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?

@Mummadeeze

When I was a child, I experienced a kind of miracle. I prayed for something impossible to happen and I promised God that if he did something for me, I would believe in him forever. I can not explain how it happened but the thing I asked for was granted, there and then in front of my eyes. There is no possible scientific explanation. I am not lying or misremembering. So I have to believe in God, because we made a deal and I have proof so I know for sure. It is hard after 40 years sometimes to keep the faith because it is hard not to question or be sceptical. And I don’t go to church or really agree with the ceremony of religion. I do believe in God however and I try to lead my life in a good way, treating others as I wish to be treated.

What was the "miracle"? I'm intrigued.

@chomalungma

Well:

If there is a God, and there is a heaven, do you think you have to believe in God to get in?

Or is it just tough shit and off to the fire pits for you?

Even if you've on the whole had a pretty good life, tried to help people, done your bit etc

Yeah, this is my thinking. If a god exists, that would be a fact. But the god people on here all seem to think you need to state/acknowledge god exists, even just internally. So someone who has never thought about it for whatever reason, is damned, despite living a good life doing good works and not being a twat. And (I was going to write "God help you" but realised he wouldn't), what happens to all those who haven't "let Jesus into their hearts" because they live in Saudi Arabia or Japan or similar?

I believe there is God who is good all the time . All the suffering and bad things we are experiencing today is caused by mankind. God gave us free will and we use the free will to do both good and evil .

It’s not an unreasonable topic to discuss. But I think it’s unreasonable to not expect people to be very precious about their beliefs (for or against or whatever). It’s such a private and personal matter. Even for those who do believe in god, any one person’s belief or relationship will be different to another believers. It’s totally subjective.

I do think that the French way of being secular in public, but permitting private workshop, maybe healthier going forwards. But Britain still has a monarchy which is tied to religion (Christianity) for its survival and authority (the Church of England). Will be interesting to see what happens after the Queen.

As for the sense of irony in the national anthem. There have been discussions about changing it to reflect modern values. Time to ditch God Save The Queen “The one we have is out of date. What are your suggestions for a new national anthem that reflects the values of modern Britain?”

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'm a self sufficient person who doesn't need to believe in something that doesn't exist to live my life. I also have good friends for the times when I need a little help. No niggling hole or emptiness here

All too true @HavfrueDenizKisi. It’s something I can’t quite stop myself poking at though, especially at this time when Britain is becoming as socially authoritarian as Rome, taking the same path of gross inequality and control by manipulation and force.

This too I do think that the French way of being secular in public, but permitting private workshop, maybe healthier going forwards.

Certainly for those of us who are being and will be severely disadvantaged by that social authoritarianism, yes. I admire France for its recent stance on this. Something has to break religious fundamentalism, or it’s back to slavery for women.

what happens to all those who haven't "let Jesus into their hearts" because they live in Saudi Arabia or Japan or similar?

Covered by the general revelation that says a. everyone can see there's a creator by what they see in the natural world and b. by the fact they have a moral compass installed. There's no get out of hell free card in Christianity.

There's no get out of hell free card in Christianity.

God sounds a real treasure.

Covered by the general revelation that says a. everyone can see there's a creator by what they see in the natural world and b. by the fact they have a moral compass installed. There's no get out of hell free card in Christianity.

The part about 'can see theres a creator' is untrue. Apart from many people nowadays who are aware there's no need for a creator hypothesis, Buddhism doesn't invoke a creator. But despite (or perhaps because) of this, it's arguably among the least unethical religions in existence.

god came in before all of it. The absolute beginning of beginnings. That someone had to create the thing which started it all.

So who created god?

Why does it make sense for him to be 'the beginning of beginnings' but not for anything else to be?

[quote OulDoll]@TheSandman
I feel the same way about not having to sit through a Nativity play this year!

I was similarly joyous about the absence of a harvest service where we all thank God for the food we eat. To the best of my knowledge, there is quite a production line of real humans involved in getting the food from farm to plate. But never let the truth get in the way of a good religious tradition.[/quote]
And not that old a tradition either, it's not some ancient rite as you would imagine - according to an article in a recent Fortean Times (a publication I can thoroughly recommend to believers and non believers alike) the Harvest Festival was invented by a Cornish Vicar some time in the last century - I can't give a definitive attribution as that copy is on loan to a friend at the moment.

I would like to believe in a heaven.
But no I don't believe in God science exists.

@lovellost

I believe there is God who is good all the time . All the suffering and bad things we are experiencing today is caused by mankind. God gave us free will and we use the free will to do both good and evil .

So what did babies born with congenital birth defects do to 'deserve' their disabilities?

@lovellost

I believe there is God who is good all the time . All the suffering and bad things we are experiencing today is caused by mankind. God gave us free will and we use the free will to do both good and evil .

What about things like cancer or fatal foetal abnormalities? I can't see how you can ascribe them to mankind, if you're of the religious persuasion it has to God surely. Or if you're like me it's genetics or luck - but not something any benevolent creator would wish on their creations.

I think the concept of 'reasonable' vs 'unreasonable' is almost irrelevant here. Religious people do not believe in God because it's 'reasonable'; they have faith. They may find that their religion and their reason do not contradict each other but religion is not, and is not intended to be, chosen out of reason. For religious people, as the hymn says, 'Judge not the Lord by feeble sense/ But trust Him for His grace' . Personally, I find it impossible to believe in a God, partly because there are so many religions which contradict each other. Perhaps the one religion which seems most reasonable to me is the ancient one of Sun Worship: the sun is vital to our lives; we could not live without it; it is directly or indirectly the cause of almost everything that we need and of much that harms us; and, as is becoming increasingly evident, it could even 'send us to hell' in the sense of making the earth too hot for survival, if we do the wrong things. But the sun is not conscious, which makes even that religion appear unreasonable to those of us who 'judge by feeble sense'.

Oh, the fundamentalist types blame all that on the "Fall". Eve did a Bad thing and that ruined the prelapsarian paradise , causing genetic mutations, bad weather etc forever after.

This seems like rather an extreme reaction from a supposedly benevolent creator, given that her 'sin' was eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, so at the point she took the first bite she presumably didn't know right from wrong ... just 'don't do this because I said so'.

Any mere mortal parent who behaved like that would get the biggest YABU going.

@ddl1 “But the sun is not conscious”.

How do you know that? I thought humans and their technology couldn’t get close enough to the sun to even start working that out. We humans can’t fully fathom how our own consciousness works...

[[https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/universe-conscious-ncna772956 Is the Universe Conscious?
Some of the world's most renowned scientists are questioning whether the cosmos has an inner life similar to our own.]]

So many people ask the same questions, which essentially boil down to Why isn't God doing what I think God should do?

I have to say, lots of Christians struggle with the same question, it isn't exclusive to non-believers.

Its a valid question but I'm not sure its a valid basis for believing in God or not. I advocate personal discovery, asking the question directly to him.

I advocate personal discovery, asking the question directly to him.

Doesn't leave much room for pesonal discovery working with in the bounds of gods rulz.

Its a valid question but I'm not sure its a valid basis for believing in God or not. I advocate personal discovery, asking the question directly to him.

But can you see how that doesn't stand up when people don't believe in 'him'? If I don't believe someone exists, I can't ask 'them' if they do...

I note the previous poster who was aghast people feel love, joy, strength etc without believing in god hasn't acknowledged the truth many non believers including me have shared - that we feel those things deeply, we love people, love life, find joy in many things, are proud of our strengths and how we work through tough times - all without believing in god. That is my undeniable personal truth.

[quote ArthursRoundTable]@ddl1 “But the sun is not conscious”.

How do you know that? I thought humans and their technology couldn’t get close enough to the sun to even start working that out. We humans can’t fully fathom how our own consciousness works...

[[https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/universe-conscious-ncna772956 Is the Universe Conscious?
Some of the world's most renowned scientists are questioning whether the cosmos has an inner life similar to our own.]][/quote]
Just because you can frame a question doesn't mean there has to be an answer.

"How are hummingbirds smelling green on Tuesday?" is a perfectly grammatical and comprehensible question. It's totally unanswerable.

HollyCarrot Tbf, that person can firmly believe that the same way someone else firmly believes in god. No evidence of either.

On what level is that the same? What a joke of an opinion.

S/he can firmly believe their wild guess that all those who follow a religious belief of whichever faith/denomination are only doing it because they're scared of dying all s/he likes. This is not a view I can respect because they'd only need to speak to a handful of believers to discover it's a BS opinion on every level.

@Warpdrive

So many people ask the same questions, which essentially boil down to Why isn't God doing what I think God should do?

I have to say, lots of Christians struggle with the same question, it isn't exclusive to non-believers.

Its a valid question but I'm not sure its a valid basis for believing in God or not. I advocate personal discovery, asking the question directly to him.

That's exactly where the the escape with a bound mysterious ways clause kicks in.

Asking directly doesn't work with a capricious god who can't or won't answer directly. We're left to look for meaning in his/her 'word' or to interpret radio silence and hard occurrence. It's hard to reconcile that with a being who has any interest in us at all let alone a loving, fatherly one.

@ErrolTheDragon

Oh, the fundamentalist types blame all that on the "Fall". Eve did a Bad thing and that ruined the prelapsarian paradise , causing genetic mutations, bad weather etc forever after. This seems like rather an extreme reaction from a supposedly benevolent creator, given that her 'sin' was eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, so at the point she took the first bite she presumably didn't know right from wrong ... just 'don't do this because I said so'.

Any mere mortal parent who behaved like that would get the biggest YABU going.

This is not extreme, it is what it is, unpleasant yes, but this is the truth and we have to accept that we all are born into sin because of eve

Believing that babies born with horrible diseases somehow deserve it because of something their distant ancestor allegedly did seems quite extreme to me.