Does a God really exist?

[progressive85]

I hardly ever question it but I'm beginning to think that there is no deity.  I think people are taught that there is one because they're afraid that if there isn't one, there is just darkness in the world.

The absence of a God isn't nothingness and darkness.  Morality can be taught just fine without deities or religious dogma.  Children can be raised to be good and moral and kind without ever hearing about any particular religion.  And it doesn't have to be a dark world, or a world where there's nothing.

Also, it doesn't mean no Afterlife - there can be a place we all go when we die that is much much better than this one - it doesn't have to be connected to a God or to the Bible.

I don't see why people should have to feel guilty or bad about themselves for not believing in deities - and yet that's what happens throughout the whole world.  People are being told to believe in one thing and there's no room for any other alternative or any other kind of view.

[HillGoose]

no, not anymore at least. god saw existence was pain and killed themselves, creating the universe. their corpse constitutes what we know as the universe we inhabit, and since it is ever expanding, god is likely still conscious and aware of this expansion, feeling the endless stretching, so in constantly increasing unimaginable pain and torment in their "afterlife."

our universe (or at least the living parts of it) have been taken over by demonic extradimensional entities, who are probably just very powerful and might as well be gods to us, although they didn't create the universe.

[progressive85]

Well I feel bad for even asking the question, i guess it's that Guilt coming in for even asking this... now I'm not saying faith in something big is not the answer, just does it have to be the only one?  And is there room for other belief systems?

In the Catholic faith, it's not questioned at all, nothing seems to be.  You believe it because it's what is taught to you and many like it just fine.  Many find it very comforting and that's very positive, especially in times of great sadness...

But who do you pray to or what do you pray to if you are in desperate desperate need of help?!  So is there something else besides God to look to?

[Hindsight was 2020]

Yes Yahweh exists

[Samof94]

I hardly ever question it but I'm beginning to think that there is no deity.  I think people are taught that there is one because they're afraid that if there isn't one, there is just darkness in the world.

The absence of a God isn't nothingness and darkness.  Morality can be taught just fine without deities or religious dogma.  Children can be raised to be good and moral and kind without ever hearing about any particular religion.  And it doesn't have to be a dark world, or a world where there's nothing.

Also, it doesn't mean no Afterlife - there can be a place we all go when we die that is much much better than this one - it doesn't have to be connected to a God or to the Bible.

I don't see why people should have to feel guilty or bad about themselves for not believing in deities - and yet that's what happens throughout the whole world.  People are being told to believe in one thing and there's no room for any other alternative or any other kind of view.

Just as likely Odin or Xenu exists.

[afleitch]

If it helps, many cultures and schools of thought have never had to ask that question because their ontology isn't linked to a need for god on which to prove or disprove. You're only asking this question because of where you live, when you live and what you've grown up believing. So don't feel guilty for asking the question; to bear that guilt (and I speak from experience)
isn't something you are responsible for.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

There are aliens and in Thor it tells that Odin and Thor are aliens from Asgard not a spirit or a ghost we won't know until we die but the aliens can be interpreted as GODS, but Buddhist call it the Universe and Prophets as High Priest since James Bro of Jesus had an Ossurary Box and no Rapture has taken place who knows if there is reincarnation

[Zenobiyl]

Yes

[RINO Tom]

I hardly ever question it but I'm beginning to think that there is no deity.  I think people are taught that there is one because they're afraid that if there isn't one, there is just darkness in the world.

The absence of a God isn't nothingness and darkness.  Morality can be taught just fine without deities or religious dogma.  Children can be raised to be good and moral and kind without ever hearing about any particular religion.  And it doesn't have to be a dark world, or a world where there's nothing.

Also, it doesn't mean no Afterlife - there can be a place we all go when we die that is much much better than this one - it doesn't have to be connected to a God or to the Bible.

I don't see why people should have to feel guilty or bad about themselves for not believing in deities - and yet that's what happens throughout the whole world.  People are being told to believe in one thing and there's no room for any other alternative or any other kind of view.

Just as likely Odin or Xenu exists.

Not really.

And yes, OP, I think an outside agent/creator/first cause of the Universe we live in is the most likely explanation.  Be very suspicious of simpletons or ideologues of all stripes who claim to “know” if I’m wrong or right.

[Antonio the Sixth]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Benjamin Frank]

I think there is a lot of evidence from multiple independent lines - probabilities of the existence of universe, the so-called near death experiences (more like 'brain death' experiences), evidence of reincarnation - that there is a creator of the universe.

Whether this creator has anything to do with the God of the Bible or any other religious text is another matter entirely.

[West_Midlander]

Absolutely.

[Alcibiades]

All the major arguments for the existence of God do not come close to succeeding in my view. So, at the very least I think there is no reason to assume that God does indeed exist, given that the burden of proof ought to be on those wishing to prove his/her existence. Now, whether God is simply unlikely to exist but theoretically could, or whether there is in fact something about the nature of the universe which makes his/her existence impossible, is in my opinion the more interesting question, and one the answer to which I am not really sure of myself.

[BGBC]

I feel the exact opposite. The absence of a god would be comforting; the idea that I will live forever is daunting, but I feel that is untenable in reality (that there is no creator)

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

A god in general: probably not, but maybe near death experiences really are something?

God as described by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Definitely not.

[Pink Panther]

I personally believe in a God, though I question at times how to worship him and what they want or believe, exactly.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Buddha calls God an alien or a force of nature that Prophets are vessels to not God's themselves, but High Priest, unless there is a Rapture it's difficult to prove there is God, but what is Death enlightenment a vessel to reincarnation or Judgement day.