Why to believe?

[nerdvincent]

What is your reason to believe in god?

Discuss. I'm hopefully waiting for worthy reasons.

[Merge]

Quote by: nerdvincent What is your reason to believe in god? Discuss. I'm hopefully waiting for worthy reasons.

Worthy of what?

[Jack]

Probably not a worthy answer, but while I don't believe in gods I do still really like early church music, especially polyphony, John Rutter and the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge.

[Halofan48]

atheist here. I am one because I saw no evidence of a god and that there is a natural explanation. Along with a few other reasons. But i'm tired, so ill post em tomorrow if you want.

[SoylentGreen]

Quote by: Isherwood , especially polyphony,

Well that would make singing in the shower interesting.

I to do not believe in god so cannot give a reason worthy or not. But I do suspect that a fear of being dead is the only worthy reason.

[lindsay7]

Quote by: nerdvincent What is your reason to believe in god? Discuss. I'm hopefully waiting for worthy reasons.

I APOLOGIZE, THIS IS REALLY FREAKIN LONG, I TRIED TO EXPLAIN WHY I BELIEVE IN GOD IN A SHORT WAY, BUT I COULDN'T.

Hmm, I don't believe for any of those reasons in the poll. I was considering "it's comforting to believe in a supernatural diety", but even that's not right, because now that I believe, there are more things that terrify me now that i never thought of before.

Like, will I ever be worthy of God? Will I have the strength to do what's right?

If I fail now that I believe and claim to know God, it will be far worse than if I had failed when I didn't know God. Because now I may be learning WHAT to do, but I don't know if I'm strong enough to actually DO it.

So why do I believe? I'm having difficulty explaining, but I will try.

1. I look around and see us all in a perilous situation. Corrupt politicians of our Western nations are rapidly eroding our freedoms and bankrupting us in the name of war and terrorism. It's like the leaders of our Western, Democratic countries are using us for their own personal financial gain from the war machine -- and perhaps purposely weakening us for a desire for economic collapse/chaos that leads to them ruling a dictatorship as well. Experts are calling for a great economic recession in the U.S. And meanwhile Communist China is growing ever stronger. How is it going to end?

The corrupt unfair trade laws of globalization are supressing the third world, and thoroughly preventing their advancement and democracy. The Vatican is pure evil and has committed many atrocities, and continues to amass wealth and whore itself out to equally corrupt politicians. Groups like scientology are taking advantage and scamming people, and even spying on and trying to infiltrate our governments.

But I see people doing good in this world too, and I wonder how it's going to end. What's going to happen to us. So many people live in blissful ignorance of what's going on around them. But I think we need to wake up and take note of the severity of the situation we are in. It's sobering, and makes me believe that there are bigger forces at work here, between good and evil. I read the book of Revelations and it talks, for example, of the "Whore of Babylon", which I believe refers to the Vatican. It's a fascinating read, and there's many parallels between what it says and what's going on in our world.

2. I've been living my life selfishly. I'm in a competitive college program, so that I can graduate and earn lots of money. I'm kind to the people I love, but I do little for anyone else. I've looked to drugs to 'find myself', material success for my self worth.

But after reading Jesus' teachings, I see that these worldly things mean so little, and don't hold the answers. I've been focusing on me, me, me, and the things that don't really mean anything. It makes so much more sense to me now, that the meaning of life is to help others. Becoming rich and successful will never be as great an accomplishment as helping someone, taking a bit of time in this fast paced life to really care and make a difference in someones life.

Say f*** the rat's race, and change my priorities. I've still figuring out how to do that.

It's not like I'm going to drop out of school, I need money to live. But I'm no longer looking for answers in drugs, or basing my self esteem on how the world measures success. My demeanour has changed. I feel less competitive, and more compassion for people. I'm not anywhere near perfect!!! But I am trying my best, and learning.

3. I'm going to copy and paste my answer from another thread here, because it's one of my reasons...


I think faith is a gift from God. We can't find God on our own, he enters our lives if we sincerely ask. Even if you aren't sure if you are just talking to yourself when you ask "God, if there is a God, please help me understand."

Keep searching for that meaning. The bible says that the Holy Spirit was put inside each of us, and I believe that it is what drives us to ask questions and search for the truth. We are not simple animals here to compete in a rats race and then die. We are so much more than that, and deep inside, we each know it.

We each have that feeling inside us that we are something more, and I think that we should trust it, not dismiss it as irrational thinking. Life isn't just about what's logical. What we feel inside is real, it's trying to tell us something. Don't be such a slave to logic that you lose your sense of natural childlike wonder. I think it takes more blind faith to believe you've got it all figured out, and nothing exists in the universe beyond what you can see and taste and touch.

I love this quote by Shakespeare,
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. "

Well there you go, I tried to explain, you probably think I'm thoroughly crazy by now.

[nerdvincent]

Quote by: lindsay7 1. I look around and see us all in a perilous situation. [...] How is it going to end?

How does believing in God help people, exept by some weird placebo effect? So from this I can say that in fact yes, you belive in God because it's conforting to have a supernatural deity who can fix our broken toys and earthly problems. It is going to end the way we will make it end. That is why christians blamed Sartre's existantialism for being "pessimist", but as he explained in "Existentialism is an humanism", he just put his pants on instead of relying on the absurd concept of destiny.

Quote by: lindsay7 2. I've been living my life selfishly. [...] But I am trying my best, and learning.

Same for me. But it's more a philosophic matter than a religious one.

Quote by: lindsay7 Well there you go, I tried to explain, you probably think I'm thoroughly crazy by now.

Na, just looking for yourself, like me some months ago. I've been religious for a while, but finally I've chosen philosopher who make sense instead of yeepeedoo 6,000 years old world fairytales.

[Technosoul]

I am unhappy with the poll questions.

Here are some more choices.

1 - Because it makes you feel good.

2 - Because your experience bore witness.

3 - Because it makes more sense to do so, as compared to not believing.

4. - Because the Holy Spirit selected you ( not a matter of choice ).

5 - Because God spoke to your heart through the Bible.

6 - Because you tried it your way and now your life is a mess and you want to change all that.

Etc.

[Court463]

I think the fear Hell is not a good reason for anybody, even though its true for alot of people I bet, Hell is how the church scared everyone to believing in Medieval times and now to believe something out of fear is just stupid, thats like living in a dictatorship where you obey the laws because your scared for your life not because you respect the laws.

[Whilletal]

Quote by: Technosoul I am unhappy with the poll questions. Here are some more choices. 1 - Because it makes you feel good. 2 - Because your experience bore witness. 3 - Because it makes more sense to do so, as compared to not believing. 4. - Because the Holy Spirit selected you ( not a matter of choice ). 5 - Because God spoke to your heart through the Bible. 6 - Because you tried it your way and now your life is a mess and you want to change all that. Etc.

I think these are better poll questions. The original questions seemed to me to already discount a persons faith by belittling it. But thats just my thought.

[lindsay7]

Quote by: Court463 I think the fear Hell is not a good reason for anybody, even though its true for alot of people I bet, Hell is how the church scared everyone to believing in Medieval times and now to believe something out of fear is just stupid, thats like living in a dictatorship where you obey the laws because your scared for your life not because you respect the laws.

Maybe we just know very different people, but I don't know anyone who believes for that reason

[HelioPrime]

I have to agree with the other believers here.

This poll is biased from a perspective that offers all the wrong reasons as to why people believe. Where is the option that I believe because all the signs and texts are enough to clearly show God is real?

The only real option I could pick is science can't answer everything. From fortune tellers, to mystics, to mass events seen by thousands there are lots of things science can't strictly answer. There exist forces or powers we can't see with a microscope. The mythological ideal make sense in the kind of world we have.

[Jack]

I thought those are reasonable options until I got to #5 - "Because God spoke to your heart through the Bible." The OP doesn't limit the topic to Christianity. It seems to me that the OP was addressed to all people of faith, not just Christians.

[Tycoon]

I don't believe in God.

I used to believe in God simply because my parents taught me to. I don't anymore.

I guess there are a few hard to support reasons to believe in God, but there sure a lot of easy to support reasons not to.

[ItsDarts]

I don't believe in the existence of any gods. This lack of belief is called Atheism. This is all atheism means. It doesn't mean I hate a god or that I'm angry with a god, it means lack of belief.

I lack this belief because of a lack of evidence for any of the thousands of god ever conceived throughout history. This doesn't mean there isn't a possibility, but rather, there has been nothing to suggest there is one possible god over any other.

I was raised a christian because both sides of my family were raised christian and their families were christian and so on and so forth. Most (not all) are the religion they are because of this reason or because of location. Had my family been born and raised in India, I would probably have been hindu or Buddhist. If I was born in the middle east, I'd probably be Muslim. Theists usually don't realize this or refuse to accept this little fact. This is not a reason to believe in god(s).

It was mentioned earlier that we shouldn't rely on logic as much. I totally disagree. The world IS nothing but logic. One thing naturally follows another and following this logic has explained and solved many problems throughout history. We know that if we throw a ball into the air, it will come back down 100% of the time and it will do so for everyone the same way. If there was a god in the universe, it makes sense that it would be revealed to everyone the same way. This isn't the case. Some may feel all warm and fuzzy inside by believing in their god, but sometimes I don't think they realize that someone 1/2 way around the world gets the same warm fuzzy feeling believing in their god as well.

Some like to use the world around us as evidence for a god. They say we are "just the right distance" from the sun to survive on this rock. This tells me they really don't understand how really small and insignificant we really are. They don't understand just how fragile this earth is. We can destroy this planet with very little effort. If we don't change things, it will happen. Why would some god make such a fragile planet? If you think you have an answer, then you don't. No answer you can give can be supported through your holy texts or any other means.

Just recently, scientists found protiens in meteorites that are billions of years old, lending credence to the theory of panspermia. We know planets are formed through gravity and gravity attracts meteors and now we know meteors carry at least some of the building blocks for life. Just because we don't have the answer (yet) for the begining, does not give us any reason to assume it was some invisable friend in the sky.

[Morality Games]

Hmm, I don't believe for any of those reasons in the poll. I was considering "it's comforting to believe in a supernatural diety", but even that's not right, because now that I believe, there are more things that terrify me now that i never thought of before.

It's an ironic feature of the human condition that we do deeds because we are trying to feel comfortable but in doing the deed we expose ourselves to experiencing other discomforts.

For example, a person is conservative because that approach to life makes them feel at ease when they wonder about what defines their character, but uneasy when they consider that there are other people who do not share their values and that they must share the world with these people (because these alien people are trying to shape the world so that it is inconsistant or even contradicts the way the conservative thinks it ought to work).

In the same vein, higher morality which encourages conditions which produce happiness (like prosperous communities, functional family units, etc) set people up to feel miserable in the end -- eventually the prosperity of the community will take a down turn in some respect and loved ones will die and we will feel sadness when we think about them. Things like this make life seem very absurd.

[lindsay7]

Quote by: Morality Games It's an ironic feature of the human condition that we do deeds because we are trying to feel comfortable but in doing the deed we expose ourselves to experiencing other discomforts.

Luckily it isn't comfort I'm looking for - I'm looking for truth, for better or worse.

[Morality Games]

Luckily it isn't comfort I'm looking for - I'm looking for truth, for better or worse.

Not to get psychoanalytical on everyone, but even 'searches for truth' can be interpreted as a way of getting comfortable -- you are looking for the strongest position so you can feel secure.

The term 'truth' is widely employed as a designation for ideas that help people make sense of the world. That an idea appears coherent and sensible is not a guarantee that it reflects features of objective reality, so if those are your only criteria, then you are not quite on the right path.

Making predictions and confirming the reliability or unreliability of predictions through analysis of evidence is an important qualification for effective truth-seeking.

[Court463]

Quote by: lindsay7 Luckily it isn't comfort I'm looking for - I'm looking for truth, for better or worse.

All I'm looking for is the truth as well, all I want is to understand the universe and how it works, and why were here. But I don't believe in God, at least not the christian form of god, I don't know what I personally believe, and I think everyday about the universe and humanity and try to make sense of everything, and to me just going to church, temple ect. and believing the universe is what the Bible, Torah, Koran tells you is just taking the easy way out. There is nothing easy about faith though, I know, it just seems to me that you take the easy way to understanding by not searching for the answers on your own, which you do in a way but not the same way.

[lindsay7]

Quote by: Court463 All I'm looking for is the truth as well, all I want is to understand the universe and how it works, and why were here. But I don't believe in God, at least not the christian form of god, I don't know what I personally believe, and I think everyday about the universe and humanity and try to make sense of everything, and to me just going to church, temple ect. and believing the universe is what the Bible, Torah, Koran tells you is just taking the easy way out. There is nothing easy about faith though, I know, it just seems to me that you take the easy way to understanding by not searching for the answers on your own, which you do in a way but not the same way.

I don't "just go to church and believe what the bible tells me, taking the easy way out".

I believe I have found truth in the bible, but I haven't found the whole truth. Much of the bible is written in riddles, and I have so many questions. I haven't stopped searching.

I don't only look to the bible. I am and have always been fascinated by science, politics, all manner of things in the world around me. That hasn't changed.