What's the harm in believing in God, isn't life complicated enough?

Question

I'm not a religious fanatic, I don't go to church, I don't belong to any religion. I have always struggled with if there really is a God, but I am finally starting to realize I just need to trust in God and have faith. I just don't see the need to constantly disprove something just because it isn't physically in front of you.

Religious fanatics and all people who believe in God are not the same thing.

I have no problem with people not believing in him. I could care less. I'm not out to convert anybody. I follow my own beliefs. But people like to bash eachother back and forth over this. You can all argue til your blue in the face because it doesn't matter. Nothing does.

I love how people totally miss my point. Learn to seperate people.

Answer 1

I have a very strange example of someone believe in God but stick with me for just a moment. Do you remember Vin Diesel's character Riddick in "Pitch Black"? He said to the "holy man": "I absolutely believe in God and absolutely hate the f*cker".

The most important thing was that Riddick believed God existed, and he believed that he will square his relationship with God when he sees Him.

Life IS complicated, but there is absolutely no harm in believing in God. The most important is what are you going to do with your believe and how far you will take it.

To go to church will probably give you a check mark later, but it will not be the biggest reason for you to end up in heaven or hell. But how do you know which Church is the true church of God?

You can read the Bible every day and completely memorize it or only read it once, the fact is in your believe that this Book is a true story of the God's Son and His doings on Earth.

Enjoy your life, DO GOOD, be nice to people, be patient to their screw ups and support them if they try to do good. That is what will later open the gates of Heaven widely in front of you.

Cheers.

Answer 2

yes unfortunately you would, you sin, and go to confession to say sorry and you are forgiven, if you commit this sin, you are dead and can say sorry and be forgiven, and the bible states clearly that you are Hell bound, however if you do not believe then nothing happens, but you seem to believe so I am going on that, wait two years, seek therapy and medication, if you still want to die so be it but it is somewhat permanent, this death thing, stay away from the negative people in your life they are not worth the hardening of your heart nor the drying up of your tears, you owe it to your self to give life a shot, the wort that can happen can't be worse that what you are going through now, and if the life thing doesn't work out you will always have a backup plan, suicide, but I think you should give it a bit more time before you decide for sure, please think about it.

Answer 3

What would be the harm in believing that the Easter Bunny existed and was willing & able to solve your problems?
Same as for believing in God.

People that believe in god generally also believe that they can change things in their lives by calling on god to solve those problems.
The problem with believing in a non-existent god (or East Bunny) that solves problems is that it distracts people from devoting their resources in the manner that could actually offer the real solutions.

Money spent in prayer boxes could be better spent on research & efforts that have an actual ability to solve problems.

Further, it is a frequent fact of believing in god, that the believers strive to change social/public policy to be in accordance with their beliefs.

If god doesn't exist, then these people are forcing social & public policy to become informed/directed by irrational ideas about the nature of reality, morality, and the true solution mechanisms to our problems.

Believing in god, and not affecting anyone else would be fine; but, that's not what happens.
Believers interfere with the optimized pursuit of solutions to the problems that reality offers.

..thus, slowing the discovery & implimentation of real solutions.

Take care.
:-)

Answer 4

I believe in God. The problem is when people try to push their beliefs on others. Also many try to control and / or terrorize others into submission because of their beliefs.

Don't forget also- how many people have been killed throughout history- and in this present day, in the name of God. Belief in God brings out extremes in humanity, and that is not always a good thing.

Answer 5

The world won't end if you decide to believe in God. Your mind won't turn to mush, you won't become a zombie, you won't lose all appreciation of reason. That being said, though, I wonder why the need to believe just to believe.

There's no need to set out to argue against believing. You don't have to stand out on street corners haranguing passersby with taunts about their faith. But why believe something just to stop trying to have to figure out what's true? It seems to me kinda obvious that it's best not to claim to know something unless there's evidence to show it's true. Equally, it's best not to deny something unless you know, based on the evidence, it's false. The most comfortable position is the most reasonable- I am not going to claim to know what I really don't know.

what happens if I start believing things I know there isn't enough evidence to believe? Well, for one thing, what basis do you have once you know there's a god to know that he doesn't want you to hate gays or fight the infidels or ignore science? After all, science might have all the evidence, but it might cause you to doubt what you want to know. And where do you draw the line and believing what you believe based on evidence vs. believing what you believe based on desire to believe it? if you are believing in God based on something other than evidence, then what's the standard for deciding what claims about God are true or not?

Trust me, your debate won't be over just by giving in and deciding to have faith there's a god. The same people will now insist that you believe that their version of god is right and yours is wrong. And if you aren't basing your knowledge on evidence, what standard do you have to say they are wrong and you are right? You'll still have to debate, you just won't have any guidelines other than your own desires to use in the debate. And that's, frankly, a very weak position to have to defend.

Answer 6

There's no harm in believing in God, but religion is very complicated. I believe there is a god, but I don't believe in organized religion. I think it's a scam. I think you might enjoy this movie. It's called the Zeitgeist:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=928518742089256264&q=zeitgeist+movie&total=122&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4

Peace

Answer 7

There is no harm in believing much of anything, as long as it is tempered with tolerance for other beliefs.

While I don't believe as the asker might, I know how *simplifying* a life of faith can be.


Let's all just allow Faith to enter into the equation of our lives...no matter who or what that Faith might be in.

Good Luck and Goddess Bless.

Answer 8

What's the harm in believing in odin. Life is complicated and if I stick with the big O then all I need to do is die in battle and everything is cool.
Sound good to you?

Answer 9

The harm is when as a group religious people lobby to prevent equal civil rights for gay people and try to make it illegal for women to have safe terminations to unwanted pregnancies and hinder science and medicine by preventing stem cell research that could save millions of people's lives...that is the harm.

Answer 10

In most cases there's no harm in it, but that's not exactly a very convincing reason why someone else should. I might as well ask "what's the harm in believing in unicorns?" or "what's the harm in believing in fairies?" as well. Is there harm in it? Probably not. But that doesn't mean I would want to, or should want to.