It's a simple choice:

[pocaracas]

My 2 cents into the view of the world as a whole.
First, there's this thing called "belief" that is basically a psychological state. It has zero bearing on the reality of the thing being believed in. I hope even the believers themselves can appreciate the veracity of this statement.

This belief can be easily imparted upon a child, if the thing being believed cannot be easily disproved. EVery culture imparts their own views onto their children and it has worked well for millenia, why change a winning formula?

For the case of belief in gods, it has come to be reinforced with vacuous statements like the ones we find in this thread.... "god is everything good", "god is love", god is kindness", "god is all good emotions", etc.

The belief in the divine has existed for millennia. One of the earliest recorded mythologies contains a "Sky Father, King of the Gods, Lord of the Constellations". This impression that a god is a king and lord, has led people to approach the divine in pretty much the same way as they'd approach a king or ruler. As if a god would be so petty as to require the adoration of lowly humans. As if a god would require us to kneel, to grovel, to worship it like an insecure ruler would demand...
It must, therefore, be an impression that comes about through the "divinification" of the tribe-ruler. A movement which was recorded to be still in existence in the ancient Egyptian mythology, with the pharaoh-as-god.
That people believed in the various mythologies that have existed in, I hope, incontestable... that the content of those mythologies represent reality is, however, very contestable.

Over the generations, may smart people who were taught to believe have developed mechanisms to justify that belief to themselves. Trying to come to make the observable reality fit with the gods they believe in. With only one god, this has become a particularly difficult task, so a few entities from previous polytheist mythologies have been retained in most monotheist belief systems - angels, devils, djins, etc... Saints seem to be remnants of the human becoming divine I mentioned before. Trying to make sense of it all, many desirable traits have been added to the monotheist divinity, such as perfection, goodness, knowledge... curiously, traits valued by most of us, in all other humans... and even love.
And, nowadays, we have this hodgepodge of "arguments" for the existence of the divine creator, coupled with "arguments" for the attribution of certain features to that creator, yielding an overall argument for a particular god, followed by a given religion. Tweak the arguments a bit and you get a slightly different god, followed by another religion. All arguments end up being logical and seem to present a solid case for the existence of the particular god that people are brought up believing in.... but this only works for the believers.... the believers and those who fail to notice where such arguments are lacking.
There are also smart people who don't get taught to believe in any particular divine entity. These tend to become atheists. According to the literature, it seems these have been around since way back when writing began...

As when I started, note that all this is independent from the actual existence of any divine entity.
This realization alone should be enough to give anyone pause to reconsider any belief... but I know believers are too wrapped up in their beliefs to even process this information. A not so simple choice, huh?

[purplepurpose]

My 2 cents into the view of the world as a whole.

I think, believers are so ambitious, that they think that "miserable" immortality of "gods sheep", described in the bible, is a reward worth fighting for. They think it is possible to live as some sort of "junior martyr/angel". Nobody can argue with such selfless ideas up until preaching of hell starts.

[The Grand Nudger]

What's selfless about being a junior angel?  Not a damned thing, lol.  Just silly people seeking silly status with a silly god by silly means.

Business as usual.

The preaching of hell is just revenge pron, for not having into all this silly shit.

[ignoramus]

[chimp3]

Guys, it's really simple.
You decide to love more then yourself rationally, you would see you must love all good living beings. At this point you don't know whether God exists or not, but your love of all living beings would want him to exist, him being the greatest possible living being, the most good possible living being. You would want him to exist.

And I know for certain God guides who wishes him to exist, to his existence. You may say this is confirmation bias, etc, but the other way is the real confirmation bias. If you love yourself to the degree you don't want there to be a guide guiding his creation neither the way to obey him manifest through a judgement revealed by him neither a mystical link and light connecting us to God, you become bias against everything that indicates God's existence.

If you love God, you would want to know he exists as opposed to delude yourself he does. You would fight hard against deluding yourself that he exists, but search for proofs.

I have offerred many of these proofs.  The latest of them being so manifest, mainly, we require perception for our true value to exist, and we are not the source of that perception, nor are we the maintainers of what our souls have earned and not what  that accounts for our deeds and yes there is a Lord keeping score, it's so clear so manifest.  You can say it's all subjective, but you know there is a real value to who you are that is beyond subjective judgement of misguided minds.

The issue is not if there is anything clear or proof, it's that you are in a state where you value yourself more then the whole, and more then God. If you value God (even while not knowing he exists) with the value meant for a being of such status and highness, you would search the depths and find him/her/it.

If you value the imaginary product of a seventh century merchant warlord and wish to call it absolute truth , go right ahead. You are failing to convince me.

[camlov2019]

Firstly, I was a christian for 14 years. Believe me, I was that much of a believer where I met the requirements to be "granted" proof of a deity (Allah, God, Yahweh). It never happened. I realized that "proof", like "answered prayers" are just coincidences, and things such as "seeing god in clouds/nature" are just you interpreting a certain look in nature for your own personal satisfaction.

Secondly, I love myself because my life matters. After this life, there is nothing. No afterlife, no reincarnation, nothing. That's why I seek to have fulfillment in my life via service to my fellow man, exploring interests, and building connections. I see no need to concern myself with going to church, tithing, or other man-made constructs. I don't have time for it.

And lastly, nature's beauty, I would argue, logically disproves a God. With all that we know about our universe and planet, the though of a single creator is simply preposterous. Some muslims believe the earth is flat, on top of the fact that one Authentic Hadith narrated by Abu Duha ibn Sabih talks about how the earth is on the back of a whale. Please research your own religion.
- Will, the dude with a rocket launcher.

[Fireball]

I didn't bother to read the preceding pages, so maybe assuredly this has been addressed already.  This is a typical failed shit dichotomy of a sales pitch that allows for no other options.

[LadyForCamus]

Guys, it's really simple.
You decide to love more then yourself rationally, you would see you must love all good living beings. At this point you don't know whether God exists or not, but your love of all living beings would want him to exist, him being the greatest possible living being, the most good possible living being. You would want him to exist.

And I know for certain God guides who wishes him to exist, to his existence. You may say this is confirmation bias, etc, but the other way is the real confirmation bias. If you love yourself to the degree you don't want there to be a guide guiding his creation neither the way to obey him manifest through a judgement revealed by him neither a mystical link and light connecting us to God, you become bias against everything that indicates God's existence.

If you love God, you would want to know he exists as opposed to delude yourself he does. You would fight hard against deluding yourself that he exists, but search for proofs.

I have offerred many of these proofs.  The latest of them being so manifest, mainly, we require perception for our true value to exist, and we are not the source of that perception, nor are we the maintainers of what our souls have earned and not what  that accounts for our deeds and yes there is a Lord keeping score, it's so clear so manifest.  You can say it's all subjective, but you know there is a real value to who you are that is beyond subjective judgement of misguided minds.

The issue is not if there is anything clear or proof, it's that you are in a state where you value yourself more then the whole, and more then God. If you value God (even while not knowing he exists) with the value meant for a being of such status and highness, you would search the depths and find him/her/it.

MK, your "proofs" have never proved anything.  End of story.  You have yet to put forth a valid and sound logical argument.  You've also never provided a shred of supporting evidence for anything you assert around here about your version of God.  And based off of this post, I'd like to earnestly recommend that you stop doing drugs.  Like, seriously...stop.

---

Neither you or I decide what we must do. God reveals his judgment and we must submit to the eternal way that is the light of time mixed with eternity.

Lol, what? That sentence is vapid; utterly meaningless. What is the "light of time"? How does it "mix with eternity?" Those words in the order you have put them in are completely generic and senseless. I can do it too, watch:

"When you allow the light of his goodness to flow seamlessly into the deepest part of your love, you will know his everlasting soul like you know your own." It's drivel, MK.

However, the fact is, the guidance and judgment is with us inwardly deep within our souls, and the Messengers come to manifest his name, while Prophets who are not Messenger reveal revelations that increase in guidance that compliment the reminder that manifested God's Name and his right.

Hey, your drivel sounds just like mine! Maybe I can be a prophet too!

::Bold mine::

Can you please demonstrate how any of that crap you just said is an actual fact?

The Guidance is not for us to choose from our whim, it's not for us to claim this is the righteous path nor pick a tree and call it a guide and leader....rather we must submit to those who God has chosen.

I don't have to do any of that, especially since you've yet to demonstrate that any god exists at all, let alone that he chose anyone to do anything. Try again.

All this proves a Master who is the source of light (ie. God, the Master and light of all light), and also a means to God who contains his light brought down.

Well, that's quite the honking non-sequitur you've got going there. You should have it excised before it spreads. I don't think you've got even the slightest clue what the word "prove" means, to be honest.

Jesus was such a Master, he was anointed and chosen by God, a true King, who's light extend to all human and Jinn (demons, good and bad).

Bare assertion.

This is not unclear if you would just leave slogans of denial and begin to hold on to what you know are essential foundations of who you are.

Quit telling people what they "know", MK. It's so fucking rude. But I guess it's a lot easier to tell people what you've arbitrarily decided they really know, rather than actually listen to what we say. Right?

[Amarok]

I can make profound sounding mystic nonesense

Throughout history, humans have been interacting with the multiverse via four-dimensional superstructures. We are in the midst of a cosmic summoning of starfire that will be a gateway to the galaxy itself. Reality has always been beaming with adventurers whose bodies are baptized in purpose.

Who are we? Where on the great quest will we be re-energized? Humankind has nothing to lose. We are at a crossroads of karma and discontinuity.

Our conversations with other dreamweavers have led to a maturing of supra-consciousness-expanding consciousness. Imagine a maturing of what could be. It is in maturing that we are reborn.

Knowledge is the birth of stardust, and of us. By redefining, we reflect. The biosphere is electrified with sub-atomic particles.

The complexity of the present time seems to demand a flowering of our hopes if we are going to survive. Selfishness is the antithesis of flow. Yes, it is possible to confront the things that can shatter us, but not without joy on our side.

The galaxy is calling to you via expanding wave functions. Can you hear it? Although you may not realize it, you are heroic. It can be difficult to know where to begin.

The complexity of the present time seems to demand a blossoming of our bodies if we are going to survive. Where there is materialism, wisdom cannot thrive. Without ecstasy, one cannot self-actualize.


And it makes as much sense as the nonsense  your spewing

[LastPoet]

You should make a religion and leech 10% from the idiots devotees that join it