Do you believe in God? Why or why not?

[Learned]

I searched the forum and couldn't find any threads about God, so I thought I would start one. Before I go any further, I would like to make it abundantly clear that this thread is not meant as an insult to anyones personal beleifs or to any religion or faith for that matter, and it is not a thread intented to debate the differences between different religions (please don't turn this into a Christian-Muslim debate thread, because that is entirely besides the point here), or to delve into the specific aspects of any organized religion. If some of these issues are touched upon, do not take it personally, and I hope the mods can moderate the discussion in the spirit of open-mindedness, inquiry, and freedom of expression. The thread is certianly not meant as a platform for sectarianism, so those who have sectarian agendas and/or tendencies are kindly requested to refrain from making comments that would detract from the value of the topic.

And please, don't bring politics into this thread.


Human kind has reached a point in their extistance where the advancement of philosophical thought, mathematics, and science has allowed us to gain unprecidented insights into the realities of the universe around us, from the micro scale to the macro scale. And yet, at the root of all unquiry, there have been a number of central questions that thinkers, philosophers, ideologans, theologans, and scientists have struggled with for as long back as we can trace the existance of human civilization.

Even with the advancement of science and its contributions to our understanding of the workings of the universe, many of those central questions have remained unanswered, and with every new truth that we uncover, and answer that we gain, a whole new set of questions arise. There have been many who have attempted to prove or disprove the existance of God through reational means, and the debate about God's existance has only become more involved and complicated. Some have argued that science and emirical methods are not suited to prove or disprove God's existance, and have employed other means such as ontological arguments to make the case for God's existance. Still others have argued that regardless of the nature of the debate, one can never come to a final conclusion through rational means, and that each individual is left with a gamble: either not believe in God and risk suffering His wrath if you are wrong, or to believe in God even if you are not sure, just to be on the safe side. Some cannot bring themselves to believe in God without first understanding the reasons behind existance, creation, and this life, and still others have a problem accepting the notion that this life is merely a test that each human being either passes or fails by virtue of their conduct, judged in God's eyes.

There are many whose inquiries to these questions have left them without faith or belief in God, let alone any type of organised religion. There are others who may believe that some kind of Supreme Being exists, and yet they do not ascribe to any form of organized religion. And there are, ofcourse, the many followers of the religions of the world, who believe in thier scriptures, prophets, as saints and signs of God's existance and guidance.

On a personal level, do you believe in God, and more importantly, why? And what does your belief, or lack thereof, tell you about the nature of existance, life, creation, the universe, etc?

[Kakou]

Yes, I do...
Why? I feel his presence in every move in my life! I really do!
How? It's my faith. No comments!

Science? I am so pro also, because I believe that Science is here to explain what God just created.

NB: there were too many threads about God, but the forum's responsible decided that NO MORE RELIGIOUS threads...

[Frisbeetarian]

No i am no longer a theist. I used to be quite pious in the Muslim sense. Used to pray everyday, go to the mosque every fridays, read the Quran on a continuous basis. Fasted every ramadan from the tender age of 9.

It is safe to say that after questioning these beliefs, and after seeking answers from Cheikhs, i found myself unsatisfied, thirsty for answers. Found myself unconvinced. And in so i longer believe in the existence of a divine being. Left with this void in my belief system, i started looking for answers by extensively revising history. I am on that path still. So i dont have an answer regarding the nature of my belief now.

[Anny]

I believe in God but I dont belive in any particular religion. I think religion are there to force people to follow the system. Thats why when you go in court, they always make you swear on a religious book such as the bible.

I belive that all the extraodinary people existed in their time such as Jesus, Budda, Mohamed, etc. but they were there to drag us back to belive in God.

I dont belive in any protocoles coming from any religion but they are here for us to follow rules and not acting like animals thats all

[Layyouss]

Dear members,
Just like Kakou said, religious threads are forbidden by the Administration, the thread is closed for now, if the Administration accepts to reopen the thread i'll do it, when you no longer can see/access the thread you'll know the administration's answer.

Thread Closed (for now)

Regards,
Layyouss

[Layyouss]

Originally Posted by Layyouss

Dear members,
Just like Kakou said, religious threads are forbidden by the Administration, the thread is closed for now, if the Administration accepts to reopen the thread i'll do it, when you no longer can see/access the thread you'll know the administration's answer.

Thread Closed (for now)

Regards,
Layyouss

Thread's reopened.

A high level of discussion is expected from all of you, any try to insulting or making fun of any religion or other member will not be tolerated.

Enjoy
Layyouss

[coralie]

i do Believe in God like Kakou said i feel "HIS" presence in my life in every decision in every hard time i go through .

i was for so long away from God . i always asked too many questions, i could not understand the misery , the hunger of innocent children, the death of innocent children , the suffering the killing the injustice i always wondered if God realy exist , i remember this part of my life as chaos . many like me ask the same questions because they suffer and can not overcome this sufferings .
i still dont have all the answers but today i kind of reached through my faith a sort of inner peace but the journey was long to reach this level and it is not over yet .

But i do not believe in human religion , "la religion est l'opium des peuples" . i think religion was used to serve a lot of bad things specialy in politics it was used to manipulate the masses and to keep them under control . they use God to give their criminal or bad acts a raison d'etre . in the name of God they did and still do all sort of atrocities .

God for me is the essence of love , mercy forgiveness and peace. Humans are the source of just the opposite .

[Excalibur]

I find it funny that most of the people that ever died on our planet died in the name of God.

I am against organized religion, for it is ruled by people who know the truth, but use the myth to manipulate people and to render them weak and fragile. Religion says that each and every one of us is a lamb, and God (or his son) is our shepherd. I say a big no to this. Each and every one of us is strong and if the individual grasps control of his life instead of always relying on God, well I wonder what would happen ...

As soon as we are born, we are fragilized and terrified, grown ups tell us that there is an invisible guy in the sky watching our every move, and he has a list of ten things he doesn't want us to do, and if we did one of those things God would send us to hell where we will spend all of eternity in hell, suffering, crying, sreaming, spend countless years in agony and and and ...... but he loves us ......

the existance of a supreme beeing, a perfect entity, somewhere out there, that loves us and cares for us is very comforting there's no doubt about it. In our unconscious we need someone we can rely on, someone that won't judge us for what we did. Someone we can thank everytime we succeed, but never blame when we fail, and then twist it arround saying that it was all about luck or bad decisions, ever notice that ?!

[Layyouss]

Originally Posted by Excalibur

I find it funny that most of the people that ever died on our planet died in the name of God.

I am against organized religion, for it is ruled by people who know the truth, but use the myth to manipulate people and to render them weak and fragile. Religion says that each and every one of us is a lamb, and God (or his son) is our shepherd. I say a big no to this. Each and every one of us is strong and if the individual grasps control of his life instead of always relying on God, well I wonder what would happen ...

As soon as we are born, we are fragilized and terrified, grown ups tell us that there is an invisible guy in the sky watching our every move, and he has a list of ten things he doesn't want us to do, and if we did one of those things God would send us to hell where we will spend all of eternity in hell, suffering, crying, sreaming, spend countless years in agony and and and ...... but he loves us ......

the existance of a supreme beeing, a perfect entity, somewhere out there, that loves us and cares for us is very comforting there's no doubt about it. In our unconscious we need someone we can rely on, someone that won't judge us for what we did. Someone we can thank everytime we succeed, but never blame when we fail, and then twist it arround saying that it was all about luck or bad decisions, ever notice that ?!

It seems Zeitgeist had a big effect on you, that's not bad.. but do you care to share your own opinion with us ?

I'm not saying that yes it's true that there is an invisible "guy" in the sky who's gonna send us to hell if we sin, but he loves us. You got a point here, OK you do not believe in such God, but what do you or do you not believe in ?

[ostwind]

Originally Posted by Excalibur

I find it funny that most of the people that ever died on our planet died in the name of God.

I am against organized religion, for it is ruled by people who know the truth, but use the myth to manipulate people and to render them weak and fragile. Religion says that each and every one of us is a lamb, and God (or his son) is our shepherd. I say a big no to this. Each and every one of us is strong and if the individual grasps control of his life instead of always relying on God, well I wonder what would happen ...

As soon as we are born, we are fragilized and terrified, grown ups tell us that there is an invisible guy in the sky watching our every move, and he has a list of ten things he doesn't want us to do, and if we did one of those things God would send us to hell where we will spend all of eternity in hell, suffering, crying, sreaming, spend countless years in agony and and and ...... but he loves us ......

the existance of a supreme beeing, a perfect entity, somewhere out there, that loves us and cares for us is very comforting there's no doubt about it. In our unconscious we need someone we can rely on, someone that won't judge us for what we did. Someone we can thank everytime we succeed, but never blame when we fail, and then twist it arround saying that it was all about luck or bad decisions, ever notice that ?!

In my opinion grown ups tell you that not for the sake of terrifying you but in order to guide towards the GOOD. Just the fact of doubting that God doesn't love us is lack in faith.

I believe in one thing that this life is a test as a consequence you either rest in the after life or suffer. In all cases it is your decision to believe or not.