Monday, 5/23
(The purpose of this journal entry is NOT to promote any school of thought or to make you feel uncomfortable. If you are concerned about the content of this journal entry either journal about that or speak to me. Thanks.)
Choose the statement which best applies for yourself:
* As a believer, I argue that God exists using the following type of arguments....
* As an atheist, I argue that God doesn’t exist using the following type of arguments...
* As an agnostic, I argue that God could exist, but that we don’t have conclusive evidence using the following type of arguments...
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24 comments:
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As a believer, I agree that most likely God exists because we can't physically prove something that isn't tangible or constantly active in any way, but we have personal accounts of experiences that prove the existence to the individual person, but they aren't able to recreate the experience so there is no actual proof.
As a believer, i cannot argue that god exists. You can only believe that he exists. I have enough faith to believe that he does. I do not like to argue with other people to try to convince them that he exists. Other people can make their own decision to believe that he exists or not.
As a believer, I argue that God exists because everyone has a path. This is made clear because not every single person has the same path, but each path is designed just for them. It's not so much a matter of destiny, but it is purpose. God created everyone for a reason, and people go through life trying to find out what their reason is and accomplish it. God created everything on earth, both bad and good to teach us how we should act towards each other, and how we can all come together to overcome hardships and trials.
As a believer, I argue that God exists using the following type of arguments....The earth is to complex to have just exploded from a piece of rock. And human beings did not evolve from monkeys, because we are also too complex. There has to be a creator to coordinate all that surrounds us. That's why I believe there's a higher power.
As an agnostic, I argue that God could exist, but that we don’t have conclusive evidence using the following type of arguments...
I guess i would consider myself an agnostic, because i do not know enough about religion to say that i do or don't believe in a God. I do believe that there is some sort of higher power, but i have never been a religious type therefore i don't feel informed enough to make a real opinion at this point in my life. But over all i do agree that there isn't enough conclusive evidence to prove the arguments.
As a believer, I argue that God exists using the following type of arguments One from past experiences,Two from the environment around me, and last from family and friends.Some of my past experiences like life threatening or just dangerous situations have help lead me to believe in god. As well as my environment has help me believe in god with other believers and just going to church. Last would be my friends and family thought most my family does believe some of my friends do not and it still shapes me to believe.
We don't know until we die.
As a believer, I argue that God exists using arguments that are based on faith. I don't use scientific facts to support my beliefs. Instead I use my faith and support it by using examples in my life where I felt helped or supported by God. I don't feel that people need to use scientific arguments when discussing their personal beliefs, as it is a personal decision that many people don't need scientific proof to justify.
"As an agnostic, I argue that God could exist, but that we don't have conclusive evidence using the following type of arguments..."
I think that this option is the closest to my set of beliefs. While I am almost certain that the conventional idea of "God" does not exist, I also have a difficult time disregarding some higher spiritual being completely. I mean, I kind of think that religion and faith transcends beyond the tangible world, and so there almost has to be some inhuman essence, or aura, or spirit, for lack of a better word, that pulls humanity and the universe together.
Due to the way in which I see the world, I am an utter agnostic. I believe that there could be a supreme being somewhere, but their presence has no influence in daily life, and as such is unimportant. By definition, a supreme being can never be proven to exist, as any person can claim to be supreme, and some can show you tricks or technology to make you believe it, however, you can never prove to yourself that any being has the ultimate power. Because of the way we perceive the world, humans can potentially be tricked into believing something has occurred, while in truth we have only perceived it. Faith is something that a person can use to justify anything, as it requires that whatever they are believing in cannot be proved. I, however, do not see the reason nor the necessity to believe outright in any omnipotent entity.
As a believer, I argue that God exists because I have seen his work make a difference in my life. When I was about 6 years old, a good friend of mine, who was disabled, passed away. This was heart breaking for me. As a first grader, this was the first significant loss that I had experienced. I thought that it was basically the end of the world. I didn't think that anything good would come of it. I was raised as a Christian, and I believed in God, even at that age. But when this happened to me I was so mad at God. I thought that he was being mean, or not even real at times. For years, I grappled with this. I didn't know why he would kill one of my friends, especially at such a young age. I obviously couldn't find the good in it. As I matured, I began to see it. The loss of my friend really impacted me, and God has opened doors for me that I wouldn't have with out this loss. I now am the nanny of a little boy who has the same disabilities that my friend had. I am trained in how to feed him through his feeding tube, and have been able to volunteer a lot of my time with the Courage Center. I realize now, that working with kids that have disabilities is what I want to do for the rest of my life. God used me, and my friendship with this girl, to build a strong person who is willing to dedicate her life to helping others. I know that even though it was difficult for me to loose a friend, God put me in her life, and I can see how He has worked through me. It is things like this, that happen to me, and other people around me, that proves to me that God is real. This is not something that was coincidental. I have other scenarios that can back this up, but this would be a really really long blog post! :)
As a believer, I argue that God exists using the following types of arguments...
First off, I was raised a Christian so God has always been a part of my life. I have always acknowledged the existence of a God and I don't think that will ever change. I respect the views of people who believe otherwise, but I personally can't agree with any other view just because of the role God and faith has played in my life. A saying that I have heard pretty much sums up the reason why I believe in God: You can argue the existence of God, but you can't argue a changed life. God has played a huge role in my life as well as the lives of many others. Another reason I believe in God is because of the physical way the Earth is. I went to Europe this past spring break and looking up at those mountains I just couldn't bring myself to believe that it all happened at random. Also, can you say the miracle of life? How the heck does that happen?!? There has got to be a reason and purpose for human beings and the way we came to be. Finally, many don't know this but the Bible is known as a historical reference book. It has lasted so long with the same messages (even through all the translations) and many of the stories in it have been proven true. There is just so much evidence proving the existence of God, I just can't see myself believing in any other way.
As an agnostic, I argue that God could exist, but that we don’t have conclusive evidence using the following type of arguments. There is no real evidence either way, and no matter how hard we search for some we won't find any. My life would not be carried out any differently if I did believe in God, so I don't find it necessary to search for one. I do believe that there is something much bigger than us, but I think its selfish to believe we are the most divine creatures on earth. In the grand scheme of things, humans are so insignificant I cannot believe that we were created for any real purpose. In a few million years, when humans, like all animals, slowly fade away, nothing we accomplish will have any real impact on the world, except maybe our pollution. I like to focus on my life on the small scale. We are only here for so long so I'd like to just enjoy my life without the pressure of having to please some greater being that I'm not even sure exists. Religion is used for a lot of really great things, but I cannot make myself really believe that there is a God. I accept that in all possibility there could be, but I don't let that dictate how I live my life. I often hear the argument that God must exist because there are such great things in the world, but there are equally horrible things that happen. The world is neither good nor evil, it just is.
As an agnostic, I argue that I simply have no idea if God exists, so why try to make a guess at it. I live my life how I see fit and with the morals and ethics of my own choice without the barriers and walls that I believe religions create. It is simply incredible that anyone would attempt to say that they have any idea whether or not God exists. As an argument, it will never go anywhere, so why even try when nothing will change. People are born, people live, and then they die. I think it is more important to promote goodness and happiness throughout the world we live in, rather than try to figure out why we are here and what will happen after if we don't believe in something. I live my life focusing on the tangible things in front of me; the idea of a higher power has just never been relevant. In summary and in conclusion, why fret?
As an agnostic I'm troubled by the question of whether God exists. I think a better question is IF He cares what we do in our lives. He could simply be a scientist observing what people do in their lives when left to their own devices. To me, saying God doesn't exist is a blanket statement with no real claim and seeing as how the atheists are often scientific people, evidence is what they rely on and there's no evidence to say otherwise. As an example, I could say that I love someone; there's really no test to run to say, "Oh yup, he's in love." The hand of God is not here to provide miracles (as we see with numerous disasters) but to provide a light. Unfortunately, being the narcissist that I am, my thought is that needing God to give you strength is weakness. People learn to not rely on themselves and need someone else to reinforce their actions. This strength should come from within but people are weak enough to think that they themselves are weak; therein lies the problem.
"As an agnostic, I argue that God COULD exist."
I am by no means a Creationist, and I highly doubt that divinity has any influence on much of anything. It is comforting to think that something exists that is bigger than ourselves, but it is irrational to stoutly believe that that unknown power controls everything. Seeing is believing. Without definitive evidence, the existence of a God is impossible to determine. Religious texts can't prove anything, especially the beginning of life.
Religion and the belief in a god is very individualistic. As an agnostic, I am not tied down to any organized religion. If a god were to exist, it would be in one's own moral compass rather than in the text of a relgious work.
As a believer I argue that God exists because of the strange coincidences and “so-happens” that happen everyday. I also think that it helps explain how we happened to come to exist with the high improbability of a human existence coming in the first place, but I have no personal experience to base the human race “coming to be” off of so anything is here say and spectulation which while it can be valid is just as easily falsified or I am just as capable of doing myself. That said, experiencing life to the full with human interactions and the simple incredibility of it makes the lack of existence of some interconnecting force or being or “greater power” if that’s the word, seems ridiculous. That’s where my faith comes from.
As an atheist, I argue that God doesn’t exist using the following type of arguments...
My primary argument to this effect is that there’s no compelling evidence for God’s existence that I’ve seen. Basically, everything I’ve heard/read boils down to anecdotal evidence, which is basically meaningless based on the subjective perception of the world everyone has, or otherwise unconvincing references to any given religion that exist in our knowledge of history (going by the easiest one for me to examples of, that there was a man named Jesus and a large flood by our documentation of history does not prove Christianity true). More or less, the only real evidence that would unquestionably convince me is incontrovertible proof of Jesus’s divinity (keeping with Christianity) or divine power.
The other reason I argue there’s no God is that science explains a sufficient amount of the questions I have with legitimate proof to convince me that it seems to be the method with which to explain our world. Things like gravity, general relativity, and other such scientific discoveries have left me satisfied with how they describe our world and how they thusly describe it with sufficient accuracy and legitimacy.
As an agnostic, I argue that god could exist, but I don't see god as being the traditional idea of a conscious being that floats around and changes things. I can't argue whether or not god is provable because I'm not very well read in the subject but from a philosophical standpoint I see the necessity for some kind of god as a catalyst for the creation of the universe. I disagree with the religious idea of God because they argue that god is good and wants everyone to be happy and that is obviously not true if you assume that God "created" us because human existence is lacking in any sort of fairness or justice. I do not believe that there can be a God who picks favorites.
I am a believer, but I cannot argue that God exists in any way. Personally I have experienced things that have made me believe that there is a higher power above mankind, but I can’t explain or even put into words these encounters. Even if I could, I would have no foundation of evidence to prove my experiences. They are more or less a feeling rather then visual or audible evidence. That’s why I agree that faith is exactly that, faith that something exists. It’s not something that can be proven.
I'm not a hundred percent on where I am on this, actually. I was raised atheist, something that I know some people even find peculiar. I don't know some of the finer points of everything when talking of religion, but I believe that there is no god. But that's not to say I don't believe in something, and that's what puts me off saying I'm totally atheist.
But when you look at it, as an atheist, I believethat there is no god. I don't have proof for it, and my giant agnostic side says there is no proof for either side, but to me, the idea that there is a god is silly.
Believing in this greater entitiy seems like it causes problems. Religious wars and genocide, zealous believers unable to question themselves, archaic ideas that should be forgotten, and otherwise general strife. Why do we even need a god? We can survive ourselves. I'm very open to the idea, but when someone argues for god it seems an escape. If there is any one thing I wish to believe in, anything at all, it's not god and the beliefs that have been instilled by his followers, but me and mine. Putting it almost sarcastically, I'd rather pray to me and my friends than to god and his.
I am a believer that is borderline agnostic. I personally think there is proof that there is a god for a couple reasons. The first is that there is life and that there does not seem to be any reason why. I mean, we have no idea how life is made at all, so it seems that it was created by a higher being than us. Another thing I think proves god’s existence is our sentience, because it seems we are different from all other living organisms by our ability to think, plan, reason, and other such things. I, somewhat arrogantly, believe that we were differentiated by a higher power from everything else. All of this can be explained through chance: we are just lucky we are alive and we are just lucky we are sentient, which is proved by the fact that there are so few living things in the universe and even less sentient beings. Although I’ve been a long believer that things work together so well, because if they didn’t, then things wouldn’t work; I think we got a bit too lucky for it to all be chance. What I meant by the first part is that all these complex ecosystems and organisms work so well, because if they did not they would change until they do. I find this to be blatantly obvious, but Christians (and other religions I’m sure) show this perfection and complexity as proof of a higher power when it just shows that things that don’t function die out. I’m not much different, I just think it is not only the ecosystem and organisms that are too unlikely, but our spot in the entire universe and the universe is too unlikely for it to have come around without a little help or guidance. I think our conscience is linked to our soul, which I think comes from god, but I don’t think It is omibenevolent, omnipotent, or omniscient. All I really think about god is that it has a sense of humor.
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