There is no evidence for God, so why do you believe?

[dybmh]

Already did, I’m a changed man and God is the one who changed me. Adopted me into His family and calls me his child, gave me His Spirit and empowered me to live a holy life instead of an immoral life.

How long have you been sober?

 

[Subduction Zone]

Already did, I’m a changed man and God is the one who changed me. Adopted me into His family and calls me his child, gave me His Spirit and empowered me to live a holy life instead of an immoral life.

No, that is only showing self improvement and there could be a host of reasons for that.

 

[ElishaElijah]

How long have you been sober?

35 years

 

[Subduction Zone]

35 years

Have you not considered that you may have recovered from what caused you to get high in the first place? I am in no way suggesting that you go tie one on to test this. But there is often an underlying problem that causes one to seek refuge in drugs. And didn't you have other help too?

 

[ElishaElijah]

Have you not considered that you may have recovered from what caused you to get high in the first place? I am in no way suggesting that you go tie one on to test this. But there is often an underlying problem that causes one to seek refuge in drugs. And didn't you have other help too?

Why would I want to put that poison in my body? I’m healed now and not sick anymore. People drink and drug, why? If you’re doing well already why would you need something to make you feel better?

 

[ppp]

And other archeologists validate the story. Will see at the end at the final exam. This is all just preparation for that Day.

One wonders how 32,000 people got lost

Why would I want to put that poison in my body? I’m healed now and not sick anymore. People drink and drug, why? If you’re doing well already why would you need something to make you feel better?

For fun

 

[Subduction Zone]

Why would I want to put that poison in my body? I’m healed now and not sick anymore. People drink and drug, why? If you’re doing well already why would you need something to make you feel better?

I said that you were probably cured of the underlying cause. That does not mean that God did it.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Except I have explained it so what don’t you understand?

You did not explain anything -- you merely claimed that God somehow helped you with your addictions. You didn't even acknowledge something that I would have thought totally fundamental -- that before God would help you, you had to want it yourself.

I was a smoker for 39 years. A heavy smoker, and you may judge me stupid for that if you wish -- I do myself. But when I quit (22 years ago), I did so because I finally really wanted to. Now, because I do not believe in God, I didn't think to ask for God's help, nor do I have any reason to suppose I got any. It was my own desire, my own knowledge of what I was inexorably doing to myself, that did the trick. And if I had not accepted that knowledge, no god anywhere could have helped me.

And I have found this this about so many people with addiction problems. They think that they can't do it themselves, but they really, really want to quit. So (a la AA) they call on a "higher power" to help them -- and then, because they have believed in this "higher power," have accepted that was how they managed.

This is precisely what the "placebo effect" is all about. What's really pitiful is that you cannot even give yourself credit for what you accomplished. Because it was YOU who accomplished it.

This is, actually, what so many people mean when they say, "God helps those who help themselves." What it really expresses, if you look closely at it, is that if you really do help yourself, then God doesn't need to be involved.

 

[Wildswanderer]

We're very far from being alone on this--Falwell, Swaggert, Baker, ...

But then, maybe you're sinless.

I'm not sure how this relates to science though. Those are moral scandals not misinformation problems.

 

[Wildswanderer]

Hilarious nonsense, scientific theories answer why questions,

What " why" questions? Science cannot even go there.

 

[Subduction Zone]

What " why" questions? Science cannot even go there.

That depends on what questions you ask. If you ask why or how is life as we see it today, that question can be answered with the sciences. How was the Earth formed: Sciences will explain, the same for the Sun, our galaxy, and even the beginning of the universe. Are there questions that the sciences cannot answer? Yes. No one claimed that it answers everything. But I am not too sure that religions can answer those questions either.

 

[PearlSeeker]

Sorry, but your misunderstanding of Einstein does not mean that he believed in a god. Why do theists try to smear his reputation that way?

It could be that be that I misunderstood Einstein but I didn't mean he believed in the personal God of the Bible. There are different definitions of God...

And Einstein preferred belief in God to "lack of any transcendental outlook of life."
What do you think means to "render to the majority of mankind a more sublime means in order to satisfy its metaphysical needs"?

Source: We followers of Spinoza see our God in the wonderful order… f/

 

[ElishaElijah]

One wonders how 32,000 people got lost

For fun

What’s really awesome is when someone receives
Christ because they believed my testimony, are born again and receive Eternal Life. To be part of changing someone’s eternal destiny is pretty great. Then watch their lives change as a result is
So rewarding.

 

[PearlSeeker]

"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish."
Einstein.

Yes, that is God of the Bible (not God of Spinoza).

 

[Subduction Zone]

It could be that be that I misunderstood Einstein but I didn't mean he believed in the personal God of the Bible. There are different definitions of God...

And Einstein preferred belief in God to "lack of any transcendental outlook of life."
What do you think means to "render to the majority of mankind a more sublime means in order to satisfy its metaphysical needs"?

Source: We followers of Spinoza see our God in the wonderful order… f/

Even that is very unsure. Can't a man wax poetic without everyone jumping to conclusions?

 

[ppp]

What’s really awesome is when someone receives
Christ because they believed my testimony, are born again and receive Eternal Life. To be part of changing someone’s eternal destiny is pretty great. Then watch their lives change as a result is
So rewarding.

Amway. Your testimony. Same thing.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

There's architectural evidence for the stories Moses wrote.

What do you mean by architectural evidence?

 

[Wildswanderer]

What do you mean by architectural evidence?

There is evidence of the Israelites in Egypt. Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446 is an Egyptian document written in hieratic script, that names 95 household servants of a noblewoman named Senebtisi.16 Forty of the names are Semitic.

The biblical description of slaves making bricks is affirmed by a painting in the tomb of Rehkmire. ( 1470-1445 BC)

The most famous discovery related to Moses and the Exodus is the Merneptah Stele.
It contains the oldest definitive reference to Israel as a nation outside of the Bible, and the clearest Egyptian reference to Israel.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

There is evidence of the Israelites in Egypt. Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446 is an Egyptian document written in hieratic script, that names 95 household servants of a noblewoman named Senebtisi.16 Forty of the names are Semitic.

The biblical description of slaves making bricks is affirmed by a painting in the tomb of Rehkmire. ( 1470-1445 BC)

The most famous discovery related to Moses and the Exodus is the Merneptah Stele.
It contains the oldest definitive reference to Israel as a nation outside of the Bible, and the clearest Egyptian reference to Israel.

Thanks for the clarification. I was confused and I am guessing you meant archaeological evidence. I was curious though. You never know what might be revealed as evidence for something.

Thanks for those examples too.

 

[Spirit of Light]

How do you know that?

I have experienced it through personally practiced spiritual teachings since i was 15 years old.