Yeah, that's what I think about the whole "God created the world" as well.

Don't you see that your arguments aren't making any more sense than mine about The Flying Spaghetti Monster? I can replace it with The Bright Star, and our theories would stay the same.

Hmm, what do I believe? Let's see:
-I believe in God, and the whole Jesus thing
-I believe in the laws of Physics and science and that the universe tends to mostly run on its own
-But unlike the deist point of view, I believe that God tends to interfere occasionally in subtle but significant ways, and in the case that that's not true, then things seem to run off of an immensely thought-out plan
-I believe in Heaven and Hell

However, I question my beliefs often and I consider other possibilities. I retain uncertainty and an agnostic point a view to an extent, mainly because I don't like the arrogance of people who are much too certain in what they believe.

I believe in the '7-day creation' parable being false, but not totally

For me, the parable takes place over billions of years, adapting to evolutionism in an unique way. It was just said 7 days so the people would understand it better. So, I believe in a mix of the 2

Plus what livio said

666.

Why is it the devil's number?

It isn't

At least i don't think it is

Here's my big beef with religion: You can't prove that what you're claiming is correct, but I can't claim that it's false either. I can't say that God doesn't exist because I can't back it up with anything, therefore I won't claim that anything like that exists. I believe that you WANT to believe that a god exists, and because nobody can prove you wrong, you can go on with your life.

But alright: WHY do you believe in God/Jesus/Heaven and Hell/That God created Earth, and can you back it up with anything other than your own beliefs?

I was born into it.

Sorry, one of the only reasons. But I was educated my whole life about it, so respectct and revere it.

Yeah, that's probably the only reason religion as we know it is living on. Our parents did this and taught us that, and we follow in their footsteps.

Try to break free and seek true knowledge by questioning, rather than accepting "facts" that you've been told by authorities, even your parents. Sound reasoning is your best friend.

...Wait, isn't this the Mature Discussion Topic and not the Religion Topic?

Religion can be discussed in a mature way.

OK, then. I'm not a religious person. But my belief is that God didn't create the universe. Shardus did The Big Bang did.

I do believe but not obsessively. I do ask questions, and religion fills up a part of yourself. A really fun part. You can bond with others and such through religion. It's a nice thing to know you have and stay with you that no one can take away.

And is there any much more proof in the big bang than any other form of the universe creation? There are lots of theories, religious or not.

I've read studies about that. Religious people are happier than atheists, but not because of the religion itself, but due to the community that follows.

Not a valid reason to be religious though =p

It's a plus.

And I'm not uber religious. But it's a good feeling.  

Regarding Big Bang, I am fairly positive that the Big Bang is how the Universe was created. However, scientists are still in doubt and haven't came a definitive conclusion, and therefore, I won't jump to any conclusions either. As of now, the creation is a mystery to me, but that doesn't validate throwing in God in there just to fill in the void that appeared when science couldn't automatically provide the answer.

God could've created the big bang

Fact is we don't know, and we'll probably never know, so each to himself about their beliefs and opinions.

That's the most mature post in this discussion.

I agree DBX (and you too Dando)
We will probably never know if God is real or not. Its a fact. no one alive now was alive then. Maybe just maybe there will be proof later but there isnt right now.

yeah DBX but the point of this discussion shouldn't be to convert others to your side but to share ideas, as long as we respect rather than attack each other. I think Isa can be a little more respectful. He seems more interested in debating (proving the other side wrong) than in discussion.

Why do I believe in God? I probably can't give you an answer that would satisfy you, but I can say that some people find God to be a legitimate concept when they consider the fact that everything is "too perfect". They don't see how a random universe could yield such an immensely complex system of life on Earth. There's also the similar idea of destiny, in which some people get the impression that certain events couldn't have simply fallen into place randomly and that rather something shaped them. When I mention destiny, I'm not talking about the absurd ideal that you can ever know your own future or even destiny in the romantic sense, but I'm talking about the retrospective suspicion of the randomness of events. And finally, there's also the founding of Christianity, which is based mainly on miracles. I find it hard to believe that a religion that was heavily persecuted at the time of its birth could have falsely claimed so many big events and gotten away with it.

Of course, this is just a vague overview of why I believe in God, and you're probably going to challenge every point I made.

Yea, I might as well add my 2 cents to this mess. I don't have any legit proof behind it, but really there is no proof for the pro-relgion side. I believe in God to some extent. I think the theory of how the whole earth started out is just too precise for it to be random. So I like to think, that God got the ball rolling with the whole creation of earth, and got it to such a state where it could advance on it's own (evolution etc.), occasionally injecting his input (extreme coincidences, miracles or events).

But just because there's no proof that God did any of that, I don't think people should automaticly denounce him. I like to call myself 75% Christian.

Speaking of Christians, do any other ones on the Interguild (are there any others then me and Livio?) think that church attendence effects your christian-ness. I have been forced to go to church every sunday since I was 4 and get sicker of it every week. I believe that the more church is forced up you, the less you want to be involved with it, and vice-versa.

And also on a side note, this board could get really out of hand if one smart-ass -karmas anothers input. Most of these posts are pure opinion/faith so we should definitley try to lay low on the karma for this board.

"think that church attendence your christian-ness."
typo messed up context of sentence...

The weekly church thing is probably a response to that Commandment telling you to honor the sabbath. I don't think it's that big of a deal how often you go, but that doesn't mean going is useless. Btw, I heard the President of the U.S. actually went to church recently. It was his first mass in like six months.

What was the Big Bang? Care to answer that?

And at any comment regarding the Bible, it was symbolic. The 7 days? Symbolic for 7 periods of time in which the Earth got formed. Either that, or ordinary stories getting blown out of proportion. Moses splitting the sea? Just a strong breeze.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang

But how does that explain the creation of the universe? "There suddenly was this energy that started expanding for no reason at al"? Sounds even stranger than "God did it".