Do you believe in God?

Cecil15

Cecil15

Legacy Member
I was raised in Christian by my parents and majority of the people surrounding me are also born Christians. So I can very well say that everyone, including myself, here believes in God. Growing up, my siblings and I would always attend bible studies and it taught us all about God and our existence. I really believe that God made us and also everything that exists around us. Inspite of the studies of science, I strongly believe that there's an Almighty One that exists out there to guide, teach and give us strength whenever we needed it.

So now, I am curious as how everybody thinks about God and if He really exists.
Do you believe in God? Why or why not?
 
Personally, I can say that I believe in the existence of a historical God...and this God is the great Creator of all things here on Earth and the whole universe...in other words "all things." Of course, i am leaning with the views from the Bible which unfortunately a lot of the so-called Christian denominations don't actually follow and fathom.
 
I also grew up as a Catholic and I do believe in God.
I do believe that great "someone" had created us and love us and that is God. Life itself is a proof that we are being created as we are given the chance to live on earth.
 
I was raised Catholic, but learned to ask questions of myself concerning my religion when I was a teenager. One thing I know, there is not one perfect religion, or one perfect vision for God itself.

With that conclusion I can say I do believe in a higher power but one that doesn't give you the answers. We make of this life what we will.
 
I was raised Catholic....well, in fact, half catholic I would say. My parents never believed in God, but my granny did, and the school I attended was a Catholic one. Since I was little I have questioned the existence of God and after life. I believe there is a major inteligence that created everything, something that unites us all. Regarding religions, I think all the different religions could be the manifestation of thar inteligence in a way that we humans can understand and relate to. I do not believe everything that is claimed by all religions, though.

Having said this, when I pray, I pray catholic prayers, because those are the ones I was thaugh to pray, the ones that relate to my upbringing. But I also believe that if there is a power in praying, it exists in every prayer from every religion. The words are meant to allow us humans to concentrate and direct our energies.

Although I occasionaly pray and very often thank everything I have in my life, I often also wonder if all of it really exists. So for me is never black and white....
 
I don't believe in a God that created everything. I am Jain, and we believe in there being 24 "ascended beings" who have meditated and done good deeds to the point of liberating themselves from the cycle of birth and death (reincarnation is another thing we believe in). The ascended beings don't interfere in worldly matters.

Either way, I still pray to "God" (not one in particular) because it is just comforting.
 
I was born a Muslim and raised as a Muslim. I don't have any other beliefs except the belief that there's only one God and that Mohammed is the messenger of God. Life itself is proof that there must be some higher being that creates everything. Science may explain some things but not every thing.
 
I am a Hindu & firm believer in God. Hinduism is much more free and rational that every believer has liberty to follow any stream. They can be simultaneously believers in other religions too. As we know there cannot be your God and my God. After all no body can precisely say what is God. It is only illusory.
 
It feels strange to be a minority within this thread as I myself am agnostic.

One thing I must strongly stress is that true scientific data does not speak one way or the other about the existence of God as it is an untestable phenomenon. Without the ability to control and repeat conditions relating to the entity someone is studying, no empirical information of any kind can be produced. Simply said, God cannot be put into a test-tube.

[video=youtube;GViS6Z2Y7L0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GViS6Z2Y7L0[/video]


I must add moreover, that there are some theologians who embrace the concept that God exists naturalistically, and therefore eventually capable of scientific discovery. See Edgar Allan Poe's Mesmeric Revelation (here).

Science isn't a factor here. The question of God's existence stands by itself. My question to everyone who has answered that they believe God exists, why do you believe this is so?

If the difference between an atheist and a theist is a question of whether we can definitively say reality is guided by a personable force or not, what makes us believe one way or the other?
 
Well, since it's been requested of me...

I don't believe in God. :|





But that's boring, so I guess I'll comment on what some of the others have said:

AmazingP said:
Of course, i am leaning with the views from the Bible which unfortunately a lot of the so-called Christian denominations don't actually follow and fathom.
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Do you stone your children to death if they're disobedient? Do you think unbetrothed women should be forced to marry their assailant if they're raped? Do you believe prisoners of war should be made slaves? Do you support polygamy?

Whenever I hear Christians criticising other Christians for not following the Bible it's ironically the more moderate Christians criticising the fundamentalists because they're such an embarrassment. I say it's ironic because those embarrassing fundamentalists are usually following the Bible far more accurately than the moderates who think John 3:16 is the only verse in there. The fact of the matter is that the Bible ISN'T a good guide to life, and if you were to actually follow its instructions you'd be a monster. The world has progressed since the bronze-age beliefs and practices coded into the Bible.

zararina said:
Life itself is a proof that we are being created as we are given the chance to live on earth.
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UmiNoor said:
Life itself is proof that there must be some higher being that creates everything.
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My toenails are proof that there must be mole-people living beneath the crust of the Earth.

Confused? You should be. It's called a non sequitur - it means the conclusion doesn't follow from the premises. The argument that life is proof of God is also a non sequitur. Life is simply an event that happened, and by itself lends no evidence to the existence or non-existence of God.

If you think life is proof of God, let me ask you a question: what do you think the universe would look like if God DOESN'T exist? Justify your answer.

UmiNoor said:
I was born a Muslim and raised as a Muslim.
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You were not born a Muslim. You didn't pop out of your mothers vagina with fully-realised beliefs about Allah and his prophet Mohammad. You were born non-religious and raised as a Muslim. If your parents believed in a different religion there's a very good chance you wouldn't be a Muslim today.

UmiNoor said:
Science may explain some things but not every thing.
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Science can't explain everything YET, and there are arguably things that fall outside science's power to explain, but bald assertions like "God exists" explain NOTHING. You can't "explain" a mystery by appealing to another mystery. That's NOT an explanation. Religions do NOT offer explanations; they offer "plugs". They give you made-up platitudes to ease the discomfort of realising we DON'T know everything. The downside is that once people THINK they have an explanation they stop looking for an ACTUAL explanation. Your poo-pooing of science when it has brought you INFINITELY more comfort and knowledge than garbage spewed from the pulpit is inexcusable.

sreekumar said:
After all no body can precisely say what is God. It is only illusory.
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If God is illusory, then aren't you saying God doesn't exist? That he's just a figment of our imagination - a mirage? Doesn't that make you an atheist?
 
Yay! :D

Maybe I'm more existentialist. From my perspective, belief springs from experiential elements--not from reason. Hence, the question "why do you believe in God" is difficult or impossible to answer. A more pertinent question is, "what fruit has your belief in God produced in your life?" or "what changes occurred when you believed?"
 
Meh, I can't see it like that. For me it's a question of fact - either gods exist, or gods don't exist. That's it. Black and white. Questions like "what fruit has your belief in God produced in your life?" are more or less beside the point. If God doesn't exist yet you've found joy in living in ignorance, good for you, but if you can find joy in a lie then surely you also have the potential to find joy in the truth. I think crediting the "fruit" to belief in God is a massive error. The fruit came from your OWN ability to find joy in life - not your ability to buy into nonsense.
 
I was raised in a Christian home with both parents believing in God and my mother taking the role to bring me to church where I learned about God in Sunday school as a young toddler. Prayers were encouraged and said at home along with grace at the table only on special times. I am considered a cradle Christian in my faith. At a very young age I asked Jesus to come into my life and help me. At eight years old I knew that meant something and have nourished that relationship all my life. I believe in the Trinity (Father, son and Holy Ghost). Many times God has revealed Himself to me, which was not necessary to keep my belief there is a God, but only to tell others that there is a God and only a one true God, whom I know exists.
 
I believe in God. But honestly I can't really tell you why. I grew up going to church, being Christian, but as an adult I don't follow the teachings of my religion. I guess the biggest reason that I feel like I believe is that I find it sad and lonely not to. When I am confronted by Atheists who demand to know why I feel the way I do, instead of arguing, I explain that if they are right and there is no one and nothing out there for us, then I would rather be wrong. I would rather believe in a being that is not there, and have comfort my whole life, than to feel alone in my greatest times of need.
 
I am not a religious person and so I don't really care whether god exists or not, even though I believe that there is a force that makes things run in synchrony across the universe. I don't care if somebody wants to call that force God or the Devil. Since almost all religions have stooped to the level of allowing fundamentalists and hard-liners to run amok to certain extent so I don't have any respect left for any religious leaders of any religion even though I regard a few of the religious principles of every religion that speak of the greater good, peace and harmony of humanity, something the hard-liners and their countless followers try to distort or sweep aside. The usage of god has mostly been to force or persuade people to submission via the medium of religion through the mode of fear or alluring them through a bunch of lies and further the self-seeking interests of individuals and organizations. I love the usage of god in cases where humanity gets enriched as a result of noble human beings (some call them godly people) coming to the fore, who doesn't have ulterior motives for their actions, instead of these utter selfish people!
 
buroo said:
Since almost all religions have stooped to the level of allowing fundamentalists and hard-liners to run amok to certain extent so I don't have any respect left for any religious leaders of any religion even though I regard a few of the religious principles of every religion that speak of the greater good, peace and harmony of humanity, something the hard-liners and their countless followers try to distort or sweep aside. The usage of god has mostly been to force or persuade people to submission via the medium of religion through the mode of fear or alluring them through a bunch of lies and further the self-seeking interests of individuals and organizations. I love the usage of god in cases where humanity gets enriched as a result of noble human beings (some call them godly people) coming to the fore, who doesn't have ulterior motives for their actions, instead of these utter selfish people!
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I could not agree more!!! I on the opposite coin do believe in God, but I am completely on your side with the whole idea that religion is used to force and terrorize rather than to comfort and guide. There is this great poet on Youtube that created this awesome video about the subject of God vs. religion. Now I'm not trying to force ANYONE who does not share my beliefs to change their mind, I would be a hypocrite of the highest level if I did. BUT I think that anyone, like yourself Buroo who sees the value of being a good person based upon the God beliefs rather than religion, you may find this interesting.
http://youtu.be/1IAhDGYlpqY
 
My belief in God comes from my mother introducing me to formal church when I was very young. Long before I can recall, I went to church, so I consider myself a cradle Episcopalian. My Granddad came from England and brought his religious beliefs with him and shared them with my mother who shared with me. I no longer attend that organized religion, however I have never not believed in God and Jesus. I have had many happenings in my life that confirm there is God. Not just a god, but God. I believe there is one God who is the father of all. My prayers every night have been a part of my life for decades; perhaps most of my life and throughout my life if not everyday. I hear God talk to me, He directs me and answers my prayers. These are just some reasons why I know God exists.
 
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