What is the more important question, and why?

Question

1) Does God exist?
or
2) are the teachings of God valid?

I supose you never get to #2 if you automaitcally say yes to #1.

Answer 1

Your comment is correct. If there is no God, then there are no teachings of God, but rather wisdom born of human beings.

You could say, alternatively, Are the teachings of the philosophers valid. And some of them are, while some are not. Buddhism, Taoism, Confucius' teachings, and parts of the Talmudic texts are helpful. But so are Plato, Sophocles, Aquinas, Kierkegaard, and Proust.

If helpfulness becomes our yardstick, we make available a lot more ideas than if we assume only one text teaches us the right thing that God teaches us about life.

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Answer 2

1. Science is proven method to understand the universe. From the little humans understand about our world, I do not think that a deity exists or is interested in the human race, especially as archaic religions have presented.

Ignorance is not an appeal to religious faith, it simply means we don't know something yet.

2. If one can prove the first then you will have validity in this question. If a god existed, I don't think it would fit into our little boxes about an angry judge who sits on a cloud and sends people to eternal hell. Why would a god of this universe be interested in the affairs of one puny species on a planet on the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy?

Answer 3

Actually, you never get to #2 if you say NO to #1. But it is possible for a god to exist, but for there to be no "teachings". I have never encountered a valid reason for believing in a god; neither has anyone else.

Answer 4

I say they are equally important questions for different reasons. God does exist and his teachings are valid.There are some that believe that God does exist but that his teachings are not valid. There are others who believe God does not exist but what people to believe his teachings have no validity. You can not simply choose one question without considering the other.

Answer 5

From the Christian viewpoint...

Both questions are meaningless in the asking, because the answers to both are an automatic "yes." Rather, the question we ought to ask is, "How can I better fulfill my responsibilities as God's creation?" and proceed to answer it through action.

From the non-Christian viewpoint...

Question Number 2 is most important. If God's words/teachings (represented by the Holy Bible) are valid, you can immediately assume that He exists due to what is taught in the Holy Bible. However, scientifically speaking, neither questions bear any weight because they're both "unscientific" in the sense that one cannot apply the scientific method to answer either question.

Answer 6

#2 is, because if the answer to #1 is yes, than 2 comes into play.

God exists; humanity makes an error, when they go beyond the ten commandments, and call it 'teachings of God'
What they are, are the interpretations, written by mortal man. Emphasize "Man" ever notice the most punitive rules apply to the women?

Stick to the 'big 10' believe in God, and don't give any mortal a dime of your money. Ok?

Answer 7

As soon as you can accept the fact that god doesn't exist you can stop doing your brain in with pointless questions.
Life becomes a lot simpler and you have more time especially on sundays to enjoy yourself.

Answer 8

Well, there are no "teachings of God", since He doesn't exist, so that one is a non-question.

Answer 9

1 is the most important question. The teachings of God will always be valid because they teaches us how to live peacefully with others.

Answer 10

what does the word god mean. i think god is no thing,void of form. a transcendental mystery. other religions put a face and qualities on god. both my belief and others are concepts in the brain. so for me, gods teaching means i surrender to the mystery of not knowing what is unknowable.