Why are there so many people who believe in God, when he obviously does not exist?

Question

The use of the word 'obviously' indicate that through my own experience, I have come to a conclusion that he obviously does not exist. Also when I ask Christians why they think there is a god, they answer with silly replies like 'Its in the bible' jesus! 'Of course he exist' Jesus! 'I feel sorry for you if that is what you believe' Jesus! I feel sorry for all you weirdos and hypocrites who believe. OK I have used the word hypocrites because of all the christians I know, they do not act very christian like, they are rude, racist and arrogant.

Answer 1

IF God truly existed, and if soooooooo many people truly and honestly BELIEVED in a God... then there would be no murders, killings, hatred, wars, crimes, stealing, robbings, thefts, liars, cheats, adulterers, genocides, hunger, starvation, malnutrition, abuse, beatings, inhumane treatment toward other fellow human beings and toward animals... etc., etc. People who CLAIM to believe in God are all liars! How can you believe in something and act indifferent or contrary to your beliefs? I believe all snakes bite and I am afraid of them and I do not go near them! I believe that if I fall from a high place I will die a very painful death... I am mortified of heights!

Just as I believe that all terrorists that claim to do things for a belief in their God are all lying hypocrites! They have been brainwashed like the ultra conservative Christians that also want to CONTROL the world! Liars, hypocrites and full of taurus excretia... they only want power, wealth and control over all others and they say that believe in a loving God that teaches love? Ha!

Answer 2

If you come across christian fundamentalists or extremists or even devout followers you are frequently going to encounter the same unreasonable "ham-fisted" approach to faith and religion. The result is you are unlikely to have a fair discussion about the subject and are even more likely to conclude that people who have some sort of faith are unreasonable hypocrites. That's what's happened here.

I am what I like to call an independent Christian, I don't like organised religion, where a sect reads a passage or recites an ideal and then makes your mind up for you because that's what you have to believe to be part of the church. Some will bark "so you just went of and hand picked the ideas and teachings you agreed with" well yeah, I thought about what christianity teaches as a whole, and as an individual made up my mind as to what issues I agreed with and came to my own conclusions. because making up your mind before you've examined an issue or idea is just stupid.

I like to believe that religion and faiths are just ideas, rather than an unbreakable belief system. Ideas can be modified as times and circumstances change. If you adopt the Bible as a collection of ideas rather than a belief system you can take the elements that apply to the world today (it's 2000 bloody years old) by contemporising them.

Now as for the existence of God. I don't know what God is, I don't believe he's some all powerful mount olympius type figure who has some master plan. For me God's just how we got here, and has no direct control over us, just some ideas and guides that can be found in the bible. Again this is only an idea, the same way the Big Bang is and idea-a good idea but as yet unproven, just like most religions, or the way evolution is just a theory, an idea, a good one but not fact as yet.

I feel as long as you approach these things with your mind open to new Ideas then these fundamentalist knee-jerk reactions can be snubbed out and some proper discovery and progress can be made on that whole front. But that's just me.

Answer 3

Because religion appeared before science. The oldest religions have more than 3,000 years. Science has worked over and over itself, built brick over brick to create disciplines which revise themselves permanently. Religion is built on nothing. They are just based on faith, there is no intention of proving anything, one must only believe and not make any questions. Religion is for people who are passive thinkers in life. When science tries to advance, religion has always been a stone in the road. When Galileo Galilei saw through a telescope that the Earth actually revolved around the sun, they forced him to retract himself under the penalty of death. To answer your question, religion has done an impressive communication effort for centuries. Christianity has communicated, although imposing by force (even to Indians or native Americans) its ideals. There it has done a great job. Nevertheless, religion never adapts itself to the changes that go on in society. They are against abortion, which is women's right to have a child or not (after all, they will be raising the child, not the Church), and they are against gays just for being different. The worst thing is they base their arguments on NOTHING. Religion is a real insult to scientists, a lack of respect. Scientists work very hard to discover and prove, while religious people just criticize and read the bible. Fortunately, things are rapidly transforming. In Bob Dylan's words: the times, they are a changing!

Answer 4

God is not an entity. It is SATH, CHIT and AANANDA.
Sath = Truth
chit= conscience
Ananda = Total bliss or happiness
Aperson who has clear concience and one who is not afraid to speak the truth even under death penalty attains real bliss.
Socrates was one such person
You will accept that sathchitananda is a state of mind which all persons can attain but at a cost and not by following acertain ritualistic religion or lecturing on morality

Answer 5

Some people need a simple explanation for the world around them. Through out human history man has always tried to explain what he did not understand. Often people who come up with explainations for things they saw in nature that involved super beings that controled or created these things. There are countless religons that have been developed this way. The Judo/Christian God is just one of the more popular ones right now.

Ofcourse in the modern world we do not need super beings to explain why things are the way they are. But a lot of people get stuck with the beliefs of their parents, and their parents parents and so forth. When you are raised in a enviroment that worships a certain god, it is hard to be able to look at nature and seek explanations for what you see if you already have an answer that is acceptable to you.

Answer 6

That's what a belief is.

It would be pointless to believe in someone like the postman, because we know he exists.

But God is an invisible entity that you won't get to see until after you die, so it isn't obvious that he doesn't exist, is it?

It's like aliens. We've got no proof either way, that they do or do not exist. So some people believe in them, some don't.

Wording your question like that just makes it apparent that you don't believe in God yourself, but makes it feel like you're trying to impose that on everyone else. Regardless of whether you believe in God or not it's still not 'obvious' that he does not exist.

Answer 7

Although I'm agnostic, I think people believe in God purely for comfort and Faith. They feel there is always something/someone there to comfort and protect in a way, and if used positively I don't see this as a bad thing. If belief of something helps them get through the bad times, then why not? Although it does annoy me the bible bashers who constantly try and ram their beliefs down your throat. Religion and beliefs are personal choices.

There have always been religions and I believe Human Nature dictates that it needs to worship something to make it feel safe, in its simplest form.

Answer 8

It is not obvious that He does not exist , or obvious that He does . If He does not exist then no one will find Him, if He does then one way or another God will find you. In the Christian tradition the term good shepherd is used to describe Jesus. A good shepherd will go out of his way to find a lost sheep. Are you lost? or just a loser?

Answer 9

I do not personally believe in God but I think that if people gain strength and decide to live their life by a good moral code that religion provides, then who can say that believing in God or religion is a bad thing?

Answer 10

The idea of a powerful uberbeing fills some kind of need.
I was walking past a church the other day and saw a poster advertising the alpha course; it said 'Is there more to this life?'
And I think that is the point - our minds have difficulty coming to terms with the fact that the answer is 'No', so we have to create god in our image, and fantasise about purpose and point in the universe. We need some one to turn to, plead with, obey and ultimately, blame.