do you believe in god?

[rleeq]

Interestingly someone asked me a similar question just today riding the bus home from the store.  We have more atoms making up our bodies than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of all the world. There are somewhere in the neighborhood of four hundred billion 400,000,000,000 stars in our galaxy. In the known universe somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000,000,000 galaxies. Each and every of the bodies in all of the known universe as well as perhaps those beyond the light speed barrier are made of atoms. And of course atoms are made of even smaller particles. A googolplex of googolplexs of googolplexs of atoms. That would be a 10 followed by billions of zeros. A number so large that to write it out would require not just one life time but many life times just to write it down. Now consider this. All of these atoms are controlled by only 4 forces. The Strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetism and gravity. The grand symmetry of it, is boggling to the mind, and to paraphrase Carl Sagan if I may, if there is no God it would be necessary to invent him just to explain it all.

[ConfusedMind]

rleeq, though i did not completely understand what you wanted to conclude. however, the information you have placed remind me of Erich Von Daniken's notion of God.

has anyone read 'Chariots of the Gods'? images as well as the arguments are really very interesting.

[rleeq]

I look at the universe and see complexity so dense that I am staggered by it. Something, by the way, not easy to do. Further, In my minds eye, I can see beyond the boundaries of the light speed barrier as it is called in cosmology  (some where around 15 billion light years) to the infinity beyond said barrier.
Though I am a person with an imagination sufficient to see these things, I can not imagine giving the creative force behind all of the wonders a name. Not the names "God," Allah, Jehovah, not the 77 unpronounceable names of Judaism, not all the names of Hindu religion can conjure in me the magnitude of that which created "The All." For me, giving a name or description, or even bending in worship seems not nearly enough, by magnitudes beyond my ability to recon. There are no names which do not limit this creative force, there is no love of which I am capable which does not limit that which breathed upon the void and brought into existence all that is.
No religion is great enough to encompass, no belief which does not limit that which is infinite. To be sure...even the words, infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, fail utterly in my mind to conjure that which is so far beyond what those words describe.

In the Tao it says, that which can be named is not the thing. Without all of the inscriptions and descriptions about what this means, that one phrase, in all of its simplicity comes closest and yet even that falls far short.

I use no names and only one phrase...First Source And Center and yes I BELIEVE

And yes I've read Von Daniken, Though it was long ago. I found ans still find his theories very interesting.

[ConfusedMind]

thank you rleeq for sharing your views.

i'd like to know something from everybody. what divine experiences have you ever had? from what experiences have you felt the existence of God. do you think you could feel this, even if you wouldn't have been acquainted with the idea of God from the childhood? i somehow believe that most believers believe in god just because they have been habituated with this idea since childhood. they say, god the almighty should be prayed, so i pray. this is the attitude.

[PixieWitch]

To answer your question, ConfusedMind, I gave birth to a son almost 6 yrs ago. Conception alone is miracle enough, but when that baby is born, a parent knows there is a divine source.

[ConfusedMind]

PixieWitch, i totally understand what you mean. with all its scientific explanations, a child being born feels heavenly. one can just keep wondering and wondering how it happens. It is God's blessing - this is the answer you get at the end of the day.

I just remembered a quote from Einstein, "There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle." If you are one who lives life in the later way, it must be God who does all the miracles.

[swetha]

that was a great saying ConfusedMind )

just today I realized... that the different names we give God all turns out to be "belief" in one word. We pray to God and if we believe we can do it... then we do it... If we pray and dont make the effort... then the deed doesn't get done..then we blame God....

so ultimately at the end of the day it is the belief in yourself and the will to do it. in other words... belief in God is just plain simple belief in yourself..... thats how I feel about it:)

[Krishnakumar M R]

I am amazed to see why still couple of persons are having doubt on this ?

Its so simple...

Like one word question and answer in our school exams... In short, if a person believes his mother then he believe God.

Each and every one of us is God... God is within us but we cannot see the God (Like what we see our image in the mirror).  But we can recognize his touch... Lets say, if there is a pain in eyes we feel some sort of feelings. Similarly, every one can feel God touch in one or the other way in their life (But most of them who is opposing GOD, fear to accept it.... Better accept the fact or truth so that the life will be happy)...

Apart from the above, help to people who is needy... You can see the God within them...

God cannot come to earth and do the help to each and every one... We may get help from anybody (even un-known person)... Did we ever imagine, why the un-known person helps us ? No... Because, we all are selfish... We got the help and escaped from the great difficulty... Soon after we forget even the person who helped us.  

We all speak loudly about scientific innovations etc... Can any one change the relationship with the help of such a great scientific technique can we change our sister as our mother ? can we change our father as our brother ? The answer is big NO...

We all know and believe that something power is exist beyond us.  Like a two side of coins, we have one set of people call it as God and the other set of people says miracle etc.

Normally people speaks about anything if there is something in it.... People have FAITH, believes GOD.  People do not have FAITH, do not have faith about themselves but believes GOD (even though they say they do not have belief)

Hope every one knows that Graham Bell invented the telephone.... A simple question.....Did any one was alive at the time and been with Graham Bell when he invented the telephone ? The answer is NO... Do we have doubt on the inventor of telephone or Graham Bell ? NO.  In the same path or line, we are all got this birth of human being because of GOD's grace and blessings and therefore, atleast start believing GOD (if not earlier).


Krishna

[PixieWitch]

Krishna,  
Never thought about it in that perspective, but what you said just really makes sense to me. My brother claims he is an atheist and is soon coming to visit. I might debate that with him and tell him what you just posted. I'd love to see if he could come up with some sort of justification...

[ConfusedMind]

that was a great saying ConfusedMind )

just today I realized... that the different names we give God all turns out to be "belief" in one word. We pray to God and if we believe we can do it... then we do it... If we pray and dont make the effort... then the deed doesn't get done..then we blame God....

so ultimately at the end of the day it is the belief in yourself and the will to do it. in other words... belief in God is just plain simple belief in yourself..... thats how I feel about it:)

that is so true. I have thanked god on several occasions, cursed him for numberless times. but hardly have i begged anything out of him. i always have a feeling, even if he exists, he might be busy with so many pending demands to fulfill, requests to consider and judgments to make. so, better not bother him. let him be as he is.

[swetha]

So maybe we should bother ourselves with completing the task in hand

[ConfusedMind]

who else does it??