Amanda asked:


I have no idea.
Atheists’ point of view makes perfect sense.
Theists’ point of view makes perfect sense.
Yet both points of view make no sense when I really think about it!!!
Help me out, and tell me how you know or how you’ve come to an assumption that there is or is not a god.

12 Responses to “Is there a God or not? How can you know, and if you don’t know, how can you guess?”

1. Bee on August 12th, 2008 9:00 pm

   Of course there is no “a God”. Every culture has created a god or several gods to explain what human nature or intelligence can’t.
   God has been created by men, not the opposite as all religious people believe.

2. It's That Guy on August 15th, 2008 2:10 pm

   You can’t know. Nobody can prove to you that God exists or that he doesn’t. You may decide for yourself based on what you would like to believe!

   If God does exist, it seems clear to me that he deliberately hides from us. He could just appear in the sky and tell us stuff, and then there would be no argument about it. Instead he leaves us to figure things out for ourselves, and he gives us the intellectual capacity to do so. Religions make up doctrines, but doctrines have nothing to do with whether God exists or not. Religious doctrines are all made up by people, and those people don’t know any more about it than YOU do yourself! So that’s not much help, is it?

   I believe God exists, only because I choose to. Beyond that I don’t think much can be known about him. I don’t expect my beliefs to influence others, and that’s okay, I chose them for myself. I have read a lot about many religions and I find it fascinating to see in what ways they are similar and in what ways they differ. I think anyone who believes his religion is completely right, the only -correct- belief, and that all others are wrong, is cheating himself, he’s missing out on much of the wisdom of the world. If you read commentaries on religion through the millennia, you find some great thoughts there.

   Also I don’t believe the ‘correct’ beliefs, or -any- beliefs, entitle one to special rights or privileges, or justify forcing one’s beliefs on others.

   I was raised Jewish but that is more a cultural heritage than a religion. I consider myself an agnostic, and I feel that this is the only logically defensible position.

3. Q Q on August 18th, 2008 5:47 pm

   what part of the theists point of view makes any sense at all? they believe this thing(GOD) made the universe in seven days and can know the thoughts and actions of every being. theists propose to know the answer to everything. it must be god. they are afraid to confront the world and see truth so they cling on to this omniscient and omnipotent being. how convenient a answer. how hollow a answer. how do they fool themselves? Atheists view makes perfect sense. read “the god dellusion” by Richard Dawkins. it will make your mind. it appeals to reason and thought not “faith” not blind acceptance. you should really read “the god dellusion” if you wish to see.

4. Rain on August 19th, 2008 10:22 pm

   Its called faith. It is beautifully addressed in Hebrews 11 especially the first verse. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.”

5. cranky lady on August 21st, 2008 2:11 pm

   One of the greatest scientists of all time once said ” We do not know a millionth of one percent about anything.” Would it be possible that of all the knowledge you havn’t yet come accross that there might be ample evidence to prove the existance of God? So you have to be forced to admit that it is possible. Look at it this way: If I were to make the statemment there is no gold in China ” what is need for the statement to be proven true? I need absolute total knowledge. I need to have info that there is no gold in any rock, river, store, ring or in the ground in CHina. If there is one speck of gold then my entire statement is false and I have no basis for it. But if I were to say ” there is gold in China,” I don’t need to have all of that knowledge I just need to find one speck of gold in the country and my statement is then true. To say there is no God, for that statement to be true you have to know he is nowhere in the universe. If you insist upon disbelief in God, what you must say is, “Having limited knowledge I have at present, I believe that there is no God.” Owing to a lack of knowledge on your part, you don’t know. So, in a strict sense you cannot be an athiest but only an agnostic. I am amazed at how many people are decieved by the thought that because they don’t believe in something, it doesn’t exist. If a bliind man doesn’t believe in color, does color not exist? It exists whether he believes it or not. If you can’t believe in things youv’e never seen then how do you know you have a brain? You’ve never seen it.If you can look at creation and insist on saying that there’s no creator, then there’s no evidence that your brain exists. Even Albert Einstine said: Everyone who is seriously interested in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe–a spirit vastly superior to man, and one in the face of which our modest powers humble.

6. Lakely on August 22nd, 2008 7:41 am

   You can know, but you cannot prove it to others when and if you find God, because the experience is on the level of the Subject (Spirit)…. the “I AM.”

   This nice resource will explain how it is done… “Gospel Enigma.” Find it 10th on the list at

7. beauhonkus on August 24th, 2008 9:42 am

   I can’t see all this as a random accident. the big bang is bullshitand evolution has so many gaps in it that I don’t think Darwin would believe it if he could see that none of the link fossils he postulated existed. I do see intelligent design all over the place. if I found a ham sandwich sitting on a stump. I’d wonder who made it.but not the stump or the forest /world /universe?.it’s not so much that I want to believe as much as I can’t ignore it

8. kajoha on August 25th, 2008 3:49 am

   Atheism and Christianity are both based on the same thing – Faith. It takes faith for Christians to believe in Jesus Christ just like it takes faith for an Atheist to believe there is no God. I’m extremely religious and believe that God can be known by reading the Bible – it’s why He gave it to us, to know Him. For me, it would take a heck of a lot more faith to believe there wasn’t a God. Go to Colorado and visit the Rocky Mountains, or perhaps the Grand Canyon… or take a trip to a planetarium. Watch a beautiful sunrise or look at little unicell creatures under a microscope and say that it happened by chance, a Big Bang… that takes a heck of a lot of faith.

9. josephrosecarpenter on August 27th, 2008 12:14 am

   The anthropomorphic God presents many problems, and without it there can be no atheists. They also need a god not to believe in. I faced this problem many years ago when seeking a definition of God that I could live with. My first step was thirty years of Buddhism where there i s nothing that is not God. Then I read “Reflections” and looked into stoicism. I tried substituting the word “Nature” for God and was pleased with the results. I like almost all religions now and do believe in a “God of my understanding” which is all I would have ever had anyway….nes pas??

10. Samwise on August 28th, 2008 10:14 am

    I have looked at many attempts to prove there is a God, and many attempts to argue that there isn’t one. I find all of them ridiculously unconvincing.

    I do not “assume” there is a God; I choose to believe in one. That probably seems an unclear distinction, so let me explain it a bit.

    (A) One of the few things that can actually be proven, with mathematical rigor, is that not everything which is true can be proven rigorously. Therefore, there are unprovable truths, and the provable is not reliably sufficient to deal with everything.

    (B) One of the few things that can be demonstrated convincingly is that the whole truth of the universe is far more complex than any human mind can comprehend. (The fact that the whole truth includes the full states of all other minds, and the capacity of each mind is limited, makes this the only alternative to solipsism I can find. I reject solipsism on grounds of taste.)

    I therefore find that one has to believe in some things without proof, and regard belief in God as a choice. I also believe that (whatever I believe) I can almost certainly rely on my belief system to be wrong in some way. It is simply the best approximation of truth I can find, based on my personal preferences about who I want to be.

    So, without assuming anything, I choose to believe in God, probably partly because my upbringing predisposes me to do so, but also because I find a belief system which includes a God (Christianity, in my case) provides a basis for being who I want to be. And, because of the preceding arguments, I am reasonably certain that no one else has any better basis in logic for their beliefs than I have for mine.

    So my belief in God is irrational; it does not proceed from any set of logical inferences. Yet it remains compatible with rationality; I do recognize the need for consistency and reject the inconsistent, even when it is part of Christian traditional views.

    It is also not a “belief with no evidence” as atheists have become fond of saying; I do have evidence, although I admit I do not have (and believe I cannot have) proof.

    As one prominent atheist has pointed out (see my Source entry), beliefs do determine who you are. I choose my beliefs according to who I intend to be.

11. All hat on August 30th, 2008 1:23 am

    You ask a good question. We can’t know, and it makes us look foolish when we guess.

12. the old dog on August 30th, 2008 10:36 am

    You know of God’s existence because it is in you. You accept this without sight, sound, taste, scent, nor touch, in faith. You can put your faith in the dollar and the solar systems evolution if you want, or you can put your faith in God.
    A long discourse could follow this to answer your question but it is not needed. It is a simple matter of a few dollars out of your pocket or a visit to your local library.
    Search for a book by the author of “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. Clive Staples Lewis was a strong atheist and an intelligent man, he reasonably figured out that God exists. He wrote more than just “The Chronicles of Narnia” there were other books that are just as fascinating. For example. “The Screwtape Letters”, gives you a good idea of how evil thinks. But I’m off on a tangent here.
    I want to direct you to his book “MERE CHRISTIANITY” there he explains a lot for you to consider, to meditate on if you wish, but never the less Mr. Lewis puts forth a viable and reasonable argument for God.
    Please look into it.
    God bless and take care.