Is it because you can't conceive God or you just don't want to?

Question

Not trying to be a smart butt...I just was curious..

Answer 1

I just cant make myself believe it...I tried, tried very hard indeed for years and still could not overcome doubt. I was raised christian but no matter how much I tried to force myself to believe, in my mind I knew it wasn't truth, wasn't reality and sounded more like a fairytale than anything else. I finally gave up and accepted myself for the Atheist I am whose mind was and is apparently not weak enough to throw logic and science out the window and buy into the god theory.

Answer 2

I think I can conceive of god - my problem is that the definitions of god that I read in books like the bible don't work for me. I was raised Jewish and for god to have created the universe and yet care about whether or not we eat cheeseburgers seems to weird for words. Similarly, when I read the story of Adam and Eve and Original Sin I was horrified at such an immoral story.

A

Answer 3

Everyone is given a measure of faith to believe by God...it doesn't take much...they DO NOT WANT TO believe....in fact, a lot of them feel they're too intelligent to believe; or so they say....I don't buy that, personally. I wouldn't chat in a forum all the time and get as passionate (some are just down right mean and nasty) about somebody that chose to believe in santa claus, because I truly DON'T CARE! Why, because I have no belief in santa. So, in other words...methinks they doth protest too much....!

Answer 4

I want you to consider the words of Penn Jillette. A while back, he wrote a piece for a series entitled "This I Believe." It is a short piece, so please, take the time to read it in it's entirety.

This I Believe

I believe that there is no God. I'm beyond atheism. Atheism is not believing in God. Not believing in God is easy -- you can't prove a negative, so there's no work to do. You can't prove that there isn't an elephant inside the trunk of my car. You sure? How about now? Maybe he was just hiding before. Check again. Did I mention that my personal heartfelt definition of the word "elephant" includes mystery, order, goodness, love and a spare tire?
So, anyone with a love for truth outside of herself has to start with no belief in God and then look for evidence of God. She needs to search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power. All the people I write e-mails to often are still stuck at this searching stage. The atheism part is easy.
But, this "This I Believe" thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith that helps one see life's big picture, some rules to live by. So, I'm saying, "This I believe: I believe there is no God."
Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.
Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.
Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, "How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.
Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.
Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-O and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.
-Penn Jillette

Does that help you understand?
-SD-

Answer 5

I don't know about the "can't" part.

But your're right on the money with me not wanting to "conceive God".

First, it's been done to death.

Second, there's usually a virgin involved, and I haven't been that for a long time.

Third, my hubby wouldn't buy any excuse I came up with.

And, frankly, the Moms involved in these sorts of things seem to get a pretty raw deal out of it.

Answer 6

Is it because you can't look outside the square and see all the flaws in Christian "history" or "story telling", to notice that you have been blindly following the footsteps of the person in front of you, without ever asking if they knew where they were going? Or do you just not want to?

Answer 7

It is ridiculous religious dogma that has ruined the name of God.

Answer 8

Noone can conceive the mind of God.

Answer 9

god has to exist, god is an idea that turned into a belief, but god is everything and he is the balance thats makes life religion and science

Answer 10

If one is finite, it is infinitesimal compared to anything larger than it (let alone something infinite). They say God is infinite. Therefore, finite beings can know NOTHING of him.