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Debate Score:67
Arguments:51
Total Votes:71
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BenWalters(1513) pic



Why do you believe in God?

As an Atheist, I've discussed religion often enough with theists. But I've never really been given a substantial reason as to why they belive what they do.

And please no 'because it's in the Bible' 'because it's true' 'because Allah said so', I want intelligent answers. If you don't want me to reply, then that's fine too, just say so. Can't promise no one will though.

Add New Argument
3 points

I think belief is a personal relationship and from that I have felt the presence of God which is obviously something I can't prove and I am fine with that. If a whole country is colour blind except one man, it would be hard for him to describe how and even what a colour is and how it makes him feel and how he knows it true, though it doesn't make the colour any less true. I also see God in people. I see people who are just incredible and really embody what I perceive to be an attribute of God. Regardless, I also see horrible people as well though this is a fact of life as we were given free will. It is really hard to explain but, for me, it truly is a relationship; I experience God everyday and although, it may not be Him making my car fly over traffic, it is evident to me, personally, that He is real. I also see God as the most logical thing (though I am sure many of you will disagree with me).

Side: A relationship
2 points

I, obviously, don't believe in God.

But I have an idea as to why people may, or why they follow any religion. They need that comfort. The comfort that someone is always looking out for them, and that there is an afterlife. Giving someone a peace of mind would cause them to believe many things.

Side: A relationship
2 points

I agree. It's not an unheard of theory that says that religion was early humans reaction to the wish for answers. People are scared of the unknown, so they create an afterlife, people are scared of the dark, so they create a God that's omnipresent.

Side: A relationship
2 points

Freud described the creation of religion as a wish-thought relationship, Marx described religion as the opium of the people.

Side: A relationship
The Phantom(453) Disputed
1 point

I'm not trying to contradict you, I'm just saying what I think. The thought that there is an omnipotent God, who hates sin, and every person is born with it, and it is impossible for them to stop, and if they don't they will eternally burn in hell forever doesn't sound very comforting. I don't believe that anyone in their right mind would forgo many pleasures of this world, be shunned and ridiculed by our modern society, and even be tortured and die for a God they believe in, because it brings them "comfort". The only reason anyone would believe in this God is because they believe he is real, and if they trust him they will be eternally rewarded.

Side: A relationship

It might sound like I'm trying to be rude but I'm not. It just might look like that because in text there are no voice inflections or accents.

Side: A relationship
imrigone(761) Disputed
1 point

Your points were actually pretty good, but it all unraveled at the end and you inadvertently ended up supporting the concept you were disputing:

The only reason anyone would believe in this God is because they believe he is real, and if they trust him they will be eternally rewarded.

Would not eternal reward earned simply through the act of having faith constitute a comforting thought? In a way Christianity tells you that no matter what you do you will sin, but if you just accept Jesus into your life, the whole sinning thing essentially becomes irrelevant.

Also there is an inherent comfort factor associated with all religions. They give people reasons to believe that they are special, that everything is as it should be (or that there are ways to make it that way) and, perhaps most importantly, that some aspect of themselves will carry on after the inevitability of their physical death. It is difficult for many people to cultivate these particular feelings of comfort without some form of spiritual affirmation.

Side: A relationship

First of do you agree with the law of cause and effect? If so, tell me what that has to do with your atheistic point of view.

Side: Thermodynamics and cause and effect
BenWalters(1513) Disputed
1 point

From what I understand, that's essentially the idea of Karma? I googled it, websites said different things, or weren't very specific.

I think it's true, but not because of a supernatural force. If you're nice to people, they're just more likely to be nice back. It's how society, and laws, and economics, try to reward 'good' people, and try to punish, 'bad' people. Simply because the more good people there are, the more likely it is that people will be good to us, and that'll make us happy.

For example, think of being stuck on an island with just two people. If you get all unhappy, and are mean to the other person, they won't be as nice back, and neither of you will be happy.

I believe that morales are not exclusive to religious views, the idea that atheists are immoral is so ridiculous it's almost offensive. Humans are intelligent enough to develop their own moral compass without divine intervention, and in many cases, non religious values hold more sway than religious values.

Side: Thermodynamics and cause and effect

Also, would you like me tell you about predictions in holy books that came before our knowledge?

Side: Holy books predicted some future events
Apollo(1608) Disputed
2 points

They are also full of lies and contradictions, BS stories, scientific impossibilities, etc.

How do you couple these falsities with your god's omniscience?

Side: Cosmological Argument
BenWalters(1513) Disputed
1 point

I think he's talking about Islam, there's definitely more truth in the Quran than in the Bible. Just saying, I'd be careful unless you know specifically about the Quran, it's actually quite a tough subject to debate against, not only because it has strong arguments, but because its followers are immensely loyal/closed minded.

Side: Cosmological Argument
BenWalters(1513) Disputed
2 points

Predictions, or scientific knowledge? I'm assuming you're talking about Islam & the Quran?

I've read many of the claims in the Quran, and there are very few that I can't explain to a reasonable degree. And that's with very little research, or anything. Personally, Muslism make the claims of the Quran out to be much more than they are, when in reality, they're nothing compared to what we know now. Even for the time of it being written, in the 600s, most of the information was known somewhere in the world, often just a few hundred miles away. A large reason why it was so revolutionary was because it was the first time thousands of people had seen so much knowledge in one place.

Side: Cosmological Argument

No like, god gave us hints, I have heard about a qur'an scientist he noticied that one of the verses has the word crush, here , God was referring to insects but the odd part is that in arabic it usually refers to glass crushing, the scientist wanted to know why God used that specific word when did researsh he discovered that a small part of cocoroaches have the same substance that we use to make up glass. Also Muslims long before the archeologists found the pharoah (I don't know which) they knew that he was drowned and compresses by the water in the river. Later an archeologist said that the pharoh was under water pressure and then converted. Also God said that we'd bring rocks from the moon.

Side: Holy books predicted some future events

This argument isn't for athiests but for agnostics, if you know about shrodinger's cat it talk's about an observer resulting in one reality, well what if God was was that observer.

Side: Shrodinger's Cat
1 point

Because I see no reason not to believe. I have seen a decent level of evidence for the existence of God, and none against so I see the probability of there being a god as being very high.

From here I looked at many different religions and chose the most theologically rational one.

Oh and then there is pascal's wager which means I am upping my chances of being right by believing in a god (especially since it is quite possible there is one). This is in the sense that if I was correct in my belief then awesome, and if i'm wrong then it dosen't matter because i'll be on the same level as everyone else anyway ^^.

Side: Pascal's Wager
BenWalters(1513) Disputed
2 points

What would you consider the evidence for God then? That's essentially what I'm asking here. And out of interest, which do you follow? And what, if any, religion were you raised as?

Side: Pascal's Wager
1 point

There are a large number of various arguments out there, some being a factual attempts such as fulfilled prophecies which I would consider a good field. However I do have a natural inclination towards the philosophical evidences such as the cosmological argument, the ontological argument, the moral argument, contigency argument (to a degree, one of my less favoured). There are probably more that are decent but those are the ones I have happened upon thus far. After seeing the rebuttals I still see the theistic view to be strong. And of course from there pascal's wager comes into effect as well (although my case was that it came into understanding after I became a theist)

And to answer the other question I am a baptist christian moderate ^^

I was raised loosely as an evangelical. I was in the type of household where they would say they were christian yet dosen't really follow the word, dosen't attend church and dosen't really talk about it so you could say it was more like an athiest household overall.

Side: Pascal's Wager
Apollo(1608) Disputed
1 point

So basically, you believe in God out of fear of being wrong... that sounds logical.

Side: Cosmological Argument
Vaan(167) Disputed
1 point

No I believe in God because there appears to be a decent amount of proof that makes the possibility of God quite high, thus I am upping my chances of being correct by believing in God, considering that in the advent of me being incorrect it would mean nothing compared to me being incorrect as an atheist ^^

Side: Cosmological Argument

Imagine you have a clone machine which somehow activates on a 50 percent chance if you placed your DNA inside but then keep it for years without looking at it then your clone should exist and not exist at the same time. This makes most sense by saying that the clone exists in one universe just like the clone doesn't exist in another. What if God works that way, if God is a possibility, that means that the very fact he did not create one of the other universes depends on him existing. You would think that means other Gods, not necessarily, it's probably the same God put is parallel and has decided to different things. What do you guys think?

Side: Both
1 point

I believe in God, but the way many religion see God. Religions see God as a supreme being who made everything. To me that makes no sense. To me, God is the force of good in the universe. When someone does something good such as help others, that is God at work. There is God in all of us to a greater or lesser degree. My belief most resembles Universal Unitarianism.

Side: The force of good
BenWalters(1513) Disputed
1 point

So do you not believe that humans are capable of good, it's the actions of God through us that allow us to be good?

You could also turn that around and ask, do you believe that humans are only capable of bad, or is there an evil equivalent, a devil type figure also?

Also, what religion does your God most closely resemble?

Side: The force of good
egga(108) Disputed
1 point

"So do you not believe that humans are capable of good, it's the actions of God through us that allow us to be good?"

No. We are capable of both good and bad with the inspiration of God and "the devil" respectively. My belief is that God or the devil cannot "make" us do anything, it is our choice.

"Also, what religion does your God most closely resemble?"

No organised religion I am aware of although Universal Unitarianism comes close and I do share some of the principals of Christianity and Buddhism.

Side: The force of good
1 point

Okay... It is true that I believe in God. And I do not deny it. I'll be honest. I have believed in God because I was brought up in an environment that said, 'Either you believe in God or you get out.' So initially I had no choice. But, now I do. And I have chosen to believe in God.

To me God is only what nature is to you. To you it is nature that is responsible for the existence of any existence. And I have simply named that power, that source as we call it nature to be God. It is nothing supernatural to me in the existence of God. It is not magic or miracles. But, simply the judge of what happens and what is happening. The circle of life.

Side: The force of good

Do you think you'd believe in God if you weren't brought up to believe in him? Like, knew about religion, but didn't explore it until recently?

Side: The force of good
1 point

I believe in God because He has done so many things to us to show us how much He loves us. He died on the cross for everyone's sins and rose from the grave. Conquering our sins. If it wasn't for God that died for our sins we would still be in sin. Also if you are closer to God. God will be closer to you. But if you are not close to God. God will not be close to you.

Side: A relationship
BenWalters(1513) Disputed
1 point

But if you are not close to God. God will not be close to you.

I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation" (Acts 10:34-35).

I was pretty sure that God was claimed to love all men equally, at more than one point in the bible. Or do you mean close in another way?

Side: A relationship
Srom(12206) Disputed
1 point

Yes God does not show favortism. I mean close in another way.Like relationship wise. If you have a close relationship with God then He will be close to you. All the Christians who are close to God, God will be close to all the Christians.

Side: A relationship
1 point

I'm so happy this discussion isn't too heated, that's all I really wanted to say but I have to have at least 50 characters so here is my opinion: I don't think so, everyone around me does but it's like believing in the tooth fairy it's silly, why have I never seen this god? I would love to sit on my ass on a puffy cloud all day but that's impossible, this "god" makes miracles happen? pssssh. And I shit unicorns out of my asshole.

Side: ain't believed in him