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Does god exist?

What is god? How do we define god? Just because we can’t see it does that mean it does not exist?

JpGee 4 Jan 1
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95 comments (26 - 50)

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3

Before one asks if there is a God one should first define what it is.

3

Here’s another similar question:
Does love exist?

skado Level 9 Jan 1, 2020
3

You're asking that question here? Are you sure you're in the right place?

I really don’t believe in god I wanted to see how people would react to questions like this because I wanted see if anyone could develop a clear concise answer.

@Donotbelieve Wack him one. He's playing games.

3

All of the "gods" exist. I know, because I have been told so......Who hasn't?

twill Level 7 Jan 1, 2020
3

is there some all-powerful being in the sky causing miracles and looking after us? absolutely not

3

All the theist I have ask to prove a god is real, have failed to provide objective evidence. All they have is subjective evidence from their minds. Some of them point to the bible as evidence, the bible is the claim, not the evidence.

3

You have answered your own question. There is no way to determine if “X” exists until you first define “X”.

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skado Level 9 Jan 1, 2020
3

I find absolutely no evidence for the existence of any god. It's all mythology. Gods exist only in the imagination of humans. They are not real.

3

Welcome to the asylum. Enjoy your stay.

2

A lot of you are missing the point. God and religion was created to control the masses.

JpGee Level 4 Jan 7, 2020

seems to me you will get as many definitions of god as you have disparate people (or at least as many sects are represented)

i'm clearly no expert, but gods were surely invented to explain the unexplained. as things get explained there is less use for all of these gods. morphs into monotheistic religions, which components of, are used to control the masses, also build societies. no question in my mind, but the basic reason for the monotheistic god is still to explain that which is unexplained.

also if i missed your point from the original post to this reply, i don't think it was me. i don't see how you connect the dots from your original post, to what you wrote here.

Yes religion was invented to rape women and brainwash boys into deadly violence against neighboring tribes but what is this capitalized gibberish you keep making zero points about

2

Just because people believe gods exist, that does not mean they do? Children believe in Santa and the tooth fairy yet they do not exist.

Also, there is no need to insert a god when explaining how the universe works; so why insert one?

2

You're at the wrong forum

2

I think I might be God. Well the ladies that get on top of me say so.

2

The problem with supernatural beings and realms is that they can never be proven or disproven. The supernatural is an otherwise useless and illogical concept that was constructed by man specifically to house his gods and other asserted random notions about reality that he finds comforting but can't actually substantiate.

God is one of the most ill-defined concepts ever. God is whatever someone wants him to be, no more and no less -- just like the Cheshire Cat. When you try to pin someone down on their definition, the definition simply changes into something else.

Not seeing something is no barrier to having a reasonable belief that it exists, because if it really exists, it can be demonstrated to exist by other means than sight, directly or indirectly. But deities, who invariably violate logic and physics, and who are never necessary to adequately explain things that DO exist, do not influence reality like real things do. They don't answer prayer, bless the righteous, or confound the wicked. They do not protect, enlighten, or bless anyone. No one can agree on what their claims on us are or how to fulfill them -- in Christianity alone there are countless denominations and sects, some of which consider the others heretical. Holy books are vague templates that can be twisted to mean more or less anything and are full of contradictions internally and externally, and outright falsehoods.

Finally, the claims for deities are highly fantastical and consequential, so the bar is particularly high to believing those claims. My wife for example tells me that in her teens she once hung out with a well known celebrity for a couple of days. I believe her, because I have experience with her and know she has integrity and it fits with what I know of her and the other person. But guess what, if I'm wrong, I will not burn in hell for all eternity because of it. So I am not asking her for photos and witness testimony to prove it. If she claimed to have hung out with bigfoot, that'd be a different story. The celebrity actually exists (well, existed); bigfoot is a legend, not a real thing.

2

What do you hope to gain by supposing there is a god?

Prayer is not reliably answered above background happenstance. It is wishing by another name.
Belief in a god has never been seen to provide true explanations nor actionable intelligence.
God-belief does not confer a better life as measured by looking at those who do believe.
Believing or not, you're still going to die, and believing in an afterlife is also just lying to yourself.

2

I suppose you can be given some slack for the sophomoric questions, considering your age. You must have some idea yourself as to the nature of gods? Can you imagine a nuclear explosion, or a supernova? Imagine the creation of the entire universe...got it? That is what and where gods are, in the imagination of the human mind.
You might say that gods do exist, but only when you think about them. Happy New Year. GROG

GROG Level 6 Jan 2, 2020

Please do not attribute it to age. I'm 22 and hasn't asked those questions since around 6-ish.

@HumanistA I was hoping to get a rise out of you, but you are young. And this is a place for Agnostics, and these are old questions. What do believe is true? Do you think heaven might exist?
How is life in Jamaica? Happy New Year. GROG

2

YES! (Agreeing that there is no such thing!)

2

NO! If I was a dog would my god be a Great Dane a mastiff or an alpha male wolf? That’s how ridiculous the concept of a god is to me. And we associate god with omni....human white man exclusively in the Christian tradition.

2

No.
I don't.
One can't see electricity but it will shut your ass down right now used the wrong way.

2

You i will smite,
you may now consider yourself smited
gof

2

Which God are you referring to? There are 1000s of gods throughout history. Are you refering to the Abrahramic God? @JpGee

The God of Dog.

2

Only if you believe the bible and other scriptural writings and accept them as evidence. Otherwise there is no proof of gods of any kind.

2

Of course it exists, in your mind. It is whatever you want to think it is due to indoctrination from your parents, the religion you were raised on, society around you, etcetera. It is called brainwashing. Now, if you only open your mind to accept the fact that all gods were created by men due to their inability to explain things men didn't know or feared, like death or thunder (thor, odin, zeus) for example, and you use reason, logic and common sense to ask yourself where is the evidence for the existence of one, you will realize that you were spoon fed bullshit, fear and stuff that is so ilogical and unscientific that it doesn't stand any serious analysis of existence. Up to you to get rid of the blindfold.

2

Do you believe in the great Dirulovious? Oh, you don't know what that is and you'd like it defined? You want to know its nature and its attributes? Well, I'd like to help you with that, but the great Dirulovious is from a dimension many magnitudes of order higher than ours and we lack the reference point to comprehend just how great it is. And, of course we can't see such greatness with our limited three-dimensional eyes; that would be absurd. Now do you believe in the great Dirulovious? No? What if I told you it is so magnificent that your mere belief will transcend the dimensions and grant you increased good luck, sevenfold, but rejecting the great Dirulovious will bring you sevenfold bad luck? Now do you believe? It's not that the great Dirulovious is malicious, mind you — such a human concept! — but that rejecting its good will is a personal choice that disrupts the dimensional fabric and in so doing you invite bad luck into your life. You understand, now, that I'm looking out for you, yes? I wouldn't want anyone to suffer such misfortune when it's so easy to accept the gift of the great Dirulovious. Now, surely, you believe?

Okay, that was a little silly, I admit, but many people believe something similar regarding what they call "God." I don't attempt to define "God" because it's not my concept. Those making the claim have the onus of defining what they mean. A lot of people claim their God is beyond human comprehension and cannot be defined. Any description that's so denuded of substance renders the question of belief meaningless. In that case, I'm ignostic.

Regarding more specific claims for a God or gods, I tend to learn toward agnosticism in terms of whether I can absolutely know, but I'm a negative atheist regarding any specific claims I've heard for the supernatural. This means that I don't state that it can't be true, but I don't accept the claim because it lacks any substantial evidence. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and that which has be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. I don't accept claims for Sasquatch, leprechauns, or the flat Earth as valid because they fail to provide sufficient evidence; I remain unconvinced. The same is true of claims for an all-powerful, all-knowing being who created the universe, loves us, and has prepared an eternal jackpot for those of us who scratch off the winning numbers in this life — whatever those requisite numbers happen to be.

But, in regard to some specific gods, e.g., Yahweh, I'm a positive atheist, meaning I disbelieve the claim. In the case of Yahweh, this is because I have followed the history of the development of this god as a regional deity in the pre-Hebrew days, then the adoption of this god by the Israelites as a wandering deity accompanying the nomadic people, and then a theological shift from polytheistic belief to monotheism, the separation of good and evil between Yahweh and Satan, and the eventual development of eternal reward in heaven and punishment in the newer concept of hell, necessitating a Messiah, of which many cults emerged and led to the Christian cult centered on Yeshua (Jesus), promoted by Saul/Paul of Tarsus who used the Christian faith to further his social and political agenda. I'm most familiar with the Judeo-Christian tradition, but other religions have similar issues when looking at the historical progression.

So as to not be obtuse, I generally presume people mean by "God" something along the lines of all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving consciousness that created the universe. And, among the people who typically bring this up to me, it is specifically the Judeo-Christian concept they are referencing. But some people have a significantly different concept in mind, like Deepak Choprah, though his word-salad tends to be intentionally obfuscating, a string of meaningless phrases that sound profound until you really parse out what he's saying. But, when you look at his ideas and the pseudo-quantum language he tries to employ, the problem comes back to unsubstantiated claims (coupled with the misuse of scientific jargon).

2

No. Just because we don't see it does not mean it does not exist. Seriously. Yes it does mean that it does not exist. It is made up by men. It did not create two people who had two kids, then one killed the other, and we all descended from him having sex with his mother since there were no other beings on earth. The sky is not inhabited by a bearded invisible white man. It is full of stars i.e. suns that are orbited by planets just like our solar system. It does know all and watches you masturbate- He is not a catholic priest -. He doesn't create earthquakes and storms and fire. Wake up.

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