Seriously

lostexpectation

God is just a concept right?

You may believe but its just a concept??

AARRRGH

Of course! There is no proof whatsoever. In fact, IMO, I think there is overwhelming proof that God doesn't exist. I really believe people only believe in God because there is something seriously missing in their lives.

I believe it is just a concept.

Rev Hellfire

dublindude wrote:

In fact, IMO, I think there is overwhelming proof that God doesn't exist.

I for one would be interested in the results of your research.

CerebralCortex

dublindude wrote:

Of course! There is no proof whatsoever. In fact, IMO, I think there is overwhelming proof that God doesn't exist. I really believe people only believe in God because there is something seriously missing in their lives.

I believe it is just a concept.

I would love to see this proof

lostexpectation

argghh I purposely didn't put this in a/a forum!, Move it back please. I put it in spirituality as it refers to all types of gods simply being concepts, ie a form of spirituality, which I don't necessarily have a problem with. Not simple (another) discussion about there not being a god as such.

All this talk of science disproving God is red-herring to me, very confusing, its just a concept, is there anyone who believes in a God/follows a theology, but recognises its just a concept.

ratboy

A concept or a belief? Depends on what way you look at it.

CerebralCortex

Ya I see where your coming from. God as a conept is probably the reason I am borderline Agnostic/faithless. If you believe in God and you are devout and full of faith then Gods is an entity or reality by no means a concept IMO. I could be wrong that has happened before.

ratboy

CerebralCortex wrote:

Ya I see where your coming from. God as a conept is probably the reason I am borderline Agnostic/faithless. If you believe in God and you are devout and full of faith then Gods is an entity or reality by no means a concept IMO. I could be wrong that has happened before.

Spot on.

Rev Hellfire

I'm not sure I see the point of god as a concept, a believer well as stated before believes in a god(s) as a entity while a atheist has no need of the concept since they have already rejected the idea of god.

Maybe you could expand a bit on this idea of yours.

ratboy

well, you could consider god and his many views a highly developed concept written up to try and explain the meaning of life and so on. But if you truly believe in God, it's not a concept, it's a fact.

Rev Hellfire

ratboy wrote:

well, you could consider god and his many views a highly developed concept written up to try and explain the meaning of life and so on. But if you truly believe in God, it's not a concept, it's a fact.

So its just a fancy way of saying if you believe in god then you believe he's real, but if you don't then he's not.

Its the You may believe but its just a concept?? which interests me.
Is it simply a 'god doesn't exist and if you think he does you're wrong' statement ?

Dades

God can't be a concept to believers, or non-believers. He is God to those who believe in him, and non-existent to atheists.

But isn't god a concept to agnostics?

Moreover, as has undoubtably occurred throughout history, wouldn't a god created by men who knew he did not exist would be a concept?

lostexpectation

The Atheist wrote:

Moreover, as has undoubtably occurred throughout history, wouldn't a god created by men who knew he did not exist would be a concept?

well ratboy gets my drift, he even says god is an explaination....as much as the ol' Darwin theory, one could say that we are proof of evolution and you could equally say that we humans are proof of God but,

What is there of God?

--

What Im saying is, is there anyone who practices their fatih, who believes prayer and devotion are worthwhile, that God is a reflection of the aims of man to be good and moral but for them God/faith is a concept, a method.

Rev Hellfire

lostexpectation wrote:

What Im saying is, is there anyone who practices their fatih, who believes prayer and devotion are worthwhile, that God is a reflection of the aims of man to be good and moral but for them God/faith is a concept, a method.

I'm sure asiaprod might know more about this, but if I understand it correctly in certain branches of Buddhism the existence of god is unimportant, it’s not where you’re going that’s important, but rather how you get there is.
While there is a supreme being (Ishvara I think) its is not one like in most other religions as something you interact with and that passes judgement on you or even interacts with you, but rather it’s a state you aspire to.
Which is kind of like the concept you refer to.

disclaimer: I know next to nothing about buddhism so may be grossly mispresenting it

bubonicus

The single god religions, as in Christian, Islam, Judaism are all founded from the same guy.

One day a guy, can't remember his name was washing in the river getting ready for a hindu or pagan cermony, when he had a revealtion that there is only one god and all the other gods of the world at that time where devils and that when you die god will judge you.

If you believe in something, anything, well to you that thing is true/fact even.

Believe is one of the strongest forces in the universe....

Best not to believe in anything other than what is known. The rest is theory at best.

lostexpectation

well your right there rev, I was going exclude Buddhism, as it that seems to be the exception that prooves the rule.

OK so can I ask the same of all and other religions including Catholicism!


Watched the what is god programme last night on BBC a new series by dr. lord winston, its funny seeing him going around to all these places in his suit, he must travels for days for two minutes of footage.

Asiaprod

You are not doing to bad Rev. H.

Yes I would put Buddhism up there. There are many schools of Buddhism, and they can differ considerably.
I practice my faith, prayer and devotion, but it is to no God. We don't have a God and as such are Atheists. As Agnostics, we have good and bad deities for reference purposes and we do believe in a--here it get a little difficult to explain so pick which is most appropriate as they are just names for the same thing, Natural Law, Mystic Law, a Higher Consciousness, the Universe. For us, it is ALL about getting there in the best possible shape. There is no one to sit in judgment of me. If I live in harmony with the world I enjoy a good existence, if I live out of harmony I suffer. I am totally responsible for my circumstances in this life and I have the power within to change them.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is my Buddhism in a nut shell. The key to it all was defined by my buddy Excelsior:) "What goes around, comes around (eventually)"

Dades

lostexpectation wrote:

argghh I purposely didn't put this in a/a forum!, Move it back please. I put it in spirituality as it refers to all types of gods simply being concepts, ie a form of spirituality, which I don't necessarily have a problem with. Not simple (another) discussion about there not being a god as such.

Lost, I feel your "God is a concept" thread belongs here.

IMO to refer to something as a concept is to suggest it isn't real in the sense that people of faith believe a god to be real. Spirituality like religion suggests the belief in something actually existing.

Also, the very belief that god is indeed a concept is central to many atheist/agnostic beliefs. And we are referring to "all types of gods" here too.

If it belongs anywhere else, maybe it would maybe be the philosophy forum. I could move it there but personally I'd hate to see it go down that road. Moving it back to Spirituality after they already shifted it out would be cheeky.

ArthurDent

bubonicus wrote:

The single god religions, as in Christian, Islam, Judaism are all founded from the same guy.

One day a guy, can't remember his name was washing in the river getting ready for a hindu or pagan cermony, when he had a revealtion that there is only one god and all the other gods of the world at that time where devils and that when you die god will judge you.

If you believe in something, anything, well to you that thing is true/fact even.

Believe is one of the strongest forces in the universe....

Best not to believe in anything other than what is known. The rest is theory at best.

think this is what you're refering to: Zoroastrianism - didn't found these religions but predated much of them
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism

lostexpectation

lostexpectation wrote:

God is just a concept right?

You may believe but its just a concept??

As are democracy, natural rights, morality, freedom, justice, equality, logic etc.

Sometimes it just works out better to pretend some things do exist even if you can't prove them.

robindch

> As are democracy, natural rights, morality, freedom, justice, equality, logic etc.

All of these are ideas -- things which occupy memory and processing space in our brains which then goes on to direct our bodies to carry out actions as a result of these ideas.

"God", on the other hand, is supposed in some sense, to be "real" and to perform actions autonomously. This is Quite A Different Thing.

> Sometimes it just works out better to pretend some things do exist even if you can't prove them.

"Proof" has nothing to do with "existence" (as an exercise, prove that "green" exists), 'specially when the existence depends upon a definition, not an observation. It's the ideas versus reality thing again -- people get them mixed up all the time.