I have been thinking about the possibility of god existing and it has me thinking, is god just a product of the human psyche? I have been struggling with this on trying to find an answer and so far no clear answer has been found, i doubt there ever will be but i wonder as to what y’alls thoughts are on the matter.
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You mean, like a voice you hear in your head or involuntary thoughts zipping around, when your eyes are closed and no one else is around?
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All of the above, i guess?
Did Maggie just imagine the sequence of events and the obvious infused meaning and function were just products of her imagination? Rich Stearns?
I am not sure, but this question popped into my mind after i looked at this video that i linked and what i get from it is that religion is a product of the human psyche because we didn’t no any better so therefore people started mqking things up such as gods because we didnt know any better. I am not saying that this is 100% true but i did find the video thought provoking nonetheless, and am a bit lost at the moment.
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What did Maggie make up?
I never said nor am i saying maggie made anything up, i am just thinking out loud. I came across this video from another thread and after i had watched it, i wonder if we should just let go of the idea of there being another plane of existance were there is no suffering, and strictly focus on the here and now as to improve humanity. Could we focus on both things?
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The universe had a beginning. (Anyone may imagine anything they wish about what ‘preceded’ it. Preceded is not really a legitimate word, because time began at the big bang.) That is not anything someone just imagined and it sure fits with the Christian worldview, encompassing all of reality.
I think you’ve seen before where I’ve said that I like the suggestion that QM might be hinting that the fundamental reality of the universe is information. The infinite mind of God fits that possibility very nicely.
QM? I forget who that is.
Sorry… quantum mechanics.
The above link is where i got the video from, i was following the thread and i dont think the conversation came to a satisfying conclusion imo.
It’s alright, not sure why i didn’t realize that, than again it is 2 am atm so i should probably get some sleep.
You have the answer there. Along with everything else in all human experience. God may exist independent of evolved minds, the only warrant being the records of the Church’s first half century. There is no, none other.
Even so, how does one come to this conclusion? How does one come to this sense of knowing there is a God?
So far all i have been able to find is personal experiences are what give rise to belief in God. I am still waiting for such an experience to occur.
Here is the bit about the parishioner (I think you’ve seen it before?):
Being found by God
During a dark time in her life, a woman in my congregation complained that she had prayed over and over, “God, help me find you,” but had gotten nowhere. A Christian friend suggested to her that she might change her prayer to, “God, come and find me. After all, you are the Good Shepherd who goes looking for the lost sheep.” She concluded when she was recounting this to me, “The only reason I can tell you this story is – he did.”
Tim Keller, The Reason for God, p.240
What conclusion? That God might encompass nature? Not exactly a conclusive conclusion. What sense? I don’t have it.
I had no experience of God to cause me to believe. I was a 15 year old struggling for meaning. One way and another I thought I’d found it.
Meaning can change.
What experience do you need?
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Pick any person in your life. Let’s give that person a temporary label, xyz.
Is xyz all in the mind?
Yes and no.
Yes, because that is what the mind does. It puts all sorts of sensory data together into a coherent picture of reality consisting of various things put under various labels such xyz. This is the process of perception.
No, because while you mind certainly did that, the sensory data did not come from your mind.
Is God any different than xyz?
Yes and no.
No, because there is still data that did not come from your mind.
Yes, because there are always differences which is why we put different labels on the different things we perceive. Differences in the types of sensory data too. Not all the people we know are known by personal experience. Not all are known by the same types of sensory data.
Even if we imagine a first time anyone thought of God or spoke to God, and ask whether everything came from their own mind, I am not sure you can make a clear distinction between the two supposed possibilities.
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Some experiences can be pretty definitive as we have seen, both of the external third party verifiable type and the internal but still objective type, not merely emotional. A given individual can be more or less receptive to either, as well.