The possibility of a God is exactly that; a possibility. There are no facts and no certainties here. There is nothing solid saying that there is a higher power and that Jesus really was sent from the Heavens just like there isn't anything saying it isn't true.
I myself believe that there is a God and an afterlife. I am not religious in any way, however, and hate being related to religion. Religion is just a nice way of saying 'cult'.
Part of the reason I believe in this is because I was brought up believing and I have always found a bit of comfort in the thought of there being more to life (and death). In truth, 65% of me is a firm believer while the other 35% is a cynical skeptic.
When considering the infamous question: 'Why are we here?" people who believe often come back with something along the lines of and relating to; to be good, to help people and those in need, to do this and that and all that stuff. In my mind there is no definitive answer. And that is why I am of a split opinion.
You see, science doesn't need a reason for us being here. God, presuming he is an almighty being, does.
If God created people, then why didn't he create us perfect and nice, without any badness? A common counter to this, I find, is often: "So we could learn to be good ourselves". But why? What is the point of that? Is this some game? Unless by us deciding to be good ourselves we have some greater effect on something that could not be achieved any other way, what is the point? Why not just be amazing people from the start? In fact, why not just start us in 'Heaven' and forget the Earth? Just start us in Heaven as these amazing beings and we're all set and done, right?
The only other counter to this I have so far heard or thought up, that actually defeats me, is 'free will'.When God created people, he created us to be able to do what we wanted, to be free and to have, ultimately, free will. If he wanted us to be naturally perfect and flawless people, that would take away any kind of option to do bad things (in other words: choice), and thus our ability of free-will would be corrupted. We would not, essentially, be people. Well I'll be damned, that is a bloody good point. I have absolutely no counter to that.
When it comes to science, as I said before, it doesn't need a reason. Science does what science does and if you have a problem with that then deal with it. If people were created by some random fluke of science then so be it, we do not need a greater purpose because science is just the way it is.
I am not here to try and disprove anything, just to ask some questions and take points of view on board.
Derren Brown asked the question: is God and this overall belief in a supernatural power just a positive placebo? Was God made up to keep peoples morale's in check, make people feel more secure and happier and to give everyone something positive to help them through their life? It's possible.
In the end, I have no answers, and neither do you. Nor do the Jehovah's Witnesses who knock on my door or the Pope. Everything, all of this, is based on a hunch. It's a bit scary really.
Earlier I noted that I hate religion. I believe what I believe and sure, you can believe what you want, but religion is just wrong. Getting a group of people together like a club who all believe in the same thing is a great idea, but religions don't seem to do any good. In fact, all they do is discriminate and hurt people. The amount of controversy surrounding the Catholic Church and pedophilia alone is disgusting. You say you are here for the greater good, to spread goodness and promote good and do good good good? Well why don't you stop causing more problems then?
It's not that I have an issue with the normal people who are part of religions that are just normal people, it is the entire religion itself and what it stands for.
I have a great example(s) of this in the form of sexism and homophobia within the church.
First of all, no women popes? Why the hell not? Because of some rubbish you believe? Give me a break. And why no gay marriages? Because it is an abomination of God and the church or something? Really? Let me just say something relating to both things just mentioned. No matter whether you believe or not, this is the fact of the matter: people, not God, created this whole 'religion' thing, OK? People, not God, created marriage, OK? People, not God, made these messed up, discriminative, rules, OK? I highly, highly, highly, highly, highly doubt that God dislikes gay people. You know why? Because if he is so 'almighty' and 'kind' and amazing, he won't give a crap.
Marriage is a man made thing, not supernaturally imposed upon us all with some secret rules. So if man made it, man can, and should, change it to accommodate gay people. It absolutely boggles my mind that it is such an issue to allow gay people to get married. Why? Just why? If you stand for God and kindness then why the fuck are you discriminating? AND being sexist to women?
It absolutely blows my mind how far this lunacy has gone. The church is a joke, imposing its power and wealth upon society in ways that are unavoidable or changeable by normal people. The church has a responsibility as the so-called 'representatives' of God, to account for everyone in a kind and accepting way. They are not doing this. They are a discriminative, homophobic, sexist organisation with little coming from the heart anymore. The thing is, too, that Christianity is the recognised religion of many people and places. It is so wide and big and has such an effect on society that what it does matters to everyone because in some way or another it affects them. Scientology is a crazy cult, but it has little effect on politics or society and thus what they do is irrelevant to all those not involved with them. On the other hand, things like Christianity have a responsibility to serve society well which they are not fulfilling and are, in fact, causing more problems with their outdated and long left behind and completely man-made homophobia and sexism.
Religion and belief can be a toxic, horrible mass of nastiness.
I can't get over what some people say and think and also do, because it relates to what they believe. In fact, this is an ideal example of how far involved with what they think is true some people are:
"Women shouldn't be able to have abortions-" OK, "Even if they are raped!" Uh wait, what? I know this is a difficult and controversial subject but really? Are you fucking kidding me? What a horrible view to have. That is such a shallow and ignorant and obnoxious view on pregnancy from rape that I am actually kind of disgusted by you. You are saying people who are victims of one of the most disturbing crimes on this earth and suffer pregnancy as a result of it, should not have the option of abortion, even though that child, which is related to the offender, may grow up to be, understandably, resented or not liked by the mother and may not get the childhood it deserves as well as causing its mother much trauma? Why, exactly, do you think this?"Because everything happens for a reason and that was obviously meant to happen to that woman. And what is more, abortion is never the answer."So, you are basing your opinion of one of the most disgusting, horrible and traumatising crimes entirely on a possibly fictional and maybe even religious belief? Get the fuck away from me please.
That is, in a nutshell, why religion, but also people who have such strong personal beliefs about these subjects, disturb me.
Do people really base what they think about extreme subjects like rape on what may or may not be true? So if there is no God, all of what you thought is pointless? Geez, well done pal. Good job. Imagine if idiotic people like these were in places of power like in politics (I know that politics is full of idiots but bare with me)? Imagine if they had the opportunity to force their ludicrous and crass beliefs upon everyone? Like I said, I believe in God and an afterlife, but not to the point where I actually make my decisions and all my opinions based on it, because what if it isn't real? What if God doesn't exist? All that would be for nothing.
All of that is like someone saying that they believe there is a monster in their attic that doesn't want them to eat waffles. So they don't eat waffles. This is insane because they are not eating waffles simply because of something they believe (but might not be true) that there is a monster in their house. Like, what the hell? But it is the same as the above situations.
These people, who have these crazy views all because of something potentially fictional, scare the crap out of me. They honest to God do. And it is another reason why religion and faith are so worrying; because of the power they have over people and our society. Religions have been the cause of lots of disgusting crimes over the years. And we are supposed to take what they represent seriously after all that/this?Peoples may believe to be happier, or because they genuinely do think there is a higher power, or some people don't because, quite rightly, there is no proof. In my mind, life is about being happy. Do what makes you happy, so long as it doesn't involve hurting others. Be a good person and enjoy yourself. If believing helps you with that, that is awesome. If you are still happy and good even if you don't have faith in religion or something, then that too is awesome. There is nothing wrong with 'religion' as such, or the people who are a part of it, but the whole religion thing today, as it is on a whole and the things it inspires and causes, is very crazy and does little good overall.
The bottom line is that we are here, on this planet, in this universe, with these other people. Who gives a damn if there is a God or not? Because whether there is or not we are only going to be on earth for so long, and no matter what is true or false we should strive to be happy and be good people. You don't need some dumb, fucked up, modern day religion to tell you that.
Most of this was just my opinion though, so share your's in the comments!
Peace people.
