why did humanity create god?

[sin_is_fun]

Why did man create the concept of God and religion?From the remote islands in pacific to all major continents every culture,every man has always known about god.Like the concept of family,the concept of god is also universal.
what made so many cultures to create the concept of God?what was the basic motive?What was the purpose?Was it fear of the unknown?

[QED]

Are you serious? Or just stupid?

That last comment was right out of order. Rule number 1. No personal attacks of any sort are allowed. If you want to say that Harvey's argument is stupid then feel free to do so -- so long as you back it up with a reason. Harvey has this way of getting under the skin without resorting to a direct personal attack. You could do worse than follow his example if you must.

[Cathar1950]

Scrotum, I ran over your puppy. I am so sorry. God didn't tell me too.
Just kidding but I have have puppies die and stolen. We could make a claim for belief in God is due to psychological trauma or disfunction too Harvey1. If I had to just count on the bible I might be an atheist too.
My sense of God is more Organic and related to the universe in such a way that I am not sure there is much difference between my views and an atheist/agnostic. The view I enjoy is that God is moved by all creation and the power of persuasion is God's Power and relationship God's love. This is due to my being influence Whitehead and Heartshorne. If this God exists then I and everything else is in the memory of God and lasts forever as vivid as any of my feelings and experiences. But it is a hope and a hunch. I see no way of justify the suffering unless it is remembered by God or the Universe and has left the possiblity for advance of some sort. So in this sense God is created by creation in each and everything that has occurred as well as the possibilities. Everything seems to be an analogy from our experiences or even the lack of. It is like Bloom wrote in The Size of God, the purpose of God is to extend our reach as well as some comfort. These maybe psychological and biological traits we have aquired from evolution's experiments and adaptation.

[harvey1]

Oh Gosh Harvey, you got me. It was Mirranda, my puchy.. I love that dog,,,, and then a Car run over it.. NO GOD COULD HAVE ALLOWED IT.. So no god can exist. NO NO NO. No god... not klling my Mirranda... Are you serious? Or just stupid?

What you miss is that the title of this thread is insulting to theists. So, why do you act all shocked and appalled that your reasoning is seen as inferior by theists?

Btw, I don't know why you are an atheist, does it have anything to do with the forum name "Scrotum" that you have chosen?

[harvey1]

Take the example of human evolution. Look at all the fuss this creates. That man evolved from ape-like ancestors is totally at odds with the bible -- a book that is owned and cherished by a huge number of people out there in the world. This one issue is typical of a great many that show an unjustified reliance on the writings of late iron-age men.

Is it?

I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.(Eccl. 3:18 )

The other thing that doesn't quite chime-in with your view is the number of presumably mature scientists and philosophers who hold atheistic views.

I watched many of my classmates convert to atheism way back in high school. Their arguments were often based on very shallow thinking. Unfortunately, those shallow arguments tend to stick throughout their life when they go on to become scientists and philosophers. Some of the greatest philosophers and scientists have been theists, so there is something much more primitive than education that dictates one's philosophy. Sad to say, but I think it is the case.

I would venture to say that in such fields we would not see the heavily lopsided statistics that you draw upon from the majority of the general public (incidentally I'm going along with your statistics despite the fact that they apply mostly to your own country -- which has the highest percentage of Christian Fundamentalists in the world) . It wouldn't surprise me in the least if, in fact, it turned out that the majority of people in those fields were agnostic/atheist.

It's an interesting point, but the majority of the 6 billion people on earth believe in God.

[Chad]

This thread seems to have been derailed into an argument over Atheism. Reminds me of a thread I started where the same thing happened, I even felt the whole deja vu factor when reading the whole "run over puppy" spiel.

I will address the main topic. I haven't read enough on the subject of the idea of God and our evolution to give a huge thought out answer, but it's easy to make some associations. I think some the reasons that God is so prevalent in the human thinking has to do with multiple factors. It can be looked at as an easy answer to the unknown. A belief in God most likely extended the life of early humans. A belief in God is usually associated with a certain religion that follows a set of rules; I'm sure this made for a great controlling tool. Also, we have a strong tendency to believe things that we believe are true. With little scientific knowledge (as compared to modern times) and a greater understanding of our world it was probably pretty hard for many to think God to be untrue.

I think it initially started as an easy way to explain the unknown and quickly spread by many of the means I listed above. Memes I feel play a huge part in our belief in God.

[harvey1]

Memes I feel play a huge part in our belief in God.

Hi Chad. Since you are huge fan of memes, I thought I could sell you some swamp land near New Orleans...?

Seriously, though, is there any scientific evidence that this is nothing but another form of astrological "science" that explains any event put forward to the astrologer?

[Chad]

Memes I feel play a huge part in our belief in God.

Hi Chad. Since you are huge fan of memes, I thought I could sell you some swamp land near New Orleans...?

Seriously, though, is there any scientific evidence that this is nothing but another form of astrological "science" that explains any event put forward to the astrologer?

Hi harvey1. Since you are huge fan of God, I thought I could sell you some swamp land near New Orleans...?

Seriously though, I'm not sure I would consider myself a 'huge fan" of them, but I do feel like they explain a lot. It's easy to get carried away in that form of thinking though. I try not too. Like many other theories out there, memes are up for debate.

A good read, though somewhat dated can be had here

I've also noticed that you often link to wikipedia articles, so you may enjoy reading this as well.

[harvey1]

I think at a certain point, someone has got to pull the plug to a so-called scientific belief that isn't science. I think that day has pretty much arrived for memes.

[Cathar1950]

The Title of this thread is a very interesting question. It does ask a fundamental question about God. We created God is a obvious assumption considering with we know about psychology, anthropology, sociology, history, science, even general knowledge, senses we have had a hand in the shaping of divine image.
Even the most ardent Theist know this.
So the question is how much has or experiences, knowledge and imagination contributed to our image of God which would be our creation.
The next question would be how do we affect or effect God
Our images of God which by our experience are at least in part our creation. I would dare to say there is no example of something outside our experience that could possibly make sense. Given sense has to at least include experience.
Of course are they useful should show up on the list of questions.
But I would say we help create God at least.
It is something we inherited no matter what we believe. Some seem to think that makes it true.

[harvey1]

The Title of this thread is a very interesting question. It does ask a fundamental question about God. We created God is a obvious assumption considering with we know about psychology, anthropology, sociology, history, science, even general knowledge, senses we have had a hand in the shaping of divine image. Even the most ardent Theist know this.

Cathar, I could just as well start a titled thread, "Why are atheists in denial about God?" The moment that the first atheist replies that they are not in denial (i.e., they don't answer the question), I would say, "see, you're in denial." It's a lot of fun, I imagine, but I see this thread's question just the same, and just as insulting. I'm actually amazed that atheists would be offended when they hear a theist such as myself point out what I believe to be the case about atheists as succumbing to their own blindness (in one form or another).

So the question is how much has or experiences, knowledge and imagination contributed to our image of God which would be our creation. The next question would be how do we affect or effect God Our images of God which by our experience are at least in part our creation. I would dare to say there is no example of something outside our experience that could possibly make sense. Given sense has to at least include experience. Of course are they useful should show up on the list of questions. But I would say we help create God at least.
It is something we inherited no matter what we believe. Some seem to think that makes it true.

Do we invent the world we see too? If I stub my toe on a rock, should I ask, " how much has our experiences, knowledge and imagination contributed to our image of [pain] which would be our creation?"