trying to define

...so words and therefore word filled beliefs and projections about the nature of this God and what he/she/it wants would be a really, really bad idea!

alex- Feelings are not facts, or even suppositions. I certainly would respect the right for you to feel whatever you please, but that is no argument for the existence of a god.

trying to explain the unexpainable
phoenix. There is enough physical evidence, , throughout every culture in this world to suggest something exists. Most of it relating to God. If I told you something, to tell somebody, to tell another, I guarantee what I told you would be different then what the fourth person heard. Imagine religion. How many years? That's when as humans we process what we are taught, what we see, and rely on human instincts. A feeling in your heart and soul. Proof presents itself everyday. Have faith, and you might see.

I do not consider the popularity of an idea as proof of it. Faith, in the religious sense, has no part in my life.

Just my view but one of the big mistakes I think people of faith make is, with that feeling of rapture so fresh in them, they project that faith onto others and assume that this feeling of rapture, this faith is the same for everyone, all can feel as I feel. As best as I can tell, this really isn't so, as much as we might like it to be. What we can do, if this faith is a positive force for us, is promote a positivity in our environment to enable others to better discover themselves. One persons rapture is in the minds eye perception of Christ as lord and saviour, another is in sitting by a stream and watching the water flow by, maybe the physicist's is in contemplating the forces he works with, we need to respect this more I think.

another response
phoenix. The proof your looking for doesn't exist. I'm not trying to change your beliefs, or proofs. Some proof: Statistically, when one has faith, other proofs presents itself.

to asher
Asher, I agree with what you wrote. A lot of re born people push themselves, and ideas onto others

alex,

What do you have to say to atheists like Sam Harris who accuse you of implicitly supporting anybody who believes in "a deity", including those who would commit acts of violence on the name of that deity ?
The central issue is that "beliefs" which appear beneficial at the individual level are pernicious at the social level as evidenced by our continuing history written in the blood of "believers".

conforming to society is not the answer
fresco. I do not know who s.harris is.....and there's always bad apples in any group ( ones who commit violence in the name of a diety)

Sam Harris wrote "The End of Faith" in which he accuses religious moderates of tilling the ground for religious extremists. Specifically, they have no moral authority over those who take a fundamentalist line on "holy texts". In the eyes of fundamentalists it is the moderates who are "the rotten apples".

starvation and suffering is not God's fault. We have our own freewill, we brought this unto ourselves. God is not some dude whos gona do whatever he can just so we can live happily ever after. When we say God is almightly we really mean almighty, he is God of war, love, hate, light, darkness. Is not like He is restricted to anything. the freewill we have taken unto ourselves have led us to this misery, now God is just and interfering with freewill is unjust so He does not do it and since He does not interfere all this bad things happen to us, we are responsible for our suffering therefore we must suffer them.

Re: trying to define


No its not, religion consists of "The religious person" following the heavily edited writings of other "Religious Persons" misguided and delusional beliefs, and fooling him/herself into the belief that they really happened, so that he or she starts blindly following some power hungry nutter who tells you what you think you want..

Feeling in the heart and soul that some divine being exists, doesn't mean he actually does, even if he does that he gives a crap about you or anyone else that lives here, nor does it make you a good person, or guarantee heaven. it just makes you an easily led idiot who has a need to feel belonged and wanted.

Religion is what the smart man uses to control the masses and make them do things that they would normally never even dream of doing.

It's strange.

If someone professes the existence of something that he cannot prove in any way, but still persists in claiming it's reality and deferring to it... say if a person claims that trees are talking to him, giving him secret missions and information, that person would likely be locked up and medicated.

But as soon as that something is god it's all right...

I guess whether one believes in the Christian version of God depends on how much curiosity one has about :
- the workings of this world and how in tune the bible is with
- the inconsistencies
- the nature of heaven
- scientific facts (as opposed to theories) versus whats in the bible
- the principles behind things said and done in the bible
- the humanness of the people who wrote the bible