Kraken Loc: Barry's Bay

Where is your proof that God is real?

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

Why do we need a hell if we are being punished here on earth..hmm?

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

I didn't say God is real, I just said that I believe that He is real, but I don't know that for a fact. It's all based on faith.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I think the most reasonable religion is agnosticism. An agnostic believes that the existence of god and the afterlife is unknowable. Comes from the greek gnostikos meaning knowledge. Man has invented many gods and religions through history. So far nobody has come up with proof of the existence of any of them. Although there are common points in a lot of the religions, they differ widely and there are certainly incompatibilities. Many people have had experiences that convince them that their god is real. I believe a lot of them are based on the same psychology that convinces photographers that a thin glass filter will protect their lens from damage.

There are a lot of religions that have holy scriptures. Although some claim to have been delivered to man by their god, there is no proof of that. In Christianity, the old testament was developed before the invention of writing, so the scriptures have to have been written by someone based on oral traditions. The new testament was documented to have been written by men. The story is that the writings were divinely inspired (as were scriptures of other religions) but how do you prove something like that?

There are certainly a lot of things that I don't know.

Kraken Loc: Barry's Bay

I have been known to call life on earth as being in hell.

Physically I was dealt a lot of bad cards from the get-go.

If you subtract the physical pain, I had a good happy life

due to the people that I was surrounded with.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

My evangelical brother-in-law used to tell me that. For him it was best to err on the side of an afterlife in heaven. I think that the basic concept of hell came from the ancient ones who saw their fellow humans get burned alive and extrapolated that kind of agony into their life after death. For me it doesn’t make any sense to consider there’s an afterlife when the proof of it can never be discovered before death. And for believers they have to assume that their life after death will be as sentient as their life before death, otherwise there could be no experience of all the pain and suffering that’s supposed to happen in hell or all the peace and comfort if you end up in heaven.

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

I once had a former boss who was a devout atheist and just hated religion of all kinds. He said that everybody that believes in a god or religion are just stupid. Come to find out that his wife is a Buddhist. 😀

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

As usual a misread of the statement. Let me put it simply so that you can hopefully understand. Prove that there is no God or creator

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Bhuddism is a philosophy, not particularly a religion. At least so I’ve read. I don’t hate religion. It works for some. I do dislike the zealots who think that everyone should believe like they do. To me that’s an admission that their faith is flawed because they can’t tolerate the idea that others don’t believe what they believe, that somehow it puts their religion into question.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

An agnostic would simply reply 'prove that there is'.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

Earlier in my life I would have called myself an atheist, but then I came to realize I didn't really know there was no god and an agnostic is the most logical thing to be if you don't believe a religion. I dislike these public atheists who disparage believers. I see religious people and atheists as two sides of a coin - both believe something that can't be proved. In a way, I feel atheists have faith there is no god.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I grew up (to the extent that I have grown up) in an eclectic family. My family was Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Quaker, and Catholic. I considered them all pretty much the same, differing only in details of their practice but having a pretty similar background. Since I was heavily involved in science in my schooling, I quickly moved to atheism, then as I got more into science, moved to agnosticism. We had a section on religion in High School and it was clear that they couldn't all be true, so how could you have confidence that any particular one was true?

Scriptural legends such as Noah and the flood were balanced by legends in other religions from that area, which were agricultural areas which were dependent on major rivers, which naturally would flood occasionally. Babylonian legends like Gilgamesh and Ut-Napishtim parallel Christian legends. So scripture was at least in part just historical stories, not necessarily strictly accurate accounts. If it's not all true, it leads you to doubt that the other parts are true as well.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

A logical person would simply say that you can’t prove negative.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

Doesn't seem reasonable that EVERYTHING else is cyclical...

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

But in this case you can't prove the positive either, that there IS a god