why do people believe in god?

I think people use the idea of a "god" as a security blanket. That just my opinion and nobody can prove me right or wrong...
 
because my mommys mommy believed in god and her mommys mommy believed in god and her mommys mommy believed in god and her mommys mommy believed in god and her mommys mommy believed in god and her mommys mommy believed in god and her mommys mommy believed in god and her mommys mommy believed in god and her mommys mommy believed in god and her mommys mommy believed in god etc. it's all bullshit :)
 
Well I didn't read some pages of posts 'cause I'm about to log off although I will come back to this later, but I think this is an interesting topic.

What really sucks is being agnostic, I honestly think there's never gonna be any way to prove/disprove God/the afterlife except to die and find out.

The thing about it is, just because some believe God exists doesn't mean he does, and just because there are aethists who don't believe, that doesn't prove his non-existance either. Neither can anyone ever fully convince me or that there is/isn't a God no matter how well they explain it, no matter how scientifically they break it down or how many miracles they claim to have gone thru.

I think there is a 50/50 chance of there being a God, and if there is I'm sure its not what alot of people make him/her/it out to be. I think its ridiculous to have all these religions if there is in fact only one God.

And if there is a God, I'm sure its either a state of mind (when you pray you are communicating with your subconscious) or its just a very powerful energy or something.

I just don't think its some big guy up in the sky keeping track of everything everyone does at one time.
 
I guess I'd be defined as an agnostic and an atheist. I don't believe there is a god and think that there is no way that anyone can prove his/her being...
 
Human beings can't comprehend an existance that could simply "end" at death. Thus, all religions are borne from the need to continue existance. It's sad, to me, that such a vast number of people could be thrown against each other in religious crusades simply because their unsubstanciated religion has conflicts with another unsubstanciated religion. I am happy, however, for those that can find comfort in this harsh world simply by turning to faith. It, however, is not my path.
 
Tr6ai0ls4 said:
The reason for this post is to gather opinions of people with different beliefs and views of god. I do not believe in any one religion however I do believe in a higher power. I thought that perhaps people who are atheist or follow any religion might have some intersting things to say on this subject.

Why is it that for thousands upon thousands of years millions of people maintain a belief in some sort of god or higher power?

My opinion is that there are different types of believers who believe for different reasons. Someone may believe blindly just because they were taught to all their life, another might believe because it simply brings them comfort to assume that there is something out there bigger then they are that controls things and makes things right if that is their perception of what god is.

But why wont these beliefs just go away? Why is it that they have stayed with us through everything? Could it be simply because of the things that I have mentioned above or is it something more then that? I think that somebody who is intelligent would not just blindly believe anything no matter what they brought up to do. Same goes for the other reason i have mentioned. The reason that seems to make the most sense to me is that there actually is a god and there are intelligent people out there who actually actually see god for what god is and somewhat understand god. Then these people teach other people less intelligent then them and the less intelligent people twist up all their beliefs as the beliefs get passed down to their children, the children of their children, etc.. The beliefs get mixed up because some people believe blindly what they are told without questioning or trying to understand what the beliefs actually mean.

Whats your opinion?
[ 16 February 2003: Message edited by: Tr6ai0ls4 ]
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i think people believe becuz they r afraid
 
accordin to Spinoza everytin and everone is a manifestation of god! Spinoza had a deterministic view on god....

peace
 
Way before we ever forayed into the avenue of science, certain scholars and philosophers felt the immense need for a guardian of sins, one who would be helpful in curbing sins and evil. That was a time when religion and God were nonexistent. The scholars came up with an idea, a singular thought that would forever remain to be the most ingenious and convincing theory of all times, ever thought up by man. The Theory of God. They created a fictitious character, named it GOD (it could well have been Elvis or Peanut!!) and claimed that He was omnipotent, omnipresent, and would punish all sinners. They began building up the necessary credibility to their theory thru epics, stories, parables, and whatnot. They occasionally took the aid of magic too, and slowly built up an irresistible aura around GOD that people found hard to refute.

Slowly people began falling into the virtual vortex of religion, people became more conscious about God and themselves ... they began to check their behavior in society and their wrongdoings. The fear of The One got instilled into everyone's mind, and they began to take religion seriously. They started praying god, preaching ethics and loving neighbors. Mind you, this happened so long ago that any historical evidence relating to this magnanimous metamorphosis might have been difficult to procure (or was willfully destroyed?). This global catharsis was brought about in the most efficient manner that left no room for doubt.

Slowly, creativity of people began to express itself, and the overwhelming need for a streamlining of religion and ethics added fuel to the fire, thus initiating the establishment of various religions across the world, each evolving as an integral part of the local culture, merging into the social structure seamlessly. By the time annals started recording history, this Theory of God had become so rooted that it was self evident everywhere ... "no big deal", as we say. There was none to disbelieve for the very simple reason that the question of disbelief didn't crop up even in the most curious minds...they were born and brought up as good God-fearing humans that they felt it prudent to go about investigating fallen apples and animals, rather than oppose something they felt was the only ultimate truth.

The evolution of science was discrete and distinct from religion. Nobody dared to bridge them. The science-god face off often turned out into futile, and dangerous attempts ... ask Galileo and Copernicus if I'm wrong! Such events scared many scientists ,and they knew well to keep to their labs and stop throwing stones at churches. This suppression of science is present even this day; for, the great Einstein himself, instead of questioning the veracity of theism, accommodated god into his scientific theories, pleasing the scientific community as well as the papal authority. Now, intrepid scientists like Stephen Hawking have started looking at god in a different perspective, but they still refrain themselves from being called atheists.

In this context, one interesting aspect worth mentioning is the recent Hollywood blockbuster "THE MATRIX". I don't know if you had already watched it or not, but if you didn't, do so. In all the sci-fi drama it presents, a very convincing futuristic scenario supported by very clever sophisms and hypotheses, what brought me to like it was the very concept of the matrix. Though the creators of matrix in the movie are much melodramaticized in order to provide for the action element, the idea is very compatible to the Theory of God.

The very concept of God is one huge matrix that has been pulled over our eyes, to keep us away from doing deeds that are not acceptable on humanitarian grounds. We all live in a fictitious world, believing in a fictitious character called God, preaching fictitious morals, all the time blind to the truth that there is in fact none to punish us even if we commit a sin. Think, when somebody commits a sin, there is an indeterminate probability that the future course of his life might go for the better ... or for worse. The better ones fade away into the mediocre, and the ones who ate the pie are pasteurized as victims of the divine flogging. This attribution of undesirable events to the wrath of God is unprovoked ... even the subject himself repents and becomes an ardent devotee.

It is in fact just a chain of events, brought about by pure chance that form the raison'd'etre for this result. Nobody troubles to think of the better ones, because then the credibility of the theory is lost. such cases are the black sheep to an otherwise impeccable theory. So you don't find exceptions to the theory from the normal, sundry perspective. It's when you start looking at the overall statistics of failures and successes that you start to believe that the true God is chance.

During the course of my search for evidences to support this theory, I was browsing the net thru a search engine with the keyword "atheism". I stumbled across a website that started its intro referring to "principle of Occam's razor". It states that one shouldn't make more assumptions than needed in the process of building or explaining a theory. The excess assumptions are "shaved" by Occam's razor (Occam was the philosopher who proposed this logical truth). It went on deriving logical conclusions supporting atheism, but they are of no consequence; what is important is, in fact, the whole basis on which the theory of God was constructed was the Occam's razor principle itself.

In order to explain any inexplicable event or occurrence, that is beyond the reach of any comprehensive scientific reasoning, we turn to God, the doer of all mysterious events. One simple assumption that "shaves off" all complex, baffling scientific inferences and hypotheses and makes our understanding of the mystery all clear..or so we believe. It is like a dark room to which we just opened the door: instead of lighting up a torch and looking what's in it, we close it off assuming there is nothing inside it. We've missed a lot this way, and we'll too, in the future ,if we keep attributing all such cases to God.

Last, but never the least, is a huge question that looms large on the horizon ... justification. How far is the theory justified if we stop believing it? The moment we stop believing it the whole world will be in chaos ... the hitherto well framed structure will collapse and it'll be a tangled mess, morals gone haywire. The system will terminate, end of the world, period. We do not want ourselves to go around doing sins, screaming obscenities at god and sneering at others who dare to question us, "okay, who's going to punish us huh?" We need to be controlled, we need to be in fear of someone, to be conscious of our errors and their eventualities, because our race is not developed enough to control our mind. We have to believe in god.

Then where is the justification of this essay? I could've been a theist myself, because this theory clearly directs me to be one. But I live in a country ridden with religious overtures in every facet of life, of silly, stupid superstitions, traditions and beliefs that are senseless and illogical. People are so lost in a frenzy of devotion, in the stupidity of faith, that their mind's eye is eternally hazed by the screen of religion. Logical thinking is extinct in such people, mindless fanaticism reigns supreme, leading to strife and wars thus hampering our progress as successful human beings. The sanctity of the most extraordinary theories is lost due to the selfish propaganda of certain elements and equally blind devotees, that I've come to abhor the justification needed.

Being in control of one's self is the true religion, and I'm the advocate of my own tenets. I'm God. I believe I'm in control of myself, so I need no conscience gatekeeper. I do no wrong deeds, because I fear myself. Now, I'm totally at peace, believing what I want to believe, seeing and knowing the world through the logical window, never letting God cloud my horizon of reason. Logic is the key to all understanding, there is rationality behind every event, and the world is ever so lucid to me. No religion can stop me, everybody is my brother. Standing at the top of the world, I stretch out my hands wide, feel the wind across my chests, and say to myself," This is my world".
 
If someone would like scientific proof of the existence of God and proof of the bible, undisputable, I will be willing to post the information. Let me know. PM me.
 
How about realizing that we are nothing but animals with a brain that is complex enough to try to understand why we exist?

We'll all rot in our graves one day or whatever place we wanna put our remains, and niether one of us is going to be able to tell us what happens. Guess why.

This is a drug forum, I'm sure a lot of you people know how a state of mind can be altered and what tricks it can play.

But whatever keeps your hopes up I guess.
 
I haven't read all of this thread, but my theory as to why people believe in God, is because they are fed full of bullshit by their parents/peers. ;)
 
most people who belive in god have it brainwashed into them at a very young age, the other ones are just desperate for something to belive in
 
Ill tell you why people believe in god and allah and the buddah. Because a long time ago no one knew what the hell it was about mushrooms, bud, cacti, and datura that made you see shit.

But honestly, its just an ancient explanation for the world, sort of made obsoloete by modern science, but of course there is more to the universe than science, and ultimately no one can really say what is true at all, since everyone is equal, and everyone has different beliefes, whose perception is right? Anyway peo9ple can think what they want. The conservative Christain society is however growing increasingly annoying.
 
because, imo, there is one.

i was brought up christian. i have, throughout my teens and 20's been trying to ignore it. mainly because of my lifestyle, and the need for a lifestyle change. however through it all, at my lowest points, i always seem to look to God. There are numerous accounts in my life of instances that go beyond circumstance. There are a vast number of occurences in nature that science points to a design. for example: quantum physics has been telling us for years that it can't all be explained if you only look at the universe materialistically.

if tho, i had to give a non biased answer, i'd say every single person on earth feels incomplete. whether you believe that this missing piece is a relationship with God, or just a survival or social adaptation, is all up to you
 
dont be so sure theres a god, and dont be so sure theres not. There is no way to tell. But one thing we can all do is smell.
 
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