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"People felt the need to feel comfort/justified so they invented a God to believe in."..."People believe what they want to believe."
Whenever I see statements like this, I'm always a little amazed that people believe these statements, which to me seem illogical (but I guess people believe what they want to believe! ).
The way I see it:
If I need to "create" something, this means that I know it hasn't existed. So then, I "create" it in my mind, and after that, I truly believe it exists??
Is it possible or logical for a rational person to invent something, with no evidence, in order to truly believe in it?
I believe the human mind is an amazing and wondrous organ and one we do not truly understand and possibly never will.
Its workings are still very much a mystery to doctors and scientists alike , especially the part which deals with our consciousness.
I believe people make themselves believe many, many things.
Hysterical pregnancies for example when women so desperately want a baby they make themselves believe they are pregnant and start exhibiting symptoms. Some Nuns have been known to exhibit physical symptoms of pregnancy after convincing themselves god had impregnated them.
Other similar phenomena are well documented.
I believe humans have since the dawn of humanity seeked to explain the universe around them and things they did not understand and could not explain such as the sun, the moon, death, lightning etc... IMO they created God as way to explain and justify the world around them.
To create something in your mind does not mean that you know it doesn't exist. We are perfectly capable to fool our own minds into accepting things which are not true. People accept the most bizarre beliefs quite sincerely. Some people do genuinely believe in many things Christians would find baffling . It doesn't mean they are insane or frauds. They have just convinced themselves of the truth of their convictions.
Cultural , religious and societal up-bringing has much to do with what we believe too.
How many Christians would accept Shiva or Ganesh or animist religions as being true ? Does it mean those believers are any the less sincere ? Or does it just mean to them it is true.
I see it as a delusion but not as a voluntary lie or fraud. It's quite different in my opinion.
Religion to me brings comfort and succour to people and I see that at least as a positive thing.
It doesn't matter to me whether I think it's true or not , as long as it makes people happy and they don't try to convert me, it is more than fine by me.
I believe people make themselves believe many, many things.
Hysterical pregnancies for example when women so desperately want a baby they make themselves believe they are pregnant and start exhibiting symptoms. Some Nuns have been known to exhibit physical symptoms of pregnancy after convincing themselves god had impregnated them.
Other similar phenomena are well documented.
Yes, but these are clearly isolated events, (probably brought on because of some unhealthy mental issues) and not part of the mainstream (hopefully!).
As I said though do you believe in the truth of an Elephant God or one who is the spirit of a Jaguar, or maybe in Osiris ?
Many people believe and used to believe it to be the truth . Hundreds of millions. If your God is the true one then others must be false ones. Why would people create those Gods ? Because they have convinced themselves of the inherent truth of their belief.
As I said though do you believe in the truth of an Elephant God or one who is the spirit of a Jaguar, or maybe in Osiris ?
We approach this from different angles.. I believe that people believe in the Elephant God, Osiris, etc because God exists. People receive evidence of there being a higher power, and thus believe.
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Originally Posted by wade52
Or what they're threatened into believing.
I don't think that is possible either. If someone came to you and told you that if you didn't believe in a flying spaghetti monster, that person would kill you.. would you immediately truly believe? "Belief" isn't something that you can "put on" and "put off" just like that, IMO. You can change your actions and make it look that way, tho.
We approach this from different angles.. I believe that people believe in the Elephant God, Osiris, etc because God exists. People receive evidence of there being a higher power, and thus believe.
I don't think that is possible either. If someone came to you and told you that if you didn't believe in a flying spaghetti monster, that person would kill you.. would you immediately truly believe? "Belief" isn't something that you can "put on" and "put off" just like that, IMO. You can change your actions and make it look that way, tho.
1. Hearing the voices does not constitute evidence. Believers may think there's proof but all they ever point to is just the natural world or stuff that is internal to themselves with nothing to indicate it is anything but their imagination. I'm not saying what it is, just that it isn't anything that constitutes evidence there is a magical god being of any sort. It is an emotional response and it seems to give a lot of succor to a lot of people. But it isn't really evidence.
2. Brain washing is very possible. It is done all the time with prisoners and cults. There have been many demonstrated instances of people held under force and they come to believe what their captors feed them no matter how ludicrous the beliefs. Remember the Jim Jones cult and drinking the Kool-aid?
Once I shook off the societal church brainwashing started when I was a child, I could see clearly that is the method used to get people to believe in the magical loving but vindictive god monster.
1. Hearing the voices does not constitute evidence.
That depends what you mean by "hearing the voices" and "evidence". If you hear a bump in the night, is that evidence that there is a prowler in the house? Not necessarily.. but you DID hear something.. and it made you get up and look. If you found nothing, it was no evidence. If you find a prowler, it was. Altho that will not guarantee that every bump in the night will be a prowler.
When it comes to God, evidence, many times, is only the beginning of the search.. not the end. See this post: https://www.city-data.com/forum/2986890-post18.html We will only find out if it is evidence or not if it is followed.
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2. Brain washing is very possible.
Correct. In this case, many times people are "believing what they want to believe".. because oftentimes warning signs are ignored.
and when your personal experience shows you one thing, and your thinking brain says that can't be true, what then? Or when your "heart" tells you one thing and your "head" tells you another, what then? When your mind or intellect says something can't be, but your feelings say tell you another story...what then?
If you only use your brain you have a really limited narrow perception of people, places, situations, life, and the world. If in addition to your brain you use your other talents, skills, gifts, and abilities, including your feelings, your intuition, your gut instincts, you take in a much broader scope and range of information, and thus know more about....everything.
"People felt the need to feel comfort/justified so they invented a God to believe in."..."People believe what they want to believe."
Whenever I see statements like this, I'm always a little amazed that people believe these statements, which to me seem illogical (but I guess people believe what they want to believe! ).
The way I see it:
If I need to "create" something, this means that I know it hasn't existed. So then, I "create" it in my mind, and after that, I truly believe it exists??
Is it possible or logical for a rational person to invent something, with noevidence, in order to truly believe in it?
What do you think?
The key for me is believing in something with no evidence. For me that is synonymous to foolish or gullible. It's not how I would characterize a rational person . I believe it is possible for the delusional.IMHO
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"People believe what they want to believe"
