Why do religious people believe that there 'must be something more'?

Question

As an example here is a recent quote from a Christian on this forum about non-faith people - 'they know there must be something more to this life than just BANG...LIVE....DIE' -- my question is why?

And why do religious people justify this (God) as any form of rational/sane thinking? Essentially it seems to boil down to - I don't want to face the fact that I might not live for ever and therefore I refuse to believe it, and I think anyone else who says they believe it must be lying because I cannot cope - so how could they?

Please do not bombard me with 'God speak' or 'I pity and forgive you' or 'you will burn in hell' or ' how sad you aren't going to Disneylan/Heaven' - just give me a rational/logical reason why my belief's are in any way less valid than yours - and if possible why a 'supernatural being' creation is not less likely/logical/rational than a scientific (and yes incomplete) non interventionist existance.

I notice a lack of religious folks answering - if I was less charitable I could draw an inference from that....

it was a reasonably complex question...

For clarification - I am completely comfortable with my mortality - and frankly sometimes reading the material on this forum - it seems not a completely terrible option :-)

Janeway6 - thanks for responding - but what does that mean? what does Jesus talking to you mean? and how does that change the rationality of the argument? Is it 'I just believe and no matter how counter-intuitive, or irrational it is, I have decided' - I dont judge you on this I just dont understand how you can cope with life on this belief system of 'dont know- dont care - i just do' - surely you can justify anything with this logic

Janeway6 - thanks for responding - but what does that mean? what does Jesus talking to you mean? and how does that change the rationality of the argument? Is it 'I just believe and no matter how counter-intuitive, or irrational it is, I have decided' - I dont judge you on this I just dont understand how you can cope with life on this belief system of 'dont know- dont care - i just do' - surely you can justify anything with this logic

Thanks for all the answers

Cirque_de_ Lune - one thing would change me a logical argument - why not try one?

Creatix - cool - respect. Save me a seat :-)

Sashmead - good response - thanks - but with respect your argument still rests on - 'I dont understand - that is uncomfortable - therefore someone (God) must' Why? without any evidence other than our lack of understanding is a God not an extremely unlikely theory? How can he explain his own existance? - or do we need only one level above us to relinquish responsibility of existance?

Giid stuff - but we seem to be getting to the crux - Latterview- your argument is representative - ie someone must have created it because it is so complex - think how much more complex that being must be - where the hell does he come from? and as for the need for faith - i use your comment as evidence for my postulation - isolated cultures all make up creation/death beliefs - but interestingly not the same one (- and before anyone starts - Judo-christian-islam are all the same one - try comparing with Incan, or Whicker, or STeppes idol worship....

and ManOf Physics - sorry this is a complete cop out - you say why not Jesus if you cant explain it? Well because I dont work like that - in an absence of evidence I dont make up a colourful answer - why not Buddha, or Krishna, or the Great Green Arkle siesure.

ConcernedMom - great answer and thanks but....

your whole argument rests on - and I quote - 'Part of our make-up is the knowledge/instinct that there is a higher power'.

Is it? Really? If so - why? Is that not an illogical premise that is the basis of a half answer to your limited existance.

I do not agree with your premise - I do not believe it is knowledge or instinct, I believe it is easy (substitute cop-out) thinking to avoid rationalising our own fleeting existance - sorry....

Concerned Mum - sorry if that sounded rude - i didnt mean it to.

(getting carried away - and enjoying - the debate)

I do respect you and your views.

Answer 1

I think you worry way to much about death, death is a good thing. Find something that makes you happy in life and quit worrying so much.

Answer 2

First your question is the sign of insane thinking. Because you know there is no answer for it either way.

Just take an example. You travel into a dessert and reach a place where there is a small hut and a cloth is hanging on a rope. What will be your thought? Anyone will think that there is someone living or lived. Means someone behind this house and belongings. Now if I say that the hut is evolved or formed out a Big Bang.... what will be your opinion?

Keep aside all religious books and arguments. Keep aside the God himself. Now my argument is that without the work of an extraordinary brain we cannot come into being. If it is a miracle, then there is a brain behind it.

Now another point. There are people world wide. Different cultures.... different languages..... and so on. Thousands of years before none of them were even knowing each other community. Still, each of the society had a system to worship an unseen power in some form or the other. The way of worship varies but all they had the same argument. The power behind the creations..... Is it an evidence of some common understanding or even a reality?????

Just think and comment.

Answer 3

I think that there is something more because I know I have a soul, I know I have a soul because it has left my body and I remember it. It was not a dream, I've also had lucid dreams so pretty equipped with knowing if I'm in a dream or not. It was not a figment of my imagination because as great as my mind is (joke btw) it is not that great to create what I had experienced.

Science does not hold the answers, they are just theories, it cannot be proved quarks exist on an atomic level and it cannot be proved that what 15 billion years ago a Big Bang happened, it cannot be proved we evolved from a very primative lifeform into the complex beings we are now, if you follow the fossil records etc, there is actually a giant leap of evolution that happened very quickly, why? Francis Crick the co-discoverer of DNA said that the chances of DNA forming by accident are impossible.

No God speak. I could not care less if I do not live forever, infact it would be a blessing.

Look within.

Answer 4

Christians (myself included) believe this feeling is an innate longing for God. They also believe that in a world of suffering, a person could never be content with a hedonistic lifestyle as it conflicts so much with the world around us ("the megaphone of suffering" as it's been called), and any attempt to find meaning from the direct world around us will never bring satisfaction because the world is flawed.

Creation by a divine being seems more logical to Christians because:
- the universe around us is so incredibly complex, the chances of this not being from design is inconceivably small (there is the idea that if you put all the parts of a watch in a box and shake it for long enough, you'll eventually get a watch).
- the order of creation appears to defy the law of entropy; that everything will become less ordered; the development of life and evolution is where something becomes more ordered by a natural process.
- the world could not have just appeared out of nowhere (Big Bang theory); there must have been an origin according to all our knowledge of physics. A God does not have to conform to these laws of physics and therefore is capable of a) existing outside the universe and b) creating the universe. A Big Bang theory must conform to these, as it is a theory based on physics, yet took place when none of the physical rules existed.

Answer 5

The answer is simple. What do you worship? I bet your answer is you don't worship anything. Am I right? Ok what about sex, money, family, work, car, friends, girlfriend, or boyfriend, computer, Games console, food, drugs, film star, pop star. I'm not saying that all these apply to you, but the above applies to every man, woman, and child alive this very day. We all worship something or someone and so do you.
Why do we all worship? Because it comes down to the question you asked. We are all looking for fulfillment in our lifes. So we look to the above. But I'm sure you'll agree, although some of the above can be great, they also don't totally satisfy us 100%.
People then look to religion, Islam, Hinduism, they go to church, they pray, read the bible, or they try some other religious experiment. Because they know that their has to be more to life than this.
The sad thing is people look to fulfill their own hearts out of being selfish. They want it for themselves. They want the answers but they strive for their own merit. This is pride. Pride corrupts, it doesn't satisfy. Eventually it leads to greed.
The reason we are like this is that is the way we where created. We where created to worship. But what or should I say Who? If you really want to know then you can contact me by email. I promise I'll get back to you.
I don't promise to hold all the answers but I know that I can help where I can.

Answer 6

Science has long shown that humans should live forever, without growing old, but don't know why we don't. Once we reach full maturity, we never get older than seven years of age, as that is how long it takes for every cell in the human body to completely replace themselves. Some are faster, such as skin cells, while others are slower, like the heart and brain.

The brain has the storage capacity to hold over 10,000 years of data and memories, plus 10-20 times the ability to process the data. We use a very small part of the layer of the brain which handles the processing of data. This was driven home for me in 1998, after having a temperature of 105.5 for three weeks. The activity center of my brain moved to a new area, possibly as a result of damage from the temperature.

Clearly, we were meant to have everlasting life (not immortal life), where we don't age or get sick. We can still die from significant injury, but not from natural causes. We are the only animals with these abilities. What evolutionary pressure could cause this if it is simply the result of a genetic mutation?

There has to be more because our bodies were "designed" for far more. We were "designed" to live on the Earth forever, with the mental abilities to take us out into the universe to explore and terraform new planets into Paradises.

This is what Adam took from us, this is what is ahead of us, when this old system comes to an end. No, we weren't meant to live in heaven, it is the realm of the angels. We were meant to live on this planet, and on the other planets in this universe. We were designed for this purpose, to use our bodies and our minds to their full potential. Who knows, when we again have the full use of our minds, we may explore the universe without the need of space ships.

Answer 7

I keep an open mind but it is not just religious believers that think their may be something more. Some physicist and philosophers also think there may be more.

Current thinking that everything in the universe is made from particles even atoms are of smaller particles. Some think that these particles have a time from which they are formed into something greater than their individual particle and for a distance of time remain as that along with other particles but like everything after so long the form changes and the particles return to the pool of particles ready to be formed into some thing else.

I don't know if it is true but it has an element of logic

Answer 8

Does it not appear as a little more than coincidence that such belief goes back so far into the aboriginal history? So long ago that there is only one wise man left to pass on the history?

Does it not appear as more than coincidence that all of the worlds great religions have this same belief? All 7 of them!

I begin to wonder when they all got together and came to this conclusion. Or, who went out and gave them this information? This may be true of the religions but who would have presented themselves to the aboriginals, whose history goes back and back and back. They even talk about the dream time (creation).

Then again, we go to Africa and a tribe there states they are from another planet and celebrate that planet every 60 years.. It was finally seen by astronomers on that 60th year celebration... the only time it can be seen.. but who told these people about their origination?

There are too many unaswered questions to dwell on the why but, we need to learn to accept these things have occured somewhere in the past and the knowledge continues to be passed on.

Answer 9

I know rather then belief now. It was a quick turn and believing is not the most important throughout the whole life as it is more the way you live. You may be a lot more forgiving then a churchgoer and therefore the whole thing may go a lot easier for you.. See not going against yourself is the most important, how chained is the Heart, the true self.. It is believing in Love// These discussions are all ego-mind dscussions and hard because the ego-mind cannot give or love// You feel it one day i think..

Answer 10

okay I will try and give a straight forward answer . First I do not believe in telling people that they will go to hell for their beliefs. I would then be taking God's job and Idonot like to tread on His toes to face His wrath. I am sorry for the people that Have done that to you it is wrong. as a christian we learn to judge not lest ye be judged. People seem to be forgetting that. From what I have learned and life experiences God is real and so is heaven. People follow the rules of God and earn there place in heaven. Loving God and following His rules is the same as any parent putting down rules for their children and giving them consequences for breaking the rules. It is hard to believe in a big babg theory when life is so intricate and every part of the human body rquires another part to keep existing . My rasoning s how can a big bang develop something as intricate as life itself. God has seen me through some darl time in my life and my faith in Him grows. I do not know if this has helped I hope so. I know that God loves us all.

Answer 11

Why do people have to believe that there's not? Especially
when we all have personal spiritual experiences. Like knowing
who's on the phone. Or singing a song before we turn on the
radio and it's playing. To dreaming of our own future.
Isn't it just the fear of being punished in hellfire the reason for their denial? They need to quit listening to buttheads who
hypocritically condemn them to cover their own guilt, and
LISTEN to the true message.
That our Creator doesn't pass the buck. It is understood
what we go through in this world, and we have been given
a way out. But we have to accept it.
There are many dimensions in reality. Our Creator doesn't make anyone go to hell. Nor is anyone made to go to heaven. Think about it.