Is That the Right Word?

[Cinjin]

What do you mean by "BELIEVE?"

be·lieve
   [bih-leev] Show IPA verb, be·lieved, be·liev·ing.
verb (used without object)
1.
to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so: Only if one believes in something can one act purposefully.

Or, in the case of "god" no proof whatsoever.

So according to the definition of Believe - I don't truly believe in god ... as according to the definition, my god offers me no purpose. I live fine without need of him/her/it.

Skip it, seriously.

You are not a deist, you are an atheist who simply wants your sense of awe to mean something more than "wow".

If you don't buy into an invisible being, and simply chalk it up to what humans want to be, then you cannot be even a deist.

It is nothing more than human imagination, that is the only "god" there is. Which is our imagination, not a god.

It is humans mistaking our wishes for reality.

Einstein treated god as a metaphor too. But that does not make any god real. It only means that humans have vivid imaginations.

The idea of a non material thinking entity a "something" with no location or description is ripe for the proxy war of people who want power, not evidence, and is fueled by the desire of being the alpha male.

Very interesting. The problem with your take on my personal views is that I am not in awe of creation. I didn't dream up god because I was just so impressed with a dragonfly or a sunrise. For all I know, "god" could simply a be long dead alien who created our universe from an alternate universe. Maybe my god is supernatural, but maybe he isn't. I don't get all that caught up in who god is, rather this question I have to occasionally answer regarding the word believe.

I agree humans cooked up the idea of god. No doubt about it, but that doesn't mean our existence couldn't have come from intelligence billions of years ago. I don't know that it did, I just know that a creator being fills in spaces for me better than leaving empty holes that science may be centuries away from solving. If and when science answers my queries, I will gladly leave my theories behind, but make no doubt about it, although I serve no god, I do think of him/her/it as more than just a metaphor.

I know its difficult at times to separate the way I use the word god and the way the religions of the world use the word god, but I'm just trying to figure out this word, believe. I don't think it's something I believe, I think it's a preferred theory.

Honestly? I think you're filling the gap of uncertainty with a shadow.
But you're not obnoxious, you do not force your beliefs (for the lack of a better word) down others throats and you don't judge other people with an outdated scripture as your reference. People are entitled to their hypothesis, as long as they don't hurt others with it. And going with a gut feeling isn't always wrong

Filling a gap with a shadow is an admittedly fair synopsis. I'm not into magic and old books about magic. I'm not into talking snakes and floating corpses. I think in most regards I'm an extremely rational person, but I leave the possibility of a creator being (god) open.
Somewhere in there, one could easily make the argument that I both believe and don't believe in god.