John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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quote:
Originally posted by LiVe LeE
Stephen Hawkings believes in God; apparently a higher entity is the only way he can explain immediately before the Big Bang
He doesn't believe in God, he's actually said specifically that the universe can be completely created without on.
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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quote:
Originally posted by Sly_SRi
Well i can probably categorise my personal experiences into 3 parts: Encounters with God myself, answered prayers, and prophecies.
So..
Encounters with God myself - i've only had a few of these, the first being a year after I had made the decision to follow God and it's hard to describe really..without writing an essay! But I basically received the Holy Spirit which was a physical experience that I could not explain (and believe me I tried) which I later realised not everyone has. As different people have different experiences.
Answered prayers - literally too many to list. But 1 example: prayed for a guy at my college in the canteen and he got healed from a football injury, in front of all my class mates who then started calling me Jesus. Ha.
And prophecy: this is when people that don't know you somehow know things about you and your future (in the Church we don't call them psychics but Prophets)
As for things i've seen...again too many to list but mainly healing of various kinds.
I realise that it's hard to believe these things because that was me too once upon a time. But one thing you need to realise is that you are shaped by the culture that surrounds you whether you choose to be or not, and this culture is very anti-God which is probably why people in this country are also...but is it possible that the culture is mislead..?
most of that can be explained through drug taking, coincedence or just general things that can happen in life.
nothing to do with god or healing through faith bollocks.
please tell me why my great nan died of cancer even though she was a devoted christian? also why my grandad had a heart attack on christmas day even though they are also believers.
yet i am a non believer and haven't died or been maimed yet  infact i've been quite lucky and it's a miracle i haven't been injured or died yet.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Everything Sly_SRi said is absolute garbage. It worries me that someone in this day and age can even try and make out they've felt anything after 'receiving the holy spirit'.
Funny that it was only after deciding to follow god isn't it, he didn't do anything your whole life before that.
Absolute tripe and shows complete brain washing and lack of intelligence.
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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i like you john. you don't beat around the bush.
i expect he will now do a nathy and go mental, flashing his lights at people who don't have christian symbols on their boots.
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Steve
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IvIarkgraham
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how long after the prayer did it take to cure the injury? and what injury was it?
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Marc
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Registered: 11th Aug 02
Location: York
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He will be back in a few days to tell you how he was trolling and you all got suckered in.
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BarnshaW
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whilst i am an non-believer myself you cannot really call someone elses beliefs and experiences rubbish.
if you do not believe in god or supernatural things then you will always be someone who trys to explain things with a scientific reason, I myself have had unexplainable experiences, not enough to confirm it was something to do with god or supernatural experiences.
for example ben, your theory is flawed, yes it is sad your grandparents passed however that is part of life? yes you could argue that they were devote christians but who is to say if they were not that they might have died earlier? maybe there was a religious reason for them dying at that particular time.
I am in 2 minds about it, i do agree religion is probably mainly used to help people through life, and the fact there is only meant to be "one god" but yet there are several holy books all with different gods.
However you cannot take away peoples own personal experiences and just tell them they are wrong its garbage
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John
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They are wrong and it is garbage. It's the sort of thing you get at these American bible clubs where they all start shaking and fall over.
It's a mixture of people who are easily led/fooled and those who want to act like they are.
This is separate to people just believing in God btw. If you get some comfort out of the faith and it helps get you through the day then fair enough, I certainly can't say anything against that.
Thinking that prayer will cure cancer however is just dangerous.
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JonnyJ
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Registered: 23rd Sep 05
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God is real as Fabrice Muamba was going to die but then everyone wrote #prayformuamba on Twitter and then he lived.
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IvIarkgraham
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Registered: 27th Mar 04
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twitter is god?
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Jobs didn't do too well out of the whole spiritual thing.
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Sly_SRi
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It's okay, i wasn't really expecting people to just accept my experiences without questioning them. It's part of being human and it's good to question. To answer a couple of the questions (even if they weren't genuine enquiries) I can be sure that I wasn't on drugs at the time, and with regards to my friends knee injury, he said that he had been told by his doctor he would not be able to play the rest of the season for his football club but immediately after the prayer he was no longer limping and he was very surprised. So that's just a couple of times God has responded to my prayers.
Most people would like the idea of God but bad experiences in their lives lead them to doubt. Which I understand. But as Barnshaw says, someones experience doesn't prove there isn't a God...just as my experiences may not prove to you that there is one..
I think it's important to realise that we all have limited understanding and therefore you must realise it is possible that there are things that could be true that are outside of your understanding. I also have to accept this and that's why I have no problems with criticism because what's the point of faith unless its real and can be tested? I don't want to waste my time following something that isn't true!
Corsa C Z20Let
Black Sleeper Turbo Project
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johnhara1
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Registered: 19th Oct 06
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
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I don't believe in god, heaven or hell but i'd like to think there is some sort of existence after death.
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
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can someone who believes in god please tell me why he lets innocent children die?
surely if god was a good person, as he is portrayed, then he wouldn't let this kind of stuff happen?
this is where science explains things better than believing in something that can't be proven.
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BarnshaW
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Registered: 25th Oct 06
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who is to say god monitors or checks these things? god is supposedly the creator
i still do not understand how science explains that either? explain to me how science explains evilness and murdering?
its very well saying something cant be proven (as in religion) however you cannot prove it is all scientific either so your theory is just as ridiculous as anyone elses.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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quote:
Originally posted by Sly_SRi
I think it's important to realise that we all have limited understanding and therefore you must realise it is possible that there are things that could be true that are outside of your understanding
This is a standard comment from someone who has limited understanding of science and how the world works and is using 'God' to fill that hole.
Anything you come across in your day to day existence can be completely explained by science, because you don't get that science doesn't mean God is doing it.
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Steve
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Some surprisingly unintelligent comments in here. With the even more unintelligent "you can't prove it therefore" arguments.
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Sam
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I think my upbringing has been a bit bizarre in a religious sense... My dad is muslim and mum is catholic (which was hilarious for their families when they got together I'm sure as they are both from the middle east and such relationships and marriages were for the most part unheard of and taboo), but once I got to an age where I was able to rationalise and question things, I have decided to not follow any particular religion.
Why?
Well I'll give you a brief summary...
1. I think that we cannot explain everything in life, the world and the universe but the things that CAN be explained scientifically cannot be attributed to some religious event or "miracle".
2. On the subject of miracles - whilst this has strong religious connotations, they can also be interpreted as something that is unlikely to occur but not impossible. I do believe that miracles in this sense DO happen around us all the time, but this is due to people having the faith to push forward and succeed in doing something that may otherwise have been impossible. Some examples:
- leaving a burning building that was collapsing around the person, but said person being not only alive but completely unscathed
- coming out of a coma and making a complete recovery when doctors have said there was no hope
- even using my parent's example, they grew up in a time where people can be persecuted for being involved in such relationships but they still did it anyway because they wanted to be together despite everyone else being against it
etc. etc.
So I don't think such things are down to divine intervention, but more down to an individual's willpower and hunger for success.
Whilst I and it seems a lot of people on here have no issue with a person's religious following, I do find issue with certain religious groups trying to enforce their will and way of doing things on to people and it fucks me off when they spout stuff off at you trying to make you look like an idiot and giving in to what they say, because a lot of vulnerable people out there are pretty much forced into following such things.
BTW - there is a slight irony in all of what I say, because my name is Hebrew for "name of God" 
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mattant
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Registered: 19th Jun 10
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[Edited on 28-10-2012 by mattant]
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Eck
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If god existed I wouldn't be able to bite the inside of my mouth occasionally.
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LeeM
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Registered: 26th Sep 05
Location: Liverpool
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religion is an outdated explanation for the world around us, weve since been able to explain everything with science.
religious people are right up there with any of the nutjob cults, theres just more "religious" people than nutjobs.
fuckin scientology makes more sense than any of the mainstream religions
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neil h
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Registered: 28th Sep 06
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quote:
Originally posted by John
Jobs didn't do too well out of the whole spiritual thing.
That had sod all to do with God I'd reccomended having a lil look into Zen Buddhism 
Tbh a lot of the people saying religious folk have a poor understanding of science seem to have a pretty crap understanding of religion.
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Lawrah
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Registered: 25th Dec 04
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I am not religious in anyway. I wont grudge someone a belief they have though.
I dont agree with religion being thrown in your face, American's are awful for that.
I do think a lot of people who are religious just look for a guide in life, there is no harm in that.
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Budgie
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Registered: 2nd Dec 09
Location: Basingstoke
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God - No
Flying Spaghetti Monster - Yes
Christianity is one of the youngest religions out there excluding cults like scientology.
Think it's possible that there is a higher being but dont think its god in the clouds.
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