Thread: Do you believe in God, and why/not?

I feel like we've done a thread like this a few times before.

I believe that God is a sausage. I believe in sausage.

Originally Posted by ClouD

Is God? Why is God?

To me, I believe I understand God as the impersonal Divine Source of all existence. God refers to the invisible, timeless, all-present, all-inclusive, infinite Reality.

Originally Posted by ClouD

Is God not? Why is God not?

My guess is that "God" shifts to "Self" upon Self-Realization, thus there is no longer a "God", but only absolute Identity, as "I"; Self. This, to me, is only how God cannot be God; through a higher paradigm shift. However, that does not mean God becomes non-God, it means God is known as Self.



And what about you, ClouD? Also, what inspired you to make this topic?

I don't know if we've had this kind of thread before, though I also didn't know that it created it before I added the poll - so I'm doing that now.

Serkat, I expected that reply from you specifically, thanks for getting that out of the way.

Really, I created this thread to see if people could confront their beliefs and prod them to see why or why not.

Originally Posted by ClouD

Really, I created this thread to see if people could confront their beliefs and prod them to see why or why not.

ClouD,

Is God? Why is God?
Is God not? Why is God not?

Specifically why you believe God is, or is not.

The definition for God can be what you wish, please state also what you believe God is or isn't if you will.

I say neither is God, or is God not.
I say life is neither meaningful nor meaningless. The question is irrelevant.

God is equivalent to slavery. No God is equivalent to freedom.
That said, freedom is bound to be spacious, but I don't call it empty. Yes, it is empty of any hindrance, but I don't call it empty and meaningless, that is just the opposite. A lack of yes does not mean no.

An opinion.

I believe God is everything.

I used to believe in some sort of Deist Jew-ey God but not anymore. Not enough evidence for me. I'm open to the idea of it, and if someone can present me a good argument and some solid evidence I would reconsider.

Theres not enough evidence for me and like Cloud said God is like slavery, so, yeah.

I said neither. Plus, the question is pretty vague...

"Is there a God, as we imagine it to exist as humans of specific religions?" Almost certainly NOT.

"Is there a CONSCIOUS, spiritual higher being that exists outside the plane of our existence?" Who knows? And it doesn't matter.

Maybe when i was a kid i believed in god, not anymore as i grew up. I used to believe in the easter bunny too, and Santa Clause but not anymore.

God is the dreamer,

Reality is the dreamworld,

And we are the dream characters,

All infinitesimal pieces of the mind of God,

All connected to each other, and to everything else.

We are turning infinite potential into infinite experience.

I believe God is....... Absolutely and very real. He is the Creator of all life, the image of justice, wisdom, mercy, love. His name is Jehovah. I also believe he receives much criticism for what Satan does and for Satan leads people to do in the name of God or religion. I believe God will make everything right and restore to earth to Paradise conditions and allow righteous people to live there forever in peace with each other, their environment and nature as a whole. He will abolish politics as we now know it, war, hunger, death, disease etc.
I only hope to be found worthy when that day comes.

Originally Posted by Zhaylin

I believe God is....... Absolutely and very real. He is the Creator of all life, the image of justice, wisdom, mercy, love. His name is Jehovah. I also believe he receives much criticism for what Satan does and for Satan leads people to do in the name of God or religion. I believe God will make everything right and restore to earth to Paradise conditions and allow righteous people to live there forever in peace with each other, their environment and nature as a whole. He will abolish politics as we now know it, war, hunger, death, disease etc.
I only hope to be found worthy when that day comes.

I risk starting a religious discussion which, in my experience, usually isn't good, but you cannot, but absolutely can't blame some Satan for the evil that's on this world. It's exclusivly our, human fault.

Aye, most true, Mysterious Dreamer. I get so frustrated when I hear people complain about suffering from something they themselves did and then blaming God or Satan for the outcome. A lot of times it is indeed the poor choices we make individually that come back to bite us.

I do not know if there is a god, but I do know there can not be a loving god. Famine, fire, tyranny, chaos, rebellion, drought, hunger, poverty, must I continue the list? Where is god in the starved African countries? Where is god when a child is beaten? Where is god when a drunk driver kills? Asleep? Part of his plan? Nonexistant.

Where was the Christian god during the Dark Ages? Ya know, the time when God was most powerful. The word of God was the truth, as preached by the Church. Where was he then? We do not remember the Dark Ages as a Golden Age, but a time of ignorance and a powerful Church. Which, I find very useful a fact when the Church preaches that more followers means we are closer to the Messiah returning. He had at least 75% of the planet. How many more does He need to stop the pain?

Gods are formed by ignorance or lack of knowledge. The early gods explained the sun, seasons, life, and others. The gods have morphed as we learned the true reason the earth circles the sun, or why the moon changes phases. The gods died. The only reason we still are inclined to believe in a god is because we do not understand consciousness, life, and death. Once science (the process of testing a theory, not some conspiracy to disprove God) explains these unknown aspects of life, then God too shall die, like the rest of us that are forced to struggle through this harsh world that a "loving god" has created for us.

God is bouncy.
Boobs are bouncy.
Therefor god exists.

Originally Posted by Sandform

God is bouncy.
Boobs are bouncy.
Therefor god exists.

This is the exact point I am trying to illustrate.

I want to know the SPECIFIC reasons that hold together the belief in God, or the specific reasons of belief there is no God.

I see the concept of god as something beyond us with the power to give us what we need, not necessarily what we want. More of a father that transcends what we know to be reason. Ask, and he will give it to you if he sees it as something that will help you become a better person.

There's no evidence for or against this in reality, because the specific limitations or lack thereof imposed on his existence can be changed by the believer to match their worldview. In other words, God is the father for the believer of his time. He changes with the believer as they change with society.

Originally Posted by ClouD

This is the exact point I am trying to illustrate.

I want to know the SPECIFIC reasons that hold together the belief in God, or the specific reasons of belief there is no God.

"What do you believe and why?"

Arbitrarily I believe God is anything bouncy.
Because boobs are bouncy, and god is anything bouncy, boobs are now god.
God exists because boobs exist and they are bouncy.

Yes.

I think that god is this wrench I have sitting on my desk, and it certianly exists.

Why is God bouncy and/or a wrench?

I think the better question is: Why can't he be bouncy and/ or a wrench?

My view of god got summed up as a freshman in high school about like this:


Ok, so I can either believe that science is correct, which is backed by experiments, proven fact, and logic, or,


I can believe in god, which is backed by a book written by people who thought the sun was magic.


Right.