Is god really out there?

If you consider the origins of religion, going back to about 2500 BCE. People believed in many different gods.

Many different groups believed in different gods, and each religion had its own belief systems and codes of conduct... what over the years has made people believe truly that there god or gods is the one/ones to believe?

Fear of having no control over ones life when we think about death is a big factor i believe that had something to do with why people had and still do have such blind faith in something, to which there is hardly any evidence to support....

We have always been looking for answers to what created us and what happens to us after we die... But the thought of not knowing and having no control over what happens may have made the us more susceptible to the thought that there was a creator, and that following his rules in life he would reward us with eternal life in peace in a place called heaven...

Back in the days when people were still scared of things that have long been disproved, i can understand how we would have believed in religion so easily.... the people back then had very little knowledge and then they are told that there is someone who knows all the answers and will be kind and take away their fear as long as they do what he says.

(kind of sounds like the present Administration in the USA doesn't it?)

But god as the christians know today has only been in the mind for the last 2000 years or so. If he is the true and only god then why did he let his own people start to have faith in a god or gods that werent real?
Surely not all the people who lived before around 2000 years ago could of gone to hell???? Seriously

But technically they must ...seems they pretty much denied God ?

Its the same in the world today. There are lots of religions all believing different things and going against one another. But what proof do they have that there path is the right one?... Blind faith again!

How many people must die pointlessly in religious wars trying to prove something that cannot be proven, unless god decides to come down for a chat one day. But he hasnt done that so far so i ain't getting my hopes up...

i just dont see how people can believe truly that their god is the right and only one even though on the other side of the world there will be about 500 million others believing something totally different!

I also find it strange that each religion is confined to certain geographies..
According to christianity almost every one in the middle east is evil and wont be at peace after death and its the same vice versa. That sounds like religion is generally confined to likewise thinking Governments.

If that is so then who is to say that Governments didnt invent religion in the first place as a way of gaining compliance from their citizens?
It makes sense as religions are still being used today to start wars with other countries... And it would explain why each religion is confined to certain parts of the world.

Religion may have been a good idea thousands of years ago to make people live right when they needed to be told. But surely we have evolved to the point where we can make our own choices in life and know what is good and bad?

Why do we need religion to seperate us and make divides between groups and countries? Hasnt the madness gone far enough?

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We can see that religion has absolutely played a part in the governance of societies, this dates back to one of the earliest known set of laws - Hammurabi's Code. Hammurabi truly thought he was chosen by the gods Anu and Bel to tell the Babylonians how to live.

I have always though it's rather funny how we are so easy to dismiss the ancient religions. We can explain them away by saying "Oh, they only think that because they didn't understand why the sun rises and sets and didn't have an understanding of how the world works."

Yet, in a way, isn't that what we do now? We follow religions that attempt to give us answers of things we don't have the answers for. What happens when our bodies die? Is there a purpose to us being alive in the first place?

People who in modern day society claim to be the messiah are just considered crazy. People who follow them are considered cults. Let's get real, who would buy the idea of a virgin birth in 2007?

The political problem with religion is that it lacks, and has always lacked, any sense of relativism. There isn't a whole lot of "live and let live." Instead, most religions embrace an absolutist stance and encourage followers to share and spread the message in an attempt to have others become followers. In the same way that Muslims want the world to be Muslim, Christians have certainly done their part through missionary work, televangelism, disaster aid tied with religious conversion, etc. Therefore, I don't really see an end to religious struggle or political issues tied to religion.

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No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
--Eleanor Roosevelt

WHat no one going to bash me on this? sheeze

I wish I had the talent for words to more eloquently respond, but I will say that I completely agree, and is a subject that has definitely crossed my mind before. I have gone back and forth for years on whether or not I think there is a god. I don't think there are miracles, per se, nor a supreme being orchestrating those, but I do believe there are things that defy explanation and that part of life is accepting the fact that they may remain unexplained. My problem that I run into with faith is organized religion. I could care less if someone needs religion to feel fullfilled. I personally do not, but the problem arises when the beliefs that someone holds interferes with my life. That is when it goes too far.

God is Santa for Adults!

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"It just pisses me off that more people aren't pissed off." BILL MAHER

Oh, and Ark what the he l l were you thinkin. You just tryin to start shit aint ya!

That is completely and utterly disrespectful to those who truly put their faith in something bigger than themselves.
Some people have really seen the work that God does in their lives and it is just rude to insinuate that it's just Santa that we believe in.
Regardless of how you may see it, peoples lives have changed through faith in this God that people seem to thing is so distant, but is actually a very large part of people's lives.

In my personal oppinion, you owe an apology to those people whom you've offended, myself being one of them. It's one thing to debate history and the facts and have dialogue about it, it's another to insult the people who hold dearly to a belief in God. Shame on you.

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"For now, we have a new president-elect. In the spirit of reaching across the aisle, we owe it to the Democrats to show their president the exact same kind of respect and loyalty that they have shown our recent Republican president." - Ann Coulter

Bingo, calm down ladies, no need to get upset.......everyone has an opinion.

she didn't insult anyone but God (last time i checked hes not a member here), she has the freedom to think He is fake just as you have the freedom to have faith and refute that opinion.

back to topic, have a problem PM me.

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