Do you believe in God?

[The Paradoxical Phenomenon he/him]

6 minutes ago, Szeth's Facepalm said:

In my opinion, if a god were unable to prevent evil, then they would not be not all-powerful.

If I’m not mistaken, God chooses not to prevent evil, so that we can exercise our agency and grow. An argument against that could be “well, if He truly loves us and wants what is best for us He wouldn’t make us go through struggles, and He would make it so we cannot be tempted”. That is simply not why He does it. He does it so that we can make our own choices, and deal with the consequences, be they good or bad. One day, after Judgement, He will banish all Evil into Outer Darkness, and those who were Righteous will live with him. I also want to point out that you have to be really really REALLY evil to be sent to Outer Darkness.

This is all from my religion and what I believe, if it differs from others religions or interpretations of scripture that is fine, of course. “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God, according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” This is one of the Articles of Faith in my religion. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, by the way.

[Morningtide she/her]

14 hours ago, CalanoCorvus said:

I’ve been raised LDS, and my faith has had… ups and downs. Most of that is my fault, and I’ve returned more heartily to the church in recent months.

But, and forgive the romanticism of it all, but when I decided to tell my now most beloved Luna of my feelings for her, that year ago, I do not believe it me who fabricated that idea. Being raised LDS, I believe in Heavenly Father, His son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. And I believe it was a small, gentle idea from the Holy Ghost to tell Luna how I felt, that started the best year of my life thus far.

Not only this, but I’ve felt the light and love of my Father in Heaven many times over throughout the years, most recently a few weeks ago, when I came to Him with a broken heart, begging for help and healing. Which He graciously provided.

I will not mock or demean others beliefs. I will not hold my own beliefs above others. I will not force it upon others.

You have every right to believe whatever you wish, it does not change a thing about how people should or do feel about you.

I’d just like to share my own experiences:

Yes, I believe in God. Yes, I feel His love and wonder and pride at me and His creation. Yes, I am excited to act in His name in a couple of years, and to one day return to His realm.

That's beautiful! 

[Szeth's Facepalm]

2 hours ago, TheAlpha929 said:

If I’m not mistaken, God chooses not to prevent evil, so that we can exercise our agency and grow. An argument against that could be “well, if He truly loves us and wants what is best for us He wouldn’t make us go through struggles, and He would make it so we cannot be tempted”. That is simply not why He does it. He does it so that we can make our own choices, and deal with the consequences, be they good or bad. One day, after Judgement, He will banish all Evil into Outer Darkness, and those who were Righteous will live with him. I also want to point out that you have to be really really REALLY evil to be sent to Outer Darkness.

This is all from my religion and what I believe, if it differs from others religions or interpretations of scripture that is fine, of course. “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God, according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” This is one of the Articles of Faith in my religion. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, by the way.

Ok, I'm happy for you :) I'm not interested in getting in a theological debate or anything.

(My family is lds as well)

[Quivil]

There was a cool thing I saw somewhere. It's better for small children in the long run if they are not constantly happy, because then they learn how to deal with being unhappy.

[Argenti he/him]

A guy tried to do an argument for Christianity at me today. It wasn't very good, and honestly, I'm not even sure what he was talking about. Something about arguing against what is clearly in front of you? He brought up a table and talked too fast, then left the room. 
I was left very confused.

[Ironwill2112 he/him]

I love God!!!!! Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer! Christ is who I believe in and who I worship. Because of Him I can have peace in my soul. And whether you believe in Christ or not He will always love you too! 

[Silverblade5 he/him]

This is difficult for me to answer. I would start by separating the role of God, the job description, out from the character cast in the role. God is defined as the one who is most high. The ultimate source of authority to which all else is subordinate, as demonstrated through the laws of physics. I do believe in that. 

At the same time, I must also acknowledge that certain details of stories get lost in retellings and translations. It is undeniable that the initial Hebrew text was written in a different tonal register than what is currently presented. It is undeniable that certain form of altered presentation, from the initial chapter and verse numbering to the King James censure of the word "tyrant" have also occurred.

[Weaver of Shadows he/him]

Yes, I do believe in God. My faith struggled for a very, very long time (pretty much my entire life until this summer) but I believe there is a God and that my Savior Jesus Christ died for me. I believe that because of His Atonement I can be forgiven, which is the greatest blessing in my life because I definitely need it.

Edit: I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by the way.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Ookla the foolish

[trav]

On 1/22/2021 at 2:49 AM, Chaos said:

Quick moderator note: keep things respectful, kind, and understanding. Posts that are not will be removed.

Weird rule. By default you are telling every religious person that they are plain wrong and their entire life is a lie when you say that there is no god/s. It is always disrespectful. The only way to avoid this is to not speak about it at all.

God does exist.
God is a human made concept. Therefore it exists.
I consider the laws of nature as god as they dictate what life and reality is. Even though we only understand a fraction of nature and can only perceive a fraction of reality.

Bottom line, we are unable to fully comprehend "god", but it exists.

[Weaver of Shadows he/him]

36 minutes ago, trav said:

Weird rule. By default you are telling every religious person that they are plain wrong and their entire life is a lie when you say that there is no god/s. It is always disrespectful. The only way to avoid this is to not speak about it at all.

I disagree with this. You can state your beliefs without being disrespectful. I believe in God, but if someone does not I can understand that and respect that belief, even if it is different than my own.

[Mattel]

I am a Christian who attends a non-denominational church. I believe in one God almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, who is three beings in one: God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I believe that Jesus died for our sins and that we are now forgiven through his death, and that on the third day he rose again. Those are my beliefs.

I love, like absolutely love, talking about philosophy and theology, so if anyone wants to discuss it with me, then I would love to. 

So people have discussed and brought up suffering and evil, and I would like to start off by saying I am so sorry for whatever you went through. Suffering and Evil are wrong, and a blot upon the world right now. I get it. I have suffered too, everyone does, that does not mean whatever you went through is "okay," as the world might say. Pain is difficult and I hate it. 

But just because you suffer does not mean that our great omnipotent and omnibenevolent God does not love you. I take comfort in my suffering that my God does love me, and cares for me. To me, the greatest Gift God ever gave Humanity is the ability to choose. We are above animals in that we can resist the natural temptations of nature, and don't just have to live through survival. The gift to choose also means we have the opportunity to believe in God. If we all believed in God and had zero doubts about him or anything, we actually wouldn't have faith. Faith requires room for questioning, and doubting, it is what makes it faith. If we didn't go through anything difficult, we would have no need or desire to believe in God, and even if we did, without struggle then our faith would mean nothing without oppression. 

I pass no judgement on people, I have never known an atheist who didn't have a good reason for not wanting to believe in God, but I will say I am mildly baffled by people who don't want to believe in something Good. I love y'all, but wouldn't you want to believe in God that wants to spend eternity with you? 

I have great love and respect for my fellow Sharders. After all, it takes dedication to go through his book series they're so long.......... (haha)

Edited November 30, 2024 by Mattel

[chongjasmine]

I am a Christian, and I believe in God. I believe God loves us so much that He came down to die on the cross for us, and paid the price for our sins.

I can't understand why someone will choose not to believe in God. Even when I was a non-Christian, I had always believed in God though at that time, I had no idea which religion He is from. I searched very hard for Him, though. He eventually found me and led me to have a relationship with Him.

Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with the Most High of the Universe.

[Gary]

What is a definition of God?  God as he is often portrayed in the Bible is not someone I would admire as a person.  The God of the Bible is vindictive, plays tricks on people (Abraham/Isaac, & Job), plays favorites, is jealous, treats people unfairly for no apparent reason, massacred every man woman and child and every animal in the whole world, except for one family and their animals because he did not like the way people were living.  Does God exist in a real physical way, can God be touched physically, does God have a voice that one can hear with his ears, can God be seen with one's eyes?  There are two types of concepts/ideas concrete, or things which exist in reality, like a dog or a rock.  the other type of concept is abstract, which exists only in the minds of people, they cannot be sensed with any of the five senses.  To me the concept of God is totally abstract and therefore does not exist in reality.  God as portrayed in the Bible has every characteristic of a human being both good and bad, Man created God in his own image, not the other way around.

[Gary]

On 11/29/2024 at 7:29 PM, Mattel said:

I am a Christian who attends a non-denominational church. I believe in one God almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, who is three beings in one: God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I believe that Jesus died for our sins and that we are now forgiven through his death, and that on the third day he rose again. Those are my beliefs.

I love, like absolutely love, talking about philosophy and theology, so if anyone wants to discuss it with me, then I would love to. 

So people have discussed and brought up suffering and evil, and I would like to start off by saying I am so sorry for whatever you went through. Suffering and Evil are wrong, and a blot upon the world right now. I get it. I have suffered too, everyone does, that does not mean whatever you went through is "okay," as the world might say. Pain is difficult and I hate it. 

But just because you suffer does not mean that our great omnipotent and omnibenevolent God does not love you. I take comfort in my suffering that my God does love me, and cares for me. To me, the greatest Gift God ever gave Humanity is the ability to choose. We are above animals in that we can resist the natural temptations of nature, and don't just have to live through survival. The gift to choose also means we have the opportunity to believe in God. If we all believed in God and had zero doubts about him or anything, we actually wouldn't have faith. Faith requires room for questioning, and doubting, it is what makes it faith. If we didn't go through anything difficult, we would have no need or desire to believe in God, and even if we did, without struggle then our faith would mean nothing without oppression. 

I pass no judgement on people, I have never known an atheist who didn't have a good reason for not wanting to believe in God, but I will say I am mildly baffled by people who don't want to believe in something Good. I love y'all, but wouldn't you want to believe in God that wants to spend eternity with you? 

I have great love and respect for my fellow Sharders. After all, it takes dedication to go through his book series they're so long.......... (haha)

Good and evil are both abstract concepts, neither exist in reality.  A crocodile kills and eats a child who came to the river for a drink of water, is that evil or is it just a crocodile being a crocodile?  You may judge it as evil, but would you say it was evil if instead of a child the crocodile had killed and eaten a zebra? I would say not evil, the crocodile considered the child only as prey and he was hungry.  It is not the act that is evil, but the motive which caused the act.  A man sees a child alone by the river,  He takes the child and kills it just for the pleasure he gets from killing another human, to me this would be evil because of the motive.  Evil is only in the minds of human being and no other animal.

[#1 Taln Fan he/him]

@GaryWelcome to the Shard! Please note that per our Forum Policy, double posting like this is not allowed. In the future, please just edit your previous message or wait until someone else has commented. Thanks!

[Gary]

1 hour ago, #1 Taln Fan said:

@GaryWelcome to the Shard! Please note that per our Forum Policy, double posting like this is not allowed. In the future, please just edit your previous message or wait until someone else has commented. Thanks!

The forum policy does not make clear that replying to a previous post is equal to an original post, at least to me.  Now that that has been made clear to me, I will abide by the rules.  I would suggest that the rules be made less ambiguous.  Thank You

[Treamayne]

Welcome to the Shard. Please consider an Intro Post to let us know what you have or have-not read (whichever list is shorter)

33 minutes ago, Gary said:

The forum policy does not make clear that replying to a previous post is equal to an original post, at least to me.  Now that that has been made clear to me, I will abide by the rules.  I would suggest that the rules be made less ambiguous.  Thank You

Please see the Sharder FAQ for tips on how to quote, multi-quote, and edit posts (including adding quotes to a post edit).

Edited April 20, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[#1 Taln Fan he/him]

2 hours ago, Gary said:

The forum policy does not make clear that replying to a previous post is equal to an original post, at least to me.  Now that that has been made clear to me, I will abide by the rules.  I would suggest that the rules be made less ambiguous.  Thank You

Quote

Refers to posting twice in a row if you are the last poster in a thread. Unless new material and a significant amount of time has passed (eg. updating a theory post when new sample chapters are released), please edit your last post.

I really don't know how it could be more clear than that. 

[Trutharchivist he/him]

2 hours ago, #1 Taln Fan said:

I really don't know how it could be more clear than that. 

Because you can't quote when you edit, it feels like a grey area, despite it not really being that.

[Through the Living Shadow he/him]

1 hour ago, Trutharchivist said:

Because you can't quote when you edit, it feels like a grey area, despite it not really being that.

You can ping, tho. 

[#1 Taln Fan he/him]

2 hours ago, Trutharchivist said:

Because you can't quote when you edit, it feels like a grey area, despite it not really being that.

As mentioned in Treamayne's FAQ linked above, you actually can! 

Quote

• Quote buttons will still send a quote to "Reply" section if you have a post open for edit, but it is easy to cut/paste the quote to the Edit box

 

[OoklaApologist She/her]

I’m a cafeteria Catholic on Christmas and Easter, but I’m generally indifferent to religion.

[Mattel]

On 4/20/2025 at 6:35 AM, Gary said:

What is a definition of God?  God as he is often portrayed in the Bible is not someone I would admire as a person.  The God of the Bible is vindictive, plays tricks on people (Abraham/Isaac, & Job), plays favorites, is jealous, treats people unfairly for no apparent reason, massacred every man woman and child and every animal in the whole world, except for one family and their animals because he did not like the way people were living.  Does God exist in a real physical way, can God be touched physically, does God have a voice that one can hear with his ears, can God be seen with one's eyes?  There are two types of concepts/ideas concrete, or things which exist in reality, like a dog or a rock.  the other type of concept is abstract, which exists only in the minds of people, they cannot be sensed with any of the five senses.  To me the concept of God is totally abstract and therefore does not exist in reality.  God as portrayed in the Bible has every characteristic of a human being both good and bad, Man created God in his own image, not the other way around.

A definition that I personally like (it's not the most academic to be sure) is Love. Essentially the essence of God is Love.

I think you maybe missed some things in the Bible. God did not play a trick on Abraham and Isaac. He was testing Abraham and Isaac's faith. He also sent a direct and clear subtle message that child sacrifice to a god is not okay. Other civilizations at the time would have been doing that but he sent the message I will not do this. He did not play a trick on Job. And ultimately Job was largely rewarded for his suffering, something that we are told will be the same for us if we follow God. I wouldn't exactly say that God plays favorites, more that he favors those who favor him. I don't see anything wrong with that. Would you want a god that isn't jealous? Jealousy is defined generally as not wanting to lose what one has. Like as a father would you prefer to not have the strong desire to keep your children close to you? Would you prefer that parents be totally fine with their children just moving out of their house with no notice? I'm not accusing you of anything I just think that some thing you should maybe reconsider. God does not ever do anything without reason, and if it seemed that way, then again I would say that I think you maybe missed something. The exact phrasing of the Bible in Hebrew when it talks about why God created the flood is language similar to every single being and creature on the Earth was violent. And, if for a moment we pretend, if God is entirely good, and everyone on Earth was "evil in his eyes," then truly a flood was necessary. 

The answer to whether God has a physical form is answered easily by Jesus. God literally came down as a physical embodied person. I think you have some slightly faulty logic talking about abstract things. If we agree with the idea that anything abstract doesn't exist, then emotions don't exist, or at least should not exist. And again, Jesus existed. Generally that is something that people don't seem to disagree with, though who he was they do. So, if again we pretend for a second, that Jesus was actually God as a person, then he is both abstract and concrete and exists in both and outside of both. I recognize and understand just how tempting it is because it makes God make more sense, but never try to put God in boxes. It just doesn't work. 

I encourage you to keep asking questions though!

[ShatteredDiamond She/Her]

On 5/15/2023 at 9:31 AM, Szeth's Facepalm said:

In my opinion, if a god were unable to prevent evil, then they would not be not all-powerful.

God could prevent evil and I believe in some circumstances He does step in, but in order for people to choose to be good they have to be able to choose to be evil. The world is fallen and unfair. But that's the whole point of it, learning to grow and deal with challenges. Living with no challenges... you might as well not exist. A friend of mine was hit and killed by a car yesterday. Could God have prevented it? I believe so. But it isn't my job to judge when people are ready for the next life. It isn't for me to choose which trials people are going to be able to handle. I don't know which hardships are needed to make people grow. God does. He wants us to be happy, but happiness isn't found unless you are progressing. It would be like a video game where you don't have to build anything, fight anyone, solve anything. You just sit there and peacefully exist, bored out of your mind. There has to be the potential for evil for this life to have a purpose. And for there to be that potential, God can't step in and slap people on the hand every time they try to do something bad.

[Ookla she/her]

On 4/30/2025 at 9:44 AM, ShatteredDiamond said:

God could prevent evil and I believe in some circumstances He does step in, but in order for people to choose to be good they have to be able to choose to be evil. The world is fallen and unfair. But that's the whole point of it, learning to grow and deal with challenges. Living with no challenges... you might as well not exist. A friend of mine was hit and killed by a car yesterday. Could God have prevented it? I believe so. But it isn't my job to judge when people are ready for the next life. It isn't for me to choose which trials people are going to be able to handle. I don't know which hardships are needed to make people grow. God does. He wants us to be happy, but happiness isn't found unless you are progressing. It would be like a video game where you don't have to build anything, fight anyone, solve anything. You just sit there and peacefully exist, bored out of your mind. There has to be the potential for evil for this life to have a purpose. And for there to be that potential, God can't step in and slap people on the hand every time they try to do something bad.

Ah, friend. That's rough. Wishing you all the best.