Does God exist?

[bandit]

I believe there is an afterlife and something created us, whatever you want to call it.  However, if that christian book  (book of jewish fairytales as bill maher calls it) then we're all fucked.  (and no, I was not making fun of jews, it's not my quote) 

[psiberzerker]

I was not making fun of jews, it's not my quote.

Well, you credited it, and Maher is racially Jewish.  So, I think you're good. 

[_priapism]

I was not making fun of jews, it's not my quote.

Well, you credited it, and Maher is racially Jewish.  So, I think you're good. 

Jew isn’t a race, but I get what you’re trying to say.  Maher is unapologetically atheist, and rabidly anti-religion.

[psiberzerker]

Jew isn’t a race.

No, but Jewish racial persecution is.  The Jewish Race is official enough to be the victims of Genocides, but not have their own cultural identity?  Fine, police my language, but I wasn't saying "Jew is a race."

That's retarded, even for you.

[_priapism]

Jew isn’t a race.

No, but Jewish racial persecution is.  The Jewish Race is official enough to be the victims of Genocides, but not have their own cultural identity?  Fine, police my language, but I wasn't saying "Jew is a race."

That's retarded, even for you.

I don’t believe in god and I don’t believe in races; however, Judaism is a religion and a cultural/religious heritage.  It isn’t a race. Maher isn’t “racially Jewish.”  His father was Catholic. His mother was a Hungarian Jew, but he didn’t even know that until his teens.   Calling that racially Jewish sounds like final solution term.  He’s a bit of an asshole.  Like me.

[psiberzerker]

Calling that racially Jewish sounds like final solution term.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law

I don't believe in Race, as it is defined culturally.  Either, however is is defined culturally, by eradication.  "I don't believe in race" means "I don't want to see racism," untill it's handy to call someone you don't like racist.  Obliquely, no matter how subtle you may try to be.

If you take away their heritage, which is defined, by them, by racial persecution, then they only definition left is those who waged the Pogroms, Holocaust, and so forth.  It's stripping them of their identity.  Now, I said "Racially," to differentiate from "Practicing," or "Messianic" Jew.  

Not as a "Final Solution" to people I don't have a problem with.  He's an Ashkenazi Jew,  He is, he's mentioned it multiple times on his show.  Not believing in god, and not eating Koshur doesn't change that.

[wayne3218]

Does God exist? Here are six straightforward reasons to believe that God is really there.

1. The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.
2. The universe had a start - what caused it?
3. The universe operates by uniform laws of nature. Why does it?
4. The DNA code informs, programs a cell's behavior.
5. We know God exists because he pursues us. He is constantly initiating and seeking for us to come to him.
6. Unlike any other revelation of God, Jesus Christ is the clearest, most specific picture of God revealing himself to us.

I don’t believe God exists, I keep praying to all the Gods I know for someone to hurry up and fucking DIE but they don’t they just keep sucking in air from around us.

[psiberzerker]

1. The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.

Complexity doesn't suggest intelligent design.  Working well would suggest intelligent design.  See, I'm an engineer, I looked at the design, and asked myself what idiot thought the Appendix was a good idea?  It shows every sign of either a really bad engineer, or random generation.

2. The universe had a start - what caused it?

Assumption 1:  It had a start.  Assumption 2:  Whatever started it did so with intent.

3. The universe operates by uniform laws of nature. Why does it?

 
Because if it didn't, we wouldn't be here to ask that question.

4. The DNA code informs, programs a cell's behavior.

About that.  The more we look at that code, the more garbage we find, and alleles that haven't been used in millions of years because they were switched off.  It turns out that Epigenetics, the enzymes that switch alleles on and off, have more to do with the way we develop (I.E. without gills) than the base code, which doesn't actually vary all that much.

5. We know God exists because he pursues us. He is constantly initiating and seeking for us to come to him.

Wait, what?  We have this omnipotent guy chasing us, and he hasn't caught us yet?  You would think it would be a hell of a lot easier for Him to catch us than for us to get away.

[Dodger]

I'm a non-practicing Catholic but I believe in God. I hope I'm right because in the next life I would love to see Bill Maher explain himself to God almighty. I don't mind that he's an atheist and I don't mind that he mocks religion, what does bother me though is that he acts so superior and laughs at people with faith.

[wayne3218]

Beam me up Scotty... God has a ray gun.

"Ancient astronauts" (or "ancient aliens") refers to the pseudoscientific[1] idea that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times.[2] Proponents suggest that this contact influenced the development of modern cultures, technologies, and religions. A common position is that deities from most, if not all, religions are extraterrestrial in origin, and that advanced technologies brought to Earth by ancient astronauts were interpreted as evidence of divine status by early humans.

[psiberzerker]

Beam me up Scotty... God has a ray gun.

I call that "Theory Occam's" Teacup:

The simplest explanation is "Aliens," because it rests in a saucer.  The problem with that show (Other than it being on the History channel, instead of SciFi) is that the "Theorists" in that oft repeated voiceover say:

"Is it possible that extraterrestrials came to Egypt, and built the pyramids?  Ancient Astronaut Theorists say yes."

It's Possible.  That is the burden of proof for the outlandish claims, you just have to look at a drawing on a tomb, which is thousands of years old, people's arms, and legs bend more impossibly than a Rob Leifeld character study, and we're talking about building that are intended to bring people back to life after their brains are pulled out of their noses with brass hooks, and kept in a jar next to the dessicated corpse of a lightly strangled cat.

That's not a theory.  It's not even a hypothesis.

[Athos_131]

#Resist

[psiberzerker]

Notre Dame de Paris burned in the first place, but because the cross wasn't damaged, let's call it a miracle?

Why did God allow the cathedral to burn, anyway?  This "Wood burns at 600°C" is the same bullshit they used to deny the Twin Towers.  (Sept11-01)  We used wood to smelt iron into steel in blast furnaces for centuries.

The cross was probably Gold Plated, if gold or lead gets hot enough to glow like that, it's molten.  I'm guessing bronze, or brass, but the important thing is that anyone that's willing to overlook the tragedy of the cathedral burning to find the "Miracle" inside is beyond reason.

[_priapism]

2.  I try not to lie to my Peruvian, but she asked me before marriage if I believe in God.  I rationalize my false answer of ‘yes’ because:
    a.  I hate the term atheist.  It sounds like I go around telling people not to believe.
    b.  I try to be respectful of all traditional religious beliefs.  The cultists are just stupid.
    c.  Unlike my president, I certainly believe in a power greater than myself.
I am however distrustful of those that take their religion (in what I view as) too seriously.  My Peruvian crosses herself frequently, but doesn’t overly dwell on her Catholicism.

I thought I would comment here Jed.

I don’t believe in a guy with a beard in the clouds.  I don’t believe in heaven or hell.  I do believe in a higher power, and an interconnectedness of all livings things.  We are made of star dust, and we share a life on this blue dot in an incomprehensibly vast universe.

So people ask, why do you go to church?  I think it is important to have a spiritual credo, a sense of right and wrong, and a commitment to love others and do more good than harm. The major religions all appeared in the last few moments of human existence, so choose your poison.  I abhor anyone who thinks they know the mind of God, speak for Him, or that they possess an ultimate truth.

I respect your right to believe anything you wish, but don’t tell me I must believe as you do, or attempt to impose your beliefs on others via political means.

[MintJulie]

I respect your right to believe anything you wish, but don’t tell me I must believe as you do, or attempt to impose your beliefs on others via political means.

I haven't read every post in this topic, but this was one of the best I have.
I especially love your last paragraph, that I quoted.

[Jed_]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-cross-case-20190225-story,amp.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1QG1EP


I haven’t been following this case local to me very closely, but I did read something about it a while back that stuck with me.  Seems one of my fellow nonbelievers (or an atheist) said seeing the cross on his daily drives gave him anxiety, so it has to come down.  Now mind you the cross is a memorial to local residents that were killed in WWI and has no other religious symbolism other than being in the shape of a cross.  As a nonbeliever reading about this fellow nonbeliever having his ‘anxiety attacks’, it made me want to go find him and punch him in the mouth for being such an ass.

So I guess I’m saying people like him are why I can never identify as being an atheist.

[psiberzerker]

Yeah, I differentiate between atheist, and anti-Christian.  You can tell pretty quickly by talking to them that all their proofs for the non-existance of God (The philosophical equivalent of dividing by 0) stem from debunking Christianity.  Quite othen Evangelical, and/or Catholic Christianity.  

"The Catholic Bible is wrong, ∴ God does not exist."  Okay, what about Buddha?  There's no evidence of Jesus, but Buddha was a real person, who said and did some real things, and that doesn't prove he was the re-incarnation of Brahma, but at the same time, pointing at Rome points away from EVERY OTHER CULTURE, and their beliefs.  

These same guys eventually fall back on calling me a "Knowitall."  Okay, I don't know it all, that's the basis for my Agnosticism.  Anyone who is so convinced of their conclusion, based on a complete, and utter lack of evidence, and narrows their thoughts to 1 town in 1 city in Italy has even less of a grasp on the scale of the Universe, and what it may or may not contain.

The Vatican is not the center of the universe.  Arguing as if it is, even as an Atheist, is just plain fucked up.

[joan1984]

Some folks call you a "Knowitall"! Shocking...

[psiberzerker]

Some folks call you a "Knowitall"! Shocking...

Not exactly news, but Agnosticism is an admission that I don't know.  In fact, it's from the Greek phrase "A Gnosti," which means unknowing.

[Jed_]

Agnostic doesn’t fit me either.  I’m not particularly filled with any doubt on the subject of a god or gods, just don’t have any need to be a ‘crusader’ on the topic.