I am having trouble believing in God... (page 4)

RottenRiley

It seems all the great minds ponder the very question you are asking yourself. Sir Isaac Newton's competitor with advanced Math was Gottfried Leibiz, he asked the question:

"Why is there something instead of nothing"? Gottfried Leibniz one of the greatest Math Minds in history.

What do you think he meant, was he agnostic, deist or theist? It's often forgotton the majority of scientist throughout history were either Theist or Agnostic, a few Deists were on the table but the majority were Theists, why?

Why do people think by eliminating God from the equation, your going to feel more warm and fuzzy knowing you have no purpose, all life will end one day in a few Billion years when life is exstiguished? I don't feel the love on that Billboard, no answers have been given.

To be fair, read the debate between Dr. Bart Erhman and Dr. Daniel B Wallace, you will see how all this hype of textual-variants and Erhman's hyperbole over much is addressed. I think Bart knows how to sell books and now people are attacking Bart for his other book of trying to provide evidence for some type of historical Jesus.

Can you see the bias, why is Dr. Erhman blasted for defending a historical Jesus but welcomed when he attacks the Bible? I see a agenda, it's pretty obvious! We congradulate Dr. Erhman for his attacking the New Testament, yet there are bashers who are not happy he is trying to demonstrate there was a guy named Jesus who lived in the First Century, maybe he did not have a empty tomb, perform miracles, but he did exist.

bruh2012

1. God has to appeal to the senses he made man with. Seeing- in this case in it's simplest form "seeing is believing" so how would we know how God came into mans life without having it written down while at the same time guiding it with real-time events. Sure there can be many things to blame God for but not this one.

The bible teach that God has given us the "gift" of everlasting life- of course it's conditional- "not the hope" of everlasting life-but the actual intangible thing. Humans are hardheaded and stubborned due to sin nature- so all God is asking for is for us to show him how much we appreciate it especially since we could never earn it. He wants our hearts, mind and strength.

2. Translations are not Gods fault- remember he gave it to us in hebrew/aramaic and greek. So when reading the scriptures get an online hebrew to english and greek to english. while this is not perfect -it will get you into the ballpark. it would also help to learn a little about the culture by which the folks of the bible lived.

3. What did Jesus teach. what counts is what Jesus said- he is the closes thing to God himself. I don't care if many believe that he is God-maybe he is maybe he's not- but study deeply all the words of Jesus. Once you do that then you can filter out all the junk that came about after his death.

hope this at least get you thinking in the direction that it's not YHWH (GODs) fault at all.

Phizzy

I don't know if this helps, it helped me. It is known as the Atheists Wager, in answer to "Pascal's Wager".

" You should live your life and try to make the world a better place for your being in it, whether or not you believe in god. If there is no god, you have lost nothing, and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent god, he will judge you on your merits and not just on whether or not you believed in him"

Mr Fool

How is it possible to be sure of anything (in God for example) if I am unsure of my existence in the first place? Memories, so called evidences and personal experiences, are they all illusions? I don´t´KNOW. All I´m doing (if I exist) is guessing.

AndDontCallMeShirley

"It is an insult to God to believe in God. For on the one hand it is to suppose that he has perpetrated acts of incalculable cruelty. On the other hand, it is to suppose that he has perversely given his human creatures an instrument — their intellect — which must inevitably lead them, if they are dispassionate and honest, to deny his existence. It is tempting to conclude that if he exists, it is the atheists and agnostics that he loves best, among those with any pretensions to education. For they are the ones who have taken him most seriously." --Galen Strawson (b. 1952), British philosopher, literary critic. Quoted in: Independent (London, 24 June 1990).

--

"If God wants us to do a thing, he should make his wishes sufficiently clear. Sensible people will wait till he has done this before paying much attention to him." ----Samuel Butler (1835 – 1902)

AndDontCallMeShirley

"If your religion's primary sources of information are anonymous and forged writings written in ancient languages no one's even used for thousands of years ... Your Religion Might Be Bullshit."

AND...

"If your God is so inept at communication that he has to appoint people to explain to other people just what he wants from them ... Your Religion Might Be Bullshit."

Erase the whole bible, and just have one page. Written on that page are bold letters; "Don't be a dick"

---unknown

Heaven

Welcome!

The gods and goddesses were created by ancient man to explain the unexplainable. Our knowledge has advanced far beyond the need for this sort of fantasy or superstition.

"Throughout history, every mystery ever solved, has turned out to be, NOT magic. " --Tim Minchin, Storm

In terms of Christianity, I think Hitchens says it quite well:

"Let's say that the consensus is that our species, being the higher primates, Homo Sapiens, have been on this planet for at least 100,000 years, maybe more. Francis Collins says maybe 100,000. Richard Dawkins thinks maybe a quarter of a million. I'll take 100,000. In order to be a Christian, you have to believe that for 98,000 years, our species suffered and died, most of its children dying in childbirth, most other people having a life expectancy of about 25 years, dying of their teeth. Famine, struggle, bitterness, war, suffering, misery, all of that for 98,000 years. Heaven watches this with complete indifference. And then 2,000 years ago, thinks "That's enough of that. It's time to intervene," and the best way to do this would be by condemning someone to a human sacrifice somewhere in the less literate parts of the Middle East. Don't let's appeal to the Chinese, for example, where people can read and study evidence and have a civilization. Let's go to the desert and have another revelation there. This is nonsense. It can't be believed by a thinking person."

steve2

The "God" of the Bible is a monster unparallelled in ancient literature. He wipes out entire races and peoples and His defenders interpret these as acts of love and integrity. He brings plagues upon people as punishment for daring to disobey him and articulates threatening rage -which is seen by defenders as religious purity. Threat and lambast hang heavily over the air as His threats permeate the fragile consciousness of people whose need for comfort out distances their need for calm reason. He has His son sacrificed on a torture stake which becomes a symbol of a refined blood list cult - and this act gives Him even greater reason to thunder death and destruction to all who reject this act of blood sacrifice whose details defy logic amd harp back to earlier, more overtly monstrous acts of blood sacrifice.

Hell, if I were God, I'd have trouble seeing how anyone could believe in me.

quellycatface

Follow your heart and your gut feeling.one thing I have now realised, god is much easier to get on with outside of the WT.

Good luck in your research.

cofty

Follow your heart and your gut feeling.

How about following the evidence?

I am having trouble believing in God...

Share this