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If faith in God is lost then the whole edifice comes crashing down. Gone is hope, dreams, angels, prophets & paradise and instead the stark reality of our condition and mortality becomes painfully clear and this is something man doesn't want to face. So the believer has a strong incentive to cling on to faith in God. He doesn't want to die, so he creates the idea that death is simply a door to a new life - the real life. That although this life is temporary, the next life is everlasting. This life is full of pain, struggle and suffering, but the next life is full of pleasure, joy and happiness. It is a concept that has become deeply embedded in the human psyche.
So he will use every means possible to preserve that which guarantees him immortality. Performing mental gymnastics to "prove" whatever is necessary to ensure his everlasting happiness. Blame himself and his own shortcomings if something doesn't make sense, rather than question his beliefs.
I have to admit that I do pity him and I am hesitant to take away that comfort blanket from his tight grip, when it makes him happy. But at the same time I fear the damage it does in dulling and paralysing his faculties.
Perhaps we should leave people in their delusions. Perhaps it is impossible to completely free them from myths. They serve a purpose. Since God is the greatest of these delusions then it is from faith in him that people derive the greatest pleasure. The believers fight with the "Sword of God" and no matter how many times they are defeated, humiliated and crushed they will not stop believing that God will bring them victory. If not in this world, then in the next.
Some people seem to think that those of us who doubt God's existence, do so simply on the basis that we can't see him. They point out that there are innumerable things one can't see but we know they exist, such as radio waves, sound waves, ultraviolet light, micro organisms, etc… Men of religion mock when someone says he disbelieves in God because sees no evidence for him, and reply sarcastically: "Then you don't believe in Hong Kong because you can't see it."
But disbelief in God has nothing to do with such a ridiculously simplistic level of understanding. We doubt God's existence because no-one can verify that he exists. We don't need to see Hong Kong or radio waves or micro-organisms to know they exist because others have seen them and studied them and tested them and verified them from multiple sources. If I am ever in doubt about their existence I can conduct my own scientific experiments to verify them myself. I can visit Hong Kong if I suspect global conspiracy to hide the fact that Hong Kong doesn't exist. However when it comes to God you cannot find one witness in the whole world who has seen or spoken to God. You cannot find one single scientist who has scientifically established God's existence. Nor can you verify these claims yourself, either by travelling to a place to meet God, or by conducting your own experiments to establish his existence. Furthermore you see in the world around you a world that runs by itself with no interference or intervention.
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"Can there be doubt about God, the creator of the heavens and the earth?" (14:10)
Yes there can! And not just one doubt but many doubts. How great are the doubts about him - Most High is He!
They claim that there is no "doubt" about the existence of God. That belief in the "One True God" is a natural instinct; "Fitrah", humanity's natural disposition which God has created us with. But if that were true then why have religious scholars down the ages toiled and laboured to produce libraries full of arguments trying to establish that God exists? Why have they not written volumes about the existence of the sun? Mankind has never declared war against or persecuted or committed atrocities upon those who deny the existence of the sun. If God's existence was "without doubt" as they claim, then why the need for arguments, proofs and evidences? That which is "without doubt" has no need for these things. One only needs to present arguments and proofs where there is doubt. That which has no doubt is not in need of proof.
Yes, man has a tendancy and need for a crutch. These feelings increase in times of crisis and insecurity. The desire for a crutch reveals an inner psychological need. It reflects an underlying existential crisis that human beings have at one time or another experienced ever since they became self-aware beings and began to think beyond the mechanics of survival. When they started to think in the abstract and pose questions about their existence.
All this is not evidence of a God, nor is it evidence of the need for a God. It is merely the reality of our evolution. God is a reduntant addition invented by man during his evolution as he developed the capacity for introspection and abstract thinking - in a world that was dangerous and frightening - where he sought help to survive in anyway he can. Appealing to the forces or spirits in nature. To gods that were more powerful than the gods of a hostile tribe. To a God who was bigger & stronger than them all! It is a concept we have become deeply emotionally attached to and find impossible to let go of. It is a refuge for the poor, weak, destitute and deprived who are powerless and so seek a powerful gaurdian full of love, care and affection, who will right the wrongs, bring justice, security & peace. But when they find he doesn't bring anything except more suffering, they do not leave him, no, they blame themselves and increase their devotion and give each other the "good news" of the reward to to come that shall be all the greater for their suffering.
It never occurs to them that there is no-one listening to their prayers. That this God they are asking for help is their own invention. Born out of their despair and loss of hope in the bitter reality that they find themselves in. They live in a waking dream. The dream of Paradise which contains that which no eye has seen nor ear has heard nor has occured to the mind of man. The Houris will come running to meet them and welcome them in to their palace in heaven where servants will fulfil every command. A beautiful illusion and an when an illusion embeds itself into the mind it can be so sweet, so powerful, that it replaces reality.
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Oh boy! that book must sound better in Arabic language .. Each statement is a Gem.. But I disagree with author on these words..
Gone is hope,..................... when god is gone from their brain
Why hope is gone when god is gone?? ..... No..No.. there should be more hope in home.. more dreams.. better things to do in life than bending ass up in to sky..
Perhaps we should leave people in their delusions............
No..no I will not leave them to their delusions..
I want to use them.. I want to use their time that they waste in delusions.. They can keep their god thing.. allah thing whatever thing and start with their new religious book ., But I want to erase all these stupid 1000 year old books written by some cave dwellers whose level of intellect is less than that of 2nd grader in this 21 st century...
Topic: Discussion about "My Ordeal with the Qur'an"