Simple: God sees all paths simultaneously. Like a room with thousands of doors and behind each of those doors are a thousand more, he knows every possible route so yes you have free will but he still knows the outcome. Confusing yes? because your trying to apply your finite mind to an infinite God.
I hate mysticism of all kinds. (Any acceptance of faith or feeling as a source of knowledge.) Religion has and is and will always prove itself as a social institution used to control masses. With the current outbreak of extreme Islamic fanatics we can see how even in our time in history, religion is still an overly negative thing on a macro scale. Only to an individual does religion help, and only by giving answers that are ultimately unanswerable.
Unless someone here has died, met God, and has returned to notify us all of the situation, No one can be 100% for sure. Everyone's beliefs are based on faith. I don't know exactly what I believe. I am on the fence about almost everything. I do know one thing though...when I look around...I don't see random blobs blobbing all over the planet. I SEE DESIGN. Look around, is it coincidence that we give trees carbon dioxide and they give us oxygen. Is it coincidence we taste what we eat, we have fingers to hold things, we all see with eyes...etc. It is definitely due to amazing design how the world and the life on it works together. Something has to be at play here. Now whether or not we go somewhere when we die is a whole nother argument.
Agreed. It's explained in this book called A Short History of Nearly Everything, it basically says that everything that happened can't be pure coincidence. Apparently, if one fully understands/analyze how everything came to be or fell into place (e.g. evolution), it couldn't have all been completely random--it's impossible that there was no higher being that planned it all. It was a good read. Try it sometime.
I have this wonderful thing called "I live my life", where I actually just enjoy the day-to-day events in my life and leave worrying about that stuff until my heart has stopped beating and I'm A) nonexistent B ) on my way to whatever follows this life C) being reincarnated as a duck billed platypus ('cause they're COOL, damnit) So, I have to say... it seems like some people are a little wound up over this. My rule is as follows; if they're not trying to force it down my throat, I will not challenge them on it. It follows the same general concept as not trying to force atheism down anyone else's throat. Now if none of you mind terribly, I'm going to go have a breakdown and pray even though I'm an atheist because a friend of mine is in the hospital right now with a burst appendix, which was followed by an allergic reaction to the anesthetic, a blood clot in his lung, and now an infection at the surgery site...
Even if someone did die meet this supposed god and returned... Why would you believe this person based on the sole evidence that someone said it? I do not see design in anything. There really isn't anything by design. Trees are usually the last argument for designs. No, it is not coincidence that trees and humans co exist. It is the same thing as the flies that live on a hippo's back. They have adapted to it to increase the ability to survive.
An explanation for ecosystems and symbiotic pairs (trees/humans, those weird birds/hippos, etc, etc) can really be found in evolutionary adaption, like CrC mentioned. Now, if we're getting back into how the first single-celled organism started off, or how DNA works, I'm going to tell you that unless somebody on the board majored in one of these fields, we're all going to be talking smack blind and it's going to devolve into something useless. Trying to discuss things even the PH.D's might not have answers for is kind of a joke =) But believing in a higher power isn't necessarily something to look down on. I happen to respect my friends who believe in god because I know that with how I've lived my life, professing to would be an outright lie. It might even be nicer/better if I did - I don't so I wouldn't know for sure. It wouldn't change a damn thing about my life, either. I've started to realize that for the majority of people who believe in god(s) who are my age, it doesn't play as huge a role in their actions as it might have for their parents/ancestors.
For anyone else besides Arkley reading this - because I'm not really addressing his post, I'm just making comments since I got started thinking about God - I offer this: Omnipotent –adjective 1. almighty or infinite in power, as God. We can probably all agree that any being capable of creating all that (apparently) exists fits the bill... but not eveyone really thinks about what that means. There's an old question about whether or not God can create a boulder that he cannot lift. The true answer (rarely heard) is Yes. He can create a boulder that he cannot lift. But - here's where people get lost - then he can lift it. An omnipotent being is absolutely going to be able to break/create paradoxes, and whether or not what a God does makes logical sense to humans is irrelevant. If a God exists, then he could make 1+1=5. He could make black be yellow. He could make up down, backwards forwards, inside outside, and light dark. He could make you have six dimensions. the Earth weightless, anything else you can think of, and an infinite amount of things that you can't. Edit - The reason for this is that if a God exists, then your entire understanding of every little thing is based on the way he made it. This omnipotent being made gravity. Gravity wasn't around before him. So you only understand gravity as he made it. If he changed it, it probably wouldn't make much sense anymore. Yet he could change it. So, really, any argument against God involving God-not-making-sense is a failure. Such a being's capabilities or motivations could not be grasped by humans. And the same way someone calling you stupid doesn't make you stupid, someone understanding/not understanding or believing/not believing in God would not affect him in the slightest. I believe that most, if not all, people actively seeking to "bash" God really just want to make themselves feel smart by putting down believers by backing what they believe to be an easily-defended argument. Not believing in a God does not and should not have to equal putting down other's beliefs (ala the post right before this one). So if you're self-seeking, needing answers to the existence of God for your own peace of mind, then think it out. But if someone challenges you on your faith, don't even give them the time of day anymore than you would someone trying to make fun of your socks or your hair.
good luck for your friend! i'll pray for him. o: but you see, that's exactly the point. we need god to exist, which is why we believe so strongly in him. every religion has its flaws because the bible and other such books were written by man. we can't hope to comprehend god, or the things that he does. we just try our best and get by on hard work and faith. :/ as pretentious as that sounds, it's pretty much true (imo). i mean, suppose you knew it was all left to science, and that your faith and prayers wouldn't help you friend get by? that's not a world that anyone wants to live in D: i hope i'm not being insensitive by using something that personal as an example...
It's fine to use that as an example. And actually, it's the strongest argument for believing in something, in my opinion. If you're doing all you can physically and on a scientific level, there is no harm being positive on a metaphysical level. I still can't bring myself to believe in God, but sometimes I wish I could. Oh well.
oh, good. but you're right. it would be so much easy to "live in the moment" and not worry about the possible consequences of our actions. i just feel like believing in a higher power gives some people the motivation they need to live with a sense of altruism, as opposed to a pleasure-seeking life where everything goes. and tbh, i don't think god is omnipotent. i think he's like a father (or mother, however you imagine god) who's ready to step in when we need it and help us along the way. idk, like a magical janitor in the sky who helps us clean up the mess we've made of things. lol.
Well, I'm non-religious, but I do believe in what you guys call "God". I don't really call it "God", it's just I believe in the "Knowledge". Because, in science, you can't really create energy and matter out of nothing. So, in the Big Bang, there's two beams of extremely strong energy, and I believe those beams have to be created by some kind of greater knowledge: what I call the Scientific "God"
wouldnt matter if you could prove it, their "god" is always going to be real to them. And the "devil" is inside you trying to make them question their faith. I personal dont believe in god, i think you die and thats it. Enjoy your 1shot at life.
So, either we have free will and God cannot possibly see into the future and is therefor not omnipotent and by that conclusion, not really a "god" in the traditional sense, OR God is a God and we have no free will and our lives are pointless. OR There is no God.