Religion. Why do you believe?

[KuriKai]

Please post up why you believe there is a god or gods

Which one do you believe in?

DO NOT POST IN HERE WHY YOU DON'T LIKE IT!
You have your own thread,
I will ask phoebus to remove them.

[xbolt]

Have you ever seen a building without a builder? A watch without a watchmaker? A piece of software without a programmer? The answer is, no, you haven't. Since simple things such as these cannot happen without a designer, how is it possible for something as big and complex as the universe to appear without a designer?

If you take the time to look at it, the universe just screams out intelligent design.

[Johanbeyl]

I believe in God because prayer works wonders for me and I also feel something, a presence if you will when I pray.

There'll probably be snotty comments about what I believe or feel, but hey, it's a free world and this is my choice.

[xbolt]

Originally Posted by rustyslacker

I am sorry, Kurikai, but I must comment.



That is all.

No, exploding smilies don't explain the origins of the universe.

[+Acyclitor+]

Originally Posted by xbolt

If you take the time to look at it, the universe just screams out intelligent design.

I know this will start a side conversation but o well. as much as it may seem strange to say so, there is some scientific validity to XBolt's views. the second law of thermodynamics says that systems become less orderly over time - we can observe this law and know it to be quit reliable. yet Darwinist theories ask us to suspend this observable law and believe that through random chance the universe (as well as organic life) had become more orderly over time. the construction of the universe and the highly unlikely result of lifeforms could suggest an outside influence. evolution has a few flaws with it that also cast suspicion. for example, homo sapiens appeared in the evolutionary equivalent of a millisecond. how could homo erectus, a creature with a brain roughly 1100 cc, seemingly overnight evolve into modern man, with a brain about 25% larger? such rapid and sudden evolution isn't repeated anywhere in the fossil record. whether you believe these to be evidence of God or not and thereby subscribe to an insane dogma is your own business.

but I know that science isn't perfect. It changes based on new information. my point is that Darwinism has some flaws and it seems like everybody is too complacent with it to backtrack and look at other possibilities.

now, my personally beliefs. I look at ancient religions, laced with symbolism and astrology, and I see mankind's inner godliness. I research the occult, and I see evidence of the divine. When I look at ancient Mayan and Norse legends, I see so many prophetic stories that mirror the road the world travels on today. I could go on and on about these two pagan religions and what their prophecies mean to the world, but I'll wait for somebody to ask instead of wasting your time with a long and highly metaphorical comparison and theory (this post is long enough anyway). in a nutshell, I think deities exist within the mental realm as metaphysical constructs, as real as we need them to be, and that it is humanity that wields the power. unfortunately, 99% of humanity is fucking stupid, blind, ignorant, and undeserving - and it is therefore the place of the few people who do enlighten themselves to be the new Gods. and sorry, Atheists - this is not you. its not that I have any explicit problem with Atheism, but you're all too focussed on the literal, almost completely ignoring the mental, metaphysical, and symbolic forms of reality. You are like thought without gnosis - limited.

[Aliotroph?]

Last I checked the second law of thermodynamics only talks about the dispersal of energy throughout a given system over time. It doesn't at all forbid systems from becoming more organized, complex or even concentrating energy in one place for a while.

[+Acyclitor+]

the second law of thermodynamics is about entropy

Originally Posted by wikipedia

Entropy change has often been defined as a change to a more disordered state at a molecular level.

it would be counter-productive to life forming in the primordial ooze, was my point on the subject. the possibility of life spontaneously forming is already minuscule, entropy would have made the odds smaller and smaller over time.

[blood imp]

Originally Posted by +Acyclitor+

in a nutshell, I think deities exist within the mental realm as metaphysical constructs, as real as we need them to be, and that it is humanity that wields the power. unfortunately, 99% of humanity is fucking stupid, blind, ignorant, and undeserving

I'm just going to post a comment there. I much rather like the idea of deities being mental guidence than creators of the universe. I especially enjoy the part about humanity has power. We are not a science experiment, people!

As for life, I don't care how it got started. What I do care about, is that we evolved. And besides, we haven't been here that long. Life is only maybe 1-2 billion years old. And then you must think about the fact that we have intelligence. Entropy is more of a molecular level. More like that molecular structures and such get more disorderly. Not necessarly living communities (although I'm no expert).

In any case, I'm a bit out of place to make this argument. I was just making a side point. If you want, you can PM me your reply. C YA people!

[Aliotroph?]

Entropy works on all scales -- but while it is the final result it doesn't mean you can't have things ordering themselves into complex balls of energy along the way. For example, new stars form out of the stuff that gets shot out of old dead ones. Over time fewer of them will form in an ever-expanding and cooling universe but they still form.

[blood imp]

Originally Posted by Aliotroph?

Entropy works on all scales -- but while it is the final result it doesn't mean you can't have things ordering themselves into complex balls of energy along the way. For example, new stars form out of the stuff that gets shot out of old dead ones. Over time fewer of them will form in an ever-expanding and cooling universe but they still form.

Quoted For Truth

[Falci]

He's always been around me. Making stuff work even when I KNOW everything is going KABLAMO!

So... hey, why not belive? He surely IS out there. Not making life easier. But helping you whenever you desperatly need.

A shame he is no Electrical Engineer, nor Computing Engineer. Would have helped me a lot in College and surely would help now in the Master in Computing course. :P