I would prefer to not have a mere belief.
I would prefer to know exactly what is.
A belief is only an opinion, worthless.
If there is a god or not, I wanna just know it.

Truth man, truth.
And I don't have it.

Does anybody know for sure what is? I would like to meet him or her.

But I do believe that having a higher power or god wouldn't be great and perfect. What if there is a higher power? What good is it doing? Definetly not saving any lives or keeping anyone from suffering.

And if there isn't. Well, that's just as bad.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I don't think my life would change all that much. I'd still believe in ghosts and the afterlife and all of that, because none of my beliefs in that area are connected with God, whose existence I'm not really bothered about.

If I had solid proof that ghosts weren't real, then, I'd probably keep believing in them anyway. Why? It brings a little sunshine into my life. I enjoy my beliefs. Not knowing everything ever is fun, because it leaves room for imagination. I imagine there are at least some people who would say the same about God.

You do know what people have to do in order to become ghosts right?
How can you enjoy this idea?
What's enjoyable about the idea that people die horribly and then become ghosts?

Because ghosts are awesome.

Besides, they don't have to die horribly. It's just that most of the ones in legend (urban or otherwise) did.

Ghost in my opinion is the layman's term for spiritual beings. We all go into the spirit realm at some point. For those of us who is not afraid or have a guilt about something, will cross over, come back for a visit or 2 with friends or loved ones. The spirits, who have not accepted their passing, are afraid and guilty over something, usually land up becoming a earth bound spirit. We still have free will & choice over there, just like here.

ive got one on my front porch!!!! no joke!

I already don't believe there is a higher power, and I'm certainly not running naked in the streets. Human morals do NOT have to come from a religion.

I don't believe in anything. Despite the whining, science is not a religion. You're not asked to believe anything. You can ask for proof and receive.



I agree.
It is also a way to explain the unknown and the frightening. Thunder, earthquakes, monsoons, etc. People made up stories to explain these events, and humans modeled god after themselves (as opposed to the reverse). That's why the greek and roman pantheons have such "issues". They are reflections of human emotions. That's why the Christian god is so angry.

I would not "do" differently. I already "do" as if there is a 'higher power'...because I believe I am a higher power. All people are.

I would also add that religion can be a way for people to bolster their self esteem into believing they are worth something to 'someone'. It's also a 'culture of thought' and a nice social package.

I believe that religion is a means of someone rationally explaining their non rational experiences and knowledge.

This means that it's true for those who honestly and truly believe it.

So I guess my big question is what causes these non rational experience and this non rational knowledge that human beings feel a need to rationally express?

I'm still working on it. And happy to be doing so.

I guess I believe in "exploring". If, in the end, I don't find anything.. so what? The worst that could possibly happen is I'll die very wise. That's ok with me.

I have been of the belief that religion is meant for people who are too dense to have their own beliefs or make their own decisions, so they need some imaginary deity to tell them how to live and what to believe. I believe it was George Carlin who described how the Catholic religion was created as a way to control people by scaring them with damnation to hell if they didn't behave; I am in agreement with what he said.

I believe in spirit life - not angels or gods, but what we know as 'ghosts'. And I believe there is an afterlife somewhere. But I stopped believing in the Catholic God and the entire bloody religion once I got out of parochial school and realized how ridiculous the concept of God really was. So, my life would not change if I found out there were no higher powers because I already feel they do not exist.

I believe that there are higher beings. It would be arrogant to assume we are the peak of ingenuity and intelligence. Pretty sure there is life out there somewhere, too many stars to not have at least one of them have living conditions (assuming that the living conditions we know of is the only way for life to exist). They could likely be far more advanced and superior then us.

God though? I'm agnostic with a bit of a twist. Most of my beliefs are rooted on epistemology so I'm a very big skeptic. I don't think anybody has the right to say a God does NOT exist, because we are mere mortals and no where close to omniscient level of knowledge, but I do question such a being's existence. I could say there would be beings that could very likely seem Godly compared to us, but I doubt it if we are discussing the classical theistic conception of God (an immortal all perfect, omnipotent, omniscient, omni-benevolent being who created the universe).

I don't like to rely on anything external for my sake. Religion is one of them. If somehow God's existence was proven false, I would not be affected. That way, I won't be broken or in denial like I can imagine millions of others would. If God exists and it is proven, well, I guess I have to bow down to the Almighty right. No biggie either way, if God exists, I'd like to ask the being a few questions and pay homage if required, if not, oh no, the world will continue to rotate and global warming will come eventually anyway.

Religion however, some people mentioned above, are people's interpretations for the unexplained. I think that is plausible, religion now are pretty heavily modified from what I've noted by human perspectives. I personally think that religion is just a safety net for people to hold on to so that they can sleep better at night. I'm not saying it is false, the truth is out there somewhere, so anything has a small chance of being correct, but it's not up to us to find out which one is based on our beliefs since we would be bias. I do admit that somethings are just too perfect, the way Christianity as a religion works is just remarkable. From an outside perspective, the way it functions seems like a mastermind created it, not just some human fanatic. However, that is what worries me, it is just... too perfect. It really toys with human flaws and works by playing those cards against us. Heh sorry if this doesn't make much sense, I didn't really write why.

Join me in Mikolism. It is a religion based off of perfection. Pinky and the Brain are two famous contenders, well, just the Brain. And I don't know wth I'm saying, I pulled two all nighters.

this is ecxactly what i believe cept i dont really believe there isnt a higher power i just dont believe there is one you know? i want proof that there is one... lol i took a mythology class and it pretty much ruined it for me lol....

You don't believe there isn't one, but you don't believe there is? So you both believe a higher power exists and at the same time you DON'T believe there is one? How can you believe both at the same time?

i am sortta in the middle about it i am not convinced the there is a god but at the same time i am not convinced that there isnt one.... i havent seen any proof for either side of the aurgument... i cant explain..... grrrrr

If there were no God, I would do what ever I wanted and needed to do in order to obtain all the experiences life could offer and then I would probably kill myself....that would be all there was to believe in.

Nothing would be wrong and nothing would be right, If I wanted to rape someone I would, If I wanted to mug an old lady, I would, If I wanted to kill someone I would, If I wanted money I would get it by any means necceasery and kill anyone who tried to stop me and at the end of doing everything I wanted I would kill myself.

Dang, Guest, I hope one day you feel better about yourself.

I feel fine about myself, why would I feel bad about myself?

you dont have to have religion to have morals. like i said i dont really believe in god but i also think that stealing rape and homicide is very very wrong!!!!!!