how can someone of intelligence believe in god?

Answer 1

Actually I want to know as well. Especially the whole God created the world in blah blah days, and in those days Adam and Eve sprung into action. Were they really long days? Dinosaurs were proven to be around millions of years before man! Please explain!

Answer 2

How can someone of intelligence NOT believe in God? There is NO such thing as "random coincidences" or "random creationism." It's been mathematically proven that random creation is totally impossible. Intelligent design is the ONLY WAY the universe was created, as well as everything in it. If you don't believe in God, you are denying YOUR OWN existence and that of everything around you. God is NOT some amorphous being "out there" in space who makes judgements all the time for or against people. God always has been, always will be, and never changes. God is spirit; God is infinite intelligence. But most of all, God is LOVE. And no, it's not a cliche; it's the truth. Denying that God exists, or intelligent design, whatever term you want to use, does NOT make it so!

Answer 3

If this is a debate between which is true, science or religion, then there is no debate. Science and religion are trying to answer different questions. Science tries to explain HOW something happened and religion explains WHY something happened. Speaking specifically about Christianity, there are a lot of devout Christians, for instance, who look at the creation story as an explanation for the current state of the world and man. From that story they learn about the character of man, God, and Satan, but they don't look at it and say, oh, this is the story of how the world came to be.

By the way, it is an interesting side note that the Hebrew word for "day" that was translated into English in the Bible saying that the Lord created the earth is seven days is actually ambiguous. It could also be translated as "age" as in the Lord created the earth and everything in it in 7 ages.

Answer 4

During 1800s, Anthropologists had a problem as to
how to classify human beings. One researcher
proposed the expression "intelligent animal".
After advanced studies on monkeys, it was dropped.
Another researcher proposed "tool using animal".
After observing some animals making wooden tools
and sharpening them with knife like stones, it was
dropped. Another researcher proposed "weapon using
animal". A decade ago, a rare film was shot by an
amateur in an African forest. One short monkey was
hit very badly by a big monkey. The short monkey
prepared a wooden knife using stones and hid it on
the top of a tree. After some days, when the big
monkey came to attack the short monkey, it ran up
to the tree for the weapon it has hid and killed
the big monkey. The one thing that the
anthropologists found with any group of human
beings, even if they did not have contacts with
the out side world for thousands of years, has
spirituality with some form of religion. So, man
is a "spiritual animal" if you want to call him
that way.

The Upanishads say that "Manush" (human) was so
named because he has "Manas" a mind higher than
that of the animals which realizes the divinity in
creation. It was present since the creation of
human beings. Religion is the characteristic
feature of most of the human beings. It was not
attained through reasoning using mind. Illiterate
tribes located in inaccessible forests also have
religion. It is as eternal and and as unchanging
as the Almighty. Disbelief by a few will not
affect it.

"The percentage of atheists in the world is less
than 5%"

http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/s1990c48a.htm

"Atheists are all scientists" ?

http://www.non-religious.com/statistics.html

Religion is not a blind following. It is a sub-consciously driven
group ritual. It calms the 'collective unconscious' mind. The
religious culture brings unity and belongedness among the followers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious

" Are Atheists More Depressed than Religious People?

In recent years, the view that religious belief and
participation in religious acts of worship has a positive
effect upon the well-being of man..."

http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php

"Is a Belief in God Beneficial? Or, What's an Atheist to Do?

1) Religious attendance is correlated with longevity.
2) Religious belief has been associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms.
3) Religious beliefs may help with addiction.
4) Religious attendance is correlated with lower blood pressure.

http://jewishatheist.blogspot.com/2006/01/is-belief-in-god-beneficial-or-whats.html

Answer 5

We crave the existence of a higher authority, and on that basis our ancestors knowingly or blissfully came up with different ideas, some of which now forms the fundamental basis of many religions. For the same reason when things don't happen to go the way we planned, we ask ourselves why and desperately clutch on to the notion of god. The early Greeks came up with the idea of Zeus riding his chariot when they saw the immensity of the thunderstorms, and a lot more deities were created to explain other normal, natural phenomenons. You asked of intelligence and belief in god, well the theory of creationism seems quite vague and illogical, when it is faced by Darwin's Theory and other similar ones.
We have evolved from single cells to such complex beings and yet we can't acknowledge the fact that we have it in our powers to change our fate and the path of our lives!Also believing in god and fearing god are two differnt things, and that fear generally fuels the belief.If I believe in god then it shouldn't be out of fear.

Answer 6

Some intelligent people do believe in various gods. They may allow their emotions to overpower their intellects, and Dr. Jung said thinking people are weak in feeling. They may have been indoctrinated strongly when they were kids and fear to even question their religion. Again, that is emotion and feeling overpowering intellect. Anyone who looks objectively and comprehensively at the evidence for and against the existence of gods is bound to have strong doubts. I did at age 7, even though Mom's father was a pastor.

Answer 7

Generally, it is the result of the intelligent person looking at the various arguments, observing the world, analyzing the evidence, and applying basic critical thinking skills.

It is by far more amazing when someone of intelligences does not believe in god.

Answer 8

Because they have faith. Not so much as blind faith but a thoughtful trust. When we take a close look at religion(Christianity, Islam, etc.) we see the faults, erros and te unanswered questions. We can choose to look for the answers and in this search is that most "intelligent" people stop believing. I place "intelligent " in quotation marks because it's a term that needs to be defined first but that's another topic on its own. While some people stop believing because things no longer look "magical" or impossible to expain; others believe that the "magic" it's how it's always been there we just didn't see it until now. For example we look at DNA and we marvel at how our entire being its written in this code and that no two people can be alike. You can look at it as the HAND OF GOD putting it together because there is no other good explanation. Also, you can see it as a matter of odds of that specific egg and that spermatozoid getting together and choosing the genes based on which is dominant and which is recessive. Francis S Collins is a famous scientist who was in charge of the Human Genome Project who strongly believes in God. He believes that science only proves that God exists. His book "The Language of God" is about that same subject. I hope it helps to answer your question.

Answer 9

I would regard myself as an above average thinker and for me it's quite simple. I expect that I have the ability to make the right decisions based on my intellect so when weighing up the question of God and Faith it's straight forward.

If the God I believe in is wrong or a fairy tale and eternity is non existent I know I'm living my life to a high moral and ethical standing and when I die...no big deal. If my God is true and eternity does exist then my understanding of eternity is a very very long time!

There's no consequence if the God I believe in does not exist but if he does?.........At the end of the day I have nothing to loose by believing and having faith in God!

Answer 10

I am of independently certified intelligence (I am a member of Mensa) and I believe in God. So did many famous scientists: http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/sciencefaith.html
Though aware of the possible irony in your question, I will take it at face value. The answer in my case was research. I was brought up by an atheist father, but at some point I began researching various religions, reading their holy books and associating with their followers, until I found the path I believe to be true. I believe yahoo answers is not intended as a soapbox for anyone (including atheists) to proselytise from, so I will refrain from stating my religion here. If this is a genuine question you are welcome to email me privately.

Answer 11

We were created with a built in intelligence of the knowing that our God exists. Ignorance, denial, and bitterness block the intelligence to see that. He will reveal Himself to you one day and you'll see what I mean.