# Why don't people believe in God? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 21, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766 "2013-08-21T00:49:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 26
**Author:** ![Timo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Timo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/501 "2013-08-22T16:47:31Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Because Satan might burn me forever is another not very good reason to believe in god. No, and I agree that it’s not. However, it is a way that people might listen to what can be offered and then decide whether they would believe in it. Maybe think about the other options? If you run into trouble, you can count on God to help you through it, you have someone to turn to. If you feel unloved, God can fill that loneliness. God loves you even when you don’t. Are you willing to love Him? God already knows your sins. He knows your thoughts. He knows your desires and struggles. He knows your secrets that others might not know. Yet He still loves you. > [@DigitalC](#): > > Mostly because they feel good. Is it wrong if there is a God who can comfort you? Is it detestable in your sight if a person seeks for a loving God who can comfort them? He is after all, a God that loves. He is love. > [@DigitalC](#): > > What if we don’t feel empty or want to fill that emptiness with real things? Well, don’t get mad here, I think sometime down the road, you will feel empty. Maybe not you, you might be different. But people can feel empty inside. You can be as rich as you want, but you’ll lose it in the end because you’ll be dead - true? You can be as famous as George Washington or Albert Einstein but only be talked about when relevant. Generations come and generations go, the impact you could have made during your generation, wouldn’t, as hard as it sounds, be as impactful for the coming generations. Everyone dies. If you didn’t make a significant impact, no one will remember you. Do you remember your great great great great grandfather? Do you know his name? What you fill your emptiness with earthly things, remember, it will all disappear. You can’t take it with you when you’re dead. However, God is eternal. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/502 "2013-08-22T16:50:16Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > No, and I agree that it’s not. However, it is a way that people might listen to what can be offered and then decide whether they would believe in it. > > Maybe think about the other options? > If you run into trouble, you can count on God to help you through it, you have someone to turn to. > > If you feel unloved, God can fill that loneliness. > > God loves you even when you don’t. Are you willing to love Him? > > God already knows your sins. He knows your thoughts. He knows your desires and struggles. He knows your secrets that others might not know. Yet He still loves you. > > Is it wrong if there is a God who can comfort you? Is it detestable in your sight if a person seeks for a loving God who can comfort them? He is after all, a God that loves. He is love. > > Well, don’t get mad here, I think sometime down the road, you will feel empty. Maybe not you, you might be different. But people can feel empty inside. > > You can be as rich as you want, but you’ll lose it in the end because you’ll be dead - true? > > You can be as famous as George Washington or Albert Einstein but only be talked about when relevant. Generations come and generations go, the impact you could have made during your generation, wouldn’t, as hard as it sounds, be as impactful for the coming generations. > > Everyone dies. If you didn’t make a significant impact, no one will remember you. Do you remember your great great great great grandfather? Do you know his name? > > What you fill your emptiness with earthly things, remember, it will all disappear. You can’t take it with you when you’re dead. However, God is eternal. None of this applies if you don’t first believe in your god. Do you understand this: Yes or No? ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/503 "2013-08-22T16:51:57Z")
Timo, I would love to hear a thought out logical response to **Dorjan** ’s post # 466 above. Don’t let that one slide by, It’s well written, and worthy of a reply. I used this same line of reasoning in a conversation with my sister-in-law a few months back. I’m an atheist, and she is a pentecostal christian. She admitted some confusion with why her god (the Christian god) would condemn [66%](http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html) of the world’s population to eternal damnation, if he is the kind and loving god that she wants him to be. Her final comment was (paraphrasing) I don’t know why he would allow that, but I just have to believe there is a reason". Doesn’t work for me. Using that same source to measure the number of non-religious, that means if we take 16% out of the non-Christan 66%, that leaves a nice round 50% of the world’s population as believers, but not believers in YOUR god. So, in your belief, all of these folks are going to hell, right? Gandhi is in hell, but Nixon isn’t? Gandhi-Buddhist, Nixon-Quaker(christian). That just can’t be right. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/504 "2013-08-22T16:51:58Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Yeah, I see it now. I haven’t been a believer in any other religions, so I would have no way of identifying the difference between personal experiences, assuming that there are. > > Yet, for those who have, there’s a person in my church who was a strong Buddhist, for he grew up to be one. He said that he was so intolerant to the Christian word that for many years he just ignored it. Now, it’ll be better if he explained it himself, but now, this man is a Christian who has never doubted loving God. How do I know this and how can I make such an assumption? Because I dare say that he loves God more than I do. Because he had many more experiences. Through his action and conduct, you can tell. Might I add, his children are also in the church, growing up in the church life. > > Now I understand that it may be the other way around. A christian person may go to a different belief. However, one might ask, what setting was he in? How did he grow up in the Lord? Was it religious? Was it just a tradition? Or was it a loving experience? > And you might be tearing your hair right now, saying who’s to know whether the other people that became christians after being in other religions did not fully understand that religion… > > Don’t know. I personally don’t know. But you can ask them. People can change. The ex-Buddhist in your Church changed, because for whatever reason, Christianity works out better for him now. Plenty of Christians change beliefs, or cease believing altogether. It still does not validate or invalidate any of the beliefs in question. Just because someone grew up Buddhist and later converted to Christianity does not in any way mean that Christianity is more true. A person who leaves Christianity can also do so for many reasons. The point is, this is due to people changing, and has nothing to do with the validity of one belief over another. I will reiterate that point - **this is due to people changing, and has nothing to do with the validity of one belief over another**. And really, people in general don’t change that much. For every person who grew up indoctrinated with one belief and decided, for whatever reason, that they are now going to believe in something else - the vast, overwhelming millions of others are born, raised, and die firmly believing in the dominant religion of wherever they happened to be born. How/why that religion is dominant in a particular area is entirely due to History, war, and politics. Evangelism has very very little impact in the grand scheme of things. ---
**Author:** ![Timo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Timo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/505 "2013-08-22T16:59:59Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Its quite simple - Paul did not presume to judge the reward (or lack there of ) or the motivations of other preachers - he was simply glad that ‘Christ is preached’. > > Following that model, you should quit judging the motivations or rewards of others and simply be rejoicing that Christ is preached and show your ‘faithfullness’ in actions and deeds, not ‘words’ only. > > The bible is your crutch - it appears you would not have faith without it - which means you have very little faith at all. Okay, so you’re saying if the Bible isn’t our crutch. I could make up anything right now and say that it was from God? Okay, let’s say, God says that in order for people to be saved, they need to have more than one wife. You can’t tell me whether I’m right or wrong. It doesn’t matter if it says in the Bible that a man should only have one wife. It’s my belief. What I say goes, and if you don’t like it, too bad. Okay, see the problem with "you should quit judging the motivations or rewards of others and simply be rejoicing that Christ is preached and show your ‘faithfulness’ in actions and deeds, not ‘words’ only. While I agree with the last half, preaching should be shown in faithfulness in actions and deeds. I disagree with the other half. Why? Because how is a person without a true relationship with God suppose to lead others to have a true relationship with God? See with your logic, it’s like, I call myself a Christian, therefore I am saved… Yeah, you call yourself a Christian…So? I could call myself a unicorn…does that make me one? In fact read this verse: Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” And in that same chapter Matthew 7, you will see that right before that is states, it talks about False prophets. Haha, now I also realize that it says do not judge in verse one of Matthew 7. So, yeah, I was wrong there. But it is hard not to judge what others are doing if they are not doing it correctly. LIke for example. If you were trying to show everyone how great a product was. But then there’s a person standing next to you who is using the product incorrectly and making a fool out of it. Won’t you get mad? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/506 "2013-08-22T17:03:11Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > It doesn’t matter if it says in the Bible that a man should only have one wife. It doesn’t. You know that, right? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/507 "2013-08-22T17:03:32Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Okay, so you’re saying if the Bible isn’t our crutch. I could make up anything right now and say that it was from God? Yup - you’re starting to see the problem with claiming something is ‘FROM GOD’ or is “GODS WORD”. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/508 "2013-08-22T17:04:06Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > LIke for example. If you were trying to show everyone how great a product was. But then there’s a person standing next to you who is using the product incorrectly and making a fool out of it. Won’t you get mad? Yes, I do. And on that note, how often do you [visit those who are in prison](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25:36&version=NIV)? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/509 "2013-08-22T17:05:29Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > If you were trying to show everyone how great a product was. But then there’s a person standing next to you who is using the product incorrectly and making a fool out of it. Won’t you get mad? Am I a salesman? Why should I care? This does happen in real life. Our geophysical products are sometimes used incorrectly by our clients. We don’t get mad. We explain how they’re using it wrong. If they don’t get it, well, they still bought from us in the first place and the smarter guys in their company understand it’s not our fault and still do business with us. What does getting mad accomplish in this situation other than reveal your own immaturity and the lack of confidence you have in your own product that you should get angry over it? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/510 "2013-08-22T17:05:34Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Haha, now I also realize that it says do not judge in verse one of Matthew 7. So, yeah, I was wrong there. But it is hard not to judge what others are doing if they are not doing it correctly? And who are you to judge whether or not others are doing it correctly? You haven’t even read the instruction book. ---
**Author:** ![Timo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Timo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/511 "2013-08-22T17:05:46Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > None of this applies if you don’t first believe in your god. Do you understand this: Yes or No? No. I understand. That’s why I used the analogy in the previous post. You can’t apply what you learn without learning it first You can’t develop a relationship with God without knowing Him and His words first. But let me tell you something, I didn’t fully believe in God either. I was born into a christian family and was told that “God loves me” “Jesus died on the cross for me” over and over again. Don’t you think those words would have been completely hackneyed? Don’t you think I would have just glossed through it without comprehending? It’s like reading a sentence over and over again. Later it becomes incomprehensible. Don’t you think it’s harder to be born in a Christian family? Because what is being said could also be taken for granted? But I knew God’s words because it was told to me. I knew it, but that doesn’t mean I believed it. I was told to be baptized, but not because I wanted to. Yet here I am. It’s God’s words that is planted in you. Like a seed waiting to grow. It was with God’s mercy that I developed a personal relationship with Him. Not because I forced it, I wasn’t seeking it, I didn’t fully believe in it. I just continued living my life. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/512 "2013-08-22T17:06:39Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > You can be as rich as you want, but you’ll lose it in the end because you’ll be dead - true? > > You can be as famous as George Washington or Albert Einstein but only be talked about when relevant. Generations come and generations go, the impact you could have made during your generation, wouldn’t, as hard as it sounds, be as impactful for the coming generations. > > Everyone dies. If you didn’t make a significant impact, no one will remember you. Do you remember your great great great great grandfather? Do you know his name? > > What you fill your emptiness with earthly things, remember, it will all disappear. You can’t take it with you when you’re dead. Does it ever occur to you that there are many people who are not frightened or upset by any of this? That we just don’t care about any of that? Oh, yeah, and this: > [@](#): > > Do you remember your great great great great grandfather? Do you know his name? Yes, he has the same name as me! How does that affect your thoughts about what you wrote, above? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/513 "2013-08-22T17:10:38Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > It doesn’t matter if it says in the Bible that a man should only have one wife. It’s my belief. It doesn’t. King David rather famously didn’t have one wife. Nor did Joseph’s father Jacob (Joseph was born of Jacob’s 2nd wife and several of his brothers were the offspring of Jacob’s concubines). And it’s the source of one of Jesus’ great misdirections when somebody asked about wives in Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Timo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Timo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/514 "2013-08-22T17:11:45Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Am I a salesman? Why should I care? > > This does happen in real life. Our geophysical products are sometimes used incorrectly by our clients. We don’t get mad. We explain how they’re using it wrong. If they don’t get it, well, they still bought from us in the first place and the smarter guys in their company understand it’s not our fault and still do business with us. > > What does getting mad accomplish in this situation other than reveal your own immaturity and the lack of confidence you have in your own product that you should get angry over it? Okay see, the point here in using the salesman analogy was that it is an analogy… To help make it more clear… So if it does happen in real life, you should know. Are you sure you don’t get mad? Not frustrated? I kind of doubt that… because it puts a dent, however small, in your client’s belief of products. It takes time out of what could have been spent investing in other problems. Maybe even clients might not refer to your product when asked, putting a dent in your advertisement. NO. See you don’t understand. Only a person who truly cares gets mad. It’s either you don’t care about what you sell because you have no passion, and you think, “Hey, as long as I’m making money, who cares”. But this is different. This is not about money. This is about eternal life in torment. This is about people’s eternal path. This isn’t something to take lightly thinking" Oh, hey, as long as they’re christian, why should it matter if they truly have a relationship with God?" “Oh, hey, there’s a false prophet leading people down the wrong path, that’s fine, they know God in the wrong way, it’s still God.”. You can’t think like this… ---
**Author:** ![Timo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Timo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/515 "2013-08-22T17:14:47Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > It doesn’t. King David rather famously didn’t have one wife. Nor did Joseph’s father Jacob (Joseph was born of Jacob’s 2nd wife and several of his brothers were the offspring of Jacob’s concubines). > > And it’s the source of one of Jesus’ great misdirections when somebody asked about wives in Heaven. And I would agree with that. Haha, in fact I did ask my sister about that question… However, was Jesus born before or after David? After. He was the descendent of David. Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament, But Jesus was alive during the New Testamen. And it says in the New testament to have one wife and one husband. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/516 "2013-08-22T17:16:18Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Okay see, the point here in using the salesman analogy was that it is an analogy… > To help make it more clear… YOu fail at using analogies - quit using them. As for the rest - yeah - it might upset me - but thankfully, I don’t go around torturing all the people that might not get it - especially if the only way they can ‘get it’ is to follow a 2000 year old instruction manual that was written in a different language and has 150000 translations and books about what it ‘really means’. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/517 "2013-08-22T17:17:28Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > However, was Jesus born before or after David? After. He was the descendent of David. Not according to the Bible, he wasn’t. According to the Bible, Jesus’ daddy was God, and the linage comes through the father. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/518 "2013-08-22T17:19:29Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > I would stop now, but I feel that when I try stopping, I read some posts that I can try answering, and I want to give another perspective, that may have little impact, but just the same, it may help later on. And it’s the same both ways. Now doesn’t that sound familiar. That’s a recurring temptation that a lot of us here have experienced. There’s even [an XKCD for that](http://xkcd.com/386/). (Background note for Timo - Timo is to Bible Verses as Dopers are to XKCD links.) > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why don’t you save those "ha ha"s for when somebody tells a joke, o.k.? Eh. I just think of them as graphemic smilies and go on. ---
**Author:** ![Timo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Timo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/519 "2013-08-22T17:19:40Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Does it ever occur to you that there are many people who are not frightened or upset by any of this? That we just don’t care about any of that? > > Oh, yeah, and this: > Yes, he has the same name as me! How does that affect your thoughts about what you wrote, above? Yes. And I say, if it’s how they feel, what can I do? nothing. It’s up to them. Maybe you don’t need God because you’re satisfied. But if you do want God not because of desperation or comfort or fear, then I think the more to you. Better than me. It doesn’t. Can you name you great great great great grandmother or aunt? How about second cousin? Third? You’re mother-in-law of your great great great great grandmother? You’re father-in-law’s son of your great great great great great grandfather? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/520 "2013-08-22T17:24:37Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > It doesn’t. Can you name you great great great great grandmother or aunt? How about second cousin? Third? You’re mother-in-law of your great great great great grandmother? You’re father-in-law’s son of your great great great great great grandfather? WTF does any of that have to do with anything? or are you now a shill for [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com) as well? \* And can YOU do any of those things? \*because thanks to them, I can do all of that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766.md?page=27)