Why do you believe in God?

If the ability to believe in God was a reason to believe in God, then everybody who has that ability would do so. But they clearly don't, so your argument is invalid. I can believe in God too, but I don't. "Just because I can" is not a valid reason to do something.

Good for you, by the same token I can believe in the existence of Erorogin and you are compelled to accept the existence of Erorogin. Have fun little one.

Exactly. According to Athias's argument, I have the ability to believe that Athias is an idiot. Therefore, Athias must be an idiot because I can believe that he is one.

This is what religion does to people, it completely destroys their internal logic and rational thought.

The Atheist,

YOUR QUOTE:  "Guys, guys, what are you doing here? I made this topic for theists to explain to us why they believe in God. This isn't about whether theism is valid or whether there is evidence that God exists. Only post what is relevant to the topic: "why do you believe in God?"

Before any theist will render a decision on whether we believe in God, it must be ascertained FIRST AND FOREMOST which God you are talking about, understand?  It is really not that hard to pick out which God of the three that are left from the Bronze, Iron, and Middle Age!

Now, with that being said, which God are you talking about; Yahweh, Jesus, or Allah? Very simple math, that I think an Atheist can understand.

My God of the Christian faith is Jesus of the Triune Doctrine!  Get it?

.

"Because I can" is not the argument. It's an a priori statement which serves as the basis, rationale, and justification of my belief. Semantics while sometimes useful mean nothing if you don't grasp the context in which an author of a statement submits said statement.

@TheAtheist

But everyone does. Even you, so-called atheists, give form to that which you claim does not exist. How does one give a name and description to that which does not exist? How does one interact with that which does not exist? If you're going to claim that God does not exist because his description whether it be from the many versions of the Bible, Torah, Qu'ran etc. has no demonstrable or observable material evidence, then be consistent. I would then ask why the very material standards on which you premise your arguments against "God" also incorporate the "nonexistent," i.e. numbers? Prove to me that the number two "exists"--i.e. has material composition--and I'll stop believing that God exists.

Actually it is. You are arguing non sequitur. You're presuming that I'm arguing a logical biconditional. I'm not. My statement is rather simple, because at the very least, it evokes a simple explanation.

@disgusted:

Who are you? Have we conversed before?

Yes, a version of me influenced by your perception of me as "an idiot" would exist, if only in your mind. But it still exists. The logic is not that difficult to comprehend.

I'm me, someone who knows how stupid god belief is. How ya doin'?

If anything, I'm the only person here who has used consistent and sound logic. I've not seen a single argument from an atheist since joining this forum that employed consistent logic. You're neither rationalists nor logicians. You're materialists. And your understanding of logic and reason is at best bastardized.

You can't conflate "exist" (in reality) with "pure imagination".

The statement "exists in your mind" is indistinguishable from "pretend-make-believe".

It is a purposefully deceptive statement.

When you confuse Qualia for Quanta, you are liable to start believing in any number of ghosts, gods and space-aliens.

Yes.

My statement made that arrangement clear.

p: I can believe God exists.

q: Therefore, I do believe God exists.

Hack away.

Nonsense. Your claim that atheists must believe in God because they argue against his existence is a complete non-sequitur. Just because we gave a name and description to something does not mean that that something exists. Humans gave a name and description to Sauron from Lord of The Rings, but I'm sure we both are pretty certain that Sauron does not exist. According to your logic, everything ever named and described most exist because "How does one give a name and description to that which does not exist?" 

Why do you want me to prove something that is wrong? Numbers do not exist. They are immaterial. Numbers are a human concept created by humans and than concept exists solely inside our brains. There can be a number of something material, for example five soccer balls, but the number five itself does not exist. In fact, if there was proof that numbers actually existed, that would be evidence for the existence of God and not against his existence.

An axiom must always be true and can be applied to anyone. I am considered anyone, so your axiom can certainly be used to determine my beliefs.

Let's test your axiom on me:

I've conflated nothing. You've taken no measures to grasp the context  in which I submit my statements; hence you frequently argue non sequitur. And "exist" is not confined to material description.

I'll entertain this: let's suppose that "exists in one's mind" is the same as "pretend-make-believe," are numbers then "pretend-make-believe"?

I haven't confused Qualia with "Quanta." I just don't pigeonhole reality to "Quanta."

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Athias,

Since your comical Confucianism revolves around the pursuit of the unity of the individual self AND the God of Heaven, I will ask you which one of the Bronze, Iron, and Middle Ages God does your belief believe in?  This is a very simple question, even though “The Atheist” can’t address it thus far regarding my post #34 to him.

Yes, how hard is this to understand? Numbers are pretend-make-believe! The concept of numbers has been created by humans and they do not exist in our world. Why are you still using this bullshit argument?

I'm asking each person why they believe in the God that they believe in. Which God they believe in does not matter. Personally I don't think that any God matters logically and rationally, since none of them actually exist, but many people think otherwise. And I'm curious why they do that.

This seems indistinguishable from pure imagination.

Can you please provide your preferred definition of "exists"?

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The Atheist,

If you had experience, which you obviously do not, it does matter in which of the remaining Bronze, Iron, and Middle Age gods one believes in.

Unfortunately, I can't be everywhere in helping one with their debate tactics, therefore, I will watch you give up a great opportunity.  :(

.

Bingo.

Why do those particular gods matter?

.."Since 1927, whenever i am going to sleep, i alwaysconcentrate my thinking on what i call "Ever Rethinking the LordsPrayer" (Richard Buckminister Fuller)
 
I am confident as specifically argued, my followingdeclaration constitutes a scientifically
meticulous, direct-experience-based proof of God. 
 
"Ever Rethinking the Lord's Prayer
July 12 1979
 
 To be satisfactory toscience
 all definitions mustbe stated
 in terms ofexperience.
 
 I define Universe as
 all of humanity's
 in-all-known-time
 consciouslyapprehended
 and communicated (toself or others)
 experiences.
 
 In using the word,God,
 I am consciouslyemploying
 four clearlydifferentiated
 from one another
 experience-engenderedthoughts.
 
Firstly I mean:_
 thoseexperience-engendered thoughts
 which are predicatedupon past successions
 which are unexpected,human discoveries
 of mathematicallyincisive,
 physicallydemonstrable answers
 to what thereto forehad been missassumed
 to be foreverunanswerable
 cosmic magnitudequestions
 wherefore I nowassume it to be
 scientifically  manifest,
 and thereforeexperientially reasonable that
 
 scientificallyexplainable answers
 may and probably will
 eventually be given
 to all questions
 as engendered in allhuman thoughts
 by the sum total
 of all humanexperiences;
 wherefore my firstmeaning for God is:-
 
 all theexperientially explained
 or explainableanswers
 to all questions
 of all time-
 
Secondly I mean;-
 The individual'smemory
 of many surprisingmoments
 of dawning comprehension's
 of as interrelatedsignificance
 to be existent
 amongst a number
 of what hadpreviously seemed to be
 entirelyuninterrelated experiences
 all of whichremembered experiences
 engender thereasonable assumption
 of the possibleexistence
 of a totalcomprehension
 of the integratedsignificance-
 the meaning-
 of all experiences.
 
Thirdly, I mean:-
 the onlyintellectually discoverable
 a priori,intellectual integrity
 indisputably manifestas
 the only mathematicallystateable
 family
 of generalizedprinciples-
 cosmic laws-
 thus far discoveredand codified
 and ever physicallyredemonstrable
 by scientists
 to be not onlyunfailingly operative
 but to be in eternal,
 omni-interconsiderate,
 omni-interaccommodativegovernance
 of the complex
 of everyday,naked-eye experiences
 as well as of themulti-millions-fold greater range
 of onlyinstrumentally explored
 infra- andultra-tuneable
 micro- andmacro-Universe events.
 
Fourthly, I mean;-
  All the mysteryinherent
 in all humanexperience,
 which, as a lifetimeratioed to eternity,
 is individuallylimited
 to almost negligible
 twixt sleepings,glimpses
 of only a few localepisodes
 of one of theinfinite myriads
 of concurrently andoverlappingly operative
 sum-totally never-ending
 cosmic scenarioserials.
 
End Part 1

.

janesix,

YOUR IGNORANT QUOTE: "Why do those particular gods matter?"

The embarrassing fact that your biography page is SILENT upon anything about you, and especially if you are a member of a church or a particular faith, therefore, to save time, II cannot answer you until you tell me the above information.

.

.

I am a theist of no particular faith or religion. I believe in a personal god, due to religious and spiritual experiences. I used to be an atheist materialist until I had my spiritual experiences.

Perhaps technically, but Gnostic has christian connotations that I don't want to be associated with

There is no book or prophet or priest to tell you what to believe.

Each individual has direct unfiltered access to the divine.

Begin Part 2 of Ever Rethinking the Lords Paryer

.."With these four meanings I now directly

address God.
 "Our God-
 
 You have given us overwhelmingmanifest:-
 
 of Your completecomprehension
 of Your completeconcern
 of Your completecoordination
 of Your completeresponsibility
 of Your completecapability to cope
 in absolute wisdomand effectiveness
 with all problems andevents
 and of Your eternallyunfailing reliability
 so to do
 
Yours , dear God,
is the only and complete glory.
 
By glory I mean the synergetic totality
of all physical and metaphysical radiation
and of all physical and metaphysical gravity
of finite
but non-unitarily conceptual
scenario Universe
in whose synergetic totality
the a priori energy potentials
of both radiation and gravity
are initially equal
but whose respective
behavioral patterns are such
that radiation's entropic redundant disintegratings
is always less effective
than gravity's non redundant
syntropic integrating
 
Radiation is plural and differentiable,
radiation is focusable, beamable, and self-sinusing,
is interceptible, separatist, and biasble-
ergo, has shadowed voids and vulnerabilities;
 
Gravity is unit and undifferentiable
Gravity is comprehensive
inclusively embracing and permeative
is non-focusable and shadowless,
and is omni-integrative;
all of which characteristics gravity
are also the characteristics of love.
Love is metaphysical gravity.
  (eome- note; Buckyhas also described love as the synergetic interplay between these
two opposite forces.)
 
You, Dear God,
are the totally loving intellect
ever designing
and ever daring to test
and thereby irrefutably proving
to the uncompromising satisfaction
of Your own comprehensive and incisive
knowledge of the absolute  truth
that Your generalized principles
adequately accommodate any and all
special case developments,
involvement's, and side effects;
wherefore Your absolutely courageous
omni-rigorous and ruthless self-testing
alone can and does absolutely guarantee
total conservation
of the integrity
of eternally regenerative Universe
 
You eternally regenerative scenario Universe
is the minimum complex
of totally inter-complementary
totally inter-transforming
non-simultaneous, differently frequenced
and differently enduring
feedback closures
of a finite
but non-unitarily conceptual system
in which naught is created
and naught is lost
and all occurs
in optimum efficiency.
 
Total accountability and total feedback
constitute the minimum and only
perpetual motion system.
Universe is the one and only
eternally regenerative system.
 
 To accomplish Yourregenerative integrity
You give Yourself the responsibility
of eternal, absolutely continuous,
tirelessly vigilant wisdom.
 
Wherefore we have absolute faith and trust in You,
and we worship You
awe-inspiredly,
all-thankfully,
rejoicingly,
lovingly,
Amen."........