Does God Exist? (2 Viewers)

[lukebennett]

Yeah, before Jesus died the only way to get forgiveness was to burn sacrifices.

so basically the forgiveness is there for whoever wants to have it

 

[asscookie]

I suppose it is.

 

[lukebennett]

Because of Jesus dying, God now forgives us for our sins when we die.

no he doesnt. only if we have repented. you are confusing people now

 

[snapperhead]

...Nothing must know all human knowledge. The collective workings of a group with multiple parts of knowledge can work better then one being with all the knowledge.

@xayma...your idea/s have merit as well but the only problem with your logic is the implied assumption that God is "human"/has human like qualities and all of the inherit problems that go along with human qualities! There are two notions associated with God that kinda make God "god" ie omnipresence and omnipotence....again, matters of faith and belief. If you dont have them, this is a moot arguement as will never make sense/you will never want it to make sense. Also (as you admitted), most de-value the idea of God due to views/opinions/ whatever of Christianity in all of its crazy, mixed up, never agreeing/contradicting glory! But then, that is human nature....!!

As I have asserted all along (in line with the thread topic), its a belief thing. God either exists or not..it depends upon the individual. You cannot use science to prove or disprove as this isnt the aim of science (am willing to be corrected but has science actively and deliberately tried to disprove God-as opposed to concepts associated with God ? My knowledge of science is broad enough to assume not...)

@asscookie (how strange does it feel typing that in this context). Not quite true as Im assuming you are talking about pre-Christian and I would feel safe in saying that forgiveness is a pretty Christian exclusive notion. Sacrafices were made to get stuff not to gain forgiveness

 

[snapperhead]

no he doesnt. only if we have repented. you are confusing people now

this is where the difference between Catholic and Protestant thinking comes in. According to your respective churches (Im guessing you are an evangelical/Prodo!), both you and ac are correct.

Just to add fuel to the fire, factor in the notion of baptism as expressed in the Creed "One baptism for the forgiveness of all sins"......
lol

 

[lukebennett]

true i forgot ac is probly catholic. im not really protestant im just christian but similar to protestant in thinking i guess

 

[katie_tully]

thanks for reminding me why im not religious.

 

[acmilan]

true i forgot ac is probly catholic. im not really protestant im just christian but similar to protestant in thinking i guess

Yep im a catholic.

@snapperhead: Do you have any knowledge on the major differences between catholic rites? Im roman catholic, the other main one i know is maronite. I know there are subtle differences such as in maronite rite baptism and confirmation come at the same time. Being around many maronites it does not seem much different to roman catholic

 

[Xayma]

@xayma...your idea/s have merit as well but the only problem with your logic is the implied assumption that God is "human"/has human like qualities and all of the inherit problems that go along with human qualities! There are two notions associated with God that kinda make God "god" ie omnipresence and omnipotence....again, matters of faith and belief. If you dont have them, this is a moot arguement as will never make sense/you will never want it to make sense. Also (as you admitted), most de-value the idea of God due to views/opinions/ whatever of Christianity in all of its crazy, mixed up, never agreeing/contradicting glory! But then, that is human nature....!!

As I have asserted all along (in line with the thread topic), its a belief thing. God either exists or not..it depends upon the individual. You cannot use science to prove or disprove as this isnt the aim of science (am willing to be corrected but has science actively and deliberately tried to disprove God-as opposed to concepts associated with God ? My knowledge of science is broad enough to assume not...

I am not trying to disprove God with science, rather that if he has a role it is very minor in our lives. If he did create the universe (which is debateable as the universe could have had a state in imaginary time) then that was the limit to his involvement. Flooding the Earth for 40 days and nights, even sacraficing himself upon the cross I do not believe in.

I am stuck trying to picture any God with human like qualities, he is flawed, and to put it bluntly covers up his mistakes with making humanity by flooding the Earth. He gives them free will then we stuff up he floods us. In any way I look at it, he has stuffed up and is trying to start again, at the death of many.

 

[clancy04]

I think it is widely uncontested that Jesus lived. There are so, so many historical documents which do indeed refer to a man by the name of Jesus who had great influence and power, with many followers. I certainly believe Jesus lived. I also think he was an absolute psychopath equal to many modern day 'messiahs' creating weird cults. Its just that Jesus' claims really took off...for some wacky reason. I mean, c'mon, this guy was claiming to be the son of a God. Must have had a big ego.

I'm also curious how anybody can claim to be a 'proper' Christian or Catholic, whatever, in modern, debauched, society. I mean by owning a house your committing a freaking sin, let alone a mobile phone. Sheesh! Indeed, any money that you have in the bank and not being disseminated among thoe less fortunate, is a huge sin. How can you not feel guilty and greedy when you own a freaking wallet!

 

[katie_tully]

I think it is widely uncontested that Jesus lived. There are so, so many historical documents which do indeed refer to a man by the name of Jesus who had great influence and power, with many followers. I certainly believe Jesus lived. I also think he was an absolute psychopath equal to many modern day 'messiahs' creating weird cults. Its just that Jesus' claims really took off...for some wacky reason. I mean, c'mon, this guy was claiming to be the son of a God. Must have had a big ego.

well i mean COME ON, they were gullible back in the day.
'oh joseph, i am with child. not your child though. oh, i am with child of god'*
'i believe you, my love'

imgine if some chick got pregnant today and tried to pawn it off as the spawn of god? theyd lock her up.

*Disclaimer
Mary at no time slept with another male, animal or Joseph to conceive the baby Jesus

 

[budj]

Yeah no doubt jesus did exist, as did siddhartha (later to become lord Buddha), and other religious prohpets. THere are many paranormal situations currently unexplainable, or only partly explained by science. What annoys me is that most peope tend to take he easy route and define it as gods makings. We are much greater than this, and we do not need to imply a creator to equate withour greatness. Humans have laboureed by themsleves, and will continue to labour by themselves. We are our own architects, we create our own avenues, and our own opportunities.

 

[katie_tully]

there are actually some very logical theories to explain how the dude walked on water...
like..a sand bar.

 

[clancy04]

well i mean COME ON, they were gullible back in the day.
'oh joseph, i am with child. not your child though. oh, i am with child of god'*
'i believe you, my love'

imgine if some chick got pregnant today and tried to pawn it off as the spawn of god? theyd lock her up.

hehe, lol, the scary thing is it has been happening everywhere, in many different countries throughout time.

 

[budj]

there are actually some very logical theories to explain how the dude walked on water...
like..a sand bar.

Haha good call

 

[katie_tully]

there are two good theories about the whole parting of the red sea
after i go with my friend to get her van helsing dvd, ill tell you.
has something to do with the volcano that destroyed thera. also has something to do with the fact that chariots dont work terribly well in mud flats.
amazing, huh?

 

[budj]

I dont think the bible is metaphorical. 6000 years is a very short time to create the universe, light, einstein etc. lol

 

[budj]

I think its only logical to conclude that god is a physcological mask to protect ourselves from the deamons of reality.

 

[Pace Setter]

Can anyone explain to me what god is exactly? Since perhaps none of us have seen/felt/heard/experienced god, it really has a very broad range, perhaps infinite number of possibilities of what god might actually be. I have a question that's been raised a million and one times. For those who dont believe in a creator, how did we come to exist? Big Bang shooting out rocks, gases and the like? Then how did the Big bang come about. What was before that. And before that. And before that. And before that...etc.

Answer: "Before that there was no such thing as time, so there's no such concept of "before" when there's no such thing as time.

Question. Then what/who created time? And who created that creator? etc

Hopefully the no-god camp has an answer to that and the other questions there.

Before I finish off, here's a contradiction I've heard to the above series of questions.

Contradiction: "If there's a god that created everything, where did god come from? Who created god?

Answer: The fact that an answer cannot be thought of for this question, as well as the fact that an answer other than "god" cannot be thought of regarding the other questions above illustrates the limitations of the human mind, and the certainty of an entity "greater" than humans. Whether that entity is our creator or not is another unknown.

I'm very limited on my knowledge on this area of the topic, so correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

my counter to that would be "why wouldnt that make me think god exists?" and yes, its because I dont know everything. To me, to say God doesnt exist is to assume you know everything as the very concept of god is an intangible concept based upon faith and belief. (surely you will give me that as its the basis of what you have been saying as a 'non-believer')

Me, Im not arrogant enough to assume otherwise as it is my belief and faith! If it doesnt work for you, I can accept that. Just dont try to tell me Im wrong for believing in what I believe in cause you dont hold the same belief! (well, not you but you know what I mean)

How are you any less arrogant in claiming that because you know nothing the answer is that god exists?
To me saying that I have some knowledge and have come to the conclusion that god exists is better than saying because i don't have enough knowledge god must exist lol

It is both arrogant (because you are assuming your answer is right for no justified reason), and ignorant (because you're not using any observations to come to your conclusion, ignoring alot of things).

To Pacesetter

We as atheists admit that we don't know the answer to everything, but we're willing to look for other answers instead of simply providing a possible answer to fill the hole and never revisiting other possibilities.
1000 years ago, god controlled the mountains and made them erupt... these days, we know what causes volcano's to erupt, most people won't argue against it.
2000 years ago ,god made the sun appear in the morning and disappear at night, these days most people won't disagree that it is that we revolve around the sun.

Basically, these gaps where theists have traditionally just come to the conclusion "We don't have any other answer, lets just say god did it", have been filled by the different sciences. More than likely eventually people will accept evolution, they will accept theories of how space began as better theories become apparent.. and God will disappear into another place where we just don't have the answers YET.