You could think of 'god' being coincidence, that's how I sometimes see it, it's all just by chance, and then there's still 'god', i mean, nowhere it sais that god is human, right?

In order for me to believe something, I require evidence; that's just how my mind works.

I would not say that evolution and Christianity are equal in that they both are believed in by faith. Evolution is not blind faith; there is massive support and evidence for it.
Fine, evolution is a theory, but people often misinterpret "theory" for just a guess. A scientific theory actually very comprehensive and is tested and confirmed repeatedly. There is tons of evidence for evolution that can be seen in both living and dead creatures.

Also, theists frequently say that there must be a first cause to start everything, so therefore it must be God.
Even if there is some supernatural creator to set the universe in motion, how do you know that it is the Christian god? It could be any other supernatural being.
I also find that this is somewhat saying, "Science doesn't know, therefore God."
If we don't know something, it isn't very reasonable to conclude that it must be because of God. I'd instead rather search harder and attempt to find an explanation that can actually be supported.

Even if an explanation can never be found by science, I'd rather leave that gap of knowledge empty as opposed to filling it with religion

There is very little, almost no evidence for evolution, and most of the published "evidence" is either fake or turns out to be something totally different than what they and not support the theory of evolution at all (or in some cases, actually refute it). On the other hand, there is overwhelming evidence for creation and God, which isn't fake, and has not been proven to be something else.

Also, if there is a God, then there is proof that he is a Christian God. He has to be omnipotent, He has to be all-merciful, and He has to be all-Good. Nothing good can come from an evil creator.

There is very little, almost no evidence for evolution, and most of the published "evidence" is either fake or turns out to be something totally different than what they and not support the theory of evolution at all (or in some cases, actually refute it). On the other hand, there is overwhelming evidence for creation and God, which isn't fake, and has not been proven to be something else.

Quite the opposite. If there was no evidence for evolution, scientists wouldn't believe it. But there is, and that's why nearly every scientist accepts it.

I haven't seen any evidence for God that has really surprised me.

Also, if there is a God, then there is proof that he is a Christian God. He has to be omnipotent, He has to be all-merciful, and He has to be all-Good. Nothing good can come from an evil creator.

"It must be a Christian god, because the God must be all-good and all merciful."
(Ignoring the enormous amount of suffering and misery in this world)
So does that mean every other religion believes that their god is evil?

(edit: somewhat ninja'd )

Well, yeah, Jesus was Jewish, and Christianity started off after Jesus' death as a Jewish sect, then with councils in the 3-4th century it became a full-blown religion.

The bible is the same, at least among Catholics and Protestants. The main difference between Catholics and Protestants, at least from what I have observed, is that Catholics believe that the pope is our spiritual guide and that we can go to heaven not on faith alone but also with good works, and Protestants believe you can get to heaven on faith alone and that everything is only between you and God and that there shouldn't be a middle man.

There are a few things I've been wondering about religion, particularly Christianity:
Have different old/new testaments been created for Protestant religion than Catholic, as well as other derivatives of Christianity?
Else, are they identical and what about other religions based on Christianity, like Jehovah's Wisdoms?

God created everything... What about the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition? Since God has supposedly created "everything", this would imply that he created every calculator too, right?
Also, does this includes people's thoughts, religion debates, states of mind and ways of expressing ourselves, such as acrostics?
Moreover, has God created science (well, the fact that it works) or even every other religion too?
Ending this with saying that if God has really created everything I mentioned above, then I can't imagine how our universe would look like if he made division by zero possible...

Well, God created man, and man creates stuff. So in that sense He created everything. When saying He created everything, I think the natural stuff I mostly meant though.
God created choice, so that man wouldn't be under forced controll, but choose for God and good out of free will. That is also the reason why God allows bad stuff, since else people's their choices wouldn't be really free choice.
Everything happens for a reason, even if it just that a single person will repent later, or that their will be evidence against someone in the afterlife(judgement day).

Jehovah Witnesses are false imo, since they base themselves "so-cald" on the Bible, but yet don't believe in a Hell, which somehow doesn't make sense. Because not existing isn't really a punishment is it. It may even be seen as a relief to some.
There are other things, but I'm not going to start a whole thing.

There is a big thing between Islam and Christianity, and I would not combine the two.
Islam is supposed to come after the Bible, basically an add-on book, if I'm not mistaken. However, it just doesn't seem to fit. Also Mohammed's life doesn't help much either.(For example: I read that he had no problem with rape and did it himself).

Also, I get the impression that sometimes people think that because something happens in the Bible(murder, hate, immorality, rape, etc..) that it's allowed. The Bible is very clear about that.

Jesus summed all the rules into one, saying that the other laws are based on this one: Love God with all your might, with all heart and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Some rules however, may not seem very clear, but further investigation in the Bible explains a lot.
If you love your God you will keep his commandments.

All though it isn't scientific evidence, the perfectness in our world shouts for a God and I think that that is the only proof you will really get, but don't say you have an excuse.
The moon an sun are far away from each other, yet they are seen to be almost exactly the same size down here. The moon lights up the night, and the sun the day. The moon is/was a giant shield against meteor storms and stuff, protecting the earth. The plants are perfect, and beautiful. The wind , the cllouds, the earth, the humans, the animals, the universe it all shouts it out.

That is why I believe. Random chance is not going to make such a perfect circle, and if so the estimated time of the earth is WAY too short.

Quote from: epic7 on May 21, 2013, 09:00:40 pm

Also, it seems that religious people tend to generate excuses to dismissively get rid of any challenges. For example
"How was God created?"
"He wasn't. End of story."

I actually find that to be a rather neat argument. Like harold said earlier, it is definitely interesting to think about something that is seemingly impossible (like something creating itself). At the least, it is a really creative exercise in logic, and at best, you might be shocked to learn that it is completely possible (this is how some scientific theories were stumbled upon, I believe).

So what if something "created itself?" What limitations would it have? I would posit that it wouldn't be restricted. It could be something simple, unthinking, or it could be something all powerful. This is not at all proof of a God-- this would be like saying, "if wizards existed, they could perform magic, so therefor magic must exist" without proving that wizards exist. However, for somebody that believes in a god or gods, this might serve as a plausible explanation. For the rest, this is just a fun exercise

Ok. So then this can be said:
"How was the world created?"
"It wasn't. End of story."
No need for God then.

Note: I am still not saying "don't believe in God", you believe in anything you want. I just say that God is a possibility but only a possibility among others, maybe there is a God, maybe not, maybe there are two Gods, I don't know

useless edit 2048 posts and 256 post ratings

Ok. So then this can be said:
"How was the world created?"
"It wasn't. End of story."
No need for God then.

Note: I am still not saying "don't believe in God", you believe in anything you want. I just say that God is a possibility but only a possibility among others, maybe there is a God, maybe not, maybe there are two Gods, I don't know

That is right, and that is why I stated:

This is not at all proof of a God-- this would be like saying, "if wizards existed, they could perform magic, so therefor magic must exist" without proving that wizards exist.