If you believe in God.. Don't

[wistful_dementia]

Now, excuse me but I must go. I am supposed to seek out some heretics that believe in the Watermelon Lord, and convert them before it is too late!

May the Pumpkin shine on you!
J.[/quote]

Jordan... I have seen the light and you are truly a wise prophet. Please beg the Great Pumkins forgiveness for me and pray that I don't recieve his wrath for worshiping the Watermelon Lord. The Watermelon Lord fed me full of his sweet juicy lies- tempting me to eat just one more bite in exchange for my agressive, socialable personality (just kidding everyone)... I am a true blasphemer.

 

[Mooncalf]

Just why are we not supposed to take the bible litral? :? People take other things in that way. I know people would rather like to think Jehovah
(God)does not exsist but he does and futher more time for this sad system of things is running out fast. One only has to look at the state of the world to show we need some one with superior intellegence to save us from ourselves. You people who say there is no God have no real alternatives to offer apart from man made ideas that change with the fashions and flavours of the month. Those who critizise the contents of the bible have very rarely read it . As for me well I know there is a God and I know he cares about us I also know that the bible is his writen word.

Ahh, a Jehovah's witness. I love you guys, you have a lot of nice things to say.

I'm not going to get dragged into this argument, all I'll do is post the lyrics of a Muse song which I think are quite fitting, especially on this forum:

Thoughts of a dying atheist:

Eerie whispers
trapped beneath my pillow
won't let me sleep,
your memories

I know you're in this room
I'm sure I heard you sigh
floating in-between
where our worlds collide

It scares the hell out of me
and the end is all I can see
and it scares the hell out of me
and the end is all I can see

I know the moment's near
and there's nothing we can do
look through a faithless eye
are you afraid to die?

It scares the hell out of me
and the end is all I can see
and it scares the hell out of me
and the end is all I can see

 

[Anonymous]

Wow this is crazy, every topic about whether god exists or not seems to have the most replies.

I don't believe in god, not because I hate life or anything (I do hate my life but that's not why I don't believe in god). I just can't make sense of it. I remember once I tried to force myself to believe because I am friends with devout Christians and I did force myself for about a week. It was around christmas and I felt the christmas spirit and I was pretty happy. But one day I woke up and thought, "what am I doing? I'm forcing myself to believe in something. I shouldn't have to force myself to believe in something that I'm not inclined to believe in."
I want to believe in god and that I will go to heaven if I do good deeds and stay moral, but I can't. I am a moral atheist though, but not believing will guarantee me hellfire according to the bible.

 

[lifesnotfair]

then where is god when people comitt suicide? when we live in a world when people murder each other, when this world is falling apart at its seems, where is god??? look.. i don't want to start a debate here, but if god truly loves us, why does he cause depression? why does he make his children so miserable.. and please don't tell me its because of "free will"

i am not trying to put others beliefs down, but i know that this planet is dying, and where is god to give us the guidence to repair it. I am not saying that god should fix everything, but to help us get out of this social armageddon that we have created...

 

[Condemned]

Just why are we not supposed to take the bible litral? :? People take other things in that way. I know people would rather like to think Jehovah
(God)does not exsist but he does and futher more time for this sad system of things is running out fast. One only has to look at the state of the world to show we need some one with superior intellegence to save us from ourselves. You people who say there is no God have no real alternatives to offer apart from man made ideas that change with the fashions and flavours of the month. Those who critizise the contents of the bible have very rarely read it . As for me well I know there is a God and I know he cares about us I also know that the bible is his writen word.

You're not supposed to take the bible literally word for word. Let's take the 6 days of creation and rest on the 7th bit as an example. It didn't take 6 earth days (24 hours) for everything to come into existence, because that goes against science. Science was created by God so us humans can comprehend the unverse's depth. The 6 days represent eras. Remember time is relative. Everything written in the bible is supposed to be taken metaphorically.

 

[rubius]

...

 

[Anonymous]

If you believe in a god, simply because you want to believe then that is a form of delusion. There maybe evidence for a creator or creative force but that doesn't prove that there is an all knowing God who cares for people. There definitely isn't evidence of a God who tells people to worship Islam, Christianity, or anything else. And why exactly can't there be a creator who designed evolution? Probably because you want to believe in a book that was written by delusional people. The only thing half way decent that came out of religion was a moral system for believers. To bad the delusional creators of sacred text never took into account of the world's growing population which would result in a greater need of mutual respect. And, yes religion has been the cause of great suffering among the world's people. When will people learn how to live to make our world better today. In the here and now, instead of living for a mythical after life while ignoring humanity?

 

[Anonymous]

I respect others because I want to be respected. I want what is the greater good for the world, because I want what will make my life greater and more fulfilled. That is why I believe in being decent towards others.

 

[Anonymous]

I would rather live my life believing there is a God and finding out there isn't.........
Than live my life NOT believing in God and finding out there IS.

I feel better about myself loving/helping someone than doing things that may be considered sinful, so I'm not losing out no matter how I look at it.

 

[Anonymous]

I think therefore I am... no one else taught me morals. I figured out the need not to hurt others just by watching the damage being inflicted by people who can't think for themselves and understand the big question 'WHY' I should be a good person. No religion is required.

 

[Anonymous]

see above post- it's good to be moral- just not a blind fool who follows something that was created to herd the masses. Ethics are good. But using a 'trick' that threatens people with damnation is bad.

 

[Michelob512]

can someone give me a rundown of how this argument has gone? I think I've got some insights to offer and I love to argue about this topic, I just dont want to read all these posts

 

[daxcharm]

God does not exist..

You sound confident. Prove it.

 

[nishah]

crashmodem- life without GOD is the worst thing that could ever happens to a person.. ur so pathetic if u feel that way.. and yes i do suffer too with SP but i didn't lose my relationship and trust with GOD.. i don't know ur story and im sorry if i judged u abruptly i just couldn't take what u have said about GOD.. i do believe that GOd exists and been always with us all along we people just don't seek HIM in our hearts.. ur never alone for GOD is with us people specially for those who are sick and suffering.. plz never lose hope in life.. and see the brighter side of it.. all the things u have said about other people only worsten ur condition it won't help u.. don't be so mean with people i do believe that there are few that are nice and willing to understand us sufferers...

 

[Quarkz]

Don't criticise us if we don't believe in god just like I won't if you do believe. It's all a matter of personal opinion. I don't believe so does that make me a bad person? Does that give you the right to call me pathetic?

 

[Yossarian]

Well said Quarkz. Personally I don't see proof either way which is why i'm agnostic. If God is real and wants me I'm here, but until he says hi then I'll try and live with what I do now. What I do know is real is us. People. Yeah there's bad people but theres also really good people too.

 

[nishah]

im so sorry if you got offended with what i said i didn't mean them.. im just stating in what i believe in.. plz don't be mad on me.. and no being good and bad depends on how u treat urself and the people around u.. ur right when u said that evry individual has his/her own opinion and i respect urs

 

[Remus]

I'm not religious ,nor do I beleive in god but I dont think anyone has a right to tell us what to belive in or what not to believe in.We should be free to decide without influence!

Shame on you crash modem, you give aethiests a bad name

 

[Johnie]

Did you hear the one about the dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac?
He would stay up late every night and wonder if there was a dog.

 

[Anonymous]

1) re: morals "only" coming from religious persons: BS. Being good simply out of fear of some sort of supernatural punishment is fear and self-interest masquerading as morality. Do what's right because it's what's right (by dint of ethical logic), not because someone or something told you to.

2) re: not following the 'word of god' leaves you only with mankind's 'flavor of the month' impermanent ideals: Uh, following the 'word of god' is nothing more than the word of some man on earth who wrote the book and got you to think it came from Above. It's all flavor-of-the-month stuff; why else do we have 500 versions of Christianity, with more popping out of the woodwork each day?

3) All untested hypotheses/beliefs are equally valid. It is logically equivalent for Bob to believe in god and Alice to believe in microscopic invisible squid that orbit Jupiter in a retrograde fashion within the orbit of Triton. As believers like to point out, "abscence of evidence is not evidence of abscence." Yet it's the stubborn tendency for people to belive in hypotheses for which there is no evidence that's fallacious, and the problem... ferinstance, nukes in Iraq.
(And in the case of a nonfalsifiable [aka BS] hypothesis like god, never will be or can be evidence)

Look around you-- ever notice that, indirectly, religion is a leading cause of death?