# 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:** 37
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/722 "2013-08-31T05:45:19Z")
What you have described sounds more like a “demiurge” or “creative spirit.” It doesn’t sound like a person, but could simply be a “force.” You might be describing “The Force” from Star Wars. It isn’t a _bad_ religious viewpoint. It is held by a great many. A number of Christian offshoots hold this view. Life and Love are “natural forces” that impel the universe toward “good.” It tends to be universalist, and to de-emphasize sin, punishment, hell, judgement, and so on. It partakes somewhat of the austere deism of some of the American founders and framers. Being non-religious in the formal sense – no revelation, no dogma, no ritual obligations – it is a very liberated theology. I don’t have to tithe, I don’t have to follow the teachings of any ministers or priests, and I can eat all the ham sandwiches I want. It certainly is vastly healthier than whatever it is that Pat Robertson is driveling about. ---
**Author:** ![LaJument](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9a140/32.png) [@LaJument](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaJument)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/723 "2013-08-31T14:10:23Z")
You are correct. What I was attempting to describe is a decentralized creative force. Something that unlike GOD is actually everywhere all at once. Just to clarify, in my analogy we are not the monkeys, we and all of exsistance are the product of their random efforts at the keyboard and they are not monkeys but instead represent the creative processes that are at work all around and inside of us. Just as they would make gramtical errors’ the creative force produces results that we deem undesirable and label as mistakes when in fact all results are creative. Create order or create chaos. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/724 "2013-08-31T14:28:52Z")
Romanticizing the universe is such fun. Here, you’ll enjoy this if you’ve not read it before: “We are the stuff of stars…” - [Carl Sagan](http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/10538.Carl_Sagan) Or maybe this is more your speed: “We are stardust/We are golden…” - [Joni Mitchell](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aOGnVKWbwc) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/725 "2013-08-31T21:44:09Z")
> [@LaJument](#): > > . . . Just to clarify, in my analogy we are not the monkeys, we and all of exsistance are the product of their random efforts at the keyboard and they are not monkeys but instead represent the creative processes that are at work all around and inside of us. . . . Fair enough. That is, in fact, how I interpreted the metaphor. We are the monkeys, the keyboards, the paper, and the words. We’re part of it all. Simply by living our lives, loving our neighbors, eating and pooping, and occasionally writing mini-essays on internet discussion boards, we are participating in the vast creation of order. Thing is…it doesn’t really advance us beyond the ostensible, which is that the impulse toward order may merely be Darwinian, resulting from the flow of energy through the biosphere. There is no “drive” toward increased complexity, only the random walk of the molecules. Nothing in the “creative universe” model is necessary. The conventional interpretation is sufficient. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/726 "2013-09-01T01:59:21Z")
Jesus explained to his own disciples that they did not chose God God chose them to be His disciples, His followers, His believers In fact many left Jesus when he tried to explain the bread as his body being broken for them, then he added the wine represented the blood that was shed for them. They could not understand this concept of sacrifice for their sins and left him with just the original 12 men God chose, one being Judas who later betrayed Jesus as the scriptures had foretold would happen. Many were simple fishermen … humble men called to serve God’s son. Unless you hear God calling you … you can’t very well consider yourself a Christian. There is a song we sing in church called, “I have decided to follow Jesus” “No turning back” “even if no would follow I will still follow” “No turning back” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/727 "2013-09-01T06:40:05Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > They could not understand this concept of sacrifice for their sins and left him with just the original 12 men God chose, one being Judas who later betrayed Jesus as the scriptures had foretold would happen. No wonder. It is a stupid concept. Sacrifices were originally done to Gods who seemed to have a taste for some sacrifices over others. (See Cain and Abel.) But why does a God need sacrifices? Wouldn’t since repentance, like during Yom Kippur, do better than someone sacrificing for someone else? The whole thing is a mixture of Judaism, which had already outgrown such nonsense, and the pagan religions which may not have. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/728 "2013-09-01T11:55:50Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > Jesus explained to his own disciples that they did not chose God > > God chose them to be His disciples, His followers, His believers > > Unless you hear God calling you … you can’t very well consider yourself a Christian. What constitutes a “call” from god? Can god call you to be a muslim, or a hindu? > [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > There is a song we sing in church called, “I have decided to follow Jesus” “No turning back” “even if no would follow I will still follow” “No turning back” I don’t understand. Either you’re “called” by god or you “decided”, which is it? ---
**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:** [September 1, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/729 "2013-09-01T16:19:32Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > What constitutes a “call” from god? Can god call you to be a muslim, or a hindu? > > I don’t understand. Either you’re “called” by god or you “decided”, which is it? They decided to follow jesus, which got them on his friends list - then God could call them… its all very facebookie. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/730 "2013-09-01T17:13:45Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > No wonder. It is a stupid concept. Sacrifices were originally done to Gods who seemed to have a taste for some sacrifices over others. (See Cain and Abel.) But why does a God need sacrifices? Wouldn’t since repentance, like during Yom Kippur, do better than someone sacrificing for someone else? God, or some gods, or the OT God, seem to like killing and the glorification of it. It’s probably a reflection of the scribes’ psychoses and ego trips expressed the only way they could. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/731 "2013-09-01T21:06:48Z")
> [@simster](#): > > They decided to follow jesus, which got them on his friends list - then God could call them… its all very facebookie. Well, God calls me all the time, but he always calls collect so I hang up. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/732 "2013-09-01T21:08:44Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > God, or some gods, or the OT God, seem to like killing and the glorification of it. It’s probably a reflection of the scribes’ psychoses and ego trips expressed the only way they could. Nah, more the desire of those living in a county which just its ass whupped for the mythical glory days of old when they whupped everyone else. And massacres were just the way you did things back then. God always has the moral code of the people inventing him. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/733 "2013-09-01T21:19:46Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Well, God calls me all the time, but he always calls collect so I hang up. Cheap bastard. First he wants a BBQ goat, now free phone calls. Next he’ll want to borrow your lawnmower. ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/734 "2013-09-02T13:14:42Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > Jesus explained to his own disciples that they did not chose God > > God chose them to be His disciples, His followers, His believers > > In fact many left Jesus when he tried to explain the bread as his body being broken for them, then he added the wine represented the blood that was shed for them. > > They could not understand this concept of sacrifice for their sins and left him with just the original 12 men God chose, one being Judas who later betrayed Jesus as the scriptures had foretold would happen. > > Many were simple fishermen … humble men called to serve God’s son. > > Unless you hear God calling you … you can’t very well consider yourself a Christian. > > There is a song we sing in church called, “I have decided to follow Jesus” “No turning back” “even if no would follow I will still follow” “No turning back” Does following Jesus mean you are willing to accept His teachings and follow them also. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/735 "2013-09-03T12:13:10Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Okay, yeah I see > > But is being indoctrinated the same as personal experiences? > Your own, personal relationship, with God. Can’t be found anywhere in the Bible. Isn’t recorded in the Bible. > > After chatting with you guys, I realized that the Bible is full of verses, or God’s words, that you can either believe or not. > > Now if what is said in the Bible, like the Holy Spirit will guide you to spread the Gospel, does come true, is that not something to believe in? > > Then wouldn’t it just solidify your beliefs? > > And make the Bible a little more…true…er? > > Honestly, while responding to you guys yesterday at night, all these verses popped up into my head. Sometimes I would read the question, yet not comprehend, yet I still had the answer. And after trying to reread after responding to comprehend, I was still unable to do so. > > I think now that it’s more like testing what you believe in. And yes, maybe you can find inconsistencies in the Bible which may logically be inconsistent. However, I’ve had my personal experience with God to know that He is real, to know that it is not inconsistent, but higher than what we can comprehend. It is reasonable, but we don’t know how. > > I’d just like to add that maybe this is where Faith comes in to play. > > The Bible is just a step to knowing who God is, but actually confirming it for yourself is to experience it. > > It’s my mother’s God. But it’s also my God, because I have my own personal relationship with Him. According to the Psalmist all men are gods, or at least Jewish men. Jesus backs this up in John 10. You believe your personal experience is with God, but that doesn’t mean it is God, just a feeling you like to feel. One can believe the earth is flat and for a few centuries most people did, but they were wrong. According to the Bible the world would have ended by now. There are many quotes about the end of the world an most were expecting it in their life time. The generation in which the Bible is mentions is the work of some human who said it didn’t mean that Generation, but Matthew used the same meaning for generation that we do today. The church leaders decided since the world had not ended in the first century. It must have some other meaning. Nor did Jesus return in his Father’s Glory with his angels while some of the people listening to him are still alive. One must never had a sermon in their churches to think about this. One man (who we know) that studies the Bible didn’t know or have read the psalm that said You are gods and sons of the most high. Jesus reminded the Pharisee’s of this when accused of Blasphemy. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/736 "2013-09-03T12:19:26Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > See, here comes the cycle again. I’m going to have to prove that the Bible is God’s words using the Bible. > > "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. " > > II Peter 1:20-21 NIV > > Reiteration: HOLY SPIRIT > > Here’s what it’s like. The thought is involuntary. It just appears in a split of a second. I was searching online and what Whittaker Chambers said. And please believe me when I say this that what is said is exactly what I felt before I read what he said. I was actually shocked to see that he had the same experience. Haha, in fact, I use the word involuntary because of Chambers, kind of copied him to explain the Holy Spirit verbally. > “The thought was involuntary and unwanted. I crowded it out of my mind. But I never wholly forgot it or the occasion. I had to crowd it out of my mind. If I had completed it, I should have had to say: Design presupposes God. I did not then know that, at that moment, the finger of God was first laid upon my forehead.” - Whittaker Chambers What you write of why, and what you believe, and is far from any proof. Belief in your self or others is just belief not fact. If it was true you could prove 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:** [September 3, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/737 "2013-09-03T12:28:03Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > Does following Jesus mean you are willing to accept His teachings and follow them also. Does “accept his teachings” mean accepting _everything_ he says? ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/738 "2013-09-03T12:43:24Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Okay, but the point you guys are all missing is that The Bible and God CAN BE TRUE. Yes, so can other religions or no such thing as God. BUT The Bible and God CAN BE TRUE. > > Whether you like it OR NOT, It CAN BE TRUE > > Whether you believe in it OR NOT, IT CAN BE TRUE > > Whether you live life without knowing or wanting to know God, HE CAN STILL BE TRUE > > \*\*The verse where Satan is preventing you from understanding CAN BE TRUE. Maybe that is the reason you don’t understand. \*\* 2 Corinthians 4:4 > He is true even when you don’t believe. He is true even when you deny Him. He is true even when you find it illogical, He is true even if you live life without worries, therefore thinking that there is no need for God. He is who He is, He was here before we were created, and He is everlasting. > > Moan all you want about a cruel God, BUT HE IS STILL TRUE > Mock all you want about a weak God, BUT HE IS STILL TRUE > Deny all you want about his Word, BUT HE IS STILL TRUE > Try applying human logic to doubt His existence, BUT HE IS STILL TRUE > Hate Him all you want, curse Him all you want, HE IS STILL TRUE > Use your worldly knowledge and your eyes to disprove Him, BUT HE IS STILL TRUE > Basically all you guys are doing is using worldly knowledge, a world that He created, to disprove Him. > What you can’t see doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Use this to believe in unicorns. I don’t care. HE CAN STILL BE TRUE. > > But I know that God is true through personal experiences. Mock those experiences. I don’t care. There was even one time, when I was furious, that I told God straight up that I was going to worship Satan, and right at that moment, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, I quickly became frightened and apologized, and it went away. Doubt this experience, Mock it, Belittle it, I don’t care. > > I don’t care if you need someone to directly prove to you using human logic that the Bible is true. God is still TRUE. > > Call me closed-minded, brainwashed- I don’t care. GOD IS STILL TRUE. > Yes, I can see how I may sound irrational right now, but I don’t care. GOD IS STILL TRUE. > Yes, i may be repeating I don’t care over and over again, But I don’t care. GOD IS STILL TRUE. > > Try using logic or complex thinking to prove God’s existence, have fun with that. God is beyond our comprehension, we will never fully know Him until we see Him face to face. Find this as an excuse? I don’t care. GOD IS STILL TRUE > > In the end, you’re making the choice, You’re using your free will whether or not you understand that you are. > > Jeremiah 5:21 > Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear > > And you may say, that’s what a person does, quote a verse in the Bible that criticizes others when they don’t believe in a religion. > > Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing. If you want to take the risk. Then go ahead. I did my part. You now have no excuse. I just personally think that it’s not worth eternity in hell. But that’s up to you guys. You’ll see in the end. Mock it now, but regret it later. Not my life, but yours. Insult me now, but we’ll see who has the last laugh. > > Revelations 1:7-8 > “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” > and “every eye will see him, > even those who pierced him”; > and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” > So shall it be! Amen. > “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” > Mark 6:11 > And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them." It is still a belief in some human’s words God didn’t write anything and because another person’s words, who we know can be untruthful or have hallucinations and Because some one wrote something because they believed God was speaking to them, doesn’t mean it was God. It is in their own mind. Just some people belief it and some don’t…no proof has ever been given. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/739 "2013-09-03T12:55:46Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Timo: > > Read the Book of Job. That was the one that showed me that the Bible may have been inspired by God but it was certainly written by men. > > In short, it addresses the question of why bad things happen to good people. If God’s own book cannot come up with a better answer than “God had a bet with Satan, and how dare \*you \*complain about it” then there is no better answer to be found. > > To cut to the chase, I am now UU. I do still expect to be judged after this life, but I have faith that “form of worship” is not 75% of our final grades. I will continue to try to be a good person regardless, since why should I make other people miserable just because the Ruler of the Universe is presented as a narrow-minded jerk? The book of Job shows an unjust being who to prove something to an enemy of his, which raises the question of why a God who created a monster in the first place would Kill a man’s family to prove an unnecessary point to the monster. God surely is more powerful than the monster he created, and would have known Job’s situation so even that was not an honest bet! The book of Job is just a story created by some human who thought it was a good idea even though it contradicts they traits of a Loving, honest, Just Supreme being! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/740 "2013-09-03T19:43:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > There is one thing, and one thing only that all gods have in common:Followers. Crom does not answer prayers, as well you know. ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/741 "2013-09-03T19:57:41Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > The book of Job shows an unjust being who to prove something to an enemy of his, which raises the question of why a God who created a monster in the first place would Kill a man’s family to prove an unnecessary point to the monster. God surely is more powerful than the monster he created, and would have known Job’s situation so even that was not an honest bet! The book of Job is just a story created by some human who thought it was a good idea even though it contradicts they traits of a Loving, honest, Just Supreme being! Why do you bring it up? You know God is not like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766.md?page=36) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766.md?page=38)