Is there a God? What do YOU think???

[IrishEyes]

After being corrected, rather harshly, about not having any scientific data to support my claim that most people in this forum do not believe in God, I decided that I should just do some 'scientific research'.

Now, I'm reaching waaaaaaaaaaaaay back, but I think the Scientific Method goes something like "i c stars", right?

I - Identify the problem/question.
C - Collect information.
S - State your hypothesis.
T - Test your hypothesis.
A - Accept or reject your hypothesis
R - Record/report your results.
S - State your conclusion.

Therefore, I am 'identifying the problem' as not knowing whether this forum's members are predominantly non-believers in God. the 'Collecting information' phase has really been done the past few months, though it was rather unofficial. I'm 'Stating (again) as my hypothesis' that most of the members of this forum are not believers in God. Now I have to 'test' that, hence the poll.

If you'd all be so kind as to give your honest answer, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks so much, and I'll continue to share the results as we go along.

[Freethinker]

I'd love to answer it, but you do not give me one to choose from.

I do not have a god belief.

That is very different from the 2nd closest

A. I do not believe in any type of God.

Though this one could be modified to provide an even greater level of philosophical identification

A. I do not believe in anything.

[Tormod]

Originally posted by: Freethinker
A. I do not believe in anything.

Ooooh. That, I believe, is impossible.

[Freethinker]

OK, do I repost it or try to find my extensive explanation that was posted before? I think you may have been on one of your continual vacations! lol

Basically, "Belief" is something that is used when you have no VALID reason to accept something. Do you BELIEVE in a refrigerator? No, you have no need to BELIEVE in one, you can ACCEPT that they exist because of the massive number of them that do exist.

e.g. Gravity. I do not need to "believe" in gravity. I can "accept as a matter of convenience" that it exists. If I did not accept it, I would be afraid to lift my foot as I might "beleive" that I could not put it down and make it stick again. I would just drift off the planet. And I do not need to "believe" that gravity is a curvature of space time. For my daily life it is irrelevant as to HOW it works. However it fits the details of what is happening around me better than any other explanation I have heard. Thus I do not BELIEVE in the Theory of Gravity, I "accept it" as a matter of convenience and knowledge.

[Tormod]

I'll look for your explanation. Must be good. If you ask me, to accept is to believe. "Belief" does not equal "faith". But I take it on good faith that we are of the same belief here.

Okay, bedtime for me.

[Tormod]

"E. I believe in the God represented in the Bible."

Irish, this is interesting. Is it possible to state BRIEFLY what this means? I always find that the God of the Bible is many different things and not one entity (although he is obiviously supposed to be only one, because of the first commandment).

I am NOT being sarcastic, pardon me if I am phrasing this wrong or anything.

[FrankM]

Your vacation must have over stimulated your mental neurons, or you have too much web bandwidth, or
too much time on your hands, to induce you to explore this subject.

The current picture of the month at this site is noteworthy.

http://www.evcforum.net/

[Uncle Martin]

Great link frank, thanks for posting it. Why no vote in the poll?

Irish, I know that grammar and spelling are some of your (many?) pet peaves, so I thought you may like to know that you've mispelled "Christains". Heh-Heh, just one of lifes little ironies.

[IrishEyes]

Actually, that was kinda intentional, Unc. It was a really pathetic attempt at humor at 2am. I'm guessing it failed, huh?
And FreeT, I'll try to add an option, just for you!

[Freethinker]

Originally posted by: FrankM
The current picture of the month at this site is noteworthy.

http://www.evcforum.net/

As the cartoon so aptly demonstrates, there is no LEGITMATE SCIENTIFIC debate between Evolution and Creationism. It's really very basic.

Evolution represents Science at it's most detailed and formal structure

Creationism is NOT Science.

One of the requirements for something to be "Science" is that it offers a method of accurate predictions. Evolution allows Medical Science to PREDICT what results we will get out of experiments. e.g. if an anti-body works for certain animals it will work for humans because of evolutionary commonality.

While Creationism merely states "god happens". For medical science this would translate into, test on new medications show that should god arbitrarily decide in your favor, this medicine might help you. Or maybe not....