what would be an actually good reason to believe in a god.

[FaithIsFilth]

Neither can yours. Prove me wrong. Ask your god to use a miracle to prove he exists, the same way he did to the Pharaoh, or like the time he sent fire from the sky to light an offering that was drenched in water. I find it odd how unwilling Christians are to try this. Do you believe that God really did the miracles described in the Bible? Of course you believe, without even seeing a single one. If your God is the same God of the Bible, then let him prove himself like he supposedly had many times before.

Matthew 4:7 Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

[Blackleaf]

Matthew 4:7 Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

Why not? Is God afraid that he'll fail the test? Didn't seem to stop him before.

[g2perk]

I spent many years searching for god.  This was actually back during a time when I believed in God, so presumably, he should have been fairly easy to find, because many people who believe in God claim to have found him, although I tend to believe that is more of semantic equivocation.  It's not finding something in a real way, like finding an Easter egg, that you can show to Mommy and Daddy.  I think what it means is that you believed he was there, and then for one reason or another, you believe a second time that he is there.  But that's a stretch of the meaning of "find."

During my quest to find the god I believed in, I did have some experiences that I interpreted as finding God.  For example, after praying continually for a sign, I woke up one day feeling extremely delighted and filled with gratitude that I really believed God was there.  I'm not making any of this up.  I was simply overjoyed that I believed God was there, but nothing had really changed, because I already believed he was there, although previously not with such a heady elation.  But this new found elation that was so incredibly intense, began to fade, and a week later, I wasn't so sure I had found anything.  Well, I did find a level of elation.  That was certainly found, because before that, I had never felt elation that intense.  While I definitely found a new emotional level, I couldn't say I found God.  What I found was intense elation.  But a week later I was just believing in the god the way I believed in God a month earlier.

Later in life, I found even more emotions, much more intense than I had even experienced that one time, and soaring elation was sometimes part of it, but those emotions were from insights that most definitely had no logical connection with God.  So the quest was still unfinished and underway, but after 50 years, I decided to call it quits.  My one time belief in God had reached an all time low.  How long was I supposed to keep doing this?  I had spent over half of my life (assuming I'll die before I hit 100 years) not finding God.  All that searching kept turning up nothing, except for that one red herring I just described.  You know when you spend half of your life failing to find something, you start to have reasons to believe that thing probably doesn't exist, especially when that thing claims to to be there for the finding, and claims to be easy to find if you truly want to find it.

And besides, at that time of my life, my life experiences could more logically be explained by a combination of motivated effort and chance circumstances.  The reality of my world pretty much described a world where a god was not necessary to create the combination of randomness and motivation that made things keep going forward.  If there was a God, he didn't seem to be doing anything that affected me positively or negatively, and hence he seemed to be acting as if he wasn't there.  So pursuing it further logically seemed like a waste of time.  This was a happy time in my life.  I let myself be free to pursue life for its own sake

Thank you for sharing that. I have had that same feeling of emotions when reading the word and sharing the word. That feeling was real however short lived it might have been. In the beginning when searching for god. things seem to go great but soon after they go left. I am just being honest. Living a life dedicated to Christ is The hardest thing to do in the world, that's why many do not even attempt it. Its a life of sacrifice. Not of animals but of everyday life. The longer you read the word the clearer it gets, and also the more understanding you become as well. We will never see a physical Jesus here on earth but his teachings will live in us. This will allow us to understand the issues of life and to not let them overtake us. Many times I've said the same things you mentioned but knowing that if I leave Him I will be jeopardizing my everlasting peace that comes with my faith. Jesus doesn't normally shoe up when our lives are going well, He shows up when all tell is breaking loose in our lives and that where God can be found. God looks for those with a broken and contrite heart, because he knows their prayers a genuine. Remember God does not judge our actions He judges our intents. May you receive all the blessings in your heart my friend.

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[g2perk]

Matthew 4:7 Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

That is true.

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[pr126]

G-d isn't Santa, he is a Monster.

A Man created monster. After his own image.

[Baruch]

That is true.

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It isn't a test, for an omniscient being ... He already knows the answer sheet.

[Baruch]

That maybe true somewhat but where is the benefit of not believing in anything greater than yourself. Being a christian man means putting yourself last.

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I experience something greater than myself.  I don't have to merely believe it.  But it does me no good, because life isn't so good, neither is G-d.

[Blackleaf]

That maybe true somewhat but where is the benefit of not believing in anything greater than yourself. Being a christian man means putting yourself last.

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You answered your own question. "Christianity means putting yourself last." While I would call bullshit on the implication that Christians are self-less, there is some truth in those words. Christians sacrifice. They sacrifice their time, their money, their minds, their freedoms all for a God that gives nothing is return. Throw away your ancient fairy tales and you won't have to sacrifice to appease your imaginary friend. As soon as I made the change, I could immediately sense that my mind was clear, since I was no longer suppressing it to try to justify stupid beliefs. I could see problems in the Christian religion that seemed so obvious. And they were obvious, but the mind of the religious person is incapable of seeing the obvious when it is inconvenient to their beliefs.

[Unbeliever]

Like a character in Alice In Wonderland ... a word means exactly what I intend it to mean, no more and no less.

Yes, every word, borrowed from Greek or not is misused ... it is called poetic license, and we all have that license.

A county clerk in Kentucky refused to give me a poetic license.

[Unbeliever]

Confucius say ... until you finish crap, you are constipated.  But crap is a never ending story.

Yeah, why crap today when you'll just have to do it again tomorrow? If you're lucky...

[Baruch]

Yeah, why crap today when you'll just have to do it again tomorrow? If you're lucky...

Procrastination leads to constipation.  Epicurus I am told .... died of it.

[Unbeliever]

Jewish mystic.  I know G-d personally.  This isn't good news, it is bad news.  G-d is an asshole.  There are Internet cartoons sometimes posted here, that agree with me.

And a really fun song, too:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxhxKdnjGA8

[Mike Cl]

Then if it is all you. Teach others. Because you have gained somethings that a lot of ppl are searching for...

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I would love to teach this to those close to me.  But you see, this is something we all have to learn (or not) on our own.  I cannot control anyone else, even if I wanted to.  And yes, I've wanted to in the past, considering raising children (and the furry ones-dogs and cats), and teaching in the public school system, it would have been great if I could have spoon fed my ideas and ideals to others.  But it does not work that way.  I control me (barely at times) --I can share thoughts, but it up to the other to act on it or not. 

Look, this has been a long journey--hard at times but always interesting.  I love where I am physically and emotionally--I have my past experiences to thank for that.  And I have come to know (with total certainty) that the fiction of god had/has nothing to do with my journey; or any other journey.  I am not afraid of death--I'm not seeking it yet, but I have no fear of it.  As I stated, god is a fiction and is not needed for us to live in a moral, sane and safe world; if god were out of the picture that goal would be much easier to achieve.

[trdsf]

That ending bothered me, and I heard it was a Hollywood rewrite from the book in order to throw the evangelicals a bone.  But after thinking about it, I came to the same conclusion as you.  People believe in all sorts of things, gods, flat Earth, aliens, and the curative power of copper jewelry, as well as known facts like the exact time it takes the Earth to travel around the Sun.  But your qualifications or credentials, be you an outstanding theologian or a Noble prize winning physicist, are irrelevant if you don't have solid evidence.  Belief by itself is nothing.

What bothered me about Jodie Foster's role in that movie, was that when asked to provide evidence, she cried.  This was out of character from her ordinary nuts and bolts pragmatism.  What she should have done was just manned up and admitted she didn't have proof that she had traveled anywhere or met anyone.  Sure, try to convince your friends, maybe, but understand if you can't provide evidence, don't get so ego involved that you look like a fool. 

I was also disappointed with the aliens.  What the Hell were they thinking?  "Get Earth to spend 30 trillion dollars on a gadget that can only be used once to send one person off into deep space for a 2 minute meeting with an alien whose only function is to say, 'Welcome to the universe,' and then send you back without so much as a photograph or a complementary T-shirt.

Having said that, I think it's a great movie.

Agreed on all points; the movie was good, but it wasn't as good as the book, which was amazing.  There was one line in the book that hit me so hard it genuinely brought me to tears for the sheer immensity of the concept it implied.

Speaking of tears, I want to defend that moment: can you imagine the supreme frustration of knowing something is true, and being completely without any physical evidence for it, while being unfairly hectored about it by a government official who can make life miserable for you, all on live TV?

Side note: I drove through a tornado warning to go see a sneak preview of Contact.  Complete with bits of housing material being blown across the interstate.  I have weird priorities.  :D

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Could you handle even one shield maiden/Valkyrie?  Really!

I know she'd test me!