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"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:20
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Because they are afraid/no ready to face reality, mortality and our cosmic insignificance. It's easy to hold onto something like religion when you are in a dire situation, and nothing worldly can save you.
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I believe in God because I have experienced too many extraordinarily spiritual encounters to think it's all just been one big coincidence.
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Why do people believe in god? ...In other words, why have people for the past 5000 years or more felt the need to assign an understandable and ordered storyline to the confusing and often chaotic natural world they live in?
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Why do people believe in god? ...In other words, why have people for the past 5000 years or more felt the need to assign an understandable and ordered storyline to the confusing and often chaotic natural world they live in?
Short answer: Maybe so they could get out of bed in the morning.
For anyone interested in a longer answer... I've found many, many common sense insights in the wonderful writings of Joseph Campbell.
. . .
No doubt that subscribing to religious beliefs could produce at times some extraordinarily S****y results (past & present) ...but religious ritual may be as natural and necessary a part of the human condition as any other social construct that we hairless apes are immersed in.
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I wonder if it is a choice? I am not sure I can make myself genuinely believe anything. I think experience has most everything to do with it. If you have experienced something that makes you want to name it "God" well then, I guess you could say you believe in it... or is it some sort of recognition? And then, if you say "I don't believe in God," does that mean you are denying other people's perceptions or that you have evaluated your experience and can say that there is nothing to divinely name... or both? No matter what, I think it is all "okay". Experience is such an interesting thing, as is presence --- they both give birth to belief.
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I'm not sure, because I don't believe in God either. I think they need someone to tell them how to live their lives because they're too afraid to do what they really want to. Maybe they need someone to blame when things go wrong, or someone who they can turn to when they're having a bad time... I don't really get why they believe in God, because all the reasons they have to believe in him are the same reasons I have to believe in myself.
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Mostly due to their upbringing, or an emotional/psychological need to feel like their life has a purpose and that there is always someone looking out for them.
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Mostly due to their upbringing, or an emotional/psychological need to feel like their life has a purpose and that there is always someone looking out for them.
I can understand the appeal of religion, but no matter how appealing it is, it doesn't make it true.
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Science demonstrates that we live in a pattern based, and regularized universe governed by fixed laws. One thing we've never seen is something come ex nihilo (i.e. from nothing, some subatomic particles can pop in and out of existence, but they're coming into and out of the universe, not from nothing). This is a rather simple argument, but it's often effective. It's been rather widely accepted that the universe didn't always exist, that it was produced, and expanded rapidly in an event referred to as "The Big Bang". So, we're forced, by the observations of science, to assume that we live in a regularized reality, and we've never seen something come from nothing, so we have to assume that it was produced from outside. Simply put, it's possible to take a 1 from infinity, but impossible to take a 1 from 0. If this isn't exactly convincing, I have others, and would be more than happy to discuss them.
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I don't believe in God, but i understand and respect the idea and people who do believe in a God. But any way, I think people believe in god because it easier to live life with having faith in something, you don't have to question what you live for and why you live. Almost every one has a belief that holds them together and lets them keep going, and a lot of people choose a god. Also, God gives people a sense of security for some reason, i don't know why... Thats all.
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For me, I feel like I was born with it. I was not raised in a Godly home (no programimg) but when I was 5, I knew there was a God and felt close to "it". I just knew that if I paid attension to "it" life would be full and easier than without "it". Sometimes I just know that if I beleive in this faith even when it doesnt make sense it feels safe and peaceful. I dont think its magic just unknown how "it"works. If it were magic bad things wouldnt happen. I dont think we're supose to understand "it" but just to accept that the universe is working together for all things good.I feel like I am a small part of something huge that is happening but yet I am under a microscope of this huge intelligence I call "it". Some use God as a crutch or excuse to not take responsibility for their emotional self. Easier to blame God than trust "it". Maybe another question would be Why not?
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I have this cool new religion i'm makin' up and it combines ALL GODS like jesus and zues and apolo and alah and stuff and its real neat if u are intesrested in joining x)
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I believe in a God who operates within the bounds of science. I don't think it's unreasonable to find personal signs of God's influence in my life that don't defy what we know to be scientifically proven. When it comes to it, belief in God is a leap of faith. Nothing I can say can make anybody else believe in God, and I can't imagine anyone telling me anything that would shake my belief in God. Just as you can't prove that God exists, you can't prove that he doesn't exist, as far as I can see.
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I believe in a God who operates within the bounds of science. I don't think it's unreasonable to find personal signs of God's influence in my life that don't defy what we know to be scientifically proven. When it comes to it, belief in God is a leap of faith. Nothing I can say can make anybody else believe in God, and I can't imagine anyone telling me anything that would shake my belief in God. Just as you can't prove that God exists, you can't prove that he doesn't exist, as far as I can see.
God, and religion, have had a profound and positive influence on my life. I don't think that a belief in God or religion is necessary to be a good person, however. I figure, there are jerks in every walk of life, regardless of what they believe.
I don't believe in God because I have to justify doing good, or because I'm scared to die. I don't believe in God because it's what my parents told me to do (although they did haha). I believe in God because I've spent a great deal of time studying my thoughts and feelings along with studying scripture and honest prayer. I'm not saying that everyone who does that will have the same experience that I did; I'm just conveying my own experience, for what it's worth. Hopefully it made a little bit of sense.
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I'd like to preface this by saying that in no way do I see religion as a bad thing; as anything with a mass following, it has done some beautiful things and some awful thing. Religion is but another grouping, along with values and motives, from which people congregate and work. There are stupid, blind theists, and there are intelligent, well mannered theists, I think many atheists become anti-theists when they forget that other political motivations have also been used to blindly control a crowd and kill of millions. Theism is never a problem; the problem is always blind theism.
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I'd like to preface this by saying that in no way do I see religion as a bad thing; as anything with a mass following, it has done some beautiful things and some awful thing. Religion is but another grouping, along with values and motives, from which people congregate and work. There are stupid, blind theists, and there are intelligent, well mannered theists, I think many atheists become anti-theists when they forget that other political motivations have also been used to blindly control a crowd and kill of millions. Theism is never a problem; the problem is always blind theism.
But enough of that little rant.
In response to your question, some people do not value existence for its own sake and, even more so, do not value morals for their own sake. This isn't to say that theists would be unjust without promises such as heaven or a better life, in the Torah it says that there is no great reward, and that morals should be followed simply because its right. Personally, I find joy in helping others and building relationships, as it is natural to for any human. Likewise, I value existence for its own sake, as existence in itself is rewarding.
Sorry if that seemed a bit convoluted; it's very late here. I would GREATLY appreciate thoughts from either party on my opinions; Religion is a subject that strangely intrigues me.
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Well, think of it this way:
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Well, think of it this way:
The majority of all the world's civilizations have always had a deity. It is the human beings natural instinct to worship something/someone superior. Why would that be?
It is because God is real. To not worship Him would be equal to us breathing pure H2O. It just wouldn't be natural. In fact, it would be fatal.
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I believe in God, because similarly to what Ashley below me just said, I can't afford not to.
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