Does anyone actually believe in God or are they just afraid...

There are absolutely people who believe. I grew up being surrounded by them.

I can't imagine too many people now a days being afraid of saying they don't believe in God.
In certain circles it's even encouraged and applauded.

I can imagine a desperate women willing to say nearly anything to get a steady boyfriend though.

 

I could easily see there being a creator. It's possible though that thing is no longer with us. If we bread animals and released them into the wild they may think to themselves that we are gods, but we pass just like them.

Also it's often said that god sent Jesus so that he could forgive our sins. I find this a troubling statement, when God being all powerful would have to send someone for this to happen. God creates the rules, he doesn't need to send anyone for us to be forgiven.

 

Yes there are. I am one. I am as certain that there is no God as any fact I know.

 

Slomo is God!

 

Recall the line in the Bible

Isaiah 55:8-9
New International Version (NIV)
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.


The "to save us from our sins" is the pat answer given in church and sunday school - the rote memorization to be accepted without much critical thought.

But "My thoughts are not your thoughts" means that the first explanation that you think up for "why" (like - Why the crucifixion?) is pretty much guaranteed to be wrong - because you are thinking from your ego-centric, human point of view.

Applying your (usual) thought process is to create God in your own image.

So the first inclination you have - discard it. And start the process of thought over again. Some things that are paradoxes may instead start to resolve themselves if you start to see things differently (at least to a personal level of comfort - because that's all it is supposed to be about).

Why do I think there are no atheists? Because of a 3-letter word (no, not "God"...)

Because an atheist will say "There is no verifiable proof of the existence of God."
But the problem is, the more honest sentence is: "There is no verifiable proof of the existence of God - yet."

Yet means "possible". It does not require degree of possibility - just possible.
"Possible" is Agnosticism, not Atheism.
The only way an atheist can truly finish the sentence is: "There is no verifiable proof of the existence of God - now or ever."

Which means he/she can see for all time into the future.

Good luck.

 

Which suggests faith often isn't all it's jacked up to be.

 

But why would you.

 

Because the Universe itself is too stupid to create itself. It had to come from some kind of intelligence.

Next time you look at a rock ask yourself if that rock created itself even though it has no intelligence. After you answer yourself, ask the question again. You might become enlightened by your answer.

 

You're saying it takes intelligence to create a stupid universe. That doesn't really work, does it.

 

A lot of the debate centers around the idea that the universe was "created". My thought is it has always existed in one form or another and when the conditions are right, life comes into being. The issue is our minds are hard wired to think a linear manner. The concept of something having always existed does not work well with a "beginning/middle/end" model.

fan27