I'd just like to state that when someone believes in [a] God they don't necesarily believe in the Bible. A lot of people tend to jump to the conclusion that when soemone mentions God they must believe in the Xian God.

For example someone will mention God, and someone else will come back talking about how certain parts of the Bible don't make sense, or how something in the Bible doesn't necesarily require God to have happened.

I don't know, but it just annoys me. I believe a God most likely exists, and I've said that to many people who then come at me about the Bible. Guess what? I think the Bible is a bunch of stories and misunderstandings about a world people knew little about.

I have no religion, I have no holy book, I have no specific God, yet I believe one exists and I know many other people are on the same level. I'm also sure they probably get a bit annoyed when people assume they're Christian based simply on the fact that they believe in a God.

So just a tip.....

God doesn't mean Bible. God doesn't mean religion. God doesn't mean Christian. Usually Christians, or for the most part soemone of any faith makes it quite clear that they are in fact part of whatever religion, so don't instantly assume a believer is a follower.

They call it agnostic. Get over yourself.

No, they don't. Agnostic means you believe that theres a likely chance there is or isn't a God. While I leave myself open, I feel the chances of there not being a God are very unlikely, I just don't like to close my mind off to possibilities.

And even still, my specific beliefs have nothing to do with people assuming God means Christian God.

quote:Originally posted by SEN D-F:

I'd just like to state that when someone believes in [a] God they don't necesarily believe in the Bible. A lot of people tend to jump to the conclusion that when soemone mentions God they must believe in the Xian God.

For example someone will mention God, and someone else will come back talking about how certain parts of the Bible don't make sense, or how something in the Bible doesn't necesarily require God to have happened.

I don't know, but it just annoys me. I believe a God most likely exists, and I've said that to many people who then come at me about the Bible. Guess what? I think the Bible is a bunch of stories and misunderstandings about a world people knew little about.

I have no religion, I have no holy book, I have no specific God, yet I believe one exists and I know many other people are on the same level. I'm also sure they probably get a bit annoyed when people assume they're Christian based simply on the fact that they believe in a God.

So just a tip.....

God doesn't mean Bible. God doesn't mean religion. God doesn't mean Christian. Usually Christians, or for the most part soemone of any faith makes it quite clear that they are in fact part of whatever religion, so don't instantly assume a believer is a follower.

So you made up your own god?

It's better to find what you honestly believe rather than being spoonfed the shit as a kid. I'd rather search myself for years and find the possibly wrong answer, knowing it's what I honestly feel, than be told everything as the one and only truth by priests, rabbis, monks, etc. with no decision for myself.

I'm under the idea that it's great for people to believe, so long as they searched themselves for that belief and know it is theirs.

I agree with you Hexadecimal. I was raised without any religion, but i became interested in God later when i was dating a Mormon girl. A few years later i became a Christian, and somewhat suprisingly my parents were kinda pissed, my mom would use it against me when we would argue and my dad never wanted to talk about me going to church or anything.

With that said, don't be too quick to think that just because someone was raised beliving something, they are blind followers or don't know anything, sometimes what's true for your parents ends up being true for you, that's just not how it worked out in my case.

It's simple, SEND-F.

If you live in a western society and you say you believe in God, people are going to assume you mean the Christian one because the vast majority of theists in these countries are Christians.

If you don't want people to get the wrong idea, clarify your beliefs. It's not the rest of the world's responsibility to read your mind.

quote:Originally posted by Craftian:

If you don't want people to get the wrong idea, clarify your beliefs. It's not the rest of the world's responsibility to read your mind.

"Thou shall not judge" is a good peice of advice.

The only reason people don't know how popular other religeons are in the western world, is because they all preume otherwise.

This forum contains intelligent people who are interested in god, not christianity.

I fully agree with everything said in the first post, couldn't have said it better myself.

But, eh. People are ignorant and don't know shit, whaddya gonna do... "God" means christian god to many, "religion" means christianity to many as well. Just how they were raised and what they know, I guess.

quote:Originally posted by NewDude:

So you made up your own god?

Ummm, no. Where did you get that idea? I didn't 'make up' any God. Its not like I worship 'Hibbuba the God of the sky' or soemthing [infact I don't even worship God]. I simply believe in God, but don't necesarrily believe God is what is depicted in religious texts.

quote:Originally posted by Craftian:

It's simple, SEND-F.

If you live in a western society and you say you believe in God, people are going to assume you mean the Christian one because the vast majority of theists in these countries are Christians.

If you don't want people to get the wrong idea, clarify your beliefs. It's not the rest of the world's responsibility to read your mind.

That seems a bit backwards to me. I should have to specify my exact beliefs everytime I mention God to keep people from assuming Im Christian? And if I don't its my fault for assuming they can read my mind? I don't expect anyone to read my mind, but that doesn't mean people should jump to conclusions.

quote:Originally posted by Fuck:

But, eh. People are ignorant and don't know shit, whaddya gonna do... "God" means christian god to many, "religion" means christianity to many as well. Just how they were raised and what they know, I guess.

You got it. People think that because the majority of people believe one thing, everybody else does. And I fail to see why anyone should have to get into specifics about their beliefs because others find it necesarry to jump to conclusions, as Craftian suggested. It seems more logical to me that people stop assuming things.

And just a note for anybody wondering. No Im not expecting everybody in the world to stop assuming believers are Xians, but it'd be nice not to have to deal with such things on a board with intelligent people [for the most part of course, though most idiots don't tend to stick around to long].

[This message has been edited by SEN D-F (edited 03-02-2004).]

God does mean bible. How many gods have the name God? Only Christians refer to the higher being as God, not YHWH or Zeus or Juppiter or whatever. Just God.

No saying "I believe in [a]god" is different than saying "I believe in God"

[This message has been edited by KoWbOy KiLlEr (edited 03-02-2004).]

^^ I see the logic in that. However I do infact say I beleiev in a God for the most part. I suppose sometimes when Im typing out long things I will simply say 'God' many times, but when it comes to stating beliefs I do say that I believe in a God.

However people still seem to think that means the Xian God. Though it doesn't end there. A perfect example exists right in this thread, NewDude came to the conclsuion that because I don't believe in the Xian God, that I made up a God for myself, which is just as silly and annoying.

On another note though, a quick trip to dictionary.com turned up this definition for 'God':

'A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions.'

While it does say God is 'the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions' it doesn't say that followers of monotheistic religions are the only ones who believe in God. And it defenitly says nothing about Chirstianity, in fact by stating that it is 'the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions' it is somewhat negating what you said, by saying that 'God' is present in many 'religions'.

But I do very much so see what you mean, as Xians use the name God for their God.

[This message has been edited by SEN D-F (edited 03-02-2004).]

SEN D-F, you're being a little unreasonable here. Christians make up the vast majority of the population, and they believe in 'God'. Therefore, it's prudent to assume that when somebody talks about god (at least here in the states), they're talking about the christian god.

It's just a simple little thing. If you're tlaking about another god, you've got to say that. People are going to assume that you're in the 90% of the population.

It's not 90% anymore. It's dropped down a lot...wish I wasn't too lazy to google census info.

Maybe it has soemthing to do with my not living in the US, but it just seems silly to me to assume someone is Christian based on the fact that they believe in God.

I never do, and I know most people I know won't assume your beliefs based on something as simple as a belief in God.

quote:Originally posted by SEN D-F:

That seems a bit backwards to me. I should have to specify my exact beliefs everytime I mention God to keep people from assuming Im Christian? And if I don't its my fault for assuming they can read my mind? I don't expect anyone to read my mind, but that doesn't mean people should jump to conclusions.

If this were an Arabic board or you lived in the Middle East, and you said you believed in Allah (Arabic for God) people would assume you meant the one in the Koran. Deal with it.

quote:Originally posted by Craftian:

Deal with it.

The percentage of xians in this forum is very low.

There, now you've been told.

Yeah, I'd agree that most people in this forum are non-theists.

But I'm guessing that the theists are pretty evenly divided between Christian/make-stuff-upian. If you have numbers to the contrary I'd like to see them.