Are you looking for proof that God exists?

El Barto

les fesses a l'aire
Feb 11, 2007
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Have you ever considered that through evolution humans have mostly lost their connection with the sixth sense and there is a methodology within religions to stimulate what little remains?
Actually it could be religion to blame for the cause of that.... if you just look at those who follow religion deeply and start profiling huge chunk of those members are poor and deprived , closer to no education than not.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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No, not in those terms. If we've lost touch with this sixth sense, whatever it is, through evolution then clearly either it has no survival value or has negative survival value. It's clear that there are techniques within religions to induce altered states of consciousness, like the auto-hypnotic effect of saying the rosary repeatedly, but that sort of thing is readily explicable in terms of brain function specialisation and differentiation. Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist who had a major left hemisphere stroke at an early age, has much to say about it in her book, My Stroke of Insight.
Name a culture past or present anywhere in the world regardless how recent the contact or remote every last one had/has spiritual/sixth sense/religion.

Why?
 

Dexter Sinister

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Oct 1, 2004
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Because evolution has made us magical thinkers, not logical thinkers, and predisposed us to preferentially make certain kinds of errors, particularly seeing patterns that aren't real, because they have survival value. Is that movement in the tall grass just the wind, or a predator? Safer to assume the latter and be wrong. Skepticism is not a natural way for humans to think, it's a learned skill and takes practice. And regarding your first point, I would simply say that the number of people who believe something to be true has nothing to do with whether or not it's actually true.
 
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JLM

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There's strong evidence that there is a higher power "pulling strings", as evidenced by all the bad scenarios in my life not turning out as bad as they could have been. Got to be thankful for that!
 

Dexter Sinister

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Perhaps, but also consider how much that higher power fails to accomplish in the lives of so many people. 9 million children a year around the world die before reaching the age of 5, for instance, and their parents, most of them, would have been beseeching that higher power to spare their children, and those prayers were either not answered, or the answer was no. As Sam Harris and many others, all the way back to Epicurus, have pointed out, either the higher power is powerless to prevent such suffering and grieving, or chooses not to, so it's either impotent or evil. Or the simplest explanation, it doesn't exist.
 

JLM

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Perhaps, but also consider how much that higher power fails to accomplish in the lives of so many people. 9 million children a year around the world die before reaching the age of 5, for instance, and their parents, most of them, would have been beseeching that higher power to spare their children, and those prayers were either not answered, or the answer was no. As Sam Harris and many others, all the way back to Epicurus, have pointed out, either the higher power is powerless to prevent such suffering and grieving, or chooses not to, so it's either impotent or evil. Or the simplest explanation, it doesn't exist.


I've often wondered if God isn't more concerned with trends than individuals!
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
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Perhaps, but also consider how much that higher power fails to accomplish in the lives of so many people. 9 million children a year around the world die before reaching the age of 5, for instance, and their parents, most of them, would have been beseeching that higher power to spare their children, and those prayers were either not answered, or the answer was no. As Sam Harris and many others, all the way back to Epicurus, have pointed out, either the higher power is powerless to prevent such suffering and grieving, or chooses not to, so it's either impotent or evil. Or the simplest explanation, it doesn't exist.
So the cycle of life and death order and out of choas was a mistake made by God?

What would you have done differently?

Because evolution has made us magical thinkers, not logical thinkers, and predisposed us to preferentially make certainn kinds of errors, particularly seeing patterns that aren't real, because they have survival value. Is that movement in the tall grass just the wind, or a predator? Safer to assume the latter and be wrong. Skepticism is not a natural way for humans to think, it's a learned skill and takes practice. And regarding your first point, I would simply say that the number of people who believe something to be true has nothing to do with whether or not it's actually true.

Magical thinker but no logic? We would have never evolved without it. Our ability to observe and then predict through patterns is the cornerstone of hunting, gathering, defense from other predators and the elements.
 

gerryh

Time Out
Nov 21, 2004
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I already have found him, so no need to look, and I feel sorry for those that are too blind to see. Ignorance does seem to be bliss though.
 

Dexter Sinister

Unspecified Specialist
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So the cycle of life and death order and out of choas was a mistake made by God?
Obviously not, if there's no god. What we see is the result of the workings of impersonal forces, there's no design to it.
What would you have done differently?
I'd have made us better people, and I'd have arranged the universe so that more of it is habitable for us.
Magical thinker but no logic? We would have never evolved without it. Our ability to observe and then predict through patterns is the cornerstone of hunting, gathering, defense from other predators and the elements.
I didn't say no logic, it's just that we're predominantly magical thinkers and tend to attribute agency to things that don't have it, and we're so focused on pattern recognition, and so good at it, that we see patterns even where there aren't any. There are two types of error we can make here: failing to perceive a pattern that's real, and perceiving a pattern that's not real. We rarely make the first, and often make the second.
 

El Barto

les fesses a l'aire
Feb 11, 2007
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I've concluded that he's not concerned with anything, because we made him up.
This my thought too. There seems to be more proof of that than the existence of him.
Why would an extremely supreme being have the mental attitude of a 4 year old in all the descriptions of him? Never know when he will through crap your way and so iffy on how well he will judge you in the end to make it to heaven? This set up sounds more like manipulation of fear. I do not buy anything that the under lining theme deals with fear.


That goes for politics also
 

cj44

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Sep 18, 2013
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He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Methinks we need to get back to the topic. ...even if someone rises from the dead...even if the ark of Noah is found....even if Jesus sits across from you while you drink this morning's coffee.... we still won't see or listen. Really? If Jesus showed up in your kitchen this morning, would you not believe? Well, he did heal people of leprosy when he was here some 2000 years ago. He made the blind see. He turned water into wine. Yet, there were some that witnessed such and still did not believe. So, what is this thing called unbelief? So, maybe a different question is needed. Do you suppose if God appeared this day so that your five senses could grasp and confirm his presence, would you believe there is a God?
 

Cliffy

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Nov 19, 2008
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He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Methinks we need to get back to the topic. ...even if someone rises from the dead...even if the ark of Noah is found....even if Jesus sits across from you while you drink this morning's coffee.... we still won't see or listen. Really? If Jesus showed up in your kitchen this morning, would you not believe? Well, he did heal people of leprosy when he was here some 2000 years ago. He made the blind see. He turned water into wine. Yet, there were some that witnessed such and still did not believe. So, what is this thing called unbelief? So, maybe a different question is needed. Do you suppose if God appeared this day so that your five senses could grasp and confirm his presence, would you believe there is a God?
A person would have to believe the bible is anything more than a book of parables to believe Jesus accomplished those miracles, in the first place and even if god showed up in the flesh and said."Ta dah! Here I am, feast your eyes upon me! I know it is too good to be true but here I am!" do you really think people would just bow down and kiss his feet? Most would be skeptical of such a claim and demand proof. And if he could prove it, they would probably rip him a new one for all the crap that he has caused and allowed to happen, particularly those atrocities committed by his followers in his name.
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
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Good ol' Benny Hinn. Now there is a class act that would be hard to follow. He does give Harpo a run for his money in the hair department though.