I FEEL THAT PEOPLE ARE ENTITLED TO BELIEVE WHATEVER THEY WANNA BELIEVE AND THINK WHATEVER THEY WANNA THINK ABOUT ANYTHING THEY WANNA CHOOSE TO BELIEVE OR THINK. AS LONG AS IT DOES NOT HURT ANYBODY ELSE OR CAUSE ANYBODY ELSE TROUBLE OR GRIEF, IT'S A FREE COUNTRY (SORTA), SO THEIR LIFE IS THEIR OWN.
SOME PEOPLE CHOOSE NOT TO BELIEVE IN GOD AT ALL. AND THIS CONFUSES ME.............. BECUSE I HAVE DIFFICULTY COMPREHENDING WHY THEY CHOOSE THIS. I CAN FULLY COMPREHEND WHY THEY MAY NOT WANT AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM OR ATTEND CHURCH REGULARLY AND STUFF LIKE THAT THERE. I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY THEY MAY NOT READ THE BIBLE DAILY OR EVEN PRAY TO GOD EVERY DAY. BUT WHY REFUSE TO EVEN ADMIT TO THE POSSIBILITY OF GOD'S EXISTENCE???
WHAT IS THE HARM IN BELIEVING THAT GOD REALLY DOES EXIST?? HOW IS ANYONE ACTUALLY WORSE OFF FOR ALLOWING SUCH A POSSIBILITY TO ENTER THEIR THINKING PROCESSES?? WHY DO THEY THINK IT WOULD NOT BE A "GOOD THING" TO BELIEVE THAT THERE IS AN ALL-POWERFUL, BENEVOLENT BEING WHO IS LOOKING OUT AFTER THEM AND ACTUALLY LISTENS WHEN THEY TALK TO HIM?? WHASSAMATTA WITH GOD???
WHY DO PEOPLE FIND IT SO EASY TO BELIEVE IN EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS, BASED SOLELY ON THE IDEA OF A FEW BLURRED PHOTOGRAPHS OF UFOS AND SIMPLY ON THE NOTION THAT, SINCE THE UNIVERSE IS SO VAST, THE ODDS OF LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS MUST BE GOOD?? AREN'T THE ODDS OF GOD EXISTING JUST AS GOOD??? WHY DON'T PEOPLE HAVE A GREATER CURIOSITY ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT GOD EXISTS???? IF SUCH A POSSIBILITY DOES EXIST, WOULDN'T THAT POSSIBILITY BE SOMETHING MOST INTELLIGENT PEOPLE WOULD WANT TO AT LEAST INVESTIGATE???
EVEN PEOPLE WHO AREN'T INTO ALL THAT "JESUS STUFF" STILL SHOULD HAVE SOME INHERENT INQUISITIVENESS OR SUBDUED FASCINATING ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF CONTACT WITH THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, WOULDN'T YA THINK??? I WOULD THINK THAT THE POSSIBILITY OF ACTUALLY TALKING TO A SUPREME BEING WOULD BE SOMEWHERE IN MOST PEOPLE'S TOP-FIVE LIST OF FAVORITE THINGS TO DO.
WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE VIEW HAVING A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AS SOMEHOW NOT BEING IN THEIR OWN BEST INTEREST??? ISN'T HAVING A OMNIPOTENT, OMNIPRESENT, PATIENT, UNDERSTANDING, ALL-KNOWING GOD ON YOUR SIDE A GOOD THING??? IS THERE SOME "DOWN SIDE" TO ALL THIS I'M NOT CATCHING HERE??? IS THERE SOME HIDDEN "FINE PRINT" SOMEWHERE THAT I'VE FAILED TO READ???
I MEAN, EVEN IF YOU'RE INTO BUDDHISM, OR HINDUISM, OR I-CHING, OR ZEN, OR WHATEVER, HOW DOES THAT DISCOURAGE YOU FROM AT LEAST WANTING TO GIVE THE POSSIBILITY OF GOD'S EXISTENCE A TINY PEEK??? WHAT'S THE HARM??? WHERE'S THE THREAT??? WHAT'S THE PROBLEM??? WHY SHOULD THE POSSIBILITY BUG ANYBODY???
LIKE I SAID, ALL THIS "GOD DOES NOT EXIST" CRAP REALLY CONFUSES ME. BECAUSE, IS ANYBODY REALLY INCONVENIENCED OR DISADVANTAGED OVER THE SIMPLE ACCEPTANCE THAT GOD'S EXISTENCE IS REAL AND THE POSSIBILITY IS POSSIBLE??? HOW DOES ADMITTING THAT TRUTH RUIN SOMEONE'S LIFE OR CAUSE THEM TO BE WORSE OFF IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER??? HOW DOES ACCEPTING THE REALITY OF THAT POSSIBILITY MAKE SOMEONE STUPID OR NAIVE???
I JUST CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE PROBLEM IS HERE. NO MATTER WHAT SOMEONE IS "INTO" OR NO MATTER WHAT ELSE THEY CHOOSE TO BELIEVE OR NOT BELIEVE, ISN'T THERE ROOM ENOUGH IN THEIR LIFE TO AT LEAST "EXPLORE" THE POSSIBILITY THAT GOD MAY INDEED TRULY EXIST??? WOULDN'T ANY SEMI-INTELLIGENT PERSON WANT TO KNOW???
I SUPPOSE THERE ISN'T A WHOLE LOT OF REAL PURPOSE IN ME WRITING ALL THIS. I AM JUST EXPRESSING MY CONFUSION AND MY INABILITY TO GRASP WHAT THERE IS ABOUT BELIEVING THAT GOD EXISTS THAT PEOPLE FIND SO UNACCPEPTABLE. IS IT THAT THEY DON'T LIKE THE IDEA OF BELIEVING THAT GOD EXISTS, OR IS IT THAT THEY DON'T LIKE THE IDEA THAT HE MIGHT REALLY EXIST?? IS IT THAT BELIEF BECOMES AN ADMISSION, AND AN ADMISSION BECOMES AN ACCOUNTABILITY, AND AN ACCOUNTABILITY BECOMES GUILT??? IS IT BECAUSE A BELIEF IN GOD ULTIMATELY MUST CHANGE WHAT PEOPLE BELIEVE ABOUT THEMSELVES?? IS IT BECAUSE, ONCE ONE ACCEPTS THE REALITY OF GOD'S EXISTENCE, ONE CAN NO LONGER THINK AS THEY PLEASE OR DO AS THEY PLEASE???
I JUST DON'T SEE WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH BELIEVING IN GOD. NOT BELIEVING IN HIM BECAUSE WE'RE FORCED TO OR BECAUSE WE "KNOW WE SHOULD", BUT BECAUSE WE SIMPLY WANT TO. AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY EVERYBODY WOULDN'T WANT TO. IT HAS GOT TO BE ONE OF THE BEST AND MOST BENEFICIAL THINGS THAT COULD HAPPEN TO ANY OF US IN THIS SHORT AND TROUBLESOME THING WE CALL OUR LIFE.
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Comments: 19
I used to believe in God or something bigger out there. I hoped for it. I needed it.
But after getting a Master's in Education and studying and reading a ton-and I mean A TON- of research from physicists around the globe, the idea that there is anything out there became a muted and fuzzy hope.
I think that God is a bigger thing then just a person or being in the sky. God is not floating in the clouds. Nor is he/she on the moon.
The bigger issue is then...if there is a God, then is it Christian, Muslim, or Jewish? Is it an IT?
If God really is real, then where is George Burns? I mean he is dead, but, last time I saw God was in Oh God, You Devil. Or maybe it is Morgan Freeman after all.
What color is God?
What sex?
"What if God was one of Us? A strangeron the bus?"
It would be nice.
God is real to those who believe and not real to those who do not. I know that it can be aggrivating for people who need proof.
Just because you cannot see something does not mean it does not exhist. Yeah....I know that. However, if God is real and pwerful and all-knowing.......then why not just do it all correctly and make Earth stable?
If God is real, then why take 7 days to make the Earth? Why not do it one?
If God is real, why are there so many universes and galaxies? Why are we the only planet we know of with living creatures in liveable atmospheric conditions?
If God is not some invention to control the masses, then why is it that there are people all over the world who think they know Him and they make Him in the image of the self?
If God is not real, then does it really matter? Would all Hell break loose on Earth? Maybe it has already and we are in the beginning stages.
I am sorry. I just cannot believe in God. I can only hope for one.
I have grown up knowing God is real. My biggest problem was that I never thought I could be good enough for a perfect being. My mom never told me he was real. We had times that we talked about our beliefs and others we didn't. When I was a child, I couldn't talk to my mother about many things, I always did something wrong. My mom was human, and made mistakes. I grew up in a family with problems of abuse, mostly psychological, and some bi-polar disorder too. Many of my family members have blamed religion for the problems. I have told them that religion may be to blame for many things, but God is not. He is there, he loves you and he wants to help you. It is so hard to believe that God would do so many things. I have watched my brother educate himself out of God too. I could quote scriptures of God's promises, and his love, but you would probably dismiss that as well. When I look at all of creation, where you have trouble believing there was some intelligent design to it, I have trouble believing how two random particles running into each other could present such diversity, beauty, and glory as all of God's creation. Part of that beauty is you, and He does not want slaves but children to love and nuture, that will FREELY follow HIM. He could have created mindless zombies, but he didn't. We have a choice, because God wanted us to be able to allow us to choose to follow him. I will be praying for you Eliza, and I hope you don't have to go to the extreme I did to be able to hear God calling you. God Bless you!
Chemistry shows me that there are patterns in even the tiniest of particles, and again...orderliness and continuity.
Mathematics couldn't exist if there wasn't design and patterns and methodology.
People, animals, seasons, chemicals, our DNA, and the universe behave in predictable patterns.
When the US government space agency sent a space probe out of our solar system, inscribed onto the body of the probe were patterns of numbers. By the existence of these predictable systems, they hoped to find other intelligent life and convince them that we also are intelligent. By our own admission, we were saying that the existence of our beings demonstrates Intelligent Design. Call it God or not. Your choice.
The first time my physicist friend looked through an electron microscope, she was awed and said, "No way could you look at the strands of DNA and say that this is a result of chaos and chance. There is an Intelligent God!"
I agree with Lisa that our world is as sick as it is because of the choice that God gave to us. We are not His puppets. He leaves us alone if we want Him to. I choose to believe in Him, follow Him, love Him, and do things His way when it is humanly possible.
Support Group: To Be or Not to Be, Do I Have a Choice?
"I used to believe in God or something bigger out there. I hoped for it. I needed it.But after getting a Master's in Education and studying and reading a ton-and I mean A TON- of research from physicists around the globe, the idea that there is anything out there became a muted and fuzzy hope."
I think that God is a bigger thing then just a person or being in the sky. God is not floating in the clouds. Nor is he/she on the moon. I am an intelligent person, in high school I tested with a 125 IQ. It is a spiritual endeavor, it was not an intellectual matter for me.
"The bigger issue is then...if there is a God, then is it Christian, Muslim, or Jewish? Is it an IT?"
Christian and Muslim or Jewish is of this earth, as God is not of this earth. It is like a flea on the back of a dog trying to define what a dog is. A flea cannot know. Religions were made by man. Some believe, like I do, that he sent his son Jesus to help us reconcile with him.
"If God really is real, then where is George Burns? I mean he is dead, but, last time I saw God was in Oh God, You Devil. Or maybe it is Morgan Freeman after all."
Let me pose some questions back. Is oxygen/air real? Can you live without it? Can you see it? Ah, but it is there, there are some things that are, but we cannot see.
"What color is God?"
Color is of this earth, why would God have to have a color? If you mean color like we have in the pigment of our skin, God would not have that as he is not flesh and blood like we are, we have bodies that will die and are our earth suits so we can exist on this planet.
"What sex?"
Sex on earth is so we can have children, why would God need a sex, who would he have sex with? He is the Creator, he created us we can not try to define him on terms of this world.
"What if God was one of Us? A stranger on the bus?"
When Jesus rose to heaven the Bible says he sits at the right hand of God, I doubt you will find them riding a bus to Atlantic City. You may encounter an angel though. That would be nice.
"God is real to those who believe and not real to those who do not. I know that it can be aggrivating for people who need proof."
Ask God to reveal himself to you. Pray to him to open your eyes and your heart. Your journey here and your spiritual life is in your hands. Give God permission and he will show you what you need to know. No one can intellectually convince you as it is a matter of the heart.
"Just because you cannot see something does not mean it does not exhist. Yeah....I know that. However, if God is real and powerful and all-knowing.......then why not just do it all correctly and make Earth stable?"
God has his reasons and we are living and learning in a spiritual war of God and evil. There is a Satan and his goal is to keep people from a relationship with God. The Bible mentions over comers and the over comers are the ones that realise that Satan is the one who wants people to think God is punishing them. Read the book "Job" to understand. I find the American Standard Bible the easiest to read and understand.
"If God is real, then why take 7 days to make the Earth? Why not do it one?"
When God created the earth, it was on his time table. Our time is based on the revolution of the earth with the sun. For us to understand it was described as 6 days and resting on the seventh which is a pattern we are to follow. God's day was not 24 hours and probably was millions of years.
"If God is real, why are there so many universes and galaxies? Why are we the only planet we know of with living creatures in liveable atmospheric condition?"
God is real to me and I have no clue. I would imagine if you look at the bacterial world in a petri dish under a microscope it is as complicated looking as the universe. But God does have a sense of humor. We have one and I don't think he would give us something he doesn't have. I would imagine that the universe may help hold the earth in a balance.
"If God is not some invention to control the masses, then why is it that there are people all over the world who think they know Him and they make Him in the image of the self?"
Many people like myself have experience miracles and events that have no earthly explanation. Religion is misused to control the masses. You have to wonder if God isn't real why so many believe. Like I said, pray to him to give you the knowledge about him you want and see what happens.
"If God is not real, then does it really matter? Would all Hell break loose on Earth? Maybe it has already and we are in the beginning stages."
When I had my children and saw their faces for the first time I knew I was seeing a miracle and it affirmed God was real to me!
"I am sorry. I just cannot believe in God. I can only hope for one."
Hope is good and that is what we have in Jesus. When we accept his gift that pays for our sins, we can live forgiven of our sins and have a better life on earth, and we have the hope of life eternal in a better place. The peace I feel alone in my life is worth believing. I believe even if this is not true, I will have lived a better life thinking God loved me and that I had hope of something better beyond this world.
Please pray with an open heart and see what happens.
Heather - Your words are so graceful and your faith shines through like rays of sunshine!
Reasons why people don't believe in God.
1. Their life really sucks, they have had a ton of misfortune and they think that if there was a God, their own life would be better.
2. They are close minded. They don't want to look at the other side of the question and so they decided that God does not exist, so he doesn't... for them.
3. They had all the God, religion, etc stuffed down their throats as children so as adults they have the right to choose what they want to believe, so they believe God does not exist.
4. If there was a God why would he allow things such as racism, war, hate, poverty, etc... you know, all the bad stuff.
5. How could a God create such horrible people such as Hitler who would want to annihilate his own people? (not just Jews, but Christians, Gypsies, and anyone else that the Hitler machine was willing to do away with).
Of course I am not a lawyer, or a believer in the devil, but I can understand that other people could possibly NOT believe in God.
I will not pray for God to communicate with me. I am not that kind of person. I am a science based person. I think God is what people need to believe in because life not having any depth or meaning beyond reality is a terrible revelation. But I believe that there is no God and that the only thing we can do is treat each other and the earth well and respect that not all of us are the same.
Oh give me a home where the skeptical roam
Where it's good to ask questions all day
Where rarely is heard and illogical word
And the terror of hell goes away
God has an appeal
But you can't prove it's him that you feel
It's just fine for me to accept what I see
What I can't is to me just unreal.
Embrace real life, and take responsibility for your own. Nobody predicted you. Nobody's going to come and rescue you. Life is what you make it. Make it rich.
Nobody knows what happens when you die. Believe whatever you want, it doesn't mean you're right. That's a fact of life for you and me. Best we stick to the facts, if we have to live together on this infinitesimal speck in an ever expanding universe.
Thanks for asking.
you say what harm is there in believing in a God? Well,how about some of the christian aids charities not recognising the desperate situation with HIV in large parts of africa and refusing to give out condoms because their god is not in agreement? What about the grandmother who refuses to see her grandchild because her daughter concieved out of wedlock.(missing out on a beautiful babies face because of 'out of date dogma.') What about the endless wars that are raged under the name of religion.(look it up,you may be staggered by the desolation that religion has caused worldwide.)people miss out on so much because they are following adivce written two thousand years ago (when they thought that the world was flat!!!) i dont need proof to disbelieve in the supernatural, but surely to BELIEVE in it should require at least some element of truth. if not ,why dont we all believe in the loch ness monster? or fairies? or the Inca sun god.?science cant answer everything,YET,but will continue to advance itself and do its best to answer things in the future.(we didnt think we'd get to the moon a hundred years ago)
MOST religious groups i debate with have one thing in common.Its members were either afraid to die before they chose god, or they missed a loved one or simply were too afraid to think that THIS world was the end for them.i understand that religion can comfort people but its harms far outweigh its benifits and i look forward to the day when churches around the world are nothing more than beautiful museums.
So much money,respect and advantages go to religious groups with absoloutely NO proof of an existance of their God and i find that more than a little unfair.Should i believe in a man who could walk on water,or a god who has six arms, or a druid with pagan powers, or a man who can fly, or a woman who controls fire, or......the list goes on,the only thing in common is that there is NO proof for any of them,other than what we have been told. If the Popes schoolteacher had educated him on only buddaism, then he'd be a monk by now.
This world is amazing, we dont need to waste our time looking at whats not there.Yes,it is your choice but please dont BELIEVE in something just because you're afraid that if you die you'll be punished. i certainly wouldn't do it to my son, i doubt that if there was a God, he'd do it to you.
THE END