Do you believe in God/a higher power?

[CuriousAboutWhatYouThink]

Not religion. I have no time for organised religion and the associated man made rules.

But do you believe in 'something'?

For context, my grandad was a CofE vicar but my parent rebelled against it and we were brought up broadly l in the religion (eg we celebrated main religious festivals like Easter and Christmas) but not as practising Christians and without a particular belief in God.

As an adult, I have friends of different faiths and none and it's something we have discussed from time to time. It's also something I used to discuss with my grandma who had a very strong belief in God but also believed the Bible until she became older when she still had a strong faith but admitted she thought the Bible was largely nonsense!

I suppose I've always felt that there is 'something' but I refer to it as the universe. I don't know, I always feel that there has been 'something' looking out for me.

That doesn't mean bad things have never happened because they have and religion/belief doesn't protect anyone from that. And it doesn't mean my life is anywhere near perfect because it's not. But the universe has always seemed to 'step in' when needed.

I don't know. I'm going through a tough time at the moment but I have a feeling everything will turn out to be OK because it always does.

Intelligent people do not believe in heaven and hell. I think the word you are looking for is gullible.

So no, if there is a god, he is not great at all.

Agree. If God exists, he is an awful being.

Nope. Definitely not a God anyway.
Religion is humans way of dealing with the fact that this is it. A lot of people don't want to believe there's nothing else after this.

Most people would not think drops of water were a miracle. It’s a bit of a shit one, isn’t it? I mean, did god think ‘I’m going to send a few drops of water to someone, and they’ll totally think it’s a miracle?’

I’d be a bit disappointed with that, tbh.

You are simply launching personal attacks for the sake of it. Perhaps when the day of judgement arrives you won't be laughing as you will regret your decisions when you realise damnation awaits. I don't take any pleasure in knowing you are hellbound - infact I am more than prepared to pray for you but having read your comments am not convinced you can be saved but then I remember the bible .

Mark 9:17-18, 25):“A man in the crowd answered, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.’”

As an atheist- hell doesn’t exist so not somewhere I can end up.

I really wish I could answer that. The Bible is full of quite random stories and events though. To give a bit more context, I’d been angry with God earlier in the week and feeling like everything was easier for other people, and when this happened to me it felt like oh wow, he does notice me and care. Hard to explain. It was scary but very humbling, and like I said before it changed my life. I try to live according to the Bible now and I’ve seen lots of healings, answers to prayer and changes to my life.

Yes I do. I was brought up Catholic but stopped going to church about 15 years ago. Amongst a slew of reasons but especially the abuse scandals. I just can’t go back, I can’t. We went to the Episcopal church for years but during Covid I got out of the habit and now I believe but don’t do any organized religion.

The day of judgement will never come so I won’t waste too much time worrying about it 😂

For someone who professes to be Christian and kind, your actions are very much the opposite, so maybe it’s you should be worried when you’re dreaded judgement day arrives 🤷‍♀️

I've heard of this as 'Pascal's wager'; but the problem with it is that the choice isn't a binary one between believing and not believing in God. Which God or Gods? The Holy Trinity? Yahweh? Allah? The Hindu gods? The Greek gods? The Anglo-Saxon gods? The Emperor? The sun?

So you believe God is going to waste his time dripping water on you but not worry about curing cancer in babies?

He doesn’t sound very kind to me.

Ah, away with your logic and common sense!

Revelation 20:11-12: "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it... And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books."

This day shall come where all creatures great and small ( including animals) will be judged. Those that have led a decent Christian life following biblical teachings will be joining God in heaven. Those that haven't who reject Christ and his teachings will be hellbound and that means all living things as we all have souls which are judged. I am not going to comment on the judgement of specific individuals, but my advice would be repent and get to church

No

I’ve nothing to repent over😀

God doesn’t exist, so none of this is anything I need to waste my life worrying about.

And if he did exist, he’s not a very kind being, so I’d rather have nothing to do with him anyway.

ty for confirming what I already know

That God doesn’t exist? You’re welcome 👍

not true. Quantum mechanics hasn't provided an evidenced explanation for anything... from cosmic fine tuning, the beginning of the universe or multiverse theory or the order of the universe at the onset of the big bang. The naturalistic theories out there are all theoretical. If anything, the order and conditions of the early universe were so incredibly precise that they present extreme probabilistic challenges for naturalistic theories and support the probability of there being a designer and are evidence for God.

Well yes - the whole 'Huh? How does that work? Ah - a god figure would fill that in nicely' is exactly the sort of attitude that landed us with all these made-up deities (and resulting religious regimes) in the first place. Why people can't just be patient and stick with 'There are things we don't quite understand yet, but we're working it all out gradually', I really don't know! Inventing supernatural causes might have been understandable in primitive people. Still believing in them thousands of years later, not so much.

This sums it up perfectly.

At least science admits it doesn’t know everything, religion just says “oh, God has a plan” but there’s not explanation or logic behind it.

I’ve also never understood why anyone would want to believe in a God that allows so much suffering. He’s clearly not “all good” if he allows innocent children to die.

Where is your evidence or justification that any of this is anything but made up? Existence of (any) god? No evidence. Heaven? Hell? Also nope. Why would anyone spend their life following advice that's based on nothing but an old book written by a load of men, ages after the supposed death and supposed resurrection of some bloke who may not even have existed at all, never mind been anyone significant, least of all the son of a (non-existent) deity?

How is he going to judge all living things from all eternity in one day? I’d get bored of all the queuing and shuffle myself off to hell of my own accord. It sounds more fun anyway.

How is he going to judge animals who can’t express whether they believe in god or not, and let’s face it they’ll have no idea of the concept. My Labrador who lost his life way too young in a horrible accident only worshipped food and balls. Oh and god chose not to listen to my literal begging prayers that he’d get better either. It didn’t happen for a ‘reason’, there is no ‘plan’ and it’s disgusting to claim that it did. He was so pure and wonderful, he should have lived to a grand old age.

Yes.

because all creatures great and small will have to answer to God and the bible is the word of God- read it, educate yourself.