Do you believe in God etc?

[Mike Posner]

Yes, I just asked it. DO you believe in the man said to have created the world or something like that, or is he a simple myth meant to get kids to do good things/be a believer in god?
Oh, and please explain why.

I do believe in God simply for the following reasons,
I was brought up to believe in God
I as a human being believe that it is not possible for two rocks in the air just to hit each other and bang mankind is created.
I also believe that there is only one God.

[Kenny_C.002]

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

I was brought up to believe in God

Terrible reason to believe in God. It's like saying that if your parents were Satanists, you'd do so as well just because you're brought up that way. It doesn't matter what your parents think in the matters of religion: you have to find your own reasons. Only then are you actually intellectually capable of actually holding discussion about religion.

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

I as a human being believe that it is not possible for two rocks in the air just to hit each other and bang mankind is created.

You should learn about evolution before making a comment like this, since this is a marvelous display of the Dunning Kruger effect.

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

I also believe that there is only one God.

What does it matter if there is one God or multiple gods? Heck, how do you know your religion is the right one? There are hundreds of thousands of religions out there. Every single one of them claim to be the right religion. Heck, some religions don't even have gods.

[Mike Posner]

I understand your point and my answer is you do not know if it is the right religion but my whole life is about my religion being the real one or else i have no other reason to live.
The "I believe in 1 God" quote is again all about the religion and that they teach different things.
I just believe that it makes more sense that there is a being there some where that created mankind rather than believing it just happened

[Daughter of Mew]

I don't believe in a God. I have a strong belief that the idea of "god" (or gods) is simply there to fill in what we don't know. We don't know how the world was created? BOOM, God's there. We don't know what happens after you die? BOOM, God's there. The human race can't successfully comprehend the idea of nothingness due to us never being in a state of nothingness; we are conscious for our whole lives. So according to our logic, there has to to be something there, when there probably isn't. If you can get your head around the science, you can understand how life began on earth. And no, mankind didn't "just happen", it was a slow process over hundreds of millions of years.

I was brought up to believe in God

I was raised Jewish lol.

my whole life is about my religion being the real one or else i have no other reason to live.

There's always another reason to live. I'm atheist, have been since I was about 8. If there's no heaven and I have limited time on earth, it makes me want to help people as best as I can, and make the world better for future generations. Not being religious actually motivates me more than having a religion did.

[Mike Posner]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us i understand what you mean but some religions treat people differently or kids eg Muslims bring their kids up in a strict manor so that their faith will stick with them rather than them choose their own faith but Christians might be a little less strict and allow the person to choose their own faith at a certain age.

All i am trying to say is that religions have different connotations, non have exactly the same rules as each other but might have similar rules like there is 1 God.

[Kenny_C.002]

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

I understand your point

You don't.

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

my answer is you do not know if it is the right religion but my whole life is about my religion being the real one or else i have no other reason to live.

Plenty of reason to live without going down the religion route. Live for people you love. Live for your interests. Live to explore the world and see what's out there. Live to do something you'd love to do. Heck, dream. Be creative. Anything. You're young. What doesn't matter is what happens after you die. After death there is no more Earth. Enjoy Earth for what it is while you still can. Capture moments you won't forget.

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

The "I believe in 1 God" quote is again all about the religion and that they teach different things.

Which is interesting in it that on a fundamental scale most religions teach the same things. Just different languages and ways of writing.

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

I just believe that it makes more sense that there is a being there some where that created mankind rather than believing it just happened

We already know how mankind evolved into what we are now.

[Mike Posner]

Originally Posted by Kenny_C.002

You don't.



Plenty of reason to live without going down the religion route. Live for people you love. Live for your interests. Live to explore the world and see what's out there. Live to do something you'd love to do. Heck, dream. Be creative. Anything. You're young. What doesn't matter is what happens after you die. After death there is no more Earth. Enjoy Earth for what it is while you still can. Capture moments you won't forget.

Yes but for you, not me and it goes for some other people as well, i could live to love but i believe that i was not created for that but created to worship God and i also believe that "earth" is just a test and that death is the end of the test.

Which is interesting in it that on a fundamental scale most religions teach the same things. Just different languages and ways of writing.

Yes but they teach about prophets, prophets are different for most religions.

We already know how mankind evolved into what we are now.

No you do not, that is just scientist trying to think of a strange solution because they did not want to mention God.

Also it says in some holy books

the earth is spherical but i checked when it was discovered by scientists and they discovered it around 100 to 200 years after.
They could have just took a look in the Qu'ran, Bible.

[Lusankya]

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

No you do not, that is just scientist trying to think of a strange solution because they did not want to mention God.

Also it says in some holy books

the earth is spherical but i checked when it was discovered by scientists and they discovered it around 100 to 200 years after.
They could have just took a look in the Qu'ran, Bible.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you have no idea what science actually is and think it's a magical process where some dude in a lab coat goes "EUREKA" while tesla coils go off in the background.

[Daughter of Mew]

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

Yes but for you, not me and it goes for some other people as well, i could live to love but i believe that i was not created for that but created to worship God and i also believe that "earth" is just a test and that death is the end of the test.

What would be the point though? If someone's going to spend eternity in either heaven or hell, I highly doubt a life time would be enough to judge someone. And anyway, isn't God meant to be all-loving and all-powerful? So God should be able to let everyone into heaven irrelevant of what they've done. Forgive, love your enemies, all that jazz.

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

Yes but they teach about prophets, prophets are different for most religions.

Prophets still tend to have an element of similarity between them if you really delve into it.

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

No you do not, that is just scientist trying to think of a strange solution because they did not want to mention God.

There are quite a few respected scientists who are religious and believe in God. It's not a case of not wanting to, it's a case of God simply not being needed in the explanation. Once again, the more science you understand, the less people need to explain things using an almighty deity.

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

Also it says in some holy books

the earth is spherical but i checked when it was discovered by scientists and they discovered it around 100 to 200 years after.
They could have just took a look in the Qu'ran, Bible.

"It is he who sitteth upon the circle of the earth" Isaiah 40:22. The Qu'ran says that the earth is the shape of an egg, so they were closer. I know me Bible quotes, I do.

[Orthar]

Not only do I not believe in any god(s), I also believe that religion is one of the many factors which are holding back the growth of mankind.

Also, let me add in a few counter-points here directed at Mike Posner:

-You state that "prophets are different for most religions", I would just like to point out that while this might be true for some instances, it is not true for all. For example, the Bible and the Koran share many of the same prophets. And adding onto that even further, even if the prophets have different names you can almost always find striking similarities between them. A great example of this would be between Jesus Christ and Mithra.

-You also state that "some religions treat people differently or kids eg Muslims bring their kids up in a strict manor so that their faith will stick with them rather than them choose their own faith". I would like to point out that this is a rash generalization of a religion. You then continue, "Christians might be a little less strict and allow the person to choose their own faith at a certain age." I'm going to go ahead and assume that you are not aware with the customs of the Southern United States, particularly the Deep South. If you were, you'd realize how false this statement is. If you want proof, just do a quick YouTube search of "Jesus Camp".

I'm too lazy to use the actual forum quotes.

[Tombi]

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us i understand what you mean but some religions treat people differently or kids eg Muslims bring their kids up in a strict manor so that their faith will stick with them rather than them choose their own faith but Christians might be a little less strict and allow the person to choose their own faith at a certain age.

This is a very sad statement. You've admitted yourself that you've been conditioned to believe this, so surely you must realise that it's possible for you to be wrong, and not the concrete, solid and often undisputable evidence science gives us?

My uncle is a Muslim. My cousins aren't. Weird? Nah, he just let them think for themselves.

[Viva la Gofre]

Originally Posted by Lusankya

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you have no idea what science actually is and think it's a magical process where some dude in a lab coat goes "EUREKA" while tesla coils go off in the background.

This is what I was expecting when I left home to study biology at university. I was disappointed ):

[Mike Posner]

Hah well i do not expect to win a debate about religion when i have only 11 years of experience in it.

I should not know about Jesus camp because i am not in the USA i am just pointing out the stuff around my area and the whole point was for you to post about yours.

[Orthar]

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

Hah well i do not expect to win a debate about religion when i have only 11 years of experience in it.

I should not know about Jesus camp because i am not in the USA i am just pointing out the stuff around my area and the whole point was for you to post about yours.

I wasn't saying that you should know about Jesus Camp. All I was trying to do was open your eyes to the fallacies and generalizations you've made in your posts.

[Kenny_C.002]

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

Yes but for you, not me and it goes for some other people as well, i could live to love but i believe that i was not created for that but created to worship God and i also believe that "earth" is just a test and that death is the end of the test.

Even under this circumstance, isn't it a test for ones to learn to love humanity and to learn to help others? This is entirely along the lines of the teachings of Jesus. I don't see how my statement is anything but true.

Secondarily, you cannot discount the possibility that God tests you with religion in exactly the opposite way either. Just because scripture says one thing doesn't mean that this will always be true either. So why not do both? Past the test and explore the world. I don't see how these can be mutually exclusive either.

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

Yes but they teach about prophets, prophets are different for most religions.

Historically Christianity is a mixture of a couple of different religions, hence why it's so similar to so many. I wasn't talking about prophets either, but rather the ideas that is brought forward.

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

No you do not, that is just scientist trying to think of a strange solution because they did not want to mention God.

Also it says in some holy books

the earth is spherical but i checked when it was discovered by scientists and they discovered it around 100 to 200 years after.
They could have just took a look in the Qu'ran, Bible.

For someone who knows nothing about science, you seem to talk a lot of smack about it. Dunning-Kruger effect much?

Originally Posted by Mike Posner

Hah well i do not expect to win a debate about religion when i have only 11 years of experience in it.

I should not know about Jesus camp because i am not in the USA i am just pointing out the stuff around my area and the whole point was for you to post about yours.

Learn more? Why not, you've got a life to learn. Might as well learn about life and what not.

I actually do think watching the documentary "Jesus Camp" is a very good exercise for people to see the horrors of modern evangelical Christianity. I'm under suspicion that you might be too far gone to see that as a horror either.