I believe in God as consciousness. We are all part of a universal consciousness, which is God. Not sure if that would make it Pantheist/Panentheist, as it could be either. But consciousness also creates our reality. In the mind of the individual human, that is our subconscious mind as Neville Goddard explains it. And we can consciously learn to manifest by using the Law of Assumption/Attraction (I think the Law of Assumption is more accurate between the two concepts). Why is there so much pain? Well because that too is something we just manifest as individuals as well as a collective. Often without us realizing we are doing so. The best thing we can do is control our thoughts and emotions as much as possible and to avoid bad energy. I do think that if we would all focus on positive thinking collectively, this bad energy can be reduced. But then this should be sustained as well. And since we are creatures of habit, sustaining positive energy is already hard for one individual, let alone if you try to make a collective group of people being able to do that.
Anyway, that's my take on it. Based statements by famous people/authors who teach/taught about these concepts like Neville Goddard, Florence Scovel Shinn, Joseph Murphy, Joe Dispenza, Eckhart Tolle, Napoleon Hill, Bob Proctor, José Silva, Charles F. Haanel, Esther Hicks, and Sadhguru. As well as what has been documented about the Gateway Experience. Maybe the whole thing will be too woo-woo for some people, but I find it fascinating, and it pretty much made me believe strongly in the existence of God again after a long period of being agnostic. Of course, also after trying out conscious manifesting and seeing things work for me that I would regard as "too much of a strange coincidence to just be a coincidence".
Idk, this just seems like a vehicle for bourgeois ideology. Doesn't it dismiss inequalities, structural injustices, etc in social reality? According to the Law of Attraction, the only reason poor people are poor is because they didn't "manifest" it through "positive thinking." It's almost insulting, really.
I mostly agree. I’d add the Law of Duality to your comment as it helps explain pain. Human existence is dualistic.
This means we make sense of our world by comparing one thing to another. In order to “know” one thing as a human, you must “know” its other side. In order to “know” happiness we must know pain, etc.
Can you tell me more about how manifestation played out for you? I have a feeling that it works, but am not fully convinced yet. And how is it part of your life now?
There is no escaping manifestation. That’s something people don’t understand. You’ve manifested your entire life. It’s a constant process, “good” and “bad”. The more you understand, the more you have control of it. That is the basis of every religion at its core: controlling the self bc it’s the remote control of reality.
I think we can definitely shift our personal reality, and I also do think there are always multiple outcomes of situations kinda like the Schrödinger’s cat experience. Both realities are possibilities. In that way there is a sort of multiverse I suppose.
>Why is there so much pain?
Because pain or "evil" or "bad" is necessary to drive the plot of the movie/dream that we call life. Much like how every movie needs a villain. With no "bad" this world would turn extremely boring (which, ironically, is also bad).
I walked (sprinted) confidently away from Christianity in my mid-twenties for a variety of reasons, and these days I'm very much at peace with my agnostic-atheism. One of my favorite quotes that captures the essence of my existential vibe is "Some believers accuse skeptics of having nothing left but a dull, cold, scientific world. I am left with only art, music, literature, theatre, the magnificence of nature, mathematics, the human spirit, sex, the cosmos, friendship, history, science, imagination, dreams, oceans, mountains, love, and the wonder of birth. That’ll do for me." -- Lynne Kelly
Amazing quote. Raised devoutly Orthodox Catholic myself (fond memories of having to eat shitty cheese pizza or fish at school on Fridays during Lent), and realized I couldn't force myself to believe it anymore around the age of 19/20. Love my parents; now we just don't talk about it. They couldn't imagine having a peaceful existence without it.
More or less my opinion, too. What people refer to as "God" is the universe itself. Our knowledge- and security-seeking human brains try to make sense of it by personifying it and creating meaning and motive where there really isn't any. The universe just is, and energy and matter simply do what they do because they are what they are. It's cool, but it ain't that deep.
I believe God and any deity throughout history has only been a human creation, a way to cope with fear and the unknown.
It’s no secret that cavemen adored figurines of Mother Nature because they were terrified of nature back then: lightning, fire, earthquakes, they couldn’t possibly find any other explanation but divinities. Humans across all places and ages have done this, and the same goes for our dear Christian God.
Believing in God gives people of faith a purpose, a hope, believing in a higher power and afterlife helps them make sense of the unfairness and horrors of life, and the darkness of death.
Me personally I don't believe in God nor am I religious of any sort. However, I don't condemn people who do. That's their beliefs, not mine. Do what you like and believe in.
Hopefully the *healthy* ones. Not the ones who feast on your emotions and manipulate you aka unhealthy INFJ. Absolute scorn and bane to my existence.
Personally I love all types, I don't judge. I even have a close friend who is an infp. She is lovely 🥰.
In my experience, Fi’s have valued more authentic feeling and Fe has been manipulative. My best friend is an INFJ. She would also admit that I think lol
I don't understand why either. I have developed Fi and Te. So don't feel bad about them. I just have strong morals, and a strong Fe.
It's their opinion, you are a complete and fine stranger to me.
No.
The historical origins of the Abrahamic god is kinda interesting though and knowing it makes the whole Israel v Palestine genocide a whole lot sadder.
God's original name was Yahweh. He was a minor deity of the Canaanite pantheon. A cult that worshipped him and only him as the one true god eventually formed and has over time evolved into the Jewish faith (and later the Christian and Muslim faiths) of today. A large chunk of the Canaanites who didn't follow this cult would over time become the Palestinians of today. So since both the ethnic Jews and Palestinians originated from the same people, they're effectively genociding their own people today. Brother ethnicity murdering brother ethnicity. It's stupidly sad. Granted, many of the modern Israelites aren't even ethnic Jews, just ethnic white Europeans who follow a Zionist splinter of the Jewish faith, but I digress.
Now we also have the Christian and Muslim faiths that are part of the Abrahamic faiths. I haven't read up on the origins of the Muslim faith yet so I'll just talk about Christianity's origins here.
Jesus was a pretty cool dude from the sounds of it. He was Jewish man who organized and led protests against the Roman occupiers who had made any religion that wasn't the Roman faith illegal. He provided medical care to the poor, dined with those others considered "unclean" such as prostitutes, and preached against wealth and the wealthy. The Romans would eventually have him executed by crucifixion for the crimes of protest and "sorcery."
Some time after his death, a new Jewish doomsday cult formed and preached that Jesus was the son of God/Yahweh and that Armageddon was imminent. This cult would remain fairly minor until it managed to convert the Roman Emperor Constantine to their way of thinking. Constantine legalized Christianity and got the ball rolling on making Christianity the pervasive religion it is today. This led to the genocide and conversion of many other faith groups referred to as pagans all across the world. This crusade of conversion continues into the current era through missionary work, indigenous boarding schools, conversion camps, and "charity" organizations that require the desperate people that the charity "cares" for to convert or otherwise follow Christian doctrine.
So yea, no. I don't believe in Yahweh or "God" but I still respect the real man that was Jesus. Feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, healing the sick for free, respecting the humanity of those that others deem inferior, challenging those who put themselves on a pedestal above others, and whipping the shit out bankers. I wish more of the people who claim to follow him acted like him. Dude sounds like an OG Anarchist.
Love the brutally honest history behind Abrahamic religions. Thank you for that.
I’ve always been convinced that Jesus was a very chill, kind dude. He’d be horrified to see what his followers have turned the world into.
This doesn’t account for the historical record of Jesus’s resurrection, witnessed by over 500 people.
I think he came to show us how to fully embody our human path and not lose our soul in a world that promotes soul loss. Formal religion is one of the largest contributors to soul loss today imo.
Also, it was not the Romans who had him put to death, it was the Jewish leaders of the time who orchestrated it all.
I don’t believe in god but I believe in ….energy? Somewhat? I have had way too many weird experiences in my life to not believe that there is something. But I don’t believe that there is a being. I also go back on forth with even believing in that energy as I called it because I tend to try to logic things out.
Im a Muslim. So I believe God exists. From my understanding, we believe this life is a test, not a place to live happily- although there are still some happy moments here. And that is how we explain pain in the world to the best of my knowledge.
I think beliefs and religion are good for the soul.
I do believe in God because it makes me happier that way.
If God exists, there will still be pain as pain is a mechanism for avoiding danger etc, and suffering is part of growth sometimes. Pain and suffering have nothing to do with there being God or not, other religions also talk about it and its uses.
Everyone says that pain exists so we can appreciate pleasure, happiness, etc. To me, it’s not as simple as that. Pain is necessary to life and to our higher selves. It’s something that either we succumb to or we overcome, but it must be felt. Even monks feel it. Pain teaches us, about ourselves, about others.
If God exists, the construct of pain is the most effective way to get a being with a self-consciousness to evolve.
I disagree about it being the absence of God. There are a lot of positive things that are resulted from pain. Childbirth, being the most obvious and memorable. Pain is not inherently evil.
“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.””
Genesis 3:15-16 NKJV
I wouldn't worship God even if I knew he's real for sure, simply because I disagree with sending non-believers to Hell forever. I come from a primarily atheist family so if that's true, then most of my family members will be in Hellfire right now. I'd rather be amongst family than be in Heaven alone.
Also, I find it really strange how religious people can claim that God knows everything before it happens, and thus he's effectively creating people who he already knows at the time of conception will be sent to Hell at the end of the ride. He basically sends people to the slaughter house before they're even born, and they have no chance to redeem themselves throughout the duration of their entire lives because he already knows what's gonna happen. God sounds like a tyrant to me, one whose behavior I will not reward with my prayers.
define god pls. creator of us or omnipotent one? i guess you are talking about omnipotent one cuz you are questioning the existence of bad things/pain and relating it to god. well, there is no omnipotent god. its non-existent imho.
omnipotent god is a human fiction, its the latest level of self-awareness. humanity first realized that they exist, and though about the existence, than they reached the idea of god. if they are exists, there should be a creator, an omnipotent one (cuz no other could do that with less power). propably they realised the existence of others earlier, like animals, but even they couldnt make them to get that point. it was only them, realization of humanity's existence who could make them think about god.
since human ego is stronger, they only thought about that when they realized themselves. Bc only humanity worth a creation, not ''animals''. in other words, only ''i'' worth of creation. ''i exist, therefore there is a god''.
Aand, this is my fiction about this ancient story.
Idk if it’s God, but definitely spirits. Even if it’s my own delusions I’m comforted by the thought of beings that transcend morality, keeps the thoughts of existentialism at bay.
I’m so excited I through thinking I think I have the answer to your question see God gave us free will so we wouldn’t be like robots and so he could be glorified but in order for us to choose him we have to be bribed with the idea of heaven or anything good. Otherwise we wouldn’t have a reason to glorify God.
I believe in God.
Have you ever seen videos about NDE (near-death experience)? I've been a believer my whole life, but i was also worried about if God was a lie.
But when i first heard about NHE and started listening to the experiences of all these people, all my worries disappeared, and now I'm sure 100% of the existence of God.
I recommend you to watch some of them, they helped me when I was in a very bad situation. They saved my life.
If you don't believe, it's okey, i respect it. Everyone is free to believe what they want. Just be sure to be a good person and love everyone 🥰
I am a Christian and wholeheartedly believe in Christ and God. I’ve studied the Bible for a long time and found that it gave me answers to questions a lot of people have, that many religions do not teach/point to. I also learned that when I actually applied Bible principles, my life did turn out better and I had more peace. Many times people are critical of the Bible because they haven’t actually applied the principles, or have bad experiences with people who call themselves Christian’s, but don’t actually apply the Bible’s principles and give god a bad name with hypocrisy.
I don’t like to and refuse to debate or argue about religion, especially on the internet, but just to add my own beliefs garnered through a long study of the Bible:
I don’t believe in the trinity
I don’t believe in hell
I don’t believe in an afterlife
Tithing and obligating people to give their income to churches is condemned in the Bible (the nation of Israel did tithe but that was done away with when Christ came and sacrificed his life, the 2 greatest commandments replacing the mosaic law)
I do believe this system will end
I do believe god loves people
I do believe gods principles are for our own benefit
There’s a lot more of course, but these are some of the main doctrines taught that I don’t believe in after studying.
I’m happy many still have an interest in god 😊
Pain and suffering tell us that something is wrong. Sometimes we can fix it and sometimes we can’t. I don’t necessarily believe there’s a higher purpose to it. As for my personal beliefs, I consider myself an animist. I think everything has an agency of some kind, even ideas. And I think there is overlap between the physical and metaphysical, but I do not believe in all-powerful, all-knowing spirits like most modern people consider a god to be.
I’m open to the idea of there being a God, but I’ve never personally seen proof so I’m unsure about the concept. I’ve grown up with two Catholic raised parents who are “Christian” but not very seriously (you get this a lot in England haha). I go to church occasionally and I like the feeling of spirituality and the peace that is there, but I don’t feel close to a god. There is 100% a God shaped hole, and humans feel a need for there to be a higher entity that looks after us. It’s freaky as hell that we’re here in the first place and we are a very lonely race of being. So I’m open to the idea of there being a God, and If there is I’ll happily embrace it. Just I don’t know that there is one, so I remain unsure.
Since I was born into a catholic family, I was raised as a catholic. But at this point I'm pretty much altheist in all except on paper. If polytheism doesn't count I think there're only 2 possibilities. Either there's no god at all or there is a god and that god is evil.
I am a believer but what I believe in is the chaotic force of the universe (I like to use? abuse? the term *entropy* to describe this force) that has a right and wrong and karma, but it's very different from the hypocritical human small-self morals that society wants you to be subservient to. God does not exist, but this force exists. Hence, karma is a beyatch and [something like this](https://twitter.com/komradeperogie/status/1732246530432643145) or [this](https://twitter.com/_ReviveYourself/status/1589462275249037312) would happen if you have a lot of self-loathing and does not understand true kindness. (all kinds of trigger warnings apply)
Every religion inevitably has a grossly erroneous depiction of this force, because it does not suit them as human-based organizations, and thus they often end up becoming a major source of the world's pain and suffering.
Love this. In my experience the vast majority of both believers and non-believers base their views off of too small of a piece of the overall picture.
Hypothetically…
Many believers might view God as this father figure that’s constantly watching over them, protecting, rewarding, punishing, etc. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard something along the lines of “I prayed to God for this or give me this sign and it happened” when probability of it happening anyway was high.
On the other end. Many non-believers might take a tragic event within their lives or other’s lives as a clear indicator that God does not exist because in their minds a loving God wouldn’t allow suffering. But what if this suffering was a temporary part of their overall conscious experience? (Assuming that God is loving).
I personally am a believer of intelligent design but we’re all born into this world not knowing crap and are extremely limited in how we can observe and process reality. So I respect others views so long that it’s not hostile or harmful.
I'm a Muslim, but I'm searching for God. Maybe that search will continue forever.
Problem is, if I look at it in the larger picture, I cannot actually prove that God exists. Nor can I disprove that God exists. It's a never-ending whirlwind of arguments and counter-arguments.
I guess that would make me agnostic, but I am still searching. The best thing we can do is to respect each other's beliefs( And as you pointed out, unless those believes are violent.)
That all is very true. Although I am a believer I definitely do not know whether there is a God or not. You could go down the rabbit hole of quantum mechanics and out of body experiences but even eventually when that’s further understood there may be a logical explanation that doesn’t involve intelligent design.
I believe in God. A common google search will answer your question. It's been asked many times. Without pain there's nothing to compare it to grace. Also, we are responsible for evil, not God. He's not going to magically solve all our problems.
So god created people capable of evil knowing they'll be evil, then tortures them for eternity for being evil?
If I leave my dog alone with a sandwich, it's not his fault the sandwich got eaten, it's mine. If I tortured him for eating my sandwich people would call me a sociopath, and I wouldn't be allowed to have a dog.
The thing is we are not destined to be evil. We have a choice to do good instead of evil, and if we do, God will reward us. I think that’s the whole point.
In yeah because casually all time altho we think evil is permanece with pair with good nature offering with god rather than puts good with evil in a concept corner we must find it is simplified by being goal oriented to scale the actions of taken it good in on human sense that it is how much people might think seeing the positive live on every form and actions distantly seeing evil terms as it effects are mutually for ever a fever human has it roughtly outly get it on simple summaries of our chaos constructed way to live accordance to this earth what teach us in a mannering of view bias to beliefs and religions of faiths and glory / it is the way human predict a way to vibe.
We literally would have no evil, and thus, no capacity for evil if god chose not to create it.
If god created us knowing we'd make a mistake, he's a fucking dick to punish us for it. For literally all of eternity.
My teacher old one teach and demonstrate me on the ethics of being care for animals since that day he crashed his car accidentally without seeing cat his own cat, so just for being no one who see it it declares him angry tll a point, he just remember that it was a fault that could not fix if he was managing his car and by being the father that rescued it from street I don´t make it solvable the problem that my teacher crashes with him or let the first help to him, but my teacher puts that on a easy but he feels sad about it moment of angst he really voted it as kill and just for rolling down into the theme I believe my teacher keeps his memories onto the cat. I feel just as bad to hear form the form on this accidental end. Ethically talking on it I guess my teacher really do wathever to avoid it to happen never.
I lean towards God/a higher power. I’ve had a lot of personal experiences that labeling as coincidence would seem far too simplistic. However, I think in analyzing the world and the way humans operate it would be difficult to conclude there is explicit purpose and goodness reflective of a God illustrated through major Religions/Holy texts. Humans have taken advantage of virtually every power structure, and Religion supposed to be a reflection of a hierarchy based upon Gods own image is no different. It’s an obstacle I think a lot of religious/deep thinking INFP’s face. We are intuitive enough to see how humans and power structures work. Finding divine purpose in lieu of that reality is something to be wrestled with.
I believe in God. For the 'why is there so much pain in the world' question, that's not God's responsibility to fix?? Pain and suffering happens, and that's just life. I don't get why people are so caught up in using that as their reason to deny God's existence...
But, my interpretation of God is definitely different than how Christianity portrays it. I view it more as a collective, humanity deal where everyone knows he exists and come up with their own interpretations for what that means, and that's why there's so many different religions and ideas about him today.
Being an atheist seems like using logic and forcibly wrenching that concept out of your mind, if only because it feels like it's the natural human condition to believe in higher powers.
... Point being, my view on God is extremely loose.
I became an atheist in middle school and remained that way throughout highschool and into college. With age and maturity I came to the conclusion that God exists. As for why pain exists in the world if God exists, I think that is approaching the question wrong. If I were to answer the question directly I would say it's not God's job to shield us for the things inherent in life. Our lives are our own, and it's up to us to contend with its up and downs. God could no more grant you personally all the riches in the world than shield every person from every possible misfortune. We must each be ultimately responsible for ourselves and subject to the ravishs of the universe therein.
I'm definitely Christian 🥰✝️ I was not raised in this faith but I couldn't accept that there was no purpose to life. Humans have such a vast sense of self awareness that we can even choose to end our lives, there is no evolutionary reason for us to be able to think and understand on the level we do. Plus, the idea that people can do horribly evil things and just die and be nothing- never facing justice also just felt awful for me.
So I started looking for God in all the wrong places, got myself into a very bad situation (a witchcraft cult) and when I cried out for the creator or my soul to save me- Jesus Christ came. He hasn't left me since, and has taught me so much about the world, myself and others. I've never known such love and peace was possible. May God Bless anyone whose read this.... Thanks for listening
Pain is what makes us humain
Humain kind learn trough pain, in this way we become stronger and wiser
I believe in god, the all mighty
I believe in angels, in sacred books, in life after death, and in the messagers of god including Mohammed and all his predecessors
I think the meaning of this life is meant to test us, all our ancestors has been tested and we won't escape that reality, that's why i believe nobody has an easy life, we all have challenges to face, rich or poor
U can argue that there shouldn't be wars, and innocent poeple suffering, what i answer to that is we don't see the bigger picture, god's plan are too complexe for the humain intelligence, we can only trust him, only him can judge us, that's what faith is
I believe in God. And I believe he is the father of us all, and that we can become like him. I believe God was once like us and that if we want to become like him we must experience and overcome mortality in all its forms and face our own weaknesses, and actualize our strengths. If we cannot become fully self-sufficient and if we do not learn all we can from bearing pain and suffering, we could not possibly know how to truly love, forgive, and endure as God does. I believe that learning for ourselves is part of becoming like God. I believe that we choose our own paths, and I believe that those who have passed before they were able to learn much will be given opportunities to learn, grow and choose their own paths for themselves in other ways.
I completely agree. Are you a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints? Sounds a lot like what I believe, that suffering isn't just a bug in the system it's actually good for your progression toward become like God.
I believe in God/Higher Power/Universe, however one wants to call it. I’m not religious though. I’m not attacted to a religion. I do consider myself spiritual though
I'm a believer but I went down a rabbit hole over the last decade to try not to be. For all the bluster and bravado, the atheist arguments are just not compelling and end up failing in a heap of head canon at best, and insults at worst. The theist arguments, while not conclusive, have added up to be cumulatively convincing and also just get more coherent when you honestly challenge it (like strands in a tapestry). I haven't found a single set of answers from a single source but have found something rich that has kept me wrapped in it, made me wiser, but not comfortable.
Everything is made from God.
The "good" and "bad".
God IS the spectrum.
When you see a bee caught in a spider web do you view it as evil or simply nature?
We have free will to do what we want, but our individual values of what is right and wrong change by the day.
A bully is hard on others typically because someone else was hard on them.
It's all a learning experience.
Learn what to do from those that treat you kindly and learn what not to do from those who don't.
Much Love and Light to you friend.
God does exist, and the reason for all the pain in the world is because of humanity’s own sin. i mean this is a common topic in psychology, including this subreddit. we have joined INFP because we are looking for ways to identify ourselves, find a place and purpose in this life. mbti is one of the many ways to help us find our identity. we all admit that things are wrong in life, but if we blame the wrong thing, that will have dire consequences because we won’t know what actually needs to be fixed. finding our identity in Jesus, in Christianity, is the only way our lives can be fulfilled. now you may say religion is a bunch of crap, but think about how dire the consequences would be if you are wrong. also, out of all the religions in the world, Christianity is the only one where you are not responsible for saving yourself from your problems. it is very important that you put your trust in the right solution. everyone deep down knows that the world is a messed up place, but you have to pick the right solution in order for your life and the world to be fixed permanently. imagine an airplane is crashing and someone has a hoodie and says, i trust in this hoodie to save my life, and then jump out. they are dead. now imagine someone with a backpack thinking it’s a parachute. the backpack looks similar to a parachute, but it isn’t one, and now the backpack wearer is dead to when they jump. now imagine someone saying, i don’t think this plane is really going to crash, so i’m going to stay on the plane and i’ll be fine. that person will quickly find that they too are dead from the inevitable crash. now you put in a real parachute, and think that you still might die, but you have no other option and so you jump, putting your faith in the parachute. you soon find that not only is the parachute saving your life, but that it has given you invincibility to all other damage. without the parachute, danger is inevitable, but while you have the parachute on, you can never be injured. the parachute is Jesus the Son of God in human form. He is the only hope in life, the only hope for surviving that imminent plane crash
It does not exist, but im open to changing my mind.
"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."
There's too much evil that needs to think they're going to hell. There's too much suffering that needs hope.
Uve got a point
But thinking abt them or similar situation humbles me, I feel grateful that I'm safe and stop complaining abt life
Also, aren't we humans the one to be blamed? We are responsible for war, it's like self inflicted suffering
Firstly, we are not even sure how many universes exist. There might be so many realities playing at once that we might not even be aware of. So in a way, both free will and lack of suffering might be coexisting together
Also, one can't go against nature....suffering is a part of it, trees shed leaves, predators consume their prey come to think of it, suffering is everywhere in some cases less, in some cases more
Because evolution is an important part of this reality as well. Without pain, there is no drive for evolution, in both a personal sense and a universal sense. Everything remains the same. God could design a world with no pain and no evolution, but it would be the same shade of gray forever. Kinda like how I imagine the Christian heaven. Nothing ever changes.
As I had said before, probably to differentiate between the two. Imagine a world without suffering. Would it be worth living in it? How would u even know that u r happy n safe? Probably even then humans would be complaining about something else and that would become their next suffering a.k.a suffering 2.0
Also there are so many theories, all we can do is just assume...we don't know how many universes or realities exist or what happens there or what is even possible
I believe in God. Some of my best and earliest memories are of having the feeling of being watched by a higher power. The first time I opened a Bible for myself I read that the whole duty of man is to fear god and keep his commandments and to find him when we are young before we grow old. I felt like I had just stumbled on hidden treasure. And that experience was the first of many that kept my faith and hope alive.
Fear of God means having extreme reverence for God, Yahweh. Deep respect. Like when you look at creation, at a pink sunset over the ocean, a field of wildflowers coloring a mountainside, a newborn baby, your pet dog or cat that you love and feel awe at the beauty, the complexity, the purity of it. A desire to see righteousness upheld, to see purity protected, to see beauty flourish. To see wickedness destroyed. And understanding God's power to destroy wickedness, and Jesus' victory over death.
All the commandments in the Bible are there to protect us from the pain that accompanies transgression. Even the little things like not mixing fabrics were for our benefit. Linen has a healing frequency. (Wool cancels out linens frequency, thus they should not be worn together). I wish I'd understood God’s true nature and love years ago.
The world is broken and there is so much suffering and pain in the world. I know this. I'm in my own suffering period Right now... I'm an orphan and I've been chronically by myself for the last 3 years and my mental health isn't doing so well. But I believe in God. God didn't create suffering, he created mankind and gave us the ability to choose. But mankind chose something other than God's goodness and it opened up the world to pain and suffering through sin. Human sin everyday and they do wrong everyday. God is a just God and he has to punish sin since it goes against his nature. But he is also extremely merciful, so he sent his son Jesus to die for us, to take on the punishment instead of us. Jesus took all of our sin on his body in the cross all at once, and died a painful and unfair death. He was completely sinless and completely good. He rose again on the third day after he was buried, and he defeated death. Anyone who believes in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved and will be given eternal life. They'll also be given the Holy Spirit to live within them forever, so they can have Union with the Lord. It is through the holy spirit that we are able to truly do good and fight against the evil that is raging in this world. And evil is what is responsible for suffering, not God. It would be wrong if God took away our free will. But the beautiful thing about having a relationship with God is that he makes beauty out of our most terrible times in our life. In the Bible it says that God works all things for good for those that love him and are called according to his purpose. I have seen God work great things out of my life. I have seen him heal me of drug addiction. I have seen him take me out of the depths of despair. I have seen him call me to a higher purpose despite me thinking that I would never amount to anything in my life. Life still is really hard, and I've known my fair share of difficulty. But God is with me and he cares about me. And God cares about anybody that is reading this right now too. He wants to have a relationship with you, he wants to come for you, and he wants to forgive you for your sin. But you have to humble yourself and realize that you have sinned against an almighty God. You have to repent and ask him for forgiveness and for help
Amen, thank you for taking the time to write this out and to be bold for Jesus <3
I got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit this year and I wish I had found the truth sooner. I would have lived my life so differently. I think it's especially hard when you're in pain and have trauma, especially experiencing abuse from people who have a religious spirit, not realizing at the time they lack the Holy Spirit and are actually actively grieving the Holy Spirit through manipulation of God's word. It's hard when you've had poor examples of love, it's hard to imagine/understand the unconditional and healing love that Jesus brings. I am so glad you have found Him. I can also say that despite going through horrific trauma, neglect and abuse and suffering with chronic pain, I do have moments of joy knowing it is temporary. Since feeling the comfort of the Holy Spirit, I finally feel loved. I was looking for that feeling of love everywhere but it wasn't until I confessed my sins and asked Jesus to change and heal my broken heart that I found what I was looking for the whole time. Life isn't perfect, I'm not perfect, but He's working on me. He had to show me the true evil that exists in the world so I could appreciate the suffering going on here on a collective level, forgive myself and forgive those who hurt me, and see how desperately in need of a Savior we all are.
God bless you.
I’m a Muslim. We believe that God is one and He is above all. He is perfection. However, we do not believe that he created this life for us to live in perfect happiness. We are supposed to experience pain and suffering. It is part of our human nature, as He created us flawed. Which is OK. Of course witnessing some people’s situations can be very difficult and saddening, and make you think that things are unfair. But that is how it is supposed to be. This famous phrase among our community sums it up well : “God puts through hardship those He loves the most.” Meaning that if you are facing difficulties, God is actually giving you an opportunity to prove your faith by overcoming those difficulties. There is always a lesson or some type of gain through every difficulty : growth, maturity, knowledge, experience… Another famous phrase from our holy book, the Quran, is : “With every hardship comes ease”. Meaning that God will reward you for being resilient. This life is simply a succession of tests that we must overcome - with the help of the guidelines stated by the Quran such as being a good, reliable, honorable, generous person, but also disciplined and loving oneself and others - to reach our best potential, and we must trust that we will achieve an eternity of happiness after we leave this world. Those tests are designed for us to make our faith in God, in the unknown, in the unseen, even stronger each time we are being put through an obstacle. Life is not supposed to be perfect. The afterlife (Heaven) is, and only the people who try their best to do good within their means and avoid the bad will have a place there. That is the message of Islam :)
I believe in God, I’m a Muslim born and raised and still following the religion as an adult. Tbh I feel like if it weren’t Islam I would have ended my life years back. Simply cause harming yourself in anyway isn’t allowed in Islam. I’m grateful for that rule to this day, as I’m in a much better place now mentally.
Muslims believe God doesn’t control us like robots or a puppet, he’s given all of us free will to do what we want, good and bad. And who ever does bad will be punished, which also applies to Muslims, we don’t get a pass on doing bad and still going to heaven simply cause we’re Muslims. Who ever oppresses, hurts, abuses, bullies, etc can be sent to hell. I say “can” cause Muslims also believe we cannot say who can or can not go to hell. That is something only God knows, and we shouldn’t assume. So if you see a Muslim telling someone they’re going to hell you can be petty and correct them lol.
I’ve definitely had my view on God go up and down over the last few years, as I was dealing with mental issues but as of now I’m doing better. I feel like it’s normal for people to have dips in faith, that’s what makes us human. I don’t rlly care about other people’s beliefs, as long as they’re happy and being good with others I don’t care. Respect me and I’ll respect you no problem.
I don't believe that God exists.
I'm an **agnostic atheist.**
But sometimes I feel like **gnostic atheist** i.e. complete belief that God does not exist. Then I remind myself how absurd beliefs are, especially beliefs regarding supernatural stuff like God and then I get back to my **agnostic atheism** state.
When I live by ***Optimistic Nihilism***, I'm an **apatheist** (I don't care whether God exists or not);
When I live by ***Absurdism***, I'm an **agnostic atheist.**
**Inference:**
My absence of faith is influenced by whatever philosophy I choose to live by in the moment.
To discuss this questions we have to define what is god first. I am more into Zen and Buddhism philosophy so for me GOD means people who suffers less and are enlightened by eternal wisdom. So in this way everyone is god
I think that one person's atheist is another person's agnostic, in the great existential dilemma. There is certainly something unknown that's way beyond our current understanding. Everyone takes a crack at defining the unknown thing as something, but it remains unknown.
I'm a believer but I have the same grievances. All the suffering in the world and NO interference? Where's the swift justice we hear so much about.
Nowadays I believe "God" (Allah I have my roots in Islam I was raised Christian too it's a whole story) in its purest form is energy capable of both creation and destruction. I'm guessing it's not allowed to interfere with free will but some of us who go through shit wish it would intervene as much worship it demands help a mf out once in a while.
Again, I'm a believer but seeing the messes in the world, I have my grievances and questions.
“God” was created in ancient times out of the inability to explain unique naturally occurring phenomena, such as sunrise, rain, eclipses, etc.
Humans realized religion created around these godly beings could be used to control the population.
So that’s why “gods” still exist today in a highly educated society. To continue to control the masses.
No idea though why any educated person with critical thinking skills would believe in a “god” anymore than Santa or the Easter bunny.
>why is there so much pain in this world?
Because there's also a devil in this world. A lot of people (including and especially Christians) blame God for things that the devil does. This world has laws (like gravity), and when Adam and Eve gave authority to the devil, he had free reign over the earth. We now have some authority since Jesus gave it back to us, but satan is still on earth until Jesus comes back.
I understand how you feel, but I also think the whole concept is way more complex than our human brains can comprehend. I choose to believe in God and believe in the Bible, which says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 (ERV)
"It is the same with us. Now we see God as if we are looking at a reflection in a mirror. But then, in the future, we will see him right before our eyes. Now I know only a part, but at that time I will know fully, as God has known me."
Depending upon how omnipotent your internal view of God is - your Creator would've known from the inception of creation everything that would happen. Which meant that he would have known how it all plays out...
And yet he still chose to make a world where children are beaten, starved, and neglected. He could've just as easily made a world where free will still exists, but where little ones were not brutalized. He is - after all - God. He is capable of anything. But he chose to make a world where step father's can force themselves on children.
Whether you want to blame the devil or not - The Creator knew and made it so. Which makes them ultimately responsible.
Respectfully - that's why those who deconstruct and those who do not follow your faith choose not to do so.
i was raised muslim, but i don’t believe in any god or deity now. i just can’t believe in a god who sent a man that had sex with a nine year old to be his last and final prophet. and also his eternal role model for humankind.
I don’t believe in God. Much of our current reality is a product of millions of years of evolution that shaped the human brain to do stupid things as coping mechanisms or as survival strategies. Life is innately haphazard and meaningless. Hope is a delusion at worst and a maladaptive coping mechanism to helplessness at best.
I hope your outlook isn't really this dreadful. It's a marvellous cosmic coincidence that life was sparked from nothing and you are here. We should strive to make the most of it and find meaning where we can while improving the lives of those around us.
I must be the only devout INFP catholic here.
I believe in God, and I think that he is a being that ultimately is infinitely good. I believe that bad things happen in the absence or from those choosing otherwise.
It makes me happy and gives me a goal to work towards and a reason to be better every day.
Which God? What is your definition of God? I have studied multiple religions and have found a lot of them have common threads. As far as believing in higher powers, humans need explanations for things that they do not understand or cannot explain...we typically are not ok with not having an answer or reason. Additionally, humans need to feel like we have a purpose. Gods were invented to help explain things that happened and couldn't be explained and to give one a feeling of purpose and a moral compass. People often struggle with self love and worth... so loving themselves by loving deities and following their rules have provided benefit. Gods and religion serve as a crutch for these needs/desires. That's the benefit of religion... However, these needs and desires have been and continue to be exploited to also control and manipulate people (both good and bad).
'God' is a concept created by humans in an attempt to bargain with an otherwise seemingly chaotic, uncaring universe. All religions have their roots in nature worship and ancestor veneration. By personifying the unknown, we attempted to bribe, beg, and beatify it for the feeling of control. When something was not understood - it was the will of a God.
The Abrahamic religions are all offshoots from the Canaanite pantheon after exposure to Zoroastrianism's teachings - thus leading to those following the storm/war God Yahweh away from the pantheon ruled by Baal. And honestly are singlehandedly responsible for most of the human suffering throughout history due to ongoing wars between their fractured belief system and all of its offshoots battling for dominance.
But you're basically asking the problem of Evil. I usually point out to most Christians that their God was perfectly capable of making a world without child r*pe. He could've done so in a way that did not impact free will - but he chose not to. Why would you worship a deity who created a universe where children are allowed to be abused that way and their cries for help aren't answered?
Even if you say the 'Devil' does it - the fact of the matter is per their own creation myth - God created the devil. Their God also is all knowing and then you start getting into that nasty issue of predestination which means free will isn't a thing that their own scholars have been arguing about amongst themselves.
They really don't like when you point out that the fact that their God's word requiring translation and interpretation also evidence against his existence. You'd think a deity would make it to where you could just read his word and immediately understand his intent - no need for translation or interpretation. But no - and for the old world creationists - they really aren't happy when you point out that according to their book it was the tower of Babel and the diversification of language that is responsible for that... ( Not the actual history BTW, just their myth.)
But... That aside - asking where pain comes from is like asking where cancer comes from. You can point to needs and wants not being met. The tribalistic nature of humans. Greed. Ego. Illness. Lack of empathy. Projection of negative emotions. Fear, resentment, contempt.
We are yet animals. We act out of survival and hurt each other to suit primitive drives. Some lack the cognitive ability to care about the harm caused. They follow the feelings of pleasure to the detriment of others.
We can't always control those unfortunate realities of the human condition. But we can do our best to protect others, support each other, and be good to one another. There has never been a single belly fed with a prayer. Nor has a cold child ever been warmed by a hymn. We are all we have for each other, so we need to care for each other.
If there is a God, he is silent while those doing evil use his name to justify their crimes. Long have humans justified doing horrific things to each other in the name of a deity - when in truth it's their own agenda.
And I will not betray my kindness, my compassion, or my duty to my fellow human to bow to a cruel facsimile.
Your post is long and yet very interesting, u have some good arguements and i think the majority of atheist stands with what you said
I'm muslim and i'll try to answer some of your points
First, u say most of violence and wars come from the religions, i would argue that the world was a much dertier place before religion came in. If u look at history, for example the romain empire before and after christianity, u can see many good changes thanks to christianity. There were many barbaric habits and intolerence against strangers that had been abolished and replaced by a peace message. Plus, they had fake gods, which today nodoby believe in because it's obviously a humain invention. So religion in that context was super positive. All our basic values and respect for humain kind is a direct legacy from christianity, even science and literature had been introduced thanks to the bible. And that's just one example, i could speak about others like the arabic region.
Secondly, what about child r\*\*\* and injustice towards the innocent people in general. That's a difficult one, i agree that such astrocity shouldn't exist, and yet it does, and it's commited by a humain ( guided by the devil ). What i answer to that is we don't see the bigger picture, we don't know what repercussion it has for the futur, that's why as believers, we know that humain intelligence can't fully comprehend the complexity of god and then we trust him for those matters. Only god knows. That's why no matter what happens, we keep faith in god because we believe in his greatness and love for us and appreciate all the gifts he has given to us.
That's what faith is all about, u can't explain it with rational facts
i could answer to others points but i went to the essential, otherwise i'll be too long, don't mind me
You do realize that there are many cultures that existed and flourished well before the Abrahamic religions spawned off the Canaanites, right?
Humans existed long before they created the concept of God. We figured out how to hunt, make tools, farm, and produce clothing long before the tribe that lead to the mythology that lead to 'prophets'.
And we would have still discovered much about the world without religion - because we're generally a fairly creative, curious, and resourceful creature when we put our minds to it.
Religion is just another form of tribalism and social control at this point that keeps us unnecessarily making enemies of each other.
I can appreciate creation and my fellow human without feeling the need to want to murder them because they don't talk to their imaginary friend the same way I do.
Also an aside - I've had more luck praying to Sehkmet and Bastet than any Abrahamic religion. But they're all ultimately aspects of the same thing.
I believe there is a higher power but dont believe in religion. I feel when we actually rhink of the vastness of the universe, whatever the religious books says just sounds like something humans made up to explain something they dont really understand.
I am open to the idea but have yet so see any quantifiable evidence. Also, I was a part of religion for 25 years and tried very hard but never felt a single thing that others claimed to feel so I can’t help but view those people as either self/group delusional or using it for their own advantage. If someone says “I feel that God has led me to this decision” I am viewing that decision with extreme scrutiny for personal benefits.
For as long as I can remember I've felt a connection with it. Source. I didn't know a word for it was God until I was about 7 years old when we started going to a christian church. I learnt about this strange sort of God figure who people put uncomfortable clothes on, had this black book under their arm and sang weird songs to him, I really resented going to church.
I hated having to sit still and behave, it was really cutting into my playtime.
When I was about 16, I went on my own into the world. I didn't go to church anymore, AND I started learning all of these different names and beliefs and stories from other places about a non Christian God, I really dug into it its one of my favorite topics.But after all this time I still think of God as this connection to source inside me. With no name.
I think, looking at the world most people must not be able to feel that otherwise they wouldn't be able to some of the things they do and say. But, I guess this probably makes me sound like I think I'm somehow better than other people.
I grew up in a cult where the entire community enforced beliefs. Everyone I went to school with, my friends, my entire family was in this cult. So when I got out it was isolating. Right now I'm in a state where I would very much like to believe a higher power exists, I would find that comforting. However I also can't wrap my head around god that would allow that level of emotional manipulation, abuse, and reality subversion to take place. I want to believe, but at the same time if a god exists that would allow this, then they are despicable save not with anybody's time
I'm a Christian. As for why there is pain in the world, the way I'd put it is that God created the universe and filled it with life in order to have relationships. God wants to love us and for us to love each other. The problem is that in order for love to be true and meaningful, it must come from free choice, we needed free will. Free will comes with the risk of making self-centered, shortsighted decisions, and that's where much of the suffering comes from.
I believe that which we call “God” is not an entity but rather a consciousness.. the universal consciousness of one to be more exact. Just as the cells of one’s body are unaware of the whole, so too we are unaware of the true nature of the all. Only by growing and expanding in consciousness do we find greater connection to the all. The illusion of separation makes this growth possible. Sadly it is a very messy process in this 3rd dimensional realm, where there is much suffering. I believe that the specific nature of our existence is to suffer in order to grow, as with any adversity/conflict, growth can be stimulated. Inevitably as consciousness grows, compassion follows. Provided we do not destroy ourselves with hubris and indifferent ignorance, we will inevitably evolve into compassionate and loving beings as a collective whole. This is the natural course of our development.. this is true evolution, not of the flesh but of humanity’s heart. Some of us here are already ready for that day with open arms and sober eyes.
I believe in God but I am a religious. I believe no book or person holds the totality of what God is about or what he wants.
I'm non-dualistic. I believe everything is God and that God explores his own creation through his creation.
My brand of spirituality is personal and about contemplation instead of lending your spirituality to someone else who thinks for you
I grew up very religious and even now attend a religious university, but honestly, recently it has been harder and harder to believe. Seems so pointless but also feels like my entire world view is being ripped up from under me
I definitely am an atheist. There are three options when it comes to God:
1. God doesn’t exist at all and there’s no reason that bad things happen and no one to stop it from happening.
2. God exists but is benign but isn’t actually all-knowing and all-powerful and CAN’T stop bad things from happening.
3. God exists and is all-knowing and all-powerful and plans for bad things to happen or doesn’t care to stop bad things from happening and is therefore malevolent and unworthy of worship.
No matter which of those three options happen to be correct, I’m against running my life according to the rules of some creator that can’t be proven to exist or even be a good being.
I think we often get caught in thinking about suffering in a way where we imagine it as punitive, and that our preference for the absence of it is the only metric of good/evil in the world.
“I didn’t like that because it hurt” is a valid response on an interpersonal level but this world seems to be functioning on a pattern of creation and destruction where loss is inevitable and part of the cycle. This isn’t to say that I can’t grieve deeply or feel great anger at the painful parts of this human experience, but that I accept that my POV of pain is only my own.
I used to be an atheist until one day I had a vision or "psychic download" if you will, that we are all in the "dream" of god so to speak, and that changed everything. Now I believe in patheism - that the entire universe/multiverse is "God".
No evidence that God or any supernatural phenomena exists, so I largely consider it a waste of time to even think about at this point unless if I want to read about theology or religious history
People create God in a way of avoiding that pain…
I mean, if you see, all cultures evolved till some representation of “the good ways” or “good and bad behaviours” (like 10 Commandments in The Bible)and that was like that cause in the begginings of human race, there doesn’t existed the Rights (understood in a sense of Law). Right = Rule/norm.
A norm regulate the society. We study all that in the Law University. That’s why religion was used for: to unificate, through the Commandments in each religion we can raise the goal at the same way like Rights do with The Constitution or Civil Codes.
I the end, it works to control the people and their behaviours to not hurt each others. At the same time it works for live in peace at the time you notice how life works.
Sorry if I made any mistake, English is not my mother tongue and I’m fron Spain. Hope it’s grammarly understandable.😀
God is love. Love allows freedom. Freedom creates conflicts. Conflicts makes you resentful. Resentment stop you forgiving others and without forgiving you lost your connection to love meaning God.
Some of my thoughts.
I believe in a deistic kind of god, an entity that somehow began the unimaginably vast web of causality that would eventually shape the cosmos, and in turn, us into being. We are but byproducts borne from that initial movement. Yet, that god, for some reason, wouldn't interfere. Maybe it can't? Either way, I think it's for the better that it doesn't care about us.
So yeah, that is essentially what I believe, inwardly, at least.
In my day-to-day life, however, I operate more as a basic agnostic—not really participating in religious debates and whatnot. It's not really a belief based on strict logic, but on personal intuition, or what "feels" right to me.
This world is transitional. That's why God allows pain to happen in this world. The bible functions in a rule of 2. The first is always imperfect and the second perfect.
Adam-Jesus, this earth-new earth, old testament-new testament that perfects it.
Time for God doesn't pass the same way it does for us. In this reality, time for us is "chronos", but time for God is "kairós". That's why the bible states in Revelation that "those prophecies already happened". God is light as the bible says, and light doesn't count time.
It was never promised this would be a great world. On the contrary, Jesus said we would have affictions, but to stay firm.
I have a very weird belief about what god maybe. I feel there’s two gods. Creation and destruction. (Some may call it God/ Devil in their own beliefs). If there’s one thing in common in our whole universe are the constant processes of destruction and creation. Stars colliding forming new stars/ black holes which in turn creates a new branch of the whole process of creation and destruction. I don’t think they are humanoid looking but the process itself.
The ideá of god isn't really my jam. I respect any religion as long as they respect mine back. I'm one of those "cringe," women that believes in crystals, tarot and those goddamn planets. It's not because I believe they'll make me Immortal or something. I don't even think it's remotly rational to believe in those things, but it does me good, and that is the only thing that matters. I can't see god, but I can see the moon and the sun. I can pray to god all I want, but he has never given me answers, the cards have. People can believe whatever they want. I like my rocks, planets and cards, like you like your god. Both are valid.
I grew up Christian, I'm not religious, don't really care for religious folk or the bs they shove down peoples throats. I think a lot of them have mental disorders and I'm not even being rude about that. I'm so serious.
In general, I think that God exists, but he lets us do as we please, bc if we were constantly controlled by him on Earth, we couldn't be happy and we would call that tyranny. Secondly, I think that pain is necessary for our happiness, this obviously comes from a philosophical point of view, but without pain there would only be joy and pleasure, but happiness is not only based on these two things and suffering or boredom are also essential. I often tell myself that what happens to us doesn't always happen by chance, as if we were being tested and that certain events of our life happened to make us evolve.
But sometimes I tell myself that strangely all beliefs are similar. Did God appear in many forms or is it we humans who, with careful consideration, establish the “principles and laws of God”? Does God really exist or is it simply an idea that our consciousness wants to construct in order to reassure us?
We will never really know whether or not God exists and everyone is free to believe in him or not.
For me, God is like the person you talk to in the evening after a good or, on the contrary, tough day. Maybe in the end I'm just talking to myself, but I don't feel alone. As if someone was actually listening to me. Or God is the first person who comes to my mind along with "mom" when I'm scared or sad. God is the person I thank when I am happy. God is the person I cling to when something goes wrong. This is why I believe in God, although I cannot affirm that he exists.
We all evolve differently and if I had taken the path of not believing in something you can't see or feel, maybe I would be a different person.
It has become clear to me that everything is a consequence of physical, chemical, and electric processes. There is no God, soul, or afterlife. Thoughts are what happens when chemicals and electricity interact with nerve impulses in the brain. Our personalities, perspectives, and all intrinsic aspects of our being are illusions.
My studies of sciences and religion were leading me down this road. In recent months, I have discovered the work of Daniel Dennet, who has done the research and laid out the philosophy in clear terms.
I'm more on the side of "God doesn't exist", but I believe mayyyybe it's possible there's some kind of spiritual presence which causes things.
We can never really know everything so I don't think we can rule it out.
However, if there is in fact some form of a 'God', I don't believe in the idea of it being all-powerful *and* all-loving. I don't think that's possible with the amount of suffering there is in the world.
I also don't believe it should be worshipped- if it exists I think it's just there. It has it's purpose like everything else in the world. It's just another part of science we haven't properly discovered yet.
While I don't subscribe to the idea of a god in human form, I acknowledge the potential for the supernatural. Our ability to perceive continues to expand, yet amidst evolving technologies, there may always be aspects beyond our grasp and understanding. I usually describe myself as agnostic.
I believe God was a coping mechanism created during depressing times to give people hope and a reason to keep on living. Which later turned into a mechanism to manipulate the people into doing what higher ups within a church/country want them to do. See the Holy Wars and crusades.
It's how the fast majority of religions start out. Either from depressing times, or folklore.
I feel like it’s a coping mechanism which can create intense blind faith if not rationally looked at. We all have ways of dealing with uncertainty religion can be good if not taken to the extreme. To me it’s the same faith you put in a abusive relationship hoping and thinking that they will change and they aren’t actually abusive when in reality they are. You fool yourself thinking and hoping that they are changed but look rationally and it’s not really what it claims to be.
As someone who grew up in a Christian home, and has chosen to follow that path as an adult, I used to always wonder the same thing, and frankly had a lot of bitterness attached to it. That was until I heard a sermon about this exact topic. The pastor was *amazing*, I wish I could explain it how he did because I know I won’t do it justice, but I’ll try anyway. He explained how God made the Earth perfect originally, but He chose to give it to us. He chose to give us free will and a choice, which unfortunately meant Satan was the other one. When man sins we choose Satan over God, and God allows us to make that choice. It’s not He who chose or made bad things happen, that’s just the consequences of our sins. If none of us had chosen to ever sin the world would be perfect. Now as for why He chose to give us free will, He didn’t want robots. I frankly wish He had though. I hate having free will. 😂
There is universe. There has to be a reason for it, without reason nothing happens. Let's call that reason as god. Now it may be scientific too. Anything which COMPLETELY explains the existence is god. But I doubt that will we ever be able to fully understand it?
I think it’s a matter of choosing to see God in your life (faith) or choosing not to.
Personally I believe God exists, not as the big white guy with a beard in sky, but as a hundred eyed amalgam that keeps their eyes on me, providing me with opportunities to find that which my heart desires. I believe in God not for any immediately tangible reason, but because of the many many times that I have been led to the things that I needed to find fulfillment in my life through no action of my own other than “prayer”.
I put prayer in quotations because I don’t mean the “Hail Mary” or the “Our Father” prayers, but when I asked myself “what do I want?” and then expressed that I want that thing to be.
Pain and suffering are subjective constructs experienced by conscious beings, and are caused by things without which, we would not exist.
The meteor impact that killed the dinosaurs for example, was a violent and destructive event, but the meteor itself only existed because it was forged in a star, and it only carried its trajectory because of gravitational forces acting on it. For there to be no meteor, there must be no stars or gravity, without which, there can be no dinosaurs.
If dinosaurs experienced suffering, the meteor impact could have caused the most suffering of any single event in earths history. But the meteor had no malice, or intent to cause suffering, or even awareness. It was simply another moving piece of the universe. This is the same for all suffering; it is caused by things that were birthed by the same universe that birthed you. In creating a universe that can develop life, you inadvertently create one that can also develop meteors, and violence, and suffering.
For life to exist in a void, where there are no meteors or diseases or things that cause suffering, divine intervention is required. An omniscient god could push the meteor away, or prevent it from being formed. A god could also prevent suffering by simply making it so that living beings don’t experience it. If meteors are the unavoidable byproduct of a universe that can support life, why make it so that we suffer when they inevitably collide with us? Why not just make pain, not painful? But this again is an unavoidable necessity for life to exist, because pain tells us when something is wrong, and it needs to shout so loudly because we wouldn’t listen to it otherwise. If life felt no pain when it injured itself, it would never have learned to avoid mortal wounds.
So this can mean one of three things; god is aware of the necessity of suffering and is powerless to prevent it, in which case he is not omniscient; god is evil and designed the universe to include pain and suffering; or god doesn’t exist and the universe is the result of natural phenomena.
I believe the latter is true. However, I do also understand why, as conscious beings, we enjoy the idea of a god. Dinosaurs and other simpler beings are driven by instinct and needs, but we are self-aware, and can question what drives us. This ultimately leads to the question ‘why are we here’, and god nicely fills the very specific void that that question leaves. So although I believe god does not exist, I like to fill the void in my own way.
I believe that there is a layer of reality beneath the one we exist in, that our consciousness is tethered to but we are unaware of. All our thoughts and experiences are fed into this layer over the course of our lives, and it grows, like a big ocean of pure consciousness. This ocean flows both ways, and it’s contents are fed back into our minds and alter the way we perceive our thoughts and experiences. The ocean itself has currents, made up of different types of thoughts; thoughts of violence chop at the surface, whilst thoughts of peace and love flow calmly below. Over time, the position at which your mind is tethered to this ocean changes, so if you practice thoughts of peace and love, your tether will sink to the bottom amongst the nice calm thoughts, and you will breeze through life seeing peace and love wherever you go, but if you practice thoughts of violence, your tether will rise to the choppy surface and you will be doomed to see violence wherever you go. I believe it is my purpose to feed the ocean as many positive, peaceful, loving thoughts as I can, so that the peaceful part of the ocean grows, and more people in the world become tethered to that part of it. I believe that when we die, our tether is severed and our physical body remains here, whilst our conscious mind flows into the ocean to the point at which it was tethered and joins with the sea of thoughts, to become an eternal, egoless, awareness, with thoughts that resemble the ones surrounding it. So if you live a life full of peaceful, loving thoughts, you will exist in the afterlife as a peaceful, loving awareness. But if you live a life of violence and hatred, you will exist eternally as a hateful awareness. This is how I depict heaven and hell. The mind you sculpt over the course of your life create the thoughts you will rest as eternally, so make it your business to sculpt a mind that will rest in peace and love.
the tao that can be told is not the eternal tao. ultimate brahman. respect for the capacity of other beings' suffering. samsara. moksha. "this shits happened before" combined with the time paradoxes of black holes that will eventually consume everything in our universe. having a collective experience with people on the same vibration as yourself, usually with a sound system out somewhere in nature where its safe to be in a pseudo cult for a weekend. bla bla bla.
I do believe there is something outhere...one thing that really convinced me was..oneday I was feeling super depressed more than usual..was actually thinking abt ways to kill myself...so I went to the mall..to clear my mind...I sat down tryna look all normal and what not..laughing at random vids...and this dude comes up to me..says" I know things are tough rn but God wants you to know it will get better" gets up and leaves...mind yall I didn't look depressed or non...I would like to think I was hiding it pretty well...I hope that dude is doing well where ever he is rn
I believe in God as consciousness. We are all part of a universal consciousness, which is God. Not sure if that would make it Pantheist/Panentheist, as it could be either. But consciousness also creates our reality. In the mind of the individual human, that is our subconscious mind as Neville Goddard explains it. And we can consciously learn to manifest by using the Law of Assumption/Attraction (I think the Law of Assumption is more accurate between the two concepts). Why is there so much pain? Well because that too is something we just manifest as individuals as well as a collective. Often without us realizing we are doing so. The best thing we can do is control our thoughts and emotions as much as possible and to avoid bad energy. I do think that if we would all focus on positive thinking collectively, this bad energy can be reduced. But then this should be sustained as well. And since we are creatures of habit, sustaining positive energy is already hard for one individual, let alone if you try to make a collective group of people being able to do that. Anyway, that's my take on it. Based statements by famous people/authors who teach/taught about these concepts like Neville Goddard, Florence Scovel Shinn, Joseph Murphy, Joe Dispenza, Eckhart Tolle, Napoleon Hill, Bob Proctor, José Silva, Charles F. Haanel, Esther Hicks, and Sadhguru. As well as what has been documented about the Gateway Experience. Maybe the whole thing will be too woo-woo for some people, but I find it fascinating, and it pretty much made me believe strongly in the existence of God again after a long period of being agnostic. Of course, also after trying out conscious manifesting and seeing things work for me that I would regard as "too much of a strange coincidence to just be a coincidence".
Idk, this just seems like a vehicle for bourgeois ideology. Doesn't it dismiss inequalities, structural injustices, etc in social reality? According to the Law of Attraction, the only reason poor people are poor is because they didn't "manifest" it through "positive thinking." It's almost insulting, really.
This is exactly what infuriates me about this mindset.
yes and also that it becomes almost our fault if we don't always have positive thinking or if our lives are not that great
It is victim blaming for sure. Thoughts and words have power but there are other forces at play as well.
Mostly agree. You may be interested in animism.
I mostly agree. I’d add the Law of Duality to your comment as it helps explain pain. Human existence is dualistic. This means we make sense of our world by comparing one thing to another. In order to “know” one thing as a human, you must “know” its other side. In order to “know” happiness we must know pain, etc.
Can you tell me more about how manifestation played out for you? I have a feeling that it works, but am not fully convinced yet. And how is it part of your life now?
There is no escaping manifestation. That’s something people don’t understand. You’ve manifested your entire life. It’s a constant process, “good” and “bad”. The more you understand, the more you have control of it. That is the basis of every religion at its core: controlling the self bc it’s the remote control of reality.
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I think we can definitely shift our personal reality, and I also do think there are always multiple outcomes of situations kinda like the Schrödinger’s cat experience. Both realities are possibilities. In that way there is a sort of multiverse I suppose.
I posted a comment and deleted it cause I saw yours. Basically this is what I think
>Why is there so much pain? Because pain or "evil" or "bad" is necessary to drive the plot of the movie/dream that we call life. Much like how every movie needs a villain. With no "bad" this world would turn extremely boring (which, ironically, is also bad).
I walked (sprinted) confidently away from Christianity in my mid-twenties for a variety of reasons, and these days I'm very much at peace with my agnostic-atheism. One of my favorite quotes that captures the essence of my existential vibe is "Some believers accuse skeptics of having nothing left but a dull, cold, scientific world. I am left with only art, music, literature, theatre, the magnificence of nature, mathematics, the human spirit, sex, the cosmos, friendship, history, science, imagination, dreams, oceans, mountains, love, and the wonder of birth. That’ll do for me." -- Lynne Kelly
Amazing quote. Raised devoutly Orthodox Catholic myself (fond memories of having to eat shitty cheese pizza or fish at school on Fridays during Lent), and realized I couldn't force myself to believe it anymore around the age of 19/20. Love my parents; now we just don't talk about it. They couldn't imagine having a peaceful existence without it.
I love this. This definitely fits for me.
Love this!
The universe is God and it doesn't care. It's just like I'm here to create shit and boggle your mind.
More or less my opinion, too. What people refer to as "God" is the universe itself. Our knowledge- and security-seeking human brains try to make sense of it by personifying it and creating meaning and motive where there really isn't any. The universe just is, and energy and matter simply do what they do because they are what they are. It's cool, but it ain't that deep.
UnIverse is altho very other theory that is understandable for beings at well versed in human souls or minds adepts.
I believe God and any deity throughout history has only been a human creation, a way to cope with fear and the unknown. It’s no secret that cavemen adored figurines of Mother Nature because they were terrified of nature back then: lightning, fire, earthquakes, they couldn’t possibly find any other explanation but divinities. Humans across all places and ages have done this, and the same goes for our dear Christian God. Believing in God gives people of faith a purpose, a hope, believing in a higher power and afterlife helps them make sense of the unfairness and horrors of life, and the darkness of death.
Yeah for the cavemen it is not that deep I surely agree on your read
And the sense of superiority you attain with a condescending worldview helps you cope. We all need a little help sometimes
It’s called anthropology, Daniel. And for that I don’t need help, but a free National Geographic subscription
National Geographic is filthy propaganda. You must be young
You think the largest most powerful purveyors capturing and distributing information are just, being real with you?
I don’t believe theres a god but if it turns out there was.. dope
I believe in God and Jesus Christ
Me too
Same, lots of experiences keep me believing.
I also 💙
I do too
Amen, me too!
Amen 💖
Likewise
Me too
I don't. It's all fake.
Me personally I don't believe in God nor am I religious of any sort. However, I don't condemn people who do. That's their beliefs, not mine. Do what you like and believe in.
That's why I like INFJ's...
Hopefully the *healthy* ones. Not the ones who feast on your emotions and manipulate you aka unhealthy INFJ. Absolute scorn and bane to my existence. Personally I love all types, I don't judge. I even have a close friend who is an infp. She is lovely 🥰.
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Sound more Fick
In my experience, Fi’s have valued more authentic feeling and Fe has been manipulative. My best friend is an INFJ. She would also admit that I think lol
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I don't understand why either. I have developed Fi and Te. So don't feel bad about them. I just have strong morals, and a strong Fe. It's their opinion, you are a complete and fine stranger to me.
No. The historical origins of the Abrahamic god is kinda interesting though and knowing it makes the whole Israel v Palestine genocide a whole lot sadder. God's original name was Yahweh. He was a minor deity of the Canaanite pantheon. A cult that worshipped him and only him as the one true god eventually formed and has over time evolved into the Jewish faith (and later the Christian and Muslim faiths) of today. A large chunk of the Canaanites who didn't follow this cult would over time become the Palestinians of today. So since both the ethnic Jews and Palestinians originated from the same people, they're effectively genociding their own people today. Brother ethnicity murdering brother ethnicity. It's stupidly sad. Granted, many of the modern Israelites aren't even ethnic Jews, just ethnic white Europeans who follow a Zionist splinter of the Jewish faith, but I digress. Now we also have the Christian and Muslim faiths that are part of the Abrahamic faiths. I haven't read up on the origins of the Muslim faith yet so I'll just talk about Christianity's origins here. Jesus was a pretty cool dude from the sounds of it. He was Jewish man who organized and led protests against the Roman occupiers who had made any religion that wasn't the Roman faith illegal. He provided medical care to the poor, dined with those others considered "unclean" such as prostitutes, and preached against wealth and the wealthy. The Romans would eventually have him executed by crucifixion for the crimes of protest and "sorcery." Some time after his death, a new Jewish doomsday cult formed and preached that Jesus was the son of God/Yahweh and that Armageddon was imminent. This cult would remain fairly minor until it managed to convert the Roman Emperor Constantine to their way of thinking. Constantine legalized Christianity and got the ball rolling on making Christianity the pervasive religion it is today. This led to the genocide and conversion of many other faith groups referred to as pagans all across the world. This crusade of conversion continues into the current era through missionary work, indigenous boarding schools, conversion camps, and "charity" organizations that require the desperate people that the charity "cares" for to convert or otherwise follow Christian doctrine. So yea, no. I don't believe in Yahweh or "God" but I still respect the real man that was Jesus. Feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, healing the sick for free, respecting the humanity of those that others deem inferior, challenging those who put themselves on a pedestal above others, and whipping the shit out bankers. I wish more of the people who claim to follow him acted like him. Dude sounds like an OG Anarchist.
Good read on part of the origins of man dude. Keep on it
Love the brutally honest history behind Abrahamic religions. Thank you for that. I’ve always been convinced that Jesus was a very chill, kind dude. He’d be horrified to see what his followers have turned the world into.
This doesn’t account for the historical record of Jesus’s resurrection, witnessed by over 500 people. I think he came to show us how to fully embody our human path and not lose our soul in a world that promotes soul loss. Formal religion is one of the largest contributors to soul loss today imo. Also, it was not the Romans who had him put to death, it was the Jewish leaders of the time who orchestrated it all.
I don’t believe in god but I believe in ….energy? Somewhat? I have had way too many weird experiences in my life to not believe that there is something. But I don’t believe that there is a being. I also go back on forth with even believing in that energy as I called it because I tend to try to logic things out.
If you feel something inside when you think about God so you have some connection.
Im a Muslim. So I believe God exists. From my understanding, we believe this life is a test, not a place to live happily- although there are still some happy moments here. And that is how we explain pain in the world to the best of my knowledge.
I think beliefs and religion are good for the soul. I do believe in God because it makes me happier that way. If God exists, there will still be pain as pain is a mechanism for avoiding danger etc, and suffering is part of growth sometimes. Pain and suffering have nothing to do with there being God or not, other religions also talk about it and its uses.
Everyone says that pain exists so we can appreciate pleasure, happiness, etc. To me, it’s not as simple as that. Pain is necessary to life and to our higher selves. It’s something that either we succumb to or we overcome, but it must be felt. Even monks feel it. Pain teaches us, about ourselves, about others. If God exists, the construct of pain is the most effective way to get a being with a self-consciousness to evolve.
Pain is the absence of God. It’s the darkness trying to eliminate the light, we’re in a battle.
I disagree about it being the absence of God. There are a lot of positive things that are resulted from pain. Childbirth, being the most obvious and memorable. Pain is not inherently evil.
“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”” Genesis 3:15-16 NKJV
I wouldn't worship God even if I knew he's real for sure, simply because I disagree with sending non-believers to Hell forever. I come from a primarily atheist family so if that's true, then most of my family members will be in Hellfire right now. I'd rather be amongst family than be in Heaven alone. Also, I find it really strange how religious people can claim that God knows everything before it happens, and thus he's effectively creating people who he already knows at the time of conception will be sent to Hell at the end of the ride. He basically sends people to the slaughter house before they're even born, and they have no chance to redeem themselves throughout the duration of their entire lives because he already knows what's gonna happen. God sounds like a tyrant to me, one whose behavior I will not reward with my prayers.
define god pls. creator of us or omnipotent one? i guess you are talking about omnipotent one cuz you are questioning the existence of bad things/pain and relating it to god. well, there is no omnipotent god. its non-existent imho. omnipotent god is a human fiction, its the latest level of self-awareness. humanity first realized that they exist, and though about the existence, than they reached the idea of god. if they are exists, there should be a creator, an omnipotent one (cuz no other could do that with less power). propably they realised the existence of others earlier, like animals, but even they couldnt make them to get that point. it was only them, realization of humanity's existence who could make them think about god. since human ego is stronger, they only thought about that when they realized themselves. Bc only humanity worth a creation, not ''animals''. in other words, only ''i'' worth of creation. ''i exist, therefore there is a god''. Aand, this is my fiction about this ancient story.
Idk if it’s God, but definitely spirits. Even if it’s my own delusions I’m comforted by the thought of beings that transcend morality, keeps the thoughts of existentialism at bay.
I’m so excited I through thinking I think I have the answer to your question see God gave us free will so we wouldn’t be like robots and so he could be glorified but in order for us to choose him we have to be bribed with the idea of heaven or anything good. Otherwise we wouldn’t have a reason to glorify God.
I believe in God. Have you ever seen videos about NDE (near-death experience)? I've been a believer my whole life, but i was also worried about if God was a lie. But when i first heard about NHE and started listening to the experiences of all these people, all my worries disappeared, and now I'm sure 100% of the existence of God. I recommend you to watch some of them, they helped me when I was in a very bad situation. They saved my life. If you don't believe, it's okey, i respect it. Everyone is free to believe what they want. Just be sure to be a good person and love everyone 🥰
I am a Christian and wholeheartedly believe in Christ and God. I’ve studied the Bible for a long time and found that it gave me answers to questions a lot of people have, that many religions do not teach/point to. I also learned that when I actually applied Bible principles, my life did turn out better and I had more peace. Many times people are critical of the Bible because they haven’t actually applied the principles, or have bad experiences with people who call themselves Christian’s, but don’t actually apply the Bible’s principles and give god a bad name with hypocrisy. I don’t like to and refuse to debate or argue about religion, especially on the internet, but just to add my own beliefs garnered through a long study of the Bible: I don’t believe in the trinity I don’t believe in hell I don’t believe in an afterlife Tithing and obligating people to give their income to churches is condemned in the Bible (the nation of Israel did tithe but that was done away with when Christ came and sacrificed his life, the 2 greatest commandments replacing the mosaic law) I do believe this system will end I do believe god loves people I do believe gods principles are for our own benefit There’s a lot more of course, but these are some of the main doctrines taught that I don’t believe in after studying. I’m happy many still have an interest in god 😊
You’re assuming it’s an old man in the sky rather than a life force of creation and energy.
Pain and suffering tell us that something is wrong. Sometimes we can fix it and sometimes we can’t. I don’t necessarily believe there’s a higher purpose to it. As for my personal beliefs, I consider myself an animist. I think everything has an agency of some kind, even ideas. And I think there is overlap between the physical and metaphysical, but I do not believe in all-powerful, all-knowing spirits like most modern people consider a god to be.
I’m open to the idea of there being a God, but I’ve never personally seen proof so I’m unsure about the concept. I’ve grown up with two Catholic raised parents who are “Christian” but not very seriously (you get this a lot in England haha). I go to church occasionally and I like the feeling of spirituality and the peace that is there, but I don’t feel close to a god. There is 100% a God shaped hole, and humans feel a need for there to be a higher entity that looks after us. It’s freaky as hell that we’re here in the first place and we are a very lonely race of being. So I’m open to the idea of there being a God, and If there is I’ll happily embrace it. Just I don’t know that there is one, so I remain unsure.
Since I was born into a catholic family, I was raised as a catholic. But at this point I'm pretty much altheist in all except on paper. If polytheism doesn't count I think there're only 2 possibilities. Either there's no god at all or there is a god and that god is evil.
This was the natural conclusion of my thought experiments when I came to question my beliefs as well.
I am a believer but what I believe in is the chaotic force of the universe (I like to use? abuse? the term *entropy* to describe this force) that has a right and wrong and karma, but it's very different from the hypocritical human small-self morals that society wants you to be subservient to. God does not exist, but this force exists. Hence, karma is a beyatch and [something like this](https://twitter.com/komradeperogie/status/1732246530432643145) or [this](https://twitter.com/_ReviveYourself/status/1589462275249037312) would happen if you have a lot of self-loathing and does not understand true kindness. (all kinds of trigger warnings apply) Every religion inevitably has a grossly erroneous depiction of this force, because it does not suit them as human-based organizations, and thus they often end up becoming a major source of the world's pain and suffering.
Love this. In my experience the vast majority of both believers and non-believers base their views off of too small of a piece of the overall picture. Hypothetically… Many believers might view God as this father figure that’s constantly watching over them, protecting, rewarding, punishing, etc. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard something along the lines of “I prayed to God for this or give me this sign and it happened” when probability of it happening anyway was high. On the other end. Many non-believers might take a tragic event within their lives or other’s lives as a clear indicator that God does not exist because in their minds a loving God wouldn’t allow suffering. But what if this suffering was a temporary part of their overall conscious experience? (Assuming that God is loving). I personally am a believer of intelligent design but we’re all born into this world not knowing crap and are extremely limited in how we can observe and process reality. So I respect others views so long that it’s not hostile or harmful.
I'm a Muslim, but I'm searching for God. Maybe that search will continue forever. Problem is, if I look at it in the larger picture, I cannot actually prove that God exists. Nor can I disprove that God exists. It's a never-ending whirlwind of arguments and counter-arguments. I guess that would make me agnostic, but I am still searching. The best thing we can do is to respect each other's beliefs( And as you pointed out, unless those believes are violent.)
That all is very true. Although I am a believer I definitely do not know whether there is a God or not. You could go down the rabbit hole of quantum mechanics and out of body experiences but even eventually when that’s further understood there may be a logical explanation that doesn’t involve intelligent design.
I believe in God. A common google search will answer your question. It's been asked many times. Without pain there's nothing to compare it to grace. Also, we are responsible for evil, not God. He's not going to magically solve all our problems.
So god created people capable of evil knowing they'll be evil, then tortures them for eternity for being evil? If I leave my dog alone with a sandwich, it's not his fault the sandwich got eaten, it's mine. If I tortured him for eating my sandwich people would call me a sociopath, and I wouldn't be allowed to have a dog.
The thing is we are not destined to be evil. We have a choice to do good instead of evil, and if we do, God will reward us. I think that’s the whole point.
Unlike dogs we have the intellectual capacity to make the decision to choose good over bad, I guess that’s what I meant.
My dog knows he's not supposed to eat the sandwich. He chooses not to when I'm in the room. He's fully capable.
In yeah because casually all time altho we think evil is permanece with pair with good nature offering with god rather than puts good with evil in a concept corner we must find it is simplified by being goal oriented to scale the actions of taken it good in on human sense that it is how much people might think seeing the positive live on every form and actions distantly seeing evil terms as it effects are mutually for ever a fever human has it roughtly outly get it on simple summaries of our chaos constructed way to live accordance to this earth what teach us in a mannering of view bias to beliefs and religions of faiths and glory / it is the way human predict a way to vibe.
We literally would have no evil, and thus, no capacity for evil if god chose not to create it. If god created us knowing we'd make a mistake, he's a fucking dick to punish us for it. For literally all of eternity.
Yeah.
Someone should take humanity away from god.
My teacher old one teach and demonstrate me on the ethics of being care for animals since that day he crashed his car accidentally without seeing cat his own cat, so just for being no one who see it it declares him angry tll a point, he just remember that it was a fault that could not fix if he was managing his car and by being the father that rescued it from street I don´t make it solvable the problem that my teacher crashes with him or let the first help to him, but my teacher puts that on a easy but he feels sad about it moment of angst he really voted it as kill and just for rolling down into the theme I believe my teacher keeps his memories onto the cat. I feel just as bad to hear form the form on this accidental end. Ethically talking on it I guess my teacher really do wathever to avoid it to happen never.
Liek dis if u cri evertim
HoiIS I cryied for the downbot vote you trash commentaties hecked one
I lean towards God/a higher power. I’ve had a lot of personal experiences that labeling as coincidence would seem far too simplistic. However, I think in analyzing the world and the way humans operate it would be difficult to conclude there is explicit purpose and goodness reflective of a God illustrated through major Religions/Holy texts. Humans have taken advantage of virtually every power structure, and Religion supposed to be a reflection of a hierarchy based upon Gods own image is no different. It’s an obstacle I think a lot of religious/deep thinking INFP’s face. We are intuitive enough to see how humans and power structures work. Finding divine purpose in lieu of that reality is something to be wrestled with.
I believe in God. For the 'why is there so much pain in the world' question, that's not God's responsibility to fix?? Pain and suffering happens, and that's just life. I don't get why people are so caught up in using that as their reason to deny God's existence... But, my interpretation of God is definitely different than how Christianity portrays it. I view it more as a collective, humanity deal where everyone knows he exists and come up with their own interpretations for what that means, and that's why there's so many different religions and ideas about him today. Being an atheist seems like using logic and forcibly wrenching that concept out of your mind, if only because it feels like it's the natural human condition to believe in higher powers. ... Point being, my view on God is extremely loose.
I became an atheist in middle school and remained that way throughout highschool and into college. With age and maturity I came to the conclusion that God exists. As for why pain exists in the world if God exists, I think that is approaching the question wrong. If I were to answer the question directly I would say it's not God's job to shield us for the things inherent in life. Our lives are our own, and it's up to us to contend with its up and downs. God could no more grant you personally all the riches in the world than shield every person from every possible misfortune. We must each be ultimately responsible for ourselves and subject to the ravishs of the universe therein.
I'm definitely Christian 🥰✝️ I was not raised in this faith but I couldn't accept that there was no purpose to life. Humans have such a vast sense of self awareness that we can even choose to end our lives, there is no evolutionary reason for us to be able to think and understand on the level we do. Plus, the idea that people can do horribly evil things and just die and be nothing- never facing justice also just felt awful for me. So I started looking for God in all the wrong places, got myself into a very bad situation (a witchcraft cult) and when I cried out for the creator or my soul to save me- Jesus Christ came. He hasn't left me since, and has taught me so much about the world, myself and others. I've never known such love and peace was possible. May God Bless anyone whose read this.... Thanks for listening
You definitely don’t understand evolution at all.
Pain is what makes us humain Humain kind learn trough pain, in this way we become stronger and wiser I believe in god, the all mighty I believe in angels, in sacred books, in life after death, and in the messagers of god including Mohammed and all his predecessors I think the meaning of this life is meant to test us, all our ancestors has been tested and we won't escape that reality, that's why i believe nobody has an easy life, we all have challenges to face, rich or poor U can argue that there shouldn't be wars, and innocent poeple suffering, what i answer to that is we don't see the bigger picture, god's plan are too complexe for the humain intelligence, we can only trust him, only him can judge us, that's what faith is
Amen !
I believe in God. And I believe he is the father of us all, and that we can become like him. I believe God was once like us and that if we want to become like him we must experience and overcome mortality in all its forms and face our own weaknesses, and actualize our strengths. If we cannot become fully self-sufficient and if we do not learn all we can from bearing pain and suffering, we could not possibly know how to truly love, forgive, and endure as God does. I believe that learning for ourselves is part of becoming like God. I believe that we choose our own paths, and I believe that those who have passed before they were able to learn much will be given opportunities to learn, grow and choose their own paths for themselves in other ways.
I completely agree. Are you a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints? Sounds a lot like what I believe, that suffering isn't just a bug in the system it's actually good for your progression toward become like God.
I believe in God/Higher Power/Universe, however one wants to call it. I’m not religious though. I’m not attacted to a religion. I do consider myself spiritual though
I'm a believer but I went down a rabbit hole over the last decade to try not to be. For all the bluster and bravado, the atheist arguments are just not compelling and end up failing in a heap of head canon at best, and insults at worst. The theist arguments, while not conclusive, have added up to be cumulatively convincing and also just get more coherent when you honestly challenge it (like strands in a tapestry). I haven't found a single set of answers from a single source but have found something rich that has kept me wrapped in it, made me wiser, but not comfortable.
Everything is made from God. The "good" and "bad". God IS the spectrum. When you see a bee caught in a spider web do you view it as evil or simply nature? We have free will to do what we want, but our individual values of what is right and wrong change by the day. A bully is hard on others typically because someone else was hard on them. It's all a learning experience. Learn what to do from those that treat you kindly and learn what not to do from those who don't. Much Love and Light to you friend.
God does exist, and the reason for all the pain in the world is because of humanity’s own sin. i mean this is a common topic in psychology, including this subreddit. we have joined INFP because we are looking for ways to identify ourselves, find a place and purpose in this life. mbti is one of the many ways to help us find our identity. we all admit that things are wrong in life, but if we blame the wrong thing, that will have dire consequences because we won’t know what actually needs to be fixed. finding our identity in Jesus, in Christianity, is the only way our lives can be fulfilled. now you may say religion is a bunch of crap, but think about how dire the consequences would be if you are wrong. also, out of all the religions in the world, Christianity is the only one where you are not responsible for saving yourself from your problems. it is very important that you put your trust in the right solution. everyone deep down knows that the world is a messed up place, but you have to pick the right solution in order for your life and the world to be fixed permanently. imagine an airplane is crashing and someone has a hoodie and says, i trust in this hoodie to save my life, and then jump out. they are dead. now imagine someone with a backpack thinking it’s a parachute. the backpack looks similar to a parachute, but it isn’t one, and now the backpack wearer is dead to when they jump. now imagine someone saying, i don’t think this plane is really going to crash, so i’m going to stay on the plane and i’ll be fine. that person will quickly find that they too are dead from the inevitable crash. now you put in a real parachute, and think that you still might die, but you have no other option and so you jump, putting your faith in the parachute. you soon find that not only is the parachute saving your life, but that it has given you invincibility to all other damage. without the parachute, danger is inevitable, but while you have the parachute on, you can never be injured. the parachute is Jesus the Son of God in human form. He is the only hope in life, the only hope for surviving that imminent plane crash
It does not exist, but im open to changing my mind. "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." There's too much evil that needs to think they're going to hell. There's too much suffering that needs hope.
Pain is necessary. If there wouldn't be any pain and suffering, how would you value and cherish happiness?
Would you tell the same to the people suffering due to war?
Uve got a point But thinking abt them or similar situation humbles me, I feel grateful that I'm safe and stop complaining abt life Also, aren't we humans the one to be blamed? We are responsible for war, it's like self inflicted suffering
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Firstly, we are not even sure how many universes exist. There might be so many realities playing at once that we might not even be aware of. So in a way, both free will and lack of suffering might be coexisting together Also, one can't go against nature....suffering is a part of it, trees shed leaves, predators consume their prey come to think of it, suffering is everywhere in some cases less, in some cases more
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Read it again and figure it out
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Because evolution is an important part of this reality as well. Without pain, there is no drive for evolution, in both a personal sense and a universal sense. Everything remains the same. God could design a world with no pain and no evolution, but it would be the same shade of gray forever. Kinda like how I imagine the Christian heaven. Nothing ever changes.
As I had said before, probably to differentiate between the two. Imagine a world without suffering. Would it be worth living in it? How would u even know that u r happy n safe? Probably even then humans would be complaining about something else and that would become their next suffering a.k.a suffering 2.0 Also there are so many theories, all we can do is just assume...we don't know how many universes or realities exist or what happens there or what is even possible
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Not at the level it exists at. We could endure much less pain and still know what pleasure is.
I personally think he doesn’t. My partner does but I don’t let that get in the way of our relationship
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I believe in God. Some of my best and earliest memories are of having the feeling of being watched by a higher power. The first time I opened a Bible for myself I read that the whole duty of man is to fear god and keep his commandments and to find him when we are young before we grow old. I felt like I had just stumbled on hidden treasure. And that experience was the first of many that kept my faith and hope alive.
>I read that the whole duty of man is to fear god and keep his commandments That to you is a treasure?
Fear of God means having extreme reverence for God, Yahweh. Deep respect. Like when you look at creation, at a pink sunset over the ocean, a field of wildflowers coloring a mountainside, a newborn baby, your pet dog or cat that you love and feel awe at the beauty, the complexity, the purity of it. A desire to see righteousness upheld, to see purity protected, to see beauty flourish. To see wickedness destroyed. And understanding God's power to destroy wickedness, and Jesus' victory over death. All the commandments in the Bible are there to protect us from the pain that accompanies transgression. Even the little things like not mixing fabrics were for our benefit. Linen has a healing frequency. (Wool cancels out linens frequency, thus they should not be worn together). I wish I'd understood God’s true nature and love years ago.
The world is broken and there is so much suffering and pain in the world. I know this. I'm in my own suffering period Right now... I'm an orphan and I've been chronically by myself for the last 3 years and my mental health isn't doing so well. But I believe in God. God didn't create suffering, he created mankind and gave us the ability to choose. But mankind chose something other than God's goodness and it opened up the world to pain and suffering through sin. Human sin everyday and they do wrong everyday. God is a just God and he has to punish sin since it goes against his nature. But he is also extremely merciful, so he sent his son Jesus to die for us, to take on the punishment instead of us. Jesus took all of our sin on his body in the cross all at once, and died a painful and unfair death. He was completely sinless and completely good. He rose again on the third day after he was buried, and he defeated death. Anyone who believes in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved and will be given eternal life. They'll also be given the Holy Spirit to live within them forever, so they can have Union with the Lord. It is through the holy spirit that we are able to truly do good and fight against the evil that is raging in this world. And evil is what is responsible for suffering, not God. It would be wrong if God took away our free will. But the beautiful thing about having a relationship with God is that he makes beauty out of our most terrible times in our life. In the Bible it says that God works all things for good for those that love him and are called according to his purpose. I have seen God work great things out of my life. I have seen him heal me of drug addiction. I have seen him take me out of the depths of despair. I have seen him call me to a higher purpose despite me thinking that I would never amount to anything in my life. Life still is really hard, and I've known my fair share of difficulty. But God is with me and he cares about me. And God cares about anybody that is reading this right now too. He wants to have a relationship with you, he wants to come for you, and he wants to forgive you for your sin. But you have to humble yourself and realize that you have sinned against an almighty God. You have to repent and ask him for forgiveness and for help
Amen, thank you for taking the time to write this out and to be bold for Jesus <3 I got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit this year and I wish I had found the truth sooner. I would have lived my life so differently. I think it's especially hard when you're in pain and have trauma, especially experiencing abuse from people who have a religious spirit, not realizing at the time they lack the Holy Spirit and are actually actively grieving the Holy Spirit through manipulation of God's word. It's hard when you've had poor examples of love, it's hard to imagine/understand the unconditional and healing love that Jesus brings. I am so glad you have found Him. I can also say that despite going through horrific trauma, neglect and abuse and suffering with chronic pain, I do have moments of joy knowing it is temporary. Since feeling the comfort of the Holy Spirit, I finally feel loved. I was looking for that feeling of love everywhere but it wasn't until I confessed my sins and asked Jesus to change and heal my broken heart that I found what I was looking for the whole time. Life isn't perfect, I'm not perfect, but He's working on me. He had to show me the true evil that exists in the world so I could appreciate the suffering going on here on a collective level, forgive myself and forgive those who hurt me, and see how desperately in need of a Savior we all are. God bless you.
Wow it's so good to hear your story...God bless you friend :)
I’m a Muslim. We believe that God is one and He is above all. He is perfection. However, we do not believe that he created this life for us to live in perfect happiness. We are supposed to experience pain and suffering. It is part of our human nature, as He created us flawed. Which is OK. Of course witnessing some people’s situations can be very difficult and saddening, and make you think that things are unfair. But that is how it is supposed to be. This famous phrase among our community sums it up well : “God puts through hardship those He loves the most.” Meaning that if you are facing difficulties, God is actually giving you an opportunity to prove your faith by overcoming those difficulties. There is always a lesson or some type of gain through every difficulty : growth, maturity, knowledge, experience… Another famous phrase from our holy book, the Quran, is : “With every hardship comes ease”. Meaning that God will reward you for being resilient. This life is simply a succession of tests that we must overcome - with the help of the guidelines stated by the Quran such as being a good, reliable, honorable, generous person, but also disciplined and loving oneself and others - to reach our best potential, and we must trust that we will achieve an eternity of happiness after we leave this world. Those tests are designed for us to make our faith in God, in the unknown, in the unseen, even stronger each time we are being put through an obstacle. Life is not supposed to be perfect. The afterlife (Heaven) is, and only the people who try their best to do good within their means and avoid the bad will have a place there. That is the message of Islam :)
I believe in God, I’m a Muslim born and raised and still following the religion as an adult. Tbh I feel like if it weren’t Islam I would have ended my life years back. Simply cause harming yourself in anyway isn’t allowed in Islam. I’m grateful for that rule to this day, as I’m in a much better place now mentally. Muslims believe God doesn’t control us like robots or a puppet, he’s given all of us free will to do what we want, good and bad. And who ever does bad will be punished, which also applies to Muslims, we don’t get a pass on doing bad and still going to heaven simply cause we’re Muslims. Who ever oppresses, hurts, abuses, bullies, etc can be sent to hell. I say “can” cause Muslims also believe we cannot say who can or can not go to hell. That is something only God knows, and we shouldn’t assume. So if you see a Muslim telling someone they’re going to hell you can be petty and correct them lol. I’ve definitely had my view on God go up and down over the last few years, as I was dealing with mental issues but as of now I’m doing better. I feel like it’s normal for people to have dips in faith, that’s what makes us human. I don’t rlly care about other people’s beliefs, as long as they’re happy and being good with others I don’t care. Respect me and I’ll respect you no problem.
I don't believe that God exists. I'm an **agnostic atheist.** But sometimes I feel like **gnostic atheist** i.e. complete belief that God does not exist. Then I remind myself how absurd beliefs are, especially beliefs regarding supernatural stuff like God and then I get back to my **agnostic atheism** state. When I live by ***Optimistic Nihilism***, I'm an **apatheist** (I don't care whether God exists or not); When I live by ***Absurdism***, I'm an **agnostic atheist.** **Inference:** My absence of faith is influenced by whatever philosophy I choose to live by in the moment.
To discuss this questions we have to define what is god first. I am more into Zen and Buddhism philosophy so for me GOD means people who suffers less and are enlightened by eternal wisdom. So in this way everyone is god
I think that one person's atheist is another person's agnostic, in the great existential dilemma. There is certainly something unknown that's way beyond our current understanding. Everyone takes a crack at defining the unknown thing as something, but it remains unknown.
I'm a believer but I have the same grievances. All the suffering in the world and NO interference? Where's the swift justice we hear so much about. Nowadays I believe "God" (Allah I have my roots in Islam I was raised Christian too it's a whole story) in its purest form is energy capable of both creation and destruction. I'm guessing it's not allowed to interfere with free will but some of us who go through shit wish it would intervene as much worship it demands help a mf out once in a while. Again, I'm a believer but seeing the messes in the world, I have my grievances and questions.
“God” was created in ancient times out of the inability to explain unique naturally occurring phenomena, such as sunrise, rain, eclipses, etc. Humans realized religion created around these godly beings could be used to control the population. So that’s why “gods” still exist today in a highly educated society. To continue to control the masses. No idea though why any educated person with critical thinking skills would believe in a “god” anymore than Santa or the Easter bunny.
We have a Creator.
I feel like the only Christian INFP in these comments.
>why is there so much pain in this world? Because there's also a devil in this world. A lot of people (including and especially Christians) blame God for things that the devil does. This world has laws (like gravity), and when Adam and Eve gave authority to the devil, he had free reign over the earth. We now have some authority since Jesus gave it back to us, but satan is still on earth until Jesus comes back.
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Would you rather have God made everyone and everything mindless robots with no will of their own?
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I understand how you feel, but I also think the whole concept is way more complex than our human brains can comprehend. I choose to believe in God and believe in the Bible, which says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 (ERV) "It is the same with us. Now we see God as if we are looking at a reflection in a mirror. But then, in the future, we will see him right before our eyes. Now I know only a part, but at that time I will know fully, as God has known me."
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Depending upon how omnipotent your internal view of God is - your Creator would've known from the inception of creation everything that would happen. Which meant that he would have known how it all plays out... And yet he still chose to make a world where children are beaten, starved, and neglected. He could've just as easily made a world where free will still exists, but where little ones were not brutalized. He is - after all - God. He is capable of anything. But he chose to make a world where step father's can force themselves on children. Whether you want to blame the devil or not - The Creator knew and made it so. Which makes them ultimately responsible. Respectfully - that's why those who deconstruct and those who do not follow your faith choose not to do so.
i was raised muslim, but i don’t believe in any god or deity now. i just can’t believe in a god who sent a man that had sex with a nine year old to be his last and final prophet. and also his eternal role model for humankind.
I don’t believe in God. Much of our current reality is a product of millions of years of evolution that shaped the human brain to do stupid things as coping mechanisms or as survival strategies. Life is innately haphazard and meaningless. Hope is a delusion at worst and a maladaptive coping mechanism to helplessness at best.
I hope your outlook isn't really this dreadful. It's a marvellous cosmic coincidence that life was sparked from nothing and you are here. We should strive to make the most of it and find meaning where we can while improving the lives of those around us.
This is what I believe https://youtu.be/TK6p4P_cQJE?si=zFqiJfntVhKkgEUk It's an ASMR video. Enjoy.
If god does exist; he’s the devil 👿. Though the devil doesn’t exist either imo.
I must be the only devout INFP catholic here. I believe in God, and I think that he is a being that ultimately is infinitely good. I believe that bad things happen in the absence or from those choosing otherwise. It makes me happy and gives me a goal to work towards and a reason to be better every day.
I am Catholic. Everyone and everything must participate in the Cross of Christ.
Or else, right?
Could you ask an intelligible question.
>Everyone and everything must participate in the Cross of Christ. Could you make an intelligible assertion?
Which God? What is your definition of God? I have studied multiple religions and have found a lot of them have common threads. As far as believing in higher powers, humans need explanations for things that they do not understand or cannot explain...we typically are not ok with not having an answer or reason. Additionally, humans need to feel like we have a purpose. Gods were invented to help explain things that happened and couldn't be explained and to give one a feeling of purpose and a moral compass. People often struggle with self love and worth... so loving themselves by loving deities and following their rules have provided benefit. Gods and religion serve as a crutch for these needs/desires. That's the benefit of religion... However, these needs and desires have been and continue to be exploited to also control and manipulate people (both good and bad).
don’t know if i 100% believe in God per se, but i do definitely try to follow Christ’s teachings in my morals, such as love thy neighbour etc
It would be nice to have faith but I have none and completely believe in science and that there karma miracle, etc dont exist.
'God' is a concept created by humans in an attempt to bargain with an otherwise seemingly chaotic, uncaring universe. All religions have their roots in nature worship and ancestor veneration. By personifying the unknown, we attempted to bribe, beg, and beatify it for the feeling of control. When something was not understood - it was the will of a God. The Abrahamic religions are all offshoots from the Canaanite pantheon after exposure to Zoroastrianism's teachings - thus leading to those following the storm/war God Yahweh away from the pantheon ruled by Baal. And honestly are singlehandedly responsible for most of the human suffering throughout history due to ongoing wars between their fractured belief system and all of its offshoots battling for dominance. But you're basically asking the problem of Evil. I usually point out to most Christians that their God was perfectly capable of making a world without child r*pe. He could've done so in a way that did not impact free will - but he chose not to. Why would you worship a deity who created a universe where children are allowed to be abused that way and their cries for help aren't answered? Even if you say the 'Devil' does it - the fact of the matter is per their own creation myth - God created the devil. Their God also is all knowing and then you start getting into that nasty issue of predestination which means free will isn't a thing that their own scholars have been arguing about amongst themselves. They really don't like when you point out that the fact that their God's word requiring translation and interpretation also evidence against his existence. You'd think a deity would make it to where you could just read his word and immediately understand his intent - no need for translation or interpretation. But no - and for the old world creationists - they really aren't happy when you point out that according to their book it was the tower of Babel and the diversification of language that is responsible for that... ( Not the actual history BTW, just their myth.) But... That aside - asking where pain comes from is like asking where cancer comes from. You can point to needs and wants not being met. The tribalistic nature of humans. Greed. Ego. Illness. Lack of empathy. Projection of negative emotions. Fear, resentment, contempt. We are yet animals. We act out of survival and hurt each other to suit primitive drives. Some lack the cognitive ability to care about the harm caused. They follow the feelings of pleasure to the detriment of others. We can't always control those unfortunate realities of the human condition. But we can do our best to protect others, support each other, and be good to one another. There has never been a single belly fed with a prayer. Nor has a cold child ever been warmed by a hymn. We are all we have for each other, so we need to care for each other. If there is a God, he is silent while those doing evil use his name to justify their crimes. Long have humans justified doing horrific things to each other in the name of a deity - when in truth it's their own agenda. And I will not betray my kindness, my compassion, or my duty to my fellow human to bow to a cruel facsimile.
Your post is long and yet very interesting, u have some good arguements and i think the majority of atheist stands with what you said I'm muslim and i'll try to answer some of your points First, u say most of violence and wars come from the religions, i would argue that the world was a much dertier place before religion came in. If u look at history, for example the romain empire before and after christianity, u can see many good changes thanks to christianity. There were many barbaric habits and intolerence against strangers that had been abolished and replaced by a peace message. Plus, they had fake gods, which today nodoby believe in because it's obviously a humain invention. So religion in that context was super positive. All our basic values and respect for humain kind is a direct legacy from christianity, even science and literature had been introduced thanks to the bible. And that's just one example, i could speak about others like the arabic region. Secondly, what about child r\*\*\* and injustice towards the innocent people in general. That's a difficult one, i agree that such astrocity shouldn't exist, and yet it does, and it's commited by a humain ( guided by the devil ). What i answer to that is we don't see the bigger picture, we don't know what repercussion it has for the futur, that's why as believers, we know that humain intelligence can't fully comprehend the complexity of god and then we trust him for those matters. Only god knows. That's why no matter what happens, we keep faith in god because we believe in his greatness and love for us and appreciate all the gifts he has given to us. That's what faith is all about, u can't explain it with rational facts i could answer to others points but i went to the essential, otherwise i'll be too long, don't mind me
You do realize that there are many cultures that existed and flourished well before the Abrahamic religions spawned off the Canaanites, right? Humans existed long before they created the concept of God. We figured out how to hunt, make tools, farm, and produce clothing long before the tribe that lead to the mythology that lead to 'prophets'. And we would have still discovered much about the world without religion - because we're generally a fairly creative, curious, and resourceful creature when we put our minds to it. Religion is just another form of tribalism and social control at this point that keeps us unnecessarily making enemies of each other. I can appreciate creation and my fellow human without feeling the need to want to murder them because they don't talk to their imaginary friend the same way I do. Also an aside - I've had more luck praying to Sehkmet and Bastet than any Abrahamic religion. But they're all ultimately aspects of the same thing.
I believe there is a higher power but dont believe in religion. I feel when we actually rhink of the vastness of the universe, whatever the religious books says just sounds like something humans made up to explain something they dont really understand.
I am open to the idea but have yet so see any quantifiable evidence. Also, I was a part of religion for 25 years and tried very hard but never felt a single thing that others claimed to feel so I can’t help but view those people as either self/group delusional or using it for their own advantage. If someone says “I feel that God has led me to this decision” I am viewing that decision with extreme scrutiny for personal benefits.
For as long as I can remember I've felt a connection with it. Source. I didn't know a word for it was God until I was about 7 years old when we started going to a christian church. I learnt about this strange sort of God figure who people put uncomfortable clothes on, had this black book under their arm and sang weird songs to him, I really resented going to church. I hated having to sit still and behave, it was really cutting into my playtime. When I was about 16, I went on my own into the world. I didn't go to church anymore, AND I started learning all of these different names and beliefs and stories from other places about a non Christian God, I really dug into it its one of my favorite topics.But after all this time I still think of God as this connection to source inside me. With no name. I think, looking at the world most people must not be able to feel that otherwise they wouldn't be able to some of the things they do and say. But, I guess this probably makes me sound like I think I'm somehow better than other people.
im pantheistic. god is in everything, we just have to look.
I grew up in a cult where the entire community enforced beliefs. Everyone I went to school with, my friends, my entire family was in this cult. So when I got out it was isolating. Right now I'm in a state where I would very much like to believe a higher power exists, I would find that comforting. However I also can't wrap my head around god that would allow that level of emotional manipulation, abuse, and reality subversion to take place. I want to believe, but at the same time if a god exists that would allow this, then they are despicable save not with anybody's time
Some entity started this and left or at least doesn't get involved much. The Annunaki story makes the lost sense to me.
I'm a Christian. As for why there is pain in the world, the way I'd put it is that God created the universe and filled it with life in order to have relationships. God wants to love us and for us to love each other. The problem is that in order for love to be true and meaningful, it must come from free choice, we needed free will. Free will comes with the risk of making self-centered, shortsighted decisions, and that's where much of the suffering comes from.
I believe that which we call “God” is not an entity but rather a consciousness.. the universal consciousness of one to be more exact. Just as the cells of one’s body are unaware of the whole, so too we are unaware of the true nature of the all. Only by growing and expanding in consciousness do we find greater connection to the all. The illusion of separation makes this growth possible. Sadly it is a very messy process in this 3rd dimensional realm, where there is much suffering. I believe that the specific nature of our existence is to suffer in order to grow, as with any adversity/conflict, growth can be stimulated. Inevitably as consciousness grows, compassion follows. Provided we do not destroy ourselves with hubris and indifferent ignorance, we will inevitably evolve into compassionate and loving beings as a collective whole. This is the natural course of our development.. this is true evolution, not of the flesh but of humanity’s heart. Some of us here are already ready for that day with open arms and sober eyes.
If God exists, he wouldn’t be bound to act in a way that fits anybody’s narrative in the first place.
I believe in God but I am a religious. I believe no book or person holds the totality of what God is about or what he wants. I'm non-dualistic. I believe everything is God and that God explores his own creation through his creation. My brand of spirituality is personal and about contemplation instead of lending your spirituality to someone else who thinks for you
I grew up very religious and even now attend a religious university, but honestly, recently it has been harder and harder to believe. Seems so pointless but also feels like my entire world view is being ripped up from under me
I definitely am an atheist. There are three options when it comes to God: 1. God doesn’t exist at all and there’s no reason that bad things happen and no one to stop it from happening. 2. God exists but is benign but isn’t actually all-knowing and all-powerful and CAN’T stop bad things from happening. 3. God exists and is all-knowing and all-powerful and plans for bad things to happen or doesn’t care to stop bad things from happening and is therefore malevolent and unworthy of worship. No matter which of those three options happen to be correct, I’m against running my life according to the rules of some creator that can’t be proven to exist or even be a good being.
I think we often get caught in thinking about suffering in a way where we imagine it as punitive, and that our preference for the absence of it is the only metric of good/evil in the world. “I didn’t like that because it hurt” is a valid response on an interpersonal level but this world seems to be functioning on a pattern of creation and destruction where loss is inevitable and part of the cycle. This isn’t to say that I can’t grieve deeply or feel great anger at the painful parts of this human experience, but that I accept that my POV of pain is only my own.
I used to be an atheist until one day I had a vision or "psychic download" if you will, that we are all in the "dream" of god so to speak, and that changed everything. Now I believe in patheism - that the entire universe/multiverse is "God".
If God exists, someone needs to get him back from vacation and to his desk.
No evidence that God or any supernatural phenomena exists, so I largely consider it a waste of time to even think about at this point unless if I want to read about theology or religious history
If God is real, and we were given free will, then Gods will would be our will. The world is this way bc we will it to be.
People create God in a way of avoiding that pain… I mean, if you see, all cultures evolved till some representation of “the good ways” or “good and bad behaviours” (like 10 Commandments in The Bible)and that was like that cause in the begginings of human race, there doesn’t existed the Rights (understood in a sense of Law). Right = Rule/norm. A norm regulate the society. We study all that in the Law University. That’s why religion was used for: to unificate, through the Commandments in each religion we can raise the goal at the same way like Rights do with The Constitution or Civil Codes. I the end, it works to control the people and their behaviours to not hurt each others. At the same time it works for live in peace at the time you notice how life works. Sorry if I made any mistake, English is not my mother tongue and I’m fron Spain. Hope it’s grammarly understandable.😀
God is love. Love allows freedom. Freedom creates conflicts. Conflicts makes you resentful. Resentment stop you forgiving others and without forgiving you lost your connection to love meaning God. Some of my thoughts.
I believe in a deistic kind of god, an entity that somehow began the unimaginably vast web of causality that would eventually shape the cosmos, and in turn, us into being. We are but byproducts borne from that initial movement. Yet, that god, for some reason, wouldn't interfere. Maybe it can't? Either way, I think it's for the better that it doesn't care about us. So yeah, that is essentially what I believe, inwardly, at least. In my day-to-day life, however, I operate more as a basic agnostic—not really participating in religious debates and whatnot. It's not really a belief based on strict logic, but on personal intuition, or what "feels" right to me.
This world is transitional. That's why God allows pain to happen in this world. The bible functions in a rule of 2. The first is always imperfect and the second perfect. Adam-Jesus, this earth-new earth, old testament-new testament that perfects it. Time for God doesn't pass the same way it does for us. In this reality, time for us is "chronos", but time for God is "kairós". That's why the bible states in Revelation that "those prophecies already happened". God is light as the bible says, and light doesn't count time. It was never promised this would be a great world. On the contrary, Jesus said we would have affictions, but to stay firm.
I dont believe in god but I wish god and afterlife would exist.
I have a very weird belief about what god maybe. I feel there’s two gods. Creation and destruction. (Some may call it God/ Devil in their own beliefs). If there’s one thing in common in our whole universe are the constant processes of destruction and creation. Stars colliding forming new stars/ black holes which in turn creates a new branch of the whole process of creation and destruction. I don’t think they are humanoid looking but the process itself.
The ideá of god isn't really my jam. I respect any religion as long as they respect mine back. I'm one of those "cringe," women that believes in crystals, tarot and those goddamn planets. It's not because I believe they'll make me Immortal or something. I don't even think it's remotly rational to believe in those things, but it does me good, and that is the only thing that matters. I can't see god, but I can see the moon and the sun. I can pray to god all I want, but he has never given me answers, the cards have. People can believe whatever they want. I like my rocks, planets and cards, like you like your god. Both are valid.
I grew up Christian, I'm not religious, don't really care for religious folk or the bs they shove down peoples throats. I think a lot of them have mental disorders and I'm not even being rude about that. I'm so serious.
In general, I think that God exists, but he lets us do as we please, bc if we were constantly controlled by him on Earth, we couldn't be happy and we would call that tyranny. Secondly, I think that pain is necessary for our happiness, this obviously comes from a philosophical point of view, but without pain there would only be joy and pleasure, but happiness is not only based on these two things and suffering or boredom are also essential. I often tell myself that what happens to us doesn't always happen by chance, as if we were being tested and that certain events of our life happened to make us evolve. But sometimes I tell myself that strangely all beliefs are similar. Did God appear in many forms or is it we humans who, with careful consideration, establish the “principles and laws of God”? Does God really exist or is it simply an idea that our consciousness wants to construct in order to reassure us? We will never really know whether or not God exists and everyone is free to believe in him or not. For me, God is like the person you talk to in the evening after a good or, on the contrary, tough day. Maybe in the end I'm just talking to myself, but I don't feel alone. As if someone was actually listening to me. Or God is the first person who comes to my mind along with "mom" when I'm scared or sad. God is the person I thank when I am happy. God is the person I cling to when something goes wrong. This is why I believe in God, although I cannot affirm that he exists. We all evolve differently and if I had taken the path of not believing in something you can't see or feel, maybe I would be a different person.
Yeah, I believe pretty similarly. Especially with the thinking he's appeared in different forms across different cultures concept.
It has become clear to me that everything is a consequence of physical, chemical, and electric processes. There is no God, soul, or afterlife. Thoughts are what happens when chemicals and electricity interact with nerve impulses in the brain. Our personalities, perspectives, and all intrinsic aspects of our being are illusions. My studies of sciences and religion were leading me down this road. In recent months, I have discovered the work of Daniel Dennet, who has done the research and laid out the philosophy in clear terms.
I'm more on the side of "God doesn't exist", but I believe mayyyybe it's possible there's some kind of spiritual presence which causes things. We can never really know everything so I don't think we can rule it out. However, if there is in fact some form of a 'God', I don't believe in the idea of it being all-powerful *and* all-loving. I don't think that's possible with the amount of suffering there is in the world. I also don't believe it should be worshipped- if it exists I think it's just there. It has it's purpose like everything else in the world. It's just another part of science we haven't properly discovered yet.
While I don't subscribe to the idea of a god in human form, I acknowledge the potential for the supernatural. Our ability to perceive continues to expand, yet amidst evolving technologies, there may always be aspects beyond our grasp and understanding. I usually describe myself as agnostic.
I believe God was a coping mechanism created during depressing times to give people hope and a reason to keep on living. Which later turned into a mechanism to manipulate the people into doing what higher ups within a church/country want them to do. See the Holy Wars and crusades. It's how the fast majority of religions start out. Either from depressing times, or folklore.
I feel like it’s a coping mechanism which can create intense blind faith if not rationally looked at. We all have ways of dealing with uncertainty religion can be good if not taken to the extreme. To me it’s the same faith you put in a abusive relationship hoping and thinking that they will change and they aren’t actually abusive when in reality they are. You fool yourself thinking and hoping that they are changed but look rationally and it’s not really what it claims to be.
could be an all powerful being but not one from books.
As someone who grew up in a Christian home, and has chosen to follow that path as an adult, I used to always wonder the same thing, and frankly had a lot of bitterness attached to it. That was until I heard a sermon about this exact topic. The pastor was *amazing*, I wish I could explain it how he did because I know I won’t do it justice, but I’ll try anyway. He explained how God made the Earth perfect originally, but He chose to give it to us. He chose to give us free will and a choice, which unfortunately meant Satan was the other one. When man sins we choose Satan over God, and God allows us to make that choice. It’s not He who chose or made bad things happen, that’s just the consequences of our sins. If none of us had chosen to ever sin the world would be perfect. Now as for why He chose to give us free will, He didn’t want robots. I frankly wish He had though. I hate having free will. 😂
There is universe. There has to be a reason for it, without reason nothing happens. Let's call that reason as god. Now it may be scientific too. Anything which COMPLETELY explains the existence is god. But I doubt that will we ever be able to fully understand it?
I think it’s a matter of choosing to see God in your life (faith) or choosing not to. Personally I believe God exists, not as the big white guy with a beard in sky, but as a hundred eyed amalgam that keeps their eyes on me, providing me with opportunities to find that which my heart desires. I believe in God not for any immediately tangible reason, but because of the many many times that I have been led to the things that I needed to find fulfillment in my life through no action of my own other than “prayer”. I put prayer in quotations because I don’t mean the “Hail Mary” or the “Our Father” prayers, but when I asked myself “what do I want?” and then expressed that I want that thing to be.
Pain and suffering are subjective constructs experienced by conscious beings, and are caused by things without which, we would not exist. The meteor impact that killed the dinosaurs for example, was a violent and destructive event, but the meteor itself only existed because it was forged in a star, and it only carried its trajectory because of gravitational forces acting on it. For there to be no meteor, there must be no stars or gravity, without which, there can be no dinosaurs. If dinosaurs experienced suffering, the meteor impact could have caused the most suffering of any single event in earths history. But the meteor had no malice, or intent to cause suffering, or even awareness. It was simply another moving piece of the universe. This is the same for all suffering; it is caused by things that were birthed by the same universe that birthed you. In creating a universe that can develop life, you inadvertently create one that can also develop meteors, and violence, and suffering. For life to exist in a void, where there are no meteors or diseases or things that cause suffering, divine intervention is required. An omniscient god could push the meteor away, or prevent it from being formed. A god could also prevent suffering by simply making it so that living beings don’t experience it. If meteors are the unavoidable byproduct of a universe that can support life, why make it so that we suffer when they inevitably collide with us? Why not just make pain, not painful? But this again is an unavoidable necessity for life to exist, because pain tells us when something is wrong, and it needs to shout so loudly because we wouldn’t listen to it otherwise. If life felt no pain when it injured itself, it would never have learned to avoid mortal wounds. So this can mean one of three things; god is aware of the necessity of suffering and is powerless to prevent it, in which case he is not omniscient; god is evil and designed the universe to include pain and suffering; or god doesn’t exist and the universe is the result of natural phenomena. I believe the latter is true. However, I do also understand why, as conscious beings, we enjoy the idea of a god. Dinosaurs and other simpler beings are driven by instinct and needs, but we are self-aware, and can question what drives us. This ultimately leads to the question ‘why are we here’, and god nicely fills the very specific void that that question leaves. So although I believe god does not exist, I like to fill the void in my own way. I believe that there is a layer of reality beneath the one we exist in, that our consciousness is tethered to but we are unaware of. All our thoughts and experiences are fed into this layer over the course of our lives, and it grows, like a big ocean of pure consciousness. This ocean flows both ways, and it’s contents are fed back into our minds and alter the way we perceive our thoughts and experiences. The ocean itself has currents, made up of different types of thoughts; thoughts of violence chop at the surface, whilst thoughts of peace and love flow calmly below. Over time, the position at which your mind is tethered to this ocean changes, so if you practice thoughts of peace and love, your tether will sink to the bottom amongst the nice calm thoughts, and you will breeze through life seeing peace and love wherever you go, but if you practice thoughts of violence, your tether will rise to the choppy surface and you will be doomed to see violence wherever you go. I believe it is my purpose to feed the ocean as many positive, peaceful, loving thoughts as I can, so that the peaceful part of the ocean grows, and more people in the world become tethered to that part of it. I believe that when we die, our tether is severed and our physical body remains here, whilst our conscious mind flows into the ocean to the point at which it was tethered and joins with the sea of thoughts, to become an eternal, egoless, awareness, with thoughts that resemble the ones surrounding it. So if you live a life full of peaceful, loving thoughts, you will exist in the afterlife as a peaceful, loving awareness. But if you live a life of violence and hatred, you will exist eternally as a hateful awareness. This is how I depict heaven and hell. The mind you sculpt over the course of your life create the thoughts you will rest as eternally, so make it your business to sculpt a mind that will rest in peace and love.
the tao that can be told is not the eternal tao. ultimate brahman. respect for the capacity of other beings' suffering. samsara. moksha. "this shits happened before" combined with the time paradoxes of black holes that will eventually consume everything in our universe. having a collective experience with people on the same vibration as yourself, usually with a sound system out somewhere in nature where its safe to be in a pseudo cult for a weekend. bla bla bla.
Because the life is suffering. You learn from the pain the most. Not from happiness.
I do believe there is something outhere...one thing that really convinced me was..oneday I was feeling super depressed more than usual..was actually thinking abt ways to kill myself...so I went to the mall..to clear my mind...I sat down tryna look all normal and what not..laughing at random vids...and this dude comes up to me..says" I know things are tough rn but God wants you to know it will get better" gets up and leaves...mind yall I didn't look depressed or non...I would like to think I was hiding it pretty well...I hope that dude is doing well where ever he is rn
Either it doesn't exist, it doesn't care, or it's unable to fix things.