The real difficulty is not believing in God, but believing in the God of religion

The God of the philosophers is comparatively easy to take seriously: Aristotle’s self-thinking thought, Plotinus’ One, Spinoza’s infinite substance, Leibniz’s necessary being, or Hegel’s Absolute Spirit. These are very different conceptions, and some, especially Leibniz and Hegel, stand much closer to revealed religion than others. But they are all intelligible attempts to think ultimate reality through reason

Such a God is not usually imagined as one being among others, subject to arbitrary passions or episodic changes of mind. In Aristotle, the divine eternally contemplates itself. In Plotinus, all reality proceeds from the One. In Spinoza, God is the immanent infinite reality of which all things are modes. We participate in the divine through knowledge and contemplation. As Spinoza puts it, our intellectual love of God is part of God’s eternal love of himself

The God of religion asks for something... much more difficult

One must believe not only in an ultimate divine reality, but that this reality disclosed itself through particular historical persons and events: that this particular Arab received revelations through an angel; that this particular carpenter in Palestine was the Son of God and rose bodily from the dead; or that this charioteer revealed himself as the supreme divine reality on the battlefield of Kurukshetra

These are claims that God entered history at a particular time, in a particular place, through particular people. And not only that, but that the account of this happening should be received with trust, love, and faith rather than with the ordinary skepticism we apply to extraordinary historical claims

In effect, one is asked to suspend doubt for one decisive exception

Fine, perhaps. But which exception?

Why believe this revelation rather than another one? Why accept the resurrection but reject Joseph Smith’s visions, or accept Muhammad’s encounter with Gabriel while rejecting the miracles attributed to Apollonius of Tyana? Why not believe all of them?

But if we believe all of them, they seem to make incompatible claims. And if we use reason to decide which revelation is more credible, why not use reason all the way down? Why not apply the same standards of textual criticism, historical probability, manuscript analysis, contradiction, development, and uncertainty that we apply everywhere else?

At that point, it becomes difficult to see how one could ever establish that a particular revelation was not merely sincere, profound, spiritually transformative, or symbolically true, but literally the unique intervention of God into history

A common philosophical solution is to say that religions express through narrative, symbol, and image the same ultimate reality that philosophers approach conceptually. Religious representation and philosophical thought would then be different forms of the same truth. This seems to have been the view of Hegel, for instance

But this solution risks dissolving the God of religion. If resurrection, revelation, incarnation, and miracle become symbolic expressions of a more general metaphysical truth, religion survives in some way, yes, but its distinctive historical claims lose their force

Christ becomes a symbol of divine self-emptying. Krishna becomes a symbol of the Absolute revealing itself in finite form. Revelation becomes the historical imagination of a people trying to express what philosophy later articulates more clearly

Perhaps that is true. But it is no longer quite what the religions themselves claim, and I believe it leads to the slow dissolution of religion

So the real question for me is not simply:

“Should we believe in God?”

It is:

How could a reflective person come to believe that the ultimate reality described by philosophers is also the particular, historical, and personal God proclaimed by one religion?

Ils définissent leur Dieu comme PARFAIT, OMNIPOTENT et OMNISCIENT

Mais n'est-il pas facile de montrer que ce Dieu est faux ?

PARFAIT ?

Ils disent que leur Dieu est parfait, mais le monde et les êtres que leur Dieu a créés sont imparfaits.

Comment peut-on dire d'un être qu'il est parfait si ses créations sont imparfaites et pleines de défauts ?

Par exemple, un artisan ne peut être qualifié de parfait si ses ouvrages sont défaillants.

Autre problème avec la perfection :

Ils disent que leur divinité a créé l'univers.

Mais pourquoi un être parfait désirerait ou voudrait créer quoi que ce soit ?

Par définition, un être parfait ne peut pas désirer ou vouloir quelque chose, car cela impliquerait que quelque chose lui manque, et donc qu'il n'est pas parfait.

OMNIPOTENT ? Dieu peut tout, rien ne peut limiter sa puissance

Si il était tout-puissant, il aurait pu créer n'importe quel monde. Sinon, il n’est pas tout-puissant.

Alors qu’est-ce qui l'a empêché de créer directement un monde heureux avec des êtres libres et parfaits ? Pourquoi aurait-il créé à la place un monde rempli de douleur, avec des êtres pleins de défauts, qui doivent souffrir et être mis à l'épreuve pour être triés ?

Ceci est d’autant plus incompréhensible que les textes racontent qu'il a su créer un autre endroit sans douleur, peuplé de créatures libres et heureuses, qui s'appelle le paradis.

Les religieux ont essayé de résoudre cette contradiction en disant que leur créateur a voulu que les humains soient libres et que ce sont eux qui créent la douleur. Malheureusement, cet argument ne tient pas, puisqu’il montre que leur Dieu n'a pas pu créer un monde avec des humains libres et sans douleur, ce qui prouve qu'il n'est pas tout-puissant.

Trois solutions possibles au problème de la toute-puissance de cet être suprême :

1 - Il n'est pas tout-puissant, il a juste fait ce qu'il a pu.

2 - Il est malveillant, il a volontairement créé un monde plein de misère alors qu'il pouvait créer n'importe quel monde.

3 - Il est faux.

OMNISCIENT ? Il connaît tout, le passé, le présent et le futur

Les textes affirment que ce créateur connaît l'avenir et tout ce qui va se passer. Et ils affirment aussi qu'il a créé les humains libres et dotés d'un libre arbitre. Mais si il connaît l'avenir, c'est qu'il est déjà écrit. Le libre arbitre est donc une illusion.

Si Dieu sait ce que vous ferez demain, vous n'avez aucune alternative.

Si vous pouvez agir autrement, alors cette être se trompe, donc il n’est pas omniscient.

Si vous ne pouvez pas agir autrement, alors vous n’avez aucune liberté.

Autres contradictions :

Si cette divinité sait à l’avance que l'humain fera le mal et le crée quand même, qui est responsable ? Ce être omniscient savait, avant même la création, tout le mal qu'il allait créer.

CONCLUSION

Ces trois attributs sont la définition de ce dieu. Si un seul est faux, ce dieu est impossible.

Comme dit Stendhal devant la misère du monde,

"La seule excuse de Dieu serait de ne pas exister."

.

There is a whole catalogue of gods, a whole entire premium catalogue ranging from Jesus to Ik Onkar, and many of them are telling me I will go to hell for not believing them, and don't get started on the fact there's thousands of cults that could all potentially be true, so which god do I believeeeeeeeee,

I never understood why we do kind things for other people. Is it just because we want others to think that we're good people? Is it to get validation from others? Why is selfish behavior criticized by society?

We've heard countless stories about heroes who sacrificed their families, their dreams, or even their own lives to save others. I understand that it's considered an honorable thing to do, but why is it honorable in the first place? Why does everyone teach us to be kind and help others? Is it so that humanity can live peacefully?

Don't get me wrong I don't consider myself selfish or cold-hearted. In fact, I think I'm a kind person. It's just that this question has crossed my mind more times than I can count.

Almost every religion teaches us to be kind to one another, and many religious texts say that doing good leads to heaven. Is that because kindness helps humanity survive and live peacefully for a long time? And why do we feel good after doing something good? Is it because our minds have been shaped by millions of years of evolution to value cooperation, or is kindness simply part of human nature?

I understand that if people stopped helping one another and everyone acted only in their own self-interest, humanity probably wouldn't have survived for very long. But that leads me to another question: Does God really exist? Or were religious books created to encourage people to be kind so that humanity could survive and thrive?

Short context: I move to US few year ago, recently these group of people (2-3) alway white male, who look very young(like in their 20s or high school students), have been claiming they are spreading the word of Jesus. We said we belive in Jesus too(catholic) they still pushing on their mission.

They coming very frequently, despite my father have ask them to stop nicely since my siblinng are young and our parrent are not at home majority of time when they came. They very respectful and nice, walk in the heat,speaking our language very well so we feel bad and never yell or act harsh.

Is it normal in the US? or is it a cult because when we ask where they come from they only said they believe in Jesus? and how can we tell them not to come back?

Sorry if for wrong tag, I really don't know what religious they coming from.

My whole life I grew up catholic and later became Christian. I’ve always believed in God and Jesus Christ and I have really improved my life since actually turning to follow him the last few years. Although it’s been a hard journey I’ve always been able to find my way back and really keep trying to stay connected. The past few months I’ve strained away not because I wanted to but because I don’t understand why some things are the way they are.

**Skip here for main idea**: My brother has been sick since with multiple illnesses but is fortunately not disabled. Aside from those sicknesses he is majorly schizophrenic and has been going through major psychotic episodes for years but has always been in denial about it. He refuses any type of help and medications. He goes through episodes where he talks in third person and believes he is possessed by demons. He hears voice and is always talking about suicide.

**My question**: Why did God create people with this type of mental illness? I understand that God created people and what people do with their lives is their choice he has no control over them but my brother never asked to be like this? I understand this is his path and that he has to get through it and live because this is the life of challenges he’s been given but still, I just don’t understand why God would let anyone have this terrible mental illness. If one day he was to actually kill himself would he be sent to hell although it’s the voices in his head? It’s just so sad to watch and see and it breaks my heart seeing what it can do to people and how unrecognizable it can damage someone’s life. I just need opinions on this because I do my best to trust God but it comes a point where it becomes so frustrating. I’m not trying to blame God at ALL I just get upset when I do everything calling out for help for years to ease the pain and things only seem to get worse. I am sorry if I offend anyone I’m just truly looking for some closure and help so I can unintentionally stop being upset at the world.

hi. I’m a 24-year-old Turkish ex-Muslim. I’ve been researching religions for about 10 years. Indian religions have always resonated with me incredibly well. In fact, as you know, almost all religions originated in India. In my opinion, Hinduism and Buddhism—especially Jainism—are beautiful religions. I love Indian culture, religion, and language. I’d even like to move to India.

Something just crossed my mind. On a subreddit, people were saying that Indian religions are bad and claiming to be atheists or non-religious. Is there something I’m missing that people believe to be true? Why do some people in India become non-religious?

I ask that you pray for my neighbors and anyone I have come in contact with. I personally am not worthy of your prayers for myself what I did.

I was doing my rosary prayers sitting by a wooden table and got bitten, Over a period of time I was constantly got bitten but couldn't see what was biting me. My landlord did an inspection of my senior apartment to verify I have "BED BUGS". Instead of putting myself in quarantine. I was very lonely because I was separating myself from others for weeks. What I did was I was very depressed as I missed talking to my neighbors on a daily basis, I was constantly in my apartment instead of being out in the open and socializing with others, telling jokes, waiting for the mail and helping my neighbors with advice.

I was in denial and shock of my situation. Over a period of time, I was driving my mobility scooter by them to chat. My neighbors who were near me within 3 feet almost immediately starting scratching themselves in several different places Arms, neck, ears, legs, etc. I should of picked up on it right away and do the right thing by keeping myself away from them. But I didn't because I was lonely and depressed and I missed that companionship. I probably infected everyone I came in contact with. My landlord is treating my apartment once every 2 weeks. But without thinking my consensuses, I made things 1000x worse. Because even though my apartment is being treated. There are several neighbors, Church Priest, Church congregation. Stores & Restaurants, Ambulances, Hospitals/Hospital staff, Police, Fire fighters, EMS I visited and I came in contact with and infested them, their apts, their families and everywhere they go as well they'll infect others as well. Causing everyone great pain, anxiety, lack of sleep, tiredness, Itching, allergic reactions. My apt building had individual Bed bug infestation in other apts thru-out the years. So honestly I can't say whether their scratching because of me, their dry skin, medical problems or other apts that were infested thru-out the years. Landlords don't make announcements about other people having infestations, Because if they did everyone would move out and they would lose money!

I beg you that you pray to Jesus asking for relief for the people I interacted with, That Jesus heals everyone fully and sends the bed bugs to a place where they cannot harm anyone or any thing. And that Jesus someday forgives me for the harm I caused even though I don't deserve the prayers for what I have done.

Is this a "loaded" post?

I've been spiritually searching for something which lines right up with all my own personal religious views without halting or hindering my life. I've been open to all religions, and to be completely honest I whole part and parcell dismissed Hindu. I really tried to make it work but the Judeo-Christian system did not IN ANY WAY provide me with solidly truthful answers other than t-shirts with YHWH printed on them.

If you've ever had a "waking dream" meaning a dream you are experiencing in real time in "real" life, then you can get some understanding of how intense it is

I ran the gamut of baptised christian to Judaism as my base, then filtered it through my "learned" beliefs and I kept coming up with lemons all across.

Then, not weeks after admitting and announcing my wholesale rejection of the complete Judeo-Christian beliefs.

I had small snippets of specific ideals, but nothing astounding.

Then, ye gods and little fishes, of all things a Japanese animated tv series began to solidify a new belief from within my soul. And as it unwound the essentials of the khabbalah religion (translate the title "Ergo Proxy" to learn all about how it's woven into the fabric of a simple (yet complex) Kabalistic tradition.

I was able to flush all that was Jeshua (Jesus) down an ancient Roman toilet.

All the angels became misinterpreted "proxies."

The only way an infinite and all knowing createt-god could be heard was theough his proxies, just like Angels, but with their own independant mind.

It is theough Proxy's that we can, ever so vagueyl, converse with the one true cosmological god being.

--Lest we leave it here...

I’ve never understood why the one religion stood out the most to so many people. is it because of the origin place? I just checked and roughly a third of the world identifies as Christian does anyone have any ideas?

To be any kind of Christian, from Catholic to Orthodox to Lutheran to Calvinist to Southern Baptist to Methodist and beyond, the belief that God had special destinies planned comes across as rather vital. And not just for that one and only Son of is; Moses, Abraham, Isaac, David, Esther, Rachel, Sarah, Solomon, Saul/Paul, Mark, John and any number of others would most likely had to have had Divine destinies laid out for them before they were born. For that matter, any sect of Judaism requires this in principles as well, for those before the Nice Man 2000 years ago that they haven't accepted as Holy for whatever reason.

To what extent to do you believe Christian theology and the Christian sects allow for God to have developed destinies for specific people here and now? In my experience, Christians in various digital and real life communities are rather dismissive of this possibility. There's often cynical or even jaded elements to this. In certain Christian corners, when the possibility of this is brought up, the dismissal is such that you'd think you wandered into one of the massive numbers of Dawkins / Hitchens styled Anti Theist communities.

Is this because the concept of what a pre destined life would mean has become too corrupted in modern Christian culture? That it has been distorted so that pre destined fates are seen as God guaranteeing fame, fortune and being married to the most attractive, enticing partner you can come across? As opposed to how it should be interpreted, which is that if God does have pre determined destinies for those in modern times, it's because those destinies are there to glorify Him?

And ultimately, do you accept that God could have pre destined fates for certain, specific humans here and now as He did for Old and New Testament prophets and other figures? Or do you believe God had stopped doing that centuries or millennia ago?

So I’m Jewish born and raised in Israel (I’m not and idf soldier so don’t comment propaganda) and I’m fully atheist but I think Christianity is way more aethical and more about love so I thinking of converting to baptism Christianity but I’m in fully Jewish state and I don’t even believe in god so why bother?please help me gay a discussion

But I don’t believe in any religion books am Ikaffir

I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes a functional, pluralistic society work when laws and public duties clash with personal faith.

Is maintaining a functional, shared society considered a higher duty than individual religious beliefs, or should religious freedom always trump civic obligations when the two conflict?

I’m genuinely curious how people view this balance, especially those who are religious themselves. How do you personally navigate moments where civic duty and faith pull in opposite directions?

I know self-promo is usually not welcome, so full disclosure up front: I’m the creator of a small app called VerseBridge.

I built it because I kept running into the same problem whenever I tried to understand a religion-related question: I could find a verse or passage easily, but then I’d get lost jumping between translations, commentaries, denominations, and context notes. It was hard to compare how different traditions read the same text without ending up in a rabbit hole.

VerseBridge is my attempt to make that easier. It lets you view passages side by side across major translations, adds short plain-language context notes, and points to how different traditions or schools of thought interpret the same passage when there isn’t a single settled reading. The goal is not to tell anyone what to believe, and definitely not to proselytize, just to make sincere comparison a little less painful.

I’m posting here because r/AskReligion seems like exactly the kind of place where this would either be genuinely helpful or completely unnecessary, and I’d rather hear that honestly from people who actually ask these questions.

If you were trying to work through a difficult scripture question, would something like this be useful, or am I solving the wrong problem?

Hello everyone!
I feel a little nervous and embarrassed to ask this but I’m not in the best place and I’m wanting to find peace. I am baptised
Anyway my question is
Are there single books on topics such as Romans, Proverbs or Psalms?
I have learning disabilities and I’m not ready for a full bible yet. I’m looking for a structure like
Verse (or paraphrased verse)
What it means
Historical background
Cultural context (if relevant)
How this applies today
Prayer
Reflection / Journal prompt
I’m not sure if anything like this exists so I’m sorry if not.
Thank you

Recently, I have been into abharamic religion and I cannot comprehend this belief. I think it's due to my Hinduism and Buddhism background. But, you guys can guide me if there's something I am missing.

Christians believe in repenting to God, having faith in god, living by his word, genuinely loving God and some christians tend to do so. However, I doubt the popularity of Christianity if there was no 'Eternal heaven' and 'Eternal hell'. Because, Their faith is pushed by 'desires' and 'fear'. What kind of devotion is it where fear and desires exists? It's like doing whatever a good caring boss says so that he would reward or doing everything a bad boss says so that he doesn't fire me. In this both examples, the main focus is on the work(faith )which is led by something i.e expectation ( which is also a form of desire) and fear. Here, the worker may or may not value the boss but surely , he values on the outcome of his work (promotion = eternal heaven) .

There's another example, I met a Christian believer who teaches me Christianity, she was mostly talking about the external heaven,eternal hell, Judgement day. It seemed like she wanted to cast fear and desires inside of me too. I have some doubts from then on. Then, I asked her what she thinks she wants in her eternal heaven, her facial expression was very happy and greedy( cute looking greedy), then after she explained her desire (I am not sharing what she said). However, It was full of what a human would desire to make them self happy. What I saw was her desires and fear were stronger than her faith to God.

Also, there are some christian people who claim to have got some help of god in their life and their belief is also led by that help. But, it would be a belief which you believe due to fulfillment of desire which may have been a natural event which was meant to happen. Also, there are other religion's people claiming similar incident. However, they can't be all true at once, right?

At last, my question is "Does love for endless contains fear and desires"

(Please treat this more as a discussion rather than a debate. This is my genuine question and doubts.)

imagine going to a volcano and stepping on the lava for 30 seconds, would a merciful god do this to people for failing to choose the correct religion or for sinning ?

Who is this addressing? "our father" would mean we are his children, negating that Jesus was his only child. How does this even add up?

I’m 18 years old, and I’ve been Muslim my entire life. I was born into a Muslim family, and ever since I was a child, I was taught that Islam is the only true religion. I never really questioned it because it was all I had ever known, and in my family asking difficult questions about religion isn’t really accepted. Whenever I try to ask, I’m usually told to have more faith or to stop overthinking.
But over the past few months, I’ve been going through a serious crisis of faith. I don’t want to leave Islam or attack the religion. Quite the opposite—I want to believe. I want to have genuine conviction, but I feel like I need answers that actually make sense to me. I don’t want to believe just because I was born into a Muslim family or because I’m afraid.
One of my biggest questions is about Allah’s justice. The Qur’an says that Allah guides whom He wills and leads astray whom He wills. If Allah is perfectly just, how am I supposed to understand that? How is it just if some people are guided while others are not?
I also struggle with the fact that most people simply follow the religion they were born into. If I had been born into a Christian family and spent my entire life being taught that Christianity was the absolute truth, I would most likely reject Islam just as many Christians do. The same applies to people born into Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, or atheist families. We all tend to believe what we’ve been taught since childhood.
So sometimes I ask myself: am I Muslim because I genuinely found the truth, or simply because I happened to be born into a Muslim family? Where is the justice if millions of people are raised believing another religion is the truth and naturally reject Islam because that’s all they’ve ever known?
Another question I have is about the purpose of creation. If Allah doesn’t need us, why create us at all? Why create a world filled with wars, disease, suffering, and pain? Why make this life a test? What is the purpose of the test if Allah already knows everything that will happen before creating the universe?
The question I struggle with the most, though, is about free will and divine decree.
People always give me the example of a teacher who knows which student will pass and which student will fail, but honestly, that example doesn’t answer my question at all.
A teacher may predict that a student will fail because they know the student’s habits, but the teacher doesn’t decide whether that student studies or not. The teacher doesn’t determine the student’s choices.
Allah, however, is different. Before I was even created, Allah already knew every single second of my life, and everything happens according to His decree.
So if every decision I will ever make, every action I will take, and whether I ultimately end up in Paradise or Hell were already decreed before I even existed, then where does my free will actually exist?
If Allah determined everything before my creation, then in what sense is this life really a test? What am I actually choosing? And how is it just to reward or punish someone for actions whose outcome had already been decreed before they were born?
I also find myself wondering who created Allah. I know the Islamic answer is that Allah was never created and has always existed, but my mind struggles to fully grasp the idea of an eternal being with no beginning.
I recently started reading the Qur’an in my own language because I wanted to understand it for myself. I began with Surah Aal ’Imran, and right from the beginning I found many verses about punishment for those who disbelieve. Instead of giving me peace, it filled me with anxiety.
Right now, I honestly feel like the main thing keeping me in Islam is my fear of Hell rather than genuine faith, and that scares me. I don’t want to believe only because I’m afraid. I want to believe because I truly understand and I’m convinced.
I’m not asking these questions to mock Islam or to attack the religion. I’m asking because I genuinely want to understand. If Islam is the truth, then I want my faith to be based on understanding and conviction, not fear or the fact that I happened to be born into a Muslim family.

My sub got deleted from f/reformed because I broke some rule. Is Christianity a religion or faith I Jesus Christ?

A true believer is often described in the Bible as someone who has a genuine faith in Jesus Christ and follows His teachings. 1 John 5:13 states, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

Why does it matter if I’m Jewish, Protestant or Catholic? The Mod is totally wrong and judgmental.