God???????

Question

I'm sooo confused and need help. I don't know whether or not I believe in God. I believe a lot of science like evolution and stuff about the universe and astronomic stuff. Sometimes I believe that there could be God(s) because the universe is huge and complex. but i also believe that there is a scientific explanation for everything. but then i do believe in God because i wonder how the universe began and where that first atom came from. And parallel universes? how What confuses me a lot is....if energy cannot be created or destroyed than how did that one atom become duotrigintillions of atoms now? I'm soo confused.....my family is Hindu and all my friends are Christians. My best friend is a devoted Christian and i feel like if i talk to her she'll just try in turn me to Christianity and my family is no help. They have no time to explain anything to me. They will also get disappointed about this situation and try to turn me into a Hindu. What should I do and believe?

also Hinduism is soo complicated...i know don't believe in it. To many sacrifices I'd have to make in life.
also i'm scared to share with everyone that i don't beleive in God at all. I think i'd let everyone down and my best friend would not like me anymore

Answer 1

Well, 11, it looks like you have a problem. You don’t know if you believe in god, but even if you knew you didn’t, you don’t know if you want people to know you don't because you are afraid it will make them not like you or it might disappoint them. Do I have that about right?

Well, here is how I see it. If you go through life worrying about what others think of your beliefs then you are not really living your life, you are living theirs. You are an individual. YOU make your own decisions and you are responsible for the consequences of those decisions.

As far a god is concerned, I have no doubt that god is a myth and does not exist. (M ore on this in a moment.)

Your confusion about the 'creation' of the universe and the fist molecules, etc, is understandable. Just remember that as far as science is concerned, even with all we know, we have so much more to learn. However, look at it this way. You, me and everything in the universe is made of matter and energy. Today, we believe that these matter can be converted to energy and visa-versa, but energy can not be created or destroyed. But that's just want be believe to be true today. We have barley begun to explore the field of science. We live on earth, a small pebble in our solar system. Not even a spec of dust when compared to the hundreds of billions of stars and other materials in the Walkway Galaxy. And there are estimated to be more than one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe alone. This says nothing about if there is, as many theorize, a multiverse. My point is that we have looked out across this universe but have barely ventured off our planet. Think of it this way, MANY people had ideas and theories and absolute reasons why this were the way the were before long distance travel was feasible. When man started sailing the oceans, many of these ideas were proven wrong. In time, we learned a great deal, but we are still leaning more about the Earth and we have traveled the entire surface and know with near absolute certainty about it's sub-surface. We haven't traveled 1/1 trillionth of the universe and yet some people think we know so much... We don't

Why must energy/matter have a creator? Why can it not just have always been?

One person I know says, "Because everything we have ever observed has a beginning and an end." Okay, but hen god must have a beginning and an end, so who made god, and shouldn't; we then worship the creator of god? To this he exclaims, "God has no creator. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, that which always was and always will be." So, if you want to believe that an unseen, unknowable, intangible entity has no beginning o end is has just always existed, then who is to say that the universe (the matter, energy, dark matter, etc...) is not eternal without beginning or ending? At his he always repeats his first statement that everything we have ever observed has a beginning and an end. It gets kind of frustrating if you can’t see the humor in his circular logic.

Anyway, why look for the reasons for how things got started, just know that they are started and you are hear today.

Now back to god. Look at it this way, with the exception of personal feelings that god exists; ("I see him every time I look into the sky and see the sun shinning." I know he's there every time I prey, I can feel him in my heart." Etc...) there isn’t a shred of evidence that he exists. Ad to that the fact that these are the same excuses...er...experiences sited by Christians, Jews, Muslims, Pagans, Wiccans, Hindus and every other theist in the world. So either they are all wrong and what they are felling is self induced OR they are all correct and there is an entire group of gods al vying for our affection, loyalty and support. So that would make us currency...or pets. And since all the holy books, scriptures, mythologies, etc are filled with impossible feats, sci-fi/fantasy like stories and creation stories that have been proven wrong time and time again. The biggest group of faiths with a similar creation story are the Abrahamic religions (Judeo-Christian-Islamic faiths) According to their creation myths the earth was created about 4095 years BC by the modern calendar . That's 6,102 years ago. We know that the earth is over 4.5 billion years old and that man (Homo sapiens) were around 200,000 years ago. Even modern man as we are today, Homo sapiens sapiens, were around 10,000 years ago, almost 2,000 years before the bible said god created man. But as I have said before, when you take into account that science KNOWS that Homo sapiens sapiens evolved from the other Homo sapiens species, well, then we were around 193,000 years before this god created us. Hmm...

There are so many other points I could make, but I don’t think you are looking for a novel. God is a myth made by man to comfort his fear of the unknown.

You however seam to almost be willing to embrace the notion of a god to comfort your own fear of rejection. If you do that, you will not only be hurting yourself, but there are others that ask these same questions, and if you give into pressure from friends and family, then some of them may too.

Do you think scientists, when discovering new facts or disproving old beliefs look t their research and say, "Oh! This may make my dad mad because he believes in the old theory and my best friend teaches the old theory at school, maybe she'll get mad at me for taking an opposing view. Maybe I should just delete all my hard work and forget the new information I have learned?" I don’t think so!

Anyway, I hope this helps.

Oh, One more thing...

I read the answer by "lilmshedd" and boy they are out there.

All his sittings of what the bible says will occur at the end of time has been going on since the dawn of time. Wars have always occurs. There arte just more people now, so naturedly the wars are larger. Did you know that after WWI many Christians believes that since the entire world was at war, that the prophecies were being fulfilled. They had no doubt that the rapture was close at hand. Yet Nope! Nothing. Then WWII, and not only was the world at war, but there was an evil man leading it, killing gods people it was definitely the end of the world. Many (many time many) Christians used this to gather new believes. How could you deny that what was going on was the prophesy of the bible. The end was near. When Hitler was killed, many expected him to rise from the dead. And yet, here we re today. Hmmm.

Oh, sure, "lilmshedd" talks about Nations rising up against nations, Famines, Pesticides, Earthquakes, Hate for one another, False prophets, Lawlessness, Abomination, Desolation, Tribulations, etc.. but all of this is old news. This was going on long before the bible was written and will be going on long after you are all dead. In another 200 years, there will be some nut job sitting around saying that the end of the world is upon us, the Bible was right and the rapture is imminent. These ridiculous biblical prophesies are myths no more real then those of Ragnarok, the Norse end of time or any other mythological event.

That said, believe this if nothing else, the end humanity will not be brought about by the desire of some god or some devil but by mans inability to control the one thing he has total control over...himself!

Answer 2

I think everyone has their own belief system. Even if 100 people go to the exact same church each one of those 100 people will look at their faith a little differently.
I don't believe anything in science is "proven". We just have a lot of faith in some scientific principles because they seem to work really well. But when experiments get good enough, cases where the scientific laws don't work or don't apply can always be found. This doesn't mean that the scientific principles are useless, it just means they're not absolute truths. Check out this link for some interesting things about science: http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/philosop/logic.htm
I also believe that the bible is a book written by people. Their maybe some good stuff in there but it's not perfect as many Christians claim. But that's just my belief.
The bottom line is NOBODY REALLY KNOWS! Even the people who claim to be absolutely sure. This includes the Pope, the president, evangelists, scientists and all the atheists. Being sure is certainly attractive. Wouldn't it be great to live in a world where we have it all figured out? But I think accepting that we don't have it all figured out is a little closer to reality, even though this can be scary at times.
Don't think that you have to settle on anything. Where you are right now is great! You don't know. And when you don't know you are open to learning and disovering, which can be a lot more interesting and fun than having to hold onto an absolute belief all the time. You can start to see that each one of those groups, Christians Muslims athiests scientists and so on, has some good points and some rubbish.
Just let your view of the world develop naturally and over time. Don't think like you have to settle on anything. And you will develop your own spirituality that is unique and special to you. Your spirituality may not work well for anyone else in the world, but that doesn't matter. It's yours and it works well for you.

Answer 3

I believe that no one can tell what you should believe, you have to make that decision yourself. Faith has a lot to do with it. I myself have no certain belief. It is something that you, and you alone should make. You should search for your own happiness and what makes you live your life to the fullest. I believe that we are all connected, everything that has life is always connected. When we die, we go back into this "force" which I also believe to be "God" but this God does not have a conscious mind. As for the creation, I believe that it is a never ending infinite loop that never stops. The universe is expanding, and at one point in time, rather it be tomorrow, or a billion years from now, it will retract. It retracts so much compresses the energy from every star, black hole, planet, comet, etc... all into one single point. Creating a explosion that cannot be compared to anything we have ever seen. Starting it all over again. Creating the big bang all over again.

Answer 4

Nobody can make you believe in anything, you simply have to get all the information you can and make up your own mind on this. If you go out there with an open mind looking for the truth and not trying to prove your already preconceived notions then I am sure you will find what you are looking for. Personally I believe 100% in the biblical account of things and do not attend any organized religion and nobody has brainwashed me into my beliefs I simply looked at the "scientific evidence" as well as the biblical account of things I found that the bible was inline with world history and that science made many false claims and pushed their point of view as "fact" when in reality is was simply opinion. Anyone who tries to force a view point on you is usually wrong. Good luck in your search.

Answer 5

That my friend is a good question. I do believe there is a God of some sort, but not neccesarily the same concept as God has been given to us. I have even considered the possibility that we were put here by an advanced race many thousands of years ago which oddly makes the most sense. However that only changes the concept of God, not whether or not God exists.

Answer 6

I'm not sure of your age so these books may be too mature for you, but you might consider reading Richard Dawkins' the God Delusion, Sam Harris' The End of Faith and Christopher Hawkins' God is Not Great. There's a reason they are all best-sellers. It might help you clarify where you stand in relation to God. Good luck.

"The loss of religious faith among the most civilized portion of the race is a step from childishness toward maturity."
— Charles Eliot Norton

"Illusions die hard and it is painful to yield to the insight that a grown-up can be no man's disciple."
— Sheldon B. Kopp

"Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines."
— Bertrand Russell

Answer 7

To answer your question right up front, God does indeed exist. He is the One that created everything, He is the One that created you, and He is the only one that can give you true hope for eternity.

But I can feel your pain. It would be nice to have someone to talk to about a subject that is heavy on your heart now, but unfortunately there are no good prospects right now. I've been there myself on a number of occasions.

But in the absence of someone to talk to, I would say continue your observation of the natural world around you and try to be objective in what you see. As for me, I think it is very obvious that the world we live in could not and did not come together by simple mathematical probability. Someone designed it and created it, and I believe that someone is the God of the Bible. Just look at the human brain as one example, which is just one part of our highly complex bodies. There are trillions of nerve connections in the brain, and to say that they all came together by chance, is like saying that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard created a Boeing 747.

Secondly, continue to study the subject and ask questions, as you are doing. But in your study be fair. If you are going to learn something about the God of Christianity, then learn it from someone who truly belives in him. God is faithful though, and He wants you to be close to Him, so if you are truly seeking Him you will find him.

I would like to recommend a book to you called, "More Than a Carpenter" by Josh McDowell. This is a classic book about the fundamentals of Christianity. It's not a long book, but it will give you a good basic understanding of the Christian faith.

Hope this helps, and may the Lord bless you with His guidance.

Answer 8

You say "She will just try to turn me into a Christian" well, that's the dumbest thing to be afraid of I ever heard and what the heck do you expect her to do? She is your friend and she knows what is the best thing for you and she is trying to turn you on to the best thing in the world. There most certainly is a God and he has been acting and reacting throughout human history. Read the lives of the Saints look around you at the miracles one right after the other---the huge cross that ended up at ground zero in New York. He is talking to us everywhere everyday. Something that most people aren't even aware of--telephone poles---a large wooden cross that conveys POWER ----through it we receive LIGHT --- up at the crosspiece we hang what?---A TRANSFORMER we never knew this was what we were actually doing---we had our mind on something totally different than the signs of religion--but, he knew. The signs are all around us if we just open our eyes and look.

Answer 9

Confused,
There comes a time in everyones life when thay need to find out for themselves what they believe. It is time to wipe the slate clean of everything that everyone has been telling you to believe. It can get so confusing with so many beliefs and denominations around.
Ask God to show you if he is real. I promise if you are seeking the truth you will find it and God, (the true God) will reveal Himself to you.

It seems you feel conflicted, like you must choose between God and science. You may be surprised to know that God is totally into science. Faith does not contradict science, in fact science points us to God.

Answer 10

The Thesis of God is one which would needs to be embarked upon intelligently. If you are asking questions about Belief, odds are you do not "have a need for that thesis" as yet (if ever). Perhaps you feel like you know you do not, but somehow feel you should since everyone around you does. I actually think you should believe whatever it is you wish to believe...you know that....but more importantly, do not feel compelled to prove it or justify it to anyone.

Have the Heart to Be You.

ORDO ab CHAO

Answer 11

I can only put it like this. I can give you example after example, sure science can explain some instances where miracles have been performed as coincidental, but you are going 2 believe what you want, and whatever promotes your lifestyle. I will say this if you read the following signs that God is returning i believe you may be convinced.
SIGNS OF CHRIST'S RETURN
3 questions Jesus was asked by His disciples

Matthew Chapter 24:3
And as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, (1) Tell us, when shall these things be? (2) and what [shall be] the sign of thy coming, (3) and of the end of the world?

01 - (6) Wars and rumors of wars "Before our eyes is the fulfilling of the Savior's prophecy of the events to precede His coming.
And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet."
02 - (7) Nations rising up against nations
03 - (7) Famines
04 - (7) Pesticides
05 - (7) Earthquakes
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
06 - (10) Hate for one another
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
(Matthew 6:24 - No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.)
07 - (11) False prophets [Deutr.]
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
08 - (12) Lawlessness
09 - (12) Love grows cold
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
10 - (15) Abomination of Desolation [Daniel 8]
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Daniel 11:31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily [sacrifice], and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
Daniel 12:11 And from the time [that] the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, [there shall be] a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
11 - (21) Tribulations
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
12 - (24) False Christs
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
13 - (29) Sun darkened
14 - (29) Moon turns to the color of blood
15 - (29) Stars falls from the sky
But immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

16 - (37 & 38) As in the days of Noah
But as the days of Noah [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark.

Only one has not been fulfilled, Go ye all into the world, and preach the gospel. After this Jesus says, the end will come.

What a glorious day that will be to finally see Christ in all His Glory and to spend all enternity with our Lord and Saviour.