Seriously, when you meet him/her, what would your excuse be for not believing in him/her? Mine would be, because
Probably all of the needless suffering that goes on; when you see how bad people actually suffer, why would you believe in a god? IMO, we're already in hell. I believe in god myself for several reasons (not religious), but I can't blame anyone else for not.
Because to believe in a higher power that wants you to do something means you believe you need to be controlled. I, however, do not like the idea of a controller, or an invisible man watching everything I do. I already have the government to deal with. Besides, I am not a member of the hoard, I refuse the mobthink, and I abandoned all superstition years ago. It makes for the number one reason for me: simplicity.
I think your post is missing some part, because what? but anyway, seriously, do you really think an excuse will work then? if you think so, then you will try to find an answer now, before you get there, but what a kind of God is this when you can fool him with some excuse? don't think wrong about God, and do not make your own images about him, simply, because there is nothing like him, and wouldn't it be better to check yourself first to see if you truly believe, or not? if you do not believe in God, it means there is no God for you, why would you worry now about an excuse? if you believe in God, then you won't need to find an excuse for not believing in God, because you actually deny, you need to find an excuse of why you deny, or why you show disbelief when you believe? got the point? now let's check the answers: here, browntwn will blame him then, and ask him, why didn't you create me an animal, or a tree, why did you give me mind? interfering in God's will and finding himself there in a position to tell him what wrong did he do, also notice how he says, "if God wanted me to believe" in other words, he is saying: "God does exist, but he did not make me believe in him" if you do not believe in him, how did you know he does exist when you said: "If God wanted.." this is so common, you often hear people say what means: "If God does really exist, why he did not do anything to help my mom when she fall and broke her leg", again you can say that this comes from not knowing why are we here, and most think that we are here forever... so what will be next, as we lose every second from our lives? if God does exist he won't let this wrinkles appear? he won't let me lose my hair? he won't let me get ill? he won't let me go to jail? you will die, sooner or later, but you will have enough time, for what will come next, which you will decide now, not others, and not even God will decide it for you, you have the freedom to choose, Also, a view that is rooted from thinking that God is a man, when he is not, notice how he says "invisible man" he decreases God to an idol that he can image, then he refuse to believe in that image he made in his mind, which is always wrong, because there is nothing like God, not a man, not a woman, not anything you know, in other words he is saying, I do not believe in that image I have about God, much like those who worshiped Sun in the past, and later when they found that it is impossible for God to be a Sun, they said there is no God, here, they find it hard to drop the Sun as God, but they found it easier to drop God completely, if you can see what I mean, you will notice that their minds got so used on Sun as God, and their minds were closed for any other ideas, this is so common in communities that has a rooted image of God as a man, who has a son and family, God has no son, God don't come to Earth or send his son to die for your sins, he can simply forgive them without the need to sacrifice somebody, if you concluded that by your own, this is great, but it does not mean that if that was wrong, then there is no God.
Falling and breaking your leg? That's not what I'm talking about. Human suffering.. masses of people who grow up in poverty and disease, who have little food and often starve to death. Young women sold as sex slaves before they even reach puberty, raped their whole lives. Or how about journalists who travel to your f*cked up part of the world, get taken hostage by a group of thugs and then get beheaded on camera after they were forced to read a message. (I've watched these, have you?) Most of these people don't even have a chance to take part in childish religious beliefs before they die a miserable death. Imagine if you watched your Jewish mother get thrown into a furnace during the Holocaust*. How's god working for you? Still convinced he has a plan for everyone? What if you escaped that situation somehow and convert into a Christian. Where's your mother, in hell? I guess she deserved it huh? Yeah I know, that's a really disgusting belief right? Tell me about it. Religion compounds misery; you're blind to the extent of human suffering. If you've ever seen or felt real pain like I have, you'll know the fairy tales you read about in your holy book are just lies to keep people ignorant to reality. *oops, I forgot some of you don't believe it ever happened.
But in the bible of all three major western religions does it not say "God made man in his image" i.e. an omnipotent entity made human beings in its image regardless of gender or sex, and thus it would be as we are. That is of course, according to Islam, Christianity and Judaism. In Hindu they have Shiva and many forms of Shiva which are worshiped, and Shiva is both male and female (correct me if I am incorrect here - and this is toward someone from India by the way). I just covered the major religions left in the world, without going toward the tribal or the new age religious or faith based beliefs. I do not believe in even a galactic being that started the big bang to be honest, nor do I believe in any sort of super-natural supreme, or even an alien supreme (as if there was one, we would likely know that by now. However evidence shows that nothing interfered with our evolution, no Nibiru, no Anunnaki, and no Grays. I simplified my earlier position for everyone, but it appears I have to elaborate to defend my... non-belief. I know of all kinds of interpretations of God, and the only one I come close to at any time is that I myself am a god. But I know for a fact that I am flesh, bone, and blood, a highly evolved fish that took hundreds of millions of years to reach this point. Gas bladders for lungs, and a tetropodal background from the early amphibians, human being are nothing more - or less - than a branch of a branch of a branch (think of a fractal if you will) that survived and eventually thrived, as all things that are alive today have at one point or another. Like the coyote we have adapted, and become more numerous than the stars we can see on a clear night, as has the coyote. In fact, they adapted so well to us, that they now live as far east as New York. Did their god let them do this? No. Their adaptability did. Did a god give us what we have today? No. Mankind did, starting with Archaic Homo sapiens sapiens who started to design better tools, and wanted more that what they had then. It took us thousands of years of trail and error, of death and progress, of wars and fighting to reach where we are today. I am never going to give credit to an imaginary spiritualist ideal for what mankind has and will do, be it good or bad. We are who we are, and we made ourselves that way with a bit of help in evolution and pressures on our planet that all other life forms have had to change to meet as well. The only reason we are special, is that we can think about it. Our brain is also not some holy grail of design, but rather a hodgepodge of different adaptations that were favored and lead to survival. If you can imagine how to build a better tool, you are going to build it and use it, and you will live on to have children who will have a good shot of inheriting this trait. So, back to the hullabaloo about creators and spiritualism and all of this superstitious bullshit that people clog their minds with so they can feel better about the world they are in: there is nothing out there in an imaginary plane of existence with omnipotent power or knowledge that can give you answers. Only humans can find the answers to our questions - with an off chance that years from now we make contact with a more intelligent life-form from another planet that evolved to its current point when we met it, and just happened to be better at problem solving than highly advanced fish (us).
see, again, do not put images for God that are not correct, then reject them, again God is not a man, God is not you, there is nothing like God, so stop trying to control God by decreasing him to an idol, there is only one God, if you think you are him, then bring the sun from West, not East, it should be easy for you if you are truly God, since you been able to bring it from East before, just a direction change, this is the same challenge Abraham pbuh gave to Namrud: "Hast thou not Turned thy vision to one who disputed with Abraham About his Lord, because God had granted him power? Abraham said: "My Lord is He Who Giveth life and death." He said: "I give life and death". Said Abraham: "But it is God that causeth the sun to rise from the east: Do thou then cause him to rise from the West." Thus was he confounded who (in arrogance) rejected faith. Nor doth God Give guidance to a people unjust.[Qur'an 2-258]"
Some people are just too dense to understand. _____ Hey imad, what are you going to say to God when he tells you that Mohammad was not his messenger and was a false prophet. See, to play the game you have to take what I said as true. I do not think you have the integrity or the intellectual capacity or the free will to even offer an answer. You are so fearful that you cannot even pretend. How pathetic and sad. So, what do you tell Allah when he tells you that? I gave my answer to a make believe question. We both know that you will not be able to answer because your mind is not allowed to freely think about things like this. You have been forbidden free thought by your indoctrination into Islam. The irony is that your inability to answer the question shows how little faith you truly do have.
is this your own way to end a discussion? if so ok, let it be, nice talking to you anyway, I said what I wanted to say above, sorry if I misunderstood your post or part of it, and good luck to you too, in conclusion, and as a last post here: If you truly believe there is no God, then you won't worry about finding an excuse to tell to God. if you truly believe in God, then you are not a disbeliever so you won't need to think about an excuse either, alwiser does believe in God, but he shouts "I am an Athesit" on these forums? why alwiser? are you afraid of browntwn and Jackul and others .. to make fun of you maybe if you said I believe in God? do you worry that much about what they may think about you, and do not worry about what may God think about you? never think you can fool God, he created you, and he is closer to yourself than yourself, and he knows you better than you know yourself. edited to add: I posted before I read this by brwontwn as the above posts by me say, I m not worried at all regarding this browntwn
imad, people who do not believe in God are not worried. It is a game. I am playing along. You are taking it way too seriously and making an utter fool of yourself. I change my answer just for you imad, now for you, I would lift my leg and take a piss on God.
oh. my excuse would be lack of convincing evidence for its existence. I will tell him: "hey..m8... you didn't provide any indicators that will make me realize that story about you is real while little red riding hood or Goldilocks and the Three Bears is false...." But if I will have big balls, I will tell him also: "because I had a good look at the people who do believe in you and didn't like what I see..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BNhecKqRMA
I did not ask if you were worried. I asked what will you say? (but you know that and are just trying to weasel out of answering honestly. I would say I am surprised, but I would only be surprised if you managed to honestly answer a question.) I guess your faith in Allah is not strong enough to allow you to answer that question. That lack of faith is pathetic. Your faith is so weak you can't answer a simple question, but instead try to avoid it and deflect at all costs. Do you not think Allah sees your weakness. Do you think he likes people who run and hide from questions. I though Allah liked people to question things. It is okay imad, I see the fix you are it. You want to answer the question, but by doing so you implicitly acknowledge that Mohammad is not Allah's messenger. And you don't know how to answer the question without making a fool of yourself. I forgive you - but I doubt Allah will. p.s. imad, it is actually easy to answer. What would you say if your keyboard suddenly said, "hey mate"? (We both know it is a zero possibility, but you can still PRETEND and answer). I will tell my keyboard, "hey, did you like the crumbs I gave you and the coke I spilled on you?" See, by answering a PRETEND question, does not mean (or imply) I actually have any belief it will happen. IT IS A PRETEND QUESTION. You keep telling others to open their mind, maybe you should take your own goddamn advice!
Your excuse would be "because" ??? The idea that God has a gender is so hilarious to me. It's seriously juvenile. Whatever God is (or isn't) is well beyond our comprehension. What bugs me about organized religion (particularly the western religions) is how they make everything into these silly little mythological stories. I mean, I dig that from a "teach lessons" point of view. Or a "this is what people can understand." But to actually think that's real is just... sad.
Your answer amuses me. I don't see how the two are consistent. On one hand, you tell us whatever God is, is beyond our comprehension. And then, you also proclaim to tell people that their conception is laughably wrong. Either you know, or you don't. You can't claim to know nothing about what God is, but tell other people, God has no gender. You are as funny and illogical as imad.
I think he's saying that he knows he doesn't know but also knows no one else knows, which is precisely my view. Cheers Zibblu, we have one view in common I suppose.
But then God could be a man or a woman, eh? Obviously nobody knows, but then how can anyone's idea of God be "hilarious"? To me, nobody's personal image of God is any more valid than anyone else's opinion.