do you believe in god?

[lilsmum]

if so, why?

btw i am not looking for a arguement or anything, just intrigued as to peoples beliefs.xx

I dont believe in God. Religion causes wars. I do respect other people if they want to believe, it is their choice. I choose to be neutral.

No i don't believe in God but i respect people who do.

I gave birth to him... as Theodore means 'God's Love' and we just named ours 'Theo' he is, therefore, God.

I'm reserving judgement until I get chance to find out for myself whether God exists.

They should so meet...they could get married and call their babies jesus angelica and erm...gabriel....lol

Just seems an easy way of explaining things that cant be explained to me.

here

Belief-o-matic quiz - for believers in all of the above, the below and who sit on the fence

That's mad. I got Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants and yet I answered to nearly all of them Not Applicable - High Priority ???

No

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bloss where you been missed you xxx

yes i do - gods a good thing

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Hiya Bloss. I do not think the bible anything more than a good read with good stories in it. My perspective is not necessarily athiest though. I can neither prove or disprove God nor can I explain it. I think there is more proof that God does not exist but then again it is not completely proved there is still the existence of doubt.

My belief is though why does it matter? In the end even if God exists I am not concerned. I do not think a God would be remotely interested in me any more than I am interested in an ant. Nor do I think that original sin is something I am prepared to accept. People are not born evil and needing to be saved they are born good and then bad things may or may not happen to them.

I certainly do not believe that the only reason to do a good thing is in order to ensure a place somewhere else that makes life irrelevant.

I find that a rather enormous promise Bloss ...and one which either requires the majority of humans of this planet to be swept aside by tsunami, or someother act of God or everyone to convert to one religion. Given the diversity of beliefs, or not, on this planet - I am not sure its achievable! As I mentioned earlier sounds abit boring, perfect, new creation ...and utopian. Our non perfection is a great teacher too and I don´t mean sin.

So no more accidents, death, strife and the Earth controlled apparently to not bring forth Earthquake, drought and flood. Or will be in such a state of bliss that we won´t see it as tragedy if the Earth kills off a few of us?
For me its not an act of God when the Earth manifests natural disaster... The Earth is a living organism, and quite capable of upheaval and change. Humans can influence the Earth through environmental misdemenours, but She also like us creaks and groans depending on her daily makeup.

papillon, as a Christian I most definitely do not believe that God wills suffering such as the tsunami. I don't accept the 'creation is fallen' argument; I don't have a better one to put in its place, but then I find faith raises as many questions as it answers. But the idea that God allows suffering simply doesn't square with the God I know. I believe that we will one day be in union with God, although how that will be remains a mystery. I believe that it is through Jesus that we approach God, but I don't believe God needed Jesus to die in order to make me clean, nor is it necessary to follow Jesus in this life in order to join him in the next.

I can answer on question : why do we exist? Because God loves us. That's enough for me!

Glitterfairy, if you choose not to be concerned with God that is fine, it is totally your choice. It doesn't stop him being concerned about you though.

nope, not really.

And I also find people - nobody here, honestly - who feel that being spiritual makes them Better People incredibly annoying. You can have a very strong moral/ethical framework without ascribing it to, as Slug so very brilliantly puts it, 'imaginary friends'.

i do. but agree with you MI: humanism for eg is a beautiful system of values, and much less wrong has been done in it's name than almost all of the world religions. if there is a god, he probably approves of the humanist atheists more than most of his believers

There are an awful lot of people who claim to be spiritual who are only interested in their soul, their spirit, their journey, their eternity.

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I was cristened when i was a baby, but i don't really believe in god. i would like to believe there is something but too much bad stuff happens in the world. My Grandad died recently and i like to believe he is in heaven being looked after but when there is so much bad in the world, its hard to believe in something that would make that happen. Also, i dont understand how people live their life following the beliefs of someone who might not even be real. Each to their own

Marvellous for you as a Christian Bloss. Whilst it is a marvellous story I don´t see it as reality. Why cannot we be our white horse with the chariot?

Because how indeed does ´the rest follows pretty easily´work for the unsaved. Considering the judgements that will fall on millions who have not, not succumbed to the fear of hell or not accepted the Christian Way as their spiritual path! Seems like most we the non-Christian would be scoped into the trash can / hell division scheme of things. But as you say to Glitterfairy ´if only you choose the correct path´ Why always that judgement by ones of the ´True Faith´! ´Use your imagination´! I am suprised by that advice from you Bloss, you always seem very black and white, rational and not someone prone to fancies of the imagination

Not quite sure where you are going with your interesting=bad/forbidden/causing harm is simply immature comment? If you are implying that because I don´t accept Christianity, hence the Utopia / perfect belief, then I assume you see all non-christians as immature in spiritual development. I don´t find disaster interesting in fact I despise watching the news on TV because 99.9% of it is feed the people tragedy and mayhem. Utopian of me perhaps!

The new age provides plenty of Utopian ideas. Although I have never cast myself into that basket either. That belief-o-net quiz placed me as ´New Thought´I have no idea if its a religion but I understand the label (begrudingly) as I feel we humans have still much to explore spiritually and that only holding to one belief actually stops us from real spiritual deveopment. Not that I am calling you immature Bloss Just stuck in one place is all

I agree ionesmum that people can get stuck in the their journey cycle of spirituality. But I still see Self as an important aspect and I hope (Utopian) that this intropective stage will be a stepping stone to greater awareness of Life and its spiritual dimensions. For I see alot of Self to discover. I don´t see why we have to wait for God to come and take us away to perfection or have to endure Revelation (thats the last chapter of the Bible isn´t it. My copy is in NZ).

I can´t imagine how Christianity has improved since being provided the Bible. For me, there does not appear to have been great spiritual steps taken - except outside of Christianity. The Conversations with God book by Neale Walshe is about the closest thus far to seeing potential for development. Although he is labelled as New Age and in trouble spiritually by many Christian faiths. But I was indeed saddened by his comments about taking up swords for Christ in his 2nd book. I really feel most uncomfortable about that Soldiers for God approach. Surely too many wars, spiritually and physically have already been fought in this idea.

Papillon, I agree that the self is important - after all the ultimate aim of Christian prayer is for the soul to be in communion with God. But there is a difference between self-awareness and self-absorbtion. I don't agree with you about progress in Christian thought either. A lot of 'progress' in the church has been detrimental - the mainstream CofE is still very much a relic of the Victorian era with its pews and its primness, and those churches that pride themselves on being modern are actually stuck in the 1960's - but there are some fantastic streams of modern theological thought that are exposing the radical heart of the Gospel for a modern audience, such as feminist theology or liberation theology. Then there is a lot about early Christianity that is being rediscovered and that is speaking to modern Christians who may not feel at home with conventional forms of worship, such as Celtic Christianity and the Rule of St. Benedict, which a lot of lay people are turning to in order to bring shape to their lives. And of course ther eare the modern Christain communitites that are showing a radical new way of monasticism, such as the Celtic communities at Iona, Othona and Lindisfarne.

Btw I most certainly don't believe in the end time as in the book of Revelation!

i'm not going to say much as i don't want to get into an argument with Bloss, but would like to agree with ionesmum, you put things very well, and i'm glad there are some people like you about! I do feel you are closer to the truth than many.