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Do you believe God exists?
1) God is a being, that one can have a personal relationship. A person God. 30%  30%  [ 55 ]
2) God is an impersonal force that guides reality as it is. He decrees our laws of physics, but does not intervene to break them. 12%  12%  [ 22 ]
3) God does not exist. Reality can be explained by scientific inquiry and the scientific method in by itself. 33%  33%  [ 60 ]
4) I am not sure. There is the possibility that God does exist, or does not. We must follow the preponderance of evidence when drawing our conclusion. 26%  26%  [ 47 ]
Total votes : 184

Deltaville
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01 Mar 2016, 7:34 pm

Here are some arguments of why God does not exist, or does.

Arguments for the lack of existence of God:

- Why are we on this particular Galaxy, in a universe full of billions of other galaxies with no special purpose? (most convincing for me)
- Why is evil tolerated by an all benevolent God?
- Evolution can easily ascribe most natural biological processes in life.
- If God exists, why does he hide from us? Can he not reveal himself at least subtly?

Arguments for the existence of God:

- First cause. If nothing can come from nothing, what is the formation of our reality? The formation of matter?
(most convincing for me)
- The complexity of life; is evolution guided in a theistic manner?
- Ontological argument: 'God is the greatest being imaginable. We know our existence is great. We exist. Therefore, God exists.'


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AspieUtah
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01 Mar 2016, 7:36 pm

Jesus said that "God is a Spirit[.]"


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01 Mar 2016, 8:16 pm

I have seen actual evidence,
There are quotes from many musicians and actors who attribute their talent to spirits who possess them, possession is in the Bible so that lends credibility to the bible.
A lot of music has biblical or satanic themes, music is supposed to be chanelled in the same way that aleister Crowley did automatic writing.
There are music videos that mock the crucifxion ,two that spring to mind are black star by David Bowie and heart shaped box by Nirvana.
Bowie was into aleister Crowley as was Led Zeppelin.

It's pretty well known that movies and music encourage immoral behavior.



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01 Mar 2016, 8:32 pm

I never saw a need for a god.

Some people 90,000 years ago believed in some gods, then pushing forward 90,000 years again until now, some people still believe in some gods. Different gods now of course.



nurseangela
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01 Mar 2016, 8:36 pm

Yep, I believe.


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Last edited by nurseangela on 01 Mar 2016, 9:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

adifferentname
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01 Mar 2016, 8:43 pm

None of the above.

Option 4 appears to grant equal weight to both possibilities, but is otherwise the closest of the four to my position.



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01 Mar 2016, 8:58 pm

Of course.



Edenthiel
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01 Mar 2016, 9:05 pm

Which god do you mean by 'God', please? Just because two people (or ten thousand, or an unlimited number) have the same name for their Ultimate Deity does not mean they are indeed the same at all, especially when so many are mutually exclusive.


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marcb0t
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01 Mar 2016, 9:30 pm

Deltaville wrote:
Here are some arguments of why God does not exist, or does.

Arguments for the lack of existence of God:

- Why are we on this particular Galaxy, in a universe full of billions of other galaxies with no special purpose? (most convincing for me)
- Why is evil tolerated by an all benevolent God?
- Evolution can easily ascribe most natural biological processes in life.
- If God exists, why does he hide from us? Can he not reveal himself at least subtly?

Arguments for the existence of God:

- First cause. If nothing can come from nothing, what is the formation of our reality? The formation of matter?
(most convincing for me)
- The complexity of life; is evolution guided in a theistic manner?
- Ontological argument: 'God is the greatest being imaginable. We know our existence is great. We exist. Therefore, God exists.'


I believe that God is a being of ultimate love, light, and good. Aaaannnddd that we CAN have a personal relationship with Him.

To address your arguments against God's existence, consider these points:

Did you consider that God is an artist? Perhaps he put us in this particular point in the universe to get the best view of His whole creation and to show us how small we are. The Bible says he made the stars in their places to mark signs and seasons. Every planet and every nebula we find is a beautiful intergalactic painting or mural. Perhaps God had made the cosmos for this purpose.

Next point, evil is tolerated by a benevolent God only for such a short spec of time within the scope of eternity. How else could a benevolent God show the greatness of His mercy of there is no opportunity to forgive evil people who repent of their sin? God will not violate or free will. He wants people to come to Him willingly, not by force. He tolerates or evil and shows is kindness in the hopes we will come to our senses and repent.

Next point, couldn't a supreme creator make living creatures that are capable of adapting and changing to survive the varied climate on earth? Wouldn't that be helpful for life. Evolution simply means change. But perhaps we did not come from monkeys and fungus.

Last point, why do we hide from God? If there's one thing humans are good at, it's avoiding God. Did it ever occur to anyone to get on their knees in prayer and ask? Because if we met God, it means we may just have to change our ways. And that scares most people too much.

God shows Himself subtly in so many ways. But we refuse to acknowledge that as being of God because of (refer to above).

Just some thoughts that came to mind. I appreciate that you bring the topic up in a manner of rational discussion giving non biased credence to both sides. :)

It is very interesting seeing the results so far.


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marcb0t
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01 Mar 2016, 9:33 pm

Edenthiel wrote:
Which god do you mean by 'God', please? Just because two people (or ten thousand, or an unlimited number) have the same name for their Ultimate Deity does not mean they are indeed the same at all, especially when so many are mutually exclusive.

True enough, but it seems he is leaving that part up to the interpretation of the reader. And not limiting anyone in that particular way.


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01 Mar 2016, 9:38 pm

I'm an atheist, I believe no Gods exist. Although advanced alien life forms could exist that would seem to be Gods to us. But I don't think aliens exist anywhere near Earth.



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02 Mar 2016, 10:17 am

marcb0t wrote:
...
I believe that God is a being of ultimate love, light, and good. Aaaannnddd that we CAN have a personal relationship with Him....

Or it's all in your head, and you are making elaborate rationalizations for why He doesn't answer people who sincerely seek him, why He doesn't answer prayer, why (if you believe the Bible) He will kill practically every living thing on the planet to attain your reverence (Noah's Flood). If He really wanted people to come to Him willingly, why doesn't he give rational people any evidence for His existence, it would be so easy for Him?



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02 Mar 2016, 10:59 am

Personally, I could just never understand why an omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient being would require the adulation of us lesser mortals that supposedly he/she/it created in the first place. Surely such a powerful being wouldn't feel the need to create humanity just to have something/someone to be admired and followed by? Seems awfully egotistical and insecure for such an evolved being to me.

(NB - not intended as inflammatory - I'm genuinely interested in hearing counter-arguments :D )


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slenkar
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02 Mar 2016, 11:13 am

It is weird that in the old testament he physically appears to people and talks to them directly.

Nowadays people claim to have a relationship with him but I dont think anyone has a direct conversation.



marcb0t
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02 Mar 2016, 12:38 pm

AspE wrote:
marcb0t wrote:
...
I believe that God is a being of ultimate love, light, and good. Aaaannnddd that we CAN have a personal relationship with Him....

Or it's all in your head, and you are making elaborate rationalizations for why He doesn't answer people who sincerely seek him, why He doesn't answer prayer, why (if you believe the Bible) He will kill practically every living thing on the planet to attain your reverence (Noah's Flood). If He really wanted people to come to Him willingly, why doesn't he give rational people any evidence for His existence, it would be so easy for Him?

Hmmm... that's not why God sent the flood. You should try reading your Bible.


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02 Mar 2016, 1:49 pm

Trogluddite wrote:
Personally, I could just never understand why an omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient being would require the adulation of us lesser mortals that supposedly he/she/it created in the first place. Surely such a powerful being wouldn't feel the need to create humanity just to have something/someone to be admired and followed by? Seems awfully egotistical and insecure for such an evolved being to me.

(NB - not intended as inflammatory - I'm genuinely interested in hearing counter-arguments :D )


This was pretty well sussed out as long ago as the Ancient Greeks. One of them (the name escapes me at the moment, I'll look it up later) reasoned out the properties of a hypothetical perfect being. Problem is, from our point of view such an entity - if we could perceive it, which we could not as that would indicate it is dependent upon the physical properties of our physics - would appear to be completely inert from our point of view. A perfect being cannot need anything of us or it is no longer perfect. Likewise, but sliding far down that scale, a perfect being absolutely cannot be sexed as that is purely a biological adaptation used by some organisms but not others to fit specific needs. Indeed this perfect being would not feel nor think nor do anything dynamic at all; to be perfect it would have to always remain perfectly unchanging.

Church scholars ran themselves ragged centuries later trying to accommodate their God to a hypothetical perfection & the results necessarily resemble the epicycles used to avoid admitting a heliocentric system and keep Earth (Rome, really) as the center of the Universe.


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