Do you believe in God?

[Aleksandr]

...but I do know some very ill people who suffer greatly, and they all want to continue living the gift of life, and some believe in God.

 

They've taught me a great deal.

I know someone who is very ill, and believe me, their life is no 'gift'; it's bloody curse - literally!

 

If God exists, Anna B, then he/she/it is a total sadist!

[janie48]

Usual mocking, Well thats no surprise.

 

I'm surprised at the poll result.I had expected the belief result to be much lower. On the religious threads i've been on before its usually been a minority of two my side. Now i've said that i expect more atheists will vote!

I attended a religious service at the local Methodist church at Easter,the largest majority of the congregration were women,what does that say?

 

Don't any of you ever question your purpose in life,and why your here? and why you exist

There's got to be a reason surely.Perhaps we are on a journey,none of can be certain,but when you have lost loved ones you think about these things.

 

If there is an afterlife, and i really believe there is,and i manage to get through the " pearly gates" I don't want it to be just full of happy clappy hymn singing,chanting Christians that would be boring.I want it to be filled with people of all creeds and races, even atheists, and they will probably be more of them then anyone.

[Anna B]

Sorry, but that's just not true at all, natural disasters are not just things that occur because of living things.

 

Volcanoes, meteors, earthquakes, tsunamis: None of these are part of any organisms existence, you cannot blame it on free will.

 

Also, there are a great many congenital defects that occur because of random mutations, once again, nothing to do with free will.

 

You can blame wars on free will, but not disease and natural disasters, you can only blame them on god (if you think he exists).

 

I think you've misunderstood me. I was making 3 separate points.

 

In this post I was relating freewill only to wars and religion, not to natural disasters or desease.

 

As a seperate point I was saying that natural phenomenon are only seen as disasters because people get in the way, but are necessary mechanisms for the wellbeing of the planet.

 

As for desease I have no answers, only that in my experience people make the best they can out of the hand they are dealt, and thus teach us a great deal, and many of them still find it possible to believe in God.

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

[Anna B]

I know someone who is very ill, and believe me, their life is no 'gift'; it's bloody curse - literally!

 

If God exists, Anna B, then he/she/it is a total sadist!

 

I'm so sorry. I meant no disrespect.

 

I also know people who are very ill and dying. Some believe and some don't, but the one's who do seem to gain a great deal of comfort from it, when you'd think they had every reason to curse God.

 

That's what I find so remarkable.

[skinz]

I'm surprised at the poll result.I had expected the belief result to be much lower. On the religious threads i've been on before its usually been a minority of two my side.

 

Reverse psychology as a defence. Sorry didn't work.

 

Now i've said that i expect more atheists will vote!

 

I very much doubt that considering the vote was quite high percentage wise before you entered the debate. Maybe you delusionally think you have influence, or voting for spite is something familiar to you?

 

 

I attended a religious service at the local Methodist church at Easter,the largest majority of the congregration were women,what does that say?

 

The largest majority were women?

 

.

[janie48]

I know someone who is very ill, and believe me, their life is no 'gift'; it's bloody curse - literally!

 

If God exists, Anna B, then he/she/it is a total sadist!

 

Yes its terrible to witness suffering,we naturally feel anger and rage against it,even those of us who believe can't understand the reason for it.

I have spent most of my working life witnessing it and have seen it at a close range,which is devastaing. It would be wonderful if this was a perfect world wihout any suffering. All i can say about it, is that if we never saw or experienced suffering,there would be no need for a demonstration of compassionate love of the kind we give to others in our feelings for them, even a few words of consolation can help give them strength. Or when feeling helpless and unable to find words just merely our presence can help them.

I am not wishing to minimise the sadness of suffering though.To feel anger on their behalf is so understandable.

[Ryedo40]

I'm surprised at the poll result.I had expected the belief result to be much lower. On the religious threads i've been on before its usually been a minority of two my side. Now i've said that i expect more atheists will vote!

 

Looking at the poll results, I guess we could roughly say it's 70% atheist/agnostic and, being generous, 30% theist. I expected something like that.

 

The figures may have also been boosted a little by the “I believe we're part of something, not quite sure what, therefore god exists” types.

 

 

I attended a religious service at the local Methodist church at Easter,the largest majority of the congregration were women,what does that say?

 

It could say a number of things. It could mean women are more gullible or prone to believe in god and other superstition. It could also mean the church environment gives them an opportunity to catch up on the latest gossip.

 

 

Don't any of you ever question your purpose in life,and why your here? and why you exist

There's got to be a reason surely.Perhaps we are on a journey,none of can be certain,but when you have lost loved ones you think about these things.

 

Yes, and so far there doesn't seem to be any big cosmic plan or purpose for our existence.

 

If there is an afterlife...

 

Of course there is an afterlife. It's called death.

 

 

I don't want it to be just full of happy clappy hymn singing,chanting Christians that would be boring.

 

If there was such a thing as hell, that would probably be it

 

Made me think of this

(needs to be watched to the end). Gave me a chuckle :)

[tinfoilhat]

Looking at the poll results, I guess we could roughly say it's 70% atheist/agnostic and, being generous, 30% theist. I expected something like that.

 

The figures may have also been boosted a little by the “I believe we're part of something, not quite sure what, therefore god exists” types.

 

 

 

 

It could say a number of things. It could mean women are more gullible or prone to believe in god and other superstition. It could also mean the church environment gives them an opportunity to catch up on the latest gossip.

 

 

 

 

Yes, and so far there doesn't seem to be any big cosmic plan or purpose for our existence.

 

 

 

Of course there is an afterlife. It's called death.

 

 

 

 

If there was such a thing as hell, that would probably be it

 

Made me think of this

(needs to be watched to the end). Gave me a chuckle :)

 

I do get the idea that you aren't big on religion. You don't seem big on your fellow man either.

[MrSmith]

 

Don't any of you ever question your purpose in life,and why your here? and why you exist

There's got to be a reason surely.Perhaps we are on a journey,none of can be certain,but when you have lost loved ones you think about these things.

 

If there is an afterlife, and i really believe there is,and i manage to get through the " pearly gates" I don't want it to be just full of happy clappy hymn singing,chanting Christians that would be boring.I want it to be filled with people of all creeds and races, even atheists, and they will probably be more of them then anyone.

 

I am here because life started on earth millions of years ago, and billions of random events led to my birth, I exist for the same reason and we are each responsible for our own purpose in life, most of us can choose our own path in life. The inevitable consequence of living is dying, and there is little point in worrying about what happens after your death.

You’re after life is something you will be unaware of when the atoms that made you are absorbed into other life.

Edited April 16, 2012 by MrSmith

[harvey19]

Of course there is a God without a God, in whatever form, the universe and its inhabitants would not exist.

Evolution is only a theory never forget that.