If you are 100% certain God exists or does not exist, what keeps you from thinking that you might be wrong?

Answer 1

I'm sure that god doesn't exist, just as I'm sure that there's no invisible dragon behind you right now.

Lack of evidence in both cases.

Answer 2

the Bible presents human beings who have all the characteristics of those we see in daily life - weak strong liars murderers fearful, brave. They are as we are and vice versa.
Secondly - purpose - wee design things to perform functions -
Our design is infinitely more complicated than anything we could make (DNA / the cell) - so we had a designer
He knew we needed a book to tell us where we came from, how we should behave and what we should know about relationships and what happens to us when we die -
He left witnesses - the amount of time people spend trying to disprove the Bible shows how powerful it is -
If we worshiped a tree or a flying lizard, no one would care. We worship Christ and people hate us. That alone tells me my faith is true - that it can generate such fierce hatred from men such as Stalin and Mao and all the other nasty little communists who tortured people such as Dr Richard Wurmbrand simply because he believed what I believe.
That organized religions detest spirituality as Christ frees men from institutions - that both the Reformed Church (Calvin killed Servetus) and the Catholic Church (the Inquisition) killed and hated true believers reflects the way the Pharisees of the day hated Christ.
Also Christ's teachings have never been attacked by anyone as he taught life. True many people have denied his existence (all totally wrong I must add) but not His teachings. So was he mad, a liar or God Incarnate? I will hold to the latter.
Prayer. I have had prayers answered in a way which is beyond serendipity, coincidence or chance. God answers prayer of those who seek Him with their whole heart.
Life - life lived in faith (faith in the accuracy of the Bible and the promises of God) is not perfect, nor am I . But I cope much better with the trials of life knowing this is just a brief flickering of a candle compared to the light to come.

So what keeps me from thinking I might be wrong? Sometimes, when I am really down, I question my beliefs. And then I look at all the men in the Bible who had the same doubt and wrestled with their faith. Peter denied Christ three times through fear, Thomas did not believe until he saw Christ's wounded hands. Moses hit the rock and disobeyed God when he was angry and as a result he never made it to the Promised Land. Peter sank beneath the waves as he walked on the water to Christ on the lake - so I am comforted by the sheer humanity of the "great" men of the Bible.

Lastly - I have researched a lot of other religions and faiths and non-faiths from Sufism, Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism, Jehovas Witnesses and aberrant philosophies such as Theosophy, Swedenborgism etc. None can answer with the seamless logic the these fundamental basic questions of -
where did I come from?
why am I here?
how shall I live?
where do we go when we die?
where is justice?


I am satisfied and quite happy to lay my life down for the faith I have. However I would caution anyone and advise that any belief which *requires* a believer to hurt or threaten another human being for disagreeing with that belief is not worth believing and is not the truth no matter what - even if there is some truth in it.

Will that suffice?

Answer 3

Who really knows?

If you've read widely, as I have, and not judged one opinion or another you come up with various opinions and declare yourself an agnostic until such time as you have a 'revelation' as described by soooo many people.

I've read so many books which point out that the 'Bible' was rewritten during a meeting of the clergy in the early centuries. No it's not just 'Da Vinci' code stuff. It is reported in other books.

Many years ago, while in High School I asked the question of a group of religious leaders who came to talk to us, 'How can we believe that what's in the Bible today is what may have been written so long ago given that it relies on translation both personal and lingual plus conceptual?' I was promptly told to sit down and not question the Bible. Here began my doubts and questions.

I guess I'll know when I'm dead and cremated but until then I believe I do a damn sight better than many proclaimed Christians who do the 'good' thing on Sunday then treat those around them like dirt for the rest of the week.

Answer 4

Thank goodness that God's existence is not something that can be "proven" in the scientific manner! If He was that limited, then I might be doubtful. As it is, God's status as an enigma is helps make Him credible. Wouldn't an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator defy attempts to categorize and de-mystify Him? He is beyond the scope of human thought!

Look at it this way. We still don't know much about physics, after centuries of study. Very few things are known, in terms of the relative whole. But we don't say it doesn't exist - we just know there's more out there to discover and learn!

There's an interesting idea in C.S. Lewis' Christian writings (which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone and everyone, even non-Christians: they make you think but are not hard to read). He makes the following point:

Jesus claimed to be divine, the Son of God, and God Himself (confused? look up the Trinity in wikipedia for starters). There are two basic options: he was right, or he was wrong. If he was wrong, he was either a liar, or crazy. So, Jesus was one of three things: Liar, Lunatic, or Lord.

Not "proof" of anything as we define it, but if you look at the historical evidence surrounding Jesus' life events (even if you don't count the Bible), it's pretty compelling. At least it makes you think.

I'm with the crowd who look at the universe and can't believe it's here by accident. Too big a coincidence.

Answer 5

The only thing I'm 100% certain of, is that I may be wrong.

However, as a stanch Darwinist, I believe lower life forms give rise to higher ones.

So given infinite time and space something I could not distinguish from God should have evolved somewhere.

That being said, it seems unlikely this creature would knock up a Jewish girl to teach us morality.

Of course I could be wrong, God wouldn't be the first Genius with a weird sense of humor.

Answer 6

Nothing is ever 100% in the real world. I am pretty sure that Gods don't exist though. I have seen absolutely nothing to support the idea that they might exist.
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Pascal's wager is a terrible argument for God because for it to make sense you have to be a disbelkiever. That was the whole point of the wager. If God was provable there is no wagering going on. People should actually read all three parts of Pascal's wager. Decision theory is based on it.

Answer 7

I believe in more than one God! But who am I to say what is right or wrong? It feels right to me and makes me happy. I am not deluded, I don't know what is out there. There could be nothing or there could be Gods. But life is too short to worry about such things. But I don't go around saying that My Gods are real, all others are wrong and the followers will be punished. So if there is nothing then I won't feel like a fool.
To answer the latter part of your question, those who do firmly believe that they are right above all others have arrogance which will always keep such thoughts at bay.

Answer 8

I believe no God/(God of any sort) exists, 110%

Religion was designed to bring people understanding of the unknown. Science is the answer and the true Reality. There is no universe rather there are multiverses, ours was created by the remnants of a collapsed universe. God cannot fit in this story, don't get me started on evolution.

Answer 9

logic. nothing can operate by itself. There must be a brains behind the operation. To just think this all happened by mistake, is illogical.
I operate because I have life force, coming from the soul. when my soul leaves, the body dies. The complicated earth was created and maintained by Someone. At least He set it to action. How intricate, how precise the design. What thing could act by itself by chance without a brain behind it?
and that's just the beginning. I have experienced God's energy. And I know of many miracles.

Answer 10

I'm almost entirely certain that the Biblical God, and every other deity ever worshiped, are human inventions. I'm very certain that there is a residual spiritual value in most traditions that should be recognized.

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