What's leads you to believe what you believe?

[djj6835]

I have a couple questions for anyone who believes in some religion.

The first is, other than your upbringing, what leads you to follow the religion you follow. I think it is safe to say that if you were raised as a Christian, and believe in god/creationism, then you probably still believe in Christianity. Why is this? If one religion was truly correct, wouldn't the majority of the population eventually end up following that same religion? Considering that the only evidence for any one religion is a book/scriptures why does one religion seem credible to you and others don't.

My second question is this. If you were born and raised completely cutoff from the rest of society, and then presented with all the various religions, do you think you would still believe the same thing you believe today. This includes things like scientology. Would the religion containing burning bushes, a virgin birth, the parting of a sea, and a mortal man walking on water seem completely credible while the one regarding aliens and hydrogen bombs seem completely ridiculous. Keep in mind you would have no previous bias to influence your decision, just the "facts".

If you would still believe the same thing and not believe any of the other religions I'm curious as to why.

[TheQ]

Funny thing is, it seems to me people can believe anything.

So you're right, what makes Christianity "right"?

Asumming there is only 1 'real' God, why don't you sincerely ask him if he exists? Put ALL religion aside. And talk to the 'real' God.

I used to not like sushi, until I thought it was trendy. I believed it should taste good, and now it does.

Why not assume all relgion is incorrect, and make 1 assumption. Assume there is one God greater than the rest, who is a nice guy, and talk to him. The bible isn't required, because He should tell you Himself, what is true and what isn't. He can tell you what is right and wrong.

See my reply to David Skansky's post "The Biggest Miracle"

And yes, after I finsh reading the Bible, I want to step back and examine other regions from my best unbiased view.

[txag007]

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Considering that the only evidence for any one religion is a book/scriptures

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You are basing your question off a false asumption as this is not true for the existence of God in general or for Christianity.

[Lestat]

Ok. Maybe I'm finaly about to learn something here.

Without referring to any book or scripture, please tell me what "evidence" there is that proves the existence of a God? I missed it.

[txag007]

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Ok. Maybe I'm finaly about to learn something here.

Without referring to any book or scripture, please tell me what "evidence" there is that proves the existence of a God? I missed it.

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First of all, I didn't say "proves". The OP said that the only evidence was a book, and that is not true. There is plenty of evidence that makes belief in God reasonable.

This has been discussed several times in other threads, but I have yet to hear a sufficient counter-argument that would make me believe otherwise.

One example of such evidence is as follows:

There are only three possibilities for the existence of the universe. (A fourth being that it's all an illusion, but this view isn't widely held).

1. The universe has always existed.
2. The universe created itself.
3. The universe was created.

As for #1, nuclear fusion tells us that this cannot be. Our universe does not contain an infinite amount of hydrogen, and thus, it must have had a beginning.

This leads us to option #2. There are no other examples under our laws of physics where something has come from nothing, especially not on such a large scale.

Therefore, the creation of the universe must have occurred from outside our laws of physics. This leaves #3.

Again, there are counter-arguments to this. Personally, though, I find them so far-fetched that they require more faith to believe than God.

It's not 100% proof, but contrary to the OP, this is reasonable evidence in the existence of God.

I am seriously cracking up over here... This is friggin funny!!

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Funny thing is, it seems to me people can believe anything.

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Uh huh...

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Asumming there is only 1 'real' God,

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Assuming, indeed.

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Why not assume all relgion is incorrect, and make 1 assumption.

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The one you made, I suppose?

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And yes, after I finsh reading the Bible, I want to step back and examine other regions from my best unbiased view.

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You should have done that before reading the Bible. You started out biased toward Christianity. Then, you will read the Bible, and go through the Bible-study guides you posted in another thread. I'm guessing after that, you'll be even MORE biased.

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1. The universe has always existed.
2. The universe created itself.
3. The universe was created.

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I think it's a combo between #1 & #3. If by "universe", you mean our observable 4-dimensional (that we know of) "universe", then current understanding would say it could not have always existed. However, a multi-verse, a higher-level universe *could* have always existed. This universe need not be intelligent.

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Personally, though, I find them so far-fetched that they require more faith to believe than God.

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I think that beliving that a supreme intelligent being created us in this vast universe, for some cosmic eternal test, and became a human, and then died & resurrected to save us from eternal hell is MUCH less believable than that there is a "universe" beyond our perceivable universe that we have not yet detected.

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It's not 100% proof, but contrary to the OP, this is reasonable evidence in the existence of God.

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That's "argumentum ad ignorantiam" if I've ever seen it. I'll summarize your evidence: "We don't know how or where our universe came from... therefore, the Christian God of the Bible exists."

[Lestat]

*If our universe was created, then it must have been created outside our universe. This could've been caused by God or something else. There is no reason to think that God is more likely than something else. If there IS a reason, please explain.

*If you have a problem with the universe as having always existed or creating itself, then it would logically follow you should run into the same problem with God always having existed or creating Himself. If your logic differs, please explain.

[txag007]

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I'll summarize your evidence: "We don't know how or where our universe came from... therefore, the Christian God of the Bible exists."

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Did I say "Christian God of the Bible" anywhere in my post? I would appreciate it if you wouldn't put words in my mouth. I was simply indicating the evidence for a Creator.

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I think it's a combo between #1 & #3. If by "universe", you mean our observable 4-dimensional (that we know of) "universe", then current understanding would say it could not have always existed. However, a multi-verse, a higher-level universe *could* have always existed.

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There is absolutely zero evidence for this.

[txag007]

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*If you have a problem with the universe as having always existed or creating itself, then it would logically follow you should run into the same problem with God always having existed or creating Himself. If your logic differs, please explain.

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I have a problem with our universe always existing because of the concept of nuclear fusion. Science tells us that the universe had a beginning.

God, on the other hand, is not bound by our laws of physics. As our creator, he, by definition, exists outside our dimensional universe. Therefore, there is no conflict in saying that He has always been here.