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Philosophy/religion

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Do you believe in God?

1000 replies

VirtualPA · 21/06/2010 20:45

I am interested to know what the majority of people belive.

I personally believe in a Christian God, Heaven and hell etc.

I raised a strict an athiest

OP posts:
misspollysdolly · 23/06/2010 19:45

I am a Christian

God is good - all the time. All kinds of darkness may surround me and the path ahead may be uncertain, but God is good - all the time, and I love and trust him in all things.

ByTheSea · 23/06/2010 19:50

I am an atheist, raised a non-religious Jew. I have a secular humanist outlook on life.

mamatilly · 23/06/2010 19:52

yes yes yes yes YES

LIfe without god is an empty vessel.

That is GOD in the biggest possible most awesome context..a context we can only begin to touch/grasp/experience/know..

The God who touched Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi, Mohammed, Mother Theresa, Dalai Lama, and all the great sages yogis and seers along the way.

As i see it, the purpose of this life experience is to align ourselves with God, to dissolve into Him/Her/It and know true peace, true happiness, true humility, true love.

Without that what is this all about? Lamboutins/wimbledon/eastenders and summer holidays?????!!!!! Cmon wake up and smell the bliss,.... its in the palm of our hand xx

sfxmum · 23/06/2010 20:07

to mamatilly but why did this almighty create beings who often have such dire miserable, pain filled existences so as to have these beings, as you put it 'align themselves to god'? seems like a pointless self serving exercise
in that sort of explanations life seems just as random and pointless

seeker · 23/06/2010 20:08

Humans and animals and the whole natural world and science and literature are wonderful and magical and transcendent enough for me without adding superstition!

YorkshireTeaDrinker · 23/06/2010 20:10

Yes. Christian.

I believe that God is the First Cause of All Things.

mrscrocoduck · 23/06/2010 20:16

Just wanted to say that I'm still an atheist.

acorntree · 23/06/2010 20:22

Yes, I believe in my God,
I'm catholic

mamatilly · 23/06/2010 20:22

sfxmum, some say that the universe was created by God because... it could.... so yes maybe a pointless self-serving exercise and we just happen to be here witnessing it. we live, suffer and die. thats it... or is it? what else is happening here?

it seems that human beings are the only species currently living on this planet who can have experience of God/infinite consciousness/expansive bliss... so has it been a 13.7 billion year experiment? is it random? why suffering?why pain? i don't know. but i can see that great folk who have devoted their lives to not blind faith but a personal discovery of god/buddha nature/atman do not have the same level of suffering/pain/misery that other people do.... indeed they have amazing levels of compassion/happiness/poise/and dignity! wow !!! true human beings at the top of the evolutionary tree...

bloss · 23/06/2010 20:30

Message withdrawn

carries · 23/06/2010 20:38

A big YES. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, Heaven and Hell, Satan, forgiveness of sins, deep lasting peace, comfort, joy, The Bible, the whole bit.

I'm the reverse of atheists, i just don't understand how intelligent, well read, educated people can't believe in God!

giraffesCANdriveAcar · 23/06/2010 20:43

no

poppy20 · 23/06/2010 20:46

Yes I am a Christian

God is my rock, peace, strength comfort and hope. The Bible is a guide that lights up our path as we journey through life

EnglandAllenPoe · 23/06/2010 20:48

i just don't understand how intelligent, well read, educated people can't believe in God!

vice-versa...

though i once believed in fairies...

AngeChica · 23/06/2010 20:50

God is a DJ

Opium of the masses and all that. Free world though, believe what you like if it gets you through the day. I'm with Dawkins all along.

I have a moral code. Would like to see more about Ethics than religion in schools.

seeker · 23/06/2010 20:58

Oh, bloss - that is the ologically and historically and logically nonsense - you must see that!

Was it the White Queen who believed three impossible things before breakfast?

UnquietDad · 23/06/2010 20:59

It seems about 50-50 believers and non on this thread. That seems hugely more weighted in favour of believers than I've encountered in real life - but then I suppose a thread question like this one will draw them out...

backtotalk - you are getting yourself tied up in knots, frankly, and I'm fed up with the hectoring, pugilistic tone. You're trying to show that a Christian somehow has more "options" open to them than I do because, through an act of self-delusion, they are able to believe in something so daft you consider it a logical impossibility? Because their "faith" somehow transcends the illogic? But I'm quite happy with my options. And I already know faith has nothing to do with logic. That's why I've said I'd need to park my brain in neutral to become a Christian.

It's not that I don't "understand" you. I just don't agree. Gods - all gods, whatever they claim - are hugely, hugely unlikely and may as well be discounted. No special pleading allowed, no matter what claims they or their texts make.

bloss - I fear you are doing what sci-fi fans call "retconning" - retrospective continuity. It's where they find a plot-hole can be neatly fixed by something explained or mentioned in a later episode, so it "fixes" the logical hole in the (Doctor Who, Star Trek, whatever) universe - even though the original writer had no such intentions and no idea, of course, that the future idea would be generated. This thing called "the godhead" only exists if you post-re-define all the millennia leading up to Christ in Christian terms. It's very easy to create patterns where there are none, sadly for you...

knit1purl1 · 23/06/2010 21:05

No. Brought up by one religious but not really church going father and suspicious-of-religion-but-still-seems-to-have-some-sort-of-faith mother. Sunday school - mostly dinosaur fuzzy felt as I recall and Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam, cassocks and nightlights on saucers; that type of thing...

I do remember being astonished the first time I realised that people actually believed this stuff. I had assumed, up to that point, that it was understood by all to be Nice Stories. I was maybe 6 or 7? So an atheist. I know it upsets my Dad when I talk of my atheism.

The thing that puzzles me most is the obvious inference, so far as I can see, that if one believes in god then one is basically a creationist. Most religious people I know would be horrified to be called creationists but what else can they be, if not that? Even if you're happy to allow a little light evolution and some gentle science the whole god thing implies some level of intent, i.e. creation. Doesn't it?

SomeGuy · 23/06/2010 21:07

UQD, only 16% of the population holds true atheist beliefs. news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/programmes/wtwtgod/pdf/wtwtogod.pdf

ilovemyoboe · 23/06/2010 21:17

I'm a Christian, and go to church regularly .. well, as often as I can at the moment since our 13month old still has a mid-morning nap in his cot. My husband and I generally take it in turns!

I was raised in a Catholic family and went to Catholic schools (yes, with nuns). In that sort of environment, it's quite easy to just go through the motions and not think too much about what it all actually means. I don't think I really thought much about my faith and God until my Dad died when I was 15. Losing a parent at that age is like having the rug pulled from under your feet. Suddenly nothing seems secure or certain any more. It was a very rough time (Mum depressed, sister depressed, a few school friends avoiding me because they didn't know what to say) and alas there weren't counselors in schools then.

Anyhow, to cut a long story short, that was really the time when I started to cry out to God along the lines of 'If you're really there then this is when I need you most'. No flashing lights etc., but I did get a sense of peace and love and security when I was talking to God. I felt listened to and knew someone was there. Some might say that's just wishful thinking, but I really felt something tangible. I don't think wishful thinking can help much in that sort of situation.

When I got to university, then I started to explore what living as a Christian actually meant and how my faith should affect my life, because it didn't much until that point.

Some years on, I'm now married to a Christian and we are both active in our local church. Our faith is important to both of us, and does affect our daily lives (although I'm sure it should much more!).

MerryMarigold · 23/06/2010 21:43

Brought up Christian.

Agnostic from 11-26. Stopped going to church as early as I possibly could. (GCSE revision I think was the reason )

Reluctantly (initially) converted back to Christianity aged 27 - albeit to a different denomination.

Unlike being an 'atheist' or 'agnostic' or 'bright', I believe that being a Christian (literally a follower of Christ) is not just a set of beliefs, but a lifestyle choice which affects every aspect of your life from what you say to what you spend your money on.

Eskarina · 23/06/2010 21:54

Yes, Christian

BadgersPaws · 23/06/2010 22:12

Atheists and Christians should just get along, they've got so much in common.

Atheists reject every God, belief structure and theology.

Christians reject every God, belief structure and theology except one.

Bonsaibab · 23/06/2010 22:14

My Husband.....a supposed believer..... was explaining fossils to my son whilst we were on holiday last weekend Evolution all the way....

RamonaThePest · 23/06/2010 22:16

Christian and have no problem reconciling that with fossils and evolution. Neither does our vicar.

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