Why Don't You Belive In God???

Well guys I've just come back from a retreat and I feel extremely inspired to write this and find out what you believe.

But first let me tell you what I believe. There is a God, it does not matter what religion you belong to or anything as long as you believe in a higher being. To tell you the truth it is the only logical thing to think. I am Catholic, if you are not part of the religion please do not bash it because you do not know of the experience. God CAN and IS fun, it does not have to be fanatical at all!!! It is such a chill thing, just to be able to believe in a God, and TRULY believe has filled a void that I had up to about 6 months ago when I went on my first retreat. I can tell you that before that I did go to church but I didn't BELIEVE in a God I would constantly use science to help me doubt. But recently I have really made the discovery He IS real. You do not have to go to church to be close to your God, just pray even if you don't know to who just do it, but only to the one and truly only God.

Now this wasn't all I was going to say but the point of this post was to ask why you atheists do not believe in a God. I ask some rules first and that ALL posters follow them.

Please all I want to know is why give me FACTS or at least a DECENT argument on why you do not think He is possible, I will try to debate it which I am sure I will be able to, yes that is a personal challenge that I am giving to all atheists here.

Please don't start bashing me or others without giving an argument becuase if you do you have just invalidated your self. You call my belief blind faith, I consider yours blind faith too, but in that you blindly believe in no God becuase you give no argument.

This is a legitimate post and I want everybody to answer with what you really think and why you think that way. Be courteous as I have been to you.

Let the debate begin!

Originally posted by rhombus24
has filled a void that I had up to about 6 months ago when I went on my first retreat.

What kind of void are you talking about? Void of family, friends, meaningful employment, hobbies, goals?

Just curios.

[edit on 2-12-2007 by Steff]

I always think of Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger. The end of Chapter 11 is great.

"Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane - like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell - mouths mercy and invented hell - mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him! . . ."


"You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its freaks - in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier."


"It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream - a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought - a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!"


He vanished, and left me appalled; for I knew, and realized, that all he had said was true.

I am agnostic. I KNOW there's something bigger than me, but, I won't attempt to put a name to it. I won't start worshipping a faceless entity because it's the "Right" thing to do. I think the Bible is a great book, full of good ideas on recognizing right and wrong, good and evil and I learn a lot from it. I also read the Book of Mormon and a few other neat books.
God should be a tempering force. Jesus was a man. Mary was his mother. Joseph was Mary's old man. Why dump all the time and effort into a religion when all it does is force it's dogma on you. YOU have the ability to lead your life morally and whether or not you "find" God shouldn't make any difference. Religion is just another gang of miscreants out to hold you down. Believe in yourself. If you live like you think God wants you to live, why do you need a church in the first place?

My $.02
Cuhail

To cuhall, I am fine with what you believe, I am just glad you recognize a higher being. I do not do it because it is the right thing to do, I do it because I truly believe in it. It is true however that the church pushes it dogma, especially with the constant repetition of phrases.

To damneddirty apes. Please don't just post quotes, those aren't your words I want it in your own words. You are telling me you believe what somebody else said exactly like how the american public thinks about what happened on 9.11, of course we all know it goes deeper, but THIS ISN'T about 9.11 it was just a reference. Ok so please post it in your own words becuase I am not using quotes so don't you think its only fair you take a little harder of a path.

To Steff, thats actually the perfect question. It was not any of that I had EVERYTHING I needed yet something was missing, and it was deep becuase nothing would fill it. Until one day I started to think FOR MYSELF, as that November month last year went by I started to feel a change inside, I didn't know what it was until I finally let God have His will on me. Look I know it sounds strange but I am being completely truthful about what I said.

reply to post by rhombus24


I didn't realize that there was a pesonal creativity prerequisite for answering your posts. I will remember that next time I see a post from you. As for your barb advising me to take a "little harder of a path", I'll take that under consideration. You must not be a fan of Twain.

Originally posted by rhombus24
To cuhall, I am fine with what you believe, I am just glad you recognize a higher being. I do not do it because it is the right thing to do, I do it because I truly believe in it. It is true however that the church pushes it dogma, especially with the constant repetition of phrases.

Hey bud, honestly, I couldn't give two shakes about what you're fine with. As it should be in fact! If you do it because you feel you have to truely believe in it, that's fine for you. Believe 'til it hurts (which I believe it will) but, I won't. Organized religion has killed more people than anything else. Why would I align myself with that? I can't. The relationship I have with the "higher power" is a personal thing which I think should be done alone, without the influence of others that make "God" the all-powerful, destructo-matic fate-slinger he's seen as. He gave each of us an idea. A path to plot and follow. Your path is different from everybody elses, but, as long as you are part of a "group mindset", how on earth can you follow the personal path you have been assigned to? With organized religion, you take a path trod by countless others and will never find the path you are meant to tread.
Good luck. I mean that.
Hell, I could be wrong. So could you. We don't know until it's over though, do we?
Again, good luck brotha!

Cuhail

For some reason I've always equated, being religious with being WEAK! YOu cant fend for yourself, did your dad leave you at a young age, you never got the cheerleader. Were you molested, were people cruel to you in the sandbox?


But who am I to speak.....I guess we ALL will find out sooner or later.

reply to post by rhombus24


I think someone already asked, but what was the void that was filled for you? Was it a void, or have you actually replaced something like an addiction with God?

Also, why did you refer to God as He?

It's wonderful that you feel you have figured out that you needed this in your life, but what are you going to do with it? Question other people for their own beliefs or no beliefs?

It seems like you are on some kinda mission, to convert people for arguments sake.

Help! I feel a bible verse coming on soon.....Be on the lookout

[edit on 2-12-2007 by luxor311]

Well personally, I think the bible seems to be talking in metaphors most of the time, so I think God is a metaphor as well. Perhaps for a intelligent creator force that we can connect to, sure, but not as a man with a beard on a cloud.

So I believe we are all part of this thing, but Im not religious in any way, because I feel religions are just a control system for the mind, originally instated so the state (church) could make tons of cash from the masses and also have a very effective means of group control. Look at us, we are STILL fighting over religions.... who benefits? The leaders of course, who wants us to fight. If we win, they get power.

I think we are all part of something spiritual, I just dont know exactly what it is.


[edit on 2-12-2007 by Copernicus]

Quite frankly Rhombus, the easiest way someone can disprove God is to say that science doesn't allow for the existence of God.

Therefore if one were to place science at the top of everything, there would be no room for God.

Allow me to explain in terms that you might understand; If science were to one day prove that there were something 'supernatural' in the world, that 'supernatural' entity would cease to be 'supernatural' and become 'natural', due to the fact that science can now explain it.

God resides in the supernatural, therefore if we could prove his existence he would no longer be supernatural; and therefore he would not be God.

He would just be another thing for humanity to label.

[edit on 2-12-2007 by ProtoStrategy]

Here are some respectful answers (note: I was brought up catholic too but no longer am I limited by that tradition)
Number 1-Catholics are taught- God is Everything -
(This is a quotation taken directly from catechism books)
Okay, if God is everything than God is unlimited-
that sounds simple but it is a huge statement.
If God is really everything than God is not limited to
gender therefore not a He but both a She also and
Gay and neutered Eunuch-Hermaphrodite, (both) etc.
(everything-remember) and then God is
not only the noble elements of nature like air and water
but also excrement, vomit etc. Everything means everything.
I have no problem with god being everything but it seems
organized religion always tries to limit God. If there is a God
then God is the dark as well as the light. The list is endless.
Actually I have discovered that Divine energy is non-duality.
Unborn or infinite-this leads to the next discovery.
Number 2- God is the Creator
First off the literal interpretation of the Bible that God created
the world in 7 Days and all that is infantile. A myth for peasants
with inferior mental faculties. Forget even scientific discoveries
of dinosaurs and the theory of the Big Bang.
Einstein said "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed."
That means infinite-like a circle. Who do you know who is
more intelligent than Einstein? Personally I feel that the earth
was visited by Extraterrestrials with superior mental faculties
around 1 hundred thousand years ago and they genetically
modified apes to create humans and towed the moon here.
How can you prove that ? That is the question isn't it?
My research into UFO's, enlightened beings such as the
84 Mahasiddhas of ancient India, and the study of the
origins of Dzogchen-an Eastern philosophy that even when taught
several thousand years ago spoke about having a lineage
that extends to 2 other star systems in this galaxy as well
as other systems in other galaxies. Since this lineage is alive
today and there are Dzogchen masters (these are the real Jedi)
if you go beyond the concepts and experience the results then
perhaps you may have some realizations as to what the Truth is.

Everyone will find out sooner or later... but for many it will be too late. That's the saddest part about it, really. My prayers go out to everyone reading this. May the light of truth find it's way into your heart and may your heart be accepting of it. Amen.

One Truth

reply to post by Enthralled Fan


No absolutely not, i dont want to convert anybody.

But all of you have strayed from what I am saying, give me an argument that God does not exist.

Religion was created to keep people in order, thus creating the devil. Like "If you murder someone you gonna go too hell!!"

But in the modern era we have "real laws and law enforcements" there for religion is not only obsolete but stupid...

reply to post by rhombus24


I do not believe in God / a God because there is no compelling evidence to suggest he / it exists.

If that is to brief an answer for you, try substituting 'faeries' or 'Santa Claus' for the word God.

reply to post by rhombus24


Ok, are you going to answer my other questions? I suppose they were a bit personal for you. Well, in my opinion what people believe about religion or spirituality is also personal to each individual.

Where are you going with all of this? Why does it matter to you what other people believe? Unless you are questioning your own beliefs, I see your question pointed to athiests as non beneficial.

You also have not considered that some people need proof that God exists, so you have some more explaining to do! Just because you went on a retreat and got filled with spirit, is not proof to your belief that God does exist. See what I mean about it being personal for each person? What you have to offer is your faith that God exists, which is just about as good as any faith that God doesn't.

I like the Void I'm in. It means I can fill it myself instead of others directing my life to go the way they see fit.

I've seen too many posting about whether or not there is a God, IMHO this is not a good subject for 'debate', I experienced God so I believed and become Christian. There are different ways God gets involve in the life of the people He picked, not we picked Him, the best way to get yourself an answer is to ask God Himself, or just leave it if you don't feel right about that !