I don't know if I believe in god

[Ihavewings]

I grew up believing in god, from age 0 to 5 I thought god was a giant monkey in the sky until my brother told me god is not in a monkey. So then I just imagined him as maybe an old man. I constantly travel to Africa with my family, and I have seen a lot of things. I witnessed the act of diagnosing evil witchcraft and it made no sense at all thorns were forming out of water. I did not know what to think of that, I've seen the effects of witchcraft and I believe in it. But I began to question what is this witchcraft? It is an act of evil, and if withcraft exists then the devil must exist to and if there is a devil then there also must be a god. I also began to read about the illumnati new world order and other conspiracy theories and all these people have special rituals where they worship the devil. So if the devil exists then god must exist to, I am confused. But then I ask myself who is god, how old does he appear to be, what does he wear and if he truly is a nice loving being then why would he allow such cruel things to happen.



The time I really began to believe in witchcraft is when my parents were not feeling good and they went to a man who cures. They had already had an idea of who it was. This man who cures lives very far away, and he told us who did the spells and it was the same person we suspected. It made me think what in the world. T

[Ihavewings]

also the whole idea of out of body experiences I sort of relate it to god. because if obes are real and your spirit does really leave your body and spirits really do exists, then who made spirits. there has to be a god behind this

[Xanth]

"I don't know" is probably the best position to be in. 

You're asking great fundamental questions of consciousness and reality.  Everyone has their own answer, even if that answer is as you put it, "I don't know", but nobody has THE answer.
I think you're asking the right questions.

I think you're definitely asking all the right questions... it's just unfortunate that nobody can provide an answer for you.  These are the kinds of questions which only you can answer for yourself.

The nice part is that you don't need to be anywhere near astral projection in order to answer them... you only have to look within yourself for them, as they're not as far away as you might think. 

[NoY]

The word God is a version of the word Good

Do you belive in Good?

:NoY:

[Volgerle]

... spelt backwards it's DOG. 

I believe in Dogs, btw., they exist, and thus maybe God(s), too? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H17edn_RZoY

[Killa Rican]

The practice of "Witchcraft" is not evil. The mainstream spirituality's have a problem with it because they see that kind of practice as Morally Ambiguous. It's all about intent, and then it rounds down to the individual practitioner, with a little karma involved, one can choose to bless occasionally or curse occasionally, but a whole blanket term in itself cannot be labeled "evil"..

As for "God", it can mean anything to anyone, but it has more significance on a personal level. Dude it really is irrelevant whether or not a "creator" entity really exists or not. That is not why we are here anyways.

You been to Africa alot, most religions/cults in Africa See Nzambi/Olorun as a Creator that is impersonal and uninvolved with it's creation. All of them share that similarity.Somewhat the most logical approach similar to the philosophy in Deism.

In my opinion it does not really matter. I dont think you should let something so impossible to figure out bother you. You can still go the Agnostic Deist route after all.  

[catmeow]

I think I believe in God, but probably not the Devil (the fact that one exists doesn't mean the other must exist too). In NDE cases, a deity (God or the Light or the Source) is very commonly reported.  Curiously, whilst hellish NDEs are common in youtube, very very rarely, do people report meeting the Devil. Much more commonly they meet evil entities, or evil people, but not "the Devil".

Where did the universe (multiverse) come from? Why is it here? Looking at Creation, it's difficult (for me) to think it's just some sort of massive accident. Maybe it is,  but it seems too incredible to think it is just here, because of some sort of spontaneous creation event. Science certainly hasn't solved the mystery of Creation, there are many different theories, including half a dozen which postulate a universe which has no beginning and no end ie it has always been here. Hmmm. Big bang type theories generally require a singularity to exist, before the big bang. Where did this come from?

It's a mystery. To me the idea of a universe without a God or a Source, is meaningless, and logically just reduces (cancels itself) down to a non-existence, a nothingness. Without a Source, the universe would feel non-existent, and basically unreal.

[Kirkland]

Where did the universe (multiverse) come from? Why is it here? Looking at Creation, it's difficult (for me) to think it's just some sort of massive accident. Maybe it is,  but it seems too incredible to think it is just here, because of some sort of spontaneous creation event. Science certainly hasn't solved the mystery of Creation, there are many different theories, including half a dozen which postulate a universe which has no beginning and no end ie it has always been here. Hmmm. Big bang type theories generally require a singularity to exist, before the big bang. Where did this come from?

Where did god come from then?

[Killa Rican]

Where did god come from then?

The question of how the universe began, was it creation or an accident, how did everything we see before us turn out to be? Why does it exist?

If the universe came to be, because of a God then how did God come to be? Some people believe there was never a beginning and that "stuff" has always existed.

The universe could have always existed, or God could have always existed. Both of these questions I see are pretty related to one another from the standpoint of believers who consider "God" and the Universe to be identical i.e Pantheism, and this metaphorical bible verse backs it up.

Revelation 22:13 "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."

So whether God really is a creator being or not, the "source" clearly is the beginning and the end of all things which can be an answer to both questions I suppose..

[Bedeekin]

Revelation 22:13 "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."

Taken literally this means god is just the whole of EVERYTHING!!

I have always had a problem with the biblical idea of God because it implies he is a thinking judgemental omnipresent being. This alone just sounds too far fetched.. even to my child's mind he was as silly as Santa Clause. This attitude has changed... then I totally disregarded... now I entertain the idea but it's my own personal idea... it's not even a fundamental belief in me... just a curious idea.

I believe in being good to people and helping when I can. I would and have given my last penny to those who need it. I don't hate anyone... and needed to be told a million times what jealousy and envy are.. seriously... I don't seem to experience these emotions, which gave me a sort of annoying naivety when it came to working in the film industry; a breeding ground of fear and ego.

Taking the last paragraph into consideration... I don't need a god to make me good... to make me do right... I just know these are right and natural. I don't need to fear a place I go when I die because of how I conducted myself on earth.

I think christianity and most organised religion as a whole is missing the point - to revere a life lived so that we can go to a paradise....

This is a paradise... open your eyes.

[Kirkland]

The question of how the universe began, was it creation or an accident, how did everything we see before us turn out to be? Why does it exist?

If the universe came to be, because of a God then how did God come to be? Some people believe there was never a beginning and that "stuff" has always existed.

The universe could have always existed, or God could have always existed. Both of these questions I see are pretty related to one another from the standpoint of believers who consider "God" and the Universe to be identical i.e Pantheism, and this metaphorical bible verse backs it up.

Revelation 22:13 "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."

So whether God really is a creator being or not, the "source" clearly is the beginning and the end of all things which can be an answer to both questions I suppose..

Yup that was my point either way something had to exist (I'm agnostic so I'm personally not sure if their is a god or not). Our reality either way wouldn't be an accident because even with the idea that the universe has always been there it was bound to happen. If the universe has always been infinite then every possibility will happen at some stage. Put it this way if you threw a dice of say 1 zillion numbers on it every number will come up at least once if you throw the dice infinitely.

[catmeow]

Yup that was my point either way something had to exist (I'm agnostic so I'm personally not sure if their is a god or not). Our reality either way wouldn't be an accident because even with the idea that the universe has always been there it was bound to happen. If the universe has always been infinite then every possibility will happen at some stage. Put it this way if you threw a dice of say 1 zillion numbers on it every number will come up at least once if you throw the dice infinitely.

Well, if there was a creation event, then there would be nothing not even space-time, prior to the creation event, so the idea of having an infinite amount of time in which a creation event could happen is not correct, I think? There would have been no space-time "before" creation. Nothing, not even a vacuum, no space, no time, nothing. So there would not have been an infinite "time" for a spontaneous creation event to randomly happen. So how did it happen?

Alternatively, if the universe in some form has always existed, then that's a bit of a difficult concept too.

It gets more complicated, because the theory of "inflation" allows for universes to spontaneously inflate out of regions in a present universe, spawning new universes with their own laws of physics. These can give rise to other universes in a similar fashion.

So we can have (1) an everlasting universe, spawning new universes, presumably an infinite number. We can also have (2) a non-everlasting universe spawning new universes, but in this case, the whole shooting match started at some discrete moment, which marked the beginning of time.

Some people speculate that there is no difference between (1) and (2) arguing that (2) has been going on for ever, meaning that we could never trace all the way back to the original creation event. "It's turtles all the way down" is the expression that comes to mind.

(Some woman at a lecture piped up her idea that the planet earth was a turtle standing on the back of another turtle. When asked what the other turtle was standing on, she said "it's turtles all the way down").

Personally I find it all a bit mind blowing. And unbelievable. Yet it is true.

Edit: More on turtles.....!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down

[catmeow]

Where did god come from then?

Yeah, I know. In NDE accounts, there is a tendency to refer to God, or the Light as the "Source". I kind of like this. I have no firm beliefs on this matter, but if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that consciousness is the basic building block of the universe, and that God, or the Source is the universal consciousness. We are all little drops of consciousness. taken from the Source. Perhaps the Source has always existed, and all of physical creation is just a creation of our collective consciousness.

[Volgerle]

... consciousness is the basic building block of the universe, and ... God, or the Source is the universal consciousness. We are all little drops of consciousness. taken from the Source. Perhaps the Source has always existed, and all of physical creation is just a creation of our collective consciousness.

Hits the nail on the head for me, it's what I strongly believe too.

[Stookie_]

Either something exists or nothing exists. Or both. Hang on, I hear a tree falling in the forest... or do I?

[Ihavewings]

Admin moved the topic to Traditions and Religions, why when ever god or a creator is mentioned it has to do with religion. 

[mindflood]

Dont a lot of people here believe that god is just a metaphor for all things that transcend human concepts and cant be labeled with words?

[Lionheart]

Admin moved the topic to Traditions and Religions, why when ever god or a creator is mentioned it has to do with religion.  

You have to be kidding right?   Think about this for a minute.

[Volgerle]

You have to be kidding right?   Think about this for a minute.

Depends on how we define the word or concept "religion". Narrowly defined it refers to organised institutional (sometimes state-related) religion with their dogmas, rituals, commandments and 'laws' of behaviour and (literal) scripture-limited beliefs for their followers. They are mostly based on exotericism (the outer teachings) and the "old" god-concept.
Some take a broader view of god and spirituality and mostly incoroporate the esoteric (=inner teachings) / mystic (or "occult") view which is not popular (or even known) with the mainstream of all the orthodox (or fundamental) believers. Here's the concept of a god as "Source", "All That Is" (with us part of it) or the "Big Central Computer", etc. Some then still use the word "religion", even within "new age" movement or mysticism, although I would not do so personally as I differentiate between (old) religion on the one hand and spirituality or metaphysics on the other. It's a lot about words and their definitions.

[personalreality]

god doesn't exist in any traditional sense.

god is simply the infinite knowledge of self.

any religious god is bunk and you'd be deluded to believe in such a thing. 

[catmeow]

god doesn't exist in any traditional sense.

god is simply the infinite knowledge of self.

any religious god is bunk and you'd be deluded to believe in such a thing. 

Trying to offend 70% of the world's population??!!! But probably true.

[Killa Rican]

lolz.

[Xanth]

Trying to offend 70% of the world's population??!!! But probably true.

70% of the worlds population offend themselves. 

[Szaxx]

The best bit is the others don't even know why.