God is a human invention created to keep the lower order working for the wealthy in the hope that they will get to a form of paradise. This is what I believe despite a catholic upbringing and to the huge disappointment of my French RC grandmother.
To try to understand the meaning of God, first of all try to understand or present some theories that without Him, explain the existence of the universe, and how life began.
Or suck your thumb and attack anybody who does believe.
Forget about religion, that is just bells and smells.
Even disregard the Bible.
Just use reason and logic and consider the questions.
//Just use reason and logic and consider the questions. //
Reason and logic dictates that if a creator exists, the inhabitants of a minute speck of dust within an unimaginably vast universe can have no conception of who or what that creator might be.
I must be a great disappointment to all you logicians - but I simply cannot imagine life without the knowledge that God is there (and accessible) in the background. Logic has nothing to do with it, which is where the problem lies. I can't argue a case. I KNOW that there is a power, I've felt it. It was transient but I can never forget and I live my life accordingly. It is called faith - nearest I can get without sounding like a religious nutcase. At least I try to do no harm and manage to do a bit of good to people when I can. :)
\\ At least I try to do no harm and manage to do a bit of good to people when I can. :)//
I don't doubt that but atheists can and do the same, so a God isn't necessary for good people to do good work.
Jourdain, //I KNOW that there is a power, I've felt it.//
Okay - but how do you KNOW what it is? What if you're attributing it to the wrong cause? Easily done when you're raised in a society that encourages you to believe in a very specific entity. Other people raised diffently believe differently. No?
Forget the church.
Just use your brain.
Look around.
Did it all come about by itself?
Reason says no.
So just admit to a cause, even without trying to identify the cause.
That's the start.
Any takers?