Do you believe in God?

[Famine]

That's why the concept of objectivity is bundled within the term "evidence" and subjective stuff is given its own terms.

Lest that invokes yet another 6 month absolutely-nothing-actually-said-o-thon from our much beloved word redefiner and language mangler.

 

[Dotini]

That's why the concept of objectivity is bundled within the term "evidence" and subjective stuff is given its own terms.

Lest that invokes yet another 6 month absolutely-nothing-actually-said-o-thon from our much beloved word redefiner and language mangler.

Oh Gawd, perish the thought.

 

[jtv90069]

I believe there are many Teapots orbiting the Sun. My mum has one in her kitchen and I'm sure there's a few more scattered around the world.
As far as I can tell the Earth, that my mums kitchen is situated on, orbits the Sun on a daily* basis.

EDIT: *Yearly, That's what I meant Thanks Famine

 

[Famine]

Yearly - though technically anything that's bound by the Earth's gravity well and orbits a common centre with the Earth actually orbits the Earth. And technically stiller, an orbit is a gravitationally curved path, while a teapot in your mum's kitchen is physically bound to the planet - unless lobbed into the air, whereupon it follow a linear path back into the gravity well.


SCIENCE!

 

[Liquid]

SCIENCE!

Just makes me thing of Thomas Dolby.

 

[dxld]

I think this is a great time to share this "little" picture I came across today on Reddit. May it be a summary of what I think about religion in general.

http://i.imgur.com/mpQA0.jpg

those are extremists, they do not represent the underlying foundation of most religions which is Love. Christianity is a religion of Love not of evil hatred.

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

I simply refuse to believe that there could be an omnipotent, all seeing, double standard supporting malevolent being behind our existence. The thought alone is too depressing.

 

[Spurgy 777]

those are extremists, they do not represent the underlying foundation of most religions which is Love. Christianity is a religion of Love not of evil hatred.

A religion of love? When it's main concept is believe in god or burn in hell for all eternity regardless of how good a person you are? Very loving.

 

[MrSulu]

A religion of love? When it's main concept is believe in god or burn in hell for all eternity regardless of how good a person you are? Very loving.

Or if you want to go back a few hundred years, believe in god or be tortured to death/invaded, then burn in hell for all eternity.

 

[Dennisch]

About the teapot.

Would it not be awesome if some day, when a mission is bound for orbiting the Sun, we all pay a bit extra to get a teapot on that rocket?

 

[RDAardvark]

those are extremists, they do not represent the underlying foundation of most religions which is Love. Christianity is a religion of Love not of evil hatred.

You've obviously not read your bible through; the 'love' shown to the Caananites, the original inhabitants of the Promised Land? Slaughtered, men women and children. Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son. Read through the bible and you will find that the God you worship is a cruel god. Study Elisha (2nd Kings chapter 2) and see how God deals with him being mocked by children.

 

[BobK]

Christianity is a religion of Love not of evil hatred.

Tell that to all the heretics and witches burned at the stake by your "loving" Christians.

 

[Imari]

those are extremists, they do not represent the underlying foundation of most religions which is Love. Christianity is a religion of Love not of evil hatred.

Buddhism is the only religion I can think of off the top of my head that this statement might actually apply to. I'm sure there's more, but they're few and far between.

Christianity, Islam and most of the rest of them are at heart extremely violent and xenophobic. That's just what religions do, persecute the "other". They're not so much these days in the West because those behaviours are either socially unacceptable or outright illegal, but in countries where that isn't true they still are. See, Middle East. And you don't have to go back very far in Western history to see the true face of Christianity when the reins are let loose.

 

[Dotini]

Buddhism is the only religion I can think of off the top of my head that this statement might actually apply to. I'm sure there's more, but they're few and far between.

Christianity, Islam and most of the rest of them are at heart extremely violent and xenophobic. That's just what religions do, persecute the "other". They're not so much these days in the West because those behaviours are either socially unacceptable or outright illegal, but in countries where that isn't true they still are. See, Middle East. And you don't have to go back very far in Western history to see the true face of Christianity when the reins are let loose.

It is worth a footnote that Sufis are mystical Muslims who attempt to bring peace between Sunni and Shi'a.

 

[Duke]

those are extremists, they do not represent the underlying foundation of most religions which is Love. Christianity is a religion of Love not of evil hatred.

That answer is the standard cop-out that the faithful (or religion apologists) trot out when others use religion to justify evil actions.

It IS a cop-out and holds no water. Since faith and belief are by definition non-rational and non-falsifiable, you are now caught in your own trap. You cannot prove that God DIDN'T tell Fred Phelps that He hates fags. You cannot prove that Allah DOESN'T give a harem of virgins to each martyred jihadist. So you have no solid footing on which to base your claim that those people are not "good" Christians or Muslims.

The sword cuts both ways, and it doesn't only cut non-believers.

 

[phillgt2002]

Trying to think, do I believe in god? :lol. I girl asked me a question about religion or god and it was in a light context and I just laughed and said I don't associate myself with a religion. As for believing in god, I think that I lean towards the Agnostic side of belief.

Overall though I think that religion, and worshiping can actually harm. There are people that do things based on their religion and what gods or god they worship I've had a friend do things because he said "it was a sign of god" Obviously it's your free will in my mind. Religion can warp peoples thoughts on subjects just how politics can sometimes warp a persons thoughts on a specific person.

 

[Kent]

What is the origin of the universe?
Big Bang?
What was the Singularity?

I love questions and theories of the universe, I believe it is the answer to this thread.

 

[king ford III]

The reason we know that God exists is because He has told us so, and has revealed Himself to us. It would be no help to us at all in our human predicament if God were silent, but happily this is not the case. God not only exists, but also He has communicated that fact to us. He has told us all about who He is, what He is like and what His plan is for planet earth. It's all in the Bible.

 

[DQuaN]

Really? I've never seen him.

I'd rather see him for myself than take the account of someone from 1000 years ago.

And you don't KNOW that he exists. You BELIEVE he exists.

*edit*
Is his plan still to kill anyone that eats shellfish?

 

[Scaff]

The reason we know that God exists is because He has told us so, and has revealed Himself to us.

You may believe he has revealed himself to you, but you certainly can't apply that across all of humanity (as you do by using the term 'us'), no god has revealed themselves to me at all.

It would be no help to us at all in our human predicament if God were silent, but happily this is not the case.

Why would it be no help at all, given that almost every advancement we have made as a species has had no involvement from a god?

God not only exists, but also He has communicated that fact to us. He has told us all about who He is, what He is like and what His plan is for planet earth. It's all in the Bible.

A book written by men, that contradicts itself regularly, has been re-written and edited countless times and the only proof of events it claims is itself (which is no proof at all).

 

[Dennisch]

It's all in the Bible.

So, because it is written in an old book, it must be true and real?

Scary stuff.

 

[Imari]

The reason we know that God exists is because He has told us so, and has revealed Himself to us.

He hasn't revealed himself to me. All I've seen is a book that could have been written by anyone and everyone, and a bunch of stories from people about how the fairy touched them in their special place.

I learned not to believe stuff like that after Santa and the Tooth Fairy turned out to be basically every adult in the community systematically lying to children. How is anybody supposed to believe when this is what you get when you do?

Then again, maybe it's secretly training against children accepting what other people tell them without question. Maybe not everyone learns that lesson correctly.

 

[dxld]

That answer is the standard cop-out that the faithful (or religion apologists) trot out when others use religion to justify evil actions.

It IS a cop-out and holds no water. Since faith and belief are by definition non-rational and non-falsifiable, you are now caught in your own trap. You cannot prove that God DIDN'T tell Fred Phelps that He hates fags. You cannot prove that Allah DOESN'T give a harem of virgins to each martyred jihadist. So you have no solid footing on which to base your claim that those people are not "good" Christians or Muslims.

The sword cuts both ways, and it doesn't only cut non-believers.

Fred Phelps does not represent the whole of what encompasses Christianity. Faith holds as much water as gravity holds the vast waters of the earth. There are things on this earth that you can only rely on faith.

Children to have faith in their parents to lead them, a marine has to have faith in his companions to fight in a battle, an employer has to have faith in his employees. Faith is not science, and it will never be scientific, to believe in God is not a scientific process, so no you can't prove the existence of God, you have to feel the existence of God. To believe in God is much like uncovering the Force of the Jedi, or the more realistic Chi of Kung Fu.

If you drop the Logic, drop the science, and simply have faith in your own knowledge and skill, you will see your minds and bodies do things you have never thought you could do.

 

[Imari]

There are things on this earth that you can only rely on faith.

Would you care to name some?

A child is not required to have faith in his or her parents. Many parents are abusive and the children rightly don't trust them. Likewise you're not required to have faith in your military companions or coworkers if they're fundamentally untrustworthy.

Or to look at it the less negative way, it's perfectly possible to judge parents/compatriots/coworkers as trustworthy based on a rational assessment of their actions. No faith required, just don't trust them until they've demonstrated that they're competent.


And still, it doesn't do anything to help your conjecture that Christianity is fundamentally based on Love. It's a religion fundamentally based on treating everyone who isn't a Christian as either a potential convert or a sub-human. You can prattle Bible quotes until you're blue in the face, but that's historically how Christians have treated non-Christians, and in a lot of parts of the world it's STILL the case.

 

[Scaff]

.....an employer has to have faith in his employees.

I've never employed a single person based on faith, to do so would be utterly ridiculous.

On a related note the USMC quite famously doesn't rely on faith to ensure that Marines will support each other, rather the entire focus and purpose of the training they undertaken is designed to remove the subjective from that as much as possible, the same hold true of almost every branch of military. Or did you think the marching up and down was just to look smart?

If you drop the Logic, drop the science, and simply have faith in your own knowledge and skill, you will see your minds and bodies do things you have never thought you could do.

Or adrenaline (or PCP if your that way inclined).

 

[TheCracker]

Children to have faith in their parents to lead them, a marine has to have faith in his companions to fight in a battle, an employer has to have faith in his employees.

This is 'trust' not 'faith' You would trust a fellow marine because you have both been through the same training, your trust is based on you knowledge of the training you have also experienced. Children's 'trust' in their parents is based on previous experience and the knowledge they've learned from this.

To believe in God is much like uncovering the Force of the Jedi.

It is exactly the same 👍 ie based on works of fiction.

 

[BobK]

...

And you still have yet to provide any evidence for a million Jewish slaves in Egypt other than things like a list of names some of which sound like they might be Jewish.

How about actually backing up a claim for once, instead of just piling on more?

 

[Duke]

Fred Phelps does not represent the whole of what encompasses Christianity.

I never said he represents the whole of what encompasses Christianity. I doubt anybody has ever represented THE WHOLE of Christianity. But you have zero grounds by which to say that Fred Phelps does not represent what God tells him to.

 

[Touring Mars]

God not only exists, but also He has communicated that fact to us. He has told us all about who He is, what He is like and what His plan is for planet earth. It's all in the Bible.

Yes... about that... have you read the Old Testament lately? God is apparently not a very nice chap.

 

[sems4arsenal]

Buddhism is the only religion I can think of off the top of my head that this statement might actually apply to. I'm sure there's more, but they're few and far between.

Christianity, Islam and most of the rest of them are at heart extremely violent and xenophobic. That's just what religions do, persecute the "other". They're not so much these days in the West because those behaviours are either socially unacceptable or outright illegal, but in countries where that isn't true they still are. See, Middle East. And you don't have to go back very far in Western history to see the true face of Christianity when the reins are let loose.

What you see in Christian or Muslim people does not always reflect the teachings of said religion.

Hell I have Muslim friends who drink,have sex and don't pray (all a big No-no) yet they still portray themselves as Muslims, so the violence etc of people who associate themselves with the religion isn't exactly an indication.