Why Humans Believe in God

[chad_tukes]

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you're referring to the idolized god here, right?

not just the idolized god but all god imaginable.

[jamesmusslewhite]

Is it mans desire to create God? Is it man's desire to make religion?
Man makes God in so many forms. Yet, religions are in essence all the same, belief systems that are shared by others. Even an Atheist's belief in no God is a shared belief system among other Atheists, and therefore is a religion.

Maybe it is the inherent trait of men to create belief systems, and religion and Gods are just a natural progression and are restricted only by the imaginations of their followers.

As a Born Again Christian and I believe in my God, if I am right or not can not be proven until our deaths. But our history shows an amazing diversity of different religious beliefs and Gods.

[chad_tukes]

“The immense majority of intellectually eminent men disbelieve the Christian religion, but they conceal the fact in public, because they are afraid of losing their incomes.”

-Bertrand Russell

[jamesmusslewhite]

“The immense majority of intellectually eminent men disbelieve the Christian religion, but they conceal the fact in public, because they are afraid of losing their incomes.”

-Bertrand Russell

That is the primary cause of corruption of the world religion, and is one of their shared sins. God gave freely what they choose to charge for. All man made religions are guilty.

[bluedes]

not just the idolized god but all god imaginable.

God cannot be contained in our minds..

[NapoleonBlownapart]

this article presents one compelling evidence that there is a part in the human mind that is built to process religion, spirituality, and the concept of GOD. s

your thoughts...

human instinct?

[tripwire]

Good day all! After exchanging arguments [good or bad] I have the utmost respect to all that is open minded and meticulous. From then on, this will be last entry for the year... I have been selected as a director in nursing and my time will be concentrated on my family and my work. So, cheers and may all of have good health. Here is what I can offer to this topic, a bit long but this sums up everything I gained for.

For many people, simply looking at the world around us denotes that there is a God. Looking at the beauty of a sunset, or the complexity of the universe, or examining the astronomical odds that intelligent life could have arisen by mere chance, gives many people the overwhelming feeling that "something bigger" must be out there. Perhaps this feeling is why almost every culture on the planet has, at one time or another, developed a creation story--their explanation of how life came to be as it is today. Normally featured is some sort of external intelligence, a being that "created" the world, a person identified as God or one of the gods. This idea, that the complexity and intricacy of the universe implies a creator, is usually called the "Argument from Design"--and, of course, there exist many good, logical arguments against it. At the very least, the Argument from Design does not explain to us the nature of the Creator or whether, indeed, he continues to have any influence in our world.

But it is not my intention to attempt (futilely, I might add) to prove or disprove the existence of Deity, hence I will not spend my time debating the worth of various points. I merely would like to point out some of the reasons I see why people believe in God.

Another common thread among theists is some sort of belief in a continuation of life. Some believe that we existed in some form before we were born on this earth. Almost all believe that life will continue in some form after we die. Many believe in an "immortal soul", i.e. that our "I"--our "self", our consciousness--will in some form continue living forever. This belief probably arises from some sort of intuitive feeling of other lives, either before this one or after.

Critics might say that this "feeling" is simply a response to the evolutionary pressures of survival--our brains have this innate, genetically-coded need to survive, and hence we've invented a philosophy that will allow us to "survive" even after our death. Others point out that the concept of an "afterlife" was likely invented to explain the appearance of deceased relatives in dreams (often leading to the common practice of ancestor-worship). These theories would easily explain why the doctrine of the immortal soul is so widespread. However, it is just as likely that the different cultures did not develop this idea independently; perhaps they did all have the same origin. For example, many cultures in the world also have some sort of "flood" story. It seems more likely to me that these stories originated from a single source (perhaps divine, perhaps simply an actual "great flood" that did occur in history), than that the different cultures simply developed them independently. Likewise the yearning for immortality may perhaps have a divine source. (Or it could spring from thoughts implanted in us by the aliens who deposited us on this planet.)


But the single strongest reason [I think] for believing in God, comes from personal experience. (It also seems to be the only major reason (apart from social pressures or convenience) for changing religions.) Many people feel that God is watching out for them--they've discovered blessings in their lives because of keeping God's commandments, for example, or perhaps they've received powerful answers to prayers. They've heard voices of warning or had feelings of premonition, cautioning them against danger. They've had feelings of peace or happiness as they go to church or read the scriptures. Others have had other inexplicable, incommunicable "religious experiences". Some have even seen miracles, such as healing the sick or raising the dead. Some people experience miraculous visions, or have prophetic dreams. Perhaps words are given or ideas suddenly appear from an unknown source--a person says something or does something spectacular and admits that it felt as if "something (or someone) else" was working through him.

Such personal experiences are commonly found throughout the religious community. I've noticed myself that of the atheists I've known, most of them are atheists due to a complete lack of any such experiences or "evidences" of God's existence. Conversely, most of the strong theists I know have had many such experiences. Some rely almost wholly on the experiences of others, but even with such, they've experienced some little "evidences" of their own.

Perhaps the theists are just deluded or feigning these experiences. Perhaps the atheists have many such experiences but they choose to ignore them. Honestly, I don't really know. It seems likely to me that, truly, the theists do experience such things just as factually as the atheists do.

The problem with the direct perception of god's presence is that even those who profess to directly perceive or feel god's presence in the world have to confess that god makes his presence felt pretty sporadically and selectively. If I had been a Jew in Hitler's concentration camp, or an innocent, peaceful and devout Shia Muslim in Saddam's Iraq or any sort of peace loving believer in the current chaotic and deadly Iraq, I would long for greater signs of god's presence and for greater signs of his love and wisdom. I know that some religious traditions condemn such longings as prideful and arrogant. But even believers must admit that so often, in the darkest hour, in the hour of most need, the voice of god goes silent, his hand is stilled and his face disappears as if behind a dark veil.

God bless for those who are believers and for my atheists brothers, have a wonderful life ahead of you. See you around. Thanks.

[Pi2plank]

i've read an article somewhere that the search for God was even accounted for in 'the Neanderthal Man' , because it was in this primitive man they found artifacts w/c lead scientists to believe that the neanderthal man did believe there was a 'higher being'.. so there the search for 'God' started...

[SPRINGFIELD_XD_40]

you keep mentioning St. Thomas Aquinas but his arguments and logic DO NOT really represent lest explain ANYTHING about God.

Its because his ARGUMENTS are based on the EXISTENCE of SUPREME BEING , not about God . We tend to block it because St Thomas is a Catholic saint but it has nothing to do with God . Even if he is a muslim , people would still question him " ABOUT " ALLAH .

what he managed to do though, effectively, was to present the argument that GOD is eternal and omnipotent.

And thats the very reason on why such argument and nobody else made a point talking about God because He is OMNICIENT and OMNIPOTENT . Whereabouts , that is .

ugh, sorry, that doesn’t really say much. and really, you think the article is biased because the author is atheist?

It could be . How IRONIC would that be if these are THEIST ? Again ... if that was established , nobody answered it yet sa kadtong question from a poster on " WHO PUT THESE or WHO HARDWIRED these in our BRAINS ? I am hoping not to get an answer that goes like these " ITS PART OF THE EVOLUTION THAT SOMEDAY WE ARE BOUND TO BELIEVE IN A GOD " .

St. Thomas Aquinas, explain to me WHERE, HOW, AND WHAT God specifically is and i’d be convinced. don't give me broad arguments. any THEOLOGIANS are good at that---and they claim to know the answers that science can't provide. for the LULZ.

That is beside the point . The EXISTENCE of God alone should convince you . Even if say one person can provide you with the answers of WHERE , HOW and WHAT ... you still wont be convinced because you will end up with another question pertaining to something that has not been answered yet . is it because you being an ATHEIST is by choice ?

For the record , SCIENCE is also man made ... nothing is wrong using it to levitate an argument and justify that indeed there are things SCIENCE cant explain and raises the white flag . One of the very many examples would be the EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE in LANCIANO , ITALY .

[chad_tukes]

But the single strongest reason [I think] for believing in God, comes from personal experience. (It also seems to be the only major reason (apart from social pressures or convenience) for changing religions.) Many people feel that God is watching out for them--they've discovered blessings in their lives because of keeping God's commandments, for example, or perhaps they've received powerful answers to prayers. They've heard voices of warning or had feelings of premonition, cautioning them against danger. They've had feelings of peace or happiness as they go to church or read the scriptures. Others have had other inexplicable, incommunicable "religious experiences". Some have even seen miracles, such as healing the sick or raising the dead. Some people experience miraculous visions, or have prophetic dreams. Perhaps words are given or ideas suddenly appear from an unknown source--a person says something or does something spectacular and admits that it felt as if "something (or someone) else" was working through him.

Such personal experiences are commonly found throughout the religious community. I've noticed myself that of the atheists I've known, most of them are atheists due to a complete lack of any such experiences or "evidences" of God's existence. Conversely, most of the strong theists I know have had many such experiences. Some rely almost wholly on the experiences of others, but even with such, they've experienced some little "evidences" of their own.

Perhaps the theists are just deluded or feigning these experiences. Perhaps the atheists have many such experiences but they choose to ignore them. Honestly, I don't really know. It seems likely to me that, truly, the theists do experience such things just as factually as the atheists do.

The problem with the direct perception of god's presence is that even those who profess to directly perceive or feel god's presence in the world have to confess that god makes his presence felt pretty sporadically and selectively. If I had been a Jew in Hitler's concentration camp, or an innocent, peaceful and devout Shia Muslim in Saddam's Iraq or any sort of peace loving believer in the current chaotic and deadly Iraq, I would long for greater signs of god's presence and for greater signs of his love and wisdom. I know that some religious traditions condemn such longings as prideful and arrogant. But even believers must admit that so often, in the darkest hour, in the hour of most need, the voice of god goes silent, his hand is stilled and his face disappears as if behind a dark veil.

good luck on your endeavor, trip. libre nya ha? i won't attempt to argue but just one solid point in reference to your "Personal experience" argument: if you say you have experienced GOD directly, well, some people have experienced seeing a yellow unicorn, an ugly monster, a looming giant---and that probably doesn't impress you that much.

some criminals heard the voice of Jesus telling them to "kill babies and women", and they got locked up for life. George Bush heard the voice of GOD telling him to "invade IRAQ" and later realized there was no weapons of mass destruction. that's even not to mention the subject of HALLUCINATION---that deserves another thread.

my point is, "experiencing" GOD can be psychological in nature. thanks for your inputs, trip.