Share your best argument for or against the existence of God. Or maybe you're somewhere in the middle.

I've said it before, my testimony is littered with experiences that I can only attribute to God. Anything from having a dire need financially, praying about it, and receiving the real life version of a Monopoly "bank made a mistake and you have been credited $$$" almost to the dollar of what I needed the same day, to how my daughter came into being, to being on a mission trip and needing funds or skill or expertise and receiving it on demand without prompt. Even as a kid, looking and looking and looking for a pocket knife I lost in the yard and never finding it, I stopped, prayed to find it, and within ten seconds of further looking found it in a spot that I had combed for an hour. Maybe the last one was silly and explainable, maybe it's all explainable, but the quantity and uniqueness of all these events as they are tied to my needs and prayers have caused my faith to become very strong. Some may use reason to prove God doesn't exist, and every time I will point to my testimony which is full of experiences like these that cannot be disproven, and they may not believe me and that's ok, but it will never change how I feel and believe.

Amen brother.

I believe God makes every effort to make himself known to every human being that exists. Whether it be through other people who do his work, through nature in its wonderful beauty, through a whispering in the silence felt in your heart. It's up to every human to respond. I'm glad you've experienced God and his love in your life. I too am a witness to his power. God bless you brother.

That was beautifully said..

There are a lot of things that have made me not believe, but one thing recently could be how much religion is changing in places to fit or progress with society.
I.e. gay marriage being allowed for one example, or women vicars being allowed here,
How can you change what is written in the bible to suit how people feel now, if it goes against the word of god? But also the fact that there are thousands of branches of Christianity alone, all believing in slightly different variations, even disagreeing and contradicting in many cases. Sorry I’m just a cold hearted cynic but I don’t have a problem with religion being used as a means to live your life, I’ve seen it help dozens of people, family and friends but that’s all I see it as, an ancient self help book with a long back story.

Well, I can see what you mean but aside from any religions, or those who may preach but not practice, have you ever seen evidence for or against the existence of God? I think that question is ingrained in every human heart, regardless of how others practice their faith. If you base your belief in God on the good or evil people do that's like saying I don't believe Lord Cheesus exists because some trolls ruined my day in the politics stream. It's actually pretty irrelevant. Faith should be based on our personal encounter with a higher being.

There can be no way to disprove the existence right now, bar some extraterrestrial appearance with beings who tell us otherwise lol.
But what always got me is how old do Christians believe the earth is? I know young earth creationist belief is that it’s about 10,000 years old a thing most?
To me that’s almost as crazy as flat earthers, as we know full well it’s older.
I guess I just can’t believe that a god or someone put fossils of ancient dinosaurs in the ground for us to discover, just as a means to test us or something.
It’s because the Earth is likely billions of years old and dinosaurs existed for a portion of that.

Only those who take the book of Genesis literally might think the earth is only a few thousand years old. I've never been taught that in my Catholic upbringing.

Yeah, it's possible that God made the world with the Big Bang or something. The eaxct method of creation isn't stated, I mean, the world wasn't just poofed there, there must've been some kind of process.

I agree that faith or beliefs should be based on your own personal circumstances like you say.
If someone says that they had a personal experience with Jesus or something similar who am I to argue?
I just think that we have the same unexplainable experiences and see many things, other than figures related to god in some way, but we don’t suddenly believe in those other things.

The fact the we are born with morals

Morals can become corrupt, and like QueenAsh said we are born with human wills which are often contrary to morals. "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." I get what you mean a baby isn't born hating anyone, they are pure.

Yes,i agree babies aren't born hating anyone...children either..they are taught that. It's so sad to hear children and adults say hateful things like "kill yourself"..the kid probably learned that was ok by an adult in their life.
Peewee: Yes very early on that is learned...but I agree with Kate-they can become corrupt..also what do you tell a person born into poverty who struggles to find something to eat..of course stealing is wrong.. but when ppl who do have more than they need-oppress or withhold from those that don't- they often are part of the problem that created the desire to steal.We are ALL connected in some way or other- i think God expects us to do our part so we dont contribute to a problem (be a stumbling block). This is not mutually exclusive from personal responsibility. That still applies -but God asked us..who is your neighbor?

I agree but like you said "corrupt" you have babes lemme put it to you this way
When they first born do you teach them that stealing is wrong. No mainly cause they cant understand information. But when there are a few month older and another baby grabs a toy from its hands it begins to cry.
What I'm saying is there are morals that we have, but the need to be emphasized to young children, since we are all sinners. If we normalize bad morals to children they will only do as such
So yes.i do agree with you guys. I think I was misunderstood thou

Are we, really? Arent we born into iniquity (original sin). Isnt our nature to be sinners? Isnt that why we must be "born again". Think about this... no one has to teach a 2 year old how to say NO, be disobedient or a 3 yr old how to lie...it just comes out of fleshly desires...it's in our nature. We must fight our natural selves with our spirit selves- I think we are taught morals- BUT i think we are born with HEARTs & SPIRITs that naturally seek our Father in heaven- children often believe more freely in a way many adults do not.

I want saying we are born good were born evil. What I was saying is that we know from a very early age that stealing is wrong

Believing God does not exist is as equally illogical as believing God does exist. Impossible to prove without a leap of faith.

Can I ask how believing in God is illogical? Since the law of motion says an object in motion or at rest will stay in that state until acted on by an outside force. So what was it that put the universe into motion if not a higher intelligent being?

Sorry, I wrote my comment quickly during a work break. I meant it as an argument against atheism and did not mean to denigrate people who believe in a higher power. I am pretty busy right now but will try to answer your question later tonight.

Look forward to reading it :) no worries. I know there is a mix of people here so all responses are welcome. Provided they're respectful.

Ooh good question

If your view is that you need proof or evidence to convince you before believe something is true, then it is logical to say that God does not exist when there is no physical proof. But if you flip that argument there is also no physical proof that God does not exist. So you either have to admit that you do not know if God exists or continue to believe God does not exist despite the lack of proof of God’s non-existence. So it equally logical (or equally illogical if you are a glass half empty person) to say God exists or God does not exist. Of course, this line of thinking assumes there is no proof of God’s existence. IDK if we can agree what constitutes “proof.” What some people call proof some people may call coincidence or circular reasoning.

If your second question is about the Big Bang theory, I agree it does not make sense that the universe popped into being 14 billion years ago. I don’t believe that is true.

Science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God since He is in the realm of the spiritual and not a physical being who can be subject to scientific analysis. You are correct that faith is essential in believing and I dare say in not believing in a higher power. I've heard it said it takes more faith to believe everything came into existence by accident then by divine intervention.

"Science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God"

Kate, I said that

I'm sure you did. Because it's true. How have you been? Glad to see you back. :)

I've been fine, sorry for replying so late :p

People abuse science. Science is a tool for exploring the natural world. Science is not truth; science provides evidence upon which people inform their understanding of the world and the way it works. People sometimes treat science as religion, which is wrong and not the intended purpose. At least in my view.

Yep. Science only provides evidence for the physical realities that can be observed. Religion is an avenue by which spiritual truths can be explored. Neither science nor religion need to be mutually exclusive. For example many great scientists were also believing Christians and their discoveries only solidified their faith in a higher power. But you cannot insist only science is the truth or that religion is the only truth.

I'd agree with most of that...also i don't think science could exist apart from God.

hmmmm... I see your point. Let me rephrase... God 1st ...everything else 2nd.

We that's is the point of believing

I don't believe personally... I did for a while 12 years actually, but I started having doubts. I started digging into things, and I found some things in the Bible that didn't add up for me personally. Maybe a year after that I decided to talk to my mom and tell her how I felt, instead of getting an "I'll always love you" she told me I was going to hell, and then ignored me for almost 3 days. Now I'm still forced to go to church, stand up during song service, and have an open Bible during the sermon. Im there 6 hours every Sunday.... I guess the thing that really made me disbelieve was how I got treated for my initial doubts, I lost friends, and even some family. Now don't get me wrong I respect the Christian faith and all who believe in OT, it's just not for me...

Well I don't think anyone can force another to go to church. I don't believe anyone who has to go to a church out of fear is going to church with the right understanding of God.

Yeah I guess.... Things forced are the worst...[that sounds wrong sorry lol] but um yeah if people are force to do something it'll often be a different experiencs than if they did it themselves

I'm noting something interesting in the responses here and in my past discussions on this topic. People are quick to dismiss God because of a bad experience they had with people. But others who have a deeper faith have it often because they encountered God personally outside of any influence of other people. So perhaps that's an indication that we may be putting our faith in people (creatures) rather than God (the creator) something to think about. I'm sorry you had to go through that with your mom. Often humans project their own (even if it's false) understanding of God on others to the detriment of souls. I hope you can have a very personal encounter with God. It starts with simply asking "who are you, and what do you want from me?"

It's not just that. I mean I was pretty "good at being a christuan" I guess... I learned verses, prayed, read the Bible. I tried to have a relationship with who I thought was god, but despite all that I never felt anything. I had a pretty messed up life and when I prayed nothing ever happened. I still tried it thank god but still ibalways felt nothing

Perhaps your relationship with him was overshadowed by all the rituals. That can sometimes happen when we mistake faith for religion. Also our attitude in prayer makes a difference. I sometimes fall into just praying from a book but if a friend came to visit me and just recited poems from a book rather than just listening or sharing about his day I wouldn't feel our time was well spent. God wants to hear from you like a long lost friend.

Great analogy!

not speaking ill of your parents, but generally speaking people do not control your salvation, only God does through Jesus. That is what i believe, take it or leave it, but your worth as a person has nothing to do with whether or not you believe or not. If you have had a bad experience, then i'm personally sorry on behalf of all Christians, we are not called to judge, and only God himself has that authority. We are simply to love all people, and sadly i've seen many driven away for the same reason of (with good intentions) preaching at people or bible thumping. That's a major turnoff for most people, and i don't understand why others do it. It's a complicated subject, and if there is anything i can help you with please let me know. My advice is to continue to find your own way, and i pray that you are led back to Christ but you have to do that in your own time, if at all, and not on anyone elses' schedule. That's the enigma of free-will.

Thanks thparky....😊

Personal experiences. The miracle of the growth of a baby in a womb. The awesome beauty and intricacies of nature. The fact that He knows me & loves me more than I know & love myself. I believe. I wish more ppl would display that type of love & consistency. I am saddened when I see culture informing the church-setting the standards- instead of the church with biblical principles informing culture & setting standards. But such is life God is still real to me and good -all the time.

Agreed! Thanks for sharing!

A total lack of evidence.