Would you believe in something that is not proven?

Question

The Loch Ness monster, the aliens, UFO, God, Devil, angels, hell, paradise, afterlife, reincarnation, etc. Where do you draw the line between reality and fantasy?

Answer 1

That is a really good question. I personally believe in God, but wonder sometimes if its a belief fueled by the things I've been taught since childhood, rather than a concious decision on my part.

Answer 2

i guess it depends on what you mean by believe. i believe there are aliens out there, though i don't necassarily believe there has been contact. Obviously, i believe in UFOs - all they are is unidentified flying objects. if we don't know what it is then it's a UFO. i think it is quite possible that there is some kind of creature in the Loch Ness, and i am open to the possibility (though a lot less so) that reincarnation may be real. I don't believe in god, the devil, heaven or hell.
where do i draw the line? i use critical thought and reason. stories like Nessie have been around too long, on and off. At this point, the word Nessie is guaranteed to make you a joke. yet the stories keep popping up. I think it is entirely possible. we haven't found Nessie yet, but that's not very surprising, considering the circumstances and our own arrogance.
there are too many other planets and too many other suns for the conditions that resulted in live on Earth not to exist somewhere else. if it worked here, why not there? it's not logical to think we are alone - it's arrogant. it's the kind of think people deny because they want to feel special somehow. now when you start talking about god and the devil, all there is to even suggest their existence is a book and a lot of believers who have yet to satisfy me that they even know what they believe. i can't see a single shred of evidence to hang on to, and unlike the tales of Nessy, there is no consistency, no guiding principle, nothing but an endless string of contradictions and circular logic.

Answer 3

Well, that's an interesting question. I believe in God. My parents, I'm working on telling them. ANYWAYS, although there's no proven information about Him, I still believe. I have constantly asked myself over and over every day:

Do I truly believe in God, facts or no facts?

And I said yes. Until I said yes without a doubt. So here I say yes, without a doubt, I believe in God. He is reality to me.

Fantasy is the Loch Ness monster, the aliens, UFO, reincarnation etc.

But God, Devil, angels, hell, afterlife I believe in.

I don't believe in reincarnation because I believe we only get one chance at life to live it to its fullest. It's like a piece of paper on a deserted island with a bottle. We only get one chance.

Answer 4

I think everyone believes in things which are not proven. After all, isn't it always stated that things can only be supported, not proven. It's one of the first rules of science.

As for where to draw the line, I guess that depends one what you accept as possible. For instance, I find it difficult to believe in aliens yet when I think of how many billions of other planets there are out in the universe it seems unlikely that ours would be the only one that supports life. I mean, if there's fungus growing on a rock on some planet a million light years away then alien lifeforms exist.

Answer 5

What counts as proof? Come to that, what counts as the Loch Ness monster, etc.? To prove X exists you have first to define X and then to define what would count as proof of the existence of X.

Suppose you have defined X. Would your personal experience of X be proof of the existence of X? Privately (for you), perhaps, yes, but not publicly (for us).

Both the definition of X and the proof of the existence of X are public matters. That is, they are not just your call but our call.

I would suggest that the first three items on your list are things that we the living stand a chance of proving exist.

I would further suggest that if God, etc., exist, then only the dead can have proof of it. (Come to think of it, I would suggest that reincarnation is utterly unprovable - either by the living or the dead.)

By the way, UFO just means 'unidentified flying object', so this is probably the least problematic item on your list.

Answer 6

there are much more subtle and believeable fantasies we believe. keepin it real, ghetto fabulous, 122 lbs is fat, evolution creationism, buy buy buy, real men fight wars, cowards, traitors, enemies in all the shadows, chasing women you don't care about, believing he loves you. so on and so on is planet of the apes. So i ask you person with my name, where is the line between fantasy and reality? If there be a line i've yet to find it.

Answer 7

Inventors did ;)


If they listened to those people who asked them the same thing, we wouldn't have much of the technology we have today. They started by believing in something and went their way to prove it - but can you say that it is impossible to believe while proof is not yet at hand?

Answer 8

What if somebody tells you that he believes in God as much as he believe in 2 + 3 equals 5? Would you trust him?

Oops! I should have posted this in the "Ask", not in the "Answer", sorry

Answer 9

Hi. Scientists believe in the "big bang"which is still a theory !

Answer 10

I wouldn't, but in reality what did people believe in before Newton explained gravity. They didn't believe in gravity because no one had understand it, yet it was still fact and it affected them.