Arguments Against or in Fovor the Existence of God

[geo]

Don't complicate your mind- we need not "explain faith scientifically", we need to examine it logically.

wadaad said:

People should take revelation allegoricaly IMO. Some things are beyond the realm of a man's consciuous understanding and to give some things a sense of infinite value and not just for that era maybe a degree of symbolizatrion could carry a message throughout the ages.

Allegory my friend belongs to the ways of Mythology. Without offense, your religion is based on Dogmas and the men who interpret them, allegorically or not, were called Heresiarchs! (that's when the holy church was strong, for now it is weak they're called Theologists!)

wadaad said:

I think the fact that its basic instinct for humans to subconsicosly believe in a deity (even atheists who are just rebelling against their nature actually) points to an exiistence of a God. For the agnostics I once read a bumper sticker and in it said:
'When an agnostic dies, does he go to the "great perhaps"?'

Not 'believing' in the christian dogmas does not make me atheist or agnosticist. As i said in my first sentence, define god first and then talk about whether he exists or not. From the start mike the briton and murphee characterized their -seemingly- common god, a 'creator'. Taking it from this point, it's useful if we examine the 'creator' using the greatest ability we have as humans, logic.

Except if we think that blind faith in the 'creator' is better and has given more to mankind than logic. Then we will be true as christians and we'll have to go spending the rest of our lives in hermitage in some desert, like true christians do. But if, and I say IF we prefer logic, then we can rightfully exploit the technological possibilities in making actual dialogues through posting forum messages! Plus many other things!

[molika]

‘But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned’ (1 Corinthians 2:14).

[murphee]

Interesting article:

By Lindsay Tanner, AP Medical Writer 6/22/05

CHICAGO - A survey examining religion in medicine found that most U.S. doctors believe in God and an afterlife — a surprising degree of spirituality in a science-based field, researchers say.

In the survey of 1,044 doctors nationwide, 76 percent said they believe in God, 59 percent said they believe in some sort of afterlife, and 55 percent said their religious beliefs influence how they practice medicine.

"We were surprised to find that physicians were as religious as they apparently are," said Dr. Farr Curlin, a researcher at the University of Chicago's MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics.

"There's certainly a deep-seated cultural idea that science and religion are at odds," and previous studies have suggested that fewer than half of scientists believe in God, Curlin said Wednesday.

A previous survey showed about 83 percent of the general population believes in God.

But while medicine is science-based, doctors differ from scientists who work primarily in a laboratory setting, and their direct contact with patients in life-and-death situations may explain the differing views, Curlin said.

The study is based on responses to questionnaires mailed in 2003. It is to appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine and was released online to subscribers earlier this month.

Dr. J. Edward Hill, president of the American Medical Association, said religion and medicine are completely compatible, as long as doctors do not force their own beliefs on patients.

Belief in "a supreme being ... is vitally important to physicians' ability to take care of patients, particularly the end-of-life issues that we deal with so often," said Hill, a family physician from Tupelo, Miss.

Religions among physicians are more varied than among the general population, the survey found. While more than 80 percent of the U.S. population is Protestant or Catholic, 60 percent of doctors said they were from either group.

Compared with the general population, more doctors were Jewish — 14 percent vs. 2 percent; Hindu — 5 percent vs. less than 1 percent; and Muslim — almost 3 percent vs. less than 1 percent.

[Drooperdoo]

Funny reading that the profession of doctors being described as a "science-based field," when it's famously described as the "art of medicine," not the science.
The Talmud gets it right: "God heals, and the doctor charges the fee."

[geo]

It's all a matter of Paideia, which is education plus upbringing. Relieve Paideia from theological brainwashing and then count them again.

molika said:

‘But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned’ (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Hello molika, preacher of christ! Nice picture.
Indeed paul had learned first-hand how foolish were the "things of the spirit of god", touring around the hellenistic world and being thrown out by one city after another! Much more to say on that little quote but i'm quite bored now.

[geo]

drooperdoo said:

The Talmud gets it right: "God heals, and the doctor charges the fee."

Your talmud seems to have copied ippokrates: "Nature heals and doctors charge the fee."

[murphee]

I joke about 'how the easiest way to stay healthy is to stay out of the doctor's office.'
I view the practice of medicine as an art and also a science.

[humantag]

I am a bit skeptical of this survey and would like to know more specifics with respect to the methodology employed. Obviously, 'Doctors believe in God' makes a great headline, but how rigorous was this study?.

In any event, it would come as no surprise to me that doctors might tend to be religious. Religion tends to be more than anything else a reaction to death - specifically, an exercise in the denial of the finality of death and an obfuscation of the surreal spectacle that death makes of our lives, and doctors are exposed to death more than most.

[yigal]

GOd exists and all you who denie it are kofrim, there is no hell but notheless u should worship the one and only God, u do not need to become jewish, in fact dont all u need is to observe these 7 laws and u are a riteous person with a place in the world to come Do not murder.
Do not steal.
Do not worship false gods.
Do not be sexually immoral.
Do not eat the limb of an animal before it is killed.
Do not curse God.
Set up courts and bring offenders to justice

[mugabe]

we should admit that we do not know if a god exists or not. there is nothing wrong with not knowing. what i know for sure is that jehovah is not god.

[dukeofpain]

I went to a catholic high school and I remember one instance where I had asked my religion teacher" why if their is an omnipotent, omnibenevolent god would he consciously choose in creating say a parasitic wasp, who's sole purpose of life is to eat caterpilliars from the inside out" He replied "because god is mysterious", I laughed and have been an atheist since.


The story of the doctors and faith is completely irrelevant, it falls under the Argumentum ad verecundiam fallacy ie. appealing to authority.

[Ponto Hardbottle]

I am in favor of God, any version of God. Why? Because most humans cannot cope with the knowledge of the tree of life, that is death. Death is frightening for most people, and God gives those frightened people succor. What is wrong with that? Marx called it an opiate, well that was his 2 cents worth. Every day you live, is a day closer to your demise. Nice thoughts. God bless you.

[shango]

yigal said:

GOd exists and all you who denie it are kofrim, there is no hell but notheless u should worship the one and only God, u do not need to become jewish, in fact dont all u need is to observe these 7 laws and u are a riteous person with a place in the world to come Do not murder.
Do not steal.
Do not worship false gods.
Do not be sexually immoral.
Do not eat the limb of an animal before it is killed.
Do not curse God.
Set up courts and bring offenders to justice

Noachide laws Yigal?

Hear O Israel, The Lord God is One!

Or another way, I am nothing without God. He wakes me up in the morning. Gives me power to move during the day and protects me during sleep. God is our source. Who is like God? Wonderful and Majestic.

[Ponto Hardbottle]

Religious dogma is not spirituality. God is beyond silly man-made laws about stealing someone's ass.

[accarroll]

God exists, but not as any of the religions of the world see it. As we move through this energy field we call reality keep in mind at all times that it is only that an energy field. Matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. I think that there is some sort of an intelligence, because somehow we gain self concoiusness through the firing of neurons, that to me is amazing. There must be something beyond this reality that allows us to reamain in this state of existence. However, I am more inclined to believe that we, the human beings, are all one conciousness experiencing itself subjectively. We must realize that we are all that is and all that will be. The human mind is infinite and, through interconnectedness to other beings, omnipotent. What rests between our ears holds the key to what god really is, that is to say we are all gods and since we are all one and everything is made of energy then we are god in all manifestations.