h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Some people says that there is a god, some say there are gods and some say that there are none? Why do they say that? Is there anything that can justify their statements, let it be scientific or spiritual themed explanations? We will never know, but is there a know-all out there that can perhaps explain on this???

You might get more response if you posted this in <./>Askh2g2</.>

Other than that I think that some people don't like to believe that they are entirely responsible for everything they do or that happens to them.

Not that I'm saying that this is a bad thing it is just that the world is a very big place and when you consider the universe in comparison then it can feel very empty, Gods answer many of the questions that science is happy to admit it cannot yet answer, making these people feel a little more secure.

On the other hand there may be an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omni-whatever being that is watching over us. That's not my view anymore but that's where the leap of faith comes in.

Mel

Hello! I'm Juan from Montevideo, Uruguay, South America. Age 61. I'm new to the site. Very poor english of mine, please excuse me...
Well, even when I don't wanna be "The savage, who doesn't believes in the bullet because he can not see it" I think so:
Please think at first, what espirit is? what God is? only words, fruit of each mind. Not really from the collective one. But curiosly, converted to a massive credence, with some variation from one to other (people, race and/or geographic al region).
It's not really so strange, many others cultural acquisitions had grow slowly, to became from a rudimentary expresion to a very ample and elaborated one. Think on language for example. And you know it well, english are today nearly internationalized. But chinese people, a lot of millio, doesn't...
So I'm not surprised nor convinced for the "reason" that some people raise high: "Think in this, God (in any form) credence is world widely spread"
In this way, I always use to say, "the witches power exist, be sure it's true, and resides (ONLY) in the mind of them who are believing they"...
Please excuse my spelling.
Juan
Nice site!

Here's a couple of brainteasers for your consideration;

1. Could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot that he himself could not eat it?

and

2. God is an atheist. Faith is "Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence" [dictionary.com]. Since god knows everything, he can't have faith. And, because he's the highest power, he doesn't believe in a higher power. Being an atheist, god thinks himself out of existence.

I will now prove that black is white, and get run over on a zebra crossing

It's worth noting that Douglas Adams was a devout atheist.

Thank you to The Simpsons and TooMuchCoffeeMan.com for the lovely paradoxes.

I hqve to qd,it thqt it zqs ?r Qdq,s hi,self zho....

Ahem...Ok I'll put the keyboard onto English settings and try again shall I?!

I have to admit that it was Mr Adams himself who opened my eyes a little to the world of Atheism in The Salmon Of Doubt. I think specifically it was the pieces about how easy it would be for us to invent a God (To quote voltaire: If God didn't exist it would be necessary to invent him) and the piece about Gods all the way up, if God created us who created God and who created that God... This is of course where that wonderous leap of faith comes in that God did not have to be created but that he always was, always is and always will be there, the same and unchanging.

I leave you with a little quote...

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer God than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible Gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
--Stephen F. Roberts

Mel

pacman256, I think both of those might be a little older than the sources you quote

For the second one, there is one immediate flaw in that it equates knowledge with logical reasoning or meterial evidence when there is no such causal link. It is quite possible to have knowledge outside of those conbstraints.

And anyway both those situations constrain God to human limits.

I'd go along with the second poster, the most important thing about belief is not what is believed but the people doing the believing.

The reason why I personally don't completely deny the existence of a God is that whilst I cannot comprhend an ultimate being or that before which there was nothing, etc etc, I can comprehend that there can exist things which I cannot comprehend,understand or perhaps even recognise for what they are.

I found some quotes from Adams on the subject:

"He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife."

"In the Beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move."

"There is a theory that states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable... There is another theory that states that this has already happened."

"Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I always think that the chances of finding out what is really going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say hang the sense of it and just keep yourself occupied."

The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."
"But," says Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."
"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

RIP Douglas Adams 1952-2001. See you at the crossroads bro.

And another quote, author unknown:

"God made me an atheist, who are you to question His judgement?"

I like the last quote, v amusing!

Mel

i have found that many people often use god and or religion as an easy way out for some of the hardest questions we as human beings face on a daily basis. Why are we here, where did we come from, how did everythign begin and how will it all end. rather than exploring these questions to further their own knowledge they attribute these things to god. we came from god, we are here to do gods will, god created all, and in the end all will return to god. but just as many ask where did we come from we must also then ask where did god come from. how can we invision something that has always been and always will be when everything in our lives is so finite. i dont have the answer to these questions, and it is a possibility no one will. i guess at this point i must also point out that many scientists discount the existance of god, which is not the right thing to do, again this is the easy way out of a hard question, who or what is god. Some scientists cite the lack of evidence for god. i would say that that lack of evidence may be temporary. take for example many scientific theories, if black holes were proposed 500 years earlier, when it was impossible for them to be detected, it would not mean that they did not exist. i feel the best thing to do wether you are a believer in god or not, is to continue to search for new knowledge.

I agree with the first post, and the evidence of this goes back to greek mythology. Their gods, which we in general no longer believe in, were an explanation for everything from why it rains to the origin of various plants. Some people are not satisfied with not having an explanation for things, so they create or believe in God, and the others who do accept that there are not explanations for some things become scientists and find those explanations.

Gods and supernatural things exist simple becuase we need them to exist.
They meet 3 very basic human needs:

A) The need to have,tell,share and pass down stories.
B) The need challenge one another,debate and have something to stand up for
C) The need to have something to believe in and pray and beg and curse at and comfort us in our greatest hour of need.

"God is a concept by which we measure our pain."
John Lennon

if they dont exsist then there is a good chance i dont either

If god(s) don't exist, how do you explain a sunrise? a newborn baby?

Not a miracle that's for sure

I think this stems from the school of thought that everything has to have a creator. The watchmaker theory if you like.

As for how I explain a sunrise, it is light refracted through our atmosphere as the point at which you stand comes into view of the sun via the earths rotation.

A newborn baby is a being brought about by mieosis and mitosis in a form of reproduction that has evolved a large amount from the 'primal soup' days.

As I believe I have stated before, nowadays in my mind, Gods are used to answer the questions that science is happy to admit it can't. This doesn't mean that science will never be able to answer the questions. Once upon a time it couldn't tell you why there was thunder or that the earth went round the sun, science evolves and as it does the region in our brains which Gods inhabit becomes smaller and smaller as there are less and less questions. (Though with every question solved another is created in science at the moment! )

Mel

I feel that there is much to life that defies being pigeonholed by the scientific method. This has not prevented me from pursuing a career in Physics, though. Human logic has its limits, and sometimes we have to just take the leap of faith to move on.

Anyone who has studied philosophy in college is aware of how much effort western thinkers put into various arguments for the existence of God. The arguments all have one thing in common: an a priori assumption that God could exist. Thus, if God is possible, then look at all of this proof and conclude that God must exist. The same goes for arguments against the existence of God. One must first assume that such a being could even exist before disproving the idea. All of this make every one of us agnostics, but with some of us leaning more toward a pro or con opinion.

Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, once proposed an argument for God's existence based upon gambling. If one believes God doesn't exist but is wrong, he/she is eternally lost; however, if one does believe that God could exist, whether he/she is right or wrong at best is eternally rewarding and at worst is harmless. Therefore, Pascal argued that the best bet was to believe that God could exist, whether one pursued things further or not.

Putting one argument together with another, if one takes the safe bet that God could exist, then a lot of arguments for said existence look fairly credible, and nothing is lost if it's all just an intellectual exercise to keep those of us with overactive cranial cavities busy and out of trouble.

The thing that baffles most, if not all people, is, if god exists, and he made everything, then who made god, and so on an so forth.

What people have to wrap their minds around is that god just is, or dust and such. People ask where the universe started. Some answer that a bunch of dust and rock got together and exploded. All the time though, the reply to this is, where did that dust and such come from. Again, if you do not believe in god, then you definately have to conceive of the idea that this dust and such just was. The theory that everything has to have come from something, pretty much can not be true. It would just span back in time into infinity. That is the concept that I feel people have to understand. Call it a secondary belief if you want. Even if you do not believe in god, you have to believe in something, just something simple even, such as a theory. I feel you have to believe either dust and such just was, or god just is.

Either way, with the God and dust thing, at least we can somewhat explain the dust thing. How do you prove God?

I think I would rather admit that we don't know where the dust came from yet, than believe outright that there is an omnipresent, omnipotent being who has always been and will always be.

This is the big difference between science and religion; science is not afraid to say 'we don't know' or 'we were wrong' whereas religion can't.

Science is always coming up with theories about how everything started, however they are just that at the moment, theories. Maybe one day we shall know for sure, until then I'm quite happy to stand up and say that I don't know and I don't care that I don't know.

Religion often stems from humanity's natural fear of the unknown.

Mel

Ok, I have an idea,You know if we can not see something such as god
it's not a reason that it does not exist.
A good reason for existing of the God is its creatures, Which force can
create this wonderful universe with these beauties ?
See around yourself and answer your question !It is so easy!

Thanks