I am starting to believe in God

a reply to: clevargenuis

The Abrahamic ones do. But there are MAJOR Religions that don't....Hinduism and Buddhism, for example.

Buddhism & Hinduism Compared

Ways in which Buddhism differs from Hinduism:

1) No need for priests (brahmins) or rituals.

2) Anyone can enter Nirvana, no matter how lowly, whereas in Hinduism only the brahmins could achieve moksha.

3) In Theravada Buddhism, there are no gods. The Buddha is not a god.

4) Karma is not earned by following the dharma of your caste. Instead you can move toward entry into Nirvana by following the eightfold path.

5) As the "middle way" Buddhism rejects extreme asceticism as well as great wealth. The ideal in Hinduism is extreme asceticism.

Ways in which Buddhism and Hinduism are similar:

1) Both believe in reincarnation.

2) Both believe there are many different paths to enlightenment.

3) Both believe that our suffering is caused by excessive attachment to things and people in the physical world.

4) Both believe in an ultimate spiritual reality beyond the illusions of the physical world.

5) Both practice meditation and other forms of yoga.

6) Both believe that eventually all living spirits will achieve enlightenment and liberation, even if it takes many incarnations.

(that's your cheat sheet)

en.wikipedia.org...

Hinduism and Buddhism have common origins in the Ganges culture of southern India during the so-called "second urbanisation" around 500 BCE.[1]

My religion believes people are children.

a reply to: olddognewtricks

If the intent is to stay out of hell or get into heaven, instead of be a better person... then theres faith & belief be who you are do whatever you want and in the end just like all through all of that... there was either self or group justification for it.

The path of awakening such as a buddhist, is one that must deeply explore extreme states of being which means not avoiding hell not avoiding heaven and seeing the truth of reality as it can arise in a all states or modes of being for balance and non bias. Of course that is the route of Buddhahood or perfect awakening, as there are many buddhists using it just like any christian uses jesus or any muslim uses mohammed etc to avoid a hell to go to a paradise to live in an extreme thats a bit better in extremes for living and being than the last...

But heaven and hell are still impermanent states of being with extremes found also within them, so on the path of awakening? One vows to experience them all to go beyond all modes and extremes of being to be of benefit to point and guide all beings to a middle ground of balance and awakening to the non conditioned or eternal, in such a state of awakening... one can exist with balance in the lowest states of hell and despair and help ease their suffering while free and unattached to those states... the same way in another instant one could exist in the highest realms balanced and unattached and remind those so blissfully unaware that there is suffering due to their attachment even if the suffering is not theirs it is caused in another, which in turn will make them fall into such a deep despair and suffering of hell remaining ignorant of such. this is the path of true buddhahood and awakening, it does not avoid it seeks balance in any situation and is not biased to any experience, just wise and patient and understanding to stress the causes of stress the ending of stress and the direct pointing or teaching that goes beyond such stress and suffering so attached to impermanent things arising based on conditions and programming of those conditions, one did not create but become a cause in its ignorant or deluded perpetuation.

Hopefully all beings find balance to ease their stress and suffering beyond conceptual conditioned attachments that bring them stress and suffering, into ease and happiness and find peace and equanimity.

Hell is well deserved and so is heaven, the purposeful avoidance of one or the other? Not the path of awakening or buddhahood... as it arises(all phenomina) it is practice, as it passes(impermanence) introspection for wisdom if one still clings to the duality of bias(attachment that causes stress and suffering).

Being no one and going no where, wu wei... pure awareness and pure existence unattached and stainless like a mirror that reflects all things but is not a part of those tings but is yet counted among those things by others so attached. One moment wind, one a moment slave, one moment an atom, one moment a rumble, but at all times free.

Well good for you! All you need to do is figure out which God is the "correct" God. This of course is going to mean you still will be atheist to all the other gods you reject, unless you pick Zeus, the god of gods!
But...then again be careful... Hell awiats.

originally posted by: clevargenuis

originally posted by: gflyg
a reply to: clevargenuis

Actually There are valid atheist arguments as far as Adam and eve go....

I said nothing about Adam and Eve.

And once again atheists conflate belief in God with the tales in the bible.


have you ever considered tge possibility that one can believe in God WITHOUT having anything to do with the bible

. It seem they cannot see that you can think there is a god that is not connected to the Abrahamic views. Sikh believes in One god also.

a reply to: olddognewtricks

All religions believe there is a heaven and a hell, that there is one true religion, all the rest are fake, the believers of the one true religion go to heaven, and all everybody else burns in hell.

Wrong. Look into Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism. They do not believe all souls who do not follow them go to hell. That duality idea is a common core to the Abrahamic religions.

originally posted by: flyingfish
Well good for you! All you need to do is figure out which God is the "correct" God. This of course is going to mean you still will be atheist to all the other gods you reject, unless you pick Zeus, the god of gods!
But...then again be careful... Hell awiats.

You don't have to choose a "God" to believe in a God. You don't even have to choose a religion. I am a spirtual person to some extent and I don't believe in a "classic" God that is literally described in the bible. Belief in a particular religion is only important to man's religion. God never dictated a religion run by "children" like us. You can believe in God, follow whatever you believe and if there is a God...I'm sure it will recognize you.

a reply to: clevargenuis

It still doesn't make it true. Most people believed the earth used to be flat. That didn't make it true.

a reply to: Joecanada11

I think the ancients knew the world was round since Alexander the Great and earlier but Catholic suppression led to the dark ages .

originally posted by: Joecanada11
a reply to: clevargenuis

It still doesn't make it true. Most people believed the earth used to be flat. That didn't make it true.

the point is that every culture had an idea of parallel realms beyond this material one. today scientists will speak of parallel universes and people believe them without any concrete evidence. Does it make it "true"?

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

hindus/Buddhist do believe in a place of punishment in the afterlife.

They call it "naraka". google it or ask a hindu.

a reply to: clevargenuis

No it doesn't make it true. It makes it a theory. And btw buddists do not believe in an afterlife punishment. They believe in reincarnation and karma. As do the Vedic traditions.

a reply to: clevargenuis

And grouping Hindu and buddisn into the same beliefs shows your ignorance.

originally posted by: Joecanada11
a reply to: clevargenuis

And grouping Hindu and buddisn into the same beliefs shows your ignorance.

My point was that hindus AND buddhists believe in hell.

the fact that you didnt know this made you ignorant, but I changed that for yOu. Youre welcome.

originally posted by: Joecanada11
a reply to: clevargenuis

No it doesn't make it true. It makes it a theory. And btw buddists do not believe in an afterlife punishment. They believe in reincarnation and karma. As do the Vedic traditions.

buddhists do have their own version of hell.

en.m.wikipedia.org...(Buddhism)

Youre welcome.

originally posted by: clevargenuis
Contd.
So anyway, I relooked the whole internet atheist movement and I noticed the following
1. The vast majority of there arguements revolve around finding discrepancies in bible tales

2. they dont have a real argument against the existence of a spirit world, or a higher dimension (that michio kaku writes about). Maybe that is the key to understanding the spirit realm.

3. a lot of atheists dont take debates with religion seriously its basicly "religion is dumb and your dumb lol"

4. theres a lot of pretentious pseudo intellectual bs that is paraded around as "rational" and logical.

5. A lot of attention whoring for "likes" etc.

I do agree with atheists that religions have caused problems but so what? democracy and capitalism also cause problems, it just depends on perspective.

Also, its a fact that every culture on the planet believes in unseen world - God, angels, demons, heaven and hell. We are hardwired to believe in God, and,its only later in life that people choose not to believe.

You obviously have no idea what atheism is if these are your arguments, or (and this is what I highly suspect) you're some sort of religious troll spouting bullsh*t.

a reply to: RedEyes619

Atheists in general go about behaving in the ways I outlined above -points 1-5.

How does a mystical experiance equal god? People touch the "spiritual" , unseen, or unknown side of life and immediately want to place it in a box.

Religion should be made fun of. It is very backwards. Not that religions are completly void of mysteries and lessons. But, they do much more harm than good IMO.

Anyway, i wonder what causes the ability to see into the future? Or w/e it was.

a reply to: clevargenuis

We really are not hardwired to believe in God. We may be hardwired for belief, but that could be a belief in anything.

Secondly, you really dont understand most athiests. At least from my perspective.

Lastly, its pretty hard to debate the existance of a spirit world or spiritual existance. The subject is broad and contains very little evidence. Most of it is personal stories that very dramatically. One also has to take into account imagination, interpretation and perception.

Preface: I did NOT read all twelve pages of this thread - about halfway down page one it seemed to me to have descended into a tennis match of back-and-forth technicalities)...

But, like the OP, I too am feeling the tug towards believing in God. I've been through a very rough patch, and am still going through it right now. It's really been tough and I've been feeling like I don't have any alternatives; it's either suffer on or do something drastic and irreversible.

My fiancée is Christian, and she's seen the strain that I've been under of late. A few nights ago we had quite a deep discussion and she suggested that I attend a church sermon with her. This actually resonated with me - what you could call a stereotypical religion-snubbing atheist - in a way that I can't quite describe. Everything she said just SEEMED right.

I've taken her up on her offer and will maybe be attending something in the near future; the only problem is our language barrier - her home language is different to mine, though by birth we are both the same.

I've never been to any religious affairs apart from twice with friends in my early youth so I don't know what to expect. To be honest I am quite nervous about it all, but I do feel like it's something positive. Of late I feel like SOMETHING (don't ask me what, I can't quantify it) has been giving me some kind of support. I'm not sure if it's merely my subconscious working some magic, or something much more than that, but there genuinely has been a change in my mindset, behavior and outlook in the past week.