Many questions

[student123]

Hello everyone!

I'm eighteen, and at this point I'd consider myself undecided, however I tend to be a little skeptic towards any kind of religion. So bear with me upon this

For a little background on myself, I was born and raised Christian, but when I became interested in higher consciousness and what I'd call "wisdom", things changed.

I don't like the idea that speaking of god conjures up idea of the old guy with the white beard in the skies judging, observing, punishing, and rewarding. I feel that once you're on that track, you're totally off the path of true mental development. It seems people don't want to grow up, and instead, they want the great parent in the sky looking after them, asking Jesus to do it for me. "If only I place my trust into Jesus he will save me from my sins and look after me and all will be well". I just can't put so much effort, so much prayer and worship into something I can only believe is there, I can only have faith in it.

It just doesn't make sense to me logically, I guess. I read on these forums that faith will, quite literally, make PERFECT sense and things will just "fall into place". I read the website and all of it's justifications for the Bible, all of these things saying, "God can exist, and here's why." I've prayed and prayed. But how about a *seemingly* more simple answer?

God and science work together, however, I watch things like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iMmvu9eMrg

and YouTube Channels like
http://www.youtube.com/user/cdk007
http://www.youtube.com/user/DonExodus2

and mountains of videos of the like, and I just can't seem to believe it. I turn to my interests, my innermost burning desire to KNOW, and it leads me away from God. Why would he create this illusion where *seemingly* so much points away from his Word? Trust me, I WANT to believe! I have a lovely Christian girlfriend and we talk about faith a lot. Our conversations usually end up with her referring me to her small group leader to answer my questions. I get a little upset because she can't answer herself.

[BavarianWheels]

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1 Corinthians 1:18,19 - For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

The side of "intelligence" does have some good arguments against there being a God, the Bible, salvation...

I believe there is enough evidence to believe there is a God and He has a plan. However there is also enough evidence to believe the opposite. To weigh the scales down on either side is to remove true faith and ultimately true love.
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[robyn hill]

I guess I always think of it this way. Let's agree for a moment there is a God. This is a God who wants his creation to be able to develop a sense of self, a sense of accomplishment, a sense of growth based purely on choice. Ok, now, try as I may, i have never been able to come up with a plan better than the one God has created. For example, Why doesn't God just show himself? If God showed himself, we wouldn't experience hope or faith on our own. Hope and faith are two things, whether Christian or atheist, one needs to experience to grow. After all, if we know every outcome, we never learn lessons. Why should we bother, it would be much easier to let God to everything for us. So onto my next thought, well, why does God allow pain? Again, if God saved people from falling off cliffs, hypothetically speaking, we again would "know" undoubtedly, that there is a power to always care for us. So my next question, What is the purpose of all of this? I believe God wants us to have a relationship with us, that is why he created us, but wants us to desire a relationship with him. If we give a little leap of faith, he begins to reveal himself and sense and purpose to existence. So, I guess my challenge is for someone to come up with a better plan than this that would still allow us to both develop our own character AND know him both at the same time.

[Gman]

God and science work together, however, I watch things like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iMmvu9eMrg

and YouTube Channels like
http://www.youtube.com/user/cdk007
http://www.youtube.com/user/DonExodus2

and mountains of videos of the like, and I just can't seem to believe it.

They hate Jesus because he said this... John 15:17

[DannyM]

God and science work together, however, I watch things like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iMmvu9eMrg

and YouTube Channels like
http://www.youtube.com/user/cdk007
http://www.youtube.com/user/DonExodus2

and mountains of videos of the like, and I just can't seem to believe it. I turn to my interests, my innermost burning desire to KNOW, and it leads me away from God. Why would he create this illusion where *seemingly* so much points away from his Word? Trust me, I WANT to believe! I have a lovely Christian girlfriend and we talk about faith a lot. Our conversations usually end up with her referring me to her small group leader to answer my questions. I get a little upset because she can't answer herself.

The first link is all just an attempt to explain away religious belief. It talks of Hyperactive agencey detection (HADD) and Minimally counterintuitive worlds (MCIs), i.e., "You cannot imagine a tree paying your taxes, doing your lawn, etc. But if somebody tells you to pray on a full moon for the tree to grant you a wish, you can imagine this" [cue laughter from the audience, and a knowing smile form the speaker, as if saying ... "well, not rational being like US"]. Then we have "Supernatural templates" and "Counterintuitive physical properties," i.e., "With God, he's a guy, he can understand my southern accent [cue more laughter] and he's just a guy." ... I mean, I'm nearly losing my faith on the strength of this dynamite!

"Counterintuitive bilology"-"Mary- virgin birth." "Counterintuitive psychology"- "God knows what I'm thinking [but if God knows what I'm thinking, why do I still have to talk and pray to him?"] Because we're human!

He mentions a talk where Dawkins "forgetfully" speaks of purpose and intention in "natural selection," and has to stop himself - "it's easy to see purpose to something if we allow ourselves." Yes, and it's easy to deny purpose when hanging on to a worldview...

"Religion is integrated into the brain." "Components of religious belief "served" by well-known neural circuits." "Religion is integrated into the brain." -- "There are not "specific" religious networks in the brain." --"Supports theories that ground religious belief in evolved adaptive mechanisms." We can say that disciplines such as religion and science involve neural activity, but that doesn't take away from any objectivity that they may have. It is yet another fruitless effort to try to discredit religous belief. And I just wasted over 50 minutes of my life watching this rehash, albeit with a few added "developments."

Welcome to the forum.