How I Believe in God

On March 29 2009 13:12 pavement ist rad wrote:
this is one of the stupidest things I've ever read. You believe in something that is part god part genie.

Why? Because I prayed with the genuine belief that I knew God existed. Prior to that, I would pray with some uncertainty. Was anyone listening to me? Was I just wasting my time? There was no strong, central belief that allowed me to pray with my full heart.

On March 29 2009 13:15 GrayArea wrote:

God is more than just part genie.

On March 29 2009 13:06 GrayArea wrote:

One day, during one of my deep reflections, I was contemplating Gods existence. I closed my eyes and prayed/said to myself that if God really did exist, then tomorrow that girl would say "Hi" to me at school. Basically I was offering a test to God, if God existed he would make this near impossible thing happen.

On March 29 2009 13:23 oneofthem wrote:
on a serious note, your faith is made upon an infirm foundation. as it is written, thou shalt not make a trial of thy lord your god. if by this transgression your faith is affirmed, that affirmation is only an accident. the lord will not furnish your worldly desires which are fruits born of the flesh.

On March 29 2009 13:38 Gokey wrote:
Bracing for yet another religious flamewar

On March 29 2009 13:37 lesser_good wrote:
this is pure bullshit. Say god does exist, i highly doubt he would take a pause during his long days of giving people cancer and feeding puppies firecrackers, just to some how make this random girl talk to a random dude.

On March 29 2009 13:47 BanZu wrote:

Haha, that's funny. You think God exists within time. hahaha

On March 29 2009 13:49 lesser_good wrote:

i dont get it

On March 29 2009 13:47 BanZu wrote:

Haha, that's funny. You think God exists within time. hahaha

On March 29 2009 13:52 Lemonwalrus wrote:

I think just 4th so long as he is (and I assume he is) immortal.

On March 29 2009 13:52 Lemonwalrus wrote:

I think just 4th so long as he is (and I assume he is) immortal.

On March 29 2009 13:45 Lemonwalrus wrote:
Not commenting on the god exists/doesn't exist portion of the blog. (You believe what you do, others believe what they do, I don't feel I have the right to tell anybody I think they are right/wrong or anything like that.)

However, I will comment on the Science of the blog. If you don't understand, just hear me out:

You, whether or not you know it, devised an experiment to prove to yourself whether or not god existed. It was very simple, if god exists, he could obviously grant you such a small prayer as to make one other individual that will be around you that day say hello to you, so if you ask him, and it happens, gods existence becomes more likely (although not proven), and if it doesn't happen, god's existence becomes less likely (again, not disproven). Keep in mind that this is a personal experiment, and therefore you are only proving or disproving god's existence to yourself.

Anyways, in this experiment, the 'Control' was the multitude of past days in this girls presence in which she had not said 'hi' to you. These days show that, under normal circumstances, the girl will not have a conversation with you.

The experiment was that, for one day, you asked god to make her talk to you. Under normal circumstances, if she had talked to you, this unlikely event would have made the existence of god more likely. Simple enough.

However, the circumstances on that day were not normal. This whole eye-test thing threw out all of your past data. Being brought into a much smaller group and put in a different circumstance all of the sudden made you a much larger part of her life for a short time. (Those of you in college, picture the difference in the likelihood of you talking to the person sitting next to you in a lecture hall class of 200-300 and the person sitting next to you in a class of 15-30.) You very quickly became more important to her than you usually are, and the fact that you had another class together was probably what got her to talk to you, imo, and not divine intervention.

Idk, I'm glad you found comfort in the events of that day, but looking at it from a strictly scientific perspective, your faith in god is the result of a flawed experiment.

On March 29 2009 13:54 lesser_good wrote:

i cant tell if u guys are being serious
4 LIKE THE NUMBER OF POSTS I HAVE X 111 OMGOMGOMGOM DER IS A GODDDDDDD

On March 29 2009 13:06 GrayArea wrote:
How I believe in God

Many people, especially on this forum, do not believe in God. After all, there is no proof, no actual evidence. Christians have the Bible which talks about Jesus and his life, Muslims have the Quran, Jews have the Hebrew Bible. Is what is stated in these books enough to justify the belief, the acceptance that some omniscient being exists in this universe who created us and watches over us?

Some people say seeing is believing. In my case, hearing was believing.
I will never forget this day in my entire life, it was the day God spoke to me.

In ninth grade, a new girl joined our class. She was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. Our high school was relatively small (about 1000 people), so I knew she was new immediately and I would often see her around campus. I didn't have any classes with her, and whenever I saw her, I would just admire everything about her beauty. It was a typical high school crush. She never talked to me, and I never said a word to her that year.

Fastforward a year to tenth grade. I walked into first period Health class with my best friend, sat down, looked around, didn't notice anyone in particular and went through the class. The second day, as I walked into the room I noticed her sitting in the class and realized that I must have not noticed her on the first day. Naturally my heart jumped, I became super self-conscious, did I look cool? Was every single movement I did perfect? etc etc.

We still never talked, I would sometimes look at her and then when she turn her head to me I would suddenly look away to pretend I was looking at something else (lol, I would cringe on the inside and hope she didn't notice I was looking at her, so stupid). When we would pass in the hall, I would look at her also and sometimes she would notice me. I think she saw in my eyes that I liked her or something, don't know, don't care.

It was in 10th grade that I began to question life. "What is the purpose of life?" was a question that was incessantly bothering me so deeply for such a long time. I would ask my friends what the purpose of life was, and they would respond with "I don't know" "To die" "I haven't thought about it yet" etc. I wasn't satisfied. I come from a religious family, so the fact that God exists was a possibility.

One day, during one of my deep reflections, I was contemplating Gods existence. I closed my eyes and prayed/said to myself that if God really did exist, then tomorrow that girl would say "Hi" to me at school. Basically I was offering a test to God, if God existed he would make this near impossible thing happen.

Next day was a hearing/vision test at school. They test the hearing and vision of every student and determine whether or not that student has any weaknesses. It was during first period health class that we had our test. Along with several other classes, we went to line up outside the trailer where they would test our hearing. Finally, when my turn came, a group of us students went in (like 11 of us). In that group was her. Because it was in the trailer type of thing, the seats were faced such that two rows were facing each other and each seat had side panels (like a booth). I was at the second seat from the end of one row, she was at the opposite row at the end (so like 4 seats distance). We were waiting for the test to begin. Some of the students were talking with each other. I was just sitting forward in my seat. Randomly, from the right, I hear "Hey GrayArea." I didn't look at her, nor did I say anything or make any change in my expression. Again I hear, "Hey GrayArea, did you really have an A in Hilmerson?"I turned my head to face her, saw she was looking to me, and then I turned my face back straight without saying anything and sat back in my chair so she couldn't see me. She asked the question again, this time I told her yes.

After the hearing test was the vision test. Our group was the last group to go in for the vision test. For some reason, mine and her tests took longer than the other peoples'. Because of this we were the only two still taking the test while everyone else went back to class. Finally, my test finished before hers, and I walked out and was heading back to class. Suddenly I hear, "Hey GrayArea, wait for me!" I looked around and noticed her running towards me as she tried to catch up. I slowed down so she could reach me, and we walked back to class together. I asked her if what grade she had in Hilmerson (Hilmerson is the name of a really hard English teacher that taught 10th grade). She said she had a B. That was all we said to each other, but for some reason I felt my attraction to her go away. I had gotten my impossible answer from God and was blown away.

Why was it that over the period of 1 and half years that this girl didn't say one single word to me, that on this very day she said Hey to me? Why was it that on she happened to talk to me on the very day that I had asked God to make her talk to me? Coincidence? Maybe. Culmination of all the times I looked at her and she noticed? Maybe. Luck? Perhaps. I don't know. What I do know is that from this day I realized God had responded to me, and that somehow, somewhere I knew someone/something heard me.

I don't consider this event to be the sole experience which verified to me that God existed. That would be pure stupidity. After all, like I said, it could have been coincidence. But, it provided for me the stepping stone I needed to take the leap of faith of believing in God. Whenever I prayed, I prayed with a sense of knowing someone was listening. I could feel something inside which felt as though God was within me. Every time I would close my eyes and pray to God, some energy would burst from within me filling me with this warmth.

Why? Because I prayed with the genuine belief that I knew God existed. Prior to that, I would pray with some uncertainty. Was anyone listening to me? Was I just wasting my time? There was no strong, central belief that allowed me to pray with my full heart.

What is God? Is God some external being that exists somewhere far away in space and is viewing the world somehow? Does he exist in heaven (where is heaven though in space?)? Is God some kind of essence that resides within our bodies? Is God just an idea created by our minds in order to help make us feel as though we have a purpose and place in this world and that someone is watching over us?

I can't answer any of these questions. What I can tell you though is that God to me is someone who is the source of that energy I feel when I pray, listens to me, and has an effect on my life and the world around me.

this is one of the stupidest things I've ever read. You believe in something that is part god part genie.

On March 29 2009 13:45 Lemonwalrus wrote:
Not commenting on the god exists/doesn't exist portion of the blog. (You believe what you do, others believe what they do, I don't feel I have the right to tell anybody I think they are right/wrong or anything like that.)

However, I will comment on the Science of the blog. If you don't understand, just hear me out:

You, whether or not you know it, devised an experiment to prove to yourself whether or not god existed. It was very simple, if god exists, he could obviously grant you such a small prayer as to make one other individual that will be around you that day say hello to you, so if you ask him, and it happens, gods existence becomes more likely (although not proven), and if it doesn't happen, god's existence becomes less likely (again, not disproven). Keep in mind that this is a personal experiment, and therefore you are only proving or disproving god's existence to yourself.

Anyways, in this experiment, the 'Control' was the multitude of past days in this girls presence in which she had not said 'hi' to you. These days show that, under normal circumstances, the girl will not have a conversation with you.

The experiment was that, for one day, you asked god to make her talk to you. Under normal circumstances, if she had talked to you, this unlikely event would have made the existence of god more likely. Simple enough.

However, the circumstances on that day were not normal. This whole eye-test thing threw out all of your past data. Being brought into a much smaller group and put in a different circumstance all of the sudden made you a much larger part of her life for a short time. (Those of you in college, picture the difference in the likelihood of you talking to the person sitting next to you in a lecture hall class of 200-300 and the person sitting next to you in a class of 15-30.) You very quickly became more important to her than you usually are, and the fact that you had another class together was probably what got her to talk to you, imo, and not divine intervention.

Idk, I'm glad you found comfort in the events of that day, but looking at it from a strictly scientific perspective, your faith in god is the result of a flawed experiment.

On March 29 2009 14:08 Lemonwalrus wrote:


C'mon, of all the people disagreeing with him in the thread I am by far going about it in the nicest way.

(Although the last line of my quote there was worded kinda harshly, and for that I apologize.)

But in general, most of you are missing most of the point. I know that if I ask God for something right now, I won't get it. Be realistic, if I asked that somehow that girl will call my phone today, it just won't happen.

On March 29 2009 13:28 il0seonpurpose wrote:
Wow, cool story but shouldn't you not test God?

And why did your attraction go away after you talked to her?

On March 29 2009 13:43 Kennelie wrote:
I also want to know why your interest on the girl kinda just slumped. Until then this:

On March 29 2009 14:12 jinwoooooooo wrote:
Some of you need to stop being dickheads.

If he believes in something, who are you to say anything about that? Stop shitting on him and his beliefs, not all of us believe in the same things.

On March 29 2009 14:12 Etherone wrote:


scientific proof is never nice, its cold and blunt, i am glad he chose denial, other wise you would be responsible for corrupting a life.

+ Show Spoiler +

On March 29 2009 14:13 GrayArea wrote:


Its like, your trying hard to find a quarter on a forest floor, and somehow you find a hundred dollar bill instead. It just hits you in a way that puts you into a different perspective. After that, it seemed like there were just bigger things out there, and I was just following a stupid crush that would probably not go anywhere.

[Also, since I am from a strict Asian family, school and grades are priority. Even if somehow she started to like me, I wouldn't be able to go out with her or anything. It's not that I didn't see her as pretty anymore, she was still super pretty and everything. I just moved on I guess. Left the shiny quarter behind and took the $100 instead.]

On March 29 2009 14:14 Etherone wrote:


they are going about it in a facetious manner, it is somewhat entertaining, except Lemonwalrus, and now inReach, tsk tsk

EDIT: Wait he just called a hot girl a shiny quarter.... ??

On March 29 2009 14:04 PokePill wrote:


Many people at some point have questioned what you questioned and done the same exact thing and you know what happens? Nothing. They get spat on by your "God."

I do envy you, that you think your special enough for God to go out of his way to make something completely meaningless give you meaning. I wish I could have faith.

That being said, 2 stars.



lool

On March 29 2009 14:21 404.Nintu wrote:


That's not how it works with (most) faith based religions.

In Christianity, for example, I know that it's about Faith. Faith isn't about "Oh, if I pray, he will do what I say."

Faith is about "If I pray, and I'm not magically cured, I will take faith in him anyway, and continue to pray, and maintain my faith in that which cannot be shown to me."

If he is openly revealed to you, it wouldn't be faith. It would be belief based on empirical evidence.

On March 29 2009 14:25 inReacH wrote:


Yeah it's the fucking no-lose for god..

If you pray and I grant your prayer > It is divine intervention
If you pray and I don't' do anything > Wait a little longer

On March 29 2009 14:30 404.Nintu wrote:


Precisely. It's not supposed to be easy to have faith. That's why it's so hard for a lot of people, like you, to understand.

On March 29 2009 14:38 inReacH wrote:


Hmm answer this..

Say just for fun religion was created by a person to control other people, don't you think he would put in some clause that god will not prove himself to test your faith?

And you morons just eat it up like durrr yeah that makes sense.. if I can't rationalize it then my belief is that much stronger.

It's just so fucking obvious, the whole thing, but gullible idiots like you gobble it up and it's fucking abhorrent.

On March 29 2009 14:43 404.Nintu wrote:


Yes they would. But so would God. It's so fucking obvious, the whole thing, but silly people like you just gobble up your naive and empirical lives and it's fucking abhorrent. rofl possum?

On March 29 2009 14:33 inReacH wrote:
Ok one more thing before I go sleep, are you telling me you grew up in a religious family and didn't pray until grade 10 and the first thing you prayed for was that some girl would say hi to you?

I call bullshit on that.. I don't think your really lying, you just want to have faith so much that you unconsciously forgetting the past. I'm betting you prayed to got a thousand times.. maybe this prayer was significant maybe not.. but if it was you were sure to keep it small and possible because you wanted a reason to have faith that badly.

. Prior to that, I would pray with some uncertainty. Was anyone listening to me? Was I just wasting my time? There was no strong, central belief that allowed me to pray with my full heart.

On March 29 2009 14:12 jinwoooooooo wrote:
Some of you need to stop being dickheads.

If he believes in something, who are you to say anything about that? Stop shitting on him and his beliefs, not all of us believe in the same things.

On March 29 2009 14:46 GrayArea wrote:

Read the OP again buddy.

I prayed many times before that, and for many things. This time was different because I was in a stage where I was questioning life and God in general. It's that reason I wanted to do a test, or experiment. It was also a more meaningful prayer to me.

To the guy who posted the "experiment" and testing my hypothesis thing. I didn't know there would be a hearing/vision test that day. What if it was part of the plan of answering the prayer that the hearing test happened on that day? [this is not likely, but whatever, just throwing it out there. the obvious flaw in this is that I am trying to explain empirical results with religion, which was what i was trying to prove in the first place, which leads you in a circle]

On March 29 2009 14:45 inReacH wrote:


Nope not the same lol

Adding what I added to my previous post:


EDIT: Ok I'm sorry I shouldn't start flaming people, I'm sure you were born into a religious family and brainwashed and had no choice..
You know you could take a baby and teach him that all children kill themselves on their 10th birthday and if you do a good enough job he will do it without questioning you?

But religion is that much easier because everyone wants to believe in something larger than life.

You've been brainwashed.

On March 29 2009 14:25 inReacH wrote:


Yeah it's the fucking no-lose for god..

If you pray and I grant your prayer > It is divine intervention
If you pray and I don't' do anything > Wait a little longer

On March 29 2009 14:48 KrAzYfoOL wrote:
GrayArea if you were God, and one of your creations felt the need to test you, how would you feel?
Do you think you'd oblige?

On March 29 2009 14:51 404.Nintu wrote:


Rofl. See how prejudice you are? of course you don't
"you've been Brainwashed." By whom? Do you know who I am or my story? No? You mean you're judging me based on the fact that you know I consider myself "christian"?

Really a terrible representative of your view point.

No I am not. I was raised catholic until I questioned my faith and left. Then my family did. It wasn't until my entire family lost their faith that I started my spiritual exploration and discovered it by myself. Thanks though, you ignorant creep.

Much like you probably discovered your own beliefs with exploration and experimentation and research, so did I. The only difference is, I was "brainwashed."

Seriously, what? Regardless of what my specific beliefs are, you believe I am brainwashed because it is different from yours.

Let me guess, you're the type of person to blame the religious right for their prejudice and close mindedness. That kind of hypocrisy always gets a laugh out of me. (Though I may be wrong with my assessment.)

Rofl. See how prejudice you are? of course you don't
"you've been Brainwashed." By whom? Do you know who I am or my story? No? You mean you're judging me based on the fact that you know I consider myself "christian"?

Let me guess, you're the type of person to blame the religious right for their prejudice and close mindedness.

That kind of hypocrisy always gets a laugh out of me.

On March 29 2009 14:53 Lemonwalrus wrote:


Alright, now I don't agree with the way that inReacH is going about it, but I more or less agree with his argument. Now by your counter argument, I, an atheist, am living a naive and empirical life. My question is, how is it that I am supposed to 'know' that I should have faith in god. I mean, it seems unfair that I am expected to believe in one god of the thousands out there without even so much as a hint. You could call me naive, but then you probably don't know a lot of things, and how is my naivety about religion any more a definition of my life than your naivety, say, of nuclear physics? (shot in the dark, sorry if that is your major or something )

Also, don't think yourself better than atheists because faith 'isn't supposed to be easy'. You believe in god, that doesn't make you special.

On March 29 2009 14:51 404.Nintu wrote:


Rofl. See how prejudice you are? of course you don't
"you've been Brainwashed." By whom? Do you know who I am or my story? No? You mean you're judging me based on the fact that you know I consider myself "christian"?

Really a terrible representative of your view point.

No I am not. I was raised catholic until I questioned my faith and left. Then my family did. It wasn't until my entire family lost their faith that I started my spiritual exploration and discovered it by myself. Thanks though, you ignorant creep.

Much like you probably discovered your own beliefs with exploration and experimentation and research, so did I. The only difference is, I was "brainwashed."

Seriously, what? Regardless of what my specific beliefs are, you believe I am brainwashed because it is different from yours.

Let me guess, you're the type of person to blame the religious right for their prejudice and close mindedness. That kind of hypocrisy always gets a laugh out of me. (Though I may be wrong with my assessment.)

On March 29 2009 13:06 GrayArea wrote: Was I just wasting my time?

On March 29 2009 14:57 IdrA wrote:






lolwut

(Though I may be wrong with my assessment.)

On March 29 2009 14:48 KrAzYfoOL wrote:
GrayArea if you were God, and one of your creations felt the need to test you, how would you feel?
Do you think you'd oblige?

On March 29 2009 14:51 inReacH wrote:


And your telling me if by coincidence(again) one of the times before this particular day your prayers came true you wouldn't have been affected because it wasn't test day?

Ok so we know god didn't intervene on any of your prayers that didn't get answered

1. We know god didn't intervene
2. On any given(reasonable) prayer there is a chance it will happen by coincidence

Therefore, if you pray enough times and for enough things, eventually the power of PROBABILITY will take over and god will be right for once.

So it was literally just a matter of time before you were "filled with the spirit of the lord"

The trick you pulled on yourself CAN NOT MISS.

On March 29 2009 15:01 inReacH wrote:


You talking to me about you making a personal choice to have faith after research is like someone coming up to you and telling you they've decided they don't believe in addition.

If you truly care about the validity of your faith watch this lecture and if you would rebuttal all of his arguments. There are 6 parts but it seems like a short amount of time when compared to the possibility of a lifetime of misguidedness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcYDkZcLAug

On March 29 2009 14:54 GrayArea wrote:

First, I have to say that it is not possible to try and put yourself in God's position, I'm not saying this out of faith or anything, just saying it scientifically. You can't know what God would do and for what reason.

But to answer your question, if it would help a person who is questioning, and wavering on their path (whatever it may be, and however you define it), then maybe its possible?

On March 29 2009 15:07 404.Nintu wrote:


I've actually listened and read RD. I've studied him quite a bit. Thanks though. You're so cute with your assumptions.

(I don't need to convince you that what I believe is right. You seem to think you need to convince me that your beliefs are... -_-)

On March 29 2009 15:06 Mada_Jiang wrote:


Hi Krazyfool. In all friendliness, I want to ask you, what is the reason behind saying something like what you just said. Do you feel some gratification or some sort of boost of ego from saying this? Because I honestly can not see what reason would be behind you making this statement.

I assume you would know that this negative statement does absolutely nothing much put someone down. Why is it that the first thing that comes out of your mouth after reading someone's post is something like this.

I want to ask this question to all those who has ever had an aggressive post like this that serves absolutely no purpose what so ever. I want to ask you, if you are speaking to someone face to face, would you say something like this to them? Is this someone you would say to a friend, family, the man who is interviewing you for a job?

I guess we can't expect everyone on this world to treat each other with respect, help each other and be encouraging with their words. A comment like the above is not only meaningless small talk, but a very negative sarcastic statement that is discouraging. The fact that one would take the time to use their energy to post something that isn't a question (so that they can learn something), or a word of encouragement (for the edification of another person) but something aimed at being discouraging, makes me wonder, what brings someone to do this?

Krazyfool, can I please encourage you to look at what you wrote, and take a moment to reflect. If there something you are unhappy about in your life, or something that makes you angry, please share it with me,. I want to be an encouragement to you. From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, the last thing we want in this world is for more and more people to have the desire to hurt others because they are hurt them selves deep inside. Are you are Sydney sider? If you are I would love to sit down to a cup of coffee with you. Maybe you can be an encouragement to me too ^.^.

I pray for peace upon you mate. And I pray for all those who are not at peace.

On March 29 2009 15:05 GrayArea wrote:

I love it.

Notice that throughout all of my posts, and go back and read the OP again, I never blindly follow faith or god. The whole post is explaining an almost scientific experiment to test god after all. I am not gonna fight or try and prove to anyone that god exists or doesn't exists. I honestly don't know. What I do know, is that praying gives me some strength to follow "morals" or "ethics" or just trying my best to do good, and this is better than the alternative (for me). If that to you is stupid, or pointless, or worthless, then I don't know what to say to you.

On March 29 2009 15:06 Mada_Jiang wrote:


Hi Krazyfool. In all friendliness, I want to ask you, what is the reason behind saying something like what you just said. Do you feel some gratification or some sort of boost of ego from saying this? Because I honestly can not see what reason would be behind you making this statement.

I assume you would know that this negative statement does absolutely nothing much put someone down. Why is it that the first thing that comes out of your mouth after reading someone's post is something like this.

I want to ask this question to all those who has ever had an aggressive post like this that serves absolutely no purpose what so ever. I want to ask you, if you are speaking to someone face to face, would you say something like this to them? Is this someone you would say to a friend, family, the man who is interviewing you for a job?

I guess we can't expect everyone on this world to treat each other with respect, help each other and be encouraging with their words. A comment like the above is not only meaningless small talk, but a very negative sarcastic statement that is discouraging. The fact that one would take the time to use their energy to post something that isn't a question (so that they can learn something), or a word of encouragement (for the edification of another person) but something aimed at being discouraging, makes me wonder, what brings someone to do this?

Krazyfool, can I please encourage you to look at what you wrote, and take a moment to reflect. If there something you are unhappy about in your life, or something that makes you angry, please share it with me,. I want to be an encouragement to you. From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, the last thing we want in this world is for more and more people to have the desire to hurt others because they are hurt them selves deep inside. Are you are Sydney sider? If you are I would love to sit down to a cup of coffee with you. Maybe you can be an encouragement to me too ^.^.

I pray for peace upon you mate. And I pray for all those who are not at peace.

On March 29 2009 15:13 KrAzYfoOL wrote:
Ah I'll stop now and remember one of my favorite quotes from House. "If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people."

On March 29 2009 15:15 inReacH wrote:


Ignorant self righteousness isn't a bannable offense is it?

On March 29 2009 15:17 404.Nintu wrote:

Ignorant self righteousness isn't a bannable offense is it?

On March 29 2009 15:18 inReacH wrote:


Dude I may be self righteous but not believing in some supernatural flying man in the sky isn't ignorant.

On March 29 2009 15:14 Descent wrote:
This thread has been derailed so badly. The blog is about "How," not "Why." If this were about a non-religious topic, people who disagreed would have probably let it slide; but with religion as the focus, people seem so quick to incite those with opposing beliefs. Regardless of whether or not I agree with the OP's beliefs, I still think the post was a nice read.

Just my opinion.

On March 29 2009 13:22 LuckyFool wrote:
God exists. Nuff said.

On March 29 2009 15:20 inReacH wrote:
Ignorant.. like the word ignore.. like you're ignoring everything that science and math have proven over and over and over for the last X centuries.. YOU ARE IGNORING IT

On March 29 2009 15:35 koreasilver wrote:

Science and math have destroyed some religious beliefs, but science has not disproved the existence of a god nor have the religious proven the existence of a god.

This is why you are ignorant.

On March 29 2009 15:35 404.Nintu wrote:

You beat me. Thanks. =)

On March 29 2009 15:35 koreasilver wrote:

Science and math have destroyed some religious beliefs, but science has not disproved the existence of a god nor have the religious proven the existence of a god.

This is why you are ignorant.

On March 29 2009 15:52 jodogohoo wrote:
Hey guys, i had a similar experience to the op, but instead of praying to god, i prayed to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and he answered my prayers! I know I might seem crazy, but I really believe in him, and after that day, I have started to believe in him more and more. Please just try to understand me. I gave the Flying Spaghetti Monster one chance to show me he was real, and he did, he fucking did.

On March 29 2009 15:52 inReacH wrote:


Science can't disprove the existence of anything that doesn't mean you believe in it because it makes you feel warm inside.

Given that you admit science has torn half the bible to shit and you imply that you agree with these conclusions, what is your explanation for the bible getting so many things wrong?

On March 29 2009 15:54 inReacH wrote:


Haha halfway through I read this with a south park characters voice. awesome.

On March 29 2009 15:52 inReacH wrote:


Science can't disprove the existence of anything that doesn't mean you believe in it because it makes you feel warm inside.

Given that you admit science has torn half the bible to shit and you imply that you agree with these conclusions, what is your explanation for the bible getting so many things wrong?

On March 29 2009 16:01 koreasilver wrote:

Probably because the Abrahamic religions are all fucked up, idk, beats me. The bible was written over a long period of time by numerous authors, so that may have created some disparity. Even beyond all that, the bible is a fucking old piece of text, and even history texts and old science texts are often inaccurate or incorrect a lot of the time.

For what reasons people choose to believe in something doesn't concern me as long as they keep it personal and are able to respect their own beliefs while also respecting different beliefs that others may have.

On March 29 2009 13:06 GrayArea wrote:
I don't consider this event to be the sole experience which verified to me that God existed. That would be pure stupidity. After all, like I said, it could have been coincidence. But, it provided for me the stepping stone I needed to take the leap of faith of believing in God. Whenever I prayed, I prayed with a sense of knowing someone was listening. I could feel something inside which felt as though God was within me. Every time I would close my eyes and pray to God, some energy would burst from within me filling me with this warmth.

What is God? Is God some external being that exists somewhere far away in space and is viewing the world somehow? Does he exist in heaven (where is heaven though in space?)? Is God some kind of essence that resides within our bodies? Is God just an idea created by our minds in order to help make us feel as though we have a purpose and place in this world and that someone is watching over us?

On March 29 2009 15:35 koreasilver wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
Science and math have destroyed some religious beliefs, but science has not disproved the existence of a god nor have the religious proven the existence of a god.

This is why you are ignorant.

On March 29 2009 16:07 inReacH wrote:


I could agree with that if I didn't find ignorance so objectionable.

On March 29 2009 16:13 Etherone wrote:
Wait a second one thing we must clear up



just because something cannot be proven, does not in any way shape or form, dictate that the probability of it being proven is anywhere near 50% so using your train of thought, with this correction, and the knowledge that we are all ignorant to some degree, he has a 10% chance of being ignorant, and you have a 90% chance.

not that i disagree with clinging to 10% hey to quote a fellow TLer
1) You're pragmatic - 0.00001% chance is better than nothing!
but it still makes him that much more realistic than you

On March 29 2009 16:14 Mada_Jiang wrote:


Mate, no offense taken. But... are you responding to what I was saying to you? You just use to like me?....

On March 29 2009 16:16 koreasilver wrote:

How can there even be numbers on something that has no real answer to it? Because of the nature of the question, people will argue about it with no end. Be faithful to your belief or disbelief with good reason and leave it at that.

On March 29 2009 16:30 Etherone wrote:


the numbers were hypothetical, though i do agree with you on the live and let live aspect, i am truly appalled at not teaching Darwinism because some people believe in creationism, and i am appalled that religious people believe that homosexuals are damned to hellfire.

among other things of course but i am sure you see my point.

if you believe in god and in no way contribute to the regression of humanity( I.E. supporting a pope who will go to Africa, let's say Angola where he was last week, and propagate the idea that using a condom will damn you to hellfire, and you should accept all children as divine blessings, whilst knowing that the infant mortality rate in Angola is 18% and at least 2% of your audience is infected with HIV/aids.)
then i will have no problem with you, or your religious beliefs and i am grateful you found purpose in life, and will live it well.

On March 29 2009 16:40 koreasilver wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
Creationism is comedic. The original Darwinist theory is outdated now, from what I've read.

The funny thing about all this is that the theory of evolution does not contradict Christian beliefs, or well, at least not the Catholic one as Catholics now take Genesis figuratively, not literally. John Paul II accepted the theory of evolution from what I remember as well.

The homophobia that is latent in the Abrahamic religions is terrible and senseless, but it's pretty difficult to change for the better as homophobia is hard-coded straight in biblical texts; eh, fuckit.

There's tons of problems in the Abrahamic religions that don't even require science in order to see clearly. There's a lot of questionable moral issues, inequality, corruption, theological problems, etc.

On March 29 2009 16:57 -orb- wrote:
Lol a girl talked to you, MUST BE GOD DUDE

MUST BE GOD

On March 29 2009 16:57 -orb- wrote:
Lol a girl talked to you, MUST BE GOD DUDE

MUST BE GOD

On March 29 2009 13:06 GrayArea wrote:
Some people say seeing is believing. In my case, hearing was believing.
I will never forget this day in my entire life, it was the day God spoke to me.

On March 29 2009 17:59 Elian wrote:
I don't understand why half of you thrash the religious. Even if this kid found something on his own accord that you find to be naive, I don't see what the difference is between you slandering him and some Southern Baptist slandering you for not believing in Christ.

Literally, the radicalism is the same. Where the religious have their own dogma (that can't be proven, yes), you have the theories and proofs of science. The religious only need their dogma, though, and even if science refutes something (like say the theory of evolution), it READ: does not matter. Call it ignorance, but the majority of you lash out as the religious sometimes lash out at you.

You will not convince the religious to back down.
The Religious will not convince you to back down.

So let the religious leave the scientists alone, and let the scientists leave the religious alone, because it's pointless.

This goes for a lot of things, really. Say, the guy who swears by Warcraft 3 instead of Starcraft. There are many of these people.

At this rate, what you are doing is cutting down someone's life style because it is "inferior" to yours. Simply put: It's a bigoted / narrow minded thing to do. (This works both ways)

Cutting down the original post for no reason other than to pretend human superiority is a level of ignorance that is simply wrong. Leave him alone. :-\

On March 29 2009 15:20 inReacH wrote:
Ignorant.. like the word ignore.. like you're ignoring everything that science and math have proven over and over and over for the last X centuries.. YOU ARE IGNORING IT

On March 29 2009 18:18 micronesia wrote:
Samurai- if your goal is to piss people off, you'll do a good job with that attitude. If your goal is to reduce the number of 'believers' in this world then you aren't contributing towards your goal. I have 0 faith in anything supernatural but I've learned there's no percentage in being mean towards believers.

On March 29 2009 18:30 Samurai- wrote:

I am just frustrated, because i ve seen too many threads like this lately.. What i wrote is what i think of them.. Anytime i tried to talk to a believer, its like talking to a brick wall.. So it doesnt matter what i say, they will believe in a talking snake, joseph survived in a whale for 3 days, earth is 5000 years old etc...

I tried to be constructive, i tried to be nice, etc etc but as i said, its like talking to a brick wall.. So it doesnt matter how i talk..

On March 29 2009 18:30 Samurai- wrote:
I am just frustrated, because i ve seen too many threads like this lately.. What i wrote is what i think of them.. Anytime i tried to talk to a believer, its like talking to a brick wall.. So it doesnt matter what i say, they will believe in a talking snake, joseph survived in a whale for 3 days, earth is 5000 years old etc...

I tried to be constructive, i tried to be nice, etc etc but as i said, its like talking to a brick wall.. So it doesnt matter how i talk..

On March 29 2009 13:06 GrayArea wrote:
Randomly, from the right, I hear "Hey GrayArea." I didn't look at her, nor did I say anything or make any change in my expression. Again I hear, "Hey GrayArea, did you really have an A in Hilmerson?"

On March 29 2009 19:29 Mada_Jiang wrote:
Hi GreyArea

Awesome post. Thanks so much for sharing your personal experience with the rest of TL. I had an experience exactly the same as yours and when you talk about how you pray and feel the warmth that comes from fellowship with God, I know exactly what you are talking about.

I really commend you on being able to share this on TL which is absolutely jam packed full of people who read what others share, and then take the time and effort to make aggressive degrading posts that serves absolutely no purpose but to give them a temporary boost of their ego or just an attempt to show what little knowledge they have. I hope you are not discouraged by these people's attempts and continue to share your experiences because it is an encouragement to me and i am sure it is the same to others on TL.

I pray that God will continue to reveal more of him self to you and that you will grow in what God has planned for you.

A message to all those who feel the need to come on TL, open up someone's blog, read it, and then post derogatory, negative and sarcastic remarks that you would never ever say to someone in real life, I encourage you to take a moment and ask your self, WHY am I posting? Am I trying to share something with others that will benefit them? Am I asking a question that will get an answer to information that will make a wiser person? Am I sharing something to be a blessing to others and encourage others? Or am I positing because I just felt a sudden urge to be spiteful because of some anger that has made its way from my heart to my mouth. Then ask your self why are you angry and why do you feel the need to be aggressive to others? What purpose does it serve? If you are are writing just to put down others, then ask your self, what pain are you carrying in your life?

If you are angry because of a bad experience you have had in your life, it will not have peace by belittling others, winning an argument, or unloading your angry on others. You might be able to temporarily satisfy your ego, but emptiness will follow.

Peace be with you Teamliquid.

On March 29 2009 18:18 freelander wrote:


you should stop this idiot
do you fucking think that religious people ignore math and science?

do you fucking know how many religious scientists there are?

where the fuck does religion deny these?

I am coming from a damn christian technical university asshole

On March 29 2009 20:34 KrAzYfoOL wrote:

Looks like that university has really made you Christ-like!

On March 29 2009 19:31 JMave wrote:
I think the logic is really simple. We as Christians can't ever convince the world that God exists. We can't explain how faith works and we can't explain how God works. These discussions(flamewars) have been going on for so, so long, probably even before the internet ever existed.

But that's fine. I accept as a Christian that everyone has different beliefs, be it being an atheist and what not. We're just here to merely proclaim. If you're here probing around finding convincing answers to God's existence and the system of faith, then you'd never ever find it because that's just not the way it works. Faith is a personal event that can only happen between you and God. No one can convince you.

On March 29 2009 15:01 koreasilver wrote:
I respect people's beliefs, but your story is just fucking stupid.

On March 29 2009 21:31 Samurai- wrote:
Ah.. So thats it.. You need to learn how to filter.. You need to read the bible, and filter all the nonsense bullshit ( Like the whole book) to really grasp the human part of it..

On March 29 2009 21:38 niteReloaded wrote:

If you are a happy Christian and it works for you, continue doing what works.

On March 29 2009 21:44 niteReloaded wrote:
Oh, you're against Christianity..?
Thought for a second you're objecting my filtering of the Holy book.

They probly weren't happy about it, but it had to happen.
Such was the state of consciousness at that time.

On March 29 2009 21:47 Samurai- wrote:

I am against religion, and its really hard, being so many of you, all stating that YOU have the right religion and all other are false religions. So many gods.. I wonder if there is enough space in the clouds..

On March 29 2009 19:29 Mada_Jiang wrote:
I pray that God will continue to reveal more of him self to you and that you will grow in what God has planned for you.

If you are angry because of a bad experience you have had in your life, it will not have peace by belittling others, winning an argument, or unloading your angry on others. You might be able to temporarily satisfy your ego, but emptiness will follow.

On March 29 2009 21:57 niteReloaded wrote:
Being against religion is ok, but what I believe now can't really be called religion, it's more like believing there's a spiritual component of the world.

I think any smart person will agree that there obviously is something that we still havent quite grasped with out minds.

If anything, the universe had to be born of something. Before the big bang, before the earliest thing we've so far discovered.

The most advanced physics is often on the borderline with spirituality from what I know.

Anyway, about 'many gods', even the open-minded Christians will agree that there's only one God, and that all religions are in fact talking about the same thing.

On March 29 2009 21:55 micronesia wrote:

I don't understand this post. What is really really hard? If you are against all religions, then what does it matter if the practitioners of certain ones claim that theirs is the right one?

If you are against all religions, then what does it matter if the practitioners of certain ones claim that theirs is the right one

On March 29 2009 22:05 Samurai- wrote:

Its really hard to listen of many different bullshit stories comming out of their mouth..



Are you kidding me? Because they say others are false.. And i ve heard that there are around 40 thousand different sects... And i think it was arround 0,02 % that you might have the right one, if you actually eat the "god exists bull".. 0,02% that you have the right religion ? lol

I'm just saying, if you personally disagree with the people of all religions when they talk about their religion, then what they are actually saying about their religion doesn't matter.

On March 29 2009 22:17 Samurai- wrote:

what?
If i talk to a christian, it matters what they say about their own religion.. If i talk to a guy from islam, it matters what they say abut their own religion.. It matters.. I disagree with the people of all religions because not one religion makes sense.. When one x religion makes sense, i will say i disagree with all religion but x.

Listen to this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp3Eam5FX58

Comeon, god strike him down please..

On March 29 2009 22:05 Samurai- wrote:
Are you kidding me? Because they say others are false.. And i ve heard that there are around 40 thousand different sects... And i think it was arround 0,02 % that you might have the right one, if you actually eat the "god exists bull".. 0,02% that you have the right religion ? lol

Personally, I believe faith in a god is a very important thing to have. The OP presents an example of why. There are certain quandaries that, at the basic level of human thought, are intractable. Whether or not you've ever reached that limit of your rational or moral thought depends on your interest in that sort of thing, but such a limit DOES exist. Religion is a way to help address that limit, and it does so regardless of whether or not your religion is "right" or "wrong".