Religion., Is God real?

I'd realy like to discuss this on a moral level than just to piss people off. I dont believe in God.

I see religion as a crutch, due to lack of proof.

This is a bit of a controversial issue so I'll move this to serious discussion.

And on God I actually have a good argument for why I'm atheist but I'll post it later as I'm too tired and I just had a drinking party with my friends yesterday.

Does that mean I have to change my answer?
Bah.

Well I wouldn't say that this topic is BAD.

It's just that Death kinda posted without much information or reason as to why he doesn't believe in God...

Other than that this topic is OK.

There is already a topic on religion.

I believe that there is no God because of the bible it-self. I could go write a book and call it a religion and have people acctualy beleive me and plus this book supposedly was writen way back when no one knew how to write just symbols and hebrew. which come to my next point in how do we know god is even real? how can we be so sure that our lifes arnt just planed out? I believe in destiny other than god for out paths have already been chosen by our selfs and we cant ever change that no matter what we do. No one has seen god (even the insane cant say what he looks like) we dont know if hes white black asian or anything i could say my fish is god and until there is acctaule proof then i wont believe in god no matter what anyone says. Anyone elses oppinion if god is real?

It's a matter of faith. People have faith in god, and for the most part it has made them better. Another factor is that nobody can ever disprove god. The only thing you can do is state your opinions on your reason regarding your absence of faith. This doesn't mean you can prove god either for the same reasons. The only sentient being that could ever prove or disprove god would have to be an Omniscient (an all knowing being.)

I generally understand what you are trying to say but I think your logic come up short on a few points.

The bible was written in a time when people knew how to write. Hebrew is a beautifully written language. The Ancient Egyptians knew how to write. The symbols they wrote with were sufficient is expressing spoken work in the written form and were understood by the literate society. The same with Hebrew. Perhaps this misunderstanding stems from misinformation or an assumption.

This confuses me. Many who believe in God believe He has a plan for them. People believe that everything that happens to them is a part of "God's Plan." So the fault in your logic I see here is that you use a point that is just as easily used to jusity God does exist to justify your non-belief in God.

Believe in God or not, God is generally not considered to be a human being except by Mormons.

I only point these out as counter arguments; not as points to say you're wrong. This is a very old debate, wether or not God exists. It's not about figuring out who's right or wrong, it's about reaching and understanding with eachother regardless of wether or not He exists.

Prove god then prove him...

I don't need to, people already believe in him. I believe it is you who needs to disprove god.

I believe there either is or was some greater creative being/force/whatever that set everything in motion. The laws of nature and physics and natural systems are to complex for me to accept that it all occurred at random.

I don't however particularly believe that being/force/whatever is still influencing the events/choices/systems/whatever of our universe. The laws of probability/statistics/causality can nearly always explain any "miraculous" events that seem to happen.

I believe humans have a soul which continues to exist after death. I believe humanity is hardwired for some morality; generally, people don't commit random acts of violence without some mental defect. This says to me that people's actions are repaid in the next life. I believe however good or bad Heaven, Hell, Reincarnation, or whatever you call it winds up being for you is a reflection of your actions and attitudes in this life.

I don't believe in organized religion. Too much hypocrisy and corruption. I believe focusing on dogma, rules, and tradition takes your focus away from what's really important.

I don't try to force others to believe what I believe; I also don't let others try to force me into their beliefs.

To much logic and reading for me to do this late while playing runescape ill re-esseace tommorow.

Which ironically God is.

Playing devil's advocate here (lol I see what I did here).

Saying "It's a matter of faith." isn't really PROVING God as much as saying "I think God is real, ergo he is." which is akin to what a child would say about Santa Clause, until told by his parents that he isn't.

Does this mean that God is Santa? Well in a way yes they are. Both God and Santa fulfill a similar role (rewarding the good and punishing the evil) and both have legends about them that people are expected to believe.

For some reason however we have gotten in the habit of stamping out that Santa is real in our children yet we insist that God does exist. Why? Is God suppose to represent the moral authority that the police and government cannot?

"You can escape the law but you can't escape God" and all that?

But the BIGGEST reason I don't believe in God is this.

OTHER RELIGIONS

Buddism, Hinduism, Daoism, all that shit. So many religions are made that I just realized.

"Hey ya know, I think someone is shitting me here." and frankly I didn't have much of a reason to trust the Catholic church anymore than I had to trust any other church. EVERY religion expects you to think that they're religion is true and that all other religions are wrong to some extent.

But how do you know this? Faith? Well that's the simple answer. Who inspired that faith? THE VERY CHURCH YOU WORSHIP! Isn't that a coincidence?

Call me a conspiracy nut all you want but frankly using things like ancient scripture and the Bible (which has been altered throughout history mind you) are not enough to prove that there's a huge omnipotent being that came down and impregnated a woman with his "powers" because frankly I have no idea how much the story of Jesus was exaggerated, misinterpreted or just plain lied about to make him seem all the more "Son of Gody"

Hell for all I know Jesus was just a guy who said a bunch of stuff that made sense and people tacked on his miracles so people would take him seriously.

So here's a hypothetical question for you.

You are an alien from another planet and you know nothing about Earth or it's various cultures. You meet two people. A Christian priest and a Scientologist. You have no knowledge about either one and this is what you hear essentially.

"An all powerful being created the universe in 7 days and sculpted man from the Earth. Then he made a woman from his ribs and they ate a fruit that made them self conscious about themselves and they got kicked out of paradise.

Thousands of years later, this being impregnates a virgin through it's powers and gives birth to a man named Jesus who can turn water into wine and walk on water. He was killed on a cross and then he came back to life 3 days later and opened the gates to Heaven."

compared to-

"An evil intergalactic overlord names Xenu took thousands of alien beings and brainwashed them into believing God and Religion. He then took them to Earth on rocket ships that look like Boeing 747's and lined them up around Volcano's where they were incinerated to death.

These evil alien spirits possessed men and thus caused all the problems we have today."

WHICH ONE OF THESE STORIES SOUNDS MORE LOGICAL!?

If you answer right away then I would personally think that you have a bit of a biased to one and you let that bias cloud your judgment. Because frankly BOTH don't make a lot of sense and the alien probably wouldn't swallow either one.

Keep in mind that Scientology is generally considered to be a scam, although not for the reason listed (it's a scam for a completely different reason but I thought I'd point it out).

So that's why I don't believe or trust any Religion that I hear. I'm not an opponent of God or Christianity, I'm an abdicater of truth. When multiple stories contradict each other I start to press the faulty testimonies until I find that truth. If people are so rooted in their belief that they think I'm a blind idiot who can't accept the idea of God then so be it.

Of course I'd love to hear why you disagree with me if you do.

...And so, an era of sadness suddenly came upon the human race due to one man's EXTREME apathy and general stupidity.