A continuation for those of you who wanted to see what happens next in the 'S.A.M Why do you believe in God' Thread. PART 2. Other people feel free to say why you yourself believe in god, or ask others why they do. On the last episode we saw this. On todays episode we catch up with S.A.M and the militant Atheist boys as the journey continues to find out why people believe in God and why some people care so much if they do. peace.
Actually, I believe God exists based on my own observation and interpretation of the universe; luckily, I am not one of those theists that simply believes because a book told me to. Consciousness is a key factor in my belief in God. Not "because it exists, God did it", but rather, let's closely examine consciousness. If consciousness does indeed emerge from complexity, is it then not rational to conclude that the universe may be one single consciousness? Or, if not to conclude, then to suggest the idea. The universe might be a single, "supreme" conscious being, an emergent property of the complexity of the universe. Our consciousness, rather than dying, may join this "supreme" consciousness, aka God. Another issue is the universe existing. An infinite regression is implausible and illogical; at first, I thought the God situation also suffered the same problem. But remember, "time" didn't necessarily exist before the universe, therefore chronoligical order is irrelevant. "God" could certainly, therefore, be "timeless"
I hate it when theists start trying to use "logic" to validate their faith. Just admit you take the leap, and own it. Enough of the phony, backwards, cereal box logic that isn't logic at all.
It most certainly is logic. If consciousness is an emergent property of complexity, then consciousness can exist anywhere there is complexity. The universe is quite complex.
My point is quite simple, it depends on how we are thinking of God, and what we know of reality. Our reality around us exists only as long as we can perceive it. Consciousness is key. A "supreme consciousness" isn't an implausible idea, and it explains God. The universe being one consciousness
All evidence says otherwise. My personal consciousness is not required for you to exist. A "supreme consciousness" does not imply that the universe would be it, first of all. Secondly, it may not be impossible, but it's highly implausible. There is no evidence of consciousness on behalf of the universe.
Very true. However, without any consciousness, there is no perception and no sense of existence. Consciousness is key in knowing that you exist. Well, whatever it is, maybe not the universe, I don't know. However, do you think there is more to the universe than we can sense with our five senses? I'm not speaking about supernatural things, but simply things we can't sense with our limited senses that are there. Consciousness is perhaps the least understood phenomenon of all; we don't understand how it comes to be or what causes it or even what it is. A "supreme" consciousness would explain all of the religious claims about meeting with a "perfect being" after death, and that ties in to other immortality theories about consciousness.
Is it? How do you know? Of course there is. We can only perceive three spacial dimensions, and time, and we know there are more than that, so it's safe to say that there are things to this universe we can't feel or see. This is true. Which is why you making outrageous assumptions about it is so freaking laughable. So would "imagination". Because we are a logical creature, when we first saw these amazing things--thunderstorm, lightning, earthquakes, floods, the sun--wouldn't it make sense that we would attribute them to a being that would be much greater than us? And there are no "immortality theories".
JDawg/Norsefire-Faith is choosing to believe in something without evidence. "Logical thought" exits stage right when it comes to this. I have faith in God, in Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit. I have no evidence they exist. I choose to believe they exist. Looking at the universe, geology, evolution, math, biology. Nowhere is there "evidence" of God. We can suggest that anything points to the existence or nonexistence of God. I know christians who say,"Look at how complex man is. How can that evolve?" My response is,"If it was created by God, it seems very poorly designed. Why an appendix? Why make the heart so thin? Why include a possibilty for genetic mutation?" They get irritated. An atheist says,"We have scientific evidence through the fossil record of evolution. Thus, no creation, no God." I say to them,"You can't even prove that the universe existed a few seconds ago, but you claim to have disproven God. Interesting. If God did things differently from the Biblical story, how does this disprove God?" They sputter for awhile and spout odd nonsense in response. The fact is that God is not trying to be "proven" he is trying to be "chosen with a lack of evidence"
Norsefire-If I choose to believe in God, and I am wrong, I have not lost anything. If I choose to not believe in God and I am wrong, I will be in a much worse position. I believe this is the reason given by the french mathematician Pascal, as well.
That's what I'm talking about, Ham. I just don't understand why a believer wouldn't just say that. I'm so sick of it when they try to rationalize it, or worse, when they try to twist science to make it sound like a reasonable argument. Please. It's faith, which by nature means it's irrational.
I often feel sorry for theists. They are either ignorant of how unreasonable their position is, or they must live in a fantasy world because they cannot cope otherwise.
As an atheist I can only offer one reason why I might have believed in God. Simply put, God is not here nor has He ever been nor does He wish to be known. One cannot accept the words of men for God's existence, it is pure folly. So it stands to reason that God, should He exist, never once has made His presence known to mankind. Therefore one can only conclude that God at this particular time, and lacking any evidence of, is not here or does not wish to be known to us. Now that only leaves believers with one thing...... God wishes to not be known. If you believe then this is what you must accept. It is the only way God can exist. He is, but wishes to remain unknown. Once you've accepted that then it is easy to accept that all religion is mythology. So if you want God, then be prepared to know nothing about Him. That is His preference as all the evidence or lack of evidence points to.