Originally Posted by
nosmarter
Umie,
Of course. It's a perfectly reasonable question. I'll do my best to answer. Let me just address the issue of God without getting into the specifics of any faith:
There is a standard of evidence that I need to accept that something is true - and I'm pretty sure this is the case for all of us for things that don't touch on religion. The evidence I might have for something may not be 100% perfect, but it does have to meet a certain threshold at least. So for example, the existence of Zeus, faeries, unicorns, goblins, and of course God all share the same level of paltry evidence that falls way below any acceptable standards. I can't prove any these things don't exist, but I'm pretty confident that based on the lack of evidence that they actually don't. And trust me, I'm always eager to hear anyone's evidence but as time goes on, I haven't heard anything new anymore.
I'm not denying that people truly feel like they have had a personal experience with God, but that hardly qualifies as evidence since this experience can't be tested or repeated and also because the experience can plausibly be explained by other things. The fact that people of all religions including whacky cults will offer the same explanation of their own deity makes it seem even more suspect to me.
The level of suffering in the world is inconsistent with the notion of a loving, caring God. It's one thing to say that some people are responsible for their own suffering, but it's quite another when small children, innocent people, animals are subjected to horrible suffering and death. The excuses religious people of all faiths make are to me just that: excuses. None of them do a remotely good job of offering a decent explanation beyond "God works in mysterious ways".
I'm happy to expand or clarify on this, Umie. Don't be shy! ;)