Originally posted by nirvana

you are no different than people since the beginning of time. that is why there is some form of religion in every culture all over the world. people use it as an explanation for things they do not understand or to give them comfort that this world/life carries more meaning than an elephant's/lion's. i do not know if God exists for sure because He has never revealed Himself to me.

There are thousands of religions and sects. They all believe that they are the only ones who have found the truth and will be saved and all those who don’t believe in what they believe will not be saved. So what do you do? You can’t believe in any god and be saved. You must believe in the right God. How do you know which god is the real McCoy and which ones are counterfeit? You have to use your reason. But when you use your reason you can’t believe in any god. The belief in God is based on faith not reason.

Now I have said it time and again that I am not against the belief in God. In fact if I could believe in God I would. Unfortunately I can’t.

If you want to believe in a god ask yourself which qualities are more godly and which ones are not. Will God be loving or vengeful?

When you believe in God you can be manipulated by any Tom, Dick and Harry who succeeds to make you believe that they have a message for you from God.

Let reason be your guide. We all have been endowed with enough reason to find our way. Assuming God exists, reason says that if you live an ethical life and don’t hurt others He will be pleased with you even if you never believed in Him. This is my wager. I believe in doing the right thing and living by the Golden Rule. I don’t do to others what I don’t like myself. And I can bet that even if there is a God he is wise enough and loving enough to not send me to hell for not believing in him. He does not give a damn whether we worship him or not. His self-esteem does not depend on the belief or disbelief of his creatures. If He exists, he probably cares about whether we have been good to others or not.

I have been telling people about the Golden Rule. I have been saying all along that beliefs don’t matter, what matter are our deeds.

I do not promote evil and do not condone it. If God exists, I assume he must be wiser than me. If so, I bet He will give a hoot about our beliefs and whether we praise him or not. He will judge us by our deeds. Don’t harm others. If God exists, that is all he cares about. He does not care about our beliefs.