to not believe in God?

[slightlystressed]

No Bashing allowed!

I don't believe in God, never have and short of a miracle never will.

I don't even believe in "something out there" as some people like to put it.

It just seems physically impossible. Everything around me can be put down to science, can't it?

Do you believe in God? And what are your reasons? And if you do, what is God? Is God an it a He or a She?

Since I have some theologians here, I would like you to point me to the source of the following - I would be most delighted.

I have a memory of a story/parable - not Bible, but an ancient text - where a poor but devout widow loses her only valuable possession, a cow. Her rich ungodly neighbour however finds a cache of money on his property and becomes even richer.

How could God do this to them? How could he be so unfair?

Then an angel explained it to the widow - Your neighbour found a small amount of cash, but hidden in his wall is an enormous amount of gold which he doesn't know about.
And you lost your cow because God knows you are devout and have faith. If you hadn't, GOd would have let your son die.

I think that's the gist of it, but I really really really want someone to tell me where this came from so I can look at it properly.

Come on theological people, please help me, I've wanted to know this for years...

sais it all

Slug - tee hee

Sorry, Slug - I've no idea. I only ever studied the Bible and that's it, so if its not in there, then I haven't a clue!

I did ask and am glad you replied, not long at all. I don't believe in god but nevertheless find discussions on the topic fascinating.

I particularly found it very telling indeed when you said

"Added in the Hermeneutics lessons which then showed how each little bit of the Bible could be related to a social need in Israel at the time and so on..."

Slug that makes sense.And of course, as someonoe with sufficient gentics to pass on two asd's, part of which is an enhanced ability to see patterns, you may well be right.

Ikinda know that there logically isn't one, but stillfel something. I'm not sure it matters though tbh. Anything that motivates the positive is fine, if it leads to the negativesof organised faith- and I don't just eman the extremes but the genral self righteousnesss and cliqueyness that do exist in some Churches,then it becomes an issue. IMO.

Me as a humanist is no different to me with a faith, I was always going toerr towards the social conscience side and be activist minded..... these days I just think I give it a different name.And heck,if it is just a pattern then that's fine, i'll be dead anyway when it matters

A lot of the essays I wrote focussed on the evolutionary / societal aspect of faith, and absolutely that fully explains it all. And this experiential thing probably is a pattern,or a hallucination,or a comfort. It probably is no coincidence that it started as the boys were diagnosed....and yet I still beleive in it and it does megood so heck, that'sjust who I am I guess. If it's a construct ofmymind to get me through it all, then it is working and I am glad.

Interesting.

Its not unreasonable to not believe in God. (I don't any more). There really isn't any objective reason to do so.

But, in the way that Peachy demonstrates, its not unreasonable that people do believe in God (or some spiritual entity). For those of us coming at it from a scientific viewpoint, there is much evidence that its an evolved trait, which therefore must have some sort of adaptive advantage for some people. It seems to me that where it helps people at an individual level its all well and good - the problems with belief come when organised religion starts impinging on other individuals and society at large.

i havent read whole thread so apologies if its been said.

i dont believe in god or gods or a creator or anything other than we exist and then we dont.

my dad doesnt believe either but my mum has a strong catholic faith so i dont know if their individual beliefs have influenced me or not. i dont think they did to be honest.

i know my mum gets alot of her strength (she is a strong very independant woman) from her faith. it is important for her that there is a reason for why things happen and that she will be looked after when she isnt on this earth. (these are her beliefs not mine)

i see no harm in what she does because it makes her a better person for it and she doesnt try and influence what others believe.

some people need to have a faith and need to trust that there is something other than life on earth. some people are quite happy to just exist as we are and i am the latter.

YANBU.

I believe in a God, yes.

By ellokitty Fri 05-Feb-10 14:15:14
I think probably because I did a straight theology degree, and to get a 2i, you had to be very critical of religion. My friends who kept their faith never got above a 2ii.

I did a straight theology degree and got a first. My faith was stronger on finishing than when I started. Yes it was a huge challenge but I relished going into it in that kind of depth and finding that my basic structures still stood up.

weegiemum - are you me?

OP - yanbu, you have the right to believe/not believe what you like. Like sme pps have said, it's when the bashing gets underway that it all gets too.....yawnworthy?

YANBU. Everyone has a right to believe what they want - god, nothing, mutant space goat

You'd only be unreasonable if you ridiculed the faith of others.

I believe in 'something', mainly because I don't want to believe that when you die, you blink out of existance. That does not make me happy. So I choose to believe that there is something after this life. Because that makes me happy. It's as good a reason as any

I have problems with the idea of no god - scientists say that first there was nothing, then there was something - how did that happen? where did the little bits of crap that made the 'big bang' come from?

But I also have a problem with the idea that there must be a god because the universe is too huge and complex to be meaningless. Because that means that something created God - a being capable of creating a universe could not - by the same argument - simply be, it must have been created. By who? So why not worship God's God? But then a being capable of creating a being capable of creating a universe.... and down that road lies madness

Or maybe we are teeny tiny critters and God is a scientist conducting an experiment. Who knows?

Like I say, all anyone can do is believe what makes them happy.

I was brought up as a Christian -Sunday school etc and just acepted it andthen, when I was 18, I tried really hard to get into religion eg reading the bible and praying every night but there was still this part of me that couldn't quite believe it. I think all this stuff was to do with feeling lost and lonely and having something to believe in. I then got more and more sceptical but couldn't bring myself to let go of it completely. And then I read the God Delusion which gave me clear answers to all the nagging issues that made me think there might still be a God and I became an atheist and I fell completely free from all the mental gymnastics Christians have to do ie why does God allow Haiti and the Tsunami etc etc. Why won't God heal children dying of cancer. When you realise that the answer to all these questions is because God doesn't exist, life seems simpler somehow. Richard dawkins says that humans have great difficulty accepting that "things just happen" they're always trying to attribute meaning to thigs when there isn't any. I believe that religion is an elaborate form of superstition and superstition tends to thrive in countries where people are in poverty and poorly educated. From what I see, Christianity is slowly dying out in the West while it is thriving in places like Africa where it is closely tied in with beliefs about spirit possession etc. I've also been released from this long held fear of going to hell. On a final note, I do sometimes ask believers why "God" "created" head lice and fleas. I've not had many coherent answers.

I feel similar to HeQet - it feels wrong that there would be nothing after life. I believe in God. What I can't get my head round is the idea if God does not exist, that evil people i.e. serial killers etc could commit such horrific acts, then kill themselves, and therefore never have any punishment for their actions. I feel there has to be some reason to live a good life (other than the obvious reasons e.g. love, consideration for others).

Also with regard to scientific therories regarding life/creation, surely there has to be some sort of constant (i.e. God) when everything else is finite.

TheFirstLady 'I have no imaginary friends whatsoever'
haha, exactly.
whenever anyone, EVER mentions the bible [including religious relatives....actually, especially religious relatives....] my brother immediately turns to them and goes 'yes, that great fictional tome... what were you saying?'
other younger members of our family have likened it to Harry Potter... dont ask.

I don't think YABU.Perhaps we are all computer generated[or something]

I suppose it's an act of faith when you believe in God. You can't see him, there's no proof, yet you need faith don't you otherwise what's the point??

I personally don't believe in God but I respect those who choose to, if that's what makes them happy then so be it. What I do get annoyed about is people preaching to me when I'm not interested in it (have relatives who are v religious).