this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
151 points (80.1% liked)

Asklemmy

44151 readers
1411 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
(page 3) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old

You'll have to be more precise on the definition of God. There are quite a lot of them.

The existence of an abstract concept is provable by thinking of it. If there exists an idea that you call God, then a God exists. However, that proves nothing about its properties beyond its mere existence as an idea, including whether it pertains to any real thing. Likewise, all attributes you ascribe to that idea become part of the idea, but do not automatically prove anything about reality.

Thus, the question whether there is an idea called God is trivially answered by asking it at all, but has little bearing on anything at all.

What makes ideas useful is that they group properties, and what makes them real is that there exists an actual thing having all those properties.

Thus, the question whether a real thing exists depends on the properties of that thing, so let's tackle one:

Do I believe that there can be an omnipotent entity? No. The typical argument here is "Can God create a rock so heavy, They cannot lift it anymore?" Either answer contradicts the premise of omnipotence, unless that entity can create logical contradictions, in which case all argument and reasoning is moot anyway.

In particular, do I believe that some variation of the Abrahamic God exists? No, or at least none of those I'm aware of. That doesn't mean I'm not open to being shown otherwise.

However, the idea of an omnipotent, omniscient and all-loving God runs decidedly counter to the existence of suffering, even if we ignore (or exclude) the contradiction about omnipotence.

[–] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago

If by "God" you mean an intelligence and power that created everything, including us, no I do not. I don't think any intelligence or wisdom is enough to create this thing called universe or these bunch of universes. To me "intelligence" is a tool developed by some live beings in order to succeed and prosper in the world, not a tool to create and maintain universes.

[–] Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

No and I'm glad I don't, seeing all the ignorance of the world caused by religion. But I still respect people's beliefs (to a degree) like I do with my best friend. He's like a brother to me and he's devout. As long as people don't shove their beliefs into me or talk religious nonsense to me, I'm chill.

[–] jakob@lemmy.schuerz.at 6 points 1 year ago
[–] Sombyr@lemmy.one 5 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I believe in a power above all else which gave rise to the universe. You could technically call it "God," but I prefer to think of it just as a primordial force of nature, like gravity and such, but far more ancient.

Basically I believe that in the beginning, there was nothing, and that includes the rule that something can't come from nothing. That didn't exist either, so the void just kinda imploded on itself and now stuff exists.

With no rules or restrictions on what could happen yet, literally anything could happen. In a sense, that would make the void omnipotent, but also probably mindless. In my eyes, less like a god, more like the most powerful force of nature to ever exist. Or I guess not exist.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] TheBigMike@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

I would say I lean towards not believing, but I am open to other ideas. And if god did exist it really wouldn't change anything for me. I would just live as I normaly do

[–] OhmsLawn@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Yes, but almost certainly not the same one you're thinking of.

[–] allocsb@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 year ago

It is impossible to know whether there is a higher power. I believe that the existence of the universe fundamentally violates causality to begin with, since everything must have a beginning. Thus anything is on the table.

All human conceptions of religion and spirituality are almost certainly wrong though.

[–] Mr_Rosewater@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (5 children)

God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that.

-Joseph Campbell

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] jbrains@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

No. I have no need of that hypothesis.

[–] happyhippo@feddit.it 5 points 1 year ago
[–] Asimo@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I don't think so in the cure of god as a single being.

I think there's possibly some phenomenon maybe linked to quantum entanglement where everything in the universe is more linked than we realise and there's some sort of awareness in that.

The pagan belief of nature as a God is probably the closest to something I'd agree with rather than modern depictions of god.

[–] hackris@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

Yes I do, but I prefer to not be a part of a cult of fanatics (so-called "religion) who only pretend to live their life by some ancient book. Don't get me wrong, the religious books, such as the Bible and Quran do contain a lot of knowledge and some pieces should be followed, but going to church on Sunday just to show everyone how "good of a Christian" I am is unbelievably dumb.

I see God as an entity that helps me, and I do believe in the afterlife. It just seems so bizzare to me, that I should follow some rules that people made, saying that God actually did... The church is a company like any other and I'm not going to support it, ever.

[–] oxjox@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago
[–] FlyLikeAMouse@feddit.uk 4 points 1 year ago

No, I haven’t had an imaginary friend since I was four.

[–] silver_Motoko@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I believe in some form if God, but the entity is beyond my comprehension. I don't have a religion though and don't worship anything.

[–] idunnololz@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

It depends on the definition of God. I believe there might be some being that "made" or "caused" the universe but I dont think they are pure evil or good. I also believe all religions are BS and were invented by humans, although some religions might have been invented under good intentions.

[–] TheBananaKing@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago
[–] paddirn@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I’ve got hypotheses about how there could be a god, but there’s not really any evidence or any reason I’ve seen to think there is one. While it’s not something that can be ruled out 100%, it seems stupid at this point to believe he/she/it even exists, much less to worship it, not with the state of the world today.

load more comments
view more: β€Ή prev next β€Ί