Growing up in a Christian home, I am pressured to follow Jesus Christ as my parents did. Sometimes, I have questions that pop up in my mind. Does God really exist? What do you think?
I was raised Catholic, but quickly moved away from those (in my mind) silly beliefs.
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Better contraceptives will control population only if people will use them. A nuclear holocaust can be prevented only if the conditions under which nations make war can be changed. The environment will continue to deteriorate until pollution practices are abandoned. We need to make vast changes in human behavior. B.F. Skinner
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Better contraceptives will control population only if people will use them. A nuclear holocaust can be prevented only if the conditions under which nations make war can be changed. The environment will continue to deteriorate until pollution practices are abandoned. We need to make vast changes in human behavior. B.F. Skinner
I was 'raised'.......ummmmm forced Christian, but don't believe that any religion has any one thing nailed. There are things in ALL of the religious books, that don't add up and are imho a crock of junk someone thought up. Since you asked my opinion, I believe that there is a higher being or something of that sort. I believe in being a good person (varies upon individuals' own description of good person), helping others in need, living your life around some form of morals (however strict or loose you decide to make them is a case by case difference), contributing to society, economy and community. That's what I try to live my life around. Having said that, the only other thing I try to live by is seflessness. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to die, but if I did, I would be mostly content with my life and only regret not being able to say goodbye to my family and friends one last time.....and my Zune hasn't gotten here yet....but w/e
i've actually gone through these moments also.
born into a christian family and for most of life, living that way...had my share of doubts and hell raising .
but i've seen too many things(miracles?) to not believe in some type of higher power. in what form..or what name that has..thats up to people to decide.
I belive in God and Jesus Christ. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, and I just feel that the Bible is really something that is pure and that I can relate with on this life and this Earth.
In the end, everyone must make their own decision that they are wholly responsible for, however.
:points to user name: lol I have asked myself that alot lately, and that is coming from a "firm beleiver" I have now came to the conclusion that He does exist. a quote sticks in my mind "Christ is easy to beleive in, Christians not so much" so to sum it up, i have alot of faith in God, not so much in people, the flawed creatures that we are. God can fix anything though.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus Aurelius
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
I truly believe in a higher power and I DO call that power God. I cannot place faith in any "One path to follow" to reach his kingdom though. Humans are by nature deceitful and will bend evidence to suit themselves. This leads me to believe that the bible may not be completely true due to the many "versions" it has been printed in. With so many religions on this planet, one common factor is that a "higher power" is recognized.
I feel that we can live our lives as honestly as possible, help as many others as we can, and hope it's enough to gain favorable judgement when we pass from this body onto the next one.......
I grew up in a christian home and have since become an atheist. Not because of anything someone did or didn't do, just by plain old fashioned reasoning. I can't believe that there is some almighty being out there that is so concerned with me. That whole "love me or you'll perish "thing is rediculous. Basically that is the equivalent of a supernatural tantrum. The bible says that we have free will but if we choose to exercise that free will for anything other than "loving god", we get to burn in hell. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said "fear god"....what a great way to put something into perspective. Why can't we just be kind to each other for the sake of being kind without coersion from some mystical omnipotent bully?
Who thought of 'God' in the first place. Couldn't Moses just been the smart civilized person of his time that wanted everyone else to be civilized my making them think that they have a creator. Couldn't Mary just have been a girl that got pregnant out of wedding lock and she was afraid they might kill her or prisoned her if she told them that, so just she just said that the baby was the son of 'God', because if he does exist then we are all The Son or Daughter of God because if Adam and Eve existed then they were created by him. Even if 'God' existed why didn't he create many people instead of just Adam and Eve and where do dinosaurs fit in with Adam and Eve I don't remember anyting about dinosaurs in the bible and their is actual proof of them on earth. And if he did create Adam and Eve than how did they continue to reproduce. Why did 'God' even create the forbidden garden on our planet if they wouldn't suppose to eat from it, he could have just made a garden on another of one of the billion planets he made. Why do people think that 'Lucifer' will enslave us in his hole, when 'God' can just make a hole for ourselves to stay in?
So I say 'God' doesn't exist and maybe this world, galaxy, universe doesn't exist either. Everything is nothing.
Now if you have a question about 'Peace' then just ask me and I will tell you.
yet somehow this planet, Earth, has manged to stay in our solar system in our galaxy for... well lets just be simple for now and say at least 2006 years. Our planet and our solar system is in a lot of contact with meteors and rocks from space and yet somehow many of the rocks just seem to flow around the planet. Yes we have had our fair share of natural disasters but somehow the planet still can support life. I learned this in an Earth Science course, not church. (Although it is obvious anyway)
Basically the point is, everything is not nothing because everything is somehow thriving and people can feel emotions. If emotions are involved then it must be something. (Unless you are a complete emo.. hehe :)
I don't like closing out ideas at all in my brain so obviously you had some decent points. But technically to me everything has to have some meaning in the bigger picture. Otherwise this world is far beyond hope.
The Bible was written by men long after anyone named Jesus was around. The "Bible" has been revised and revised, added to and redacted over the centuries based on those contemporary eras values and social conditions. Back then there were no printing presses, they were hand scribed, every single "copy" was hand transcribed by the clergy who knew how to read and write. However, historians who have researched and dated existing bibles have noted and observed examples of how the person transcribing their copy would add things to it.
One for instance: In one copy, in the margin during an existing passage, someone wrote "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". This was a comment much as you would hand write a note to yourself in the margin of a text book in school. In later transcriptions, this was incorporated into the actual text by whomever transcribed that one and it became "the word of God" when actually it's the word of a man.
Other examples of parables and stories are very similar to those found in Ancient Sumarian texts which predate the bible thousands of years.
So the Bible is a good collection of stories, parables, and anecdotes...but certainly not the word of an anthroppmorphic invisible man in the sky, who watches your every move, makes a list and checks it twice to see if you are naughty or nice....and when you are nice you get to go and live in his house, but if you're bad you go to this horrible place with fire and endless misery....but he loves you. Oy
Just my 2 cents.
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~I used to have a handle on life, but it broke~
personally I dont believe that a god or gods or "higher power" does exist, simply because all religions are basicly "the same" in one way or another, if you look at it, most holy books follow the same pattern.
I also dont believe that religion does much good for the world, or at least not organised religion (please dont bite my head off, im only stating my beliefs) I was raised christian, however I always thought of god as...Another realm I guess, never something that could actually happen, more like a fairy tale (because I never saw anything "magical" like in the bible)
The one thing I dont like about religion, is how people twist it around to use it towards their own ends, (AKA how bigots try to keep gays from getting married by claiming the USA was founded on the christian religion, when it was not)
I feel that religion is something to practice alone, or in the presense of family, but not something that should be out in the public square.
so to sum it up, im an atheist, but I dont have any problems with religion (unlike some intolerant people like richard dawkins) but I do wish people would stop abusing religion to make money/control politics
Does God Exist?
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