I know a lot of people don't believe in a god, but to those of you who do, what's your purpose of having one? There's no proof of any god, but why do you make yourself believe in one/s? Is it to thank, to worship, or to praise for all the good things you have achieved? Or just for the comfort of thinking there's someone up there watching?
I am choosing not to put my political/religious opinion public on the web (you can probably guess why). But... this is an interesting question that should get some good debate going.
people believe in god because they want to validate their existence and are unable to accept that after death there is nothing. ever since people have existed on this earth they have paid homage to some god or other, it seems that we are just too egotistical to accept that we are as unimportant as any other living thing on this planet.
If you live a life that is 'christian' in its essence and by that I mean if you live your life in a mannor that does not offend or harm the majority then in my opinion you are living a life that is religious. I have a God, my God affects the way I live my life and the way I interact with others. If I'm being honest, my God is a 'figure' that I use to explain my existance. Its hard to put into words what I mean. For instance, take money as a concept - be it the dollar, the pound or the roupee, it doesn't matter - we choose to use money to demonstrate the value of something. The dollar could be a shell, it could be a note written to someone, it could even be a notch on a piece of wood. We use money to interact with others on a finacial footing, to barter with others and in some instance to compare ourselves with others. Well in my life, my God could be seen as being the equivellent as my spiritual and behavioural dollar, (I hope this is making sense??!!), to me it doesn't matter what my God looks like, my God is a concept, a way of life, an all encompassing God that takes many forms but that has a direct impact on my existance and the way I live my life. But that's only my take on it.
Thats my point too. I am one of those people who have genuine undeniable miracles worked in my prescence and experienced it personally. It would be very hard to convince many of the validity if they do not believe. I came later to realize that I was probably subconciously agnostic (lack of faith) as I didn't have the faith to manifest these things in my life. My faith was changed to belief then knowing. I know there is God, and God is fun!
Don't know about that, I find all his laws difficult to obey, and punishments for not obeying are not much fun either. Never had any miracles happen to me, nor is God talking to me. All Bible prophesies that were fullfilled are more than convincing though. I'd like to hear an evolutionist trying to explain how someone could predict all these things thousands of years ago
even if god is there he would have been a spectator, looking at the crimes happening all over the world he would sit and cry.
I wouldn't know much about that. I don't see god as laws and punishment, more like adventure and universal principles. But I have felt like you describe at times in my history. I think everyone is on an individual path of spiritual evolution. I make a point to respect each ones path and that includes atheists/agnostics. It's all good to me we are all headed eventually in the same direction.