Do you believe in a god?

[F L E S H]

at this point in my life, im indifferent, i have no arguement for either side, i think life experiences will sway my decision one way or the other, and at 17 im unsure.

my dad believes in Jesus with all of his heart, he goes to church 2 days a week, i dont join him, just because i feel bored, i never really saw the point of church anyway.

i also haev a friend whos a couple years older than me, his whole family...and i mean WHOLE family(brothers,sisters,aunts,uncles,dad,mom,cousi ns), are serious drug addicts, yet despite all of negatives pushing him down the wrong path coming from the people one needs so much in life, he found church and fell in love with Jesus Christ. And whether i agree or not, i can respect that. hes 20 years old and hes a preacher, since as long as i can remember, even before his 'epiphany' he was the nicest kid i ever met. now hes devoted his whole life to the lord.

ive tried going to church and ive never really felt the way that i believe everyone else in there feels, and it turned me off immediatly, at this point i think im too skeptical to be religious, yet i do fear god, wouldnt it suck to be wrong?


dnno if this made sense, just my scattered thoughts.

That makes perfect sense. You're quite eloquent for a 17 year old. I think this is a normal stage to be in, and eventually you'll figurte things out on your own. The only advice I could give you is don't let anyone tell you what to think; it is infinitely more fulfilling to figure it out on your own.

[Torog]

This is how I prove you're ignorant about other philosophical beliefs, and I get a lot of people with this one...Buddha, aka Siddhartha Gautama, did not in any way shape or form wish to appear 'divine' or god-like. A Buddha is not a god, Siddhartha Gautama is not a god nor did he ever advertise himself as one. Thus the overwhelming majority of Buddhists are also atheists. So don't you go on claiming folks should read all religious texts, because you've obviously not read a word of the Dhammapada or even typed 'Buddhism' into a search engine and looked for a few seconds to learn this simple fact.

Then, in the same context you have used I can easily make the claim that Muhammed was Gods true messanger and Jesus was merely a man who wanted to appear divine. Clear that one up for me.

Howdy Nullific,

I must admit,that you're right about my ignorance..I have chosen not to study other philosophies and religions,in the hope that I would find truth in them,because my heart and soul,accepted Jesus Christ and His Father,a long time ago. Does that mean that I have chosen not to think for myself ? Maybe..however,I have compared what I do know of other religions to my religious beliefs,and I find them all to be lacking in their scope and intent.

Did muhammed or siddhartha,perform any miracles ? Nope. Did the ground shake and the sky darken,when they passed ? Nope. Did either of them,rise from death and ascend into Heaven ? Nope. Did either of them,believe in unconditional love ? I don't know about siddhartha,but I do know,that muhammed did not believe in unconditional love,he commanded his followers to wage jihad against the non-believers and infidels. As for Hindhu's,they believe that a human,can be reborn as an animal,which cannot be,because Man was created in the Image of God..not a cow or a rat.

Have a good one....

[highinspain]

Something to chew on:

When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our womenâ??s' rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
Are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line?
Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
We should find some jobs. the ghetto's broke
No, they're lazy, George, I say we don't
Just give 'em more liquor stores and dirty coke
That's what God recommends

When the president talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess god just calls a spade a spade
When the president talks to God

When the president talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he's not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed
Does he ever smell his own bullshit
When the president talks to God?

I doubt it

I doubt it

Lyrics: When The President Talks To God
Musician: BRIGHT EYES

[F L E S H]

Howdy Nullific,

I must admit,that you're right about my ignorance..I have chosen not to study other philosophies and religions,in the hope that I would find truth in them,because my heart and soul,accepted Jesus Christ and His Father,a long time ago. Does that mean that I have chosen not to think for myself ? Maybe..however,I have compared what I do know of other religions to my religious beliefs,and I find them all to be lacking in their scope and intent.

Did muhammed or siddhartha,perform any miracles ? Nope. Did the ground shake and the sky darken,when they passed ? Nope. Did either of them,rise from death and ascend into Heaven ? Nope. Did either of them,believe in unconditional love ? I don't know about siddhartha,but I do know,that muhammed did not believe in unconditional love,he commanded his followers to wage jihad against the non-believers and infidels. As for Hindhu's,they believe that a human,can be reborn as an animal,which cannot be,because Man was created in the Image of God..not a cow or a rat.

Have a good one....

Sometimes you're boring, sometimes you're repetitive, now you're funny! If you would do some research on your own, you'd find that Jesus didn't performa single one of those miracles. Every single miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospels had been performed, often in the exact same manner, by more ancient religious figures. Horus and Osiris, of the ancient Egyptians, pretty much cover them all, as well as some others. I already talke about the virgin births. Horus once changed water to wine. He also brought a man named El Lazar back to life (Lazarus, anyone?). Osiris died, went to the underworld, and came back to life.

Jesus' miracles were re-hashed from ancient religions and traditions, mostly ancient Egyptian ones. To place your faith in Jesus just because he performed miracles and "the ground shook and the sky darkened" when he died is ridiculous. If you say you love Jesus because he preached unconditional love, that's also laughable because you're the complete opposite. You preach war, death, forced conversion, hatred of everybody who's not like you. That's a far cry from Jesus Christ.

[mrdevious]

Actually FLESH, I dont' know about Torogs history all that well, but I didn't find his above post offensive really. I'm a buddhist, other's here may be muslims, and as he said he doens't know either religion inside out, he just doesn't believe in what he's heard of them and that's fine.

as for you saying you don't know about sidhartha's teachings on unconditional love torog, I can fill you in a bit. basically Buddha believes the essence of what others call "god" is within us all and can be fully realized through meditation and proper living. Buddhism doesn't discount or preach any god(s), but merely believes in the path to enlightenment being the way to achieve the true and purest nature we can attain, which I would think god would want. after all, gods teachings are there to to teach us how to live our lives. as for unconditional love, buddha taught that through meditative and livestyle practices we should aim toward achieving universal love. to care for all life, to love those close to you, to see your enemies as those trapped in their own ignorance, most often derived from greed, ego, and selfishness. also an interesting note, many religions such an Shinto, hindu, taoism, and even christianity have adapted buddhism as a part of their religion (yes, there are christian-buddhists) in the believe that buddhist practices can help them be closer to their god(s). plus people have theorized that Jesus attained enlightenment as Buddha did, though I don't know christianity well enough to make that call.

my conclusion: if god spoke to us through jesus or whoever to give us these guidelines to life, I wouldn't think it wouldn't matter how we attain this, so long as we live in a peacefull and loving way as god would want. going to church is a way to achieve spiritual enlightenment, not to stroke gods ego. if we do so through other means that's all good to.

[NowhereMan]

about GOD

i dont trust that man has kept the records str8
history is a story told and retold
if there is a GOD or if there is none is something man will never know while he is alive
i dont believe i have any fiath,but im not sure of that iether,
mayber i do have some

for all i know we came from apes
for all i know we came from aliens
for all know you dont know shit just like me
that dont mean you dont have fiath.
and if you do have it
i guess i will say
bless you
i say
just in case some GOD is "listening" to me type
(ya that was a half-assed-joke)
peace to you all

[NightProwler]

i dont beileve in god because (in my oppinion) it's all obviousley made up.

[major crisis]

I have not doubts God exists.
absolutely no doubts

[chosen1]

I'm sorry but ur all chatting wet. I mean if we evolved ourselves from something, then how did that something come about, whichever way you want to put it someone must have created the universe, someone of higher power than the average human being. Obviously God never intended everyone to believe in him by revealing himself to man kind as if everybody believed in him and saw him then people would be too scared to do anything wrong, hence the reason God gave us FREE WILL; I mean how would we be able to make mistakes to prove what type of people we are to determine whether we belong in heaven or not. Also, people doubt the bible, R U STOOPID?, it's not going to be 100% correct word for word, infact one of many things in the bible that puzzled me was the begining. If humans have to prove themselves to God in order for them to be accepted into heaven then how did satan come about? I thought if adam and eve were supposed to be the first beings on earth then how were they tempted into eating from the tree of knowledge by satan who was a fallen angel therefore being a human being prior to being an angel prior to being the devil. Fact is the Bible is only a guideline, a rough account to what actually occured. Why would God want to let man kind know all his 'secrets' when there is evil as well as good in people? God, isn't the only one of power in the universe, theres the forces of both good and evil which is what i belive he was trying to tell us through the story of adam and eve, i dont think god created evil but it already existed therefore God not being the only one of power in the universe. If there was only good then we wouldn't have free will, if there was only evil we wouldnt have free will. At the end of the day it all bubbles down to faith, you either believe it or you don't but then how to we explain things such as spirits? And how come when people living in 'haunted' houses seek the help of an exorsist/priest the spirits seem to go away? Many people don't beleive in God because of the amount of suffering that goes on in the world but if we all prayed and got what we prayed for then what would be the point, the human race wouldn't have developed in the way thawhich it has, there would be no doctors, no scientists etc. and we would all still be living how people did in the 15th century woundering why it rains, we would never die, suffer, know what pain feels like. There would still be conflict, fighting, pain; there would never be peace as people are different (again hence free will) and whether God answered all our prayers or not peoplpe would still fight amoung themselves as God gave them free will. What would be the point in humans then? We'd just be existing not living while relying on God's help. At the end of the day whether you believe we evolved out of something (meaning there having to have been something to evolve from in the first place) or whether you believe God created us there still must have been something that started it all off either way you look at it, whether you belive it was god or something else there's definately a power higher than man kind.

[chosen1]

about GOD

i dont trust that man has kept the records str8
history is a story told and retold
if there is a GOD or if there is none is something man will never know while he is alive
i dont believe i have any fiath,but im not sure of that iether,
mayber i do have some

for all i know we came from apes
for all i know we came from aliens
for all know you dont know shit just like me
that dont mean you dont have fiath.
and if you do have it
i guess i will say
bless you
i say
just in case some GOD is "listening" to me type
(ya that was a half-assed-joke)
peace to you all

For all u know we came from apes/aliens etc., whatever you beleive we came from something must have created it.