Comments on: If you can’t prove God doesn’t exist, why not believe?

By: hilisgen

hilisgen — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:58:39 +0000

All those who fallow a “god” have been educated from childhood and surely it would be hard for them to see other aspects.
You would asked to have faith in something that only exits in a book, a book which some people blindly think it can’t be false.
IF there is a god then he is making one lousy job on keeping his book straight
for those who haven’t noticed the changes that has been made on the glitches with these holy books, here is a preview … often its asked not to take the words literally, which basically means that those world needs to be taken like a riddle or something …
Genocides that has been done in the name of god
The disgusting tactics that religion applied on scientist that try to understand the universe
and even in today since religion now cants silence the scientists, now it’s trying to enter into scientific way. While science evolves with experiments, observation and proof, religion only asks for faith, the same thing a person would ask from another when trying to pull-up a scam
. Evolution is a fact and proven with evidence, DONT FUCKEN TRY TO INFECT IT WITH GOD “intelligent design”.

Here is the truth … there always will be religion, not because its believe to be true but because it offers something that reality doesn’t… Eternal life, which will come in curtain conditions ;) … and that brings the public control, prevents crimes and all that shit. And when there are desperate people that don’t know about god, they will do whatever it takes to self preservation, most cases leads to crime…

i think we still need to religion because people these days are just too ignorant to live in peace, they need a alternative way of life to keep them away from crime … but after all some religions has some ritualistic way of forgiving once crimes … weekly rituals to identify those don’t fallow their ways and brainwash their children by making them acknowledge their parents religious view. if god would be fair, this wouldn’t have happened .. if god wasn’t so egoistic , people wouldn’t have to conduct rituals for it..

I don’t want to believe something that hasn’t been proved by scientific ways, also those who say that “just because it hasn’t been proved doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist” can fu****f, because the book of god has already been disproved but you are too much brainwashed to notice it.

Technology evolves and scientist will keep finding new ways to brighten our view of universe…
i have been forced to read religious crap all my childhood, and it fucken didn’t made sense … all my cousins and relatives insisted on making me fallow gods way, just because they didn’t wanted me to burn in hell :P .. But somehow i manage to understand that god doesn’t really exist, I am hoping more people can realize that in the future.

The economic state of the current world is the perfect trap to get people to believe on a higher power.

I told my children the existence of different people that believe in different forms of gods when they came to me asking “why people go to church” or “what is god” and I am proud to say that all my children think that religion is a effective way to control people, and in today’s world, a essential tool to administer laws. They get complains from school because they ask too many questions that ‘some teachers’ ;) are having hard timed coming up with answers .

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:17:03 +0000

How can any of the Earths population believe in god!?
I understand that it’s that important to a single person, or a group of people.
But for me it just seems to be quite impossible to view as a way of life.
Your letting your ONE shot at life be wasted by “laws” that Yo have no idead if are true or false.
What if there is a God?
Even if there was would you want to follow him?
look at the world…
Do you see God helping those less fourtunate then the wealthy or healthy???
I sure dont, and please give me a reason to believe him.
I’m very strong opinionated and this is something I can’t stand.
There are SO many religions out there.
NONE in which I believe true. If there is a god then he’s unfair and cruel. Discrimination against homosexuals? they are people, and have no control over there orientation.
I was raised in a house of Christians, I believed as a young child. But by the time I could think on my own two feet i realized what they’re trying to persuade me to believe.
In my eyes, there is no god. I will live life how I believe it should be lived, not by a book who some educated, sad , sad man wrote to give his life meaning and make it seem as if living all the way through it will bring him the best of all.

-Mark A. Leukhardt

By: jordan

jordan — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:55:10 +0000

These arguements are very good in defending their points of interest or whether not GOd exist or not. I forgot your name but u r right when it comes to having an open mind in order to analyze the stuff u read. Those abilities that were mentioned are a strong case as well, but you have to remember how would u have those ideas if they were provided to you in some instance. People say God doesnt exist, but how is it that our Years are measured in BC and Ad, which stand for Before Christ and After Death. That is very funny to me how we sit here and say He doesnt exist when you base your Years around His son death.

Another thing is not everybody calls on God when they are in desperate times. I call Him whenever i need to talk and He answers maybe not in a way u and i talk but sometimes He uses a dream to stimulate your thinking. I like the arguements that were said because i can look at them and analyze them for myself.

Why is it that if you dont believe God then why try to disprove why God exist. Maybe just Maybe you do believe there is some type of God, but you dont want to admit it. I have read scientific arguements on why he does exist and doesnt exist, and i have came to the conclusion, not based on my own opionion, that God exist because you cant try to disprove something that isnt real.

I enjoy talkin with other religoiuos or non religous groups becuz i dont want to have one view, i listen to arguements say my comments, and bring about a conculsion to it. Either way God+trying to prove He dont exist= God exist whether we like it or not.

How can man explain what happened at the Hudson bay with the plain? How can man explain why there is Good and bad in the world? HOw can man say there is no God if you never took the time and really figure out if there is one? If your going to be opened minded then you have to read different agruements, different theories, watch things on tv to see various views, and finally put the pieces together.

Why is it we try to disprove the GOd of the christians but not the gods of the Greeks or Athenians, or the Egyptians. some of the greatest Kings in this world has submitted at one point to the God of the hebrews. The Romans Caeser at the time respected Jesus and didnt want him to be crucified because He didnt do anything wrong to be killed.

We look at history and at one point in time they believed there is truly a Great God the God who doesnt have to prove Himself to man at all but He cared enough to give up His son.

If you can disprove His son never existed then you win? but Historians and romans show that there was a man named Jesus Christ that walked the Earth at a point of time.

To wrap this up and ill be out your hair. God exist because His son existed on this earth. Therefore if you can disprove His son never walked this Earth, Romans didnt persecute Christians in rome because they served their true GOd then you win

By: DB Skeptic

DB Skeptic — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 02:22:26 +0000

David Annis (the author of this article) has written a new article in response to some of the reader comments here. See the new article here: Why pick on religion? Why religion matters to the non-religious

By: james cavell

james cavell — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:19:49 +0000

it is like when i was at school and tried desperatelay to prove the existence of the god of shandy. i couldnt prove he existed or did not exist. however, as i want shandy heaven, i keep believing.

By: David Annis

David Annis — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:54:40 +0000

Religion is a bit like politics; some people will never be change their minds no matter what happens in the observable world. Nonetheless, I talk about politics with my in-laws, not because I can convince them of anything, but because a frank and honest exchange of ideas can lead to small changes in the way we all see the world and because it is important to challenge myself intellectually and hone my thinking. Not all religions are the same, however, but that is a topic for another post (which I have written and will submit shortly).

David

By: Jave Ivanovski

Jave Ivanovski — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 10:56:53 +0000

I think a lot of time is wasted by otherwise smart people reacting emotionally to the religious mysticism they were brought up with in their families. You’re not going to improve the world by telling people they are crazy like it’s your full time job. Just skip it and go to the next level and find the answers.

I think what you’re trying to say is that we all should, at some point, “agree to disagree” and get on with the job of acutally “living”. Agreed. :)

By: ty

ty — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:38:35 +0000

I didn’t read all the responses but when someone makes the ‘believing in god is the same as the spaghetti monster belief’ argument it’s not a good analogy. I define god as the sentient entity that started time and matter and space etc. This is fifty fifty about if a sentient being created it. But me looking at it makes me think there’s got to be some intelligence so it’s not fifty fifty. Whereas the spaghetti monster has no indications of ever having existed and is a being of this universe and there’s no evidence for it and no need for it to have existed for us and the universe to be here now.
In short, the spaghetti monster argument’s real argument is that the idea of there being a beginning of time and space and matter has the same chances of existing as any random monster being created in peoples head, so it’s not a good analogy.

But then there can’t be a beginning of time because there would have to be something before that, but nevertheless we’re here. So this points to only one conclusion possible, there is a higher level of reasoning on this subject which nobody has come across, (and which I believe we can), which is the most fascinating thing of all about life I think.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:43:37 +0000

David,

Faith is not a leap from the platform of reason; it is the precondition for all reasoning.

You accept the laws of logic, your ability to think and reason, and to make sense of a world that has emerged from randomness, yet your worldview provides no account for your logic and reason, much less a basis for trusting in them.

You accept that there are moral rules to guide you and all of humanity, yet these are abstract, immaterial things. They do not comport with a reality that is purely material.

You approach life as a scientist, which requires you to believe in the uniformity of nature, that tomorrow will be like today. You have no logical basis for doing this. If you were to say, “In the past, the future has always resembled the past,” you would merely be begging the question.

God, by His propositional revelation, has establilshed the foundation upon which we can rationally go about conducting scientific experiments, embracing moral principles, using logic, etc. He has made the world and established its natural laws. He has made us in His image, with minds capable of apprehending (although not perfectly), the world around us. As the Book of Proverbs says: “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”

On the other hand, your worldview requires you to take a great leap of faith — to just accept that there are universals, that we are self-conscious, rational beings capable of making sense of reality, that there is any meaning at all in anything that we do, and all this without any explanation for how these things are so.

You have a lot of faith, David. Unlike the faith of the Christian, however, yours is blind.

You are an intelligent person, made in God’s image. My prayer for you is that you would turn to your Creator and give Him the honor, glory and praise that is due Him. “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”

Michael

By: David Annis

David Annis — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:26:17 +0000

Michael,

Happy Thanksgiving. I would like to respond to some of what you said:

Who are we, who are finite (and not omnipotent), to question the way an omnipotent God would choose to reveal His purposes and plan to mankind? To what standard does one appeal who challenges the benevolence (the character) of an allegedly non-existent God?
There are many possibilities of who we are to question the purpose of an omnipotent God. Let’s consider this one: an omnipotent God gave us the ability to observe, reason, think, and question the way the universe works. Had he wanted all of us to be mindless, unquestioning Christians who accept one dogma on faith he wouldn’t have given us those critical abilities. Failing to use the gifts he’s given us is subverting his will.

The Scriptures are wonderfully consistent.
Not only are they inconsistent with the observed universe and my concept of what is moral, they are internally inconsistent. http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html

What preconditions for true facts, reason, laws of logic, and self-consciousness are provided by a worldview that proposes that we and all about us are the product of random (mindless) electrical, chemical, and biological forces?
I do not need preconditions to have an internally consistent view of the universe. I have one that is fundamentally better than one based on preconceived notions. Most choose to believe a particular religion because their father and grandfather happened to believe in it. My worldview is superior, because mine is testable.

Which worldview makes sense of this? Only the Christian worldview
1.5 billion Muslims, 2 billion Hindus and atheists, and a variety of others disagree with you. http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

To see the truth you need to begin with an open mind. I live a life governed by a morality that is based on something that does not require faith – belief even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Not everything is permissible in my morality, just as it is not in many alternatives to Christianity. Mine is superior though because I do not take the lazy way out. You swallow an entire dogma based on Gospels chosen by a pope hundreds of years after Jesus’s death because figuring out a moral worldview based on observation and logic is harder than just taking the prepackaged dogma on faith.