Yeah, God is always there. Bullshit, there is no god - why should there be. We humans are just afraid of dead and can't accept that what we have around us is all there is. In the end we are not very different from other life forms, a beautiful flower, a fish, whatever, we just come and go and nobody besides us gives a shit.

God still and always will love us no matter what we do

I wanted to respond to what Tedel Said way back when. He brought up the fact that maybe it is not God Who loves or does not love us, but rather humanity who has stopped loving god.
If all cease to believe does god cease to exist?

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God Still Loves Us [link]

I can't say for sure, no one really can. But, I love God, and what I have been blessed with in my life. I know that sounds pretty religious-y but really I'm not. I'm just spiritual

I guess if you aren't sure if God is still here, is still be thankful for absolutely anything there is to be thankful for.

I personally don't think he abandoned us, I think he is letting us go through life, and watching how we respond to things in our life, whether tragic events or wonderful moments. I think he's watching, but isn't directly laying his hands in our lives (maybe on rare occassions he does).

Yep.

1) "Athiests (or most of them, anyway) believe in the whole "big bang", our world came from a piece of ocean-y slime and such, right? Well- did they ever stop and think: WHERE did that slime come from?"

Sure and there are various ideas/theories that discuss this. I'm not sure what the point is. Just because a scientific theory doesn't answer every last single minute detail doesn't negate the fact that it can explain a great deal. For example, one of the big things in physics is the fact that Quantum physics describe how things work on the micro (very small) scale while Einstein's physics explain things on a macro scale (the astronomical scale). Just because there isn't a unified theory linking these two approaches to physics doesn't disprove general relativity or make quantum mechanics automatically invalid. At the very least we can say, "We know what we see" even if we can admit that there is an open debate on how to interpret those results or the question isn't fully answered because we can't see everything.

2) "I know, they can say "WHERE did God come from?" But, there is textual evidence of God. The Bible. People say it's a lie, Jesus wrote nothing, he had no disciples."

First off, you have a very very very loose definition of "evidence" here.

How do you address the Vedas (the holy books of the Hindu faith) or recorded accounts of Egyptian religions or Greek mythology? Just because it was written down does that mean that Zeus and Hercules existed or the Egyptian god Osiris? What textual evidence is "valid" and why? You really make no argument here.

Second off, pretty much most historians acknowledge that Jesus did in fact exist and was probably crucified. They also acknowledge was written by SOMEONE even if a "Bible" as you know of it today didn't exist for many hundreds of years afterwards. The Bible has evolved quite significantly over time with many gospels left completely out (like Gnostic texts) or altered due to translations from language to language over centuries. I would keep in mind that the Bible you cite as textual evidence has a lot of stuff kept out of it (look up Gnostic gospels and see what you find ).

3) "What about miracles? "

What about them? A miracle is something we simply don't understand or have an explanation for. That isn't any reason to jump to a conclusion or leap to an explanation on whim. For example, if I fall 7 stories and limp away with only a couple of broken ribs, it doesn't make sense to claim that "angels" saved me or that it was "god." There could very well be a plausible explanation. After all, we are just as justified in saying that god intervened as saying that Santa Clause showed up and intervened with his magic candy cane.
Personally, I think jumping to EITHER conclusion would be foolish so apparent "miracles" should be written off as anomalies that are as of yet unexplained.

4) "People ignore what they don't want to see."

Indeed they do. Check out my essay on atheism. I would be interested in seeing some of your thoughts on it.

-E

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Will critique for food.

<sub>I'm going to sound preachy, but, you asked- I'm not any kind of expert, but, once again, you asked!
Did God ever exist?
I won't being to get into all the debates and factors involved in this small question. I can't force you to believe anything- but think: Athiests (or most of them, anyway) believe in the whole "big bang", our world came from a piece of ocean-y slime and such, right? Well- did they ever stop and think: WHERE did that slime come from? I know, they can say "WHERE did God come from?" But, there is textual evidence of God. The Bible. People say it's a lie, Jesus wrote nothing, he had no disciples. What about miracles? The sad thing in life- but everyone does it:
People ignore what they don't want to see.
When you talk of fires and how could God abandon us, it may seem like God has left-
but he hasn't. You've probably heard it- There is a reason for everything. Everything happens for a reason. God has reasons for everything- something could might have come from that. I have no clue what, but something good might have. And there might be a few people, somewhere, who could have died from that, but God didn't let them.
You're probably not familiar with this, seeing that you consider yourself an agnostic, but in the bible, it says that before God has his second coming, the world is going to become WORSE THAN EVER BEFORE.

That's it. My preaching is over. I probably didn't get anywhere, I may not have proven any points, but, hey. I tried. And it makes me happy to take a stand in something that everyone disagrees with.
$5 says atleast 5 people who read this post are going to get insanely pissed and start screaming JESUS FREAK at me.

And, hey. Good luck with life.
Really.</sub>

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I no longer use this account!
I'd appreciate it if you could visit me at my new deviantART:

~joni-lynne. Thank you!

I don't know if you know much about history, but things have been pretty shitty for the majority of the planets population since time began.
I mean, everyone was pretty devoted to God during the middle and dark ages and life was HORRIFIC.

If there is a God, obviously it's important to him/it/she/them that we suffer.
Maybe its tough love on a big scale...

As far as all the weather going nuts, thats kinda our fault.
We need to start taking responsibilty of our own lives and for each other, and stop waiting for God to save us, because he hasnt done it yet, and I dont think hes gonna do it anytime soon.

Hey Emily
It's a good question you're asking - especially in the wake of some major catastrophies. I myself have been through a bushfire and lost everything I owned and I think it's really healthy to be questioning God, Love, Life's meaning and all that stuff.

I've done this and I do believe in God and that he loves us. But you have to find that out for yourself. I can recommend the book - "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis if you are interested.

I think if God is "the answer" then someone who's asking questions will surely find him. cool
jonjon

Read The End of Faith by Sam Harris. And while you're at it, read Letter to a Christian Nation, also by Sam Harris.
No matter what you decide about your religion, they are both very interesting and thought provoking.

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If I could just reach my pirate utility belt...