Does God exist? (19 Viewers)

do you believe in god?


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B1andB2

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Well this really does not answer the question. If sending messengers to one part of the world is free will sending them to all parts of the world should still be free will.

In any case leaving all that it still defeats the purpose of serving god being the purpose of all humans life.
What is the point of sending messengers everywhere when the information will eventually reach it?

You’re probably going to say “to serve the purpose that we are made for God”

But I have just stated that this purpose becomes apparent when one had the opportunity to either reject or accept religion,

The purpose of this verse is not as you’re making it out to be, where God could strategically make the revelation all happen at once to gain followers. I’ve said earlier, it’s not a race, it’s a process as evident through the fact that the Quran itself was revealed overtime and the religion itself grew overtime.
 

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What is the point of sending messengers everywhere when the information will eventually reach it?

You’re probably going to say “to serve the purpose that we are made for God”

But I have just stated that this purpose becomes apparent when one had the opportunity to either reject or accept religion,

The purpose of this verse is not as you’re making it out to be, where God could strategically make the revelation all happen at once to gain followers. I’ve said earlier, it’s not a race, it’s a process as evident through the fact that the Quran itself was revealed overtime and the religion itself grew overtime.
I'm just gonna call it peace here because there's no direct answer to the question. I did get a direct answer from @jimmysmith560 for a specific sect so I'll leave it at that.
 

cosmo 2

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this thread is a throwback to 2006 internet atheism

lmao i just went back to page 1 and it was posted in 2005 so go figure

why even talk about this in 2021 religion is a dead political and social force

even the (few) ppl who go to church don't believe the shit anymore and are there for wishywashy shit like "community" and "culture"

i have more respect for muslim suicide bombers than western practitioners of religion bc at least the former actually believe it
 

dan964

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Abrahamic religions' understanding of Jesus (seen as a prophet in Islam, not the Messiah in Judaism, the son of God in Christianity) and scripture (go back a few posts, I mentioned the difference in beliefs between the 3 religions) is perhaps different, but their understanding of God remains the same: God/Allah/Yahweh is the one eternal creator of all.
Yes - to the existence of one God who creates and is all powerful; and monotheism (there is only one God)
No - to their understanding of that God being the same. The nature of these Gods are different.
Christians know God as triune, Muslims do not, modern day Jews* do not. (Muslims have the concept of Tawhid). (*classical Judaism is disputed)
For both Jews (at least classically, if not generally) and Christians, there is the idea that God can be immanent (God's presence e.g. in the temple for Jews); while Muslims do not have (at least not in their holy texts), this same idea of God's presence.

Are the differences between what the Quran and the Old Testament say about Moses significant to the point where they overshadow the most important messages of the Abrahamic religions?
Yes they are significant enough, but that is another topic.

However, there is no conflict as to the existence of God in the Abrahamic religions (which is what we're arguing in this thread).
Yes, there are differences. But my point was addressing the Pascal's wager question. How Pascal's wager is typically presented, is like:
"If there is a God, better to believe in him (because if you don't hell awaits). If there isn't, well it doesn't matter anyways."

The problem with that is:
1. It is too broad, what does the belief look like? Because even if you take aside differences in who God is, from the different viewpoints, even the nature of true belief is different.
2. It does matter if God doesn't exist, because it means that most religions are a waste of time, because the foundational premise is wrong.
(which is the argument of atheism)

It is not just enough to establish that God exists but then you do have to ask what is this God like?
 

jimmysmith560

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Yes - to the existence of one God who creates and is all powerful; and monotheism (there is only one God)
No - to their understanding of that God being the same. The nature of these Gods are different.
Christians know God as triune, Muslims do not, modern day Jews* do not. (Muslims have the concept of Tawhid). (*classical Judaism is disputed)
The Holy Trinity doesn't really make any modifications to the nature of God, neither do the beliefs of other Abrahamic religions. We understand the Holy Trinity as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with the Father element being God. The only difference between Christianity and Islam/Judaism in that regard is the absence of the Son and Holy Spirit figures due to their lack of belief in them, leaving us with God. We might refer to Jesus as God, but that doesn't make him God the Father.

Tawhid (توحيد‎) literally means unification and this concept is not alien to Christianity.

For both Jews (at least classically, if not generally) and Christians, there is the idea that God can be immanent (God's presence e.g. in the temple for Jews); while Muslims do not have (at least not in their holy texts), this same idea of God's presence.
Are you sure God isn't immanent in Islam?

The word immanence means that Allah is involved in His creation. The word transcendence means that Allah is above and beyond human understanding. For Muslims, Allah is both of these things at the same time.

Some Quran verses:

‘He is closer to humans than their jugular vein’ (Qur’an 50)

‘And He is with you wherever you may be’ (Qur’an 57)

Yes they are significant enough, but that is another topic.
I don't agree with this. Moses is the key figure in Judaism, so obviously he's of crucial importance to the Jews. He is important in Christianity and in Islam but his events aren't significant enough to overshadow Jesus or Muhammad.

The problem with that is:
1. It is too broad, what does the belief look like? Because even if you take aside differences in who God is, from the different viewpoints, even the nature of true belief is different.
2. It does matter if God doesn't exist, because it means that most religions are a waste of time, because the foundational premise is wrong.
(which is the argument of atheism)

It is not just enough to establish that God exists but then you do have to ask what is this God like?
1. From Pascal's perspective, belief in God implies having the Christian faith (it is obviously biased since he was Catholic). Yet, we are trying to apply Pascal's wager to the different religions that we have today. Of course issues relating to incompatibility and ambiguity will arise. Despite the difference in the nature of true belief (as you mentioned), Pascal's wager remains a better alternative than atheism. Technically speaking, if a religion turns out to be true, an atheist who rejected God will have a chance that is significantly lower than a person who chose to become religious (even if the religion they chose doesn't end up being the true one).

2. What if God exists? What if we can't prove the existence of God to begin with? The same can be pretty much be said about atheism if the opposite were true. There are too many questions that can be asked back and forth, with no signs of a conclusive response from either side. Should we completely disregard/dismiss Pascal's wager because of rather minor concerns?
 
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this thread is a throwback to 2006 internet atheism

lmao i just went back to page 1 and it was posted in 2005 so go figure

why even talk about this in 2021 religion is a dead political and social force

even the (few) ppl who go to church don't believe the shit anymore and are there for wishywashy shit like "community" and "culture"

i have more respect for muslim suicide bombers than western practitioners of religion bc at least the former actually believe it
what do you smoke mate

can you send me some, i'm serious
 

SylviaB

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They died unaware and thus they will not be punished for not serving their purpose due to “invincible ignorance” (I keep saying this term because it describes it well)
Sounds to me like spreading the word of god is a tremendously BAD thing to do. If everyone who hasn't heard about Islam is spared from punishment, why risk their punishment by telling them it?

Also, we cannot "will" belief. Even if free will exists (it doesn't), we have no choice over what we believe or not. You absolutely cannot "choose" to believe that 1 + 1 =3. You can say it does, but you cannot choose to genuinely believe it to be true.
 

SylviaB

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this thread is a throwback to 2006 internet atheism

lmao i just went back to page 1 and it was posted in 2005 so go figure

why even talk about this in 2021 religion is a dead political and social force

even the (few) ppl who go to church don't believe the shit anymore and are there for wishywashy shit like "community" and "culture"

i have more respect for muslim suicide bombers than western practitioners of religion bc at least the former actually believe it

I think its a stretch to say islam is a dead social and political force
 
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Sounds to me like spreading the word of god is a tremendously BAD thing to do. If everyone who hasn't heard about Islam is spared from punishment, why risk their punishment by telling them it?

Also, we cannot "will" belief. Even if free will exists (it doesn't), we have no choice over what we believe or not. You absolutely cannot "choose" to believe that 1 + 1 =3. You can say it does, but you cannot choose to genuinely believe it to be true.
I think in current times, with globalisation, technology, access to ideas and information, it's impossible for anyone on earth to have not heard about Islam. even the most remote of societies have access to some wifi and therefore some ideas. if you have heard about Islam but choose not to agree with it then you qualify for punishment (if Islam is the correct religion). spreading the word of god is a tremendously good thing to do in this case because you can potentially be saving someone's ass from Hell if you manage to correct their beliefs or change their worldview. literally every person I will ever interact with in my life is gonna know what islam is, if I wanted to talk about islam with them then I wouldn't be introducing a foreign concept, which is what you're acting like it is. I would just be shedding light on a religion that they either misunderstand or don't know too much about

free will does exist, you have the choice to believe what you want or not. and what kind of example is that. you can choose to believe 1+1=3, but unless you're braindead you would know this isn't true which would then lead you to not believe it anymore. it's hard if not impossible to believe something that you can establish is 100% untrue based on fact. if you say that free will doesn't exist in belief then you're saying free will doesn't exist in general. which is ridiculous because all the choices you make in life are entirely yours, like you're the one choosing to make a left not a right at the next intersection, nobody can force you to make a right if that's not what you want, as an example
 

not_sure

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I think in current times, with globalisation, technology, access to ideas and information, it's impossible for anyone on earth to have not heard about Islam. even the most remote of societies have access to some wifi and therefore some ideas. if you have heard about Islam but choose not to agree with it then you qualify for punishment (if Islam is the correct religion). spreading the word of god is a tremendously good thing to do in this case because you can potentially be saving someone's ass from Hell if you manage to correct their beliefs or change their worldview. literally every person I will ever interact with in my life is gonna know what islam is, if I wanted to talk about islam with them then I wouldn't be introducing a foreign concept, which is what you're acting like it is. I would just be shedding light on a religion that they either misunderstand or don't know too much about

free will does exist, you have the choice to believe what you want or not. and what kind of example is that. you can choose to believe 1+1=3, but unless you're braindead you would know this isn't true which would then lead you to not believe it anymore. it's hard if not impossible to believe something that you can establish is 100% untrue based on fact. if you say that free will doesn't exist in belief then you're saying free will doesn't exist in general. which is ridiculous because all the choices you make in life are entirely yours, like you're the one choosing to make a left not a right at the next intersection, nobody can force you to make a right if that's not what you want, as an example
See the problem with this is that our world is so complex that we can't even imagine all of the sociological, geographical, cultural factors that account for what religion you believe and your ability to believe in another. Point blank, free will is something we all have, but our ability to fully exercise it might as well be limited to a vacuum. You can't punish people for something so far out of their control as the factors contributing to their religion, and if islam or any other religion does than I don't really want anything to do with something so unempathetic.
 

SylviaB

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I think in current times, with globalisation, technology, access to ideas and information, it's impossible for anyone on earth to have not heard about Islam. even the most remote of societies have access to some wifi and therefore some ideas. if you have heard about Islam but choose not to agree with it then you qualify for punishment (if Islam is the correct religion).
How is that just in any way? Punishing people because they were not persuaded by an ancient book of what would otherwise be considered fantastical fables? Even if Islam were correct, it is fundamentally irrational to believe that it is true based on the available evidence. Why would a just god punish people for behaving rationally?

spreading the word of god is a tremendously good thing to do in this case because you can potentially be saving someone's ass from Hell if you manage to correct their beliefs or change their worldview.
Okay, but this isn't just chance, muslims have been actively trying to spread Islam for as long as Islam has existed. You're using globalisation as a kind of cop out, because you aren't explaining why spreading information about Islam was a good thing during the time of most of its history where most people around the world knew nothing about it.

Even with globalisation and the internet, Islam would not be widely known if people in the past hadn't been furiously (and often violently) spreading information about Islam.

I would just be shedding light on a religion that they either misunderstand or don't know too much about
yes, but this is a modern phenomenon

free will does exist
No, it doesn't. It's a nonsensical concept.

, you have the choice to believe what you want or not. and what kind of example is that. you can choose to believe 1+1=3, but unless you're braindead you would know this isn't true which would then lead you to not believe it anymore.
No, I can't believe 1+1=3. I couldn't "choose" to believe that even if my life depended on it. I'm not "believing it and then realising its not true", I would never believe it to begin with.

it's hard if not impossible to believe something that you can establish is 100% untrue based on fact.
Okay, so now you're admitting that we cannot simply choose what we believe or not.

if you say that free will doesn't exist in belief then you're saying free will doesn't exist in general. which is ridiculous because all the choices you make in life are entirely yours
They're made by my brain, but that does not mean I am willing these decisions into existence any more than I am choosing to beat my own heart.

like you're the one choosing to make a left not a right at the next intersection, nobody can force you to make a right if that's not what you want, as an example
My brain is making the choice to turn right. I am witnessing the choice, and it appears in my consciousness as a choice I am making, but free will requires that the conscious choice is what is causing the choice to be made, which is nonsensical, because we cannot consciously choose what we consciously think. To do so would mean that we would have to consciously think about something...before we consciously think about it. It's logically incoherent.

It is not true that a lack of free will means people can't be forced to do things. Our minds are open systems and can be influenced by external factors. This does not mean we are making decisions directed by conscious thought. Our brains are integrating foreign information and adjusting their action accordingly. Our conscious thought follows the decisions made by our unconscious mind, not vice versa.
 
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B1andB2

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Even if Islam were correct, it is fundamentally irrational to believe that it is true based on the available evidence. Why would a just god punish people for behaving rationally?
Believing in religion is not irrational nor backward. The Quran itself demonstrates its divine origin, and one way it does this is through scientific phenomena.

Big Bang Theory: basis of understanding the universe

100 years ago, scientific minds thought that the universe had always existed. Since it always existed, it didn’t need a Creator. The Big Bang Theory changed that.

What few people know however is that the Holy Quran described the Big Bang perfectly, 1400 years earlier.

21:31:

"Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were a closed-up mass (ratqan), then We opened them out? And We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?"

Expansion of the Universe

51:48

"And We have built the heaven with might and We continue to expand it indeed"

Embryology

23:13-15

“Verily, We created man from an extract of clay; Then We placed him as a drop of sperm in a safe depository. Then we fashioned the sperm into a clot; then We fashioned the clot into a shapeless lump; then We fashioned bones out of this shapeless lump; then We clothed the bones with flesh; then We developed it into another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators.”

Mountains


27:89

“The mountains that you see, you think they are stationary while they are constantly floating like the floating of clouds. Such is the work of Allah Who made everything firm and strong. ”

Here, the Quran tells us that visible mountains appear stationary while in reality they float like clouds. There are only two ways in which this can be true: either the entire Earth is rotating, causing the mountains to float in space, or mountain ranges are somehow floating on top of the Earth. Both are true.


There are so many more. I reckon it's pretty cool that a book said this 1400 years ago.
 
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Queenroot

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Believing in religion is not irrational nor backward. The Quran itself demonstrates its divine origin, and one way it does this is through scientific phenomena.

Big Bang Theory: basis of understanding the universe

100 years ago, scientific minds thought that the universe had always existed. Since it always existed, it didn’t need a Creator. The Big Bang Theory changed that.

What few people know however is that the Holy Quran described the Big Bang perfectly, 1400 years earlier.

21:31:

"Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were a closed-up mass (ratqan), then We opened them out? And We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?"

Expansion of the Universe

51:48

"And We have built the heaven with might and We continue to expand it indeed"

Embryology

23:13-15

“Verily, We created man from an extract of clay; Then We placed him as a drop of sperm in a safe depository. Then we fashioned the sperm into a clot; then We fashioned the clot into a shapeless lump; then We fashioned bones out of this shapeless lump; then We clothed the bones with flesh; then We developed it into another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators.”

Mountains


27:89

“The mountains that you see, you think they are stationary while they are constantly floating like the floating of clouds. Such is the work of Allah Who made everything firm and strong. ”

Here, the Quran tells us that visible mountains appear stationary while in reality they float like clouds. There are only two ways in which this can be true: either the entire Earth is rotating, causing the mountains to float in space, or mountain ranges are somehow floating on top of the Earth. Both are true.


There are so many more. I reckon it's pretty cool that a book said this 1400 years ago.
okay? and so do the egyptians and many ancient religions


religion doesn't mix with science and is incompatible with a modern and progressive world.
 

B1andB2

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okay? and so do the egyptians and many ancient religions
religion doesn't mix with science and is incompatible with a modern and progressive world.
You need to provide evidence of what you claim. Find me something that presents all the scientific discoveries the Quran has.

Believing in God does not mean you are backward and being atheist does not mean you are progressive. I don’t understand why atheists tend to think such?
 

Queenroot

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You need to provide evidence of what you claim. Find me something that presents all the scientific discoveries the Quran has.

Believing in God does not mean you are backward and being atheist does not mean you are progressive. I don’t understand why atheists tend to think such?
It's not superior bro

I don't really give fuck tbh. The onus is on you for claiming god exists.
 

Squar3root

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Imagine thinking if you don't believe in a God means your progressive

Like no we just don't believe in some backwards text written by people who think a pedo should be worshipped?

Think about if you didn't grow up Islamic. Would you go out of ur way to seek god? Probably not, it was just forced down ur throat growing up and ur just continuing that way of thinking.
 

B1andB2

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