Why do you believe??? (page 4)

Xander

Fundamentalist Christians remain, after thousands of years, among the least educated groups in the world, ranking below pro-wrestling enthusiasts and carnival workers
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a Flatwoods, KY, manicurist and mother of nine, "but we just have to trust that it's all part of God's plan."
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God gets bored again. "I think Ill kill the entire planet, except for a few folks," he said. And he did. As soon as the leader of the survivors got of the Ark, he killed something to show his gratitude for God killing everyone on the planet except him and his family.

LOLOL!

Farkel = my hero.

Hmmm...well, reading through the recent posts...yes, I see a whole lot of 'I believe just because's.

But, no explanation of why we have viruses/bacteria/parasites/etc.

C'mon 'true believes'. If he is a 'god of love' WHY DID HE CREATE PARASITES?! A tick does no good. It isn't eaten by any other animal (so it's not a food source). All it does is spread sickness and disease.

(don't dodge the question, and don't try an explain away why humans are bad to each other. I've narrowed this down to one, single, question. Since all my previous questions appear to be too complicated or confusing to answer, I'll even bold it - WHY DID A GOD OF LOVE CREATE PARASITES?!)

Anyone?

Bueller?

Anyone?

JT

the comment was made:

"I see a whole lot of 'I believe just because's"

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very interesting thought- in fact i have often seen believers come out with both barrels blasting using all kinds of GREEK AND HEBREW WORDS and all kinds of bible concordances, vines exspositor dictionary, etc and then after the questions keep coming they will always end the conversation by saying

"YOU JUST GOT TO BELIEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

YOU got to love it

willy_think

JanH

It must be one or the other, neither position is provable.

One of my God's main attributes is he is not made, or he is without cause.

Not provable of course, but I make no claim of proving what is unprovable, only believing what is unbelievable.

imissthedub

I believe in God because I have had 4 miracles occur in my life. One prevented disfigurment as a child, one was life saving to me, one healed me of a disease and one healed my parrot who was carrying a fatal disease that had not broke out yet. Will not go on and on in detail on these miracles.

In regard to viruses, etc. God did not create anything bad, but he allows it is be created. I believe there is an evil force just as there is a good. Kind of like cause/effect day/night whatever. If one believes in good why would you not also admit evil existed.

God created us because He wanted to have a relationship with something/someone who could love Him back.....by their own free will. He is Love and love seeks it's own kind. But, if God just created beings that had no free will, could not make choices....well, they would not REALLY love Him. They would just be robots. Like Stepford Wives. In order to be able to make a choice between Him (Love) and something else there has to be something else to choose. So, I feel Evil is very real also and has very real power. Alot of the evil that occurs IS due to mankind. Even if it was done years ago. Now, I am NOT saying that if something bad happens to you (you lose a spouse, a child, etc) that YOU directly caused it. No. But somewhere in history things happened that have ripple effects that will effect us for years. Example: we create the automobile. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't thinks cars are evil. ROFL. They are great, get us places, can be beautiful, etc. BUT the creation does not come without cost. Common sense tells you that when you create a machine that can go fast there WILL be accidents. Because we have the freedom to drive too fast, to apply lipstick, talk on phone, fight w spouse, kiss spouse, etc all while driving. So, did God cause the accident? No. Is it someone's fault everytime there is a death, disease, etc. No, not in the present sense. But that is part of freedom. In order to choose good you must have the choice of evil. So, evil has created things too. Virus, bacteria, the inability for us all to get along because of EGO. I really wish I could explain this better. If you are interested in a discussion on this feel free to email me and we can have an ongoing discussion on it. Am not trying to convert anyone, I just luv to discuss this stuff.

JanH

willy,

It must be one or the other, neither position is provable.

It is Occam's razor again. You can believe the origin of the universe is an uncaused event, or you can postulate another, totally unproven external source as its cause. Occam's razor cuts away the second as adding complexities without having further explanative power.

One of my God's main attributes is he is not made, or he is without cause.

This also happens to be a very likely property of the universe.

In fact, at the quantum level, uncaused events happens all the time. Cause and effect is not a universal law.

Not provable of course, but I make no claim of proving what is unprovable, only believing what is unbelievable.

If it is unbelievable, then by definition you can't believe it. I think there is no thing that is fully unbelievable. Some people tend to believe anything.

- Jan

BeautifulGarbage

one healed my parrot who was carrying a fatal disease that had not broke out yet.

No personal offense, but while children are being raped and murdered, God had the notion to save your bird. I'm glad you are glad. However, would ya give God a message for me?

GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT, WILL YA?!

As for myself, I vacillate between being agnostic and atheist for many of the reasons posted in this thread. I certainly do not believe in God of the bible.

Andee

Edited by - BeautifulGarbage on 15 July 2002 22:28:52

Narcissist

if man is a reflection of god then god himself is the greatest narcissist of all. he is jealous and wants us to worship him but he won't break away from the mirror long enough to tell us who he is and what he wants. i believe in god.....me!

BlackSheep_Baaa

I've read all your postings under this topic, and respect everyone's personal feelings regarding God. However, I feel like most of us would have more answers if we would simply open up God's word, the bible, and read it. We can sit here all our lives and share our PERSONAL viewpoints, debating whether God exists or not, whether God is a he/she, is a spirit or part of this planet, etc., but what about the answers that are in the bible??? Doesn't it say that "All scripture is inspired by God"?

If we set aside every religion and man-made organization (including the WT), and gain understanding and knowledge from the bible itself, how can we go wrong? Don't forget Psalms 83:18. This was the first scripture I memorized, and I will never forget God's name...Jehovah. There's no question in my mind that he exists!

What about those on here who say they must "see to believe"? Again, I respect your opinion...but let me ask you a question. What happened to those in Noah's day who laughed at him when he spoke of ridiculous things such as a MAJOR flood killing everyone? The bible is full of examples such as these! Some things God chose to show to us humans, and others he chose not to. Remember the 10 plagues, Jesus walking on water, and the loaves of bread multiplying feeding 1,000's???

I feel sorry for those who do not believe something until they actual SEE it first. I guess they can forget about believing in God, because we may NEVER see him. According to the bible, only Jesus can see his father. When an angel spoke to Moses, the light was so bright that he was temporarily blinded. But he still had faith.

This is one of my first opportunities to post here. I have so much more to read of the bible, but what I do know is that God is real. The very first verse of the bible on page 1 says he created the heavens and the earth! There are many things that we cannot see (such as planets not yet discovered), but they still exist. I have many questions that go unanswered, but you've got to have faith first that Jehovah cares about us. So I urge everyone to read their bible and NOT lose faith. And remember that just because someone in the 1930's found God's real name in the bible, and chose to make a religion named after him, doesn't mean they are being directed by God! Doesn't the bible say that "many will prophesy on behalf of my name?"

SixofNine

BlackSheep, if you actually opened the bible, and read it, it would be obvious to you that it is demonstrably not from a super-natural source. In other words, why the hell would you claim it to be God's word? Do you believe everything your mommy and daddy and the priest and the Governing Body told you? No you don't do you. Well that 'the bible is God's word' is the most rediculous of all things you have been convinced by weight of others' belief to believe.

Now go your way and sin no more by pimping that evil worthless tome.

BlackSheep_Baaa

You sound stressed out. You been getting enough sleep? LOL
I've chosen NOT to respond in a child-like manner such as yourself, however, I will tell you that this has NOTHING to do with the Governing Body, my parents, etc. I HAVE read the bible. Understanding the bible though is something that we strive to do. Our understanding leads to our o wn interpretation. And as you can see from these posts, there are many.

I didn't add my thoughts to put down anyone's personal feelings. You, however, seem like you're quickly angered and may have some issues. Have you always been this way? I suggest you seek out a local elder to help you.

Seriously, though, it is clear that the bible was written by man and inspired by God. How do you explain the scientifically correct issues in the bible that humans discovered only at a later period of time? Not only did they find out the world was round MUCH later after it was written in the bible, but there were references to animal life, the origin of the universe, and many other things that us little humans on this planet could not predict. And let's not forget either about things in the bible foretold well before they happened.

You've got to give credit where credit is due, man.

Why do you believe???

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