Religion

We all saw this thread coming.

Now, do you believe that there is a God? Or any higher being? Anything?

Im atheist myself. I believe that Jesus existed, but not that he was the son of God.

I'm Roman Catholic, but I'm definitely more of a convenient Catholic than anything else. Still, I am certain that there is a God, and I think that since He's omniscient and omni-benevolent that He wouldn't require anything more than remaining true to what you sincerely believe is right. As long as a person doesn't intentionally engage in acts that they themselves believe to be wrong, it really won't matter if you're a Christian, Taoist, Buddhist, etc.

As far as religious doctrine goes I find Confucianism and Taoism very interesting and I really like a lot of the message behind both of them. Evolutionary theory is completely compatible with the existence of God, I believe, and would represent an approach I think fits the God I know and love better than the simple act of creation of life you might find in Genesis. After all, God emphasizes free will and personal development more than rigid and blind decision-making.

I think religion has and will continue to offer man a source of deeper understanding of the world, and that despite all of the conflicts it has caused, that it's ultimately one of the great unifying themes present in our species.

Even though I do not believe in any deity/dieties myself (and if I did, I'd choose for the Roman/Hellenistic gods, they were pretty badass), I do think Free Religion is a right everyone has or should have. Luckily, that's the case in the Netherlands (where I live), although some people tend to disagree with it.

To me though, religion raises more questions then it answers them. Should you take everything in the Bible literally? If God created everyone to His perfect image, how come there are different religions? How come fossils are dated over millions of years ago with a proven method when the world is only supposed to be 3000 years old (or something like that, not sure)? How DO magnets work (Terribly sorry, I just had to make the lame joke, please forgive me...)?

Also, science should never try to prove religion wrong, because religion is based on believing anyway, so there's no reason to disprove it when people just say "But I still believe this or that".

If he is omni-benevolent, then why is there evil? Just to "test" our faith? I dont think hunger and war is exactly loving.
"Hey, happy birthday! Here, have some AIDS. Wait, thats not everything. Ill shoot you in the leg aswell." :roll:

If he is omniscient, why did he create the Devil in the first place? Just to troll humans? So he could have something to do?

I'm pretty sure the devil was a fallen angel of some sorts, but I have heard of diseases being punishments of God.

Also, has anyone else noticed several (As I'm not too familiar with the Bible, I don't know too many) Bible stories are ancient Greek and Roman myths as well?

If he is omni-benevolent, then why is there evil? Just to "test" our faith? I dont think hunger and war is exactly loving.
"Hey, happy birthday! Here, have some AIDS. Wait, thats not everything. Ill shoot you in the leg aswell." :roll:

If he is omniscient, why did he create the Devil in the first place? Just to troll humans? So he could have something to do?[/quote:12q8ms2y]

If God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omni-benevolent, then the world we live in has to be optimal for creating good. There is no better way to create good than what has been done, because if there was then it would have been done. The reason behind it is probably beyond my understanding but I think it's probably got to do with free will being an essentially "good" thing, but the consequences can be negative or positive.

I think that we have twisted the interpretation of Satan around; he represents a sort of divine prosecutor than anything else.

I am an athiest myself and I beleive Jesus was insane.

I don't think there is a God in the sense any religion on our lovely planet portrayes. And although I find people who say otherwise somewhat ignorant I respect any freedom of religion as long as their religion doesnt affect me. The problem is that there are some religions trying to force themselves upon us. Which is neither their right nor what they should be doing. Im also very much against heavy religeous signs etc. (Burqa's, mosques etc)

Other than that I do believe there might be a ''higher power''. But whatever that is I don't know. Maybe just something we make up ourselves. I once read an interesting story saying we created the gods. The story said that if you put a man in a cave and give him a fire he will eventually start to worship that fire. The fire gives him heat, light and roasted meat. Since the man is so grateful to the fire he will start to see the fire as some sort of ''deity''. Eventually he will be seing the fire as some sort of almighty something, thus creating a god of fire.
Interesting, yeah. True? Probably not.

I haven't been able to convince myself that there exists the omniscient, omnipresent deity. However, I will not discount the chance that there is. Prudence is a virtue, after all. I have often hoped that there is a God, since that would mean that there were a reason beyond making the best of the years given. And if I were to believe in a god, I would definitely give it the attributes of a loving, if sometimes stern, parental figure. I wouldn't cope with thinking of it with a hateful, distancing glare that is shot from across the room.

I do subscribe in part to the belief in personal muses, a la the nine Muses. Think of it like your own personal idea guy/guardian angel wrapped into one. I don't for one second subscribe to the Romantic image of the suffering genius. I can obviously see that many artists throughout time have suffered from depression or other psychological problems, but I also see many, many more people who aren't artistically inclined suffer through the same problems. To suffer is not to create and to create is not to suffer, I guess would be a good way to put it. And I don't have enough of an ego to give myself credit for everything.

And if there exists a God, I doubt that it wouldn't have some reason for poverty, war and any other form of strife. If we say that God created a world optimized for good, then it must have created strife as the thing that goodness grows from. Singular events like a child being rescued from a burning house or something similar in providing heartfelt compassion and awe are, in my opinion, incredibly powerful symbols for good, symbols which to an outside observer stand out clearly.

My reasoning may be a bit convoluted and apologize beforehand. I'll be honest and say that it's really difficult to put obscure feelings into words for the first time.

I'm Atheist and I believe that religion was made to control people and to have them leave the barbaric life they had, like the Roman empire had a huge problem with diseases so saying that a god want you to wait to have sex reduce that problem.

Well, I think gods were an explanation for unknown phenomena, like thunder, earthquakes and the like. However, when an explanation can be replaced by a better one, man usually prefers the better and more logical explanation (spherical vs flat earth, to name one), especially when it's backed by (scientific) evidence.
It seems though that religion needs a lot more then a few theories and space travel to make people believe otherwise, and I think it'll never happen anyway. Just let people believe what they want to believe, wether you think they're wrong or right.

To my Christian comrades-
If God exists, then why create a world where all the evidence points to the contrary? That is rewarding gullibility and ignorance, not faith.
If God is invincible, then why did Satan rebel against him? It would be utterly hopeless.
If he wants people to believe in him, the why not simply manifest?
Why does the master of the universe want to be praised by humans? That would be like us demanding to be glorified by ants.
Furthermore, why would the master of the universe be so petty as to persecute homosexuals?
God reportedly flooded the world and killed millions. Why is he not bound by his own laws? God is a hypocrite. If God is not bound by the law, "Though shalt not kill", then perhaps he breaks other laws as well. Perhaps God is gay.
An oldie but a goodie, Can God create a stone so large he cannot lift it? If not, then he is not omni-powerful as he lacks infinite ability of creation. If so, then he lacks infinite strength. An all powerful god is a paradox and cannot exist.
Are there alien lifeforms? If not, then why make all the empty space? If so, then are they also created in God's own image?

1. No one can claim to know the motives of God, and I doubt that we would be able to comprehend them if they were available. That said, there is no evidence pointing in any direction towards the existence of God. It is functionally impossible to prove a negative such as the nonexistence of God, and there is a lack of a testable hypothesis to prove the opposite. So it really is about faith.
2. Satan can mean a lot of things, but I assume you mean the story of the fallen angel who turned into "the devil." Simple answer is that pride is blinding. Angels are not perfect, so it wouldn't be any shock that they make mistakes.
3. Again, it's beyond my right to answer for God, but I'd imagine it has to do with the fact that it kind of defeats the whole purpose of choice.
4. It's important to recognize our own insignificance, but I don't think God really cares that we praise Him.
5. I don't think He does. The Bible wasn't written by Him, and the books that are in it were chosen by Byzantines.
6. See above.
7. It's a non-question. The existence of omnipotence would be negated by the concept.
8. Why not? Maybe? Why does it matter?

The evidence doesn't show that a god doesn't exist, but it certainly shows that the Christian god portrayed in the bible doesn't exist. We have explanations for the creation of the world. We don't need silly god myths anymore. The Earth was not formed in 7 days. It isn't thousand of years old but billions. The claims made in the Bible are ridiculous.
Another thing I'd like to know is why God needed to send his son to die for us. If he is all powerful then he need not follow some foolish protocol to forgive sins. You could say it was symbolic, but why not simply forgive sins in the first place if he intended to all along?

Despite your blatantly offensive attitude I'll answer your questions as best I can.

1. As I said, the Bible was a book assembled by a bunch of Byzantine patriarchs. It's not reasonable to think that it's going to be a totally accurate portrayal of God's message to man.

2. People tend to be thick-skulled and hard hearted. Interacting with people directly and showing the dedication He has to the salvation of mankind was a positive and critical message to send.

I'm not saying that interacting with people wasn't important. Why not simply forgive the sins from the start? He can martyr off his children to prove his devotion in some other way.

I can't speak for God's motives. I do know, however, that He's omniscient. Whatever reasons He had were obviously very good.

His reasoning was good, but impossible to ever understand. Seems rather trivial. I swear I could totally run a universe much better.

I would consider myself an atheist, but I am currently studying Buddhism and I am considering myself more of a Buddhist every day. One of the best things about Buddhism is that it teaches to love, accept, and forgive everyone no matter what they have done or how different they are from you. It also teaches that it is not possible to prove any religion to be correct or wrong. The Buddha believed that religions and the idea of a higher power have an origin in fear; however, even though the Buddha did not believe in a higher power and does not think that people should believe in one, Buddhist know that religions were created as a way to teach peace and think that people should stop twisting their religion or other people's religion for political gain.