Does God Exist? Proof & Evidence for the Existence of God
Just once wouldn’t you love for someone to simply show you the evidence for God’s existence? No arm-twisting. No statements of, “You just have to believe.”
Well, here is an attempt to candidly offer some of the reasons which suggest that God exists.
But first consider this. If a person opposes even the possibility of there being a God, then any evidence can be rationalized or explained away.
It is like if someone refuses to believe that people have walked on the moon, then no amount of information is going to change their thinking. Satellite footage of astronauts walking on the moon, interviews with the astronauts, moon rocks…all the evidence would be worthless, because the person has already concluded that people cannot go to the moon.
When it comes to the possibility of God’s existence, the Bible says that there are people who have seen sufficient evidence, but they have suppressed the truth about God.(1)
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On the other hand, for those who want to know God if He is there, He says, “You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you.”(2) Before you look at the facts surrounding God’s existence, ask yourself, If God does exist, would I want to know Him?
Here, then, are some reasons supporting God’s existence...
1. Throughout history, in all cultures of the world, people have been convinced there is a God.
Could one say with any sense of confidence that all those people have been mistaken? Billions of people, who represent diverse sociological, intellectual, emotional, educational makeups…all came to the same conclusion that there is a Creator, a God to be worshipped.
“Anthropological research has indicated that among the farthest and most remote primitive people today, there is a universal belief in God. And in the earliest histories and legends of people all around the world, the original concept was of one God, who was the Creator. An original high God seems once to have been in their consciousness even in those societies which are today polytheistic.”(3)
2. The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today. Many examples showing God’s design could be given, possibly with no end. But here are a few:
- The Earth…its size is perfect. The Earth’s size and corresponding gravity holds a thin layer of mostly nitrogen and oxygen gases, only extending about 50 miles above the Earth’s surface.If Earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury. If Earth were larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter.(4) Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life.The Earth is located the right distance from the sun. Consider the temperature swings we encounter, roughly -30 degrees to +120 degrees. If the Earth were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze. Any closer and we would burn up.Even a fractional variance in the Earth’s position to the sun would make life on Earth impossible. The Earth remains this perfect distance from the sun while it rotates around the sun at a speed of nearly 67,000 mph. It is also rotating on its axis, allowing the entire surface of the Earth to be properly warmed and cooled every day.
And our moon is the perfect size and distance from the Earth for its gravitational pull. The moon creates important ocean tides and movement so ocean waters do not stagnate, and yet it restrains our massive oceans from spilling over across the continents.(5)
- Water…colorless, odorless and without taste, and yet no living thing can survive without it. Plants, animals and human beings consist mostly of water (about two-thirds of the human body is water). You’ll see why the characteristics of water are uniquely suited to life…It has an unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water allows us to live in an environment of fluctuating temperature changes, while keeping our bodies a steady 98.6 degrees.Water is a universal solvent. Take a full glass of water, add a cup of sugar, and nothing spills over the edge; the water simply absorbs the sugar. This property of water means that thousands of chemicals, minerals and nutrients can be carried throughout our bodies and into the smallest blood vessels.(6)Water is also chemically inert. Without affecting the makeup of the substances it carries, water enables food, medicines and minerals to be absorbed and used by the body.
Water has a unique surface tension. Water in plants can therefore flow upward against gravity, bringing life-giving water and nutrients to the top of even the tallest trees.
Water freezes from the top down and floats, so fish can live in the winter.Ninety-seven percent of the Earth’s water is in the oceans. But on our Earth, there is a system designed which removes salt from the water and then distributes that water throughout the globe. Evaporation takes the ocean waters, leaving the salt, and forms clouds which are easily moved by the wind to disperse water over the land, for vegetation, animals and people. It is a system of purification and supply that sustains life on this planet, a system of recycled and reused water.(7)
- The human brain…simultaneously processes an amazing amount of information.Your brain takes in all the colors and objects you see, the temperature around you, the pressure of your feet against the floor, the sounds around you, the dryness of your mouth, even the way this article appears to you on your screen.Your brain registers emotional responses, thoughts and memories. At the same time your brain keeps track of the ongoing functions of your body like your breathing pattern, eyelid movement, hunger and movement of the muscles in your hands.The human brain processes more than a million messages a second.(8) Your brain weighs the importance of all this data, filtering out the relatively unimportant. This screening function is what allows you to focus and operate effectively in your world.
A brain that deals with more than a million pieces of information every second, while evaluating its importance and allowing you to act on the most pertinent information…can we say mere chance brought about such an astounding organ?
When NASA launches a shuttle mission, it is assumed a monkey didn’t write the plan, but intelligent and knowledgeable minds. How does one explain the existence of the human brain? Only a mind more intelligent and knowledgeable than humanity could have created the human brain.
3. Mere “chance” is not an adequate explanation.
Imagine looking at Mount Rushmore, in which the likenesses of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt are carved. Could you ever believe that it came about by chance?
Given infinite time, wind, rain and chance, it is still hard to believe something like that, tied to history, was randomly formed in the side of a mountain. Common sense tells us that people planned and skillfully carved those figures.
This article only touches on a few amazing aspects of our world: the Earth’s position to the sun, some properties of water, one organ in the human body. Could any of these have come about by chance?
The distinguished astronomer Sir Frederick Hoyle showed how amino acids randomly coming together in a human cell is mathematically absurd. Sir Hoyle illustrated the weakness of “chance” with the following analogy. “What are the chances that a tornado might blow through a junkyard containing all the parts of a 747, accidentally assemble them into a plane, and leave it ready for take-off? The possibilities are so small as to be negligible even if a tornado were to blow through enough junkyards to fill the whole universe!”(9)
When one considers the intricacies of our life and universe, it is reasonable to think that an intelligent, loving Creator provided for everything we need for life. The Bible describes God as the author and sustainer of life.
4. Humankind’s inherent sense of right and wrong cannot be biologically explained. There arises in all of us, of any culture, universal feelings of right and wrong. Even a thief gets upset and feels wronged when someone steals from him. If someone violently grabs a child from a family and rapes that child, there is an anger and revulsion and a rage to confront that act as evil, regardless of the culture. Where did we get this sense of wrongness? How do we explain a universal law in the conscience of all people that says murder for fun is wrong?
And in areas like courage, dying for a cause, love, dignity, duty and compassion, where did these come from? If people are merely products of physical evolution, “survival of the fittest,” why do we sacrifice for each other? Where did we get this inner sense of right and wrong? Our conscience can best be explained by a loving Creator who cares about the decisions and harmony of humanity.
Next: God left a biography about himself as evidence for his existence
Copyright 2000 EveryStudent.com. Used with permission.
Andrew,
You say:
“The one that I did mention of creating of Israel and that Gods chosen people the Jews will never be wiped off the face of the earth don’t count because Hitler was evil!
I didn’t say this “doesn’t count because Hitler was evil.”
I said this doesn’t count because it was brought about by men. God was not involved.
You said that Hitler was created by your god to do all the evil things that he did. I simply expressed my surprise that any compassionate human being could want to have anything to do with such a god.
You say:
“…for you reading the Bible is confusing for the simple reason that you don’t have the most important tool for you to interpret the Bible which is …”gullibility, a willingness to suspend reason, a complete lack of critical thinking.
The only confusing thing about the bible is that any modern, educated, intelligent person could possibly take it seriously.
Throughout history people have created after life stories to assuage their fear of death. Since mankind evolved the high level of consciousness that we have, we’ve invented stories about living forever after we die. Unfortunately no one has ever come back to say that there is an afterlife. Wanting it to be true, believing it to be true doesn’t make it true. Believing in an afterlife may make death an easier thing to take, but it still doesn’t make it true.
Muslim terrorists believe in their scriptures so much, they’re willing to die and kill to receive their reward. Can you imagine the strength of faith that would allow someone to strap a bomb to their body and blow themselves and a crowd of innocent people to smithereens? Their faith in their holy scriptures is so strong and yet you don’t believe their scriptures. Are you blind? Or just sensible enough to realise that it isn’t true?
Many Buddhists have the easiest of deaths. After years of meditation and the teachings of the Buddha that they will pass on to a new life, death is just a simple door, nothing to be feared. Yet you don’t believe in reincarnation. Are you blind or just sensible?
Until you can open your eyes to the fact that your religious beliefs are no different to all the other beliefs, then you will truly remain blind.
Yes, when I die, that’s it. Sad but true. And the same is true for you.
You have one life to live. Don’t waste it hoping for a better one when you die.
All the best,
Richard
Richard
The difference between you and I is I believe that I will live forever and your belief is that your time on earth is finite my time is infinite. I believe that after I die my spirit will enter the kingdom of heaven. Your belief is that you are born you live perhaps 85 years and if your lucky maybe till your 90 years old. You die and you believe that you will no longer exist.
Your belief is such that IF God exists then he would not allow evil to occur in the world and we would have no evil people in the World. Like the Pharisees in the New Testament Christ did many miracles that they saw such as raising of the dead. Healing the blind, crippled, feeding people, and even after all these proofs they did not believe in him. In that aspect you are similar as their are many promises that were fulfilled in the Bible. The one that I did mention of creating of Israel and that Gods chosen people the Jews will never be wiped off the face of the earth don’t count because Hitler was evil! That God would allow children, gypsies,Christians, and many others to die is beyond comprehension for you. The bible promises that he will return and the time of his return will happen on his choosing. I am unable to open your eyes as your blind like the Pharisees who would have seen Lazereth buried and wrapped in burial clothes and when Christ raised him from the dead like you they made excuses and refused to believe.
Through out history Christ has used people to do his will to fulfill prophecy to prove to people that the Bible is truth. The very thing you continually whine about that the world is evil so their is no God as God would NEVER allow evil if he was God. The concept that you are unable to phantom is that the world was pure however it was as a result of sin that people are evil and evil is getting worse. The Old Covenant such as many of the verses you quote regarding slaves and such no longer exist as this law was abolished when Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead.
The Kingdom that Christ was referring to was the destruction of the Jewish nation and religion as stated in the article below:
Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible:
“There be some – which shall not taste of death – This verse seems to confirm the above explanation, as our Lord evidently speaks of the establishment of the Christian Church after the day of pentecost, and its final triumph after the destruction of the Jewish polity; as if he had said, “Some of you, my disciples, shall continue to live until these things take place.” The destruction of Jerusalem, and the Jewish economy, which our Lord here predicts, took place about forty-three years after this: and some of the persons now with him doubtless survived that period, and witnessed the extension of the Messiah’s kingdom; and our Lord told them these things before, that when they came to pass they might be confirmed in the faith, and expect an exact fulfillment of all the other promises and prophecies which concerned the extension and support of the kingdom of Christ.
To his kingdom, or in his kingdom. Instead of ????????, kingdom, four MSS., later Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Saxon, and one copy of the Itala, with several of the primitive fathers, read ????, glory: and to this is added, ??? ?????? ?????, of his Father, by three MSS. and the versions mentioned before. This makes the passage a little more conformable to the passage already quoted from Daniel; and it must appear, very clearly, that the whole passage speaks not of a future judgment, but of the destruction of the Jewish polity, and the glorious spread of Christianity in the earth, by the preaching of Christ crucified by the apostles and their immediate successors in the Christian Church.”
You will never be able to understand scripture in the true meanings as you are reading in in the literal interpenetration so for you it is contradicting. When a Christian allows the Holy Spirit to run there lives then he will reveal many truths and interpretations of the Bible when I read. You can continue to not believe which is your choice as I am sure for you reading the Bible is confusing for the simple reason that you don’t have the most important tool for you to interpret the Bible which is the Holy Spirit. Some of the Bible is not meant to interpreted literately but figuratively. I am unable to explain something that you do not believe in however my own personal experience is that I know without a shadow of a doubt that God exists. For me God is the Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Many Christians accept Christ believe in Jesus however they don’t truly live a spirit filled life for various reasons. When a person finally does allow the Holy Spirit to completely fill their lives then the fear of death subsides as your living in another level that few people will ever understand. Which is why many Christians in Hitlers day, Nero’s time willing went to their death so others would see that death has no power which resulted in the growth of Christianity. Like I mentioned when a person believes that their shelf life is 85 maybe 90 years and they hear of the evil that ends life it is truly tragic for you. I know my spirit will live forever and when Christ returns I will receive a new body. Your choice is to remain blind.
God Bless
Andrew,
You say:
“In reference to Hitler God created him for a purpose and it was as a result of Hitler that we have Israel.”
So, you are actually saying that God created Hitler so that the prophecy of Israel could come true?!
Let’s get this straight, I don’t believe in God/s, and it’s unlikely that I ever will. No amount of quoting from the bible is going to change that, as I don’t believe the bible is a reliable text.
But, even if I did suddenly decide to believe (even with the complete lack of evidence) why would I choose the God you describe?
This is what you describe: A God who is so powerless to bring about his own prophecies that he must create a man evil enough to mastermind the killing of millions of innocent men, women and children (not only Jews, but gays, Gypsies, political opponents, good Christians who tried to help those being murdered and anyone else in who got in the way). He does this so that people who don’t believe Jesus is his son can have a special country to live in.
Picture for a moment a little girl. She has been separated from the rest of her family who have either been killed or are working as slaves or are being experimented on without anaesthetic. She is naked with a shaven head. She is being lead in to a room full of other naked, panicking people. Soon she will be gassed to death.
As there is no God, He can’t be either evil or good. But I think a God, who you say not only didn’t prevent the above but actually brought it about for his own selfish purposes, could not be described as good.
You say: “Their is no mention of him suggesting that he will return in their lifetime”
Well, what do you make of:
Matt 16:28 There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
That’s pretty clearly saying that he’ll be back before they die. I’m sure you’ll have some “out of context” excuse, or “he didn’t really mean that” story. That’s the great thing about the bible, it’s so full of contradictions and open to interpretation. It almost makes it hard to believe, don’t you think?
All the best,
Richard
Richard,
In reference to Hitler God created him for a purpose and it was as a result of Hitler that we have Israel. Evil people still exist today however you choose not to believe in God for the evil that is occurring as to your way of belief is because God allowed Hitler to exist or evil people to exist God is evil. However Hitlers purpose was to fulfill the prophecy. Even you would have to admit that Israel was created after WW2 because of the Holocaust.
History records the deaths of all 11 of his remaining disciples and not one died a normal death as they all died horrific deaths. The early Christians were fed to the lions as sport to entertain the Romans and Nero being the worst tyrant it was as the result of his persecution that we have the church today as you would think that ending ones life would erase Christianity however it has always had the opposite effect. Even today their are millions of Christians that are being persecuted and often killed. The difference between you and me is that I know that when I die I will spend eternity in heaven with Christ however your belief is that when you die that is all their is. You base that on your misinterpretations of what is in the scripture or outright not believing what the scripture says. Leaving things to chance as the creation of Israel is just thing that happened. If you watch and read the news the Arab nation is preparing to wipe them off the face of the earth and have been trying too since the creation of Israel. This is a pipe dream to believe that the creation of Israel just happened it took some dramatic circumstances that was created by God. If you choose to believe this then like Christ said in the scripture which I have posted below you are blind.
You are sadly mistaken if you believe that that Christ said he will return the same day.
In John 16: 19
19 Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again.” Their is no mention of him suggesting that he will return in their lifetime
Their are many miracles that others seen Christ perform in the Bible and where witnessed by many people as the following miracle:
John 11:
17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles[d] down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[e] Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” 28 Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” 29 So Mary immediately went to him.
30 Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. 31 When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. 32 When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him,[f] and he was deeply troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked them.
They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Then Jesus wept. 36 The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” 37 But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
38 Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. 39 “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.
But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”
40 Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” 41 So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” 43 Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
You would think that raising someone from the dead would cause people to believe however many did not even after all the miracles that he did as is described in John 12:
37 But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him. 38 This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted:
“LORD, who has believed our message?
To whom has the LORD revealed his powerful arm?”[n]
39 But the people couldn’t believe, for as Isaiah also said,
40 “The Lord has blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts—
so that their eyes cannot see,
and their hearts cannot understand,
and they cannot turn to me
and have me heal them.”[o]
41 Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this, because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah’s glory. 42 Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. 43 For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.
44 Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. 45 For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. 47 I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. 48 But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken. 49 I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50 And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.”
Yes we can agree to disagree however like the Pharisees in the Bible even with all the miracles such as feeding the 5000 and raising someone from the dead they still did not believe as their eyes were blind like yours. So you we can disagree yes but one day you will wish you had believed. God Bless
Andrew,
I thought we were agreeing to disagree. But if you insist on continuing…
If your kids decided that Voodoo was the way to go, you’d probably take the news with some disappointment and hope they grew out of it. Probably guide them towards something a little less loopy.
I would have a similar reaction to my children “accepting Christ.”
As I raise my kids to be open minded yet sceptical, it’s unlikely that they would become believers later in life. However, if they did decide to follow Krishna or Christ or Vishnu or any other imaginary deity, I would have to respect their decision (albeit with a raised eyebrow).
As I said before, the people who created modern Israel had all read the bible and brought about what the bible prophesised. That is not God bringing about a prophecy. That’s people reading a book and enacting the prophecy. If you can’t see the difference…well…I just don’t know what to say.
Are you seriously saying that a God protected Hitler so he could prove a point? That’s obscene! Is this the god you worship?
As you know the bible so well, you will be familiar with the prophecies that haven’t come true. One of the most glaring being that Christ told his followers that His second coming would be in their lifetimes.
So he was wrong about his own second coming, but to make some other point he protected and allowed a mass murderer to kill millions of his innocent creations.
Please children, accept Christ into your hearts, he’s the best.
Richard
Richard in the Old Testament one of the Kings was extremely upset at Elisha as he God was revealing to prophecies against him in the Bible so the king decided to send an army to kill Elisha. Elisha servant was terrified as their were too army was to great for them to defeat.
In 2 Kings 6: 16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!” The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.
The only difference today is that I do not see the angels and neither do you so in your view God does not exist as this story is one of the fables to you. For myself I do not see the angels who are from God however I do know they are their as is evident in the Bible. Like the wind we both know that it exists however because you are unable to accept the signs of God as their being a God therefore God does not exist. The only difference between myself and you is that we both don’t see the angels or the physical form that God exists however I know he exists as I take the Bible and prove it’s existence from the proficiencies that are fulfilled such as Israel being formed which is foretold in the Bible plus that the Jews would never be wiped off the face of the earth as Hitler attempted to do. You dispute the evidence as pure chance as there were over 40 assassination attempts on Hitlers life which are well documented including Hitler being rescued by a priest from drowning. God used Hitler to fulfill his promise that Israel would become a nation once again. This still does not prove it but one day you will see God in physical form.
Your definition of a Christian is purely on the intellectual view point as for some unbeknown reason to myself you have characterized Hitler as a Christian. In fact Hitler wrote his bible to replace the Bible as if Hitler claimed to be a Christian on the intellectual level you would find at least one clip of him singing silent night in German. The difference is I choose to believe in God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit because I accept the evidence and take the Bible as a whole to verify its authenticity.
You may raise your non-believing children however would it not be a kicker to you if one day one of your children accepted Christ and decided to believe in God? God Bless
Andrew,
I have enjoyed our little debate very much, as I hope you have. My heart would beat a little faster with delight when my email showed another comment on this site.
However, we are obviously going to have to agree to disagree. I will never understand how people can believe in a supernatural being that has no noticeable effect on the world. And you will never understand why I don’t.
Since Mankind crawled from the slime we have looked for something to worship. Something to give us a reason for being. So many Gods have come and gone, as no doubt our current one(s) will. So many gods that were believed in just as strongly as your Christian one. Even if He is worshipped for another thousand years, eventually humans will move on. I would hope it would be to a more secular, rational society, but judging by our history, we will probably just move on to the next God.
I have no doubt that believing in a god has helped millions of people make sense of their lives, and has helped them in troubled times. This is a great thing but it still doesn’t make any of those gods real.
It is good that Christians (along with not believers) helped to abolish slavery. But we must remember it was the Christian Imperial Empires that took it up with such relish in the first place. As I’m sure you know, there are quite a few parts of the bible (both old and new) which condone slavery and instruct on how you should treat your slaves. This is not taking anything out of context; it is simply what the bible says.
So it’s not a particularly Christian thing to abolish slavery. It is the right thing to do but it doesn’t come from the bible.
Like all people there are good Christians and bad Christians. The good and the bad will cherry pick the bible to suit their needs.
Hitler thought of himself as a good Christian:
“I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord..”
Anyway, this was not meant as a debate about Christianity, but the (non)existence of God. I cannot believe that the current God(s) is any different to the thousands that are dismissed as primitive superstition. Yes, He may give your life meaning and purpose but so did the old gods give purpose and hope to the ancients. God is just something mankind has always invented and reinvented, and will most likely keep inventing. Each era believes his god is the real one.
I will continue on my peaceful, moral, non believing way, raising my peaceful, moral, non believing children. You will keep doing what you do.
I wish you well,
Richard
PS
Not sure what you mean by:
“As I have stated before as you have spent your whole existence of life proving in theory including the media that their is no existence of God…”
Commenting on this site and talking about the existence of God is a very small part of my life. I have never been in the media. Perhaps you are confusing me with some one else.
Richard,
“There are many things such as the wind, electricity, atoms and nuclear radiation that we can’t see. We know they exist because of the effect they have. Those effects can be tested and repeated. We have no evidence that God exists. ” The theory that you believe in is that their is no physical evidence that God exists however you believe that as there is no physical evidence of God’s existence therefore he does not exist. I was merely pointing out the flaw in your theoretical argument as you say their is that wind, atoms, electricity, and nuclear radiation exists as there is evidence. The real reason you believe God does not exist is that you can’t put it in a your box of your way of thinking as the evidence of the existence of God is found in the change that occurs within peoples lives, as well as healing that does occur and your definition as to healing that occurs is your blindness in explaining it away for the reasons that you gave.
As I have stated before as you have spent your whole existence of life proving in theory including the media that their is no existence of God as their is no physical proof. I will never convince you that you are wrong as you will only discover that you were wrong when you stand before God. The reasoning I believe you think this way that even though you are a mathematical genius the Holy Spirit is something that you are unable to put into a mathematical formula. You think in theoretical terms and when you do quote parts of the Bible you skew it into saying something that it does not say.
“You say you were cured of a disease by your faith. Unfortunately you don’t know that. Some options:
1. You may have been going to get better anyway.
2. Believing something very strongly can have a placebo effect. (Like soldiers that were given saline solution and told it was morphine – their pain was relieved as they believed they’d had morphine).
3. A god decided to cure you because you believed in him (while letting millions of other faithful suffer). Why are you so special I wonder?
You say I am closed minded. But, I would consider all the possibilities in the above situation and decide what is the most likely. I contest that you are the closed minded one because you jump straight to the conclusion that, against all the known laws of nature and science, a supernatural being has come to your aid.”
In Isaiah 55: 9 “For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”
God allows millions of people to suffer as I myself have as well for myself as a believer in Christ to become strong to serve him and fulfill my purpose in life which is to share the good news of others as when Christ was on earth he commanded us to share salvation. The main theory that you have that God does not exist is that he allows evil in the world therefore God does not exist. The mathematical formula that you are unable to comprehend is that God allows evil for a person to become stronger like fire purifies gold so this is how he purifies me.
“Modern Israel is a State made by people who campaigned to have that state. They used arguments from the bible to get their way. This is not a fulfillment of a prophecy but a fulfillment by humans to have a desire met.”
How do you explain to a blind man that has never seen what you see? You can’t. To deny that Israel was created as a fulfillment of prophecy when around 2600 years ago after Israel was destroyed as a nation and it was prophesied that Israel would become a nation again. Hmmmm To state that it is a fulfillment of human desire I find kind of ironic as God used the will of men as you state to fulfill his prophesy yet somehow this is not fulfilling prophecy!! It clearly says that Israel will become a nation once again. In addition it was Hitlers attempt to destroy Jews which the Bible prophecy says will never occur. There is two prophecies that were fulfilled one was the attempt to destroy the Jews by Hitler. Hitler was unable to destroy the Jews unless of course you are one of those who don’t believe that the Holocaust occurred! The second was that the nation of Israel would be created as the first reason is the reason that Israel exists today as awful as we think it is God allowed Hitler to stay alive as there many assassination attempts on Hitlers life. The result was that the prophecy of creating Israel was fulfilled and God used man to fulfill this prophecy.
“I’d be interested to know what you make of this:
In Matthew 16:27-28, Jesus predicts his second coming to be within the lifetime of his own followers. We all know how accurate that was.” The passage that you are referring to does not state that the second coming will come during the lifetime of his followers as I will not begin to get into a debate on the second coming of Christ as many locos have prophesied the day when he was coming back only to fail!
“I offered examples of God’s evil immorality simply to show you the God that you worship. I could give you many more examples of his deliberate cruelty, including genocide. Of course, having read the Bible you will know all these already.”
You will twist and skew partial passages of scripture to say what you want it to say as you have stated you only take bits and pieces to prove your point and are basing your theory on purely mathematical formula. To create pure gold you have to create a fire to melt the gold to rid the gold of the impurities. You don’t believe in the existence of God as you have been unable to devise a mathematical formula to prove that he exists.
You state God is evil because he allows all these evil things in the world and the real reason you are suggesting this is for others who read the article that they will agree with your theory. Unfortunately you are looking at the fire and not the results of the change in Christians life as that is irrelevant to you. With every fiber in your being you are trying to prove that God is evil so others will follow your theory which is one of the real reasons that you respond to the comments.
The results of Christians that have seen change occur is as a result of allowing the Holy Spirit to offer physical healing, emotional healing or the Holy Spirit changing a persons evil behavior. You relish in quoting the one passage you have found in the Bible about selling of woman into the sex trade.
Their was a slave trader as you mentioned who was selling men and woman into the sex trade who was from Britain. They kidnapped African people and sold them as slavery so I am certain all young woman were sexually abused by their masters as well as many of the other inhumane things that were done to men. The slave trader became a Christian and was so convicted from the Holy Spirit of all the people he has sold into slavery and how inhumanely they were treated. The slave trader fought to have slavery abolished in the British parliament and the result of his belief in God and the power of the Holy Spirit in him that he was able to get a law past abolishing the selling of slaves which ended the slave trade which you rightly despise. The result of his convictions was the song Amazing Grace that often is heard in funerals. That is the mathematical theory you will never understand as all you see is the fire that is changing the slave trader therefore God does not exist. I am sure you will have a number of points as to why he changed trying to dispute the evidence of the Holy Spirit as it would be like me telling you wind does not exist because I can not physically see it.
My friend you will always win the theory game which is what you are attempting to do. However you do not have the foresight to understand the Holy Spirit as if you do that means you will have to agree that their is a God which you have made your life’s work to disprove that God does not exist.
God bless!
Andrew,
There are many things such as the wind, electricity, atoms and nuclear radiation that we can’t see. We know they exist because of the effect they have. Those effects can be tested and repeated. We have no evidence that God exists.
You say you were cured of a disease by your faith. Unfortunately you don’t know that. Some options:
1. You may have been going to get better anyway.
2. Believing something very strongly can have a placebo effect. (Like soldiers that were given saline solution and told it was morphine – their pain was relieved as they believed they’d had morphine).
3. A god decided to cure you because you believed in him (while letting millions of other faithful suffer). Why are you so special I wonder?
You say I am closed minded. But, I would consider all the possibilities in the above situation and decide what is the most likely. I contest that you are the closed minded one because you jump straight to the conclusion that, against all the known laws of nature and science, a supernatural being has come to your aid.
Modern Israel is a State made by people who campaigned to have that state. They used arguments from the bible to get their way. This is not a fulfilment of a prophecy but a fulfilment by humans to have a desire met.
I’d be interested to know what you make of this:
In Matthew 16:27-28, Jesus predicts his second coming to be within the lifetime of his own followers. We all know how accurate that was. If a supposed prophet has even one prophecy fail, can he rightfully be called a prophet? The bible itself says no, in Deut. 18:22…
“If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come
true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”
I don’t know enough as to how Bethlehem could be prophesized to be Jesus’ birth place. I do know it’s not just a straight forward case.
From Micah 5:2
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of
old, from ancient times.”
Bethlehem Ephrathah is a tribe, not a town, so we already have a problem.
From Isaiah 7:14:
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and
will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
So the prophecy was for a guy named Immanuel, not Jesus. But we’ll just pretend its Jesus because it fits our story better.
Umm…you don’t believe selling your daughter as a sex slave is child abuse?
I offered examples of God’s evil immorality simply to show you the God that you worship. I could give you many more examples of his deliberate cruelty, including genocide. Of course, having read the Bible you will know all these already.
Peace to you,
Richard
Part 3: Fables
The following is your statement:
“So we can be lazy and say “I have faith that God made the winds”, or we can observe what is happening in the world and get the facts. You say you don’t question the bible’s teaching. So you are agreeing with me that the gist of the bible is “this is how it is, don’t ask questions.””
The Bible contrary to your own personal belief does prove itself as these are a few of the prophesies that were fulfilled. So sure ask questions however when I study scripture what was foretold happened years later.
Ezekiel 34:13:
I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land.
Ezekiel 2600 years ago foretold that Israel would become a nation again which occurred after ww2 when Israel once again became a nation.
In Leviticus 26:44 “But despite this, I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in excel in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out, for I am the Lord their God. The Bible said that God would never allow the people of Israel to be completely destroyed although Hitler sure did try but he was not successful.
“During ancient times, 10 of the 12 Tribes of Israel were decimated by the Assyrians. And the Babylonians later persecuted what was left of the people of Israel.” The choice scripture you quoted about babies heads being bashed was an attempt to destroy the Jews.
“Again, as you rightly point out, I am not a bible scholar. I have read enough to feel that it’s a book of fables and myths, but I am willing to read more.
Could you be more specific about the prophecies that you mention, and where exactly I can find them? I promise I will read them and get back to you. Who knows, maybe I’ll be converted! But already I’m wondering if the writers of the second book had read the first, and put a few fulfilled prophecies in to make a point!”
The book of Isaiah is full of prophecies as to events that would occur when Jesus came to earth. Other prophets name the town of Bethlehem as to the place of his birth as i am sure you will have an explanation as to how this could be. It is mathematically impossible for someone to write prophecy something and it occurs hundreds of years later. Your belief is such that it is fable and untruth and challenge to research to see if it is truth when you take the Bible as a whole and study and research it you will discover that events that are promised to occur do so years later. However if you only take bits and pieces of it as you to prove that you are right as you are only taking a small part of the story like what happens in the Media is they only take what was partially said and make into a truth. I will never even attempt to win your theological arguments as the arguments that you challenge are based only on part of the picture which is completely impossible to dispute so you will always win the argument as this is how you have skewed it in your favor.
This is the theological side of the argument which you will always win because you have convinced yourself and set yourself up to win. However when it comes to the personal side of Christianity it is something which you are unable to grasp or comprehend so the result is that it must be a bunch of fables and magic. So fine believe that if you wish too however my personal evidence in my life is before I fully believed his word I was a defeated man as I had medical challenges which I was never able to overcome until I began to live the Spirit filled life which you believe to be magic. The result was that I was healed did I see God heal me? NO of course not! Is their evidence yes that I am healed! Yes. The verse in the Bible talks about wind which you have so eloquently explained why this occurs however have you ever seen the physical form of wind? We see rain,snow, hail so these are physical forms that we know to be true but I have never seen wind. Have you? Since I have not seen it must not exist then. I stand outside I feel something blow on my face but I don’t visualize it with my eyes it is not visible so it must be magic but there is no physical form.
To say that God does not exist is like me telling you that their is no wind as you ridiculed the very thought and suggested that I find other alternative reading material to explain wind. I will never ever ever convince you that God does not exist nor would I even try too. It is like I feel the wind but don’t am unable to see it’s physical form I see evidence of it. Their is incidence that God does exist like wind however you have never seen him in physical form so God is a fairy tail. You are free to believe what you wish too.
I have many more prophesies I can prove to you that have occurred if the ones I have provided are not enough evidence.
God Bless
Part 2: Defining Silly Faith:
The following is your statement on faith:
“Thankyou very much for the great example of how silly faith is.
If I understand you correctly, the bible says that wind blows where ever it wants –wind is a mystery because we can’t see it. People 2000 years ago didn’t know where wind came from, so they attributed it to God.
We now know wind is air moving from a high pressure to a low pressure, with some changes caused by the spinning earth called the coriolis affect. Differences in pressure are created by the sun heating the earth. This is pretty basic stuff that is learned early in school. Perhaps if you read more than the Bible you would know this.”
Let me congratulate you as if you would have described what wind is in 2000 years ago you would have been know as Newton during that time and would have been famous! You have to take into context that the passage was written when their was very little scientific knowledge as we can explain how it occurs however we are unable to visually see it but by “faith” we have to accept that wind is occurring it has nothing to do that it comes from God. Christ was discussing Faith and like you questioning if God exists so the following is the full context of the conversation that occurs between the Atheist (Nicodemus) and Christ. John 3:
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,[a] you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.[b] 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.[c] 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You[d] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man[e] has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.[f]
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.[g]”
Richard, Part 1: Defining Evil:
I must say I have the impression that you either are Richard Dawkins or using his first name because you have the same beliefs as he does. “I am certainly not afraid to read the bible. But like most Christians, I just pick bits to prove my points.”
I am not like most Christians as I read the whole Bible and not the bits and pieces to prove a point. Many of the prophecies in the Old Testament occur in the New Testament. How can someone foresee what will happen 100′s of years later? I will quote some of the verses from the OT that occur in the New Testament as many prophecies have been fulfilled. In reference to reading the Old Testament as I have stated in the past I have studied the Old Testament and am very familiar with the Old Testament and the many fables you have supposedly read. I read the whole Bible to prove that the Bible is in fact true and not just the little bits that you use to prove your point that God does not exist as if he did exist he would not allow these things to occur! I am by no means trying to convert you as your mind is closed however from a theology point of view which you tend to argue is based on your perception of the few fables in the Bible that you have read. The scriptures that you do quote you believe proves that God does not exist as he allowed evil.
To justify your claim that people in the OT were not evil we should define what evil is. According to Wiki. this the definition:
“Definitions of evil vary, as does the analysis of its root motives and causes; however, evil is commonly associated with conscious and deliberate wrongdoing, discrimination designed to harm others, humiliation of people designed to diminish their psychological well-being and dignity, destructiveness, and acts of unnecessary or indiscriminate violence.”
In the previous comment you mentioned the following “including selling your own daughter as a sex slave (Exodus 21:1-11), child abuse (Judges 11:29-40 and Isaiah 13:16), and bashing babies against rocks (Hosea 13:16 & Psalms 137:9)?” I might be extremely confused however according to your comment your own personal belief is that selling your daughter as a sex slave, child abuse. I find it amazing that you take one verse in Psalm 137 :9 where it describes the bashing of babies against the wall as it appears that you have not read the full chapter as the previous verse in Psalm 137: 7 O LORD remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem. Destroy it! they yelled. Level it to the ground! The following verses then describe the bashing of the babies which is what Hitlers army did through out Europe during WW2 as it were the Jews that were being slaughtered.
Your statement of “To be clear – the people in the Old Testament weren’t evil” seems to be wrong as by the scriptures you quoted it shows evil. You follow the statement by “the God of the Old Testament was evil” however you believe that God does not exist so if God does not exist then how can you believe that the God of the Old Testament is evil?
Andrew,
I am certainly not afraid to read the bible. But like most Christians, I just pick bits to prove my points.
Perhaps you should re-read the chapters I quoted from the Old Testament. They talk about what God did to people, or told people to do. He was the one doing the evil, not people. I only quoted the Old Testament because you did. If you believe its true, then you can’t just have the bits you want to be true – you have to have the whole package.
To be clear – the people in the Old Testament weren’t evil; the God of the Old Testament was evil. If you want to argue that the God of the New Testament is not evil, then either he is not the same God, or he changed his mind (and is therefore fallible) in which case he is not a God.
Thankyou very much for the great example of how silly faith is.
If I understand you correctly, the bible says that wind blows where ever it wants –wind is a mystery because we can’t see it. People 2000 years ago didn’t know where wind came from, so they attributed it to God.
We now know wind is air moving from a high pressure to a low pressure, with some changes caused by the spinning earth called the coriolis affect. Differences in pressure are created by the sun heating the earth. This is pretty basic stuff that is learned early in school. Perhaps if you read more than the Bible you would know this.
So we can be lazy and say “I have faith that God made the winds”, or we can observe what is happening in the world and get the facts.
You say you don’t question the bible’s teaching. So you are agreeing with me that the gist of the bible is “this is how it is, don’t ask questions.”
Again, as you rightly point out, I am not a bible scholar. I have read enough to feel that it’s a book of fables and myths, but I am willing to read more.
Could you be more specific about the prophecies that you mention, and where exactly I can find them? I promise I will read them and get back to you. Who knows, maybe I’ll be converted! But already I’m wondering if the writers of the second book had read the first, and put a few fulfilled prophecies in to make a point!
All the best,
Richard
Josh, Thanks. High praise indeed.
Richard
Richard & Josh,
What are you so afraid of that you refuse to read the Bible as if your going to describe it as fantasy perhaps you should research it to determine which part are fantasies. You seem to be able to quote the parts of the Bible that quote the Old Covenant which you seem to relish in as proving that the people in the bible were evil. Sure I agree with you as their are many other evil people that you have not mentioned. When you read the Old Testament such as rape, adultery, incest, and much worse as people are evil. God hates evil and will destroy evil as he destroyed Sodum an Gomorrah in the Old Testament for their evil in the sexual previsions that they had fallen into. As if your belief is that people are animals than they can act as animals as you are using to the few passages that you know to confirm your belief that we are animals.
In reference to questioning the Bibles teaching I don’t question its teaching as it is you who are questioning its teachings and describing the events in the Bible as magic tricks. You don’t even have the courage to read what you are questioning as if you believe the Bible is false then prove it besides the statement it is magic. Many of the events that are prophesied in the Old Testament occur in the New Testament as events that are promised in Isaiah occur hundreds of years later in the New Testament which is not a trick but proves the Bibles promises to be true. I don’t have to question the Bible as it is the truth if you choose to question the Bible and don’t believe its validity then that is your choice. It is kind of ironic I think that you are questioning something you have never studied. You can describe events as fairy tails, magic, or whatever other choice words you wish that is your right however as I have studied and read the Bible it would be assumed that I have a better knowledge of the truths in the Bible. For someone who has never read and are telling me it is a fairy tale but you don’t seem to know which parts are a fairy tale as the few passages you quote it is only to prove is point that the people in the Bible were perverted and animals all it does is proves that you agree there is evil in the World.
If you would have the courage to read into the Bible further you would be able to add a lot more besides the verses that you quote on slavery, child abuse, etc. If you wish to make your point that people in the Bible were evil then by all means I do agree with you as they are evil even today.
You seem to be a rather intelligent man so perhaps you could offer me an explanation as to where wind comes from? As Jesus quoted in John 3: 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear wind but can’t tell me where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit. You describe it as being lazy by offering an explanation of faith however it appears to me that you are the one who is lazy by not studying what you are disputing!
Under the illustration of wind it appears that you are attempting to convince people that wind is magic because you don’t understand or know where it comes from so it must be fairy tails and magic!
God Bless
@Richard
If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were Richard Dawkins himself. Well argued good sir, common sense can be a real pain in the ass to someone who just believes.
Yes Andrew, my knowledge of the Bible is limited. As is my understanding of the Torah and the Koran. Since they are all books of fantasy, I choose not to waste too much time on them. Obviously my statement is not a quote. But if you’re saying the Bible isn’t an unquestionable authority, perhaps you can tell me where it encourages us to question its teachings?
The bible explains nothing about how the Earth was created.
“God called the light”day” and the darkness “night” bla bla bla…” Your quote describes a second hand account of a magic trick.
I note that you quote the Old Testament. So can I assume you also believe God allows slavery, including selling your own daughter as a sex slave (Exodus 21:1-11), child abuse (Judges 11:29-40 and Isaiah 13:16), and bashing babies against rocks (Hosea 13:16 & Psalms 137:9)?
I know, cheap shot. But if you’re going to quote from the old testament…
Getting your facts right is no more “splitting hairs” than if I decided to call God, “Dog”. I could say it was just splitting hairs but it would still be wrong.
The simple fact is, you’re an animal. Flesh and bone, just like a dog or a cow. A very smart, highly evolved animal, but an animal none the less. Get over yourself.
None of science is about disproving God. It’s about observing the world and how it works, cause and effect. If God hasn’t shown up in all those years of observation, it’s not science’s fault.
You say:
“Yes science can prove many things however there are still some things that have to be accepted by faith that science is unable to explain.”
Why? That’s just lazy. “We can’t explain this so we must have faith”. What a load of rot!
It is quite acceptable to say that man and apes didn’t evolve from a common ancestor. That’s what science is about, questioning. But you would have to have an alternative theory and be able to point to some evidence.
All the best,
Richard
@ Richard, Just curious as to what passage of scripture you are quoting when you state ““this is how it is, don’t ask questions” perhaps you took two statements and from two different passages and made up your own verse as your knowledge of the Bible seems limited.
The wonderful thing about the Bible is that it explains how the earth was created as. Genesis 1: 5 God called the light”day” and the darkness “night”. And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day. God created the World in 6 days however if evolution is assuming that the world was created in billions of years and everything evolved is that not explaining away that God created the world, heavens and stars? Yes science can prove many things however there are still some things that have to be accepted by faith that science is unable to explain.
Jon if you wish to seek the questions to your answers I am not a pastor but perhaps you should read the Bible to find the answers to your questions…
In reference to “Monkeys and humans evolved from a common ancestor” it seems kind of like your splitting hairs as ultimately your evolutions theory is the we are created without a soul as we both are beasts. I believe your explanation is defined by the following statement
“The first and most important thing we should understand is that evolutionists begin with the assumption that man has in fact evolved from apes. No paleoanthropologist (one who studies the fossil evidence for man’s origin) would dare to seriously raise the question “did man evolve from apes?” The only permissible question is “from which apes did man evolve?” Since evolutionists generally do not believe that man evolved from any ape that is now living, they look to extinct apes in the fossil record to provide them with their desired evidence. Specifically, they look for any anatomical feature that looks “intermediate” between that of apes and man. Fossil apes having such features are declared to be ancestral to man (or at least collateral relatives) and are called hominids. Living apes, on the other hand, are not considered to be “hominids” they only sort of look like humans. Still, evolutionists are willing to accept certain trivial similarities between extinct apes and men as “proof” of ancestry.” Article was outed from
Which is splitting hairs as ultimately the belief in evolution is we evolved from a certain type of animal and have creatively called it something else. It is an attempt to explain that God did not create us and that science has proved we did not come from God which ultimately means we do not have a soul.. God Bless.
Jon,
Whatever you end up believing in (Creationism or science) make sure you keep up the critical thinking. Evolution is not a way to “explain away God”. It is a way of explaining our surroundings. The wonderful thing about science is it encourages us to ask questions, not accept things on face value, to test things and prove/disprove things by experiment. The Bible says “this is how it is, don’t ask questions”. But as you know, even a quick read of the bible leaves us with more questions than ever.
As you will also know from basic biology class, we did not “evolve from monkeys” as Andrew mistakenly says. Monkeys and humans evolved from a common ancestor.
Jon, keep asking intelligent questions. If you get the answer “I’m not a scientist but…” maybe it’s time to talk to a scientist.
Cheers,
Richard
Jon often evolution is an attempt to explain God away as it is their answer on how the world was created. I am not a scientist and don’t understand much about science or Gods ways but I trust him completely. One of the things I have never been able to understand if we evolved from monkeys why are they still around? Just a thought. In reference to water when Jesus was on earth his definition of water is in John 4. 10 Jesus replied, “if you knew the give of God has for yo and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” I am sure that one of our mentors would love to communicate with you. God Bless
Im only 16 so don’t overly critisize me if im a little wrong but my only argument is with your point on water. Evolution shows that organisms will adapt to the surrounding conditions so lets say you have a planet full of liquid X. The organisms on that planet will of course be adapted to that liquid and use it for hydration and other purposes. An example of adaptaion on earth is skin color. In places like Africa people usually have really dark skin color so their bodies can resist the sunlight and heat better than the average white American.
Richard,
I read every word that you have written regarding religion and by suggesting that reincarnation which I understand you don’t believe in to be the same as Christianity is false. Your statement on reincarnation of people returning as grasshoppers was mean to insult Christianity. If you will mention a religion I will respond to the religion that you are mentioning. I don’t dismiss other beliefs as superstition as other peoples belief’s are based on works whereas Christianity is not.
You may find the story of the photographer ridiculous however it was not you who had a gun pointed at your head and was rescued by angels as I am positive he would disagree with your statement as you can write these this in the comfort of your own home without worry. You merely dismiss the possibility of angles as an illusion when if you would research the subject there would be many cases of angels rescuing someone.
During Jesus time on Earth he responded to people as yourself in the following story:
19 Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. 20 At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. 21 As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.
Luke: 16:
22 “Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham.[e] The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and his soul went to the place of the dead.[f] There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.
24 “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’
25 “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
27 “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. 28 For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’
30 “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’
31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’”
It is your choice not to believe in God and as long as you are alive God will believe in you. No God will not continue to allow suffering so people like you will believe in him the acts of God that are occurring is for people to search why all these are occurring and most people will only search for something better if their is anxiety. Otherwise they will stay at the status they have.
You believe that if the world was perfect with no crime, rapes, murders in a fake world that if God existed he would not allow these things to happen. That there would be no evil as just the very fact that you agreed that there is evil is proof that you must believe in some type of God however you don’t wish to agree.
God has given every person the choice of choosing him by accepting his son as he was sacrificed for our sins. God hates evil however in your limited view because of you think it only exists in a span of 80 years if you are lucky. Your view is God is not a very nice because he allows evil in the world however you have rejected his gift for you which is salvation of accepting Christ. If you choose to reject him then yes you will discover how not nice God is when you stand before him as he will remind you of the conversations that we had over the email and it was you who rejected him not him rejecting you. All the knowledge you believe to be true you will discover is false.
In one of the ski resorts in Europe a train that was traveling through the tunnel caught fire and smoke poured into the tunnel. Passengers poured out of the train and there knowledge was for them to exit towards the front of the train as it was the shortest way out. Even trained athletes went the same direction however the few who through out what seemed logical and went the opposite direction were saved. The reason for this was the smoke drifted to where they thought it would not and all the amount of arguing would not persuade them to go the right way. Your knowledge is based on what you think is superstitious it is very evident by many of your comments you have never tried to read or disprove that what the Bible says is untrue which is your choice. You can move towards what you believe to be logical and knowledgeable as I would rather move towards the evidence I have seen on how Christ through the Holy Spirit has changed people which is not scientific but proof that Christ does exist. God Bless,
Andrew,
Wow, have you seriously not read a word I’ve written?
You seem to think I believe in reincarnation. I don’t.
You seem to think I believe one group of deluded people’s proof (“evidence” of reincarnation etc) over your people’s deluded idea of proof (the bible). I don’t.
Your belief/faith/religion has no more merit than other people’s.
You dismiss other’s beliefs as superstition. Others dismiss yours. I see both as superstition.
“I find that very ironic you would believe a child who has so called memories of someone else hmmmmm…. just because he did not read the secret message that the surgeon wrote….”
These are two entirely different points. What are you talking about?
Your explanation of the photographer being saved is just ridiculous.
You accepted your faith on your own. Please tell us what other faiths you “took the time” to study before you arrived at your current one.
“God knows the future.” So he already knows “people like me” will never believe in him, so what exactly is he waiting for?
I don’t make a mockery of your beliefs. I just don’t believe them.
.”In answer to your question God wants to give ALL people the chance to accept him so in answer to your question he is waiting for people like you to believe in him.”
So god will allow suffering and evil to continue until people like me believe in him? God already knows I will never believe in him. And what about the billions of others who either don’t believe or believe in other gods? So you’re saying he will never stop evil. Not a very nice god then.
Thank God for the tree of knowledge.
All the best,
Richard
Richard,
I am not sure how aware you are of history as during Christopher Columbus time the majority of people believed that the world was flat and though that Christopher would fall off the ends of the Earth. Like your belief that God does not exist as you have never seen him and according to you the Bible history is wrong because it does not their was no record of history stating that babies were killed in Bethlehem. There were many people who were slaughtered by the Nazi and there is no documentation that this ever occurred in some of the veriest remotest places where it occurred! This does not mean it did not occur just as people who were murdered in WW2 by the SS. Bethlehem is popular today because that was where Christ was born however in Jesus day it was in the backwoods country as in this area only male children below 2 years old were killed not in the whole kingdom as there would be evidence of this.
I do not prophesy to know all the things that God does or why he does them all I know is that in my own life the darkness is no longer with me and if you wish to know the answers to your questions then research the scriptures as many of your comments that you make is on the perception what you perceive Christianity. God Bless,
Andrew
“God’s intent was never to allow evil…” then why did he? Are you saying that even god can’t do god’s will?
“When christ returns evil will be wiped away…” how much evil has to happen before your christ returns to save us? What is he waiting for?”
Man chose evil be disobeying God and eating from the Tree of knowledge. In answer to your question God wants to give ALL people the chance to accept him so in answer to your question he is waiting for people like you to believe in him.
God
Richard,
I find it very ironic that you are saying that there is evidence of “But you will find many people around the world who will tell you that they have proof because a small child has memories of another life they couldn’t possibly have known about etc.” However the child who dies and goes to heaven and returns to describe to his parents that he seen his sister when the parents never told them of the baby that died and that he has seen Jesus that you define that as a hallucination because:
“There is a surgeon who has a message written on the top of a cupboard in his operating room, visible only from above. None of the people who say they have left their bodies, floated above their own operations and then given apparently accurate accounts of the room from above, have ever been able to tell him what the sign said. Kind of compelling evidence that they are having their own hallucinations rather than an actual experience.”
I find that very ironic you would believe a child who has so called memories of someone else hmmmmm…. just because he did not read the secret message that the surgeon wrote….
Richard,
You believe the Holy Spirit to be a superstition however you would rather prefer to return as a grasshopper which to me seems to be more of a superstition. The Holy Spirit as defined in John 3: 6 Humans can produce only human life, but the Holy Spirit can produce spiritual life. The evidence of this is a testimony of many people who have not been Christians such as addicts, criminals, and people who have given up on life. Until you are a point in life where there is no hope in life and you accept Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to change your life the evidence of this is available in my own personal life. YOU can make a mockery of it and call it a superstition if you wish however when you stand before Christ and are being judged you will never be able to say I have not heard of you which is why I never accepted you. Many people on death row accept Christ and the change is evident in there life and when they have peace the day they are executed. Their is evidence of peoples lives all around you however it is your choice to not look at the lives of others who are a true Christian and you will see the changes that happen however you can explain it as another phenomenon or superstition if you wish.
The priest will be judged for abusing the innocent very severely as a man who abuses a child in the priesthood very seldom believes in Christ but of the religious symbols. We all have to die and Christ gives us each a certain amount of time on earth and God knows the future who is to say that the child who has leukemia Christ decided to take home to prevent the very priest you described from abusing them or worse things that could happen in there lives.
Richard,
I was not born into my faith I accepted my faith on my own as I believe in Christ and the afterlife not as you define it by returning as a grasshopper.
I suppose you never have taken the time to read any of the Old or New Testament in the Bible as often in scriptures angels appeared in human form as since God created us human it would be kind of difficult for a person to talk to and angel if there was no visible form! If you research there are many cases where people have seen human forms of angels including the photographer it is you who does not have faith to believe angels exist.
Genesis 19: 10 But two angels reached out, pulled Lot into the house and bolted the door. Since you are unfamiliar with Biblical history the angels were in human form and a mob was forming outside as they wished to rape the angels however Lot offered his virgin daughter instead so the angels pulled Lot back into his home. Sodom was destroyed by God due to their perversion and their is scientific evidence today that this occurred.
Richard,
Faith is not religion as you are defining faith. The definition of religion is
a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
Which is different than
The Oxford Dictionary defines Faith as: Strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.
And Belief: Something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion, or
a religious opinion.
So you can see that the two words are interchangeable.
Whether I have faith that I’ll be reincarnated or believe that there is an afterlife it is the same thing.
You are trying to equate coming back to earth as a grasshopper as having a faith and in John 6: 29 Jesus told them, ” this is the only work God wants from you: believe in the one he has sent” which is God asking us to have faith to believe in Christ.
Andrew,
I don’t define all beliefs as a religion but all religions are beliefs. This is not debatable.
The Oxford Dictionary defines Faith as: Strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.
And Belief: Something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion, or
a religious opinion.
So you can see that the two words are interchangeable.
Whether I have faith that I’ll be reincarnated or believe that there is an afterlife it is the same thing.
When I say “born in to a faith” I mean that most people are exposed only to the beliefs of their parents and their community and tend to end up with similar beliefs.
So are you saying you weren’t born into the faith you now have? I applaud you then. If you were born in to a different doctrine and you’ve studied the different faiths around the world and arrived at the one you now have through study and comparison then I’ve underestimated you.
The people who have been clinically dead and thought they had seen heaven I’m sure believe they truly have been to heaven. Unfortunately believing something doesn’t make it true. There may be any number of explanations; they’ve just stopped at the one they want to believe. As you so rightly say people will tend to believe only what they want to.
Someone who looks like a human, smells like a human and performs CPR like a human is, on the balance of probabilities, most likely a human.
Why, I wonder, would an angel rescue a photographer in a war zone? Why not turn a paedophile priest towards the lord and show him the error of his ways? Why not get a televangelist to practice what he preaches? Why not save a child dying from leukaemia so as to have him spread the good word for the rest of his newly extended life? It’s almost as if the angels are acting randomly, just as the world acts randomly. What a coincidence!
You say: “The christianity that I believe in represents heavenly father, jesus christ and the holy spirit…They are three in one as christ is the son of heavenly father and the holy spirit acts as our helper or comforter.” If that’s not the very definition of a superstition I don’t know what is!
You say there is no proof that someone is reincarnated and I agree with you. But you will find many people around the world who will tell you that they have proof because a small child has memories of another life they couldn’t possibly have known about etc. They just know. They have faith. You and I prefer to think there is probably another explanation.
You have a book written 2000 years ago by people who may or may not have been there, writing about events that may or may not have happened. There is no supporting evidence for almost anything in the bible. For example: historians of the day failed to mention the killing of every male child by King Herod. So even though Herod himself is well documented, no one bothered to mention the unmissable murder of every male child. Seems a little unlikely don’t you think?
A couple of points- Columbus didn’t discover the world was flat. It was known long before his time. And astrology (which I would put on a par with beleiving in a god) has discovered nothing other than that Pisces is compatible with Aquarious. I think you probably meant astronomy. This doesn’t bode well for your theological research.
Hmm…North America, a cocoon against evil? I’m guessing you mean the USA? Of course compared to third world countries and those at war, the US is a great place to live. But considering the high number of people who would call themselves believers in the US it has a pretty poor record – capital punishment (“thou shalt not kill”), the rich poor disparity, lack of health care for the poor and unemployed…but that’s another argument for another day.
“God’s intent was never to allow evil…” then why did he? Are you saying that even god can’t do god’s will?
“When christ returns evil will be wiped away…” how much evil has to happen before your christ returns to save us? What is he waiting for?
“I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one less god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” —Stephen F Roberts
All the best to you. I’m off to read revelations and learn about earthquakes.
Richard
Richard,
First and foremost you define all beliefs as a religion so you believe God and Christianity as you define it to be a superstition. You equate reincarnation as having faith because they believe after they die they will come back as something else which is not faith but a belief. I hate religion as more harm has done in the name of religion ie: Muslims belief in killing Christians or honor killings or the holy wars and when the Roman Catholic church or Christianity as it was know in the 1800′s started religious crusades which meant killing those who did not believe to convert others to Christianity and thought God blessed this just because they had the wooden cross that Christ was crucified on like you they believed in a symbol and not what the cross represents.
The notion that people are born into faith is the furthest thing from the truth as God gave us the choice. Most people as yourself will take a brush and with one stroke equate all religions as the same which proves you have never even attempted to read the Bible to discover what Christianity is. To become a Christian a person must first recognize that they have failures and faults and have sin in your life. A person who wishes to become a Christian has the choice to ask Christ to forgive us of the wrongs and sin that we have committed. If a person accepts Christ as Christ promised after he was resurrected and met with his disciples to tell them a comforter which is the Holy Spirit will come. When a person becomes a Christian they will be filled with the Holy Spirit which helps guide and direct them. Until you have lived a life of desperation as I have with no hope and to feel the power of the Holy Spirit is unexplainable which is where the faith enters. The difference between all the religions you mentioned is quite different as none of the prophets and founders of religions were raised from the dead. There is no proof as you suggested that a person dies and comes back in another form such as an eagle, monkey, child. God is unable to allow anyone to enter his presence unless they are without fault and pure. The Christianity that I believe in represents Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit not the superstitious deity you claim to confess to be Christianity. They are three in one as Christ is the son of Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit acts as our helper or comforter.
Their are many other instances of Christians who have been clinically dead with no pulse and were clinically dead and when they came back to life hours later they were fearful of mentioning what Heaven is like. The reason for fearing to mention this is for people such as yourself who have the blinders on and will believe only what they wish to believe until you are gone then it is too late.
I merely mentioned my niece as what I have seen as a personal example as there are many others which I could mention. Contrarily to your belief their have been many instances where angels have taken human form to help others as you mistakenly believe that it was a fantasy being with wings that was performing CPR when it was a human form. In North America we live in a cocoon as evil in its terrifying forms don’t happen here as they do in some countries in the Middle East. I was shocked recently do hear the testimony of a free lance photographer who was in a war zone admit that he was saved by a human form of an angel who rescued him from being killed.
If you really wish to know why earthquakes happen then read Revelation in the scriptures which will give you the answer as to why God is allows earth quakes. Contrary to popular belief it has nothing to do with punishing wicked people. Your example is pretty weak as to how we can explain God does not exist sure certain things can be explained by science. First Christopher Columbus disproved the theory that the world was flat, astrology found another planet, man placed the telescope Hubble into space to see the end of space however they discovered that it even with Hubbles reach it could not reach the end of the Galaxy.
God will judge the Earth and the evil that has become of this earth. You may be horrified to learn that as a results of all the earth quakes and famines and natural disasters people are accepting Christ and becoming Christians and not the perverted definition you believe of Christianity to be a superstition.
God’s intent was never to allow evil and when Christ returns the evilness that you are concerned about will be wiped away. Man choose to allow evil into this world by disobeying and eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The only difference between you and me is that you have not accepted what true Christianity as you don’t know what it is as you think you do however your view is not according to what scripture teaches. Prayer is not in the least be selfish as the concept of prayer is much more than just asking God for things and blessings. If you wish to discover what true Christianity is then I suggest reading the New Testament.
God Bless,
Andrew
Andrew,
I agree with you to some extent on some points. Yes, it is difficult to convince people of the truth if they are wearing blinkers. If something that is at first passed off as a miracle but subsequently shown to be quite explainable, there are some who will still insist it was a miracle. No amount of evidence will convince them of the proof before their eyes.
And no, I don’t know there is nothing when we die; but nor do you. You have just chosen to believe one of the thousands of human superstitions and I have not. I’m guessing you are a believer in the superstition in to which you were born. I’m also guessing Christianity? Not Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Shinto, Baha’i or any of the others on the long list. It does seem unlikely, don’t you think, that the religion that you happened to be born in to and believe in, just happens to be “The One.” Buddhism is older than Christianity and has millions of adherents. They believe whole heartedly that they have been, and will be, reincarnated. Do you believe in reincarnation? Why not? You just have to have faith! Buddhists will see their dead grandparents in their neighbor’s children – proof positive of reincarnation! Aren’t you afraid that when you die you will come back as a lowly grasshopper because you haven’t lived the way you should have?! Do you lack faith because you are blinkered? Or would you dismiss this “proof” as simply superstition? I think its superstition. Just as I believe your god is superstition.
Having visions when you have a near death experience is proof only that the person has had a vision, nothing more. It’s wonderful that your niece survived. But just as we don’t believe that our sleeping dreams are reality nor should we think that visions when we are in an exceptionally stressful situation are reality. When did angels start using CPR by the way? Why not use their super powers?
There is a surgeon who has a message written on the top of a cupboard in his operating room, visible only from above. None of the people who say they have left their bodies, floated above their own operations and then given apparently accurate accounts of the room from above, have ever been able to tell him what the sign said. Kind of compelling evidence that they are having their own hallucinations rather than an actual experience.
You asked me to explain: “The more we know and understand about our universe, the less we need to fall back on god.”
Well…there are many examples of what we once thought was god’s work which can now be explained by science. For instance we once thought that earthquakes were the work of a vengeful god punishing wicked people. We now know they are caused by the movement of tectonic plates under stress and to some extent can be predicted. Are we saying that we can predict the mind of god? No, just the natural laws of nature. Where do the laws of nature come from? I don’t know. But not knowing doesn’t mean its god’s hand. Do you see what I mean? Every step that’s explained by science, god steps back to the next step- until that’s explained, and so on. We have a mystery, we call it god, the mystery’s explained god retreats.
Isn’t most prayer selfish? I mean praying in the sense of praising the lord. Why are you praising the lord? Because you believe he will give you the ultimate Christmas present – eternal life at his place. That sounds pretty selfish to me; I praise you, you let me live for ever. Deal!
When I die and stand before god and he tells me that his best shot at showing me his existence was through a pretty poor explanation on a web site, I’ll be sure to let him know how disappointed I am.
A couple of quotes for you to consider:
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? — Epicurus
I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. — Thomas Jefferson
By the way that beat up 1970 VW would be a collector’s item by now and probably worth a fortune! God moves in mysterious ways!
All the best,
Richard
Richard,
I have learned never to try to convince someone that they are wrong as often they have blinders on and even if a miracle occurs before their very eyes God will be rejected. I will respond to a number of your points though equating God as a warewolf, goblin, witches, and afterlife for fear of dying perhaps it is you who is afraid of death as how do you know there is nothing after you die? Their is enough evidence from people who have died or are in the process of dying that they see a glimpse into the afterlife and are unable to put words to there explanation. When my niece died and seen angels who were female & male and when she regained conscious after a angel breathed life into her via CPR was she having visions of goblins and fairies as you so eloquently stated? There are many cases such as these however if you wish to remain blind then do so.
If you would please explain your comment on the more we find out about the universe the less proof there is that God does not exist? The deeper they go into the universe the more galaxies they find as it is infinite we as human beings will never be able to discover all of the universe perhaps you believe we have found the ends of the earth which is proof for you that God does not exist.
I find your comment on example of prayer to be selfishly motivated as according to your comments you believe prayer is a wish list that if we pray to God for something we want such as a double six and we role the dice enough times we will come up with the numbers. You fail to take into consideration the Holy Spirit as often the Holy Spirit will reveal to us what we should pray for that is the will of God and not according to your version of making God into a genie. Of course I would not believe God would not existed then too because of when i rubbed the god genie bottle and wished for a Lamborghini he gave me my sisters old beat up 1970 VW bug!
You choose not to believe in God and one day when you will stand before God and you will tell him I never knew you existed his reply will be the person who wrote to you on the mentoring site explained God to you and you chose not to believe that i existed. God bless
Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” I appreciate the strength of those who choose to stand up for their faith in Christ and speak out about the beauty and power they believe they see in His creation. Is there a way to definitively prove that God exits? Perhaps not, but Jesus did say, “‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”
Oh please Sharon! I’m surrounded by beauty every day, I drive to work from my beautiful Blue Mountains, come down the hill early in the morning to see the amazing lights of the city, am constantly amazed by the miricle of my two children and life in general. I often take a moment to consider the incredible unlikelihood of our very existance! I’m in awe and wonder and get a tingling in my tummy when I think of these things! All of these fantastic things are proof of nothing except their own existance and my ability to appreciate them.
Glaciers prove the existance of God?? Glaciers are proof that water freezes below zero degrees centigrade and that gravity works. Nothing more. Stop looking for things that arn’t there and just appreciate what is.
good article– for proof just check out the glaciers that exist in the world they are amazing and you are in God’s creation there, and with fall leaves, it is just heaven we were in alasks in septemeber on a cruise at glacier bay, i stood in wonder looking at this beauty before me.
WELL said Richard!! Today, you are pretty much labeled ‘illogical’ if you don’t believe in evolution…Everything points to it, and it always must be considered when doing studies on humans, and nature…In the scientific, environmental, psychology (ext) world of study, evolution is spoken of as a fact…. I also like how you didn’t try and twist your words to sound ‘overly sophisticated’ like many others did below…cough cough Frederick….Anyways, well said Richard!
To paraphrase part of your opening:
“But first consider this. If a person opposes even the possibility of there being no God, then any evidence can be rationalized or explained away.”
Point 1: People have believed in gods, fairies, witches, goblins, werewolfs, afterlives, all sorts of nonsense. This proves only that we’re superstitious and scared of dying. We used to worship the sun as creator with absolute awe and conviction because we didn’t know what it was. Simply believing doesn’t make something true. The more we know and understand about our universe, the less me need to fall back on God.
Point 2/3: Complexity points to…complexity! No, Mount Rushmore is unlikely to be carved from the winds, but that’s because there is no survival imperitive to look like Mount Rushmore. If a living creature had a large brain and could outwit it’s predators it would survive, if it developed rudimentary vision, which gave it an advantage it would survive. The characteristics that helped it survive would pass to the next generation. Those born with a slightly better version of that characteristic are even more likely to survive and pass that on to the next generation. Over uncountable generations you have something that is refined and amazing and the primitive among us might say “wow, that must be designed by a great God!”
Isn’t it amazing how everything on Earth is exactly right for our existence!
Well of course it is, if it wasn’t we wouldn’t exist! Of all the billions of possible planetary circumstances sooner or later you get just the right conditions for us to exist.
A child will roll a pair of dice and wish (or pray) to get a double 6. If the double 6 comes up does it prove that there is something to pray to or that chance things sometimes happen?
There is nothing in this article that makes any compelling argument for the existence of a god.
It is pretty amazing isn’t it Siyanda when you see it written down like that?
Thanks a lot for this informative clear report. It is enlightening and surely convinces any doubting Thomas about the existence of God. I would love to see how atheists respond to this overwhelming evidence.
Glad you enjoyed the article Phiph!
its really a nice article full of wisdom and knowledge
All these arguments are extremely old and have been tireslessly disrpoved. Point one asks us to accept the truth-value of a statement based on a majority vote. Points two and three are simply ‘arguments from design’ and are disproved by evolution- which is not, in fact, just ‘blind chance’, but the complete opposite of chance. Evolution does, in fact, explain point four.
That’s all the points. They’re not original, and they’re no more convincing now than at any other time in history.
Him that seek GOD with all the heart finds him,God is able and is every where.As in book of psalms said where those my help come from? that my help come from above that is from GOD.Call unto the name and he will be there for you.in Isaiah he said the arms of GOd are not too short to deliver us but our eniquiting has seppreted us from him.If anybody dose not believe in existance of God need a special prayers.thanks Jonex
Good article:) God IS amazing, and he’s everywhere. Humans are costantly pushing him away. We use material things to give ourselfes a false happiness. When to be truly happy, all we need is God. Proof of God is every where. Tell an atheist to simply stare at their finger for a while, while he’s doing this have them consider that there is NO other print like the one their looking at on this whole earth! And there never has been, or will be! That is the work of God! God’s telling you to your face that YOU are special, far beyond what you could ever possible understand. We are perfect. This article shows how special the human eye is. Every little thing in your body is perfect. Evolution isn’t even a considerable or logic answer to the big question of, “how did we get here?”.
Kat, just to clarify, EveryStudent.com is part of the same international organization that runs this site, so we have permission to use their materials here.
*Well technically not copyrighted..just didn’t take any smarts because they hardly added anything new from THEIR mind and information.
Ya, great work, too bad it was copyrighted. Just changed a few little sentences lol… Your creative. Look at http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html
good article but not very convincing, there has been a book published Recently called Book One which actually proved god existance, i would Definitely recommend it to any one searching for good existance as it is a really fine and bold book.
An excellent article. I have been interested and even obsessed in studying the Chinese writing lately. I found out that the Jiaguwen, or most ancient form of Chinese writings, and still traceable in the modern version of it, the Chinese ancestors since 4000 years ago believed that there is God or Shen/Shangdi/Tian who created man and everything in the universe. This can be seen in words like “zao”(to create) ? which is written with the components or radicals: “earth” + “breath” + “mouth” + “moving or walking”. In other words God, or whoever it was, originally took “earth”, added “breath” into it, using his mouth, of course by blowing into its nostrils, and it became a “moving, walking or living human being”. Other words such as “jin” ? (to prohibit) is written and “two trees” and “deity/god” underneath it. Doesn’t that indicate that the first prohibition was made by God, concerning “two trees” which are found in the centre of the garden of Eden? And the word “garden”(yuan) is actually written as ? which in the original or traditional version consists of the components: frame/borders + “earth” + “mouth” + “one person/man” + “another person, coming from the side of the first person”. Isn’t that what the Bible says that God put the first man he created in a garden, and he created the second person from the rib taken out of the side of the first person? There are so many words like these in the existing Chinese language which I am very happy to send to anyone who is interested. My website is thehanifs(AT)gmail.com
I wish to congratulate the author,of the above report,on the profundity and insight that has been presented.My position is that Humankind is a product of what I call duality which encompasses both the spiritual and the physical.As a species,Humanity seems overly obsessed with the physical but I believe the spiritual dimension merits more attention because the soul is our connection to infinity and God.I have found Atheism to be lacking in almost every aspect because atheism offers no hope, or help and is hapless as well.Atheism offers no help and is therefore helpless by definition,Atheism offers no hope and is therefore hopeless by definition and atheism is hapless in that as a “philosophy” it is mired in the sophistry and imperfection of this failed dimension.God is spirit and is therefore not of this materialistic and physical world and it is quite apparent that God is not restricted by either the constraints of time or space but is indeed omniscient and omnipotent.I have now concluded that FAITH is much stronger than Doubt and it is puerile in the extreme for any poor sod to demand proof of God`s existence because “proof” is only applicable to the things and hubris of this finite,physical dimension and Almighty God is light years beyond this parameter.We may only know Almighty God through FAITH for faith is what connects us to God and infinity.I wish to thank the author for the input and therefore I am offering my appreciation for their stellar effort with a little “comeback” of my own.