians can reconcile the pagan worship with their beliefs. I expect Astarte likes getting her turn though and it's only a couple of days out of the year.

I 100% believe in God. I amazed that Jesus died a very painful death for all the silly daft things I have done. And no matter how bad I think of myself or others do, I know he loves me more than anyone else possibly could. ❤

Dunno . People who are like hurdur no god because science dummy are just myopic and idiotic. We have done extremely well figuring out a lot of things, but we are still in the dark about the actual nature of reality/consciousness.

We have done extremely well figuring out a lot of things, but we are still in the dark about the actual nature of reality/consciousness.

Humans have only been seriously doing science for quite a short time - the fact we haven't yet figured out anything like everything is unsurprising. And it may be that there are things we'll never comprehend - not because they're in any way supernatural, but more like the way my dog can comprehend small numbers but won't ever be able to do calculus.
It's fine, imo, that we just carry on getting as far as humanly possible.

I should hope Christians don't find it hypocritical for non believers to celebrate Christmas. At least we own we are celebrating a cultural tradition.

Hi jacking the original mid winter fest so you can celebrate your saviours birthday at a more convenient time of year doesn't make it an exclusively Christian celebration. And yes, I realise no Christian alive now made that decision, but the fact remains you celebrate Christmas in December because it's a cultural tradition to do so. Just like non believers. Declaring it's all about the religious aspects rather than the material aspects doesn't make it more worthy or imply believers have a greater right to celebrate.

@flaviaritt

Cygne

But as a sentient rational being, why aren’t you more aware of your limits? How could you - or any of us - realistically claim to understand God?

I don't claim it, because I don't believe in it.

@flaviaritt

So the ultimate get-out clause for the inconvenient parts then.

You can choose to see it that way if you like. I just think it’s obvious that I will never understand God (or whatever you want to call an entity that created black holes, humans, water, light...). I know I am not capable of understanding such a being.

But why assume the existence of such a being in the first place? What evidence is there for it?

@EileenGC

I have no problem with anyone believing anything they want. (Though given my experience with an old friend I hadn't seen for many years having fallen down the rabbit hole of conspirational antisemitism - I don't have to be pals with them). It's when they try to convince others that their irrational beliefs are real (as my erstwhile friend did) that I start to have troubles. But I think you are being disingenuous when you say "religion and believing in God are two different things". If there was no religion ie a culture/organisation that promulgates an irrational belief, holding services, preaching the gospel, printing tracts, doing good works in the name of... etc. are you telling me that people would somehow spontaneously 'find' god? (Though, no doubt, you would have it the other way around and you'd say 'god would find them'.)

Without any of the infrastructure of religion in place I doubt if the belief in the Judaeo-Christian god would last more than a couple of generations. Or any gods for that matter.

I should hope Christians don't find it hypocritical for non believers to celebrate Christmas. At least we own we are celebrating a cultural tradition.

We dealt with that one a long way upthread. Of course midwinter festivals - originally on Solstice, celebrating the return of the Sun - gift-giving, and the Easter celebration of new life pre-date Christianity by a very long time. You have to remember that Christianity was imposed by the Roman Empire, as a way of combating the social problems they were facing at the time. The Romans' usual method of assimilating people involved identifying local customs with those of Rome. Hence Christianity, the Roman religious replacement for Emperor-worship, identified with and gradually took over local festivals in north Europe.

[quote 80sForever]@sionnachRua this is not about some fake Santa.....God was a human that walked on the earth..he is in the history books[/quote]
No, he really isn't.

[quote 80sForever]@CathyorClaire i'm so sorry you feel that way. God is always near you and loves you. He speaks in many different ways e.g a song in your heart, the wind on your face, loving words that jump out at you when you read the bible, an idea, peace[/quote]
How about when a child is born with epidermolysis bullosa or develops leukaemia? How is God showing his love to those children?

There is a lot of suffering and I have at times struggled to come to terms with it all.

Did you come to terms with it, @EileenGC? If so, how? And do you think the people actually going through the suffering have come to terms with it?

I'd go as far as to say I've had experiences of Jesus. Tangible experiences.

Literally tangible, @Iwonder777, in the sense of being capable of being touched? What form did he take?

@ErrolTheDragon

We have done extremely well figuring out a lot of things, but we are still in the dark about the actual nature of reality/consciousness.

Humans have only been seriously doing science for quite a short time - the fact we haven't yet figured out anything like everything is unsurprising. And it may be that there are things we'll never comprehend - not because they're in any way supernatural, but more like the way my dog can comprehend small numbers but won't ever be able to do calculus.
It's fine, imo, that we just carry on getting as far as humanly possible.

We will do, its amazing to me that humans as we are have existed for God knows how long. Why just in the last few thousand years have we developed language? We went from language to powered flight, WiFi and quantum computers in what 5000 years, that seems bizarre.