Do People Need God?

[logician]

Then you are you saying that there is the possibility that there are some real answers concerning God? The reason you don't search for answers is that you don't want to be out ot your comfort zone?

Could you please explain why you think that belief in God weakens the mind? Could you answer one other question please, do you believe that truth exists? In the event we find that there is truth it would lead us to the conclusion that we need God who is our truth.


Charity

The answer is in my post, it's because belief in god very often stops the search for answers, I've seen it happen way too many times in people I know.

 

[UnTheist]

The answer is in my post, it's because belief in god very often stops the search for answers, I've seen it happen way too many times in people I know.

How does that follow from "it weakens the mind"?

 

[logician]

How does that follow from "it weakens the mind"?

Anything that stops analytical thinking weakens the mind. I know very few religious people that analyze what they believe, particularly in a general sense.

 

[Willamena]

Anything that stops analytical thinking weakens the mind. I know very few religious people that analyze what they believe, particularly in a general sense.

And yet you expressed a belief that "death is defined by die..." and "to die is defined by death" was a perfectly okay circular definition. Does such a circle, too, "weaken the mind" by stopping analytical thinking?

 

[Sententia]

Odd question... There is no god... Do people need the idea of god? That is an all powerful being obsessed with their personal and moral behavior? perhaps.

 

[Scott C.]

In what sense or way, if any, do people need a god?

Well to start with, our existence depends on God, so we need him in order to be able to ask the question. We need God in order to not believe in him. Since if he did not exist, we would not be around to disbelieve. We need him to give us breath from day to day. We need him for eternal salvation. We need him to be happy, whether we recognize him as the source of happiness or not.

Obviously, I answer the question from the point of view of one who believes in a loving God who created the universe and mankind and has a purposeful plan for our happiness.

The answer will likely mean nothing to an atheist. If were atheist, I would have to assume that people invented God out of some sort of human weakness or need to attach to something which does not exist, in order to help them cope with life. If I were atheist, I would say that it's bad to believe in something that does not exist, even if there is some redeeming value to such a dillusion.

So, before we can make any sense of the question "do we need God", we first have to establish if God exists. If he does, then we need him. If he does not, then we don't.

I believe God exists and therefore, we need him.

 

[Sententia]

We need God in order to not believe in him. Since if he did not exist, we would not be around to disbelieve.

We need Leprechauns! Since if they didnt exist then we would not be around to disbelieve in them!

And the leprechauns need unicorn horns. Since without powdered unicorn horns the leprechauns could not exist and the leprechauns would thus not be around to not believe in the unicorns.

And the unicorns need the flying spaghetti monster because without his pastafarian noodles of magic the unicorns would never have been willed into existance. Since as we know all Energy is FINITE and thus must have come from somewhere. Thus the Pasta monster created all the finite energy.

What is the pasta monster made of... Well he, like space, is simply self infinitely curved in on itself thus allows for an infinite being.

How was he created? Where did he come from? Well he was not created. He is the one thing that doesnt need to be created. See only some things are created. Well everything is. But not the FSM. He/She/It has always been and always will be.

The FSM came from the FSM. He created himself. It is through him that the unicorns came and then the evil luciferean trolls that slaughted the unicorns and powdered their horns but still even though their evil, without those trolls there never could have been leprechauns and therefore we could never have been.

Anyways I hope that clears it up.

 

[logician]

And yet you expressed a belief that "death is defined by die..." and "to die is defined by death" was a perfectly okay circular definition. Does such a circle, too, "weaken the mind" by stopping analytical thinking?

You seem to be in a feisty mood as of late.

 

[fantome profane]

Anything that stops analytical thinking weakens the mind. I know very few religious people that analyze what they believe, particularly in a general sense.

I would say that there are quite a few. But regardless of how many theists there are who are willing to analyze their beliefs, your own words acknowledge that there are some. And logically if some theists are able to analyze their beliefs then you have not shown that belief in “God” weakens the mind or stops analytical thinking. Although I agree with you that it can, the same can be said for any idea that it held to be beyond doubt.

 

[logician]

And logically if some theists are able to analyze their beliefs then you have not shown that belief in “God” weakens the mind or stops analytical thinking. Although I agree with you that it can, the same can be said for any idea that it held to be beyond doubt.

Nowhere did I say belief in god ALWAYS weakens the mind. I made 2 distinct statements -

"Anything that stops analytical thinking weakens the mind"

Which I believe is true.

and

" I know very few religious people that analyze what they believe, particularly in a general sense"

Which I know to be true from personal experience.

What conclusions can be drawn from these separate statements seem to me to be that theism is not CONDUCIVE to analytical thinking, as far as personal beliefs are concerned.

 

[Charity]

The answer is in my post, it's because belief in god very often stops the search for answers, I've seen it happen way too many times in people I know.

You didn't give me an answer on "do you believe that truth exists?"

 

[logician]

You didn't give me an answer on "do you believe that truth exists?"

I would say as a single proposition no.

 

[Willamena]

I would say as a single proposition no.

Is that a single proposition?

 

[Kcnorwood]

For me & these are my personal thoughs. Because Christiany teaches that you can not do anything with out God it gives other the impresson that people who are Christians are weak minded.

 

[L0gic]

God is not a necessity of life, such as water, food, shelter, etc... . In that sense, god is not a basic need of life. People want a god, and after enough devotion, they give themselves or others the illusion that a god is needed. Christianity does have some teachings that involve a god being responsible for all of its followers' actions and results. It also gives the idea that wrong-doings can be forgiven and one is then free from "sin", which itself, is an illusion as there is no marking on someone, no tag, nothing that indicates one is a sinner. To me, the idea of being a christian is somewhat unappealing as it tends to give me the impression that some of them are intentionally lowering themselves. That being said, I don't like the christian belief and its teachings, however, one should not draw conclusions of its followers. Some may be weak-minded, however, that will occur in every belief. For me, I don't like the christian belief, however, my decisions on its followers is reserved until I communicate with them.

So, to answer the question of this thread, do people need a god? It will depend on your definition of "need". If you mean as a necessity for life, then no. If you mean as they want a god to believe in for whatever reason(s), then yes.

 

[Sententia]

God is not a necessity of life, such as water, food, shelter, etc... . In that sense, god is not a basic need of life. People want a god, and after enough devotion, they give themselves or others the illusion that a god is needed. Christianity does have some teachings that involve a god being responsible for all of its followers' actions and results. It also gives the idea that wrong-doings can be forgiven and one is then free from "sin", which itself, is an illusion as there is no marking on someone, no tag, nothing that indicates one is a sinner. To me, the idea of being a christian is somewhat unappealing as it tends to give me the impression that some of them are intentionally lowering themselves. That being said, I don't like the christian belief and its teachings, however, one should not draw conclusions of its followers. Some may be weak-minded, however, that will occur in every belief. For me, I don't like the christian belief, however, my decisions on its followers is reserved until I communicate with them.

So, to answer the question of this thread, do people need a god? It will depend on your definition of "need". If you mean as a necessity for life, then no. If you mean as they want a god to believe in for whatever reason(s), then yes.

People believe that you could not exist were it not for god... so to them your rambling.

I dont see a need or want of god. I do see einsteins point though regarding free will and perhaps we do need a god... Left to our devices we may be horrid people. Remember the sole purpose some are moral is because god said to be... heh.

Anyways...

 

[tariqkhwaja]

Assalamualaikum.

The Quran often presents analogies of physical occurrences to try and make us understand spiritual occurrences. One such analogy is:
[86:12] By the cloud which gives rain repeatedly
[86:13] And by the earth which opens out with herbage.

You see one can work as hard as possible. But there are too many external factors that influence the work that we do. If we are not lucky enough for those factors to come together we really can not achieve our goals.

The verses above illustrate this viewpoint. A farmer might spend days and nights irrigating his fields and aligning his crops. He might spray them with the correct amount of pesticide to keep the germs away. Or cut any crops that might ruin other crops. A farmer might align the field proportionately and daily check and confirm all that is to be checked and confirmed in this relation. Yet if it does not rain the farmer’s work will go to vain.

Wells can dry up. Rivers can wash away. There is no denying that all the hard work of a farmer can go to waste if there is no rain. Try as he might a farmer can not influence the occurrence of rain on his land. And what if it floods?

A deeper analysis into our daily works of life reveals that just as a farmer is dependant on rain, we are dependant on an infinite amount of uncontrollable factors for the fruits of our labor. One also finds during such an analysis that despite this heavy dependence on outside factors our hard work usually pays off. Meaning that most of the time the external factors work as we would like them to. That is, we are really lucky. We are lucky that those electrons never spin out of orbit. Or that the protons are bound to the nucleus. That it does rain now and then. That bacterium does decompose dead bodies to yield fertile land. That the law of gravity does not collapse. That our eyes continue to function. But it can not be denied that that usually good and occasionally bad luck influences the final product far more than our hard work ever can.

In the next verse it is said.
[86:14] Surely, the Qur'an is a decisive word.

The Quran thus draws our attention to the fact that just as is in the material world, in the spiritual world too we require the assistance of God. We can try as hard to find using our faculties of reasoning the truth. But limited as they are we cannot come to the correct conclusions without spiritual rain and assitance from God in the form of revelation, miracles, etc. The Quran points to itself in the verse and says
[86:15] And it is not a vain talk.

And that, my friends, is just one (or maybe two) reason(s) why we need God.

 

[Bishadi]

god is a number of an eqeution without it the eqeution can't be solved yet
atheist believe that the eqeution is flawed
religious people keep it around because they can't replace it with something els
philosofers try to find another number that can replace it so the eqeution works

So you understand the NAME of God is represented in true understanding; math, the universal language!

All mass, all energy, all time; One

Which means no measurement of one portion can be perfected without the the other 2.

Friends,
We are a part of god itself.
So we do not need another god of gods.
we need god when we are seperated.
this seperation itself is the illusion caused by our very own mind [THE SATAN] [The bibical story of the satan telling Adam & Eve to eat the apple of knowledge is nothing but the mind sperating us from god.
That is the very reason all enlightened people agree that one has not achived anything or gone nowhere. One is already there just have to realise that.
Love & rgds

How can anyone post past this ABSOLUTE TRUTH!

Zenzero........ :bow: I bow to your birth, please put your head into a copy machine and hit 6 billion......... otherwise you are simply ONE within the 144k.... multiply your wisdoms and live within the gifts you convey..... Love in the purest is to give of your knowledge (true wisdom) for the next..... i.e. see most parents... they share to the next generation with the intent that the next has a chance they often did not have....

 

[Rolling_Stone]

Friends,
We are a part of god itself.
So we do not need another god of gods.
we need god when we are seperated.
this seperation itself is the illusion caused by our very own mind [THE SATAN] [The bibical story of the satan telling Adam & Eve to eat the apple of knowledge is nothing but the mind sperating us from god.
That is the very reason all enlightened people agree that one has not achived anything or gone nowhere. One is already there just have to realise that.
Love & rgds

Separation is an illusion? In a sense, but whom should we say is saying this?