Essay/Debate Topic (from another site): What is Your Understanding of God?

I will put a answer to the simple yet complicatd question...Yes I believe if not for God who made me?

I have a pretty straightforward understanding.

The concept of gods in general (not just the Christian god, named God) originated as a defense mechanism to help primitive humans cope with the fear of death. People convincing themselves of the existence of an afterlife helped make death less scary, and the idea of gods went along with that, because in addition to death, there were all of these natural phenomena they had no explanation for. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, even rain, were miracles to these people, as they didn't know any of the things we do.

When you get down to it, theism is actually a pretty primitive thing, wholly unnecessary for modern, civilized humans. There's no evidence, and nearly as important, no reason to even SUPPOSE that a god or gods actually exist(s).

God? A good concept, but nothing more. Simply an invention made by humans to stop their fear of being alone and without purpose. It's completely understandable seeing how human brains work though.

My understanding of God is that he is real and not made up. Now I don't expect atheists/heretics etc. to believe as I do, but I do wish that most of them would stop condemning those who do believe in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Hi stanwshura, No one can prove the existence of God, nor can they prove that God does not exist. I have no problem with people on either side of the fence. Personally, I feel that there is more to life then the physical, not because of what some book says, not because someone told me that it was true, but because I have always felt it within me. Can I prove this to another, of course not, and I have no need to. Others must believe as they wish. This doesn't mean that I believe in an old man in the sky, who will judge everyone, or the traditional heaven and hell. Mankind created that God when we were in our infancy, to explain what we couldn't understand, but that doesn't mean that God, if you want to use that term, does not exist in some form. There is much that we do not understand, the important thing is that we all learn to respect the beliefs of others and live together in peace. Let us see that everyone has the best possible life here and not worry about what follows. After all, knowing would take all the fun out of it. Blessings.

I appreciate your sincerity. Perhaps it might help you to know that I am not a "religious" believer, but a monotheist nonetheless. Of course I also entertain the notion that there could even be more than one God, but I happen to "sense" only one.

While it is discouraging to some that evolution is taught in schools and Intelligent Design is not, and while it is discouraging to many more when someone points out that there are contradictions and apparent fables in the Bible (and other religious doctrine), I should point out that authenticity or fallacy in a book(s) written by men neither proves nor disproves the existence of a deity or deities. And I have reason to believe that atheists, including agnostic atheists, are likely out of date on the evidential status of Intelligent Design. Here are some of the debates I have had thus far:
http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/1482744.aspx
http://www.mylot.com/w/di...

Also, notice that I refer to my testimony in both of these threads ( http://www.mylot.com/w/di... ). This is my non-scientific argument for God. Not only do I believe because of scientific evidence, but because I have interacted with "otherworldly" Powers since becoming a believer.

I don't know enough about God to give Him (Her/It/Them) a persona, or an image, or a name; but my "faith" is so strong that I find it difficult to simply say "I believe." Whether I can prove it to you or not, I already "know" there is a Power greater than myself. What remains is for me to find out whether this Power is in fact my Maker; this is where my faith comes in.

As for the story of Christ, I remain a doubting Thomas. I am neither convinced nor unconvinced that an incarnate God walked the earth some two millennia ago. I would like to believe this to be true, and I actually attend a Christian (Presbyterian) church, but I just don't know. And I try not to profess things I don't know.;)