I was reading something about Voltaire earlier. And I cam across a quote that lead me to this question.
If God does not exist why invent him? What purpose will it serve to invent an imaginary God whom some have died for to defend?
2006-09-19 14:55:38 · 28 answers · asked by ? 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
believe me God does exist sometimes i used to think he didntbut now i face some circumstance in life that definately proves that God exist so theres no need to invent one.blesed love
2006-09-19 15:00:42 · answer #1 · answered by pinky 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm sorry, but I have to believe you are joking! Have you considered how many gods have been created by the thousands of different cultures? Primitive cultures invent dozens or hundreds of gods.
We have evolved to look for intelligent behavior, because in any natural environment the most dangerous elements are the intelligent ones. We have evolved to understand cause and effect, to both anticpate effects and to look for causes. These are both survival mechanisms. Unfortunately we tend to overgeneralize, and see intelligent causes where there may not be any. This overgeneralization extends to when we ask what caused the world to exist and decide the only answer is that something superintelligent and superpowerful must have caused it to happen.
There. I've pointed out that there are thousands of examples of man inventing gods. And I've also pointed out one hypothesis for why we invent gods. That seems to me to be a much stronger arugment than simply asserting that there would "be no purpose" in inventing gods.
2006-09-19 22:11:06 · answer #2 · answered by Jim L 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
We didn't invent God....he invented us.
Did you read a little part about Voltaire where he predicted that the bible would be a forgotten book within 100 years of his death?
But the Geneva Bible Society was using his house to publish Bibles for Europe within 50 years of death.
2006-09-19 22:07:37 · answer #3 · answered by ? 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've got a funny story for you. I was driving down the road the other day and my horn just started honking and I did not know why. I was in the middle of traffic and didn't really have the oppurtunity to figure out. But the funny part was all the hateful and strange looks I was getting, kinda of makes you think about life, what can you do? And so I started laughing histerically. It wasn't for show, or not intentionally, I couldn't help it. It felt like the first time I smoked pot. I don't smoke pot or do anything anymore. But these people started looking at me like I was on drugs and I could only laugh harder, horn honking all the way. I'm amused now thinking about it. Life, what can you do? Just laugh it feels good sometimes.
Because, this answer is a repeat, man somewhat understands death. He is afraid of what he doesn't understand. Some clever people took advantage of their fellows' fears. They created an explanation for them, took their fear away, and these fellows followed them.
2006-09-19 22:03:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I am sort of the wrong person to ask because I am a Christian and I believe whole heartedly in the Lord and Jesus. I guess though to some who are a little less advanced in their belief system yet, they could invent God to be however they felt he should be, sort of like a security blanket.
2006-09-19 22:02:56 · answer #5 · answered by mortgagegirl101 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
People since the begging of time have invented god for one reason. They needed to invent something to help deal with the fact that we are all going to die, a after life. God and after life go hand in hand. All different gods have all different after lives. Plus when these people die for there god they think they'll get the after life they want since they died "in the name of god". "In the name of god" has killed people for years because they think according to their god they are right and are able to overcome the most basic fear, death.
You can tell which ones are the "In the name of god" people because they will be mad at you or not really answer the question.
2006-09-19 22:07:00 · answer #6 · answered by zeroczerodo 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Good question. I can only say that people who don't believe that God exists invent their own little gods or worship themselves. There is no purpose whatsoever. People haven't died for nothing. God truly exists!
2006-09-19 22:06:46 · answer #7 · answered by Pashur 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It makes no sense whatsover. While people try to say it is man trying to envoke rules and order so that their won't be lawlessness that doesn't make any sense either. To take it a step further into Christianity, why would 11 apostles lay their lives down for Christ's cause if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes especially since they already had a religion that caused them to be ostricized by nearly their whole county when they decided to follow Christ? You don't see athiest or agnostics laying down their lives for there beliefs do you? Where is the Foxes book of Martyrs for them?
2006-09-19 22:19:36 · answer #8 · answered by Prophecy+History=TRUTH 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
justify an ethos, establish a morality,
explain death, explain the cosmos, explain existence, explain etc etc etc.....
give some sort of hope in the "afterlife"
give some sort of belief that ones lot in life can be improved by appeasement/sacrifice/rituals and rites
as frail as the human condition is....if god didn'tn exist...we would have invented him...[ or a paraphrase thereof]
2006-09-19 22:05:56 · answer #9 · answered by Gemelli2 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Anyone reading Voltaire knows at least at subset of the psycho-social - philosophical hypotheses.
Personally, I think it will eventually be established that there is a 'hard-wired' brain chemistry answer.
And, that the reason Atheists are more intelligent than believers is because they do not have the defective gene or brain chemistry.
sela -
You know their is a god because people die?
You need large quantities of mind altering drugs.
Hurry - you don't have much time before your brain is permanently stuck in 'stupid'.
2006-09-19 22:06:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋