Are there ant Atheist/Nontheist here?

The complexity of God starts with the definition and how we've invented the concept, which is something that many theists having a hard time wrapping their arms and heads around. There's also this psychological phenomenon, which people often overlook or ignore altogether with the fact we, as humans, INVENTED the ideas of spirituality and dualism, which also correlates to God. So yes, we're the machinations and progenitors of such ideas. So, yes, we CAN understand the "complexities of God."

The situations you've named hold some loftiness in the sense. You're speaking more on probability of success as opposed to faith. In traveling from one place or another, sure, you're not guaranteed safety procedures, but the chances of them happening are slim because we have the resources to prevent such things from happening. So, the chances are based more on real time measures as opposed to merely "faith". In war, you can still die, but can be prevented through your own insight and action, and the help of your comrades.

Secondly, pregnancies are very tricky and you're not guaranteed an intelligent baby. But partly that's due to genetics and the environment of the parents. Exposing them to certain things (i.e. classical, relaxed music, parental knowledge, and exposure to more cultural and academic world view) could enhance their IQ a good deal. Again, not based on mere faith, but probability based on actions of the individual.

And lastly, when it comes to academics, you HAVE control of your own successes. It's called studying and focusing on your studies. If you don't study, the chances of you succeeding and attaining your degree are much less. Again, realistic possibilities and probabilities based on the 98% means of you controlling your own actions.

 

Theological noncognitivism

 

Same here. when I was 17, I said "fuck this shit".

 

I get what you getting at. We have seen/heard all these things happen to people. And we can collate data, and determine the probabilities of a said event occuring. Its not merely faith, it can be backed by previous scientific data, and the probabilities of it occurring in the future determined. For example if I flew to China on British airways, and British airways flew 20000 flights a year and only one crashed a year. I would board the plane with a fair amount of confidence/faith that my plane wouldnt crash. My faith would be based on data, and science.
Believing in god is purely based on faith. I think if god revealed himself more literally, so that we are left in no doubt that he existed, people would obviously have more faith in religion.

 

But it can!

True.

That would be to easy. But as Christian, I can tell you that God has revealed himself (not literally) to me in many occassions. When you have relationship with him, you will feel his presence and his intervention in most difficult and challenging times of your life.

 

What about rice farmers in the middle of china? How does Jesus reach them? Do they just go to hell? What about polytheists that are just as fervent about their believes? Why would a god who supposedly loves everyone allow so many alternatives to proliferate, leading countless to he'll? What about those before jc? The list goes on.

 

I see some of y'al been watching Zeitgeist Addendum film sereis. To be honest his film about money and power made lots of sense but the one regarding God and religion did not at all.

 

It's only natural that you would ignore that bit. Now, for the record, none of us have referenced that movie at all. And while much of it could be considered over the top with its statements, they do hold a great deal of truth. Everything is about control of the masses. Religion has been a great contributor to it for generations upon generations. There's an old phrase from Seneca the Younger:

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful."

Looking at the events, past and present, people used religion and God as a means to control people and keep them under a state of false hope and fear. That's the reality. Furthermore, regarding Jesus and his existence, beyond what's written in the Bible (with some questionable contradictions), there's no record of his existence completely, especially in regards to secular research. However, there were accounts of a man who actually existed, but the actions of Jesus, were all based on ancient gods which came before Christianity.

It's like how Hollywood put it? "BASED ON A TRUE STORY!" In other words, the story of Jesus is grossly over-exaggerated.

 

Dude. I have no clue what you are talking about. These are thoughts I have had since middle school. So, do you have a rebut or are you tapping?

 

Agreed, but religion and having relationship with your creator are not the same thing and not interchangable either.

 

But they do coincide with one another given that this statement roughly refers to the theistic beliefs, be it polytheistic or monotheistic. To say you have a relationship with your creator is merely the human ego acting on it's own hunger and need to feel a sense of longing.

 

That is your opinion. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

I don't see how this is an opinion. Sure, we can argue that the person (the self) holds a strong conviction for their belief in a higher being. But, speaking from a purely psychological sense of the human psyche, you can't argue that their god is generated from the egocentric attitude of the person.

 

To be honest Greco, I have no logical answer for your question. I just know and feel his existance around me. Trust me, I have been in similar phase like some of you before but the love of Christ has found me and saved me. There is no scientific data or mathematical equation that I can use to prove his existence to you, I just know he does, you can call me dumb, stupid but that is my belief system.

 

You wrote "To say you have a relationship with your creator is merely the human ego acting on it's own hunger and need to feel a sense of longing".

That is not a truth - that is an opinion.

 

Yes actually I can. As FG pointed out that's your belief, but it is not mine, nor is it a belief I would ever be able to adopt as I know it to be false. I believe because I know there is a God, and like GZ I have felt his presence many times. My faith is something which will never waver regardless of how many other people question, because I know God, and it has nothing to do with my ego. That's one of the most ridiculous assertions I've ever heard. Simply accept that some people believe deeply in something you don't, and leave it at that. I don't understand the need to explain why someone doesn't believe as you do, they simply do.

You are neither GZ. You have faith, and that's not something you can ever explain or prove to another person. By it's very nature it requires belief in that which cannot be seen or touched. Some people simply cannot accept that, they feel they must have an explanation for everything, to me that is egotistical.

 

Explain how that is an opinion. We create ideas and thoughts to give ourselves some sense of comfort. With spirituality and God and religion, it's all relative to one another. Reasons to believe in such things, merely goes into a sense of comfort for people. I'm not saying it's a terrible thing, nor it's truly negative. It's a matter of how one actually carry their lives in the name of their own ego.

 

How is it egotistical? It was a legitimate question/concern. So the rural populous is screwed? Just doest make sense

 

The bolded sentence makes no sense, rewrite it.

These atheist/theist threads have taken the place of all those anal sex threads a year or so back; clearly it's now a topic that cannot be talked to death!

 

Okay, want me to simplify it? Here it goes:

God = Human ego.