God is an imaginary friend for grown-ups?

Question

I know that this will spark emotions in both believers and non-believers

but...
I love hearing different opinions and philosophies from all walks of life

Answer 1

Yes. An imaginary friend that throws imaginary temper tantrums and threatens them with imaginary places (Hell)

Answer 2

Another good question!!
We each have to "find" god in our own way. I was raised as a presbyterian, but my family was mostly hell fire and brimstone southern babtists.
I attended sunday school and youth groups as a kid. I don't go to church anymore, not because I don't believe in God, because I do. I had my miracle, and I have had my own personal times when I knew there was a higher power. I have also seen and confronted pure evil. (I'm a retired cop)
But, I don't need another human, telling me what God said or what God meant. I'm a reasonable intelligent guy. I can read, and I can figure out what something means on my own. I don't worship in a man made structure. I talk to god when I'm out to sea, watching a sunset or a moonrise. I talk to God when I'm on top of a mountain and It seems like I can see forever. I talked to go whenever one of my children was born. And I talked with god whenever my heart was heavy, I was confused, or when I needed help to understand the death of a friend or a family member. I respect almost all religions, I believe that God, Budha, Allah may very well be different names for the same thing. I respect anyones belief in their chosen god, heck, worship a turnip if you want too. Just don't tell me that I have to, or that you will kill me if I choose not to.
It's sad, but true, more people have been tortured or killed over religion than any other reason.

Answer 3

Hey if Big Bird can have his Snuffleupagus, why not?

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about imaginary friends. Just replace the words "imaginary friend" with "God" when reading...

An imaginary friend is an invented person, animal, or character that is created especially by children, but sometimes by adults. The inventor will act as if the imaginary being is physically present by talking to it, playing with it, or even attempting to feed it. If told that the friend is non-existent, the inventor will often retaliate in a defensive manner by stating that the imaginary friend is invisible.
Having imaginary friends at an advanced age may be caused by mental, organic, or drug-related states such as psychedelic drugs, autism or schizophrenia. However, the development of imaginary friends by a person does not alone necessarily signify a problem or disorder. According to the DSM-IV, imaginary friends are classified as a psychological disorder only if they interfere with everyday social interactions
According to some theories of psychology, an understanding of a child's conversations with their imaginary friends can reveal a lot about the anxieties and fears of that child as well as the child's aspirations and perception of the world. Some children report that their "imaginary friends" manifest themselves physically, and are indistinguishable from "real" people.
People may invent imaginary friends for companionship, as part of play, or for other reasons. Imaginary friends can serve as an important source of companionship to some children and adults.
According to psychological research, most children dismiss the imaginary friend once they find living ones or become aware that it is fictional.

Answer 4

It's a basic necessity, for man to need to believe in a higher power.
Granted there are exceptions to every rule. But for the majority, that is what they need.
But besides all the scriptures ever written, any tail ever told, there is something, a being. Because there are things that man cannot explain by any kind of science or rationalization. Before it was said that well is the most power thing man has ever had. But with faith, well has jump to a new high.

Whither it is right or wrong in what anyone believes in. It has helped many people overcome obstacles that they would not have said were impossible.

Answer 5

What exactly are you hoping to hear? A chorus of "no He isn't's" and "yes He is's"? Will that fill your appetite for different opinions and philosophies?

My imaginary friends from childhood never talked back. No matter how vivid my imagination. My God frequently tells me just what I need to hear at a given time, through scripture, meditation, or even a song on the radio. Sometimes it's staggering, how He takes me by surprise. My childhood imaginary friends only gave back what I put into them. They only operated within the confines of my own imagination. Not so my God. He's much bigger than me.

Answer 6

God is more like a parent that never dies and always takes away responsibility.

See, we divert money from the important things like education, scientific research, and addressing poverty because all of that pales in comparison to the fact that Daddy's going to come around and gather us all up soon and he told us that we's gonna need lots and lots of guns for the big war. And all that crap about asteroids maybe hitting the earth and learning about how the universe works and maybe feeding people doesn't matter because God gets what God wants and all the hard work a human being could put into something counts for nothing when we gots Big Pappa in the sky to fix it all for us.

We'll never blow ourselves to hell or die from climate change or some other extinction event - at least not until armaggeddon comes because God said so.

I'm sorry. I tend to use poor grammar when I'm thinking like a Christian. It just comes naturally.

Manifest Destiny!

Lazarus

Answer 7

Since no one can prove or disprove His existence, this question is pointless. All it's going to do is agitate people, and there's enough of that around here without deliberately trying to stir up the manure pot.

If you want to ask a theological question that can actually be answered, that's one thing. But I don't see the need to cause more problems with questions that are intended to be insulting to those of us who do believe in God.

Answer 8

Whatever you may believe about God, the fact is He exists. He is not imaginary. I believe the christian version of God. I think I have logical reasons to believe that the christian God is the true God. Others may believe what they believe. But whatever you believe, God exists. That's a fact Anybody who says there is no God is just not thinking straight In your brain there are 100 billion neurons. Each one of those neurons(remember, there's 100 billion of them) is connected to 1000 other neurons. That comes out to 100 trillion connections in your brain. These connections send electronic signals(and you can measure the electricity) from one place to another. If part of the brain is damaged and you lose some function that is controlled by that part of the brain, the brain can actually re-wire itself and let other neurons in the undamaged part of the brain take over so that you can get back that function. That's only the connections in the brain, not the rest of the body. Our bodies also have tons of information in the DNA. You have enough information in your DNA to fill encyclopedia sized books stacked from here to the moon and back 500 times. Do you really think that came about by just random chance........kind of like a monkey typing out the works of Shakespear just by randomly plucking away at the keys? You need to step back and look at the big picture of what is being claimed by evolution, namely, that the unbelieveable complexity of the human brain(not to mention the rest of the body) is nothing more than re-arranged pond scum. It’s pond scum from the original prebiotic soup re-arranged over billions of years into 100 trillion connections in the brain by luck…..just random chance.

Answer 9

to us who believe in JESUS,GOD is our heavenly father.

Matthew 6:9[kjv]After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

infact GOD loves u with the same love

JESUS loves you.Have u recieved JESUS for the forgiveness of your sins?

John 3:16[kjv] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

so when we believe in JESUS we have eternal life.JESUS lived a sinless life and gave up his life as a sacrifice so we can be sin free. Ask JESUS to come into your heart and forgive ur sins and cleanse ur past with the blood JESUS shed on the cross.

With a simple prayer like above u can be saved.JESUS loves u and wants u to be saved.

Answer 10

Jesus Christ is not an imaginary friend . No rational adult can whole-heartedly claim that Jesus Christ is LORD, without the intervention of the Holy Spirit.

"Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit" I Cor. 12:3

here's a link with an incredible Catholic Eucharistic Miracle .God bless!