Do you believe in god?

Non-Phish General
#1

This is only to try and better my understanding of why people believe what they believe. The poll is sort of unnecessary as I am trying to figure out why you believe in your god rather that what god you believe in.

Religion has always had a place in my life, and not by choice. My entire family is pretty much all devout christians. I was forced to go to church up until I was around 12. I never enjoyed going and it all felt very silly to me. The preacher spoke in a web of contradictions yet they always viewed the church as infallible. I would often ask my parents about these inconsistencies and it would always be roughly the same answer, God is perfect or something to that effect. No real evidence to support anything other than citing the bible. I would ask them if they would believe everything I said if I wrote it down in a journal and called it “Holy Text”. I would never get an answer to exactly why they believed the things they did. It all felt very wrong to me. )I guess I should say though I have no problems with the lessons the bible teaches, metaphorically.)

I assumed that they sought eternal life, that they were unsatisfied with the one they were living now and hoped that there was a new better one waiting for them if they put money in a collection plate and prayed before every meal. I tried explaining to them that heaven and hell are just metaphors for what you leave behind once you die. Jimi Hendrix is in “heaven” because we will always view him in a positive light. Hitler is “condemned to hell” because his legacy is a negative one.

I believe that there is some form of higher power but not necessarily a god in the conventional sense. I believe this because of what science has shown us regarding the origins of life. This information makes all religions inherently wrong in the fundamentalist sense.

So why do you believe what you believe? (Try to keep it a discussion and not an argument. ;D)

#2

I can definitively say that I believe in God.

One of my favorite spirtual verses, taken from Japji Sahib, written by Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru:
“By thinking he cannot be reduced to thought, even by thinking hundreds of thousands of times.”

That rings very true for me, in that I feel that the word “God” is a linguistic concept which disagreement over has been the source of tremendous human conflict. I think most of this is a result of people trying to put a concept that is by definition beyond cognition and linguistic description into the confines of a materialistic understanding of the universe.

So for me God is a word that came from human consciousness to serve a symbolic function. I use that symbol as a tool to guide my consciousness towards experience of that which is beyond it. I also like to use the “The Infinite”, as infinity by definition is a qunatity unquantifiable by consciousness.

I think it is through prayer and meditation that humans open their consciousness to experience that lies beyond itself, and this to me is spiritual experience.

#3

Not a god so much as an essence…or some basic level at which we are all connected. But even that, I’m not sure about…so I just voted that I don’t know…and personally, I think anyone that thinks they do know, probably belong that in that category as well, as I’ve never come across anyone with any definitive proof of god.

#4

sort of. kinda.

#5

We are all technically connected regardless of an existence of a higher being. We are all made up of the same matter that all came from the same place. All of this matter is interchangeable. This means that we technically are not unique in anything other than our forms. Even then, our forms can be reproduced. We are essentially just complex chains of reactions. This is what is troubling in the search for a higher being(to me at least).

#6

Can you give me some proof that a God exists, please?

#7

Exactly, but what is that matter made up of? Well, it appears to be a combination of waves and particles, and maybe that’s all that this “god” is, is just that deepest level of connectivity that binds us all…just waves and particles drifting endlessly in space. And whatever…if that’s it, I’m fine with that…It doesn’t change the fact that I still have to get up in the morning and go to work, but it maybe means that I can find some deeper meaning or understanding within myself as opposed to searching “out there” for this god or whatever we choose to describe it as.

#8

Great thread idea.

I’m pretty much with Emmet and Devin’s thoughts. My beliefs, if you can even call them that, fall more along the lines of Taoist ideas (as I understand them) than any Western religion. I don’t believe in a being or individual or consciousness or “other” awareness, really. The White Guy In The Sky idea just doesn’t hold water for me - no offense to anyone, I’m just saying it doesn’t make intuitive sense to me. I assume it does to a lot of people. Like Emmett said, “the Infinite” is more of what I think about.

I think there’s a lot of really good ideas in a lot of the world’s religions, most of them probably. I think that’s what religion was meant to do, in a way. But too often I think religions get turned into very human institutions, prone to greed and power and corruption, and end up exploiting the people they were supposed to enlighten.

The idea of the Tao makes more intuitive sense to me. Some kind of force or current, or rhythm, a ‘way’ that we’re all a part of, that everything is affected by. Not a big omnipotent person who likes some people and hates others. So if you wanna kind of try to be aligned with that rhythm, you’ll find that things work out better and I think you’re just a happier person. If you choose to ignore it, that’s fine, but you’ll probably not be as happy and things won’t go as well for you.

Not exactly karma, but I think that’s one of those ideas that has a sensible basis when you look at it outside the literal interpretation. Same with reincarnation - interesting idea, not something I literally believe our interpretation of, but I think it’s something we dimly perceive and can’t make complete sense of.

#9

You’re a douche.

I am a god (and so are you!)

#10

honestly, no. The whole concept is way too fantasy land for me.

#11

I was actually thinking about starting this same thread today.

I chose no. Now, I think since I said that, that I am rejecting god as a single person who knows and created everything. That does not necessarily cancel out belief in any greater force that we just can’t understand. Not that I’m so sure that stuff is real either but it seems way more plausable than “god” in the common sense.

#12

I chose the “I don’t know” option, because I honestly don’t have a spiritual component to my life right now. I just don’t know what to believe in or whether I really need to believe in anything. I know I don’t believe in the traditional Christian god, although my mother, father, and sister are all regular church-goers. I just don’t have any reason to believe in a god. I have never seen any proof that a god exists. I believe in human energy fields that are intertwined and interrelated, but that’s about the extent of my spiritual belief.

#13

A power that is greater than we can understand does exist. The whole Jesus thing really gets to me though. A mortal man that claimed he was the way to God is no different than a modern day cult leader.

Check out the movie, “Religulous”, if you haven’t already. I’m not a big Bill Mahr fan but he really puts all religions into a good perspective. It’s really funny how alike so many religions are. It’s even more funny to see all of the people who FALSELY quote the Holy Bible to support their personal beliefs and even prejudices. So many people carry a blind faith because of family traditions and not enough people question these beliefs before subscribing to them.

[flash=350,287]http://www.youtube.com/v/XdkyLrDpaUg&hl=en&fs=1[/flash]

#14

This is pretty much my belief right now verbatim…it seems there are so many people that are Christians because it is the easiest way to answer their after life IMO…it seems they think well it can’t hurt to be a Christian because if I am then I’ll go to “heaven”, and if they’re is no God then oh well (or maybe that’s just how they get their kids to believe in God, cause no child is gonna wanna question going to hell)…

but I prefer to be honest and took the I don’t know option…I am taking an Eastern Religions class right now and it is pretty amazing how many ties there are between Hinduism and Christianity…

Hindus have multiple gods that reflect one God, and to an extent that’s what people are doing when they study the Bible right? they are studying these characters that reflected God’s beliefs, Hindus believe that the better they treat each other, the closer they get to being one with Brahman(their God)- if we are not good in one life, we will be reincarnated as a less favorable being, when we have reached the best we can be, we become one with God, and Christians believe if they are good people(which many are hypocritical on this) they will go to heaven and be with God…

but right now the most spiritual thing I believe in is Karma, but I am really looking forward to studying Buddhism, I think I’m going to like it …I don’t know a whole lot about religion, but it is all very interesting to me…Great thread

#15

i don’t know what i believe, nor do i think belief is anything more than thought/mental projection. these things are sometimes useful for practical, everyday reality, but pretty much useless when in comes to ‘what lies beyond’.

i trust my intuitive senses more than my learned beliefs and i guess i do have an intuitive sense of ‘something more’. doubtless this informs my useless beliefs anyway, so i’m still going with ‘i don’t know’. but that certainly dosen’t mean ‘no’.

#16

God doesn’t listen to what I say, and you don’t get a refund, if you overpray.

#17

I think that this is true with most everything. It seems that tradition often supersedes logic.

#18

I believe.

My belief waned for a very good amount of years.

But then I met Him one night, and it was magical.

He was in a burrito.

#19

i also believe that there is a “god”…but not “THE” god, whether it be a single entity, or the universe working as a whole, yes…i do believe…but seriously…

a guy get banished from his town…lives in the woods, gets hungry, eats some mushrooms, a storm comes along…strikes a tree…bam, god’s talking to him

#20

Here’s a strong candidate…

Clapton is God: The story behind the saying
Entry published in Biography - EC