Why do you believe in God?

The question is very simple why do you believe in God? As an atheist I thought I might as well challenge people to why do you believe. I made my choice to be an atheist as a young man in my teens, with a question to myself, 'why do you want an emotional rollercoaster life just to believe in something that makes you feel good, but does not even hit the mark.' Of course we all have a choice, so why do you believe in a god or gods, whereas I have chosen not to believe. Quite a challenging question.

 

I disagree that there is any conscious choice involved. People either believe or don't believe based on how their brain happens to process the information and experiences they have. We can only partially control the information and can't really control the brain at all.

That's why it's such a challenging question, because believers don't really know why they believe (or non-believers why we don't for that matter). Some people might believe they know why they believe what they do but I'd hope the circular logic there is obvious.

 

Not sure why you associate this with belief in God.

I see your point.

Some arguments for the existence Of God:

Teleological arguments

*What is the “fine-tuning” of the universe, and how does it serve as a “pointer to God”?

*Why is the universe so beautiful? If you don't believe in Design you think the universe is a random mess, and how can a random mess be beautiful?

*Why is mathematics so unreasonable effective when describing the physical world? Here's John Polkinghorne: “We are so familiar with the fact that we can understand the world that most of the time we take it for granted. It is what makes science possible. Yet it could have been otherwise. The universe might have been a disorderly chaos rather than an orderly cosmos."

Cosmological argument

[video=youtube;WQXmLI6VAwc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQXmLI6VAwc[/video]

Other

Why should we discard the testimony of billions who pray and think they have encountered God?

 

There is some logic in your answer, however it still does not cover the question. We are not robots so we must have quite a bit of choice.

 

Still does not answer the question why do you believe in God?

 

It's science & reason vs. atheism.

Twenty Arguments For The Existence Of God

As a scientist I'm certain Stephen Hawking is wrong. You can't explain the universe without God

 

I am saying it is reasonable. Shouldn't we be reasonable?

By the way I think the definition of atheist as "those who don't believe in God" to be problematic. If someone thinks there is a God according to this definition he/she would be an atheist! I think atheism = "the doctrine that there is no deity".

Though I do appreciate the intellectual retreat this new definition represents.

 

because god needs alternating current to play humanities greatest hits on the heavenly iPod?

 

I have had people try to convert me to believe, they are trying to be genuine but they still missed. As Karl Marx says; Is Religion the Opiate of the Masses?

 

Because I was taught to do so by my parents from my earliest memories. Because I have prayed to Him and have felt His presence in my life. Because I believe in the risen Christ and trying to live life in accordance with His teachings gives me direction, courage, and solace.

 

I have a Catholic mother and an agnostic/atheist father. I see the positive effect that belief in God has on my Mom, especially when times aren't so good.

 

Thankyou for your courage in sharing your belief.

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Do you believe?

 

At a fundamental level, I'd suggest we are robots. Our brains do nothing more than store and process data after all. None of our "choices" are really that, they're just the results of the processing. We feel like they're free will decisions but in truth we'd never reach any other conclusion with the same set of source data.

It's a potentially depressing conclusion I admit but, by definition, I can't help that. Maybe it's part of the reason we come up with ideas of afterlives, gods and the like as more comfortable explanations of how things are.

 

Yes, I do.

 

Why do you believe in god?

 

Makes no sense to me that there wouldn't be a higher power. If I weren't Catholic, I'd be a deist. I basically believe because belief in God makes sense. There has to be a prime mover. I am Catholic because I feel Catholocism is the religious view that makes the most sense to me. It's fairly stable, and it's fairly unchanged for being around for 2000 or so years.

 

If parents had never mentioned god to their children we would have a world of people who would be more likely to take the responsibility for their own lives.
They would learn and realize that it is their thoughts that create their reality. No god needed.

 

personal experiences through my battle and victory against what was suppose to be terminal brain cancer as well as my stroke recovery

Complexity of the world argument

 

I doubt it. The godless are no more responsible than the religious, IMHO, and in fact, I think the opposite is true. I know many more responsible religious people than irresponsible religious people. Most of the irresponsible people I know are unthinking, and aren't either active atheists like yourself or religious. They are just apathetic.

 

You are ignoring everything we have learned in psychology, though.

The Libido comes on very strong in our adolescence and women must develop their intuitive Anima in order to deal with the aggressive males they encounter.
The Institution of Marriage was created to channel these urges and desires in a way which avoids fatherless bastards who destroy societies.

These seven Freudian archetypes are the sources of the bad behavior that arises in people as the "wants, urges, drives" start dictating to them.

Only Truth can teach them the end game for letting these evil drives control their actions.

 

You are catholic because you were raised that way, probably.

But do you see Reality as the almighty, and Truth as His son and image???

 

It always seems to come back around to you wanting the "evil lusts" of women to be "controlled", doesn't it, CD?

 

Not so...

As a species, man has developed an Unconscious mind, which contains all the past history of our species.
This one source for Truth about the reality we will face after birth is very active in our lives.
This is in spite of our own ignorance of its presence and the things it does in our life.

We are NOT just experiencing this life.
W are ADDING to the past experience of our whole species.


A great new book (called "Subliminal, how the unconscious mind rules over us"), is now very good reading for u.

 

Hmmm,...
Lust is more masculine.

The "control" I seek is over allowing sexual promiscuity which will easily lead the males to chase after girls, irresponsibly, and force women to use their sex drive to advantages which are anti-social in the long run.

The Institution of Marriage once served to do this job.
But it became broken down after 1960.

 

But you always ONLY want to control WOMEN and their lusts....you clearly said that in your post above.

And men are always the "victims" of those "evil feminine lusts".