Why do most human beings know instinctively that there is a God?

Question

Even though the exact conception of God may differ among people of different backgrounds.

Answer 1

I think its because everything around us is so much bigger than we can even comprehend. Little complex things like microscopic organisms, the deep dancing, blue sea, all the planets. Who put those things there? Where'd they come from? The weather, the Earth,US where did we come from? Who started it all?

From a Biblical point, God said He always let people know who He was, that He's real and that they can live for Him. He said no matter where you live, the Holy Spirit comes to you in some kind of way and tells you that you can choose to live for God.

Answer 2

Well I would argue that we don't _know_ there's a god--to "instinctively know" is an oxymoron.

That said, I think it all goes back to memes: ideas that have a virus-like ability to spread from person to person. In ancient times, ignorant humans knew little about how the world worked, so they ascribed events--like sickness, or the wind blowing, or rain--to spirits. Some humans thought that through certain rituals they could sway these spirits, for instance doing a rain dance or praying to try to make it rain.

Over time these spirits took on other social functions. For instance, people started asking these spirits for help in battle. The losing side usually didn't survive to question why their god failed them, so the winning side could safely attribute their victory to the aid of their spirit or god. Spirits were over time given more and more powers, until they became what we call gods. Gods were also successfully used as a means to enforce morality; good people were rewarded after death while bad people were tormented.

The afterlife, too, was an invention, partly as a way to explain what happens after we die, partly as a consolation against the finality of death.

Some gods were perceived as more powerful than others, and projecting human family hierarchies onto them resulted in the creation of a most-powerful god (e.g. Zeus), who was the father-figure to the other, lesser gods. After a while some people started worshiping just the one, most powerful god, and after giving it more power (omnipotence), came to believe that it was THE god. Once this happened, lesser gods fell out of favor in many of the major religions (Hinduism being one exception). From that point on, future generations were taught by their parents that there was only one god, and the idea has simply stuck ever since. Note that the great majority of people are of the same religion as their parents. Religion is a highly hereditary meme.

That said, there are exceptions. Some atheists were religious at one time but gave up belief in a god. Others, like myself, have never felt a "god instinct" and just view gods as another belief system.

Like I mentioned earlier also, some religions believe in more than one god. Hinduism is one. There are a number of Native American and (in other countries) tribal religions that believe in multiple gods. Buddhists, theoretically speaking, don't believe in any gods, though in practice, some worship some of the Hindu gods, and many worship Buddha in the same way as a god.

I think also that a lot of people simply have a need to believe in something bigger than themselves, bigger than the world around them, and for many of them, believing in a god fits the bill.

Answer 3

Because we are a curious race. It is this curiousity that leads us to live our lives seeking knowledge and improvement. However, some of us are too scared of this curiousity so we shy away from going after it and simply rely on the notion of an ultimate being that serves as an explanation for everything.

Of course, I'm not really against the concept of God. What I'm simply saying is that some of us tend to make him an excuse for being idiots.

Answer 4

This premise is false. 2000 years ago there was no god, but there were a variety of gods that existed in a variety of cultures.

Feral children demonstrate that we are born atheists and are indoctrinated into the religion of the family, the local community or for some, choosing another religion that fits with their worldview.

You were born an atheist until your parents got hold of you and corrupted your thinking with delusions. You may be familiar with the whole Santa and Tooth Fairy delusions as well.

Imagine what happens to a small child who does not accept a god that a parent forces down their throat.

Answer 5

I don't believe humans instinctively know that there is a God. A higher power is a taught concept. We instinctively know how to suckle, breathe and cry but not acknowledging a divine spirit. We are taught and learn religion.

Answer 6

Gods and goddesses are fictional characters created by the human imagination. People have invented thousands of different deities throughout history - It's a common flaw in human nature, rather like the way we see optical illusions.

Science has shown us that all biological life - including the human species - is the product of unthinking, undirected natural processes. As part of our evolutionary 'toolkit' of survival strategies, we have a highly developed awareness of other entities in our environment - We often notice human faces in carpet patterns, rabbit-shaped clouds and so on. There is more survival value in seeing what really *is* there, and also seeing some things that *aren't* really there, than in missing things that really are there and going hungry, or worse, ending up as someone else's lunch.

The consequence of this undeniably true aspect of human nature is that we have a natural tendency to imagine entities behind natural phenomena and events in our own lives that aren't really there - i.e. gods and goddesses, demons, angels, spirits - a whole menagerie of supernatural characters. Society and culture binds up these characters with our wishes and fears, our desires for dominance and submission and shared identity, and we end up with religious belief and ritual and dogma, in thousands of different flavours, with the vast majority of people broadly following the religion of their upbringing.

Religion is a biological phenomenon, not a supernatural one.

Answer 7

I'm not at all sure that most people know instinctively that there is a God. I know that I do not. I've struggled most of my adult life to find a certainty and it has always evaded me. i find it hard to believe that I'm alone in my doubt since every devout person I've ever known, of any faith, has admitted to at least periodically having crises of faith.

Answer 8

We do not instinctively know there is a God. We were told that there is a God.

Answer 9

That is you own twist on things. People have to be indoctrinated from childhood to be victims of rampant and harmful delusions.

Answer 10

God is known as Father in most religions, and we instinctly look toward our parents for our needs.