What is God? - Politics & Religion - Forums : Best Ever Albums

sp4cetiger

Defago wrote:

I'm an atheist, but if there were to be a god I don't think it'd be like most people picture it as.

How do you think most people interpret God? What I'm trying to determine is how other people (particularly atheists) go about answering the question,

"Do you believe in God?"

To give a comparative example, if I were an aunicornist, I might say:

"I don't believe in unicorns."

In order for me to say that, I'd have to have some conception of what others mean by the word "unicorn." Specifically, I think of it as a type of horse with a long horn on its head and wings that allow it to fly. If, however, everybody else on the thread came back to me and said, "no, actually, a unicorn is a species of frog that lives along the southern part of the Amazon river," I might be inclined to reconsider my disbelief in unicorns, seeing that I've misunderstood what was signified by the word.

Kiki

sp4cetiger wrote:

How do you think most people interpret God? What I'm trying to determine is how other people (particularly atheists) go about answering the question,

"Do you believe in God?"

To give a comparative example, if I were an aunicornist, I might say:

"I don't believe in unicorns."

In order for me to say that, I'd have to have some conception of what others mean by the word "unicorn." Specifically, I think of it as a type of horse with a long horn on its head and wings that allow it to fly. If, however, everybody else on the thread came back to me and said, "no, actually, a unicorn is a species of frog that lives along the southern part of the Amazon river," I might be inclined to reconsider my disbelief in unicorns, seeing that I've misunderstood what was signified by the word.

That would be another thing which happens to have the name 'God'.

Goodsir

Growing up, I was a strict Catholic and any questioning of whether or not there was a God would result in punishment. Because of this harsh religious upbringing (including attending Catholic schools from grades K-6), I went through an atheism period that lasted for about a year, that later went into agnosticism. These days though, I find myself believing in God more than ever. Why? It's because I don't follow any specific religion and interpret God's existence my own way, and this gives my belief a lot more confidence than before.

To me, God created the Earth and all living things, and has been watching over the human race since its conception. Unlike most religions, I do not think that God is a perfect being, and that this is why there is so much hate and turmoil in the world. A perfect being would create perfect creatures, and that we are truly not. In current society, He tries to guide people in the right direction. He can't guide everyone in the right way, but He truly tries to guide people to do good things to the best of His ability. He wants people to see the beauty and depth in His creation, but unfortunately some people just don't want to. It is my belief that there is too much beauty and depth for there not to be some divine power out there who wants to show it to us.

As for Christianity, I believe that its fundamentals and ideals are great to follow, to love and accept all and to love Jesus, as well as to follow the Ten Commandments. But it seems in the present day that those who follow Christianity tend to not follow its ideals, even with churches becoming corrupt. I commend those who do still follow it though, and follow its ideals as thoroughly as possible. I feel that it doesn't align with my own beliefs so well any more. In Christianity, belief in God is flexible of course, but you still have to believe certain things (such as God being a perfect being), which I don't subscribe to. All religions seem to have boundaries/limitations, when I think the only essential should be to just believe in God (or multiple Gods, if you prefer polytheism).

Hayden

Location: CDMX

Joanna Newsom is pretty close. Same with Jenny Slate.

sp4cetiger

Goodsir wrote:

To me, God created the Earth and all living things, and has been watching over the human race since its conception. Unlike most religions, I do not think that God is a perfect being, and that this is why there is so much hate and turmoil in the world. A perfect being would create perfect creatures, and that we are truly not. In current society, He tries to guide people in the right direction. He can't guide everyone in the right way, but He truly tries to guide people to do good things to the best of His ability. He wants people to see the beauty and depth in His creation, but unfortunately some people just don't want to. It is my belief that there is too much beauty and depth for there not to be some divine power out there who wants to show it to us.

Thanks for sharing that! This is the first time I've heard of someone describing God as imperfect. I was half expecting everyone to agree that the concept of God implied some kind of perfection, including omniscience, omnipotence, and/or infallibility.

SuedeSwede
Ognoo

Gender: Female
Age: 26
Location: On a cloud

I'm agnostic-atheist, if there's such thing. It's a grey shady area where I'm almost in between not knowing and not believing in a god. There have been moments in my subconscious where I've thought that something is predestined, though I'm no determinist. It's odd and hard to explain, I guess, but it's hard to completely ignore things like that.

I think if there is a god (or gods), he/she/they isn't perfect, and all-seeing and all-knowing, etc. and that he/she/they was/were a creation of something else to act as an "overseer" of sorts. Though I find it hard to type this, since I am in such a higgledy-piggledy position with gods and such. But yeah, in my opinion, if he/she/they exist(s) then they're not a tall, old, grey-bearded man living in the clouds.
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LAF2

Gender: Male
Age: 26
Location: United States

A god is generally considered a cognitive being accredited with the creation of the universe.

Why don't I believe in one? Well, why should I?

SuedeSwede
Ognoo

Gender: Female
Age: 26
Location: On a cloud

LAF2 wrote:

Why don't I believe in one? Well, why should I?

A better question is why shouldn't you
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LAF2

Gender: Male
Age: 26
Location: United States

^^^ Not really, burden of proof lies with the claimant. Appeal to ignorance fallacy.

But I'll bite anyway: Lack of evidence.

sp4cetiger

LAF2 wrote:

A god is generally considered a cognitive being accredited with the creation of the universe.

I've seen this a few times. Does everyone take "God" to mean a creator? In other words, can I reasonably call a thing God if it did not create the universe?

Quote:

Why don't I believe in one? Well, why should I?

Let's not get too far astray, I'm not asking anyone to justify their beliefs (or lack thereof).