Why do some people choose not to believe in God?

Question

I believe in him!!! But I want to know what you believe and say whatever you want to. I'm an openminded person I don't usually judge people!!!

Answer 1

they dont choose not to
they just dont due to lack of evidence of God
people cant just flick on a believe switch

Answer 2

For some it is strictly a matter of the lack of evidance to support the claim that there is a God. This is basicly the Atheist position on it.

For me personally I do feel there is a Divine nature but this is nothing like the ideas that are in any religions texts. I was raised in the Christian religion and did follow it for a lot of years. However as I reached adulthood I began to really study the bible and this God idea for myself.

The problem I had wasn't with evidance of a God but rather in the moral and ethical nature of the God figure that is in monotheism. Reguardless of Old or New testament the actions of this God are not what I would call loving.
The idea of believing in a God that would create souls just to torture them forever so that he could show the ones he made to go to a heaven how good he is struck me as really sick. (Romans 9:21 - 23) Combine with that the fact that the New testament is very clear that everyones fate was deturmined before the foundation of the world means there is NOTHING anyone can do in life that will alter what happens to their soul. This also ties in with the above mentioned verse that where a person goes (Heaven or Hell) was deturmined at the moment their soul was created. This is also the way it must be in order for this God to truely be all knowing.
Then there are the numerous problems in the old testament with this God's brutal behavior. It is even written in the bible about this God having an evil spirit. 1 Samuel 16:14 an evil spirit from the LORD.

Even if this God would exist it would be a God that I would have no choice but to oppose. The reason is simple. I can not say, "I do not care what this God does to someone else just so long as I am safe." For me to love anyone they must possess traits that I at the very least like if not admire. I can not like let alone admire the behavior of this bible God. For this God to then threaten me with eternal torture unless I bow to his will I see him as no different then HITLER or any other tyrant this world has seen!

Keep in mind this God may be able to judge everyone but in order for anyone to decide if they want to follow this God they must judge this God! They must make a judgement about can they go along with the actions of this God. If a person can not go along with the actions of this God how can they honestly say bthat they would be able to follow this God? Is the only one they really care about themself? It would have to be since any compashion for others would cause a major conflict with this God!

Answer 3

Why don't you believe in Zeus, Thor or Green People on Venus? Same reason. There's no evidence.

There is no evidence; and before you say "What do you mean? You're evidence of God".. I'll have to point out the logical fallacy that you would be using: Presupposition

You pre-suppose the existence of a God, assign Him the power to create me, then say "How can you say there is no God, you're standing right there!"... Then I would say "See that car there? I made that car from toothpicks.. How can you doubt it.. There it is!" I have presupposed my ability to make cars out of toothpicks before I made the argument.

Also, there is actually reason to believe that a Christian God of your description (All Loving, All Knowing, All powerful) doesn't exist in this universe. If He did, why would He allow innocent children to get cancer? Why would He send hurricanes and earthquakes kill so many people? Why would He allow people to fly planes into our skyscrapers and kill thousands of His "children"? And on and on and on.

Actually, siting the Riddle of Epicuris":

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

Therefore the All Knowing, All powerful, All loving God of your description is logically impossible.

If he allows children to get cancer, and allows tsunamis and hurricanes to kill thousands. If he allows bad men to rape women. If he even allows evil to exist in the world, then:
1) he can't be all loving
or 2) he can't know about it
or 3) he's not powerful enough to stop it.
You can have 2 out of three, but not all three

When looking at the world through the eyes of a rationalist/atheist, the world makes perfect sense. Some people, good and bad, will die in natural disasters. Little children will get cancer as a certain percentage of the population. There's no malice, and no "mysterious plan".

Also, if you will re-read your bible (you're planning to anyway, right?) with critical mind, you'll notice that the God of the Bible actually is:
Extremely Violent and Cruel
Jealous
Murderous
Impetuous
Peevish
Possessive
Threatening
Irrational
Misogynistic
Irresponsible
ALL of these are human traits! And every Christian apologist that I've ever heard, constantly says that "God is so far above humans, that we could never understand his motives.".. Well, reading the bible, you're supposed to understand his motives! That's where the supposed lessons come from!


Not only that, but in the Bible, God directly ordered 2,017,956 People Killed.

Not counting 65 entire cities.

Not counting those that died from the His various Plagues.
And not counting the entire population of the world in the Flood.


Heck, the only people Satan killed was Job's kids, and that was only after God told him he could.
And he's constantly surprised by the actions of Humans. How can he be all knowing, be surprised by anything we do, and get angry (a human emotion) when we're simply "following the plan" that he laid down in the first place!

What this boils down to is that God was really created by men, and the bible authored by men, not the other way around. Also, do the actions of your God make sense to you? Or does he really seem to act like a spoiled 8 year old?

Answer 4

There is too much suffering in this world to believe in a god. Babies are dying before they are born; terrible diseases are spreading rapidly. Many people pray, but what does it lead to?

Besides, the existence of a god contradicts itself. Who created this god? Why isn't he or she interfering in our daily lives? Anyways, if he or she does, how can the god interfere with every believer's life? Does the god neglect some people but shower attention on others?

In the Old Testament, God acts cruelly. He asks his "chosen" people for so many offerings. Surely, he must understand that these people are wandering in a wasteland! They need their livestock! He also proclaims that he is a jealous god and will not allow people to believe in another god.

Religons are merely a way for people to seek comfort in an afterlife. Accept death. It is easier that way.

Answer 5

I do not believe in god because I have never seen evidence for a spiritual being that is concerned with the everyday dealings of you and me. Certain traits that people ascribe to God, such as omnipotence and omniscience, seem to me to be either impossible or would eliminate the need for God to create. I'm an agnostic, so my official stance on the God question is I don't know, and I'm not going to assume anything (yes, faith is an assumption). But if god does exist, just for the sake of argument, my experience in the world leads me to believe that god is either apathetic, impotent or sadistic in regard to human affairs.

Answer 6

Can we assume you mean the Christian God?

Why do you chose TO believe?

I don't believe in the Christian God because the Bible is full of too many inconsistencies to be read as a credible document on which to base a religious faith.

There is much in the Bible to be commended (especially the words of Christ himself) - but as a whole, I can't accept it.

I do not accept the idea that in one act, one can be Saved forever, by the actions of someone else. To rely on someone else for "salvation" seems to me to be devolving real responsibility for ones actions.

I am glad you have a spiritual life - and realise that there are alternatives: we just have different views of the universe as we each clean our own little patch of the dirty window that separates us from understanding.
.

Answer 7

Hm-mm. I'd start with intelligence and a reasoning mind, no fear of free thought. the love of logic,
a good dose of skepticism and having a 'truth seeker' streak, like a good journalist.

What do I believe in? I believe I am here right now, I believe that there is an ultimate truth to everything in the end.

Answer 8

Well I believe all different Gods and Goddesses exist, I just don't worship them all. As you might could tell I'm a polytheist, an Asatruar to be exact. I worship the Norse Gods & Goddesses.

Some folks don't believe in any Gods at all simply because they see no evidence. It's not that they chose to "not believe in him", it's just the conclusion they draw based on the evidence.

Answer 9

The devil has a strangle-hold on the world. He is trying to get as many people to go to hell as he can. Anything that denies the divinity or existence of God is from the devil. Some people are very skeptical of God and how He runs things. If they don't see the big picture they choose to think that they need to do it for themselves. Thus they try to eliminate God and go it alone.

God Bless

Answer 10

It's their choice as to what they believe in. Some people (most, actually) don't believe in something that is not entirely tangible to them.
It is not our place as believers to alienate those who aren't; it's against our own bible to do so! We are all children of God anyway, whether or not we all believe it. So, in our lives, go on and be friendly and loving to those who are not believers. <3 If God REALLY wants to punish them, that's His job, not ours.

Answer 11

Well, belief in a higher being is not always for everyone. Just like that whole, you say tomato I say tamato. You can't say either is wrong because everyone has a different belief on how the word should be said.