Do you believe in God?

[Shadow X]

I do believe. Not for any particular i'd like to discuss but yeah. That's just me.

[Soeru]

Well I believe, that there's a God or just someone who created all this, who watches over us and protects us. If there isn't, the life wouldn't make any sense. What were if we died? I believe in the life after dead. I think the dead isn't somehting to be afraid of, I think it frees us from all our bad feelings and problems. Do you believe?

Nadeshiko

P.S.: (If there's any mistake... Well you know )

But without the faith... There's missing something. I agree, maybe all that holy faith happens just in our imagination. But that's why it is called "Faith", not "Knowledge". I think there are always 2 sides of the coin. The light and the dark side. If there isn't the dark side, there can't be the light side. And there have to be the 2 sides of life which are in each of us.
Without the faith I have a feeling that there's missing something. The faith can be different for everyone.

EDIT: Oh, I recognized that there's already a thread about God! (Religious Debate) I'm sorry! *bow*

I've made a thread like this before but I guess it's alright since it's been awhile.

I think your being a little narrow minded, I don't see emptiness in the lack of afterlife or a supreme being. Since I don't believe in an afterlife, I'm not going to strive to be a role model in this life to later enjoy heaven... so I'll enjoy the life I have now and do as I please within what I find morally correct. I know it's going to end at some point so why not make the best out of it?

Atheists and agnostics can be very happy with their own life and the lack of faith. I believe I've never met a devout Catholic that didn't have any inner turmoils or big regrets about their lives, no one extremely happy about having their own life. I of course have my own regrets but they don't stop me from enjoying my life. Though I probably don't show it at all, I have a very optimistic attitude towards my own life and where it's going, and I don't need to believe in a God or an afterlife to make it better.

I don't agree with this "if there is evil there must be good"... because I interpret the words differently. In an old fashioned Christian community, any follower of pagan religion is considered evil and subhuman, and stuff like this still happens today, and is not exclusive to Christian societies. "Evil" is one of the many facets of human nature, but it's just a word. Ie: what is "evil" to you? Killing someone unarmed and innocent or killing someone in the name of your belief? It's murder, so they're the same to me, I don't pick around with that too much.

Here's a quirk of mine: I'm a pure atheist, but I think like an agnostic(or the other way around). I don't outright deny the existence of something supreme, but whatever it is I don't see it as a "God" or anything that can be personified as a human or creature. As cheesy as it sounds, if there is a "God" I believe he is a "force" that might explain some mysteries to the origin of our universe, I see God as a combination of matter, time, space, and the laws of physics. Definately it's not something that is alive that sees or feels or can even think at all, so it's not some guy in a throne judging humans or whatever.

But even my own little theory is something I doubt, hence why sometimes I fall back on the belief of pure atheism, which I back up with logic and science, and build my morals on personal experiences/history/etc., a bit like a Secular Humanist. I also don't feel like explaining this to everyone that asks me so I'll just spare them the boredom and say I'm an atheist and I don't believe in a God, much quicker.

Either way, I don't need to use a word like "atheist" to describe the kind of person I am or the way I think. I don't bother making claims since it's only going to limit what people will think of me as a human being, not to mention that atheists/agnostics don't belong to any organization so there's no point in me pointing out I'm an atheist/agnostic/whatever.

[MasJ]

Soeru also must read the simulation argument. Off you go lad.

[GundamGuy]

I really don't believe in any sort of religion... Im ok with it so that's all that matters...

[Schutzstaffel]

I believe in God. (no discussion, too lazy.)

[Xaenn]

Yes, but I don't think the absense or existence of an afterlife dictates how we should act in this life. Anyone who does should seriously question their beliefs. Fear is not faith. Oh yeah, I don't believe in pure faith either. As in, I don't think something is right because it is proclaimed by God for instance. Rather that God complains what is right, but could be realized by other means.

[crusher]

I don't believe in God nor do I believe in anything like a life after death, reincarnation or whatever. I think that once you are dead, you really ARE dead. "The eternal sleep" is a very fitting discription of what I believe "death" is like.

[artist088]

i believe in God and life after death.

[Topken]

you will all think im nuts whn i say this but it is the absolute truth. I come from another galaxy where we interact with ours gods daily. As for the god or gods here they are but one Person.

[Nadeshiko]

Wow Soeru, you really make me happy, you're interested in my/your thread!
Well I belive in several ways. I think there's God or just someone who caused our life, the nature and the universe. And I believe also that there's the devil, or a creature or even person that is evil. And there we go, humans, complex and intelligent. We don't even understand ourselves! XD
I think everyone of us has to reach his own aims. And for that we have to fight hard. Maybe there have to be good and evil people, but I hope not XD

[[toj.cc]Phantom]

I do, no doubts no fears. Just knowing God is there is enough.

[((KvN))]

I believe. I'm not religious at all though, so I don't know much info and other stuff, but I believe there is a god/miracles/etc.

[Mistral]

Whether there is or is not a God or devil is something I have considered. I do not believe in God, but I do acknowledge the possibility that some higher power does exist, has created the entire universe as we know it (whether it is by the Simulation Theory, as MasJ put it, or by some other means incomprehensible to us at our present level of development). This does not mean this being is good (or, for that matter, evil), nor does it automatically follow that we need to worship it as our one true God, but we can acknowledge its existence in a scientific framework if there is adequate proof. As there is no such proof, discussion on the topic can only be pure conjecture, even logically based. This, of course, also doesn't mean we should stop looking, either.

For the matter of religion and happiness, I have met religious people who are quite content with their life, and who draw great comfort from their faith, and was myself an agnostic who was deeply troubled by life (if not by faith). In such a matter, it shouldn't matter what you believe, so long as you can draw happiness and contentment from it. That is what worries me most of most organized religions, that fundamental aura of intolerance that some people have, that their way is the only true path. It leads to conflict where there should be cooperation and consideration.

Morality, though, draws a deeper question, one rooted not in the heavens, but rather in the hearts of humanity. I believe in the application of good and evil always existing together, for the process of definition of a code of moral or ethical behavior also implies that by not following that moral code, you actively conduct evil actions. This does not need to apply to any higher power, because there is no proof of a higher power, nor is there any proof said power either applies the same moral code as the majority of humanity or even defines a moral code of behavior for itself. Even applying it purely to humanity, in any spectrum, the opposite ends can be defined as absolutes, regardless of how absolute they truly are. Of our moral actions, certain people can be defined as good and others evil, merely by virtue of being more good or more evil than the norm. There is a duality under human conventions of definition, but applying it back to religion, this does not mean that there is a devil where there is a God, for can God (assuming, as always, existence as postulate for the purposes of argument) not be both good and evil, depending on the eye of the beholder. But, then we drop back into relativism and the fallacies of application of any human convention to such a theoretically advanced being or race. Just as good and evil changed for humanity drastically over the course of its advancement so far, wouldn't it have changed for such a being over the course of its own enlightenment and advancement?
...
I talk too much.

[Sir Zaphanos]

There is no "God".

[Topken]

zeph my head hurts now. its not confusing itrs just a lot to take in all at once. just give me time to sort through all that and ill get back to you