Which is better, believing in a god or not?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lpfe0xX0Es

from a series i watched on the history channel. Although you may not gt the answer, you may find it interesting. Listen to both sides of the questions.)

If you like it, there is also a new series by national geographic called "Beyond the cosmos" the first episode about time is pretty interesting although you may not find it online due to it being a new program.

cheers

People Have the right to believe what They want. and it shouldn't matter to anyone one else. Its simply none of ther buisness.

Oh my! What a question.

I've been able to sum it up as such
as a human being we all are innately born to die. its just something that WILL happen to you. now like it or not you are subconsciously afraid of dying, if you say you're not...shut up you are. Yes some people take more risks than others which many express as a way of living on the edge and members of the community respect that.

Moving on from the psych lesson; leaders from ancient times realized that man was meant to be civilized. The progression of the human race and his technology has shown this. Now because of this need and the large number of people scattered across the globe distinctions amongst the groups had to be made. These groups had to unite under a power greater than themselves. The leaders took this as a sign to appoint themselves; however, these men would surely die and things could (and almost always did) when he passed. Well an all knowing, ever living, god (or many in some cases) had to be implemented to keep ever control of the people.

tl;dr....people are innately afraid to die, thus creating an afterlife to suppress this fear. People in charge saw this and implemented religion as a way to garner power.
tl;dr #2....EVERY CREATION STORY IS ALMOST THE SAME.

I am basically an atheist, but I put on theist mode when it benefits me.

I hate pushing atheism to others because it is difficult to change someone, there is no solid proof that there is no god, and there is no proof that the world will be better if all theists become atheists.

Basically I learnt different religions and many philosophies. I learnt conflicts and controversies. Though, I wonder, probably staying in one religion would be better.

Like any individual: you can't really receive help until you first help yourself. Whatever to do decided to call this great sentient being. "God", "Allah", "Jehovah", or even if you believe in multiple deities-- there are so many things in this world that you just can't help but think "They've got to exist". Whether it be a tragedy or a miracle.

Personally, I'm Wiccan. Which is a neo-pagan religion, based on the Celtic druids. Well, the part of Wicca I practice is. It's commonly misinterpreted as Satanism. But it couldn't be more far from it. We Wiccans believe in the Goddess and the God. They have multiple names and you can find a lot of similarities to other deities in various mythologies. i.e. Greek mythology. Everything has a balance to it. It's both male and female. You can do whatever you like, as long as it hurts no one. Including yourself. Spells or incantations are our forms of prayer. But prayers, spells, wishes, dreams... only go so far. Like I previously stated, "you can't really receive help until you first help yourself."

I'm not preaching my faith to you. I only wanted to give you some insight.

Whatever you decide, I just hope you don't give up FAITH. Believing in something is what helps us get out of bed in the morning. And I don't just mean religion.

It really depends on your faith. Though for me A GOD to look-up to as a role model is something that works for me.
As much as whatever works for you is fine.

I find myself questioning my own religion as much as i can.
And in reality we tend to point out the "Holes" or what is lacking.

Well, it does not matter if you believe in a God or not. As long that the Basic moral and ethical values still resides with-in you. and act as an individual who is ready to help others.

Well...clearly that's not right. As far as ,"Whoever you want to look up to is fine." Because..well...look at Nazis. They look up to Adolf Hitler. I don't think you'd agree that it's perfectly ok to look up to Hitler as a role model right?

As far as "looking up to a god as a role model" How would you differentiate between what this god's ethics, morality, and actions that are...worship-worthy are, and simply what personally resonates with you?

Consider the following:

Your god(for the sake of argument, not saying it IS your god, but just as an example) Is the christian god of the Old and New testaments of the bible.

You might look at Jesus saying, "Treat others as you would like to be treated" and go, "Yes, that is truly wise. This is the morality I'm looking for."

While at the same time read passages like, "If a woman is raped and not engaged, she and her rapist are to be stoned to death." and say, "Well now...that doesn't seem right at all."

Wouldn't you say that you're just going off of what feels right to you? Instead of truly looking at God as some sort of role model?



I strongly encourage this. And I encourage that you continue to do it.



Yes but, without an understanding of what is moral, and how to come about judging an action as moral or immoral...how do you go about helping others?

In my ethics 101 class, the very first class I attended I was told by my professor, "I'm not here to teach you to be moral. You all want to be moral, I know you want to do good in the world. I'm here to help you discern what is good, and what is bad, when the answer isn't always clear." Or something to that effect, it's been a while and I don't recall it word for word.

The fact that you want to do good is all fine and dandy, but being able to discern WHAT is good...is certainly something to research. And to me, those who base their morality off of the bible, or the Hadith, or the Bhagavad Gita, or whatever holy book, only stifles their ability to do exactly that.

I would say disregarding god, at least as far as morality is concerned...is a far better way to view the universe.



I can help but think that. So that's a demonstrably false sentiment.



I'm reminded of an old adage: "I had a headache. So I took an aspirin and then I prayed. Then I got better. So my prayer made me better."

Sure, there's the possibility that your prayers or spells or whatever actually had an effect on their own. But if they only work if you...make them work...then..what's the point of praying or casting the spell or anything like that in the first place? And yes, these are serious questions. I find pagan religions far more interesting than monotheistic ones.



I beg to differ. I live my life without 'faith'. But I'm getting the impression that you have a different definition of 'faith' than me. Please, could you define it for me quick?

Seriously this guy just wished to believe anything that would fit his way of thinking . He don't care shit if it's true or not , his only proof is "look at the world , is that not enough proof ?" , wow , what an answer . But oh well , if he don't care abouth truth and it makes him happy i suppose it's better for him to believe in god ...

Though , i find people like him weak and really pathetic .

In my opinion, you're just like asking whether you should get a Lamborghini or a Ferrari.
Whatever floats your boat, it's your choice after all.

This question, which is better, is very weird to me. The closest thing I believe that can come close to that question making any sense is which is more acceptable which in itself shows a person to be a weak character and when people question you and you flip flop you'll seem unsure of yourself. At the end of it all though nobody can prove anything, because though we can pick at and debate with things that we are told are facts nobody on this planet truly knows what they think they know on the subject and anybody who believes they do is simply shunning the fact that no absolute truth is available in any religion.

P.S. I haven't actually looked but the fact that this thread went on this long on such a wrong question leads me to believe people are simply trying to push their beliefs.

That's not true , we can't prove that god exist or not , but we can prove that he is not the god from any existing religion . For me the question of this topic can be transformed to this : Which is better , believe in a lie to get comfort out of it or accepting and searching the truth ?

Why wouldn't it be? Regardless of what you think about the nazi ideology Hitler was, and will remain, one of the greatest leaders of the modern era. I understand what you mean, but you should see my point, right?

I could look up to Varg Vikernes as a musician and still not endorse church-burning or manslaughter.

If we base our discussion on an individual perspective; it really depends on whether or not you're comfortable in believing in a God. Personally, I don't see how that could bring any comfort at all. The world is filled with suffering and death; children are starving to death each day and many people are living their life in agony. I couldn't possibly feel comfort in believing that such an evil and sadistic creature like God exists.

My christian friend asked me what i would do if i find out that after death heaven really exists in the end and have to meet god , i answered "i would tell him a big fuck you from all humans on earth " .

Well then you're really not looking to them as a role model then are you? You're not saying, "I wanna be just like Hitler" you're saying, "I want to be as good a leader as hitler." and in that case it can be demonstrably understood that there are better leaders to look up to than Hitler in just about every way, including some american presidents like FDR and JFK.

To me, you're not actually looking to someone as a role model if you're just picking the part about them you like to strive to mirror. It's either you want to be as much like that person as possible, with all of their traits, or there's just something about them that appeals to you.

Personally I wish I was as good an artist as Hitler. And he wasn't even that good an artist, but he's far better than me. And I can easily accept that...SOME of the things he did in his leadership were good for the people. However to make him my role model, I would need to strive to be like him in more than just one or two areas.

This is of course purely subjective and based soley on what I consider a role model to be.

So BigLundi your saying Hitler was a good leader ? Ive watch doc's about how he wasnt really good for the german people as a whole and basically F -up europe by starting ww2 plus hes whole other people are inferior shit and his left over legacy that is still alive in the guise of Neo Nazi Fuck heads all over Europe and America and shit ..So how or why would you choose him of all people to look up to ? He wasnt really a good leader since we had like JFK,Gerogia washington,Thomas Jeferrson,Martin luthor King and so on...So what exactlly are you trying to say/imply ?

Are you referring to the fact that the god that organized religion teaches doesn't exist?

I'm not sure what you mean by "organized religions" and what is the sens of your question ?

" we can't prove that god exist or not , but we can prove that he is not the god from any existing religion" explain what you meant by this.