Because the high priests of Oilah Akbar! Oilah Akbar! tell them to? :shrug:
After all, it is the state religion you know.
After all, it is the state religion you know.
Why do people believe in god?
- Thread starter LuckAse
- Start date
Answer already given:
Note even Christians recognize this truth: They have many different highly specialized saints you can pray to.
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Only the Catholics; protestant Christians tend to frown about Catholic saint veneration, since it does indeed seem to boarder on polytheism.
maxquijano
Registered Member
Please consider this:
if hypothetically lets say, a child is born in an island where no other human contact is made. and he is raised entirely without the concept of "God" or religion at all, and he grows to be a man and then die. Did it ever have any relevance the idea of Faith ? or God ? I believe no. the meaning of this is that God and religion are completely and 100% made out of the imagination of ancient humans who were not able to understand the world or the Universe. so, for this case this child could care less, or be affected because of any of this.
This child would be just a "human", free of imaginary stories, where even the word "faith" would have no meaning at all.
Why do We have to even question the existence of a God ?
if hypothetically lets say, a child is born in an island where no other human contact is made. and he is raised entirely without the concept of "God" or religion at all, and he grows to be a man and then die. Did it ever have any relevance the idea of Faith ? or God ? I believe no. the meaning of this is that God and religion are completely and 100% made out of the imagination of ancient humans who were not able to understand the world or the Universe. so, for this case this child could care less, or be affected because of any of this.
This child would be just a "human", free of imaginary stories, where even the word "faith" would have no meaning at all.
Why do We have to even question the existence of a God ?
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
Jung's model of archetypes (which I've surely posted before in this ever-growing thread), coupled with the modern study of DNA, implies that belief in the supernatural is an instinct, hard-wired into our synapses by the vagaries of evolution. It may be a remnant of a survival trait whose purpose we can't guess at, or it may be a random genetic drift.
Nonetheless, I illustrate your example. My family were all atheists and I was never exposed to the idea of gods and religion until I was about seven.
I thought it was all a big joke, but my mother explained that the child who told me about God really believed he existed. I said then it was something like the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus, but wasn't the kid a little old to still believe in that stuff? She was very uncomfortable with the question and finally had to admit to me that many adults "still believe in that stuff."
I have never regained my respect for adults.
To believe in God/Higher Consciousness, or how the Bible interprets god? You say that every fact leads to NO god. You can also say "Every fact leads to, there is a God" as long as you open your mind to new ideas. The Bible is a book full or predictions, some true and some forced to come true. The real question is WHO/WHO has forced this book on us and where are all the scriptures that have been left out of the picture, and what are they being used for.
TFOSmusic.net
TFOSmusic.net
Not exactly. What one sees as logical or evidence varies from person to person; different people have different experiences and different perceptions of those events. Your "fact" that there is no god is truth to you, because that conclusion fits the evidence, or lack thereof, that you have thus far experienced.
Not everyone is you, though.
Nonetheless, I illustrate your example. My family were all atheists and I was never exposed to the idea of gods and religion until I was about seven.
I thought it was all a big joke, but my mother explained that the child who told me about God really believed he existed. I said then it was something like the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus, but wasn't the kid a little old to still believe in that stuff? She was very uncomfortable with the question and finally had to admit to me that many adults "still believe in that stuff."
I have never regained my respect for adults.
lolz
personally I'm not sure. Religion fascinates me, my great grandparents and grandparents from my mother's side are Jewish, my mum married an atheist...she doesn't really care...nor does she expect me to care.
I've met quite a few muslims whom I've befriended, they were nice people, told me about their islamic history which is pretty cool and amazing. As is christian history. but the only close christian friend of mine is a jehovah's witness...and u know how they are haha
usually it doesn't bother me, but sometimes I think about it, believe in god for a minute or so, then I forgot about it and continue with something else.
I wouldn't call myself an atheist like my dad but something between an unbothered theist/agnostic.
...
yeah.
Now that's got me thinking about religion again...DANG IT!
Because humans like good feelings more than the truth. I am truly convinced that deep inside themselves (and I know it's rather presumptuous) all "rational" theists are aware that it's just a bunch of bologna, but fear prevents them to admit it. I think the subconscious mind is a genius thinking apparatus and quite wise and perfectly honest, in contrast to our aware mind.
It might hypnosis and/or self hypnosis that lead to deeply rooted theist's believes. I certainly don't buy it that a part of the brain does that - kinda solely to enable us to believe in something unreasonable.
But see, I think it's more in line with your first reasoning: all about feelings. If a belief can be reinforced by either a good memory or, better yet, feeling, then that particular belief is set in stone for the believer. It takes a fantastic act of will / god in order to dislodge that sword from the stone.
Along with feelings, though, believers are constantly reinforcing their core beliefs with even more feelings, from their personal prayers, or attending church meetings, or watching evangelicals, or communing (always) with like-minded people. So, more than agnostics / atheists, theists are almost continually having their own set of beliefs reaffirmed within their own mind. This makes it nearly impossible to convince them otherwise or reason with them because they "know" and gives them a kind of "pain" that you (we) aren't as enlightened.
The interesting thing is that even though they must (in some way?) realize that their belief system is made up initially (and mostly) of good feelings about certain subjects, it is easier for them to discount similar or diametrically opposing feelings from others. So, one may believe in Catholicism devoutly while another believes in Mormonism but never the twain shall meet or see eye to eye on the doctrine. Sure, they both feel great and enriched and right, but the dogma is where they eventually differ. And heaven forbid a non-believer says he has a spiritual feeling that there is no god!
Yes, I agree, except that there is that thing about the reasoning - that's turned off when it's inconvenient. I guess we all did that at some point or another. I'm too lazy to through the wrapper into the trash, so I tell myself that it's ok to litter - it creates jobs after all. Only by the end of the day, when I have time to relax I think it through and admit to myself that I was not trying to help society but instead was just lazy. I did experience people being in denial about many things in many degrees. I think the more open one is to deceive themselves, the more likely he/she is for any kind of manipulation.
I don't think humans can singly figure out what is the answer or question they seek. hypothetically, in the future, if it were ever possible for a central computer to map out every human brain alive and condense it, maybe some answers can be found. by the computer that is, not by a single individual that is unaware of the next person's thinking and wiring. besides humans are naturally subjective and biased.
perhaps this will answer at least a clue as to what we are or what makes us tick.
perhaps this will answer at least a clue as to what we are or what makes us tick.
I don't think its all that hard to figure out. Have a look at how a human experiences the world. From birth (when knowledge is almost at zero) to death. Consider the needs for a human - food, love and piece - and put one and one together. Questioning faith means risking at least social problems for many. Add to that the fear of the severe punishment and the lost immortality: there you have probably 75% of the reasons why faithful people don't even consider the possibility that it's not true.
One can also question atheism/moral relativism examining the needs and values it brings to the fore.
One certainly can and does so plenty as a matter of fact, but it is irrelevant to the quest as to whether religion is true or false. I for one believe that being honest - at least to yourself - is healthy to yourself as well as to others. I therefor plead to you (you as in anyone) to do so.
and that's my point ... being honest to one's self can lead to a theistic outlook ... much like it can lead to an atheistic one.
It all depends on one's values (particularly as they pertain to "self", as in "be honest to your self")
My problem is with your suggestion that by being rational (or honest to one's self) the only viable option is atheism. If you qualified the statement by saying it was rational (exclusively) to you, I wouldn't have a problem. Instead you say that any view outside of yours is not rational, since it is exclusively true.
IOW philosophically speaking, you are totally neglecting an epistemological framework.
I agree with that. But I disagree that being an atheist is a matter of taste. I just put it right on the table now: Being an atheist (provided that conclusion is achieved with intellectual exploration) is an inevitable result, not a matter of taste, values or preferences. That can certainly not be understood by the faithful, because reason and doubt are discouraged ("faith" as opposed to "reason" or "logic").
the classic proof for this being false (and that the topic of a/theism being a value ridden perspective ... although with theism there is the argument that perfection concludes in some irrefutable state of knowledge - eg samadhi, etc) is that one can go from being an atheist to a theist and vice versa.
Ironically enough, even some theists mirror your exact argument.
In short, if one is up front with issues of "intellectual exploration", they deal with epistemology ... what to speak of avoiding it.
Nope, not avoiding it at all. If you take every wording perfectly serious (and I congratulate you for that) I rephrase my statement: atheism is the logical conclusion as it is most likely the truth. Just like gravity for example. The only thing we really do KNOW is that there is not nothingness. Everything else is certainly a matter of probability.