Do you believe in a higher power?

[msdos]

Organisms do not evolve just because time has passed. The passage of time DOES NOT mean a species will evolve. External factors such as other species, climate change, etc, instigate evolution.

So you argument about other species having more time is irrelevant.

Apes still inhabit this planet because nothing has killed them off, same reason everything still alive is alive. Obviously something killed of the neanderthals or they'd still be here.

Besides, we didn't evolve from chimpanzees, we and chimpanzees share a common ancestor somewhere waaaaay back.

i can see you don't want to engage in insight, you just want to shoot down anything anyone can present, a contrarian, like a lot of people who post here.

im going to refer back to my first post and arrogance. people coming in here with a know it all attitude and shooting people down, but not wanting to brainstorm or discuss anything fun, lol.

thread has mortified.

[Tiglits]

What I want to understand is why is faith important to a God anyway? Making himself known would defeat what purpose exactly? The ability to believe in something is not a reflection on the character of anyone (at least not in a way that's relevant to a God), and I don't see what possible use a God could have for the faith of his people. Really, what end does faith serve that makes it so important that a God won't reveal himself and prove he exists, yet will apparently tell us in his writings to believe in him, and that faith is one of the big pre-requisites for his acceptance? Am I missing something here? I'm just not seeing the point of it, and if I'm honest about my feelings it comes across to me as a convenient scapegoat for the lack of proof of all the world's religious entities' existence.

Why does a father want children? To make himself happy, of course. I feel like even a perfect God can gain happiness in this way. [Insert purely religious basis this way ->] And God did reveal himself and prove that He exists in bringing Jesus Christ to Earth. He became physically active to show us who He is.

[Santti]

No, I don't believe in higher power of any sort. When you die, you die. You know, like sleeping without dreams.

[msdos]

you die, that the end of it. No heaven, No Hell, No limbo, No reincarnation. All those things are made up to help weaker minds cope with the finality of death.

i see you've conversed with the dead. you must be like a Shaman or sumfin'.

[Soul Hermit]

What? Do you mean like a GM?

lol that's ridiculous, god never gives jokes after the chat :<

[Deleted]

Why does a father want children?

Hardcoded to our brain. We, like all the other animals have the instinct to continue our breed! Humans just happen to have all these fancy evolved emotions and such that are often used to explain things like fathership etc. We have got quite evolved family-customs too! Atleast more complicated compared to other fauna in the nature.

[Weep]

You ARE NOT special.
God DOES NOT exist.
You make your own choices and have live by them and the ripple effect they create throughout your life.
Putting your failures and successes on a mythical beast is cheap, weak-willed, and childish.
Grow up and quit looking for an easy route.
Life is hard, take responsibility.

[Atrea]

no one can disagree, that there is a soul in us, not just a body, so doesn't make sense after you die and your body decay, that's the end, there is a soul, and who ever made us, can simply make us again, that's my opinion, im a Muslim, and i respect everyone's else opinion, i just said what i believe in

I disagree, and so do millions (probably billions) of others.

To say 'no one can disagree' is rather silly.

[Tiglits]

Hardcoded to our brain. We, like all the other animals have the instinct to continue our breed! Humans just happen to have all these fancy evolved emotions and such that are often used to explain things like fathership etc. We have got quite evolved family-customs too! Atleast more complicated compared to other fauna in the nature.

Aha, I guess so. I'll try to think of a better analogy. Thank you, at least, for being nice about me being dumb :P
I still believe that we were created to bring both glory and happiness, though. I don't think "perfect" necessarily means "happy and fulfilled all the time," more that it means "neutral," and we were created to bring some positivity to that. If that makes any sense?

[Nebthet]

You ARE NOT special.
God DOES NOT exist.
You make your own choices and have live by them and the ripple effect they create throughout your life.
Putting your failures and successes on a mythical beast is cheap, weak-willed, and childish.
Grow up and quit looking for an easy route.
Life is hard, take responsibility.

QFT.
tenchars

[Incandio]

So pleased it took only four posts before someone mentioned their mother.

[Skullmaster]

You know what's worse than the religious fanatics? The people who tout the "No Evidence" viewpoint. They say that just because there is no evidence to point to God's existence, that pretty much proves He doesn't exist? Well I can't prove every other person behind these posts is an autonomous human being and not just a monkey at a keyboard (and to be honest, looking at some of the replies that might not be far from the case).

Remember folks, lack of evidence for is not incontrovertible evidence against.

[msdos]

You ARE NOT special.
God DOES NOT exist.
You make your own choices and have live by them and the ripple effect they create throughout your life.
Putting your failures and successes on a mythical beast is cheap, weak-willed, and childish.
Grow up and quit looking for an easy route.
Life is hard, take responsibility.

whoa, art thou mad, brother?

how many people will it take before you realize that claiming a definitive, in either direction, is pure arrogance? lol...

can feel the clock winding down on this one.

[Xevan]

I'm agnostic, though leaning more to the side of there not being a Deity.

[Atrea]

Why does a father want children? To make himself happy, of course. I feel like even a perfect God can gain happiness in this way. [Insert purely religious basis this way ->] And God did reveal himself and prove that He exists in bringing Jesus Christ to Earth. He became physically active to show us who He is.

Yeah, well I brought THE NAPKIN into existence.
How do we know? It says so on THE NAPKIN.

And 2000 years in the future, people should believe that THE NAPKIN is divine, because it was once written.

Nothing that is ever written is a lie.
I am a cowboy-astronaut-millionaire.

[Meezo]

I disagree, and so do millions (probably billions) of others.

To say 'no one can disagree' is rather silly.

if its just body and nothing else then machines could have made us stay alive for way more than we do atm

[Paranoid Android]

God or whatever you belive is like WoW. It's Fantasy.

[Deleted]

I was wondering what you all believe. What do you think happens after you die and what kind of higher power do you believe?

Do you believe that you turn into a giant tree? Do you believe the higher power is yourself? Basically do you think death is the end of the journey?

No bashing other religions -.- be mature.

I am gonna agree with the poster below you (at least partially). I believe too people are generally very weak and do want to believe in higher powers that care for them and protect them as well as in continuation of their life after their body is surrendered to the maggots. Now bashing other religions is indeed bad cause at least some of them that I know are teaching you some (good) things you generally don't get through sheer logic in every day life. How many have been taught from their parents to help others for example? Very few... yet it is something good for a variety of reasons (which will remain unexplained in order to not make a huge-a$$ post).

My general opinion on the matter is that when my body dies I may also die. I maybe continue to live as a spirit or whatever (a different form of energy in any case) but until the day comes I can't say something for sure. The higher power I believe in is fire. Cause it usually punishes stupid people! Just kidding. :P
I have yet to recognize a form of life with abilities that surpass all the rest in this world. But I do believe in great people. Case in point Buddha was a great man as well as
a prince (and not a divine existence from the very start unlike Jesus who was the son of the god).

As for the reincarnation stuff I find a bit of truth inside that. I may indeed become a tree after I die, if I get buried straight into the ground (no coffin), because I may provide all the nutritious stuff a seed needs to grow.

[Dacien]

you die, that the end of it. No heaven, No Hell, No limbo, No reincarnation. All those things are made up to help weaker minds cope with the finality of death.

I don't mind people who disagree, but when one goes so far as to insult someone because of their beliefs, that puts a bad taste in my mouth.

[Tiglits]

Yeah, well I brought THE NAPKIN into existence.
How do we know? It says so on THE NAPKIN.

And 2000 years in the future, people should believe that THE NAPKIN is divine, because it was once written.

Nothing that is ever written is a lie.
I am a cowboy-astronaut-millionaire.

The Bible is affirmed (at least, most of it) by both secular and religious writings from all over the Middle East. It isn't just self-affirming. Refer to my last post with a list of sources. They list some of the 500 people that witnessed the events during the resurrection of Christ and all events in His life.