your theory for the beginning of the world?

[Dexiro]

Again, I don't care about the infallibility of the Bible. I'm not a person that gets upset by the trivialities of how God created the earth. The history of the Bible is of no concern to me, it's the guiding principals that matter. The ideas contained within something as simple as "do unto others as you would have others do unto you" and "eye for an eye." The physics behind how God created the heavens and the earth don't matter so much as that He did.

So why do I believe in God? I did the only rational thing a person can do. I asked God if God existed. He informed me in a way in which I understood.

I rant about religion a lot, but I do have some respect for people who only follow it for the guidance.

You will find that a lot of non-religious people follow the exact same principals but without god in the equation. I completely understand that it's comforting for some people to think there's someone keeping an eye on them, but most people don't need that.

 

[Busdriver580]

Who says the universe has a beginning? I think it's more likely that it's always been here.

 

[Arluza]

Again, I don't care about the infallibility of the Bible. I'm not a person that gets upset by the trivialities of how God created the earth. The history of the Bible is of no concern to me, it's the guiding principals that matter. The ideas contained within something as simple as "do unto others as you would have others do unto you" and "eye for an eye." The physics behind how God created the heavens and the earth don't matter so much as that He did.

So why do I believe in God? I did the only rational thing a person can do. I asked God if God existed. He informed me in a way in which I understood.

I rant about religion a lot, but I do have some respect for people who only follow it for the guidance.

You will find that a lot of non-religious people follow the exact same principals but without god in the equation. I completely understand that it's comforting for some people to think there's someone keeping an eye on them, but most people don't need that.

I respect the person, but not their dogma or their faiths. There are good christians who plainly ignore the bad stuff in the bible. They say "this is bad, don't do it". and then only live to the good parts. However, I make it a point to ask the Christian (because they are the ones on the internet preaching more often) why the bad parts are there.

 

[Gilhelmi]

God said

"EXIST OH UNIVERSE, and COME INTO BEING WITH A SINGLE BANG"

then the Big Bang happened.

Of course I exaggerate a bit, He really just said "BANG".

 

[Gilhelmi]

and why do you believe in your god? that is the question I'm asking in reality. We (meaning in this case, humans in general) have already disproved the Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 creation stories. The order in which things are created in either order is wrong.

Genesis was written by Moses. Moses lived(according to some Bible Historians) around 2500 years after Adam and Eve. He got it wrong? Oh shock and woe is me!

Again, I don't care about the infallibility of the Bible. I'm not a person that gets upset by the trivialities of how God created the earth. The history of the Bible is of no concern to me, it's the guiding principals that matter. The ideas contained within something as simple as "do unto others as you would have others do unto you" and "eye for an eye." The physics behind how God created the heavens and the earth don't matter so much as that He did.

So why do I believe in God? I did the only rational thing a person can do. I asked God if God existed. He informed me in a way in which I understood.

You avoided the question. I asked why, and you told me "cause I heard a voice in my head tell me so." Either;
1. You need to seek medical help for that problem.
2. Your god has decided that he/she/it hates most people because most people don't get a visit from the voice in their heads.
3. You are making lots of money from saying you speak with your god, and you will not suffer not having the money.

Evidence points to either 1 or 3. Though I'd wager that you are belonging to the first category being the group you belong to, if only because I doubt a pastor of a mega church would be on The Escapist.

However, if you really did get a visit from a god, you should report it to your local university because you would not only make them Nobel prize winners, but you'd get the benefits of making EVERYONE in the world who is rational to convert to your branch of Christianity (of which there are over 31000 denominations now.) And you would also be given a fair bit of money for helping prove your god.

I just asked that god show himself to me, and nothing happened. and before you say "you just weren't trying hard enough" well, I tried as hard as I could. nope. Had my roommate try as well, nothing happened that we could report as a god. However, the clock did go forward a minute. guess we tried for a minute.

Nope, but nice try.

God didn't speak to me. He informed me in a way I understood. I didn't ask God to show Himself to me. I asked if He was there. I did not see God, I did not hear God. I was informed of God. I made no demand, I asked, having thought and studied and considered for many, many years before I asked. I got out what I put in and not all in one night. I asked one night and received my answer around 8 months later.

I cannot judge your heart, so I will not tell you what you did wrong or even if you did anything wrong. Your answer is for you, not me, and I not only will I not be your final judge, it is not my job to lead a horse to water or force it to drink.

I am not a pastor and even if I were I would get absolutely no money for my testimony. In my church, "preachers" are not rewarded monetarily, which happens to be one of the reasons I belong to my church. I don't want or expect money for my belief. My belief is for me, not my bank account.

Furthermore, I do not believe there has been or ever will be true definitive, provable, 100% factual, obvious, or any other specific form of evidence that there is a God. God, if He exists, does so in a manner in which it is up to the individual to decide for themselves if He exists. God must, by provable and observable fact, exist in a way that leaves no proof, thereby leaving faith as a matter of choice, not force.

The God I believe in and worship is a God primarily, specifically, and emphatically of freedom. The most important thing to my God is not His own aggrandizement or self importance. The most important thing to my God is the ability of His children to choose for themselves as individuals their own personal belief or disbelief in Him. This means there cannot be "proof" of God and will not be "proof" of God. Belief in God is for you to choose, not for God to thrust upon you. My God will never force you to do anything you don't want to do, but will recognize the consequences of your actions.

Freedom, sir, is my guiding principal.

Dang, you are awesome sir thank you for your testimony.

 

[Lazier Than Thou]

Then I ask again why you brought up the bible because you clearly are not referring to the god of the bible. and since you can't demonstrate your god's existence to others I do hope you have no rational thought that anyone else will accept your claim.

Oh, but He is the God of the Bible. The only possible reason for all of the "bad parts [in the bible]" as you put it in your latest post is if God allows man to fail. This is why I'm not concerned with the infallibility of the Bible. Because only a God of freedom would allow man to pervert His most holy work.

My conversion to God was never intended to be proof for you or anyone else of God. It was for me, not you. You will only find proof of God if you want to find proof of God. You will never find proof of God trying to disprove God.

I rant about religion a lot, but I do have some respect for people who only follow it for the guidance.

You will find that a lot of non-religious people follow the exact same principals but without god in the equation. I completely understand that it's comforting for some people to think there's someone keeping an eye on them, but most people don't need that.

It's not about needing God for me. I've been an atheist, I can accept the horrors and pain of life without God. I can even enjoy the freedom of never having a judge, albeit to only a limited length. But the universe, existence, and all things only make sense to me if there is a God.

As an almost completely anti-social person, I don't care what other people believe. It is not for me to choose for them.

Dang, you are awesome sir thank you for your testimony.

One does ones best.

 

[Marik2]

Oh geez this thread turned into a religion vs science thread.

Good job folks

 

[9Darksoul6]

NO NO NO! You are wrong. Evidence is clearly defined as "the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid" by Oxford dictionary. and Evidence must be DEMONSTRATED to be true.

Only tautologies and semi-tautologies can be demonstrated. All use of logic is circular.
You can infer that y = 2x with x = y/2 only because you're just repeating the same thing twice.
That said, you cannot prove the existence of anything; not even basic stuff life gravity: for instance, the law of gravity says that object will always fall; it is evident because you (may) keep seeing things fall, but there's no way to actually prove, let's say, that all objects will fall, or that you'll keep seeing it happen.

PS: I do believe in gravity xD just making a point; I keeep using that example because it's easy to understand.

 

[SilentCom]

My theory is that Chuck Norris made everything so he could beat the sh!t out of it all.

 

[Sojoez]

I like to believe that there is a set amount of energy/mass/whatever in the universe.

As we know the universe now, black holes absorb everything. Eventually only black holes will remain in the universe which will attract each other and form one massive ball of matter.
It then will start to implode until it reaches a critical stage where it will explode with a Big Bang!

Rinse Repeat!