What is a god and how can you claim to know about it? Guessing is not evidence, neither is wild, unfounded assertions that are written in reality devoid documents such as holy books. Atheists do not have to prove that gods do not exist, as gods have never been proven to exist. Nor is there any good reason to think they could exist! As an atheist, do u still harbor a lingering thought that something of a God exists out there ?
I think we have to be agnostics vs atheists. Atheism is a step beyond science and I'd say is a "belief."
I'm agnostic by profession. We can only have "faith" in our belief that anything is real since the world occurs only in our brains, our beliefs depending on incoming data converted to brain "impulses." The only fundamental reality based on this data is what in quantum mechanics is called the "probability density" (which can look like the IQ bell curve you know from high school). On the basis of experience and collected data:
>> The probability that the big orange thing in the sky is the sun is very high, close to the center peak of the probability curve.
>> The probability that a human is the son of god but at the same time is god, dies, comes back to life and then physically ascends to "heaven" is not supported by our experience or collected data. Its probability is in the very skinny "tail" of the probability distribution, its probability of being true very, very low. But there is still the possibility that such a thing is true, however incredibly improbable.
Since we don't have all the data in the universe, we can only be agnostic -- i.e., "without knowledge" -- about everything and "believe" accordingly.
According to the Sumerian texts, the gods were aliens who genetically engineered humans from mixing their DNA with that of human apes, to make slaves to work in the gold mines on earth.
The Sumerian leader, "Anu" seems to be what the Hebrew god was modeled on, when the Bible was written 2000 years afterward.
Like the Hebrew god, Anu demanded blood sacrifices, because Sumerians drink blood.
They said their advanced technology, flying craft, and the ability to fry people with rays made them "gods" over the humans, and when they left earth for good, they left human ruler-gods with the highest percentage of Sumerian DNA, to rule over the human city/states.
The usual definition of a god that I mean when I use the term “deity” or “god” is: an omnipotent, omniscient, immortal, and immaterial being. With this definition there is nothing in my worldview that automatically prohibits such a being from existing; however, according to my worldview such a being is less likely to exist than not to exist. My argument against the existence of a god is essentially this:
To date the assumption of a purely natural existence has sufficed to progress our knowledge about all of reality. Thus far, there has been no indication that this assumption has failed (despite the ever ubiquitous “okay so then I explain X without a god” objection to the naturalist assumption). Therefore, since this assumption has served the pursuit of truth well many times in the past, it is much more likely that god does not exist exist because such a being would violate the naturalist assumption.
No, unless some real evidence emerged, and it hasn't in all human history, visions and mystical knowledge included. Your key phrase there was that atheists don't have to prove that gods do not exist. This cannot be overstated. Any argument that any God is unknowable is also false. Any God worth the name could make itself known.
@TheMiddleWay I will not engage with you any further on subjects other than site management as an L7 member. I made that clear before. Go bait other members.
I don't pray to a god but recently when 2 of my siblings quarreled and stupidly got the police involved I wished real hard that they would avoid a legal battle. They worked it out but I wouldn't say my hopes had an iota of an effect on the positive outcome.
I like to keep an open mind. Sometimes I pray even though I am not a true believer. It ultimately does not seem to affect any outcomes it seems. But when I do, it is not necessarily towards a specific entity called god. But maybe more to a collective energy that we all somehow share or are apart of. In any case, it can help to provide a momentary feeling of comfort.
I think praying can work as it is focusing on something you want. Our brain has a reticular activating system at the base of the brain which is a filter for all the superfluous information bombarding our senses that are not needed. Say we can only handle 1000 mb and there are 1000000 mb. I am making that up - as I barely know what one is except I pay for 10mb data on phone. I digress...anyway, what ever we focus on is what we are able to sense. So we just saw a car we want at the car show and now see everyone but us has them. They are in our focus. It is also why it is very hard to change beliefs or habits of thought because we see the evidence of our belief and the others are out of view. ...hope not too off topic. So maybe we are all our own personal gods creating heaven and hell right here and now.
At one point along my path to enlightenment, I used to think that I "knew" a god existed. What I had done though was take away all the unbelievable parts of the god, and redefined it in my own mind, as a "universal force" or something. The power that keeps the solar system operating. Now that I think back on it, I was probably thinking our sun was god.
I'm over it now. I have no belief that any god exists.
It sounds like something one might think of on a psychedelic journey.
I think of a force that exists that created worlds. A creative power that we all have access to- the force is like gravity...and just like it - it doesn't care or need to be worshipped. I don't think it matters what I think or you think. I do think we are spiritual beings...but not because it makes sense to me but because when I was a teenager I had many experiences of leaving my body. It was the last evidence I needed to get the dogma I was taught didnt make sense. I experienced myself other than my body.. and even that doesnt matter...this is my life now..and I choose how to be in it. There is NO truth. Just my subjective truth. To say I am smarter or righter is just as delusional as someone convinced I will go to hell.