Why do you believe?

[Davian]

This is funny.

That may be a side effect of the circular reasoning.

 

[Gottservant]

Observe "believing in something without evidence"?
I observe over 4+ billion humans that do do that.

What are you saying

Give me a message that you would share with all of them, let us hear it.

 

[Gottservant]

You know in reality this whole thread is a misnomer.

People don't believe, people believe in something.

Answering a question like "Why do you believe?" is like trying to throw meat stew at breadcrumbs and call it cooking.

 

[JYJ]

Hi there,

I am new here so I am not sure this is the right thread to post in but please correct me if I am not 'wanted' here.

I want to ask theists here on why do they believe in God? Specifically, the Christian God.

Not so much a 1 on 1 debate but an open discussion as to what is/are your sole reason(s) for being a theist?
I will be open to any reasons and I will try to reply to you asap.
--


We humans are creatures of innate existence. We seem to know that there is more to life, much more, than a collection of molecules in a suit of clothing. Why God? Well He represents our divine archtype without which we might well lose any perspective of that other world which we hope for. OK so it's a comfort zone thing I suppose.

On another level there is no God at all. There has to be a source though. Can a thing exist without a cause? If it can then it is entirely different from anything we yet have come to know. I'm pretty sure there is a cause for the universe so I'm going to extend my supposition to include a spiritual universe behind and in support of the physical one and call it "real". But again what of causes? If my spiritual universe exists then it probably has a cause too. This could go on forever so until I know better I'm going to call the ultimate cause "God" and hope for the best.

FYI maybe someday we'll all shift up to some higher plane of existence where such things are clear. In the meanwhile I choose my comfort zone. It's easier to explain the universe in terms of a God than in terms of no God because "no god" must also mean "no cause" and that's pretty much impossible. Oh man I need a beer...

 

[Wiccan_Child]

We humans are creatures of innate existence. We seem to know that there is more to life, much more, than a collection of molecules in a suit of clothing.

We also seem to know that the Earth is flat, that lightening is caused by angry gods, and that bad smells cause disease. Common sense, it turns out, is an absolutely terrible barometer for truth.

Why God? Well He represents our divine archtype without which we might well lose any perspective of that other world which we hope for. OK so it's a comfort zone thing I suppose.

That sounds quite probable.

On another level there is no God at all. There has to be a source though.

Why?

Can a thing exist without a cause? If it can then it is entirely different from anything we yet have come to know.

Qv. quantum mechanics. To quote Haldane, the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, it's queerer than we can suppose.

I'm pretty sure there is a cause for the universe so I'm going to extend my supposition to include a spiritual universe behind and in support of the physical one and call it "real".

1) What makes you pretty sure that there's a cause to the universe?
2) If there's a cause to the universe, I'm baffled how that implies there's a whole other spiritual universe running parallel to our own.

But again what of causes? If my spiritual universe exists then it probably has a cause too. This could go on forever so until I know better I'm going to call the ultimate cause "God" and hope for the best.

The more rational option is to say "I don't know" and leave it at that. Postulating the existence of ever more unlikely universes is

FYI maybe someday we'll all shift up to some higher plane of existence where such things are clear.

What is a "higher plane of existence"?

In the meanwhile I choose my comfort zone. It's easier to explain the universe in terms of a God than in terms of no God because "no god" must also mean "no cause" and that's pretty much impossible.

Postulating a cause and calling it 'God' is no better than simply giving a name to something utterly unknown, and perhaps even non-existent.

"Why does this man have cancer?"
"I don't know, but if there is a cause, let's call that cause Flib."
"Aha! We've found the cure for cancer - it's Flib!"

Giving a name to something doesn't count as an explanation.

 

[JYJ]

We also seem to know that the Earth is flat, that lightening is caused by angry gods, and that bad smells cause disease. Common sense, it turns out, is an absolutely terrible barometer for truth.


Thank you friend