Do you believe in god?

[Unicorndreams24]

i have recently been thinking a lot about religion and wondering how many believe in god and also what made you come to the decision of believing?

I thought this was an interesting post. My takeaway was actually something interesting said about mocking (probably not the point of it but I thought it was an interesting observation).

I recognise that people of different beliefs — or of no belief — will disagree on many things, and sometimes strongly. If I may humbly say, one thing that seems to be a common thread is the desire for kindness and curiosity in our conversations. Christians might phrase this as loving your neighbour, though we’re certainly not always good at it ourselves! To that end, I personally find it quite sad when either side seeks to mock or belittle the other for holding a different view — it seems such a loss of grace and care. I wonder if we might all try to share our own viewpoints, even disagreements, with genuine respect and thoughtfulness — something both sides say they value and hope to embody.

That’s interesting! I can see how people can hold different beliefs about spiritual realities. For me as a Christian, angels are part of God’s created order — I’ve found encouragement in passages like the angels comforting Mary at the annunciation, or protecting Peter when he was imprisoned (Luke 1:26–38, Acts 12:7). Of course, I appreciate that others might experience or interpret spiritual things differently. But I love reading about common beliefs.

To those of you that believe in a god, do you believe he also created all the other planets that contain life? Or did he just create one planet (earth)?

No, I didn’t know that!

Well that’s a family where God has been moving powerfully! I’d love to know the history of the grandparents too- if there a legacy of blessing. I will look up that book too. Thanks for sharing that.

@RyanFudgingMurphy wow you've had one heck of a faith journey there! But what is an 'extreme atheist' as opposed to an atheist?

I believe he created the entire Universe. When you say other planets that contain life, I wasn't aware there are any?

Scientists have strong reasons to believe life on other planets exists, with recent promising hints from the James Webb Telescope (JWST) detecting biosignature gases on exoplanet K2-18b, suggesting potential microbial life. The discovery of thousands of exoplanets, many in habitable zones, fuels optimism that simple or even complex alien life could be common in the universe.

If confirmed, how do Christians explain such life?

I would love someone to define “fundamentalist atheism” “extreme atheism” “staunch atheism” and the other degrees of atheism some people see. Because atheism is simply not believing in a god or gods. That’s it. Nothing more. Atheists can be dickheads just as Christians or Muslims or Zoroastrians or Cargo Cultists or pagans can be. But the two things are not connected.

Your replies read like AI.

I was actually accused of this on another thread, and I’m sorry you feel that way. I think sometimes Christians communicate differently — our style of sharing faith or hope can sound unusual compared with the usual ways people converse. Those who know me in real life or via direct messages would say that my sinful heart is very much human!

Thanks for the question.

My belief is that God created everything, except Himself, of course.

That includes all the planets and all forms of life everywhere. Scripture speaks of many orders of living creatures which are neither human nor earthly animals.

I agree - was beginning to think the same. Lots of copying and pasting but no personal opinions!

You are doing a lot of evangelizing here @ByLovingTraybake . Were you not saying earlier that people should be left alone to answer the question? Apologies if that was not your good self.

Quote :"it might be helpful to read the Bible, speak to someone in person, or take part in a course like Alpha or Christianity Explored — these places designed to thoughtfully work through these questions in a supportive environment."

That's evangelizing. :-)

To quote another part of your answer : "The Bible calls each of us to examine our own hearts and respond to the gospel (Philippians 2:12–13)."

Let's check what those verses say.

"Php 2:12 So that, my beloved, as you always obey, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

Php 2:13 for it is God who is working in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure." (LSV)

You quoted those verses to back up your claim that "The Bible calls each of us to examine our own hearts and respond to the gospel (Philippians 2:12–13)"

But what the actually is is OBEY HIM ALWAYS, WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING. And it's for HIS pleasure.

So, want salvation? Do as He says, and make Him happy. With fear and trembling of course. And so much for free will.

And yet you say you don't understand when non-believers ask what happens to them after death. Yeah, Christians know fine well the answer to that question. That is pretty much the whole thing after all. So you are verging on being a bad faith debater here, ironically.

And you assuming that you are representative of all Christians does not wash. Just read the comments on any US right wing news site and see a very different type of Christianity. Plenty of hell fire and brimstone types out there.

I am debating by the way. Not mocking. My thing is to point out how claims made about the Bible more often than not do not match what the Bible says.

:-)

I’d be interested to know what you think is copied and pasted, as I try to respond personally from my own experience. Sharing personal faith is, by its nature, about one’s own perspective — so for me, saying I can’t speculate on someone else’s salvation isn’t “AI” thinking, it’s simply being honest about the limits of what Scripture convicts me to speak on.

So, for argument's sake, say a race of sentient Extra-terrestrials appear tomorrow, and although they are not in any way noticeably Christian, they also claim that their God created them in his own image, and that their God, in fact, created the entire universe and everything in it. How would you reconcile this with your belief in your Christian God and his travails?

I realise that this is, in essence, no different to the number of non-Christian earthly religions that also claim similar, and I suppose you could make the claim it's all the same God at work, and everyone just has different interpretations of it, but for me this specific example would serve to further highlight the sheer arrogance and pomposity of human religious belief systems.

How many more hitherto unknown ET species would it take to emerge claiming the exact same thing before someone thinks "hold on... you know what, maybe this claiming we are special and chosen thing is actually just a load of nonsense, because everyone does it, and they can't all be correct". To me the blindingly obvious answer is none of you are correct, and in fact, you are all mistaken, God does not exist, and God didn't create the universe. Seems a far more tidy and concise explanation than implying that potentially billions of religions that all claim to follow the only true God are mistaken, and in fact, yours is the sole true and accurate one.

Why even humans? Simians, aquatic mammals, several species of predatory mammals, all of them display a degree of sentience and self-awareness. What if they are actually God's chosen species and God-made-flesh themselves and humanity is just a side-show? Is this because Whales, for arguments sake, have never indicated any inherent belief in God or that they follow any sort of religion? Surely it can not be this, because that would just reiterate that Gods and religions are just a figment of the human imagination, uniquely so in fact.

There are no personal experiences in your responses - it’s like reading an AI search.

Thank you for sharing your perspective. I appreciate that you are debating with good intention, thank you. My intention was never to speak for all Christians — I can only share my own faith and hope from a Christian perspective. I also maintain that it is not for me to speculate on anyone else’s salvation, because we do not know their hearts.

If someone is genuinely curious about the Christian perspective on salvation, I think the most reasonable approach is to read the Bible and come to their own conclusions, or explore it in person through courses like Alpha or Christianity Explored, where questions can be considered thoughtfully. That respects both their search and the seriousness of the topic. I apologise if this was taken negatively by anyone.

Thank you for your post. I’m a bit surprised by that — I’ve actually shared my own experiences, for example how my faith has helped me through tragic loss and suffering, and how the hope of Christ sustains me personally. Of course, everyone’s experience is different, but what I’ve written reflects my own journey and perspective. I am sorry if it feels different to you; social media can be a hard way to get to know somebody which is why I would value human interaction in person over trying to ascertain someone’s experiences over Mumsnet. We may have different ways of expressing ourselves, and I am sorry it doesn’t fit a model that others may expect.

The crux of the matter here is IF. If and when life is confirmed, then I will consider what that would mean. Right now, for me it feels like pure speculation and isn't that helpful. It is interesting though!

Yup. It's just not believing.

There are certainly activist atheists thou. I could name a fair few. Usually they are people who were indoctrinated, and now fight against indoctrination. They want freedom from religion.

To me it's no different, in an online context, to someone in a communist country debating someone who is pro or anti communism. Or any cause. Fox hunting, pro gun/anti gun, EU fisheries policy ? Everyone has different interests and knowledge.

Personally, I was 20 years plus reading the Bible, was a born again etc, and now I am an atheist, I debate back when I see posts claiming the Bible says XYZ when it really does not. I also debate flat earthers. I mention that because flerths and fundie YECs use the same debating style.

Lots of people have never picked up a Bible, so they say " meh". Totally fair enough.

Yes I am religious, I am Roman Catholic.

I respect people who are not religious, I never question or judge them. I certainly do not insinuate they are stupid for not believing. My husband is not religious. Equally, I expect the same attitude from others in return.

Each to their own. No need for insults or sniggers in either direction.

Why do you think you are religious and someone like myself an atheist?

That is beautifully put. I imagine it can be something that one considers a lot on how to communicate with respect where there are different faiths within a household or family. Thank you for sharing.

Different faiths ?

A Catholic and a non religious ?

That makes one faith does it not ?

There is currently a lot more evidence against God ‘creating the Universe’ than there is for it.

So why are you not reconsidering now?