Is God real?

That was exactly my point. I guess were both agreeing here :]

 

Ok...my turn. I don't believe in GOD, or Jesus, even though there may have been an actual "Jesus" in real life at some point in time. There is no actual GOD. As this has been stated, there is no evidence of a GOD. All religion is, and GOD, Allah, Jahova, Muhammed, and all these different GOD's, prophets. and people, are Abstract beliefs. All religion is, is a world wide Abstract Belief. In my opinion. And also, GOD is neither a he or a she. I have no idea why people call GOD a "him". I think it's because "GOD" sounds like a male name.

 

This thread is dead.

 

I think god is real but my opinion doesn't matter it is the opinion of everyone and everyone wants to believe in the correct God but there are so many Gods to chose from to find which one is the real god

 

No, logic backwards is cigol

 

Why do you believe in any god?

 

What's this regarding? What's your point here?

If you needed any further proof of how scary Christianity can be, here it is. As if 'questioning too much' is even possible? Or if that's a bad thing? The fact that you are punishing yourself for seeking knowledge and doubting what you've previously been taught, is the ultimate 'sin' that Christianity has to be held accountable for. In direct opposition to learning, improving, changing what we believe based on new information.

In science, you're allowed to question the truth. It's beautiful. Learning, investigating, being skeptical. Scrutinising scientific theories and criticising existing 'norms' is a cornerstone of science. It's how we spot flaws, and rectify mistakes and errors in thinking. Taking things on blind faith... wow. Don't even get me started.

Good ol' Bertrand Russell said it well.

"In all affairs, it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."

How benevolent of you! (And your god)

So if you follow any religious teachings, no matter how ridiculous, no matter how harmful, no matter how antithetical to Christianity...

You'll be accepted, and you won't suffer.

But if you reject all religions? Wow. You're in for some suffering!

More importantly, you claim that your god created everything. Can you prove this? If someone came into this thread and asserted that the universe was created by pink pixies, without anything to back that statement up, no evidence or reasoned, logical arguments? No-one would take them seriously. And rightly so. Why should you be any different, just because it's "God" and not "Pixies"?

Good question! Though I'd take it a step further.

If your god does exist, and did create everything (and oversees it all), then how do you also account for the sheer amount of suffering in the world? Millions, perhaps billions of beings each day are eaten alive. Torn apart, dying in extreme agony. Humans in some of the most horrific conditions, born with terminal illnesses that consume them. There are bugs, that your god created, that's entire purpose is to bury it's way into your skin and eat your eyes from the inside out.

It's not 'just a number', and it's incredibly sad to see you describe it this way. That sounds borderline psychopathic. Each "1" added to that number is something we should seek to remove from the list of the suffering, ill, or dying. A real, living, breathing being just like you and me. If I were a god, that would be my priority. To rid the world of injustice and suffering. Why isn't it, for your god?

And this kind of thing happens every day. People suffer, die, and loved ones have to deal with the immense burden of losing loved ones. This has gone on for millenia. Truly solemn.

Prove it. Prove that someone 'did' The Big Bang.

You believe in exorcism? You do realise that it's been debunked by science, right? And no-0ne has ever proved that a soul exists, or a spirit. There are studies that go some way to proving that they don't exist, whereas I've never come across one that does. Care to share?

 

I wrote this nearly a year ago oh my god i was a nasty little twelve year old

 

I spent about half an hour replying before my PC crashed. So, I'll make this rebuttal as succintly as possible.

You are proud of your 'faith'. Constantly referring to it, and admitting that in the face of our own ignorance, we can use 'faith' to believe in the Christian god. It is one of the scariest ideas that Christianity has promoted in it's lifetime (which is saying something).

That belief without evidence, wishful thinking, 'faith', is something that no-one should take pride in. It is the most intellectually dishonest position one could ever take. Because there is nothing that you can't take on faith. Any claim, no matter how preposterous, you can claim that you take it on 'faith'. You could claim that you 'feel' that it's true, but that you can't really describe it. But, as the saying goes... "If you can't show it, you don't know it!"

It is antithetical to the way science works. Science works on evidence. Faith is the excuse people give when they don't have the evidence. If you DID have evidence, why would you be appealing to faith? Why not just... show us the evidence for your god?

The whole argument that you make is a logical fallacy. It's called the 'Argument from Ignorance'. That in your mind, because the Christian god hasn't been disproved, you're justified in believing that he/it exists. That's not how logic works, and it's a misunderstanding of the 'Burden of Proof' (which is on the person making the positive claim). If you claim that a god exists, you have to prove it. It's not up to everyone else to prove you wrong.

'I believe that gigantic pink unicorns created the universe 10 trillion years ago. I take this on faith. Because we can't know 100% that this is wrong, I can still have faith '

This is, clearly, absurd. And it highlights a much bigger problem with the way you think. That, seemingly (to me anyway), you think that human ignorance is an excuse for wild assumptions because it feels good, or makes sense to you personally. You have no right to assert truth claims just because humans don't have the answer yet. If we don't know, the answer is... "We don't know yet, but we're still looking." Not... "I believe it's a god. ". Or that, because we're still not absolutely certain that a god doesn't exist, you're going to hang your hat on the slightest chance that it might be true? Do you take this approach with other gods, or other claims? Do you believe in pixies and Bigfoot and Allah for the same reason?

Lastly, there seems to be a slight confusion as to what an Atheist is.

So... a god exists, or a god does not exist. Those are the only two options. It's a dichotomy.

However, "I believe that a god exists" and "I believe that a god does not exist" is not a dichotomy. Those are not the only two options. This is better explained in the justice system. Even though a person is innocent or guilty of a crime, we don't vote that way. We address one prong of a claim at a time. Just because we're not convinced that someone is guilty, this doesn't mean that we're automatically convinced that they are innocent. We may be unsure, or lack certainty. We vote guilty, or not-guilty. We don't vote guilty or innocent, and this is no accident.

Likewise, you believe that a god exists. OR, you do not believe that a god exists. Which is where almost every Atheist is (myself included). This is a true dichotomy.

A god, pixies, Bigfoot, Leprechauns. I don't believe any of these exist. But there's no way I could prove that all of these definitely, absolutely do not exist. But because there is no good evidence for any of them, I see no good reason to believe in these beings. I'm not claiming that they don't exist, I just don't believe that they do exist. Those are two different things.

 

He has every right. It doesn't make them valid though.

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 17, 2015, Original Post Date: Oct 17, 2015 ---

Umm, people have been calling God Him for thousands of years, and we speak English. You think God, in all its translations, sounds male in every single language? It probably originated as a result of males being the dominant sex.

 

Although GOD does sound like a "him", why would GOD encompass only males, and not females too? How do you know that people have been calling GOD a he for thousands of years and not just GOD. God isn't real either way you think of what sex God is.

 

Here is the way I see it: God = Male and Goddess = Female

 

We are talking about God, not "Gods" and "Goddesses"

 

That is why I avoided using the plural versions and made them proper nouns. I was referring to one supernatural deity and not many. Why does it have to be one God anyway? Why can't it be one Goddess or many gods and goddesses?

 

Fin.

 

I like how most of the people who are talking about how god exists are totally ignoring the topic and are just now debating whether god is a she or a he! I DON'T IF GOD IS A SHE OR A HE, IT'S NOT REAL!

 

Prove it.

 

Burden
of
Proof.
Look it up.

 

I'm Iron Man.
If I believe that I'm Iron Man, against all logic and with no evidence or proof, am I Iron Man?
NO
Evolution has easy to find evidence. There are TREE'S older then 6000 years.

 

The onus is on you to prove your claims. It's not on everyone else to prove you wrong. Logic and science don't work that way. When making positive claims, you have to prove your own case. Do you believe in Pixies, just because we can't prove that Pixies don't exist? You're not 'right', just because people can't prove you wrong. It's the 'Argument from Ignorance' logical fallacy. Let me help you out here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophic_burden_of_proof

If someone said that Vishnu (the central god of Hinduism) exists, and it's up to you to prove that he doesn't, that would seem absurd, right? In every other facet of your life, you understand that if you make a claim, you should have to prove it. Why does it change, when it comes to your god?

Do Leprechauns, Pixies and Bigfoot exist? Well... you can't prove that they don't! Checkmate, Aleprechaunists, Apixists, Abigfootists!