Does God exist?

[RPGMasterTurk91]

Slightly different than my other active topic "Why atheism", this topic seeks to focus more on that idea concerning whether God exists or does not exist. It will focus more on the concept of God, so what religion one may be shouldn't have much of an affect the discussion as much as it normally would (but nonetheless still there).

If you believe in God, explain your understanding of God (for example, if you are a deist, you might believe that there is definitely a God, but he doesn't care for his creations, or that God is a man, etc.)

If you do NOT believe in God (which would be the majority of the people who are going to contribute to this thread), explain why you don't believe that God exists and maybe even what led you to believe that way.

Remember to keep the discussion calm and clean so as to make the experience as enjoyable and informative as possible.

To start off, personally, I will be posting several articles that give the Islamic perspective as to why without a doubt a single Creator with infinite power exists, and the absolute proofs that there actually IS a God, and attempt to show that those who do not recognize His blatant existence are truly blind (that is simply my message and isn't meant to offend anyone).


EDIT: January 25th, 2010: Here's a video of the answer in the Islamic perspective, very easy to follow and is worth watching and is enjoyable. Don't let the video length scare you, or don't skip around should you decide to watch the video in its entirety. Answers a lot of questions and touches on many subjects concerning if God exists. There is some terminology that will definitely be foreign to you (he uses a few Arabic words, but don't worry the video is in English), and I will try my best to aid you in what he meant when explaining something or responding to someone. The actual lecture starts at about a minute and twenty seconds in.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aCbrGqhoBc&feature=PlayList&p=BA79CF90621797EC&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2[/ame]

 

[WAWlrus]

depends on your religion

 

[RPGMasterTurk91]

depends on your religion

heh no it doesn't (I'm pretty sure you were joking).

God existing or not is not decided by one's belief. A belief can be anything. Anyone wanna have a say in this matter? Be my guest.

 

[Shadow*91]

God does not exist.

everything in the world we know can be explained in a certain matter. for example we came about through evolution and then advanced ourselves from cavemen ancesters to the highly technological beings we are today. some will argue God and i will even admit, some of the push needed to advance came from religion. does that mean God? no, but rather that these thiests gave thier help and claimed it was from god.
when an artist gets inspired and paints the greatest masterpiece in the world, many will say the artist was inspired. around the same amount will claim the inspiration came from God.

we can find evidence to explain almost every occurance possible. the ones we can't, we're working on figuring out. many thiests will claim it was 'Gods will, until we do, and the stubbern ones will after too.


to put it simply though, it all comes down to a belief of whether there is a God or not. its currently impossible to prove him yet currently impossible to disprove him. humans today simply don't know enough. when we learn more we'll likely revise our views and that will change the worlds beliefs. like how everyone believed the world was flat. until finally proven otherwise it was defined as fact.
God may not be defined as fact but you'll get a fair amount on either side of the arguement about his existance.


and this is just a rhetorical question: if there truly is a God, should we worship said diety? the world today is plagued with disease, tyranny, war, and hate. do those sound like something a caring and loving God would allow? i don't believe in God but if he existed, i would hate him with every fiber in my being for allowing such evils to run ranpent accross the globe.

 

[DBloke]

God dose exist but hes very bus touring this time of year

 

[navarre]

Perhaps if you didn't view it as irrationality it would help your perception of it. I have my own reasons for believing in God, of which I have found my own evidence. Since I have no desire to prove it to anybody else, am I so irrational?

 

[Napalmbrain]

Does a God exist? I don't know. But I've never seen any good evidence to suggest the existence of a God, therefore I don't believe that one exists.

 

[The Storm]

God dose exist but hes very bus touring this time of year

lol. Thats not god. Your thinkin of Santa Claus. lol

 

[DBloke]

God dose exist but hes very bus touring this time of year

lol. Thats not god. Your thinkin of Santa Claus. lol

Try again kid


LEMMY IS GOD

 

[RPGMasterTurk91]

God dose exist but hes very bus touring this time of year

So, you've found it only reasonable that God exists (maybe even irrefutable evidence found in nature that proves that he is indeed real), only he doesn't care about his creations, right? He's created the natural world and allowed it to exists as he made it, but has no place in interfering with anything on this creation of His we call our home, earth. If you were serious about your post, and what I said further is true about your beliefs, that makes you a deist. Well, are you a deist, atheist, agnostic, or neither?

Shadow I will get to your post after.

 

[DBloke]

So, you've found it only reasonable that God exists (maybe even irrefutable evidence found in nature that proves that he is indeed real), only he doesn't care about his creations, right? He's created the natural world and allowed it to exists as he made it, but has no place in interfering with anything on this creation of His we call our home, earth. If you were serious about your post, and what I said further is true about your beliefs, that makes you a deist. Well, are you a deist, atheist, agnostic, or neither?

Shadow I will get to your post after.

Of coarse god exists
And he sang thusly

ROCK OUT ROCK OUT
with your cock out
impress your lady friends
ROCK OUT
ROCK OUT
ROCK OUT
till your life is at an end

 

[her01771]

Does god exist? for me, I'm not going to say.
But no one will truely know until they die.
One thing, though. Does science have a good explaination what happens after death???

 

[Napalmbrain]

Does god exist? for me, I'm not going to say.
But no one will truely know until they die.
One thing, though. Does science have a good explaination what happens after death???

It's difficult to say. Personally I would assume that without an active brain to support it after death, the consciousness just ceases to exist.

 

[RPGMasterTurk91]

When you see a butterfly surely you will be filled with admiration for such an aesthetic display, a symmetry that is without the slightest flaw, the dazzling colors and patterns. Now think of a piece of cloth. Assume that it is a very beautiful piece of cloth of good quality that has been woven with the inspiration of these butterflies' patterns. What would you think if you saw such a piece of cloth in a shop-window? Probably, the existence of an artist, who has drawn the patterns of this cloth, taking the wings of a butterfly as an inspiration while drawing them, springs into your mind, and you appreciate his artistry. In this situation, you should also appreciate this fact: the artistry you admire doesn't belong to the person who draws the cloth pattern, taking butterflies as his example, but to God, Who is the originator of the patterns and colors of butterfly wings. The colorful wings of butterflies with their wonderfully varied patterns are magnificent manifestations of God's artistry in color. Just as a pattern on a piece of cloth does not come into being by chance, so is the color and pattern symmetry in the wings so perfect that they could not have come into being coincidentally.

Moreover, the splendid wings are not the only striking features of butterflies. The body design of butterflies is also perfect in every respect. The butterflies take in nourishment by sucking up nectar from flowers. Most butterflies have a long organ called a proboscis which they use to reach a liquid that is at some depth. A proboscis is a long tongue used to drink water or to suck up nectar from flowers. The butterfly rolls up its long tongue inwards when it isn't using it. This tongue can be three times the length of a butterfly's body when unrolled.

Like other insects, the butterflies also have a skeleton that covers the outer surface of their bodies. This outer or exoskeleton is composed of hard plates connected by soft tissue, looking like some sort of armor. The hard material is called "chitin." The formation of this layer comes about through a very interesting process. As is commonly known, caterpillars pass through a rather complex process called metamorphosis. The caterpillar first becomes a pupa and then turns into a butterfly. Throughout this process of metamorphosis, slight changes occur in the wings, antennae, legs and other body parts. Also, the cells in different key areas such as the flight muscles and wings re-organize themselves through every phase of metamorphosis. Furthermore, along with these changes, almost all systems in the body -the digestive system, excretory system, respiratory system etc.- go through a process of immense change.

This diversity in design that butterflies have, as much as their wings, belongs to God, the All-Powerful. God is the One Who bestows every creature with the characteristics it needs.

 

[Napalmbrain]

When you see a butterfly surely you will be filled with admiration for such an aesthetic display, a symmetry that is without the slightest flaw, the dazzling colors and patterns. Now think of a piece of cloth. Assume that it is a very beautiful piece of cloth of good quality that has been woven with the inspiration of these butterflies' patterns. What would you think if you saw such a piece of cloth in a shop-window? Probably, the existence of an artist, who has drawn the patterns of this cloth, taking the wings of a butterfly as an inspiration while drawing them, springs into your mind, and you appreciate his artistry. In this situation, you should also appreciate this fact: the artistry you admire doesn't belong to the person who draws the cloth pattern, taking butterflies as his example, but to God, Who is the originator of the patterns and colors of butterfly wings. The colorful wings of butterflies with their wonderfully varied patterns are magnificent manifestations of God's artistry in color. Just as a pattern on a piece of cloth does not come into being by chance, so is the color and pattern symmetry in the wings so perfect that they could not have come into being coincidentally.

Moreover, the splendid wings are not the only striking features of butterflies. The body design of butterflies is also perfect in every respect. The butterflies take in nourishment by sucking up nectar from flowers. Most butterflies have a long organ called a proboscis which they use to reach a liquid that is at some depth. A proboscis is a long tongue used to drink water or to suck up nectar from flowers. The butterfly rolls up its long tongue inwards when it isn't using it. This tongue can be three times the length of a butterfly's body when unrolled.

Like other insects, the butterflies also have a skeleton that covers the outer surface of their bodies. This outer or exoskeleton is composed of hard plates connected by soft tissue, looking like some sort of armor. The hard material is called "chitin." The formation of this layer comes about through a very interesting process. As is commonly known, caterpillars pass through a rather complex process called metamorphosis. The caterpillar first becomes a pupa and then turns into a butterfly. Throughout this process of metamorphosis, slight changes occur in the wings, antennae, legs and other body parts. Also, the cells in different key areas such as the flight muscles and wings re-organize themselves through every phase of metamorphosis. Furthermore, along with these changes, almost all systems in the body -the digestive system, excretory system, respiratory system etc.- go through a process of immense change.

Evolution.

And before you say anything, we've got mountains of evidence for it, from the fossil record, biogeography, genetics, comparative anatomy, embryology, antibiotic resistance, vestigial organs, and even actual experiments done on E. coli, guppies, and fruit flies.