Do You Believe In God?

[SUM1]

I've been shocked by how many Aspie's on this forum I've seen who believe in God. I always thought it was my Asperger's syndrome that made me think very rationally, logically and straightforward, and was why I'm an atheist. I'll give a reason why I don't believe, and I'd like to hear why you do or don't too.

To put it short, I don't believe in God because I feel the theory of God has many rational flaws and doesn't seem logical. The ways Christians describe him seem to contradict each other and no one ever gets "damned to hell", for example, when someone says they are. I don't also believe in Heaven or Hell for the same reason, along with all other supernatural things. Another reason is there's simply no suitable proof. When Christians say "The Universe" or "The world around you" is proof, that's crap. There are billions and trillions of possibilities to the causation of the Universe and everything in it. One cannot simply attribute it to one being. It's completely illogical. Until I've seen an appropriate proof, I shall continue to not be able to believe in God's existence, as there's no logical reason to without proof. And it doesn't work the way that some Christians think, which is that "Atheists can't prove he doesn't exist". You need proof of his existence first, otherwise he either doesn't exist, or you can't know if he does. You can't prove his existence by the lack of evidence of his non-existence, and anyway, there's quite a bit of evidence for him not existing.

Anyway, after all that "venting" as people call it, what are your views?

 

[dwc780]

I grew up in a heavily religious household, mom is a Reverend, several of her brothers are Pastors or religious scholars. I'm a self described "non-theist". I believe in nothing except this world. God, souls, spirits, etc... none of that makes any ruttin sense to me, I've found no logic to any of it, and to me it just... isn't something worth devoting any more thought to then that. If others want to do so that's fine for them but it isn't something I care about. I believe there is this world, this life, electrical signals in our synapses and chemical messengers.

My sister is reasonably religious, my best friend is a fairly devout Mormon, most of my extended family is fairly religious... I'm kinda the black sheep in my family when it comes to spiritual things.

 

[_Josh_]

I can identify with a quote by Dan Aykroyd's character in the movie Ghostbusters. The character Winston asks Dan Aykroyd's character if he believes in god. Aykroyd responds, "Never met him." That's how I feel. I've been in pretty dire circumstances, especially in my late teens where depression really had a grip on me. I tried praying to god, reading the bible looking for some sort of help. If there is a god, and I don't rule out that possibility as that would be very arrogant and presumptive, he sure didn't talk back when I needed him to the most.

Logically, at least what I understand, the concept of god doesn't make any scientific sense to me. I am far from the point of completely ruling out the possibility though. I also thoroughly believe that if there indeed is/was a hand in the creation of life on planet Earth, the majority concensus on how/what/who had a part in it, is mostly or totally wrong and/or misunderstood. I also am not speaking only of christianity there.

 

[Oasis]

I believe in God one-hundred percent. I have had things happen in my life that just simply can't be explained by circumstance. I've grown up in a spiritual household, but we don't go to church. I read the Bible and I live like I'm supposed to as well. While I am a Christian I do have my own views that are different. For example, I'm straight, but I'm not narrow. There are a lot of Christians that are against homosexuality because of the Bible, however it doesn't bother me and never will. I also believe that all religions essentially came from one place. There are several religions that have the same story written in them. Anyway, I do believe in God. Everyone obviously has a right to their own opinion and beliefs, and I have no right to judge or try to change their views. I just know from my own experience that there is such a thing as Divine Intervention. Because of that I believe that there IS Someone out there.

 

[pacman]

I have never encountered any reliable evidence for the existence of God(s), so I do not believe.

 

[xubly]

I've been shocked by how many Aspie's on this forum I've seen who believe in God. I always thought it was my Asperger's syndrome that made me think very rationally, logically and straightforward, and was why I'm an atheist. I'll give a reason why I don't believe, and I'd like to hear why you do or don't too.

To put it short, I don't believe in God because I feel the theory of God has many rational flaws and doesn't seem logical. The ways Christians describe him seem to contradict each other and no one ever gets "damned to hell", for example, when someone says they are. I don't also believe in Heaven or Hell for the same reason, along with all other supernatural things. Another reason is there's simply no suitable proof. When Christians say "The Universe" or "The world around you" is proof, that's crap. There are billions and trillions of possibilities to the causation of the Universe and everything in it. One cannot simply attribute it to one being. It's completely illogical. Until I've seen an appropriate proof, I shall continue to not be able to believe in God's existence, as there's no logical reason to without proof. And it doesn't work the way that some Christians think, which is that "Atheists can't prove he doesn't exist". You need proof of his existence first, otherwise he either doesn't exist, or you can't know if he does. You can't prove his existence by the lack of evidence of his non-existence, and anyway, there's quite a bit of evidence for him not existing.

Anyway, after all that "venting" as people call it, what are your views?

Reading this reminded me of what my husband said to me a few years ago, "God does not exist in the logical world." I do believe in God, but I don't believe that there is an actual Heaven or Hell. Whatever we think Heaven or Hell is will become of us. I believe in the energy the Earth gives us. I can't exactly explain why I believe in God and why I don't believe in 'normal' ways of actual religion;but, I find true peace believing there is something much bigger and better than I can ever imagine there to be. We all have our own beliefs. You can say, "How can you love someone when you can't see it?" Isn't that the same thing as believing or not believing in God? I want to hear your point of view on this..not because I'm trying to convert you into believing, but to know what your thoughts are.

 

[wyverary]

I guess I will go ahead and jump in, much as I feel this topic could be a huge can of worms. No, I do not believe in God. I will go so far as to call myself a total Reductionist (I actually prefer Sean Carroll's label of "Naturalism," but that is a loaded term), which I personally find to be a very humbling and beautiful philosophy. At the same time, I think everybody has their own way of making sense of their place in the Universe, and having read my share of C.S. Lewis, Aquinas, Aristotle, et al (not to mention having spent a lot of time in the presence of priests), I completely respect those who take a more "spiritual" or mystical or otherwise less purely materialistic approach.

 

[balder]

Well, I personally believe that if there is a God, it has nothing to do with all the characteristics people like to describe him, like merciful, good or judger. All these characteristics are only in our minds and culture, they don't exist themselves. So for most purposes, I doubt there is a God, at least the way people would define a God.

When I think about it, what always comes to my mind is that this question is not something I should worry about. If I was born alone distant from all civilizations, would I believe in God? I feel God is something necessary to keep order in a neurotypical culture, but I don't think this is something that should occupy my mind. If there is a God, all right. If there isn't, all right. What doesn't make sense to me is that this God would need for some weird reason our attention and cults in exchange for not throwing us on Hell. If this God exists, he is very mean to create people with logic minds like ours and then blame us for question him the reason.

You can say, "How can you love someone when you can't see it?" Isn't that the same thing as believing or not believing in God?

I don't think so. Even love can be explained by physical and brain symptoms. Also, love is something very personal. What is love outside your thoughts and actions?

 

[xubly]

Well, I personally believe that if there is a God, it has nothing to do with all the characteristics people like to describe him, like merciful, good or judger. All these characteristics are only in our minds and culture, they don't exist themselves. So for most purposes, I doubt there is a God, at least the way people would define a God.

When I think about it, what always comes to my mind is that this question is not something I should worry about. If I was born alone distant from all civilizations, would I believe in God? I feel God is something necessary to keep order in a neurotypical culture, but I don't think this is something that should occupy my mind. If there is a God, all right. If there isn't, all right. What doesn't make sense to me is that this God would need for some weird reason our attention and cults in exchange for not throwing us on Hell. If this God exists, he is very mean to create people with logic minds like ours and then blame us for question him the reason.




I don't think so. Even love can be explained by physical and brain symptoms. Also, love is something very personal. What is love outside your thoughts and actions?

I feel that love can't be taught and until it is felt, you can't see it. I'm not much for logic on emotions because I feel differently than most. I can't rely on what it is when I see it in a book, and I do agree with you that love is personal;but the question about believing in God or not is also personal to me and maybe even to others.


*Edit: I wanted to be sure that I read everything thoroughly because it is important to me. After re-reading this, I hope that I didn't give off that vibe that I disagreed with anyone who doesn't believe in God or anyone that has a religion whom also believes in 'God'. I am simply giving food for thought and speaking out my own opinions, so, I hope I don't offend anyone here. I won't take offense to what anyone says since that's not how I am.

 

[Aalo]

No.
The word "god" has so many differing values of charge on people from different cultural and educational backgrounds, that there's not a meaningful way to even debate about it if it's not something we are able to classify.

 

[Bree]

Personally I believe in God rather I prefer to say that I know Him. Throughout my years dealing with peoples judgment I find He has guarded me and lead me I attribute my faith in him to my success

 

[superboyian]

I definitely believe there is a God, I believe God is real as I also believe that the beginning of creation had to start from somewhere. There was one time I pretty much had a near death experience when I was young yet to my surprise, I'm still alive and there literally is no physical scars so I also believe that if it weren't for God, I'm pretty sure my existence on this earth would have been long gone or the whole creation itself would not have even existed.

 

[Kuribo]

I see no conclusive evidence in favour of the existence of a god, therefore, I do not believe in it.

 

[jimited]

God is a man made creation to explain the unexplainable, also man uses God and so called religion to control the masses. I also think people who follow religion are very egotistical because they believe they are special and god listens to their prayer and blah blah blah yet we are told we are all of gods children but turns a blind eye to all of the of suffering that goes on in this world. I also hate the fact that god was supposed to give us free will yet if we choose not to worship him we get condemned to hell! Out of all the thousands of religions that have come and gone surely they cant be all true?...

 

[Aalo]

Imo we need to remember that there is a difference between people following religions, which is what some do without questioning any of their teachings where as some do it well, and people, that have somewhat spiritual lean in life who necessarily don't follow any prophet in particular. And there are so much in the middle. They're not ell the same person and treating them as such won't lead us further on this topic. The way we perceive the god(s) these people are expressing, isn't simple and can have many vast different kind of manifestations. Now it seems that you boys are just disliking some version of a god that's presented in western Christianity. That's really narrow opinion of all the portrays of gods there exists in the world. As the main question of this topic didn't specify whether we should discuss of god based on what mythology, it's not just safe to assume on only one version of that.

My next part is concerned about people of faiths, not any god(s) their self. To me there's a huge difference even if we don't know is/are god(s) manmade or not - but our perceivance always is.
Yes, I'd say too that it's somewhat hallucinated to think that some god form listens to *you* in particular, but I can't see anything wrong in people having faith in something, at some level people need to feel some reason for existence and all, and not everyone is able to find it the same way. It's also interesting question whether anyone claiming to have a faith x, really does that as everyone tends to think of things a little differently. But it's also basic human trait to seek company of other people like minded to do things together, in this case have a faith together. Which could lead to mas hysteria and crowd control and that's a shame.
One aspect about believers is that I don't tend to trust them. It's nothing big, I won't fear them either. This can sound mean I guess, let me explain: I'd rather have people being nice to me because I deserve it and they just want to be nice, than just being projected as their tool as they're trying to win their favor of their god out of fear or what ever there is as a motivation. In that sense I respect good personal philosophy way much more than anything foretold myth, never mind how well anyone obtains it.

 

[SUM1]

at some level people need to feel some reason for existence and all, and not everyone is able to find it the same way.

I understand people like to think they know a reason for existence, but I find it incredibly ignorant to attribute it to only one thing, when there are billions of possibilities. That's what annoys me. God is 1 in billions of reasons for the existence of life and the universe, so why think that it's definitely him?

I definitely believe there is a God, I believe God is real as I also believe that the beginning of creation had to start from somewhere. There was one time I pretty much had a near death experience when I was young yet to my surprise, I'm still alive and there literally is no physical scars so I also believe that if it weren't for God, I'm pretty sure my existence on this earth would have been long gone or the whole creation itself would not have even existed.

I think that with both of those things, the NDE and the beginning of creation, they have WAY too many possibilities for the causation of them for someone to simply think only one of the possibilities, God, is the cause of the things. It seems people who think God must be the reason for the universe because "it had to start from somewhere" are not opening their mind at all. For all we know a random horse could have started the universe by pooing it out. These are all possibilities, of course, some more likely than others, but don't be so sure about one of them. It's not the logical thing to do. Same goes for the NDE, it could have been some sort of severe hallucination, especially if you were ill or had an injury when it happened, plus many other mental experiences that could have tricked you into thinking it was physical.

 

[Gomendosi]

Moderator Note:

Just a quick reminder:
All religion threads are closely monitored as opinions can become quite personal.
So please remember to always be respectful of other peoples beliefs ; ]
Thank you

 

[Ste11aeres]

Moderator Note:

Just a quick reminder:
All religion threads are closely monitored as opinions can become quite personal.
So please remember to always be respectful of other peoples beliefs ; ]
Thank you

My reason for joining this forum was to escape mean-spirited anti-religious rants like those on the forum I used previously. I am glad that at this site there is a policy against that type of thing.

 

[jimited]

I respect other peoples beliefs but I do not necessarily agree with them, as long as they keep it to them selves it has nothing to do with me. But what I don't respect is when religion is used to influence and control whole societies and teaching religious doctrine as fact, whilst telling people you will go to hell if you do not follow said religion. That is my belief

 

[Peace]

Let me start by saying that I believe in God. Now allow me to say that my beliefs, a few years and a few churches later, amount to this. Religion is a good thing. However, not everything that paints itself to be religious is. In fact I would argue that most of it is not.
God did not create us to worship him, but to have a relationship with him. Religion was meant to be simple. Love, Accept, Don't Cheat, etc. But man uses all things to his advantage, and with the witchcraft of words, is able to warp a blessing into a tool for profit.
The bible tells us to be nice, so does the Quran. If you live by this principle, no harm can come of it. And weather you think that God is a miracle, or a man, or mother nature, or whatever. Just give thanks, be humble and be nice. If we all did this, we would not need a bible.
Peace

Hi Josh, is it possible that God did reach out and give you what you needed, but that you did not recognize it? Maybe because it was not what you were expecting?

To all who say they have no proof. It does not seem logical to me that we all started out from one cell and evolved into such intelligent and able creatures that we can master manipulating and even destroying our own environment? And why are we the only creature of so many, that has things like greed and lust and jealousy? It is not logical that these things evolved in us and in no other creature. There is also no practical application for them.