Does God Exist?

You are letting your biases influence you and saying that as a believer. Would you make the same argument if we were talking about Bigfoot?

The lack of evidence doesn't make it a definitive answer that 'God' in some form does not exist but that can be said about Flying Spaghetti Monsters, unicorns, ghosts, lepercauhns, flying teapots, Vampires, werewolves, space aliens, Sauron and so on.

Why don't these other concepts get brought up ad nauseum in philosophical debate with the same fervor for faith in their existence? I mean in my previous response to you, I addressed at least 3 or 4 different conceptions of God, it's not even a coherent concept among theists.

 

I would like to offer two reasons for that.
One , God, as an all powerful divine being who is believed to be in control of everything that exists, offers ultimate power to the one or group who would in essence be closest to him..or it. No other beings as powerful as they are, comes close. To have God on your side, means power. To some.No other being can offer that.

Two, the i

 

I apologise for m6 posts, I can only write so much at a time on this device, and am forced to keep my answers short.But two, the ideal offers the things that we humans desire most..love, joy, peace, redemption, salvation and most of all, hope.To kill that ideal, would kill one of the most important sources of hope ever known to man.

 

So God essentially allows one to have a power trip... It's this power trip, justified by Holy Texts and other religious ideology that some like Mr. Sam Harris sees as the root cause for one justifying war and terrorism in the name of.

That does offer clarity though, thanks.

Killing that ideal is better than continually killing each other over that ideal.

 

In philosophy , I am more interested in godly knowing than existence . The wonders and revelations of existence are
always acceptable and folkie .

 

I might have agree with Mr. Harris on that. But it isnt God that allows the excuse, it is the twisted greed and arrogance of man, and his self justification that has allowed for it.

I would have to respectfully disagree with on the second one.

 

You think people killing each over some concept they have no evidence for is preferable over ridding of the concept because it demonstrates conviction?

 

No, not at all. But to kill hope, would be dire. Heres the clincher.. people who war and kill in the name of God, unless it , in their culture and belief system, is a god of blood and death, do not truely believe in God(in modern concept ) or any of the things God represents.They might profess to, but their actions tell the true tale.

 

God, is supposedly an all loving and forgiving being.
Thalt shall not kill.

 

and we're right back with human notions, religions, ideologies, politics and labels.
I guess you didn't "get" the point of my posts.

I do know of and have tried various methods, as you know because I have personally related them to you.
you are getting to caught up in the "names" of things and think that the name encompasses the thing.
I do not need to label a certain practice/experience in order to "do" it..... a rose by any other name..and all that jazz.


you also error in assuming/believing those methods lead to a knowledge of God any more than a Christian being "born again" or other spiritual practices from other cultures, yet for some reason you seem to want to give greater weight to something which is little more than manipulation and control over our physical bodies and that includes any type of cognitive or "spiritual" effects as well.


just admit it MeAgain, you don't know shit about God's existence any more than I do, we are all groping our way through the quagmire holding to our own experiences and personal revelations, hopefully remaining malleable along the way.

 

I guess the only way to truly settle the question requires removing the human factor, but if we do that is their any God left?

 

The post has done some good, though, for now we have more evidence that talking about God will get no one anywhere. UNLESS there are a whole bunch of lurkers out there whose minds are totally up for grabs. Is it possible that we're speaking to each other completely foolishly? That none of our minds can ever be changed?

But I digress. We can see now that talking about God gets us nowhere, and we also know that if God exists, God knows we never get anywhere when we talk about him. We also know that the problem can't be God; the problem must be us. So why don't we ever get anywhere when we talk about him? It's not that God won't help us. It's that the whole issue just isn't that important. We're all fighting with some Kingly dude who wants to think about the other shit he's created and get some credit for it. The philosophy forum should be less God and more sciencey stuff (even though there's a science forum.) Who cares who created it for a moment? You think God cares? BULLSHIT, he's just thinking of something awesome to create. And you're bothering him with a trivial argument over who created it.

Let's explore this galaxy together, like Captain Kirk (theist) and Spock (the atheist.) We're all on the same Starship Enterprise. Now let's go exploring!

 

Saying someone does not truly believe in God is a very difficult discernment, seems inherently subjective and treading on a touchy area within religious beliefs. That may be even worse than the atheist and the theist debate really because at least the vast majority of atheists are not telling one with theistic beliefs they don't 'truly' believe in God.

Hope is not inherently synonymous with God either. I can see how you can probably associate hope with God but one can maintain hope in a Godless universe. As the brief video below suggests, this may be 'uncomfortable' in a sense but it can be quite freeing as well. Hopefully you can watch it on your device.


http://youtu.be/SB5cBl2np-I

 

whenever someone believes in me as a music god , and says so too joyfully ... well , i've always
been surprised as well as felt very oddly . still , i keep on trying to advance . perhaps i can get
so powerful as they will just shut up , and don't annoy me with clapping either - I'D ENJOY TINKLY
BELLS

 

Im not sure youre getting my point about hope guerilla, ( i know thats my fault because of the limits of this device) upon reading your reply...of course hope is not always synonymous with god., but for millions, it is. And yes, I agree that people can find hope in believing there is no god. They do it by the millions as well.Again, it is all about perception. I wish I could watch yhe vid, but I cannot at this moment..I will though, thanxx for posting it.

 

LMAO! NO one knows shit when it comes to this. I dont care how logical, knowledgeable, smart, spiritual or enlightened we believe we are. We dont KNOW shit. And until science can show solid evidence of something or God shows up, we never will.Untill we die.
And the quicker everyone just admits that, the better of this world will be.

 

" Each person is responsible for their own understanding."
And we ve said that time and time again. This is why the conversation always gets redundent at some point. It can, and has driven many peeps insane.

 

I work too much now that I have a job and I do not have time to find the post where Asmo responded to me, but I am going to respond to him nonetheless as best I can.

There seemed to be a great deal of waffling in your responses to me, in parentheses, whereby you said you disagreed with what I had to state (almost as though you wish I would just shut up and never respond about religion again xD) but at least you redeemed yourself in stating that it was my right to state what I do.

The point I want to make is that I will always be outspoken in regards to religion because as much as it has always claimed to promote goodness, daily (and history reflects this) it does more harm for society than good. Such a detriment to society does not deserve respect in any form and absolutely deserves derision in any form.

 

In terms of providing evidence, you cannot prove nonexistence. There is no evidence science can produce which can disprove God, particularly when God is an amorphous concept which doesn't need any clearly defined meaning. Religion, in the West, kind of clings on to scientific knowledge as well, so it seems likely religion will continue to cater to scientific advancements and adjust beliefs.

Science has disproven that the Sun revolves around the Earth, which was a long-held thelogical belief. Science has also shown compelling evidence, that evolution can occur naturally without requiring a designer. I'm not sure what solid evidence you are looking for.