plaetton:
With almost daily encounters with Christians out in the streets, on the buses and on airwaves, beckoning anyone who cares to listen to rely on god and accept Jesus, I have come to realize that today's popular religion s , particularly on account of their histories, that the middle East religions have been on permanent membership recruitment drive since their foundings.
In Islam ,for example, not believing in god or renouncing a belief in god can earn one a death sentence.

So, the simple and most important question we ask is :

Does god exist if No one believes in him ?

For the answer to that question, let's ask Zeus, Amen Ra, Ahura Mazda, Apollo , and other dead and forgotten gods whose corpses litter the streets of history.

The one single ingredient that brings a god, any god for that Matter , into existence is Faith.
Without belief/Faith gods have tended to wither and die.

Knowing this fact, the promoters and profiteers of today's religions have , over the millennia, set up many layers of self-defense and self-preservation mechanisms that keeps recruitment permanent, and attrition at the barest minimum.

God, like all imaginary friends , heroes , villains and monsters, ceases to exist the moment people stop believing .

waldigit:

.Without faith you, your spirit man is dead. Faith is what can make you experience God. I connects you with revelation which brings knowledge via experiences. As you what is living you is soul and body. That the state the devil want to put you so you will not the truth. Remember the truth is not a function of what you believe. What you believe is your choice.

plaetton:


You have your definition of everything. You tend to define things to suit yourself or your beliefs.

Firstly, I don't believe in anything deified, except of course, the Toothfairy.

I also know that there is absolutely ZERO evidence of a MIND(?) behind the existence of everything.
At most, the existence of such a mind is nothing but speculative.

plaetton:


Again, let me put it to you.
Can belief and faith in Santa Claus or the ToothFairy make me experience either of these two supernatural entities ?
Is it the devil that is making you not see the truth of Santa or the ToothFairy ?

Is it also the lack of faith or the devil that robbed the former worshippers of Zeus , Ra , Apollo, etc, and made these supernatural entities wither away and die ?

Does having faith in something make that thing real ?
If so, what happened to all the dead and forgotten gods of history ? Lack of faith in them killed them ?

Do you now see how you have unwittingly made my argument for me ? That faith and belief sustains God, and without it, god is dead ( non-existent) ?

waldigit:

Yes that exactly what I am trying to say God does not exist because that's a fact you have chosen to believe but that's not necessarily the truth. The truth is independent of your belief system. But it is your responsibility to find out the truth, if you choose otherwise the consequence is better imagine than experienced. Best of luck.

Barywhyte:
One type of argument I won't get myself involved in is this issue of whether god exist or not. It's fruitless, baseless and ungodly too. If you say there is no such personality as God, the Bible says you are fool. That settles it! I strongly believe that. Why going into arguments with a fool? Before you know it, he turns you into a fool.

hopefulLandlord:


this guy just proved his imaginary friend is real

plaetton:


If you make a proposition that exists, then you are the one saddled with the responsibility to prove it. You can't tell to accept it first before it becomes true or apparent.
My own is to reject any ridiculous proposition that lacks proof.
For example, I cannot ask you to prove that the Sun exists because everything in our immediate solar system experiences the effects of sunlight or lack of it.
But this god you talk of, is created in your mind accordingly with the mental and intellectual configuration of your mind( the reason that there many religions and many gods).

plaetton:


You still don't get it.

A Christian person who has an OBE would undoubtedly attribute the experience to an angelic or Jesus experience.
A moslem who has an OBE would also attribute the experience to his particular religious belief.
Likewise, a pagan who has an OBE would also attribute the experience to his ancestral spirits or gods.
Your god is created in your mind, and fits perfectly into whatever mold your mind builds to house him/her/it.
This is the point that continues to elude you.

I have had many lucid dreams and OBEs. Yes. And I am an atheist.
And such experiences did nothing to point out that there is an invisible skydaddy up there.

NPComplete:


**Sigh** Not all of them sees God. Some see light. Some see their family members. Some see their own gods. I am sure if we go back some centuries, some will have seen Zeus or Odin.

http://www.horizonresearch.org/near-death/intro-to-the-nde-phenomena/religion-culture-and-near-death-experiences/

The problem is paucity of information from non-western sources. I will find some very intriguing ones and post it later

Zither:


Until you post the more intriguing sources this link is balderdash as it is just lectures on the subject.

NPComplete:


What sort of senseless argument is this? Lectures on the subject is less valid than the anecdotal evidence u have of people seeing God? U are giving me an example of what u claim people saw. And I just gaveu other examples of what other people claim people saw but somehow u think your example is more valid?

I am not even going to waste my time fishing for those sources anymore. Keep wallowing in ur illogical sense of superiority. Cheers.

plaetton:


When did you start worshipping me as a god ?

JMAN05:


That's not the meaning of my words. But let's go along with what you make of it. Assuming someone stops worshipping you or another person, does that make you or that one wither and die?

plaetton:


Why would anyone worship me ?

Secondly, for someone to admire me , have reverence for me or worship me ,the person has to have had seen me, interacted with me or directly influenced by me, and be assured that I exist, not conveniently invisible and living in the sky or some imaginary place.
In other words, I have an identity that is not in doubt. I have flesh and blood. I have a family, friends, etc. I am not self-begotten. I am not a mystery. Therefore, anyone foolish enough to worship me as a god suffers the same delusions that the worshippers of middle east gods suffer.