NationStates Jolt Archive

My nephew will have his first holy communion this year. In the education, he asked the priest :" Why does god exist ?"....

The priest has had no answer to this boy...
Is here anyone who can answered it, so i can give it forward to my nephew

Not a believer, but I'll try to give you a good answer anyway:

It depends on the concept of God that you're trying to promote. For kids a good explanation would be God existing to protect you or something like that. Then there's always the answer that God doesn't need a reason.

Nobody religious has ever been able to answer that question. It is the old shirking of the reason to something else. "Why are we here? Because God wants us here. Why is God here?" - Yeah, well, why? It's the same thing about the "How did we end up being the way we are? Because God designed us as we are too complex to just have appeared. Who designed the infinitely more complex god then? Why is it only our minor complexity that needs a designer, when this deity's doesn't?"

It's one of the reasons I just don't believe. But I won't refute people's claims to purpose of God here (probably because they will have very few such claims - I expect many 'because it just is!' answers), I'll just lurk from time to time to see if something interesting comes along.

(Yes, this was an awfully long *tag*, was it not? ;) )

I will answer what my Priest told me.

We don't know. However, if you live a proper life then you can ask him yourself someday.

;)

Does an infinite being need a reason to exist?

Something else to think about. ;)

My nephew will have his first holy communion this year. In the education, he asked the priest :" Why does god exist ?"....God exists as a function of those who believe in her. Apparently, some people had a predilection to assign reasons and purposes to things they cannot rationally explain, and thus created an entity to satify this function universally.
I think a bright kid could understand that explanation.

Equal to your personal belief in how God works and how God is among us, God exists because of whatever you think. You think he exists to give us all meaning? You're right. You think he exists to help you out? You're right. You think he exists to give that son of a bitch who ran over your pet hamster a hard time? You're probably right on that.

There is no holy broad answer about God, no matter what any theist or atheist claim. It's all a jumble of what we know, what we speculate, and what we personally believe.

Personally, I think God exists because of the same reasons I exist. ;)

(Though I doubt you'll print that out and show it to your nephew. :D)

God exist because his existance is vital to our existance. He is the creator, all things begins with God, and all things will end with God. God is like an admin on the forum. He created this forum for his people, and as the forum grows and progress, God make changes, make new laws etc.

That's the best way I can explain it.

There is no god get use to it

dinosaurs older than 6000 years

There is no god get use to it

dinosaurs older than 6000 years

Prove to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no God.

" Why does god exist ?"....

"Because humans want to feel loved and special"
or:
"Because we do not want to be alone"
or:
"Because humans have a healthy slave complex"

Prove to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no God.

That's not how it works. Non-existence can never be proved. He who claimes existence of something is the one who has the burden of proof. To demand proof of non-existence is illogical. Just an FYI. We're having a whole discussion about that here. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10214997&postcount=60)

Prove to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no God.

Let's not get into that, that really isn't the point of the thread. A very specific question was asked. I'm going to try to answer it, even though I myself do not believe.

It seems to me that every christian has a different view of god. Some view god as an unmovable, uncaused creator of everything, by which his purpose would be to create. Some think of god as existence itself.
From an analytical perspective why is the wrong question. It implies a purpose, instead of a cause. How or what address cause and predication. But from most religious perspectives god doesn't need any of these; god simply is, and that it the point of god.

My nephew will have his first holy communion this year. In the education, he asked the priest :" Why does god exist ?"....

The priest has had no answer to this boy...
Is here anyone who can answered it, so i can give it forward to my nephew
Ooh! a thread for us believers... yay!

What is "holy communion"?

Equal to your personal belief in how God works and how God is among us, God exists because of whatever you think. You think he exists to give us all meaning? You're right. You think he exists to help you out? You're right. You think he exists to give that son of a bitch who ran over your pet hamster a hard time? You're probably right on that.

There is no holy broad answer about God, no matter what any theist or atheist claim. It's all a jumble of what we know, what we speculate, and what we personally believe.

Personally, I think God exists because of the same reasons I exist. ;)

(Though I doubt you'll print that out and show it to your nephew. :D)
Well done.

Ooh! a thread for us believers... yay!

What is "holy communion"?

It's the first time you get the wafer and it's the first "offical" confession.

After that you get confirmed to finish the process.

My nephew will have his first holy communion this year. In the education, he asked the priest :" Why does god exist ?"....

The priest has had no answer to this boy...
Is here anyone who can answered it, so i can give it forward to my nephew

The answer is in the story of Jobe. Pretty surprised no one has mentioned it yet. At the end of the story Jobe questions God and God pretty much comes out and says how incredible he is and that his flock have absolutely no right to question him. You should read him the story and explain the end. God does what God does and you must follow. Modern followers tend not to like this as much but it's there in black and white. If you are to be a good worshipper you must not ask questions.

My nephew will have his first holy communion this year. In the education, he asked the priest :" Why does god exist ?"....

The priest has had no answer to this boy...
Is here anyone who can answered it, so i can give it forward to my nephew
if i could answer it, or if it was answerable, i would surely be a believer.....

Ofcourse before anyone even attempts to answer such a question their argument will be completely relivant to their own personal concept of god and/or any other concept they may be exploring.

Even the Christian community is devided on the subject on a universal concept of god. Some may argue that the bible is a literal text and that it in itself defines god in terms of his appearance and his justification. Others may argue that the bible is really a simple metaphor and that the idea of god only reprisents a wider concept, perhaps similar to a hindu of toaist idea of god.

One point of interest is that if you read genesis and take it metaphoricly then there are countless similarities between the creationist theory and the scientific theory.

Eg.
"Let there be light" = big bang

"Let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together unto one place, and let the dry land appear." = creation of continents tectonic movement

"Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving
creature that hath life" In Darwin and evolutionism life supposodly begun beneath the ocean.

God then creates land animals and birds and finaly man, all in the same order as proposed by evolution.

It's the first time you get the wafer and it's the first "offical" confession.
Holy communion is every time you get the wafer (and the wine, where laity receive wine), not just the first.

Let me take a go...

'God' is in essence the living energy which encompasses the universe. God exists because the universe exists.

Sentient will of the galaxy, heh.

there is no god, its all chaos based

::snip::

One point of interest is that if you read genesis and take it metaphoricly then there are countless similarities between the creationist theory and the scientific theory.

Eg.
"Let there be light" = big bang

"Let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together unto one place, and let the dry land appear." = creation of continents tectonic movement

"Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving
creature that hath life" In Darwin and evolutionism life supposodly begun beneath the ocean.

God then creates land animals and birds and finaly man, all in the same order as proposed by evolution.

Science = science
religion = religion

Those examples are such ridiculous stretches it's sad. If you take anything metaphorically you can stretch it to fit anything else.

God then creates land animals and birds and finaly man, all in the same order as proposed by evolution.
Or he created man and then the animals - depending on which chapter of Genesis you're reading.

Man is not the "finally" - there are plenty of more recent species - and any account which separates man from the animals is fallacious. Man is an animal - an African ape. Evolution and Genesis do not agree, despite a couple of coincidental similarities.

there is no god, its all chaos based

Quantum Physics disproved chaos theory a long time ago. Chaos theory is more akin with Einteinism than modern science, remember it was Einsteins inability to let go of the idea that the universe was mathematical and predictable that ultimatly led to his downfall.

I beleive that if I ever used the term God to describe anything it would be that god is a simplistic way of describeing the essence of existance and change and the essence of everything. Refering again to Einstein, he once said "God is both the garden and the gardener."

Or he created man and then the animals - depending on which chapter of Genesis you're reading.

Man is not the "finally" - there are plenty of more recent species - and any account which separates man from the animals is fallacious. Man is an animal - an African ape. Evolution and Genesis do not agree, despite a couple of coincidental similarities.

Well that goes without saying. But you cannot deny that though we are the same genetic strand as apes we are still an evolutionary step away from them.

Quantum Physics disproved chaos theory a long time ago. Chaos theory is more akin with Einteinism than modern science, remember it was Einsteins inability to let go of the idea that the universe was mathematical and predictable that ultimatly led to his downfall.

I beleive that if I ever used the term God to describe anything it would be that god is a simplistic way of describeing the essence of existance and change and the essence of everything. Refering again to Einstein, he once said "God is both the garden and the gardener."

nope I got a theory, and I'm bringing back chaos theory from the dead just you wait

Hehe, its a nice idea and you can make pretty patterns using it. And even if it was possible then there might as well be a god because it would be impossible to comprehend because of the infinate number of variables involved. And the fact that the number of variables is infinite is disproof in itself.

Well that goes without saying. But you cannot deny that though we are the same genetic strand as apes we are still an evolutionary step away from them.
No, not really. In evolutionary and genetic terms, we're closer to chimpanzees and bonobos than are gorillas, orangutans, baboons or any other ape. Some of our features are very distinctive (especially our intelligence), but there's no rising scale which makes them evolutionarily superior to other species' distinctive features.

Given that our intelligence has allowed us to create the means of our own distruction, and that it has also led us, through medicine, to preserve "weak" gene lines which would otherwise have died out, it could be regarded as an evolutionary step backwards, threatening our viability as a species in the long-term.

No, not really. In evolutionary and genetic terms, we're closer to chimpanzees and bonobos than are gorillas, orangutans, baboons or any other ape. Some of our features are very distinctive (especially our intelligence), but there's no rising scale which makes them evolutionarily superior to other species' distinctive features. I could get into all sorts of things here, but I won't.

Given that our intelligence has allowed us to create the means of our own distruction, and that it has also led us, through medicine, to preserve "weak" gene lines which would otherwise have died out, it could be regarded as an evolutionary step backwards, threatening our viability as a species in the long-term. But often the people with the weak lines are the ones who create the "preservatives".

I suggest you start advanced indoctrination because it looks like you have a future non-Christian on your hands.

My nephew will have his first holy communion this year. In the education, he asked the priest :" Why does god exist ?"....

The priest has had no answer to this boy...
Is here anyone who can answered it, so i can give it forward to my nephew
"Why does God Exist?"
"To help you in your time of need. to share in your joy and to comfort you in your hurts. To Guide you through Life, and to protect you from Evil. To watch over you and to always keep you company, even when it seems you are totally alone. He listens to you, when you complain, give thanks or just want to say 'Hi'."

"Why does God exist?"

Why not?

If humans don't have to have any particular reason or purpose for being, why does God?

So, I asked my 4 year old and she says that God exists because we need Him to. When I asked why we need Him to, she said "why do you need Him to?"

*reminder to self, do not get into conversations like this before I am awake fully.

My nephew will have his first holy communion this year. In the education, he asked the priest :" Why does god exist ?"....

The priest has had no answer to this boy...
Is here anyone who can answered it, so i can give it forward to my nephew

A very good question. But the question itself has implications. The fact that it is being asked may suggest that God needs a reason for existence. It means the one asking the question is beginning from e.g. the position of 'I exist, therefore, what has the existence of God got to do with me?'

However, the Christian view point begins with the 'I AM'. God's existence is the reason for the existence of everything else. Thus it is more compatible with the Christian viewpoint to ask 'Why do I exist?'

However, to really attempt to answer the question from a Christian viewpoint.....nobody can. God is the source of existence. What is the source of the source? That is going way outside of the limitations of human reasoning. Like someone said, ask him yourself one day, if you dare.

Edit: The idea that God exists for the purpose of helping me is a bit like saying humanity exists to provide me with friends. It places me is the center of the universe, and all things, God included, on the outside, relegated to a position of lesser importance.

My nephew will have his first holy communion this year. In the education, he asked the priest :" Why does god exist ?"....

The priest has had no answer to this boy...
Is here anyone who can answered it, so i can give it forward to my nephew
In your nephew's case, you can tell him that his God exists because a secular leader wished to exploit the superstitions of an increasingly popular cult in order to consolidate his political power.

The question of why humans have invented gods, spirits, and other superstitious material is a bit broader, however, and you might need to wait a few years before he's ready to plunge into that.

In your nephew's case, you can tell him that his God exists because a secular leader wished to exploit the superstitions of an increasingly popular cult in order to consolidate his political power. Actually, you'd have to go into ancient Jewish history. :)