It looks like the majority of people on this thread are believers. If I had the time I would read all the posts and change as many as possible from their indeterminate status to a yes or a no. But it probably wouldn't make a great deal of difference.

I don't usually look at the profiles, stopped doing that when I discovered these threads and decided to make a nuisance of myself on them! I'm pleased to say that of those where women have actually bothered to complete them, it is clear from the 'Religion' option whether they are believers or not. And no, I haven't bothered to look at the men!

If I was a typical 'bad' scientist I would try to find some reason for this, for example only believers are 'likely' to post here. Non-believers are likely to shrug their shoulders and think that as a non-believer, there is no point in contributing!

That's what bad scientists do, find as much evidence as they can to support their theory and quietly ignore anything that points to the opposite conclusion. Thus we have climate change deniers - yes, they really do exist! - flat earthers - more of them now than ever before! - and of course evolution deniers. All these people are 'bad' scientists, ignoring the vast amount of evidence that makes a nonsense of their belief.

Oh, and believers in a mythical being whose existence cannot be proven!

Back to Square One.

reposted because this thread is still broken - what a total idiot!

Wrong again. You know nothing about my family. As I know nothing about yours. Despite your ridiculous story about a semi, I have never mentioned your family. Please do not to mention mine again. They are irrelevant to this thread.

I did not mislead my Mother. She knew my beliefs and shrugged her shoulders, knowing that everyone does their own thing. I expect she was pleased that having made up my mind I stuck to my opinions.

Many people follow the religion and denomination of their parents. They do it because it's what you do. They go to the same church, get married, have children, who then go to teh same church.

At least I gave the matter some serious thought and made up my mind. I did not become 'my own man' when my Mother died. I did so about the age of 20. My Mother dies about 40 years after that, so please get your facts right and when you don't know them, stop guessing.

Seems that is what you are doing in thie thread, spouting nonsense without even knowing your facts. Time for me to laugh at you!

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OK Tom, back to the original question, in case readers didn't get my answer earlier.

No, there is no such thing as 'god' - it is a man made concept requiring people to 'believe' in something they can never see or communicate with by phone, e-mail, etc.

In return for this 'belief' promises are made, not about this life, but about what will happen after you die.

It is only for gullible people who can easily be deluded into believing that if you say, "Yes, I believe!" you can 'live' after you in fact die and it will be worth it.

I continually find it quite extraordinary that intelligent adults in the 21st century can actually claim to 'believe' in this stuff.

Clearly, when we die, that's it, same as for all animals and plants. I expect some people say they believe and do all the 'right' things as a sort of insurance policy.

If there is an afterlife, they have 'paid the premium' as it were and would hope to be welcomed as good guys in the afterlife.

I think I've covered everything, time to put on my flameproof coat while I wait for the no doubt ridiculous replies!

You know nothing whatsoever about my Grandfather. He was a priest in the Church of England. When he retired he went away to live somewhere else to avoid his former parishioners from calling on him.

He never went to Church after retirement. To him, it was just a job, although he did it to the best of his ability. Please stop referring to someone you know nothing about whatsoever.

It just makes you look even more stupid. If you think his job, or the stupid JWs calling at my door, even yourself, are examples of the god you believe in trying to make herself known to you, than that is pathetic.

I had a scientific discussion with the last JWs to call at my door and now they miss out my house and know better than to try to sell their rubbish to me.

I know many believers, mostly Catholic, Methodist or Church of England. None of them feel it is for them to say anything at all about god.

They don't bother. We respect each other's views and do not discuss the rubbish they believe in. These are 'normal' Christians, not the deluded sort.

They all (as far as I know) fully accept evolution and none of them speak any of the 'original' languages like Greek or Hebrew. They don't need to do that in order to live normal lives.

There has never been any revelation of any sort to me. I do not need such nonsense!

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If I am wrong I will certainly ask god why she did not reveal herself to me. Many things have 'happened' which a believer will put down to 'must be god' because they are too lazy to think about the possible reasons for that happening.

I put it down either to sheer coincidence or to something for which science has yet to find an answer. There are some silly people who think that at this point in time, we have all the answers.

That's provable nonsense - just look at the brain. We know very little about 'exactly' how it works. No doubt that is behind many experiences that people have.

The obvious example is what happens when you take drugs. Similar effects are likely caused by something in the brain, maybe a reaction to chemicals present.

To put these 'unexplained' events down to a god is very lazy thinking. It means you can stop worrying or wondering, just say, "OK, it was god". That's lazy because you can't send send god an e-mail asking, "Was that you?".

You can't believe in something if you don't have evidence.

Some people say they 'believe' in aliens but that is like a belief in god. Neither are really beliefs because neither can provide proof of their existence.

I don't find it impossible to consider that there might be aliens but the distance from them to us is likely to be so enormous that travelling for a visit could take thousands of years.

If we received a message it will have their planet a very long time ago! I think it likely that civilisations will arise and eventually fall, quite possibly on millions of planets but because of the size of the universe we will never meet them.

But that assumes the speed of light is the ultimate limit of speed. What if Star Trek like wormholes are discovered? The Enterprise was able to move at great speeds across enormous distances.

If our science finds a way round this apparent limitation, we could one day be doing what Captain Kirk did, which will be amazing.

I am open minded about aliens, they might or might not exist and we might or might not meet some of them one day in our future.

I don't 'believe' in aliens because there is, at the moment, no proof they exist, just a feeling that they 'might' exist. That feeling is not enough for a proof.

There is no need to choose from anything else. There might be a god and there might be aliens. Either or both might exist. Or neither. I think aliens 'might' exist and god does not exist.

If I am wrong I will certainly ask god why she did not reveal herself to me. Many things have 'happened' which a believer will put down to 'must be god' because they are too lazy to think about the possible reasons for that happening.

I put it down either to sheer coincidence or to something for which science has yet to find an answer. There are some silly people who think that at this point in time, we have all the answers.

That's provable nonsense - just look at the brain. We know very little about 'exactly' how it works. No doubt that is behind many experiences that people have.

The obvious example is what happens when you take drugs. Similar effects are likely caused by something in the brain, maybe a reaction to chemicals present.

To put these 'unexplained' events down to a god is very lazy thinking. It means you can stop worrying or wondering, just say, "OK, it was god". That's lazy because you can't send send god an e-mail asking, "Was that you?". You can't believe in something if you don't have evidence.

Some people say they 'believe' in aliens but that is like a belief in god. Neither are really beliefs because neither can provide proof of their existence.

I don't find it impossible to consider that there might be aliens but the distance from them to us is likely to be so enormous that travelling for a visit could take thousands of years.

If we received a message it will have their planet a very long time ago! I think it likely that civilisations will arise and eventually fall, quite possibly on millions of planets but because of the size of the universe we will never meet them.

But that assumes the speed of light is the ultimate limit of speed. What if Star Trek like wormholes are discovered? The Enterprise was able to move at great speeds across enormous distances.

If our science finds a way round this apparent limitation, we could one day be doing what Captain Kirk did, which will be amazing.

I am open minded about aliens, they might or might not exist and we might or might not meet some of them one day in our future.

I don't 'believe' in aliens because there is, at the moment, no proof they exist, just a feeling that they 'might' exist. That feeling is not enough for a proof.

There is no need to choose from anything else. There might be a god and there might be aliens. Either or both might exist. Or neither. I think aliens 'might' exist and god does not exist.

both, of course

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Oh Tom, you're spoiling the fun! If posters only gave one of your yes/no answers that would result in a thread that died very quickly. Much more fun to wind up the nutters who love to post vast amounts of data that nobody else understands. A bit of teasing and you get another long article explaing the difference (if any?) between god, Jesus, Yah, Yeshua, Yahweh and who knows what other names! Personally I've never heard of most of them before. I've managed to live for nearly 70 years and not needed to know about these people!!!

reposted due to the thread being 'broken' when some idiot posted a pointless long list of XXX making it impossible to read subsequent posts that have long lines of text!

Some people believe it has to be science or god. Those are people who 'believe' something and then are not open to any other opinion, or even fact as revealed by research. The JWs are among that type of person. They can't accept evolution, because 'their' bible tells them it wasn't like that. Their minds are too closed to read and understand that Darwin was totally correct and is continually being updated with nothing whatsoever being found to contradict him. It's not a problem for 'normal' Christians!

Then there are the normal Christians, and I know many of them. They are happy to accept all that science offers, including evolution. They believe in what the bible says (probably King James, or one of the more recent translations into 'modern' English) and at the same time find nothing wrong in the current state of scientific researh. They would say that god tell us the 'why' while science tells us the 'how'.

These people don't get into arguments with others about which translation is the most accurate, going into fantastic detail to attempt to 'prove' their point. They don't see the need for any sort of proof. Indeed they couldn't care less if their 'belief' is only approximately correct in the finer detail. It really doesn't matter. They go to church, kneel, sit and stand at the right times and then enjoy a coffee afterwards.

Then possibly go home to read about the latest findings in an area of interest.

Nothing wrong with that, in my opinion.

Sometimes in life you have to choose between compromise and going without.

Aardvark

That would be difficult because there is no such thing as 'god' it is just a myth put out by those who would control others.

What is the 'Book of Jasher'? Who was Jasher?