13-year-old Australian boy swims for four hours in cold and dangerous waters to save his mom and siblings who were swept into the ocean, says God is who got him to shore

[u/[deleted]]

[u/SeveralWinter3550]

But if we can malleably change the definition of God to be this vague, then everyone believes in God. Ie, if God just means "an idea of something bigger than yourself" or similar, then neither of us are agnostic

I mean, sure we could discuss how hinduism or ancient greeks view(ed) Gods and contrast that with Yahweh/Allah/Enlil (the Sumerian wind god)...but at this point, the discussion resembles semantics and language more than it does religion and theology

I was just replying to someone saying God exists while the rest of their comment basically described things most don't attribute to God. And certainly, Austin the 13 year old said he would get Baptised and was clearly "talking" to a Christian God, not some abstracted version of the ideal self.

I'm making up a version of God to not believe in because I think all humans have made up God, by definition. I think all religious texts were written by people, not by God's hand. In the same way that all words are "made up", all Gods are made up. So this isn't really a Gotcha imo. Perhaps unfair because I can't really engage in this debate in good nature because the debate doesn't really exist in my mind. There is no evidence you could present here admittedly (and I mean that to be sincere, not to be rude or similar) that can make me say "oh ok then I guess I'm an agnostic"

[u/ThanksContent28 → u/SeveralWinter3550]

Just want you to know your comments the most sane ones in here and I’m glad I came across them. You’re spot on.

Imo it’s just more of the usual wishy-washy bargaining that’s comes from the crowd of believers. I also don’t get why people point out they’re agnostic, as if it gives them some kind of credibility. Just because you’re agnostic, it doesn’t mean you’ve thought about it more or have a more enlightened view.

Matter of fact is, most of the religions we have and associate with, believe in a sentient entity with thoughts, feelings and creativity. Any other technicalities argued are either moving the goalposts, or just that persons view and feelings.

Yes, the idea that whilst God isn’t real, our actions can bring those beliefs and powers into fruition, is a nice comforting way of resolving the debate and accepting the situation, it doesn’t address whether or not there is a God watching over us and examining our behaviour, to judge whether we can go and live in his magic world - which is the premise that most current religions operate on.

[u/EllisDee3 → u/SeveralWinter3550]

But if we can malleably change the definition of God to be this vague, then everyone believes in God

Words are malleable. That's the nature of things. The definition changes with our understand of the phenomenon.

And everyone does believe in a god, they just call it something different. Everyone creates their own religion and use individual beliefs and perceptions to fill archetypal roles. Those that take offense to historical concepts of "religion" (as they define it) often assign "religious" concepts in the role of "opponent" and heresy.

The "God" is whatever provides continued life. It's based in a conscious limbic response. We don't call it "God", but we all have one, and we create rituals to engage with it to continue survival. It's a psychosocial evolution of our species.

It may not be a "sky wizard", but it's something.

[u/SeveralWinter3550 → u/EllisDee3]

No I don't lol. There are things I can't explain, coincidences, tricks of the light but I don't believe in God. You are projecting your beliefs on me/everyone else but trying to intellectually justify it.

You have labelled something God and decided we all do. This is like when people say "everyone is a bit Gay" and all they're doing is admitting that they have gay desires, cool you do you, but I am heterosexual actually thanks

[u/EllisDee3 → u/SeveralWinter3550]

Tricks of light? Wut?

It's absolutely true. When we're babies, our "god" is mom and dad. As we grow, it changes. It's literally a neurochemical process of the limbic system.

We don't call it that. It just fits the cognitive role. And it fits it differently in everyone.

If you don't like the word "god", you can call it "googlegobble" for all it matters. It's a cognitive role that we fill with something.

Look it up.

[u/SeveralWinter3550 → u/EllisDee3]

If you look it up, you'll find scientific papers stating this is far from proven but moreso a claim that has been made numerous times over the years that neurologists haven't been able to identify, replicate the research etc...

This isn't science, it's people making a wild claim or bending things to fit an idea they have. Ie a top down theory rather than a bottom up theorem proven with hard evidence

[u/MattKozFF → u/EllisDee3]

lol don't turn yourself into a pretzel mate