Perhaps, God being the omnipotent being He is decided He only exists for those who believe in Him. After all, the heart of Judeo-Christian theology is faith in Him. Why is faith so important? Because God does not make himself known in this world. God doesn't exist for the atheist or the experimental scientist. There is no objective proof of His existence. Faith confronts this lack of evidence and asks us to believe anyway. Perhaps the Christian and the atheist are both right. God exists, but only for those who believe in Him. The atheist who doesn't believe is also right, as God doesn't exist for him. The atheist disappears like a puff of smoke when he dies, but the Christian lives on due to his communication with God through faith.
God doesn't exist for the atheist?
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Since God exists in our minds as an extra ego, I agree. This only happens to those with faith that there is another intelligent entity with access to your brain.
Beautiful. Awesome in its simplicity.
His believers can be evil too, in fact religion invented the concept of evil.
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BlueMoose
Guest
This was self made poster glued on light pole I once saw and it made me laugh.
"GOD - PLENTY OF NOISE FROM NOTHING"
Take it anyway you want
"GOD - PLENTY OF NOISE FROM NOTHING"
Take it anyway you want
Aegiltheugly
Registered Member
As a corollary to this Idea, if people stop believing in God does God cease to exist?
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BlueMoose
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"does the tree make a sound when falling in forest if nobody isnt there listening ?"
Maybe that's why Thor stopped existing, people stopped believing in Him.
No, God exists even if no one believes in Him. The dinosaurs didn't believe in God in a world that didn't believe in God, and yet God existed. The evil believer is worse off than the atheist. The atheist dies and simply ceases to exist. The evil believer goes to Hell. Those who come to believe in God are God's believers, whether they are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Pagans or Hindus. The difference is only in who's message is more in keeping with God's will.
I kind of see what you are saying but according to some of the writings in the Bible, the atheist is tortured for all eternity in hell. So if the God of the Bible exists for ANYONE, and if the Bible is an accurate description of Him, then the atheist will probably not just disappear in a puff of smoke but instead continue to exist in perpetual agony of some kind.
Not a very loving idea, IMO.
Perhaps God just tells Christians that their own atheist friends and family members will be tortured in hell forever to make them happy in heaven, when in actuality He just smokes them out of existence. But that would mean that He would be lying to them. Surely His loving children would need to vent their own desire for revenge and death and torture, somehow, right? Apparently so, since they usually seem to be fine with the idea of eternal torture, but then what other choice do they have?
It becomes the moral price they are willing to pay for believing in eternal bliss. Save yourself at the cost of everyone else.
It starts to look like survival of the fittest all over again.
Even if an argument can be made for the existence of God, it's quite another thing to assume the cosmology of heaven and hell are also true.
I am not basing this idea on any particular scripture, but on the idea of faith. Why is faith so important? If God exists regardless of whether you believe in Him or not, what difference does it make whether you have faith? The scriptures clearly support the idea that faith is instrumental in our relationship with God. This could be explained if God only exists for the believer. Faith is important because the objective world does not offer evidence of God's existence. It is not a matter of believing God will someday show up on a Hubble Space Telescope image, it is a matter of believing God exists knowing He will never show up on that image.
*************As a corollary to this Idea, if people stop believing in God does God cease to exist?
M*W: Technically, yes. I used to be a christian, and I believed there was a god. When I became enlightened to the fact that no god exists after all, I find it hard to believe anyone who says they believe in god. It makes no sense to me now. I see them as people who are afraid to know the truth, so they hold on tightly to their fantasy. It's as if they're walking around naked thinking that they have clothes on when they don't. Who's fooling whom?
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M*W's Friendly Atheist Quote of the Day:
"For what is Truth? In matters of religion, it is simply the opinion that has survived. In matters of science, it is the ultimate sensation." ~ Oscar Wilde
Enmos
Valued Senior Member
I'm sorry but doesn't this go for any delusion as well ?
Yes, it's a perfectly real fantasy. It's a second ego that monitors the first, the policeman in your head.
I disagree
If god actually exists, the ontological implications of his existence over-rides any stance we take in regards to his existence/non-existence.
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