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2/12/2015 3:40:31 AM
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Why do you believe in God?

I'm not religious, and I'm curious as to why some of you believe in a god. Anything interesting, and or compelling, please post. ( all points of view are fine)

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  • Edited by Woupsea: 2/12/2015 4:24:00 AM
    I don't! And if he is real then send me to hell cause God is one class A douchebag! He is grossly incompetent at his job. So incapable that as an employer I wouldn't trust him to bag groceries without screwing up. He's such an abysmal protector that I'd feel safer putting my eternal soul in the hands of a paraplegic five year old. The only thing his entire existence is good for is so that I may use the term "goddamnit" when in extreme distress! Lord and savior my ass! It took him billions of years to create a life form as flawed as us? I could make a far superior being in ten If I had the resources. VOTE SATAN 2016

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    • Pizza, nuff said

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    • I answered this in a similar topic not too long ago. Here is my response. [quote]I'm Eastern Orthodox because... ...Existential needs. I think every human has a need to ask "why?" I think every human needs some sense of value. I think every human needs satisfaction. When I think about needs, I find them suspicious. There isn't a such thing as a need that can't be satisfied, otherwise you wouldn't need it. That said, whatever we truly need must exist. I believe I need my religion. Every human has the same needs and they similarly try to answer them via their own religions, ideas, and worldviews. I can't comment on theirs--I respect them though as I do any attempt to grapple with the mystery called life. But I adhere to my religion because I think it's the greatest out of the others, and for me personally is the ONLY one that truly satisfies my needs. I find Western Christianity repulsive, no offense. In particular, the legalism that started from the Scholastic movement in the Middle Ages. Catholics and Protestants believe in Penal Atonement which states that Christ died in order to appease His Father's wrath. It's built on scapegoating, and sets God up to be the main villain opposed to the solution. But more than that, Salvation merely becomes reduced to a one-time acquittal verdict. You get acquitted and go to some magical mansion in the sky when you keel over. The same goes for Islam, some forms of Judaism, and most Western religions. This doesn't satisfy my needs. There is no true ontological transformation or healing. God isn't changing me; He's merely putting me in a mask and changing His opinion on me. I'm still dirty and rotten underneath, and I'm still stuck in a fatalistic existence. I find most forms of polytheism to be outdated and therefore out of the question. The thing about these religions is that their deities are often understand as literally being a part of the universe. I think that while this may have been understandable for pre-scientific times, the advent of science has shown that there is no need to invoke supernatural deities to explain natural phenomenon. I'm Eastern Orthodox because 1) monotheism is more logical to me than the aforementioned polytheism, and 2) out of all the Abrahamic religions and of the Christianities, it makes the most sense to me and has the most credibility. I like that in this faith, God isn't just an angry judge and Salvation isn't just an acquittal, but that God is a doctor who wants to help me. Salvation isn't an acquittal but a lifelong process of being conformed to the image and likeness of God as partakers of the Divine nature. Christ died NOT to satisfy a wrath, but to destroy Death itself and liberate humanity from the nightmare known as Death, as well as sinfulness which is rooted in our existential fear of Death. Sinfulness isn't a violation of a cosmic law but an infirmity that needs healing; Salvation isn't an acquittal but Theosis. Christ isn't a scapegoat but a savior. Heaven and Hell aren't literal places that God "sends" you to like a judge, but are adjectives to describe our spiritual state of being in relation to God's love at the resurrection of the dead. Those who were truly healed will experience joy, while those who weren't will experience misery. It's not something God literally does like pulling a trigger, but the natural consequence of what happens when we do evil, just as if you eat unhealthy every day you'll probably get fat and have diabetes. I like that I can truly say my God became man because He loved me. I can say that due to Him uniting together the created world with the Divine, I am divine. Orthodoxy is the only Abrahamic religion where a human can say "I am God" and not be fully blasphemous. We are made God through our union with Christ who we believe is both fully God and fully human simultaneously, a bridge connecting together the two realms. We are God by adoption, but never in essence. I like that I can truly be healed through this union, that I can experience Theosis as Salvation opposed to the cheap acquittal of the West. Out of the Christianities, I take great pride in the fact that we're the oldest. And I think that we're the most unchanged since we never had a Scholastic movement. Many "fundamental Christian truths" that Westerners, particular Evangelical Protestants, hold as essential, we in the Orthodox Church would dismiss as Scholastic novelties. A few such examples are Penal Atonement, biblical literalism, and Original Sin in the legalistic context. We also don't have the "faith vs. works" dichotomy of the West because we don't share the same underlying theological system which leads to such a dilemma. The second religions I have the most respect for although I don't belong to them are Hinduism and Buddhism. Like my Orthodoxy, they recognize our existential needs and are about true ontological healing and transformation opposed to mere legalistic acquittals. Indeed, I've found it surprisingly easier to discuss my Orthodoxy with them than I have most Western Christians.[/quote]

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    • I will be the Christian to say this... Us Christians do not know nor have seen him. We believe because we have had struggles and he has been there. We believe that there is a higher power out there than our selves. Neither of us have seen him or can prove he is there but we sure as heck can always know he will be there for us.

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    • Well it's complicated you just do it is like taking a leap of faith and once you do it you just feel like you made the right choice. All worrys are gone or are eventually gone and you just feel happy. I'm sorry of you don't but that is why no other way to explain ;)))

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    • in my opinion, strong people who can stand up for themselves during hard times are usually Atheists. No offense, but yeah, it comforts weaker people to think that there's someone out there who no matter what, gives a shit about them. Also people want to be reassured they'll live forever, if they can convince themselves there's an afterlife, they will... Obviously I'm an Athiest. sorry if I offended anyone, this is only my opinion.

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      • To this day I believe the bible was written by a few guys smoking or eating some kind of old time drug plus I believe religion is a cult and all they want is your money

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      • *walks in holding a bourbon* Oh great. A this. *leaves*

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      • Edited by angry0lbgrampa: 2/12/2015 5:06:12 AM
        [b]Short version:[/b] I had an encounter with God. He healed mental wounds I would carry with me till this day had I not encountered his Grace and love. [b]Long version[/b]: I was a very sweet child, growing up, full of love, and joy. So I am told. This all changed when I turned 6. My father whom I had never known was returning from the marine corp, and moving back home. He had been away for 3 years on multiple tours overseas. I had only maybe seem him 6 weeks of my life up until this point. At first things were great. My dad played catch with me. We built tree forts, and he took me running with him. Then things changed suddenly. One day I heard my mother screaming, "you are killing me, you are killing me" then nothing. The car started, and he drove off. I was 7 years old. I came to the door calling for my mother. I heard her crying for help, but very softly. She was at the bottom of the stairs, bloody and beaten. My father had beaten her, and stomped her head onto the concrete slab. She managed to get up, and with my help at a slow crawl we managed to make it to the neighbors, who was a family friend. She drove my mother to the hospital where she received about 100 stitches. Years later I would find out this occurred because my mother told my father she had cheated on him. They separate for a few weeks. Then get back together. a few months go by, but things start to get bad. They start fighting more often, less physical now, more shouting and yelling. By this time, I am almost eight years old. A few months before my eight birthday is the first day my father hurt me. It was shortly after a fight him and my mother had. He went out to the garage to work on something. He came in the house yelling for me. He asked me where his hammer was, I told him I lost it. He explodes into a rage. He grabs me by my hair, throws me against the wall. I collapse to the ground, and he begins to lash me with his belt. I begin sobbing and crying out for my mother. She yells at my father to stop, and he does. It was the first time I'd feel pain like this, and not the last. A few years go by and the abuse increases in ferocity. The worst being the day my father broke my nose, I was 11. I was outside playing with my dog when suddenly I hear my sister scream. I bolt in the direction of the screaming. As I round the garage of the house I am met by my fathers fist in the face. He knocks me flat on my back and blood erupts from my nose. I stood up, trying not to cry. Something I learned early on, because the more I cried the worst the beating would be. He thought I was hurting my sister, due to her screaming, come to find out she was stuck in a tree. A few more years go by and my parents divorce, I am 13. I am so happy, I am finally free from my fathers physical and emotional abuse. A year goes by and my mother begins to see a man. I don't much care for him, and I tell her so. She marries him six months later. It would be 5 months before this new man would hurt me. I was now 15. My new "step father" told me to get in the car because he wanted me to go with him. I explained to him I had plans already and my mom knew about them. She was working, he was a loser without a job I must add. As I headed out the door, he kicked me in the back from behind. I fell forward stumbling from the force of the kick. Just as I recovered, I heard a sickening smack. Then a Hot shooting pain up my back. Then another, and another. He was hitting me with a wooden boat paddle across the back again and again and again, until I passed out. I woke up after some time, in harsh pain. I gimped my way to my grandpas house down the road and he took me to the hospital. I told him I fell from a tree, because no one believed me when I'd tell them, just like with my father. I endured extreme mental and physical abuse from this new man for 3 years, until I turned 16. At this point I was at my breaking point. On many occasions I had thought and nearly carried out attempts at suicide. One night I even stood over my step father with a knife, prepared to end his existence. It was here that I feel I had my first brush with what I now call God, because I heard a small, quiet voice tell me not to worry, that it will be ok. I went to my room, and the next day my mother kicked him out, and divorced him shortly after. At this time in my life I was an atheist. I didn't know God, or believe in a God. A few years down the road I met a man and he introduced me to Heathenism, and I became a follower of Viking code of honor, as well as a follower of Thor. I settled in this ideology for 3 years, from the age of 16-19. However, I still felt empty. I felt as though there was something more. At the age of 19-20 I began seeking out other religions, I attended mosque for a year (20-21), I read the Qur'an twice front to back. I managed to memorize a few verses. However it didn't seem right either. I couldn't put my finger on what it was. But something was missing from the religion. Something I had no name for. At the age of 22, I began to meditate and try to seek inner peace. I practiced many different styles of meditation. Some of which I still do today. One day while checking the mail, I found a Postcard/advertisement. It was for a church. On the front it said, come without your mask to Anchor Cove, a place where the Love of Christ is. I was intrigued. I had off and on went to church as a kid. I didn't believe, I just went for the ,food and because it got me away from my father and step father. I attended a service and as the Preacher began to speak. I felt something within begin to awaken. It was like a fire that was uncontrollable building on the inside. As the Preacher spoke about the Love of Christ, I was drawn in and the fire began to grow. He spoke of how God loved me and that he wanted a deep intimate relationship with me. He began to talk differently, strangely. He said God Has a word for someone here tonight. He said " My child I want you to know that I wept with you through all the pain you endured for all those years, know that I am your father in heaven and that I love you". I fell to the ground in a heap, the words shot straight to my soul. I was the only person to react, no one here knew me. There was no possible way he could have known this about me. I knew it was truly God speaking through this man. It was impossible, yet I knew it to be real. I began to deeply study the bible. One die while fasting, and reading my bible, I felt a presence and in my mind I heard, go to your mother and show here that scripture. It was this scripture. Proverbs 23:30-32New King James Version (NKJV) 30 Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine. 31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; 32 At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper. The moment I showed her she began to weep. I was confused. She told me to look at the computer she was on. I was amazed, in front of me was the profile picture of a women my mother thought to be a friend. In that picture was a glass of red wine, and a Snake. My mom through her sobbing began to tell me that she had learned this friend was talking badly about her behind her back to her new husbands ex-girlfriend and childhood sweet heart. It was at this point when I new that God was real, and that Jesus Christ was the only way. It would be months down the road, but eventually, I realized all of the harm my years of abuse had literally fallen away. I was no longer socially awkward. I was capable of loving others. I was no longer angry, and resentful. I even forgave my father and step father. The years of depression I had struggled with had eroded and were no longer present. I was finally happy, and free to be who God made me to be.

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        • I don't see why you have your selected answer as something so absurd and ridiculous

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        • Because people that read the bible told me too. So obviously I should believe them :-)

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        • Because I find that the lack of an afterlife would render our existence pointless.

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          • I'm not a religious person, but I am spiritual. The god I believe in isn't one, divine being... it's a web, a fiber, that connects all humans, even life throughout this entire universe, together. After all, you have to have some faith... or what else would you be living for?

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          • There's some serious fedora tipping and bible bashing going on in this thread...

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          • Because I can.

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          • God created us so we can worship us. However, he gave us free will to do what we wish (Which is why the world is chaotic). In Islam, we value the hereafter more than this life. Also, It just gives me rules and gives me something to believe in.

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          • I think that God could possibly be a figure created by man as a guideline to help humanity accept fate or move forward, but for all we know The Holy Bible could have just been a popular book, but it fell into the common and many general mistakes that humans make over and over that people can relate too. Also there are many gods that were created by different cultures as well to support a community of people to believe that what happens to them was meant too. I personally don't know what to believe in because the world is all so warped with people who are pressuring others into believing what they think is right. So at the current moment I partially believe in God, sort of to be on the safe side (for if there is a hell).

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          • It's a good thing to know that everything happens for a reason and why you die there is something.

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          • I hate god because he takes 2 hours of my sunday that I could be using to play destiny or do something more productive than sit and hope that Jesus will open his gates when i die

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            • "I believes in hims becuazebof faithz and stuff. "God work in mysterious wayzzz" "Space magix"

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            • Because I... I just [b][u]feel[/u][/b] like he's there. The idea of God just feels right to me. Never really had a personal experience with God. Unless you count when I told my religious friend about my crush and started to notice my iPod's music playlist was always talking about love and shit.

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            • Wiccan I believe in the horned god But that's way different

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              • Need 3 for crota cp. send msg for inv. Gt same as user

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                • Without god there is no final, absolute truth in the world. Really, if there is no god, why are we even here? Why don't we all just go out and lie, cheat, and steal our way through life? We should be as sneaky as possible and use others as stepping stones for our own success, oppress the poor and only have sex with people to satisfy our own selfish desires. If a woman get pregnant, there's no commitment right? Just dump her and who cares about the baby? Why bother caring about anyone? You see god and religion teach us that there is a better way and they have done that since the beginning. The devil incessantly has tried to tempt mankind with the "easier way" of sin and selfishness. The devil says there's no life after death, so let's all eat, drink and be merry right? For tomorrow we die and we might as well get as much pleasure while we can. What a load of bull. God's way teaches cooperation with others, mercy, dedication to family and children, and YES sexual fidelity and chastity before marriage. This is the "difficult path" but you will find that if you follow it life can be a heaven on earth. You form connections that are eternal, your legacy becomes eternal, and you will be truly happy forever, not just feeling pleasure for a time.

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                  • Greek Gods > Christian god.

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                    • Dont

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