Do you think God exists? Why? Or why not?

>>17862519 (OP)
Yes. It makes more sense that he does than that he doesn't. Contingency argument, spiritual experiences, convergence of various religions ....
Pretty much the only reason why I would ever deny God is "well I haven't seen him myself and machines can't do it for me". Which is a chronically online reason.

>>17862530
>convergence of various religions
Can you elaborate on this one? I found it really intriguing

>>17862519 (OP)
Yes because my mind gets raped and I get terrorized, abused, harassed, threatened for literally anything I think by everyone else and that wouldn't be possible unless God is real and he controls everyone else

What god?
YHWH?
Nah

>>17862541
When you look at developed religions that rely on narratives, they usually head in a very similar direction. The example that brought this to my attention was Christianity v. Vedic traditions. They both propose an infinite source (and sustainer) of all being who has a hierarchy of spirits beneath for mediation. But the similarities are so profound that one of the most imactful elaborations on the Christian God was a book where an Orthodox Christian scholar was directly elaborating on Sat-Chit-Ananda, the essential attributes of Brahman.
Of course there are differences because each religion has something unique about themselves - in this case Christianity absolutely insists that personhood is divine and we only have diminutive versions of it that we need to perfect, whereas Vedic, Buddhist and Gnostic traditions say that personhood is just a default human thingy that needs to be left behind. And that's a profound disagreement. But the picture in which this disagreement is being had is way more similar than anyone would predict if religious stories were arbitrarily made up.

When it comes to smaller religions there are various tropes and paradigms that cults usually have. Some of them can be written off as direct consequence of human psychology (such as cults usually positing a spiritual origin of a human community), but some are a little more specific. For example Mircea Eliade describes deus otiosus - the idle god or the god who has abandoned a cult. To me as a Christian this checks out with the Biblical narrative: God was governing the Earth, the tower of Babel happens, he hands over the nations to smaller deities to focus on Hebrews, then starts wiping the floor with the deities because the Salvation has come through his Son. It's only natural smaller cults would start wondering why their deity suddenly went away. They were afraid of Christ. Similarly, we have records of pagans complaining that their rituals don't work when Christians are around.

>>17862606
>God was governing the Earth, the tower of Babel happens, he hands over the nations to smaller deities to focus on Hebrews, then starts wiping the floor with the deities because the Salvation has come through his Son.
HM why God would hand the other nations to other deities only to wipe them off after? Why create them in the first place if their purpose was to be destroyed after the fact? I'm genuinely curious

>>17862519 (OP)
It doesn't matter for you if others believe it or not. You'll be fucked anyways if you deny your own Self.

>>17862619
The idea is that they were supposed to guide and prepare the nations for the Messiah and then return the nations to God after the Messiah has come. Sadly the nations started worshipping the minor deities themselves and the deities accepted the worship, effectively stealing the flock they were only supposed to temporarily keep. Those rebellious spirits would face judgement. Whether there existed deities that resisted this temptation, I don't know but at least the Vedic tradition makes me think that some religions didn't stray as far away from truth as others.

>>17862619
>God declares himself "The Word"
>Goes on to prove that words are meaningless, interchangeable and mostly retarded.

>>17862636
That makes sense, it's really interesting because in a similar fashion we see some deities that were worshiped back then and now are commonly regarded as demons by Christians. Where can I learn more about the information you have provided?

>>17862621
>your own self

He thought gentiles were dogs and was a Jew supremacist lol

>>17862656
>he believes every garbage atheists shoved in the Bible
I bet you also believe that Jesus told his apostles to buy a sword as well.

>>17862648
Exactly. The overall Biblical narrative with all its details such as the function of minor deities, their rebellion and so on is described very well and thoroughly in The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser.
The convergence of various religions towards this narrative is a little harder to source because from secular academics to believing theologians everyone is motivated to point out the differences rather than the similarities... except for New Age charlatans. But I think Myth and Reality by Mircea Eliade was the one where he describes these patterns, it is pretty short too.

>>17862665
Thank you so much Anon! It's very interesting, I have some reading to do, I'm trying to learn more about different religions and their connections so I think it would be an interesting research

I'm agnostic, I think it's absurd to talk about the nature of existence with any degree of confidence given how limited we are.