What if there is no God?

Your on the wrong med's Wayne, your not supposed to be having imaginary talks with dead critters...take the stuff that will help you sleep..are you using the stuff you used when you were in your 30's back in the mid 1950's?

What about the poor sheep? What a facial look on that animal...looks like its eyes are crossed...

outdoor338 wrote: What about the poor sheep? What a facial look on that animal...looks like its eyes are crossed...

I can't tell by the size of the glasses the animal is wearing.

:rofl

WOW thanks to you last 3 for turning this once decent thread into a bunch of personal insults and childish crap. Carry on.

The Viking wrote:

Nmysys wrote: Wheredidmyvotego:

Like we don't know who you are!!

Remember that I happen to be Jewish, not Christian. I use that picture because most of the Atheists and Agnostics I have known can relate to the image. There is no Hell in the Old Testament. I don't believe in a vengeful God of the Trinity.

Continue to do what is right and moral, living up to my standards for myself. Compassion and empathy does not come from a belief in God, it comes from within oneself.

I, personally believe that moral compass you are referring to in your self, comes from some religious training or exposure before you made the conscious decision that you didn't believe in God. Just my opinion, but to have that compass, you had to have had some if not all of it instilled in you somewhere, somehow, even if you deny it. Right and wrong comes from somewhere, and in my mind it comes from the Ten Commandments, though in other belief systems it has its roots in similar style written or unwritten laws.

Exactly!! That could not have been said any better! If they had no religious beliefs what so ever, then they would just live a totally selfish and unmoralistic life, taking as they please and living without guilt and any moral compass what so ever as they would believe without a doubt that there are no ramifications or consequenses what to ever after they die. So as you said, there is a belief in God and an afterlife instilled in all of us somewhere, somehow, no matter how small, even if they deny it.

That is your opinion but not born out on any evidence. There are lots of cultures around the globe present and past who have not been indoctrinated by religion as we know it. Yet, they still have a moral compass. Self-righteousness individuals in many instances label such people savages because they do not conform to their own belief systems. Many people have sought comfort in belief that they were being taken care of through religious warship of the sun, moon, various animals, etc. and in that found comfort. Religion meets a fundamental need to bring closure to unresolved perspectives. Many of us seem to need certainty.

Religion is a lot like science. It is a search for God which in science is represented by truth. You can search for God in any and all religious documents, but never find him. The only connection is through faith. You convince yourself that the evidence brought before you is sufficient for you to believe there is a God. Science searching for truth functions much the same way. You view all the evidence bearing on a particular problem and then make a leap of faith that this is the truth. Again the connection is through faith. For example, the radioactive half life of an isotope works such that it decays only half of the original material over a given period of time. Since only half decays, you will NEVER find 100 percent of the original material being decayed. But, because, the repetitive pattern is so regular in not just one but all radioactive isotopes, we scientists take it on faith that is how the process works. We convinced ourselves that the pattern remains unaltered although we never can make such an observation directly. Like a religious person, we WANT to believe this is so to facilitate our understanding. As a scientist, it would not shake me up to discover the concept of a radioactive half life broke down at some point. It simply gives me an opportunity to search for the truth some more. For me the search is what is important and is sufficient comfort. Similarly, discovery that there is no God would not lead to a personal calamity. I believe, that those who drift from religion or never embraced it may find comfort in their own search for what influences their life. Hell, heaven and God offer no threat or peace for me.

I am not worried about what happens after I die. I am only concerned with living in the here and now.

Nineteen pages of extremely interesting comments.

In reading all of these pages, one thing came to my mind. Did God create man, or did man create God?

In my thinking, the complexity and enormity of the Universe is far beyond the comprehension of mankind, even with all the knowledge we have today. If every human being that is alive today plus all of those who have lived in the past, were to be wadded up into a ball, we would be nothing more than a grain of sand on the beach. That tiny grain of sand would represent mankind’s presence in the Universe.

We have no proof whatsoever that God created man. But, we have volumes and volumes of books, documents, scrolls, and artwork, as proof that man created God.

We also have no scientific proof of life after death. Is this a concept that was created by religion in order to keep members in the faith? Live by the rules of the religion and you will live even after death?

Is life after death only awarded to Christians? If so, why would the Dalai Lama and his kind be denied life after death? Why would the peace loving Gandhi be denied? What happened to all of the Native Americans who died prior to the arrival of the white missionaries?

And who was the intelligent person who determined that only mankind has a soul? Was it the same person that determined that animals don’t have emotions? Is a Christian animal lover supposed to find eternal bliss in a life after death without animals?

It seems in all of these pages of discussion that there are those who acknowledge that they have questions about the existence of God, and there are those who believe they have all the answers because they believe in God. To those who think they have the answers, you have only furthered my doubts and caused me to have more questions.

If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But, you can survive without it. -- Dalai Lama

DaffyDick wrote: We have no proof whatsoever that God created man. But, we have volumes and volumes of books, documents, scrolls, and artwork, as proof that man created God.

Yep...

Absolutely. We hope, dream, wish that there were a god and an afterlife. We have no proof, nothing but hearsay. If you wish to believe in it, if it makes you feel better about your life I have no issue with that. If you wish to present it to me as scientific fact, logic, reason or anything remotely resembling anything other than wishful thinking then I greet your arguments with indulgent amusement. I'm glad you think you can see the unseeable, understand the unfathomable- I know that I don't know and neither do you. I'll live my life being the best person I can be, treating others the way I feel they want to be treated and helping those I can- not because I think God will smite me if I don't, or raise me to his side if I do, but simply because I believe it's the right thing to do.