Does God exist? Or, is there a God?

In my discussions if have come across this. There if faith based and proof based. The two cannot understand each other. Atheists do not view the bible (and other holy books) as proof for anything as it is not a peer reviewed source and the stuff in it is not reproduceable. Theists believe without proof and find the bible (or other holy book) as all the rpoof they need.
It is this one thing that divides and canot be overcome. Atheists can throw all the proof (or lack of) at a theist and they can just say "because god made it that way"
"You can't prove god exists" "Well, you can't prove he doesn't exist" "I don't have to prove he doesn't exist."
As for an actual answer to the question - there is no proof. Claims for existence must be backed by proof. Many things in the books described as God's hand or breath or whatever can now be answered by things as thunder, lightning, earthquakes, etc... This is one of my favorite discussions and I do get drawn into it easily, but it is futile. Theists cannot think like atheists, and vice versa. Faith is powerful, but unproven.

Not being a Physics guy I was watching a documentary on the beginning of the universe to try some learnin'. Of course there is no mention of God. (Which is cool, some scientist do not believe God and science can exist together. I don't judge. I just wanted to know more about the Big Bang that started it all). So this guy who seems really smart starts telling about that there is nothing and then these particles keep getting pulled in together and it gets denser and denser till it finally can't take it any more and BOOOM! Big Bang!

That is where he lost me. Where did these particles come from? I think i missed something. It is like reading a book starting in the middle. Not once did anybody theorize where the particles came from. It was just accepted they were there. How can you say Big Bang disproves there is a God and yet you just have faith that particles came from nothing?

Is there anybody that can shed some light on this for me? Dumb it down for me, remember I was a MP.

I had an angel lift me off of a four wheeler when the steering went out and was heading for a steep ditch. I was a young child and was riding on the back of a four wheeler, a friend was driving. I was holding a water balloon and we were going to throw it on the boys. For some reason I wanted to look down and when I did this, this put me in perfect position for the angel to pull me off of the four wheeler. When I realized what happened I was standing up and watched the four wheeler head straight for the ditch with my friend on it, unable to turn it and went straight into the ditch. I don’t know why I have Godly intervention that day. Maybe I would have lost a limb, brain damage, died. Ill find out one day when I die and go to heaven. This is my testimony.

St. Augustine had some of the best arguments for the existence of God. Regardless of what anyone says, I have no doubt about God's existence.

No. There just isn't a need for a God in the universe. Until I see verifiable evidence, I won't believe in Him/Her/It.

until god sits down with me...and PROVES he is real...not a chance in hell will I believe...

“The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.”–Werner Heisenberg, who was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics (which is absolutely crucial to modern science). Some of the most brilliant scientific minds in the history of the human race have come to the scientific conclusion that God exists. I would suggest that if you are in doubt, just ask him to come into your life, you will be suprised of the outcome.

I was a former Atheist who converted to Catholicism in Afghanistan in 2005. Obviously that identifies that I believe in God, but my reasons for converting may better answer your actual question. I warn you, this answer is pretty long winded, but I provide examples of how science proved to me the existence of God.

While I claimed Atheism, I spent hours studying Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Paganism and numerous other religions, under the guise that I was simply trying to gain an understanding of why people believe in what they believe. In all reality I was spiteful. Having grown up in a strict fundamentalist Christian household, I became angry with Christianity and God, especially after being told time and time again that I needed to take answers to my questions on faith (without any valid evidence). This caused me to turn my back on Christianity, God and anything related and sent me on a horrible path of trying to disprove as much of Christianity (and other religions) as possible.

Atheists, theists and the like all have the same questions: "Why are we here", "How did we get here" and so on and so on. Some look towards the Bible, Koran or Torah, others look for scientific evidence of our creation and yet others ignore the question in order to obtain the bliss of not having to worry or think about it. Even though I was hell bent on destroying Christianity, I still wanted answers to life's biggest questions. I studied Hawkins, Darwin and many journals, books and articles (from a big bang or non-creationist point of view). Having gained this "knowledge" about life and everything about it, my pompous 20 year old "know it all" self felt highly obligated to share that knowledge and try to prove wrong a SME in the field of creationism, our Catholic Chaplin.

We had an equal understanding going in to our many, many, many conversations and took each other up on our challenges (reading suggested material, articles and so on). It was testing those readings, his answers and our conversations utilizing the scientific method and critical thinking and logic that inevitably won me over to converting to Catholicism. Many would look at that and scoff (as I would have in the past), however, it is true. Below are a few examples of the evidence I found in the existence of God.

* Big Bang Theory - I still support the Big Bang Theory and believe that the universe erupted in a split second in a mass explosion that formed out universe. With that said, the probability of such event having taken place spontaneously and without cause (cause and effect) or happening again is so astronomical (no pun intended) that it is nearly statistically impossible. When taking holy scripture contextually (as apposed to literally), a cause is given by the command of a creator, "Let there be light". If you notice the words uttered (or at least recorded thousands of years ago) where not let there be a universe, or let there be planets, or anything of that matter, it was exactly that, "Let there be light". The Big Bang suggests that out of nothing (darkness) the universe exploded outwards (light) instantly at a very powerful rate in all directions and everything began taking form.

* Time, space and other dimensions - Time is a man made measuring tool utilized to keep order, identify periods of existence and so on. Though many argue that time is the only relevant thing out there, I argue that time is irrelevant. What I mean by that is without time or the concept of time, we can find logic in those theories which exist today that our universe is merely a one of an unlimited number of universes which exist simultaneously together. This thought is relatively new to the scientific community, however, many religions have adapted this belief for thousands and thousands of years. When correlated with the big bang theory, this theory identifies that not only was our universe "poofed" into existence, but all that is, was as well. In Christianity these other universes have been identified as heaven, hell, purgatory, paradise, limbo and so on.

* Statistical Probability - Most astronomers will tell you that is almost statistically impossible that we are the only life in the universe and though we cannot prove other life exists (yet), we cannot rule it out or disprove it either (sounds like a familiar argument). Whether it be Vulcan, God or ET, it doesn't matter. The statistical probability that something bigger, more powerful and supreme to us existing in the universe(s) is astronomically high (again no pun intended). That doesn't prove that God exists, but it does provide the strong probability that we are not the highest form of intelligence in the universe or any other and that something beyond our level of comprehension most likely exists somewhere.

I have many more examples and theories that led me to Catholicism and this is a subject I study and test still to this day. To prevent me from writing a book via Rally Point I will keep this list somewhat short. As far as your question regarding Gods omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and omnibenevolent existence (an argument I regularly utilized as an Atheist to try and dispel aspects of the Christian God), I have a few argumentative statements.

The first is related to the aspects of God being omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. For your best answer, please review my three examples above (the big bang theory, time, space and dimensions and statistical probability). To sum it up, how these things are possible is beyond our level of comprehension, just like how the American electoral system is beyond the comprehension of a star fish.

Now for Omnibenevolence. God is good. As far as you and I define good, he is a vengeful, jealous, sadistic being that could give two sh$#s less about humans (he doesn't stop someone from dying of cancer or stop an earthquake from taking the lives of thousands of people and he wants to be worshiped on top of it). With that said, God is good. What I mean by that is God is what is good, not yours or my definition of what good is (please refer to the statement regarding our inability to comprehend certain things). This does not need to be taken on faith, because faith is excepting another mans interpretation of God and what is good. God did not say "I Am because man says I am", he said "I Am".

Now similar arguments to mine have been shot down time and time again, usually under the rebuttal of accepting such things as faith, blind faith or my favorite, willful/blissful ignorance. I say again, like I said above, I continue to study, test and try to prove wrong all theories (scientific method) I have mentioned, other theories I have not, new theories and God himself in order to gain the greatest understanding possible for myself. If you are not willing to take the time to do the same you either will not believe what others have found, you are no looking for answers in the first place (like my vengeful misguided need to disprove Christians out of the hatred and anger I had for family and the answers given by he church) or you choose to believe them....on faith.

Is there a God; pretty heavy question. Well either there is a God who orchestrates the universe or it is all random chance. So, it took 40 years to create a working computer that is continually improved each year by thousands of experts. Your body and mind work similar yet better than computers. Logically, I can't accept this as random chance and openly profess my Christian belief in God.