Questions for Atheists and Agnostics

[9-10ths_Penguin]

How is faith certainty?

Anyone can put their faith in messengers. That doesnt mean the messengers are telling the truth. If you make a statement saying you are certain, you no longer have faith; you know.

"Faith" is one of those squirrelly words that can mean many different things. I think that historically, it was generally taken to mean "loyalty" (i.e. faithfulness). It's only as the claims of religion were able to be evaluated but came up lacking over and over that "faith" morphed into "belief without support" in an attempt to spin failings of religions into tests: "uhhh... yeah... It's okay that we can't demonstrate our claims; in fact, if you accept it despite the fact we can't demonstrate it, it's a point in your favour!"

Go back a millenium or so and tell a theologian that faith and uncertainty are incompatible and he'd give you the same reaction as if you told him that you can't be faithful to your spouse if you're sure your spouse exists.

 

[Rational Agnostic]

Just because God has made Himself known to everyone, that does not mean that everyone is going to believe in God. God made Himself known and some people just did not recognize what God did to make Himself known.

If they didn't recognize that he made himself known, then he didn't make himself obvious enough to them. Everyone has a different level of evidence needed to convince them, and an all-knowing god would know what he needed to do to convince everyone of his existence.

 

[viole]

Is there any reason to think that God, if God exists, would want 100% of people in the world to believe in Him?

No. I am not aware that requiring belief is a precondition to be qualified as God.

If God wanted everyone to believe in Him, what do you think God would do in order to accomplish that?

Show up would be helpful. Talking to believers during those relationship would also help to avoid that people believe in thousands of mutually contradicting different Gods.

He could for instance zap belief in Him in every mind. Free will is overrated.

Do you think that God can show up on earth? If so, how would God do that?

Since I think that omnipotence is a characteristic of God, I see no logical impediment against Him showing up on earth.

True, It would probably be difficult to distinguish Him from a very powerful alien. But it would surely be much more helpful than the nothing we experience of Him here.

Ciao

- viole

 

[TransmutingSoul]

I didn't forget, it was deliberate because it was a separate paragraph.

You can assume whatever pleases you, i included those links to prove you were wrong in your claim. Which of course you refuse to acknowledge and will no doubt use the same ploy at sometime in the future hoping for a different answer. Cynicism??? Perhaps..., we'll see.

I ask you a question, is it possible to dream and know the future?

Peace be with you.

 

[ChristineM]

I ask you a question, is it possible to dream and know the future?

Peace be with you.

It is certainly possible to dream

It is not possible to know the future with any certainty.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

It is certainly possible to dream

It is not possible to know the future with any certainty.

Lets put it another way. If you have a dream and that dream becomes a reality in the future, how is it mind was able to acheive this, if it only part of the flesh bound in time?

Peace be with you

 

[ChristineM]

Lets put it another way. If you have a dream and that dream becomes a reality in the future, how is it mind was able to acheive this, if it only part of the flesh bound in time?

Peace be with you

Coincidence, false memory, delusion.

So do you have anything verifiable that indicates the physical mind isn't subject to time like the rest of the body.

Of course the imagination can do magic but it is just imagination.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Coincidence, false memory, delusion.

So do you have anything verifiable that indicates the physical mind isn't subject to time like the rest of the body.

Of course the imagination can do magic but it is just imagination.

That is why you need to prove your science that mind is part of body and I do not

You are missing and amazing part of our existance ChristineM. That is your choice and I wish you always well.

I know people have dreamed of the future in detail and even acted upon the dream, they are recorded

I have myself dreamed of a future happening. That this is possible is confirmed by Gods Messengers. I trust them with my life.

Peace be upon you.

 

[ChristineM]

That is why you need to prove your science that mind is part of body and I do not

You are missing and amazing part of our existance ChristineM. That is your choice and I wish you always well.

I know people have dreamed of the future in detail and even acted upon the dream, they are recorded

I have myself dreamed of a future happening. That this is possible is confirmed by Gods Messengers. I trust them with my life.

Peace be upon you.

I have provided evidence to disprove your claims, you have not even refuted it, all you did do was dance around whether you asked for it or not. If you want your claim taken seriously you need to do more than expect other people to do your work for you

I can dream like anyone else, all i am missing is delusion and you are welcome to that.

Yet they are not multimillionaire world leaders. They have not cured world poverty. So what dreams they acted must be very trivial. Should i go shopping in the morning or go to the park, oh i dreamt i was in the park, ill go to the park. Great precognition there.

You are welcome to trust anyone you want, you are also welcome to your meagre threshold for evidence. Me ilI trust myself and those who have earned my trust through reality

 

[TransmutingSoul]

I can dream like anyone else, all i am missing is delusion and you are welcome

Yes we make our own delusions. The greatest delusion is thinking the material senses are all that we are. Other delusions are spiritualy based. I hope for you that your dreams open that new world to you, for that to happen, the heart must first consider the possibility.

Peace be with you and all.

 

[Sir Doom]

I have experienced many times when an event happened that I could swear I dreamed the exact scenario. All senses present. No lies. Its happened dozens of times since I was very young.

Here is why I don't believe I've ever dreamed of the future.

A) 100% of the time I experience the above it is in regards to a completely mundane event. Sitting into a couch, opening the fridge and selecting a drink, etc. Never anything of any consequence whatsoever.

B) I do not remember these dreams until the 'deja vu' happens. It isn't like I have a dream and then dwell on it for days or weeks or months and then it dawns on me I'm living the dream I had. No, not at all. Instead, it is only while I am actually 'reliving' the event that I get the feeling I've dreamed it before.

C) I remember a lot of dreams. It is incredibly rare for me to remember a dream mere seconds after awaking, but I'm pushing 40 years old which means even at a low percentage I've still accumulated a lot of dreams that I definitely remember and will not really ever forget. Not a single one of these dreams has ever resulted in the above phenomenon. In fact, the dreams that I can remember could never be mistaken for precognition as the events within are typically fantastic in the extreme.

What I think is happening is that my brain is just giving me the feeling of dreaming for some inexplicable reason during a mundane event. Its much easier to believe than that I am in possession of the most useless precognitive ability imaginable.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

What I think is happening is that my brain is just giving me the feeling of dreaming for some inexplicable reason during a mundane event. Its much easier to believe than that I am in possession of the most useless precognitive ability imaginable.

Many people have dreamed, recorded or told of the dream and then the event in the dream takes place.

I have no need to say more than that, those that wish to, will consider what has been said to date and look at the possibility for themselves.

Peace be with you.

 

[QuestioningMind]

No, Messengers of God are not making up God. Nobody could make up all that is written in scriptures nor would they have any reason to spend their time doing so. It is not logical to think that all religious scriptures came from mere men and had nothing to do with any god. Surely, some of the Bible was written by men, but the Writings of Baha’u’llah are His own Writings and Hos Writings alone indicate that He was more than a man. Of course that is a belief, but because of all the evidence I have it gives me a good reason to believe it is true.

He has no evidence at all. All he has is what he calls “the use of reason.” He means the use of his reason, and the implication is that anyone who reasons differently than him is unreasonable, because he knows what god would do if god were real. You may as well read what I wrote about him on this post. I did not make any of that up. It is all verifiable by reading what he has written over a period of three years. #267

Simply put, because there is a lot of evidence that indicates that Baha’u’llah was a Messenger of God who got a message from God. How could I possibly know more than Him? There is verifiable history that demonstrates that even before He got His revelation from God, Baha’u’llah had innate knowledge, knowledge of things He could never have known if he was not more than an ordinary human being, since He had only a very rudimentary education. For example, He knew more about the Qur’an than the Muslim scholars knew, and they even had to admit that when He presented His arguments to them. How did He know all this, if He was not more than a mere man? I just use my logic to figure things out.

No, it is not based upon my personal opinion. It is based upon what my religion teaches about the other Messengers. Baha’is believe that Joseph Smith was a Seer. A Seer is an inspired individual who can prophesy, see visions, and receive Revelations but they are not Prophets. I do not even think Smith claimed that He got a revelation from God. He claimed Jesus spoke to him, and that is possible, but Jesus speaking is not the same thing as God speaking. There is also evidence that Smith prophesied the coming of Baha’u’llah.

Baha’u’llah identifies some of the Messengers of the past, most of which are mentioned in the Bible, and Muhammad was also a Messenger. Baha’is also believe that Buddha, Krishna and Zoroaster were Messengers of God. There might be more that have not been mentioned in the Writings (what we call our scriptures).

There is good evidence and there is bad evidence, and there is worthless evidence. The fact that evidence is verifiable does not mean it is evidence that supports a claim of a real Messenger of God.

The history of the Baha’i Faith is recent history so there are documented records of everything that has transpired from the time the Bab appeared (1844) to announce the coming of Baha’u’llah, moving forward to the present time. What I say about Baha’u’llah can be verified if people want to take the time to do the research about His Life and His Mission. None of the previous Messengers of God can be verified this way because there are no clear records of who they were or what they did.

The Life and Mission of Baha’u’llah are verifiable facts. The only thing that cannot be verified is that Baha’u’llah got a message from God. That is why we look at all the evidence that supports His claim, in order to determine if we are willing to believe that what He claimed was the Truth.

Having good evidence that “indicates” that Baha’u’llah was a Messenger of God is better than having a personal opinion that He was not. Mind you, this atheist never even looked that the evidence. He just scoffs at it because he does not like the “idea” of god using messengers... He is like a baby crying for mommy (god) to bring him a bottle (direct communication from god). It is really rather sad because God is not his short order cook.

No, Messengers of God are not making up God. (In YOUR personal opinion) Nobody could make up all that is written in scriptures nor would they have any reason to spend their time doing so. It is not logical to think that all religious scriptures came from mere men and had nothing to do with any god. (In YOUR personal opinion) Surely, some of the Bible was written by men, but the Writings of Baha’u’llah are His own Writings and Hos Writings alone indicate that He was more than a man. Of course that is a belief, but because of all the evidence I have it gives me a good reason to believe it is true. (In YOUR personal opinion).

Of course, without VERIFIABLE evidence that these 'messengers' didn't just make it all up, you have EXACTLY as much VERIFIABLE evidence for YOUR personal opinion as the atheist has verifiable evidence for HIS personal opinion.

No, it is not based upon my personal opinion. It is based upon what my religion teaches about the other Messengers. And of course, your PERSONAL OPINION that these particular religious teachings are correct... so it IS based upon your personal opinion. Baha’is believe that Joseph Smith was a Seer. A Seer is an inspired individual who can prophesy, see visions, and receive Revelations but they are not Prophets. I do not even think Smith claimed that He got a revelation from God. He claimed Jesus spoke to him, and that is possible, but Jesus speaking is not the same thing as God speaking. There is also evidence that Smith prophesied the coming of Baha’u’llah. And AGAIN, this is all based on your PERSONAL opinion that Baha'is belief is legitimate. I STILL don't see how YOUR personal opinion that your religion is correct is any more legitimate than the atheist's personal opinion that HIS beliefs are correct.

Simply put, because there is a lot of evidence that indicates that Baha’u’llah was a Messenger of God who got a message from God. How could I possibly know more than Him? There is verifiable history that demonstrates that even before He got His revelation from God, Baha’u’llah had innate knowledge, knowledge of things He could never have known if he was not more than an ordinary human being, since He had only a very rudimentary education. For example, He knew more about the Qur’an than the Muslim scholars knew, and they even had to admit that when He presented His arguments to them. How did He know all this, if He was not more than a mere man? I just use my logic to figure things out.

Once again, evidence that is NOT verifiable is pretty much useless. Just because YOU have a low threshold for what you'll accept as 'evidence' does NOT mean that it's sufficient evidence for everyone. As I said before, the terrorists on 9/11 convinced themselves that THEY have evidence that god wanted them to murder people, so clearly people can convinced themselves that virtually ANYTHING is evidence for what they want to believe. Until you can provide VERIFIABLE evidence, you are wasting your time trying to convince me that your unverifiable 'evidence' has any worth.

The only thing that cannot be verified is that Baha’u’llah got a message from God.
And WITHOUT such verification any claims that he IS a messenger of god is EQUALLY as reliable as the claims made up by your atheist. That fact that you are willing to accept it as true WITHOUT verification simply demonstrates that you have a very low threshold for what you consider to be evidence.

 

[Trailblazer]

Just another version of speaking for God. No God has ever told me who their messenger is. Only the messengers themselves. Its the same thing. I am far more apt to glean wisdom from people who aren't trying to trick me into believing them before evaluating what they say. That's just a rule I have.

God is not going to tell you who His Messenger is because God does not communicate directly to ordinary humans, only to His chosen Messengers, who then communicate to us. The Messenger tells us what we are able to know about God.

 

[Trailblazer]

"Also, sometimes one needs to read between the lines. Where in the Bible does it explicitly say that God wants everyone to believe in Him?"

I’m not sure offhand... though I think that if you actually wanted to know the answer to this question, you’d be asking a Christian, not an atheist.

That is true, but the reason I posed this question to atheists here on RF is because there is an atheist on another forum who insists that god wants everyone to believe in him, so I wanted to see what other atheists think of that.

But that’s way too open-ended to have a single answer. What would a hypothetical ghost want? Depends on the ghost. What would a hypothetical witch want? Depends on the witch. What would a hypothetical god want? Depends on the god.

That is exactly right. You have to know something about the god and what he has up his sleeve in order to know if that god would want everyone to believe in him. That is why I think this atheist on the other forum is up the creek without a paddle. He knows nothing about god but he just assumes that god would want everyone to believe in him. He used to be a Christian so he probably got that idea from the Bible.

So the fact that much less than 100% of the people on Earth believe in God is intentional? You believe that God used an unreliable means of communication - i.e. revelation through “messengers” and scripture - because he didn’t want to reach everyone? Do I understand you correctly?

No, that is not what I mean. I think God wants everyone to believe in Him, but only on His Terms. God sets the Terms. Those Terms are that people are willing to look at the evidence God provides, which is the Messenger. It is really that simple. Some people believe in God and they do not need a Messenger as proof, but that does not work for most people. Most people need some concrete evidence. The Messenger is that evidence.

Messengers are not an unreliable method of communication just because atheists do not like them. God has communicated that way from the dawn of human history and that is why 84 percent of the world population has a faith. Those faiths all have some kind of Founder, what I refer to as a Messenger. So obviously, using Messengers has been a successful method of communication.

Obviously, not everyone is going to recognize the Messenger, but there is no reason to think that God would not want some people to have doubts or even not believe in God at all.

Any description of a God or how it’s supposed to work - including the ones you’ve given - have all been so hopelessly conflicted that I haven’t been able to find a spot to begin on any of them. You might as well ask me how I would figure out how much carpet a room that’s a square circle would need; I can calculate area for all sorts of shapes, but I wouldn’t know where to begin calculating the area for a shape that can’t exist.

I love that analogy and it is fitting. That brings to mind this passage Baha’u’llah wrote that explains why you are hopelessly conflicted.

“What “oppression” is greater than that which hath been recounted? What “oppression” is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it? For opinions have sorely differed, and the ways unto the attainment of God have multiplied. This “oppression” is the essential feature of every Revelation. Unless it cometh to pass, the Sun of Truth will not be made manifest. For the break of the morn of divine guidance must needs follow the darkness of the night of error. For this reason, in all chronicles and traditions reference hath been made unto these things, namely that iniquity shall cover the surface of the earth and darkness shall envelop mankind. As the traditions referred to are well known, and as the purpose of this servant is to be brief, He will refrain from quoting the text of these traditions.” The Kitab-i-Iqan, pp. 31-32

That passage is a little esoteric but what it means in brief is that people in this age are confused about God. This is what happens whenever a new Messenger of God appears on earthand releases the Holy Spirit into the world. The new Revelation from God shakes everything up and precipitates people searching for God, but they do not know where to find God.Those people who are ensconced in their older religions are oblivious to what is happening, but other people know something is happening although they do not know what it is. It is God appearing in the Person of the Messenger who renewed the eternal religion of God, but since the bulk of people do not know that, what happens is that new religious movements spring up, since people are searching for truth.

 

[Trailblazer]

The "if" is the rub and the standard is a religious one. Look at it from an outsiders view. Person X claims they have the knowledge of God yet never produces anything but babble. No new technology, no cures for diseases. Claims vs demonstrating are very different.

Messengers of God come to bring moral and spiritual truth, not new technology and medicine. We have science for that. Call it babble of you want to but I for one want to know where my soul is headed after my body dies.

That competition already exists. Christians say X, Muslims say Y. Jews says it's Z and kosher. God could simply cut off the person from the message from the group of messengers.

You are correct. That is one reason Baha’u’llah came, to explain that there is only One God and many Messengers, a new Messenger appearing in every new age. He came to get everyone on the same page but the adherents of older religions cling tenaciously to their older religions, which are no longer pertinent to this age in history. The religious dispensations of the past have been abrogated by the Revelation of Baha’u’llah, who brought a new message and new social teachings and laws that are pertinent to this new age.

How would a person with a warped moral compass judge themselves?

That is a good question and it deserves a better answer than I can do justice to:

“It is clear and evident that all men shall, after their physical death, estimate the worth of their deeds, and realize all that their hands have wrought. I swear by the Day Star that shineth above the horizon of Divine power! They that are the followers of the one true God shall, the moment they depart out of this life, experience such joy and gladness as would be impossible to describe, while they that live in error shall be seized with such fear and trembling, and shall be filled with such consternation, as nothing can exceed. Well is it with him that hath quaffed the choice and incorruptible wine of faith through the gracious favor and the manifold bounties of Him Who is the Lord of all Faiths…”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 171

In short, those with a warped moral compass and the warped deeds that resulted from that are going to be in a very bad way.

You are speculating. You have no idea what any read or did not read. Beside I found two logical errors. One made by you and one within your quote. I didn't need to read the whole text.

I only know what I have been told by people and what other Baha’is tell me, and from that I have concluded that not very many people have investigated the Baha’i Faith before someone told them about it, and even after most people decline. What were the logical errors?

Considering how divides people are between different religions and I already pointed out better methods you are just sticking to dogma.

As I explained, the goal of the Baha’i Faith is to bring all the religions under one common banner. Unity of mankind is the pivot point around which the religion revolves, but it is unity in diversity, not conformity or uniformity.

I did not see any methods you presented that were realistic. The Writings of Baha’u’llah are incontrovertibly true if He got messages from a God. If not, we can all take our balls and go home.

Speculation and self-serving rubbish. God only talks to me not thee.

I do not know anyone who would be serving self by that... All Baha’u’llah got for delivering His message was suffering, imprisonment and banishment from place to place, for 40 years.

If it is true that God does not communicate directly to anyone except His chosen Messengers, it is true. If not, we can all take our balls and go home and wait for God to bring us a personal message.

 

[Trailblazer]

Questions like this might seem reasonable to people who already believe in a deity. But to the rest of us, it's a nonsense starting point.

"Is there any reason to think that elves are real and want 100% of the world to believe in them?"

Dafuq?!?

See how bonkers that sounds?

Sorry, but it was an atheist on another forum who precipitated my posting these questions. He insists that if god exists, god would want 100% of people in the world to believe in Him. I told him there is no way he can know that since he doesn’t know anything about god, but he keeps insisting. So I decided to post the question here to get other opinions.

But to answer your questions, If I were a deity, I wouldn't give two ****s about my play things believing in me. That's like asking if it hurts my feelings that my woodworking or craft projects don't believe in me. Why would any of that matter to the Great I, Creator Jon?

You got it. God does not need anyone to believe in Him. God is fully self-sufficient and self-subsisting. God needs nothing from humans. It is the humans that need God. So the only reason God wants us to believe in Him is for our own sake.

Supposing this is all a real scenario, who would know what we needed better than the one who supposedly created us? I know every detail of my woodworking projects. If they were sentient, living creatures, wouldn't I just need to show myself to them in order for them to believe in me?

Boy are you sharp. I like it when I find people who are logical. You are right again. Who would know better what humans need than the Creator of humans? So God is the one who knows the best way to communicate to humanity in order to get them to believe in Him. God has showed Himself in the “Person” of the Messenger He sent. God never shows all of Himself, only His Attributes. The Messenger is a perfect mirror image of God and has all God’s Attributes. God never reveals His Essence, He keeps His Essence hidden.

This atheist I posted the questions for has his own idea of what god would doif god existed in order to get everyone to believe in him, direct communication to every single person in the world. He does not think a real god would use Messengers so he thinks god is either stupid or does not exist. He does not think from God’s perspective but rather from his own perspective of what he would need to believe in god, and he thinks everyone else would need the same thing.

If your supposed God were real, in the sense that people argue that He is, He should be able to do anything and everything, right? I suppose in that case he could manifest himself in the form of a child to a virgin mother, and then follow some insanely limited racial and geographic traditions at a very specific period of History, being limited to period-appropriate socioeconomic morés... Or he could just plop a giant house down in the middle of a major city here on Earth and live there for eternity, basking in the adoration and praise of all of this creations for all time.

The latter would make more sense to me, were a deity actually interested in having his play things worship him...

Thanks for your opinion. I think the Jesus was a better way for God to manifest Himself than a house. God cannot live on earth because He lives in heaven, so God sends Messengers such as Jesus in every age. That is how God’s Grace is bestowed upon humanity. Messengers of God such as Jesus have been sent from the dawn of human history and will continue to be sent for eternity. God’s Grace can never cease from flowing. If it did, life on this planet would cease to exist.

 

[Trailblazer]

But you just said that there was no objective proof. I'm having real trouble figuring out what you're trying to say.

What I meant is that there is no objective proof of God. There is scads of objective proof of Baha’u’llah, but people interpret it subjectively.

But some standards of evidence are demonstrably wrong. Someone may accept or reject a claim for bad reasons; this doesn't say anything about whether the claim can be objectively proven.

It also seems like you're making an argument for evidence generally, but earlier, it seemed like you were saying that objective proof of God's existence had problems that objective proof of other claims didn't have.

Indeed, anyone can accept or reject a claim, and that has nothing to do with whether it can be objectively proven.

God’s existence is one thing that cannot be objectively proven. There are other things such as the soul and the spiritual world that also cannot be objectively proven. What they all have in common is that they are not physical, not material. Anything that is physical or material can be objectively proven to exist.

 

[Trailblazer]

Been here before, several times. It is the responsibility of those making the claim to provid validation of that claim. You cannot expect say a medicine manufacturer to release a new drug without verifying its effectiveness first. What you suggest is release the drug and expect other people to see if it kills them.

I cannot validate evidence for other people. They have to read it and validate it for themselves.The medicine was released by Baha’u’llah, the Divine Physician. I do not have to verify its effectiveness. If people want to know about it they can go and read about it. It won’t kill then to do a little reading. It won’t kill them to believe what they read, it will bestow eternal life.

Enjoy your day.

Thanks. It was long and very hot but it is almost over...

Ahh so no evidence is evidence... Got ya

I did not say there is no evidence. We have evidence that God does not prove He exists, because if God did prove He exists everyone would believe in God. Because God does not prove He exists in any objective way there will always be a need for faith. We would not need faith if God proved He existed in an objective way. God would be proven fact.

 

[Trailblazer]

That's a good question and much is up to debate, but I think we can agree on certain things such as not dying from Cholera, Smallpox or Leprosy.

Tricky question. Is our well-being improved by believing in God ? I don't think it makes much of a difference.
But, perhaps more importantly, even if God didn't want to have any sort of contact with humans I wouldn't see it as inherently evil.

Yes, we can all agree on certain things that are best for our well-being but there are other things that are good for our well-being that many people do not even know about.

It makes a huge difference if we believe in God, but in order to know that you would have to know what God revealed through His last Messenger, Baha’u’llah. That is the only way to know God and know what God wants for us.

God does not want to have direct contact with humans and that is one reason God sends Messengers to represent Him and deliver His message.

I am not sure if I understand you correctly here, so I would like to confirm: By 'some people don't want to believe in god', do you mean that 'some people want to believe god doesn't exist' ?

No, that is not what I meant. I meant that some people do not care if they believe in God (they can take it or leave it). As you said before “My only criticism here is that I don't really see the point of wanting to believe in God.
As I see it, either one does, or does not.” Did you mean you don’t care or that you don’t know any reasons to believe in God?

Some people might not even want to believe in God if they could, for various reasons. I knew an atheist who just hated the very idea of God because belief in God might upset her selfish little life she had made for herself. She hated me because I talked about God and what I would sacrifice for God.

If that's the case, I don't really know of anyone that 'wants' to believe that God doesn't exist. I can't say this sort of person doesn't exist, but, honestly, I have never come across anyone like that. I find the concept of 'wanting' ( and not wanting ) to believe in God quite weird. Would you say that you want to believe in God ? If so, can you tell me why ?

There might be people who wish God did not exist, but probably not many. The reason I sometimes wish God did not exist is because it is not easy doing everything for God and nothing for myself. But I know in the long run I will be better off. The other reason I sometimes wish God did not exist is because God created the material world, and I do not like the material world very much, it causes so much suffering. If God did not exist I would not exist, and sometimes I wish that was the case.

Like I said before, sometimes I want to believe in God and sometimes I don’t, but most of the time I do. If I don’t it is because I get so tired of talking about God on forums, or I see something in the world I do not like, I attribute to God and I do not like God.

The reason I want to believe in God is that I know that God created me to know and love Him. I do okay with knowing God, as much as I am allowed to know, but I do not do so well in loving God. I also know that what God revealed through Baha’u’llah is how God wants me to live my life, so it if beneficial for me and others I come into contact with to follow those teachings and laws. This short quote kind of summarizes how important it is to believe in God and follow His teachings and laws:

“The beginning of all things is the knowledge of God, and the end of all things is strict observance of whatsoever hath been sent down from the empyrean of the Divine Will that pervadeth all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth.”Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 5

It is really pretty awesome once one believes it, but my religion is not for the faint of heart because it entails sacrifice and carries a lot of responsibility, all worth it though.