Agnostic.com

10 1

The Idea of God

I am of the opinion that the idea of god stems from the need to feel grateful for existence but nowhere/no-one specific to point this gratitude towards. Are there any studies out there which validate or refute this argument?

Xoviat 4 Apr 14
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

10 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

3

I believe we do need to express gratitude for our existence and that that gratitude should be expressed in the way we take care of our planet and its inhabitants who made it possible. Okay with me if you call that god.

well it's okay with me no matter what someone calls it but that doesn't stop me from thinking it's ridiculous. it's okay to be ridiculous but i call it what it is.

g

I find that sentiment admirable. Perhaps as humans, we desire to show gratitude on a level that is not immediately relevant in the hopes that something supernatural pops up to say 'No problem Buddy, you're welcome!'

We probably should be looking at the here and nows of our lives and investing our energies in what is immediately relevant to our situation instead of looking back.

2

nope. none that i have ever heard of. i think it is more likely that the idea of god stems from the need for an authority to keep people in line, which isn't such a terrible idea on the face of it but hasn't worked out so well.

g

I see that as an extension of the idea of god in the form of organised religions with agreed definitions of god. If there were no organised religions, there would still be individuals with the idea of god (Otherwise organised religion wouldn't have come about in the first place). I want to explore the reasons why that is the case.

By the way, I'm not referring to just the Abrahamic god, but any conjectured deity. Whether it's Yahweh or a herd of 2-Headed flying cows with tentacles riding Harleys.

1

More appropriate than I realized. Thank you.

0

The idea of feeling really, really grateful for a "god-given" life is plain selfishness considering that every moment, thousands of people suffer or die around the world. If a loving god created everything out of love, then why do people around the world starve or suffer or are in pain? Certainly a loving god is not doing anything about it, therefore, it could be that god is just tired or he/she doesn't exist at all! 😀

0

I am grateful for life, but don't believe in God.

0

No studies needed. Look inside you for the truth. You do not a validation for the truth inside you.

0

I am DOG the Great and Powerful!
And I created the Heavens and the Earth.
And I created everything which walketh, crawleth, slinketh, or stinketh upon the Earth!
I created everything which swimmeth, or flieth, or twerketh!
And I created both God, and the Devil, to thoroughly confuse you!
In my name's sake!

0

An interesting thought. I dunno if there are studies out there on this, though there is a psychology discussion group here, someone there might have some knowledge on this.

kmaz Level 7 Apr 15, 2019
0

God(s) originated out of a need to control fear through stories, myths etc. A way to define the unknowable nature of a cruel capricious world. From there it evolved into a way to to define a cultures place in the world and carry on stories and information to the next generations and glue together larger and larger groups. I do not think it had much to do with being grateful in the beginning more it was about trying to understand the world with a distinct lack of reliable information.

Quarm Level 6 Apr 14, 2019

This also seems fair. The wikipedia page suggested to me by Antifred "evolutionary origins of religion" supports your statement. I suppose the question 'Who should I be thanking for my existence?" is less pressing than occurences in nature like "Why does the sun rise and set?" or "What is thunder?".

@Xoviat One of my favorite examples of the rise of myth is from Jurassic Park (The book). In the beginning a lady has her infant carried off by something and the author talks about how in the real world Jaguars would steal and kill and eat peoples babies without leaving any evidence of their actions as they break the child's neck and carry off the body. No blood etc. So the natives attributed the events to "Demons".

0

It’s difficult (impossible?) to have an idea of anything one has never perceived, or the parts of which one has never perceived (like a flying horse). Freud suggests that the idea of God comes from our idea of a father whose imperfections have all been imagined away. That seems probably right to me. But why should believe that there exists such a being? I think Xoviat’s suggestion that we feel a need for someone to thank for our existence—and any other undeserved bounty—has merit.

I think adding 'any undeserved bounty' is fair. Considering this, such situations may also work with the bad as well as the good.

  1. <X> happened
  2. I don't know why it happened.
  3. <X> benefits/hurts me.
  4. I don't know who or what I should be thanking/cursing for <X>
  5. Maybe an unseen entity made this happen?
  6. Ok, Iets run with that.
Write Comment
You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:330944
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.