The Existence of GOD

Nan God, Religion, , , , ,

Makagutu, a blogger from Kenya, recently wrote a post entitled Atheism and other random stories. As I was reading it, this comment stood out to me:

That it is in the bible does not make it true.

Non-believers have undoubtedly uttered these very words more than once in their conversations with believers. And I would venture to say that much of the time, it was to no avail because … “The Bible” was written by none other than “God” him/her/itself … and who are we mortals to question “God?”

Which brings me to the point of this posting.

Since leaving the Christian faith, I’ve thought long and hard about the existence of “God.” Of course, like other believers, my vision of such a being was centered around the entity described in “The Bible.” It took many years of extensive research (and deep thought) before coming to the conclusion this “Bible God” simply does not exist.

But what about … GOD?

More than once, I’ve heard/read this statement (or something similar) from atheists: “I can’t say with absolute certainty there is no god (or gods), but I have not come across any tangible, concrete evidence to support the existence of  such a being.” Many who feel this way often call themselves “agnostic atheists.”

I suppose there is the remote possibility a supernatural being does exist. And there’s even the potential this being created the universe and all that goes with it.

However, the question that comes to my mind is … if such an all-powerful entity does exist, why would it be interested in the minutiae of human life?

As I’ve indicated elsewhere on this blog, I do believe in a “Universal Presence.” But this is not the same as a god. It is more of a feeling, a sense of awe at the grandeur of the cosmos. Carl Sagan said we are all “star stuff.” In other words, we are made up of the same atoms that make up the stars. Neil deGrasse Tyson added to this when he said: “We are not simply in the universe. The universe is in us.”

In answer to the usual question from Christians regarding how everything got started … I don’t know. And I really don’t care. I’m here now and I intend to enjoy every moment of my existence. If others want to believe a metaphysical entity lives somewhere “up there” and is interested in the “sinfulness” of humankind, that’s their prerogative.

What say you? What’s your view/perspective/position about GOD?

I would love for my Christian readers to share their thoughts about the existence of GOD as well, but from a personal standpoint, not just quotes and/or references from the bible. 🙂

132 thoughts on “The Existence of GOD”

  1. Very good post. Really liked your quotes from Sagan and Tyson. I postulate that I can not know for certain that a “divine invisible dude” absolutely does not exist, but I’m not an agnostic atheist any more than I’m an agnostic big foot doubter. I do not, even for a second, believe in gods or big foots. But, to claim I have absolute knowledge that tomorrow such a beast won’t show up is to claim I am omnipotent and I am not. I’m also not an idiot, and I do not believe things just because I’m suppose to. I also believe, like Carl Sagan did, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence to be believed. Period. The Bible is NOT evidence for a god. It is a collection of very human writings and proves nothing. Theists simply can not admit they do not know things. They do not know their god is real. They merely choose to believe it is. They have no empirical evidence for their god’s existence because it does not exist. I’m not agnostic in any way. I simply demand evidence for the fantastic claims many people make before I’ll believe them. I can not claim Peter Pan won’t show up tomorrow and be proven real, though I’ve no reason to believe he is real unless such an event occurs. I do believe we can all agree such an occurrence will not take place. That is my position on god. And even more specifically, it is my position on the Christian god. Life is too short to be spent worrying about what happens when it’s over. Time is better spent preserving and enjoying the life I have now. I do not believe a god or gods exist or have anything whatsoever to do with reality. I’ll believe this until someone shows me empirical, testable evidence to believe otherwise.

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    • Thank you, IBTD! Appreciate you stopping by and leaving a comment.

      You are correct. None of us have “absolute knowledge” about GOD or anything else in this world (except perhaps our own existence). As you said, all we can do is go by the evidence and, contrary to what many claim, the bible is NOT evidence for the existence of a supernatural being.

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      • Makagutu and I do happen to have absolute knowledge of The Great, Divine Golden Boot. We’re the last prophets for this great being that loves to redden the arses of narcissistic ignoramuses who claim they are absolutely right about everything they say in regards to their deity. Mak and I are absolutely infallible in regards to The Golden Boot. $Amen$ 🙂

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  2. “If others want to believe a metaphysical entity lives somewhere “up there” and is interested in the “sinfulness” of humankind, that’s their prerogative.”

    Nan, this really stood out because it has been my experience and observation that believers, especially from your largest Christian denominations, tend to have an obsession with “the sinfulness of humankind”. I wished this archaic ideology would die. It hinders our evolution.

    I agree with Sagan and Tyson. With you, as well. There is a universal presence — electromagnetic fields. We emit them, the Earth emits them and is surrounded by them. They are all throughout the Universe, and they can mess with our head. The interpretation depends on the culture.

    Arch, where is that quote about gods being so human-like, including the biblical god(s)?

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  3. Victoria — ahhh yes. The “sinfulness of humankind.” You probably recall the discussion about this on my last posting (Born in Sin?) with a person who shall remain nameless. 😉

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  5. ==how everything got started … I don’t know. And I really don’t care.==
    Nan, I couldn’t agree more! The Beginning (if there was one) will remain an interesting question, because who can offer a “correct” reply? True, because it’s written in the Bible??? I would, eventually, be willing to accept the sound evidence of a Superpower (provided I also receive an acceptable reply to my next question who created Him), but believers are so sure to be heavily punished that they will not dare to doubt what their brainwashers taught them. At the end of the day, I find any explanation awesome. – Even without a Big Start, the “GOD” I could perhaps-maybe believe in, would certainly not be a anthropogenic, Christian, God. Living just once, here and now, is much more challenging than reckoning with an absurd afterlife. Eternal, to boot!
    Someone said to Neil deGrasse Tyson that he felt small when observing the sky on an unclouded night. The astrophysicist replied : “Quite to the contrary, I feel big. I’m part of the Universe!
    “Agnostic atheist” is an adequate description indeed. I’m getting a bit disappointed with some blogs that exalt atheism to the point that it seems a religion.-

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  6. I was a Christian for many years. I deconverted several years ago after reading literally hundreds of books outside the Bible. Once I started asking the questions, I never turned back.

    Having said this, I still feel I have some sort of spiritual side. It could be as you stated, a presence of the Universe. Regardless, I try to live every day to its fullest. I try to remember and help those less fortunate than me.

    IF there happens to be a Deity that I must meet when I die, I am not the least bit worried about what he will think of me. If he doesn’t like me. Tuff ! He will be the one guilty of making me !

    Otherwise, dust to dust , ashes to ashes. It’s all about living my life now, not what it might be in an afterlife. 🙂

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  10. KCChief – “He will be the one guilty of making me !” Love that! Great response (if ever needed).

    Thank you, Victoria, for the video. Very moving (as expressed in my previous comment). And yes, I’d seen the one about brain cells and the universe. Interesting similarity.

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      • Nan, thank you, and you too, Jeff. I went through a grieving process — literally the 5 stages of grief during my deconversion, and much of it had to do with the betrayal I felt, but also giving up so much of my life (dying to myself) to a myth.

        However, I am grateful for having experienced extreme contrasts which highlights the depths of wonderment and appreciation for life that I have now Christians (especially those enslaved by the bible) rarely live in the present, among the living.

        I like what Phil Hellenes stated in his goosebumps inducing video Science Saved My Soul :

        “Stars (suns) must die so that I can live.”

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  13. Neuro – did you mean this one?

    “Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves.
    Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.”
    — Robert A. Heinlein —

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  15. What’s even more astounding than what Tyson said, was what he left out, possibly in the interest of brevity, and that’s that it takes three – count ’em – THREE supernovae to turn hydrogen atoms into gold molecules – that’s to say, that the atoms with which we share this earth, have been through a supernova explosion, gathered and compressed into another massive star that went supernova, then collected once again into a third such star and underwent yet another explosion before it created the gas of which our sun, and hence our earth, and us, is composed.

    Of course most of the gas and dust from those earlier explosions went off in all directions, not all of it was collected into the next star in the progression. The atoms of which I’m comprised could as easily have been among those that flew away, instead, they were among those that were collected by gravity and eventually condensed – THREE TIMES – can one not see from this, the incredible odds against our existing at all?

    I guess that’s what they mean when they say to thank your lucky stars.

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  17. Neuro, regarding your image of a brain cell vs the universe – I guess one can only hit the “Like” button once, huh? Well, for the record, I double-liked it!

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  20. ==Theologians can persuade themselves to anything.==
    What worries me is that theology is recognized as a rational study of concepts of God, supernature, religious truths, which is why so many people willingly allow these professors to help them to delude themselves.

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  21. archaeopteryx1: what kind of brain cells would I need to understand those supernova processes – let alone to figure them out! I would also like to have an idea of in how much time such transformations take place?.-

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    • I wouldn’t want to disappoint KC:

      Our sun is a middle-aged star – it’s 4.5 billion years old, and will never go Supernova, because it simply isn’t big enough – instead, it will burn up all of its hydrogen, and the residue will become helium atoms, at which time, it will begin to expand into a Red Giant, and grow to the size of the orbit of Mars, vaporizing everything in between, including the Earth – we will once again become “star stuff.”

      Indian physicist, Chandrasekhar, determined that no star would ever go supernovae unless it was at least 1.5 times the mass of our sun. He also determined that due to its greater mass, a massive star would burn through its hydrogen much more quickly than would a more moderate star such as our sun (live fast, die young!).

      While I can’t place the exact time limit on it (it would depend on the individual star’s mass and age) you’re asking for, but since there would have to be three of them to create the molecules necessary for gold, and since the universe itself is only (roughly) 13.7 billion years old, the time could hardly have been the 9-billion year expected lifespan of our own sun, Sol.

      Best I can do.

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      • OK – 13.75, minus 4.5 = 8.25 billion years. It’s obvious that super-massive stars didn’t form immediately after the Big Bang – for the first 1/2 million years, all was plasma, even the initial atoms had not yet come together. So we have 7.75 billion years for such super-massive stars to form, burn out, explode, reform, and for the residue to form Sol and the Earth. Closest I can come to pinning it down.

        (Hint: I wasn’t there, despite what NeuroNotes may say about me, and my phone, and my computer OS – long story!)

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  22. “I would also like to have an idea of in how much time such transformations take place?.-”

    I like to tease Arch from time to time, but he is pretty smart. I bet he comes up with a good answer to this.

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  23. You said: —————-I would love for my Christian readers to share their thoughts about the existence of GOD as well, but from a personal standpoint, not just quotes and/or references from the bible. 🙂 ———————–

    Why Nan? 😉

    ‘If the heavens above, and all that is, and the fulness of the earth below, and all that is,
    are not proof of a Creator, then WHAT could the atheist possibly demand to satiate his curiosity, and to finally admit: There is a God?’

    Tkx for the invite tho-
    CS

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    • “WHAT could the atheist possibly demand to satiate his curiosity, and to finally admit: There is a God?” – Verifiable proof of a connection between the god of your fantasies and the creation of the “heavens,” i.e., sky, and the earth below.

      “Tkx for the invite tho-” – No problem, come back when you can’t stay so long – taa, now!

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  24. Universal Presence? Nan, that is fascinating. Can you describe it beyond that? Why do you think it coincides with Sagan’s thoughts and feelings?

    Sagan’s book/movie Contact seemed to suggest he was sympathetic to God becoming known to certain people, even if they could not prove it. To me this is a commendable harmonizing and humble view of things.

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    • Brandon, let me quote from my book. Perhaps this will help you understand what I mean by “Universal Presence.”

      I have found the description that works best for me is Universal Presence, but even these words do not encompass the awe and inspiration that stirs within me when I gaze up at the stars at night. My mind staggers as I contemplate the billions and billions of galaxies and try to understand how it all came to be and why I am a part of it.
      One thing is certain. I simply cannot attribute it to some mystical supernatural being that is said to exist somewhere “out there.” No, it is not the work of some god; it is the manifestation of a power that cannot be defined.
      How can we possibly put a “face” on something that is infinite and uncreated? How can we conceptualize an entity that is not limited by dimensions in any way? Any “god” we might create is inadequate and falls far short of the essence exhibited in our wondrous cosmos.
      For me, this magnificent Presence encompasses all time and space and is everywhere and in every now. It is within every tiny molecule, every atomic particle. It exists within you and within me. It is the mystery of our beingness.
      In my mind, we dare not … we cannot … put a name on that which exists simply because it is.

      For me, it coincides with Sagan and Tyson because they visualize “us” as being part of the universe — that we are made from the same “stuff” as the stars. Whether they are right or wrong, for me, it makes sense. Much more than the idea of a “god” (particularly the “Bible God”).

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  25. CS, did I ask for proof of god? No. I asked for Christians to offer their perspective on “GOD “, minus scripture. Can you do that? Quite frankly, I doubt you can because as most believers, your view is limited to the bible concept of god.

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    • Hey Nan

      The title of your post is ‘the Existence…..’
      I cited your own quote;

      then gave you my perspective about the ‘Existence.’ How could u possibly find fault? His existence assumes that He is!

      Btw, the thought I gave you was mine, hence the quotes, from one of my articles. No scripture was quoted.

      Some will mock the question, but thoughtful souls will consider.

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      • “His existence assumes that He is!” – No, YOU assume that he is – in fact, you assume his existence with no factual evidence whatsoever.

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      • CS, first and foremost, one must accept that a god (any god) does indeed exist. Obviously, you believe this is the case. The title of my post and the use of the word “existence” throughout my posting has nothing at all to do with the actual fact that god (any god) does, indeed, “exist.” You are using semantics to prove your point and it doesn’t work.

        I appreciate you offering your “thoughts,” even though they smack of scripture.

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        • There’s a reason for that – scripture is all he knows. He had a perfectly good life, and he threw it away on the unsubstantiated promise of an eternal one, based on the beliefs of ignorant, superstitious, Bronze Age priests.

          I remember the old “Popeye” cartoon strips, in which the character, “Wimpy,” always said, “I’ll gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today –” I could make deals like that all week long, and considering the “promisee” will be dead when the time comes to collect, who’s to complain?

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        • Yea Nan, if you invited a tiger to a birthday party, I suppose he would come as he is,.

          After all, ya just can’t leave the stripes at home. 😉

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  26. Is it possible to talk about god outside of a particular religion? I have seen elsewhere written that the deist conception of god is likely to exist, but what type of god is this? If something started the BB, does it have to be a god? Does it have to be infinitely everything?

    I am not sympathetic to those who call themselves agnostic atheists. And to exalt atheism, whatever that means, does not make it a religion. Only those who want atheism to mean much more than lack of belief in gods/ deities seem to me to have issues.

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    • hey Mak-

      Yea, it would be a stretch of imagination if the blueprints for the Bill Gates mansion just appeared on his table top, and without the help of a draftsman.

      The building made itself, no builder needed. 😉

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        • I mean, seriously, CS – think about it – how much more complex is a supernatural entity, capable of magically zinging into being an entire universe, than a simple thing like Bill Gates’ mansion – if the mansion required a creator, as simple as it is, wouldn’t a complex, supernatural entity with magical superpowers? I mean, do you think Superman just WAS?

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  28. hey CS, well, your analogy taken to its limits does not help you still. For if I grant you there is a creator, there is no reason why it should be one creator the same for blue prints to be done, there are many people involved.
    If you are going to use man made things as your defense, then we know cars are made by different people, roads by different people so in the same vein, we will have a creator for trees, bees, viruses and so on.

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    • Hi John! I’m still reading God’d Debris. Started it awhile back but had to put it aside for a bit. Your comment compels me to get back to it! The message Adams puts forth is interesting indeed.

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  31. Colorstorm says, “‘If the heavens above, and all that is, and the fulness of the earth below, and all that is,
    are not proof of a Creator, then WHAT could the atheist possibly demand to satiate his curiosity, and to finally admit: There is a God?’”

    OK, let’s assume for the sake of argument that everything points to a “Creator”. How do you connect the dots from Creator to your Judeo-Christian God ? Because your Holy Book says so ?
    Apparently that’s not enough to convince 5 billion people on this planet. And it failed to convince billions more over the past 2,000 years. If your Judeo-Christian God really loves and cares for everyone, he has done a very poor job of showing it. I am a mere human and I could have devised a better plan than his. Most humans could. Sad to say but true.

    Colorstorm, I don’t really know you at all and I have COMPLETE confidence that YOU could devise a plan for mankind that would be far superior than that of the Judeo-Christian God. You really need to give this careful thought.

    When is it ever acceptable to command people to kill everyone in a village except for the young virgin girls to keep for themselves? When is it ever acceptable to punish a man by having another man have sex with his wife in the public square ? When is it ever acceptable to ask a man to show his loyalty by asking him to kill his son ? When is it ever acceptable to stone a man for picking up sticks on the Sabbath ? Or stone a child for talking back to his parents ? Or because they have sex without being married ? These would never be acceptable of a God I could EVER serve. And yet I did for 50 years. Not something I feel very good about.

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    • —————–Colorstorm, I don’t really know you at all and I have COMPLETE confidence that YOU could devise a plan for mankind that would be far superior than that of the Judeo-Christian God. You really need to give this careful though——————

      Yikes chief-

      To be fair to u and me, no short answers will do. However, your above opinion of my ability to ‘devise a plan’ tells me that all answers to your concerns will be of no avail.

      So at this time and place. I respectfully decline to acquiesce your request.

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      • “your above opinion of my ability to ‘devise a plan’ tells me that all answers to your concerns will be of no avail.”

        He’s right, KC – I’ve been reading his stuff for the past week or so, and he couldn’t devise a plan for crossing the street if the instructions weren’t in the Bible. Needless to say, he doesn’t go far from home.

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  32. makagutu (December 8, 2014 at 9:35 pm): You observed …to exalt atheism, whatever that means, does not make it a religion…
    English is not my native language, but I trust a dictionary (WordReference.com) that presents, among others, the following synonyms of ‘exalt’:
    dignify; praise; honor; glorify; immortalize; sanctify.
    What I’m trying to say is that the monotheistic religions love to use those words, so atheists who sometimes defend their point of view in a (too) passionate way, seem to act like the theists they criticize.-

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  33. “So at this time and place. I respectfully decline to acquiesce your request.”

    Colorstorm, I respect your decision to decline . It hopefully tells me that you need to give this some serious thought rather than give a standard Christian Party Line answer. I have heard most of them like, “Our ways are not always God’s ways.” “How can we know the mind of God” ” We have to consider the Culture and the time these events occurred ” Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla

    You don’t owe me an explanation or an answer , Colorstorm. You owe YOURSELF one.

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  34. Colorstorm, one of the final nails that ended my walk in Christianity happened 6 years ago when I was holding a weekly bible study with other businessmen from my church. This particular morning we were studying scripture in 2nd Samuel 12:11 & 12. This was the Judeo God speaking to King David. “11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

    After reading this, the light bulb came on and I thought to myself. Really ? What kind of sadistic punishment is this ? I couldn’t get over what I just read. That was the last bible study at my home. I asked the other men when this type of punishment could ever be acceptable ? NONE of them had an answer. I told them the answer is , “NEVER”

    You’re right , you could never give me an answer to this question that I would agree with unless your answer is, “NEVER” If I appear close minded, I offer no apology.

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  35. @kccchief-

    Please do not take my hesitance to address you as any possible change in heart as to the scripture from this end. It has to do with respect for the host of this site in particular.

    ‘No short answers will do……………..’ As to your bible study, too bad there was not a soul who knew how to ‘rightly divide the word of truth.’ (Again, no short answer)

    God is not on trial, man is. My emphasis on your ‘plan for mankind’ is enough, that this will be to no avail.

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  36. “As to your bible study, too bad there was not a soul who knew how to ‘rightly divide the word of truth.’ ”

    Oh I rightly divided the word of truth when I took off my blinders and looked at the scripture with eyes wide open. I could no longer look at scripture and do the mental gymnastics it required to reconcile it .

    “Please do not take my hesitance to address you as any possible change in heart as to the scripture from this end. It has to do with respect for the host of this site in particular.”

    Oh I doubt seriously that Nan will feel disrespected if you want to address this issue, but I will let her speak for herself.

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  38. “What say you? What’s your view/perspective/position about GOD?”

    Nan, I think this was your original question. My answer as I have mentioned before, I have never ruled out the possibility of a “Creator” but I have ruled out the existence of the Judeo-Christian God for the reasons I listed above.

    I asked when would it ever be acceptable for this God or any God to impose punishments like the 6 I listed earlier. These 6 questions provided the grounds for my non-belief in said God.

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    • So KC, I’m curious … and this is why I had hoped others would offer their perspective on “GOD”. Why do you feel there might be a “Creator?” What leads you to this possibility? And if there were such a being, what do you feel would be its function?

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  39. koppieop, unless their apologies are not factual or logical, I don’t see anything wrong with defending ones position with passion.

    John, religious war is a short book, one afternoon would be enough to finish it.

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  43. @kcchief

    This excerpt from ‘Epicurus is God,’ written earlier, speaks to your ‘bible study’ briefly.

    ‘Here you have petty man drawing an eternal conclusion because his answers of evil can not be met with satisfaction; ahem, HIS satisfaction’ cs

    @nan

    Civil? Yes; Stay on topic?. No.
    But tkx anyway.

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  44. “‘Here you have petty man drawing an eternal conclusion because his answers of evil can not be met with satisfaction; ahem, HIS satisfaction’ cs”

    Isaiah 45:7 (King James Version):
    I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

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    • PLUS, he’s so modest —

      Seemingly, all of the qualities we most admire in a fellow Human, Humankind has left out of the god they invented.

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    • This is the part where the apologist says, “Oh, well, Isaiah didn’t really MEAN it THAT way – he meant, blahdy blah blah (backpedal, backpedal, backpedal) –“

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  46. makagutu: == I don’t see anything wrong with defending ones position with passion.
    Unless their apologies are not factual or logical ==.
    Of course you are right. And my objection is precisely something that Richard Dawkins has said, or written, that I felt to be too “passionate”, I will come back when can place it – if that’s allright with you.-

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  47. Nan, I am posting a video of Richard Dawkins who ponders the idea of a “Creator” . His explanation would be close to why I keep an open mind to the possibility of a “Creator” and he is much more eloquent than I. 🙂

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  48. “This is the part where the apologist says, “Oh, well, Isaiah didn’t really MEAN it THAT way – he meant,”

    Yes Arch I have listened to apologists dance to the tune you just mentioned that they should join Dancing with the Stars. 🙂

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  49. KC, are you saying your concept of God (or a Creator) lives outside of time and space and has existed eternally? Or are you seeing “GOD” as a virtual reality?

    Quite frankly, I think Dawkins is pretty far out. He does make some interesting points about the brain and virtual reality, but I’m finding it difficult to coincide what he says with your comment about not ruling out the idea of a “creator.” I would still like you to share your thoughts from a more personal perspective.

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  50. OK Nan, here I go. First of all I may have selected the wrong Dawkins Video. I will review again . In one of his videos, he leaves open the possibility of Aliens / Creators from a different Universe creating this one. He goes on to say that they would have to have evolved in a Darwinian sort of way just like we did. So , no eternal beings.

    Having said this, if we had a Creator / Creators , they would have planted the seeds to life as we know it and that’s it. No personal involvement from that point. This would explain why we have pain , suffering, etc. because this is all part of our evolutionary process. This would explain why it rains on the just and unjust alike. We wouldn’t have to make up a “God” and then point to ourselves as the originator of our sins and suffering and have to rely on him to save us.

    I am also open to the idea that everything in this Universe collectively is a being.

    As John Zande mentioned earlier , “The god described in Scott Adam’s, God’s Debris, is the only incarnation of the idea that even remotely touches on feasible to me.”

    I am open to this as well.

    To people I have these discussions with in person, I simply say there could have been a Creator who pushed the button to the Big Bang and walked away.

    So did I confuse you enough or does any of this make sense ? 🙂

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  51. Yes, Dawkins did talk about the aliens/creators in that video. Actually, I’ve heard that theory before. Not sure I buy it. In a way, it reminds me of Deism.

    Thank you for providing a little more input. This is what I was hoping others might do. I think it’s a fascinating topic. There are so many variables.

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  53. Thanks Nan. May I ask, what kind of audience did you write your book for?

    Also, I guess I should weigh in on my belief in God. I think my belief is pretty much orthodox. I believe God is the sovereign creator of the universe who interacts with the world in many ways, and presents himself in several epistemic ways. I believe in divine ordering, divine providence, prayers, the rare miracle, divine judgment. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe God is holy and perfectly just and loving, without evil. God is the proper object of worship even though we like to worship created things like power, money, pleasure, and so on.

    I believe what Paul told the Athenian philosophers — God placed our consciousnesses in certain times and places so that we may seek him.

    I could go on. . .

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    • Brandon, I truly appreciate your thoughtful response. I know others have issues with you and while I sometimes tend to agree with them based on some of your responses, I do see an occasional glimmer of a more genuine individual. This is one of those times.

      In answer to your question, I wrote my book for (1) Christians who may be struggling with doubts and misgivings about their faith, (2) Christians who are (like I was) trapped in a denomination that promotes fear and guilt, and Christians who are beginning to question the core doctrines and traditions of their faith.

      At the beginning of my book is this quote: If you’re going to put all your faith into something, you need to thoroughly examine it to make sure your faith is justified. It’s a proven fact that most Christians have no idea why they believe what they do. They rarely read their bible and simply accept what comes from the pulpit or Sunday School teacher. My book is an attempt to open their eyes and stimulate their thinking. It was never my goal to “convert the religious.” All I wanted to do was encourage believers to truly examine what they believe and why.

      The book is “personal” in that I take readers along with me on my journey to non-belief, but it is also includes information derived from numerous resources.

      As for your reasons for belief in God … yes, it is very orthodox. 🙂

      Sometime back I wrote a post entitled “Space and God.” It pretty much expresses why I find it extremely difficult to believe in the Bible God.

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  54. Nan, I think you wrote your book for a good reason. I agree that many Christians don’t understand what they believe in. Actually, I think this is just the general condition of humanity. Most of humanity doesn’t care to be cerebral and inquisitive on matters like this, at least in my experience.

    I read your post on Space and God and looked at the figure. That kind of concern makes sense to me, I have a lot of respect for it.

    I do appreciate your positive feedback. The truth is there’s just a human behind this avatar and I appreciate the interactions I’ve had on the blogosphere, even the arguments that sort of cut deep into our identity and worldview.

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  55. Just read this … seemed appropriate to add.

    Because we have the idea of a supremely perfect being, we have to conclude that a supremely perfect being exists

    Now, does this make sense to anyone?

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    • My guess is they were gone until he developed enough faith to make them return; though they were invisible when they did. Things involving faith are always so nebulous and confusing, aren’t they? Why is that, I wonder?

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  58. AHA! Sorry to use you guys as lab rats, but I just tried that joke on someone else, who didn’t crack a smile, which gave me cause to wonder, was it her, or was it the joke? It was her!

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    • That fella’s a big tease. He was flirting with me and batting his big, manly christian eyelashes at me; then he vanished. Bloody left me all pent up and sexually frustrated. The damn tease. You’re better off without him. They’re are other delusional folks out there who’ll toss Bronze age bible passages at you for fun, and they won’t dump you when the relationship gets a tad rocky. I at least was hoping for dinner and a few drinks from ‘ole CS. He flirts like a hot stud, but, like a lot of christian men, he’s all talk and no action.

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  63. About gods, I have read it somewhere that if lions would be religious, their good would look so much like a lion. No wonder the gods of mankind seem to take all the qualities of men; we have nice gods, cruel gods and so on.

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  65. The alternative theory of how creation and man started is The Big Bang Theory. So from a sudden, unforeseeable, chaotic explosion, boom, life on earth. Let’s use a practical example – if a hurricane blows through a city, what comes out the other side? Destruction. A Big Bang – same result – destruction. And yet, science is still far from proving this theory. Similarly, it is difficult to offer any scientific proof of the existence of God. It takes faith to believe any of these.
    Many well renowned scientists have themselves admitted that creation had to have started from an intelligence greater than ourselves.
    I conclude- faith in the big bang or faith in God – I’d rather put my faith in God, the more intelligent greater power than ourselves. Then live my life not within the constraints of a the Bible, but with the Bible as my guide.

    The only big bang theory worth taking any note of is the television series.

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    • My goodness! This post was written nearly seven years ago! I’m surprised you came across it. In any case, I appreciate you visiting and sharing your thoughts.

      You mentioned that “many well renowned scientists” admit that a higher intelligence created this universe — and I would not dispute this. However, I daresay there is a considerably larger number that disagree with this theory.

      In any case, since it’s highly doubtful any of us living now will be able to prove the theory one way or the other, it pretty much comes down to personal belief. I expressed mine when I wrote the blog post — and now you have offered yours in your comment. 🙂

      Thank you for stopping by — I hope you will investigate some of my other posts on the topic and share your thoughts on them as well.

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