How can God not exist?

Question

I have had such a rapid change in my life due to no outside facotrs (such as death of family, extreme event etc) that God is real and I should change my life for a life with him.

I am not mad, delusional, prone to gulibility or ill nor am I stupid, uneducated or lonely. My life has been based upon science and engineering, yet still I cannot deny God. I am happily married with great kids a good job and life is generally good (and has been for a while).

How can I have such a strong compulsion for God and Jesus Christ if it's all a bunch of ****?

Answer 1

I would rather live my life for God and find out after death that it was all a lie than to live my life without God and find out after death that he is real.

Answer 2

To "jesus_working", please read this, because it is a serious response.

You're very blessed to have this life. I respect your beliefs, I know most Christians are not stupid and delusional (though I've met my share of nuts). But there are some people who cannot have such a life. Some deal with mental illness. Some are intelligent and educated, but they cannot have strong relationships with anyone. They can't hold a job either. They have little to look forward to. They don't even know what the hell they're doing here. And religion, and for that matter, any solid belief system, does not work in the long run. I know some of these people because I work with them. And they are not so blessed. They have potential, they've been told that their whole lives, but they cannot seem to take more than a few steps forward, and they stumble and want to give up. I wish you the best. My life is quite good too.

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Answer 3

Same way people are afraid of Freddy Krueger, even though they know he's fictional. You can't deny that there is a psychological need to preserve ones well being, and that need at times causes people to think and do irrational things. Do you know of anyone that's afraid to fly on an airplane? How about people that watched The Blair Witch Project and became afraid to go camping or walk in the woods? Do you know people who are afraid of house spiders? These people aren't mad, they just have a phobia that overrides their reasoning abilities. The Blair Witch Project was fiction, you have a greater chance of getting struck by lightning than dying in a plane crash, and just about all house spiders can be killed easily, or even harmlessly removed without risking danger to yourself. But still, many people are irrationally afraid of all them. Same thing applies with scary stories about death and damnation. You know Freddy is a fictional character, but after seeing the movies for the first time, many have nightmares and wake up checking themselves to see if there's any bruising or scratches left over from the dreams. Why? Not because they experienced any of this stuff before they heard of Freddy, but because they saw the movie and their subconscious ran with the idea, creating a new situation in which they must protect themselves from. There's no evidence that Freddy really kills people, but all you need is the suggestion that it's possible and examples of such things happening for your mind to run away with the idea. Same thing applies to the differing gods. There's no proof that there's a hell/hades/underworld or eternal torment, but the suggestion creates the phobia which subconsciously you do your best to avoid by doing whatever is necessary to avoid it. You don't have to be mad to have these phobias, you just have to not understand them. As you read this, you may think that I'm in danger of going to hell for not believing, but what do you base that on besides the suggestions presented in stories that if you hadn't heard, you wouldn't know of or believe in? It's not your fault, you aren't stupid. You just don't understand the psychology of the things you believe. Many otherwise intelligent people have unfounded phobias that cause them to do and believe irrational things. You aren't the first and won't be the last. But now that you know this the question is, what will you do about it?

Answer 4

All humans for some reason, need to believe in a higher power, wether it be God, or just a sense of spirituality. It all depends on how you look at it. I believe in evolution, more than creation, but I still believe that I am a spiritual person. I just try to do good for others, and my family, and I try to maintain a good heart. I feel that if I try to be a good person, with a good heart, that maybe, sometime in my life, or after death even, that I will be rewarded for that. I think it gives us a sense of purpose in our lives. I tend to have a more pagonistic view, where Karma is a factor. Sort of like, what comes around goes around. If you are good, good will be with you, or come to you. If you are bad, Karma will get you eventually.

Before the Bible, and organized religion, people worshiped good old Mother Earth. If we take from the earth, we must give something back in return, and not waste the resourses she has given us. Organized religion couldn't stand that idea, so they made up their own. How's that sound for an explanation? Food for thought maybe. Hope it helps

Answer 5

You can't ignore the possibility that the universe could have been created by a scientific phenomenon, maybe the universe has always existed and it merely expanded through out the years. Who knows, we don't have any evidence to back up any argument because the existence of our species is not old enough to have been around to study the universe in its very early stages of existence.

The possibility of their being a God / Gods seems very illogical 'to me', but I can't deny the possibility, however I still regard myself as an atheist.

Answer 6

Your strong compulsion to believe in God and Jesus Christ proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have a strong compulsion to believe in a God and Jesus Christ.

Answer 7

I think, and so do many others, more to the point: how can gods exist? Except in the minds of those who are weak and need something to lean on.
I know many people who think they can lean on god, but it is all in the mind. They don`t have to prove there`s a god, but it pacifies them to think there is or might be.
What a surprise these people will get when they die and find there`s no gods or hell-fires!

Answer 8

Ask Tom Cruise, about aliens and volcanoes. He also believes 100% and is a family man.

It does not make his beliefs any more real than yours.

There is no god. There is no xenu. Both are equally valid to their believers and equally ridiculous to everyone else.

Answer 9

And if you were never told about God or Jesus, you would have no compulsion. I believe you when you say you are not mad or all that jazz, but consider the possibility that your developing brain was imprinted with these beliefs before you were even capable of rational judgement or scrutiny. If you born in ancient Greece, would you not have a strong compulsion towards Zeus and Apollo?

Take a momment to think about it.

Answer 10

Do Buddhists believe in a creator god?

No, we do not. There are several logical reasons for this. The Buddha, like modern scientists, sociologists and psychologists, believed that religious ideas and especially the god idea have their origins in fear. The Buddha says:

"Gripped by fear men go to sacred mountains, sacred groves, sacred trees and shrines." *Dhammpada 188

Primitive man found himself in a dangerous and hostile world, the fear of wild animals, of not being able to find enough food, of injury or disease, and of natural phenomena like thunder, lightning and volcanoes was constantly with him. Finding no security, he created the idea of god in order to give him comfort in good times, courage in times of danger and consolation when things went wrong. To this day, you will notice that people become more religious at times of crises, you will hear them say that the belief in a god gives them the strength they need to deal with life. You will hear them explain that they believe in god because they prayed in time of need and their prayer was answered. All this seems to support the Buddha’s teaching that the god-idea is a response to fear and frustration. The Buddha taught us to try to understand our fears, to lessen our desires and to calmly and courageously accept the things we cannot change. He replaced fear, not with irrational belief but with rational understanding.

The second reason the Buddha did not believe in a creator god is because there does not seem to be any evidence to support this idea. There are numerous religions, all claiming that they alone have god’s words preserved in their holy book, that they alone understand god’s nature, that their god exists and that the gods of other religions do not. Some claim that god is masculine, some that she is feminine and others that it is neuter. They are all satisfied that there is ample evidence to prove the existence of their god but they laugh in disbelief at the evidence other religions use to prove the existence of another god. It is not surprising that with so many different religions spending so many centuries trying to prove the existence of their gods that still no real, concrete, substantial or irrefutable evidence has been found. Buddhists suspend judgement until such evidence is forthcoming.

The third reason the Buddha did not believe in a creator god is that the belief is not necessary. Some claim that the belief in a god is necessary in order to explain the origin of the universe. But this is not so. Science has very convincingly explained how the universe came into being without having to introduce the god-idea. Some claim that belief in god is necessary to have a happy, meaningful life. Again we can see that this is not so. There are millions of Atheists, free-thinkers and Buddhists, who live useful, happy and meaningful lives without belief in a creator god. Some claim that belief in god’s power is necessary because humans, being weak, do not have the strength to help themselves. Once again, the evidence indicates the opposite. One often hears of people who have overcome great disabilities and handicaps, enormous odds and difficulties through their own inner resources, through their own efforts and without belief in a god. Some claim that god is necessary in order to give man salvation. But this argument only holds good if you accept the theological concept of salvation and Buddhists do not accept such a concept. Based on his own experience, the Buddha saw that each human being had the capacity to purify the mind, develop infinite love and compassion and perfect understanding. He shifted attention from the heavens to the heart and encouraged us to find solutions to our problems through self-understanding.

But if there is no creator god how did the universe get here?

All religions have myths and stories which attempt to answer this question. In ancient times, when man simply did not know, such myths were adequate, but in the 20th century, in the age of physics, astronomy and geology, such myths have been superseded by scientific fact. Science has explained the origin of the universe without recourse to the god-idea.

Answer 11

May be you have not been hurt by your God you believe in.
May be your life is running smoothly at the moment.
wait till you get hurt by your God when you are desperate
to save your child and he does not answer your prayers.
I believed in God and worshipped him all my life.
God is a man made fictional character.God does not exists.