Icebrc

this may be an old topic, but I'm new and am sorry if this is a way over done topic

I was just thinking. What is the largest reason for humankind's "reaching/searchign for god"?

1)Fear of death and non-existance. Wishing for immortality and/or to be more (powerful).

2)An Explanation for existance. Not so concerned with life after death as they are "why life/existance is here in the first place".

The belief/disbelief of god is irrelevent to this topic. Even if you are, say a christian, there are still others of different faiths "searching".

And of course I'm open to any other possibilities that I've overlooked in my short/quick summery of the issue.

Tom Sawyer

Those are two of the top reasons people seem to need some kind of God in their life. I'd add a thrid one, though, which is getting an answer for the meaning of existence.

This is related to your second reason, but different enough ot have its own category. An explanation for existence is how we got here and a meaning for existence is why we are here and where we're going.

A lot of religions wrap these two things up together, but I think that they are different enough concepts to be separated out.

Jobar

Welcome, Icebrc- I think this will prove a long-lasting topic. This whole forum is related to your question, but I haven't seen it expressed in the precise way your title does.

I think we should consider the origins of religion. Imagine a group of primitive humans- they have only recently dreamed up the idea of a God. They do not understand the world they live in, really- they have words for things like lightning and seasons and eclipses and death, but no framework to offer some explanation. God offers them a way to organize the things they don't understand. It lets them group all the mysteries into one big mystery.

God also gives them power (actually the illusion of power) over their existence. They reach for God to get some control over the world they live in. And I think that is as true today as it was when the first speaking members of the genus Homo first created the concept of gods.

[ November 01, 2002: Message edited by: Jobar ]</p>

Heathen Dawn

The attraction of theism, as opposed to naturalism, is the institute of petition; namely, that mankind can petition the gods to change fate, thereby having some control over fate, whereas under naturalism fate is blind and cannot be controlled. Sincere prayer, and belief in its effectiveness, is the clearest outward sign of theistic belief. The core of theism is a belief of external sovereignty over fate, whereas the core of naturalism is lack of belief in such.

May your anima progress through time.

sandlewood

I think reason #2 would hold up in more primitive times. But it doesn’t seem like it should be a good reason today. Obviously, positing God doesn’t explain anything. It answers “who?” but it doesn’t answer “how?” We’re just as much in the dark about how the universe came into existence. Since that is such simple reasoning, I’d think most anyone could adopt it. Therefore, I’d have to pick your reason #1 as the more likely.

One additional reason that comes to my mind is that people want there to be justice. Life is not necessarily fair. But with a God comes a belief that you’ll be compensated later for all the injustices that you suffered in this life. (Wasn’t that the appeal of Christianity back in biblical times?)

But I liked Jobar’s reason most. It can be unsettling to think that everything that happens is not under control somehow

Sabine Grant

There is one more motivation I would like to add.
All humans have pre existing conditions prior to what is called "conversion". Some seek improvement of their condition and find that a God may enable them to perfect themselves. Others have been lingering in mental or emotional or even physical misery and find relief in their faith.
The need for peace and strength seem to prevail.
The first ever thought concept of a higher authority governing all circumstances may not have been just a matter of " how did I get here and where am I going"? It may have been the product of basic needs that were not met by natural environment and other beings. An emotional outreach of some sort to a creator who could meet those needs.
We can find all kinds of profiles among believers. From the tolerant and open one to the fundamentalist and segregatist type. All have different reasons for their conversion.
I tend to believe that we have so many different representations of a higher being because mankind has different levels of needs.
I think an honest believer will admit that he came to accept the existence of any god by need rather than by the rational.

joedad

In a way, we all suffer a form of amnesia. Maybe the amnesia is temporary, maybe it is permanent, but it is certainly not complete. I believe the knowledge is out there but that we simply have yet to make the necessary discoveries. The degree to which that knowledge is incomplete is maybe what separates people and societies on this question. Even for someone who perhaps only thinks that he or she has removed some of the unknown, some of the unknown is effectively removed.

Perhaps waking from unconsciousness on an isolated island and not knowing how one arrived there is somewhat analogous to the subject. If the only thing I do not know about my immediate past is how I came to be on that island, but that I still have a life, family, home, and possessions somewhere, and can recall all this with great clarity, my problem is much less severe than for someone who can't even identify a tree or an ocean and cannot recall anything about themselves, perhaps even lacking a concept of self anymore, or cannot identify the length of time they have been stranded.

Just how severe such an amnesia need be before one decides to invent a god to explain it will vary greatly from person to person. All the hypothetical dynamics change if a group of persons with differing degrees of amnesia are so stranded.

I think that to believe in gods is to suspend rational thought on a subject, but if doing so aids my survival, who am I to state that such a belief is not rational? Inventing gods is part of fear resolution for many people. Disposing of these same inventions is also perhaps fear resolution.

Welcome to Infidels.

joe

Sabine Grant

Thank You Joe

jasonpiao

But does god give humans power over their existence? I tend to think not. It merely takes responsibility out of their hands.
If there is god, things are the way they are for a reason. I do not need to face the terrible questions of the meaning of life, the answer is given to me, as is the way that I should live that life. I can therefore smile and be happy without actually taking responsibility for changing the way things are. The future is uncertain, but WHEW, god knows what will happen.
So having god gives me power?

To me this is like saying imposing rules gives you complete freedom.

Heathen Dawn

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The naturalistic way too is guilty of easing the burden of thinking from mankind. In a theistic point of view, you have to ponder and search why God made this and that happen, while in the naturalistic view you have it easy: it happens just because.

Ultimately, the goal of metaphysical naturalism is to become a theory of everything, where the final conclusion is "it happens just because". A closed system needing no explanation. If that isn't laziness, then I don't know what is.