Debate: Does God exist?
Side: Theism

"If you blow up a rock face, yes it destroys it, but it also CREATES new smaller rocks.I admit this does not explain how something exploded from nothing, but neither does god!Did he just suddenly appear!?"God created our concept of "time." He is outside of time, therefore the laws of time do not apply to him. He is immutable (does not change) does not age, and does not have a beginning or an end, as those things only apply to something inside of time. Things inside of time must have a beginning, must age and grow, change, dissolve, decrease, and decay. Energy alone cannot sustain itself; it can only deplete and over a period of Time, and eventually run out. Energy INSIDE of time must have a source. It cannot increase itself without an external source, it only can decrease. There must be a self-sustaining "well" of energy that continues to supply the Universe, otherwise everything would have already brought about it's own destruction, or depletion. Therefore, the only logical and reasonable explanation is an external, self-sustaining energy source that exists OUTSIDE of time."You must be pretty stupid if you think atheists believe a brain was instantly created from nothing. "You have made a very good point. An excellent one, perfectly logical and reasonable, and you are right. A brain cannot be instantly created from nothing. I hate to have to turn this around on you, but actually by saying that you are contradicting the entire Atheist argument. You say that a brain cannot be created from nothing, yet you will argue and say that a single particle of matter somehow appeared from nothing and then proceeded to evolve over billions of years into... Trees, stars, oceans, animals... humans... (hence billions of brains)... and all out of a single particle of matter which came from.......... what?"We believe that matter slowly (over millions/billions of years) created things & that these creations slowly adapted to be more effective."Use your logic, just for a moment! Take it back to the beginning to this matter that you say started it all. (Let's call this matter "M+") Where did M+ come from? Are you saying that M+ did not have a creator? That M+ has always existed? (Which strangely sounds like the argument for God) Or are you saying that M+ jumped into existence out of absolutely nothing, out of no pre-existing material? (which contradicts science in every way)There are only three arguments to debate on that issue.1) Matter has always existed2) Matter jumped into existence with no outside source3) Matter was created by an external source1) -If you say matter (M+ for the purpose of this statement) has always existed, I would say that theory is only possible if M+ is outside of time and does not need a creator, which would not make sense because you say the matter "evolved" and if this were true, anything that it evolved into would be outside of time as well, meaning you and I and animals and the Earth would not age or decay. The mere fact that we age and decay is proof that we are inside of time. And that also does not explain where physical laws like gravity and time itself came from.2) --If you say that M+ jumped into existence out of nothing, then I would tell you that you are contradicting science itself, and there would no more point in discussing the theory. You and I and any other logical thinker both know that is not possible. The same goes for any other theory. Saying that chemicals mixed together and created the matter, I would make the same argument, asking where the chemicals came from, etc. I believe it all boils down to an Uncaused Causer.3) --If you agree with science and say that the matter has to have an external cause in order to exist, then I would simply concede my argument and my case for God would have been made. God exists outside of time, God CREATED time and is not governed BY time, and He created everything that exists INSIDE of time. The Uncaused Causer, so-to-speak."...most religious people are religious because they need a sort of 'safety net' around their life."What is interesting about your statement here is that for the most part, you are right. Religion, as defined by man's attempt to be equal to God through rituals and traditions and good deeds, (hate to step on anyone's toes) is corny and faulty, and any smart person (Atheist, Theist, Agnostic, whatever...) can see right through it. I consider myself a Christian, but I recognize that the typical Christian (99% actually) is religious and usually hypocritical. However do not equate hypocritical religion with the belief IN God. The simple belief that God exists is not religion; it is science, logic and reason. Religion is driven by emotion, pride, and greed, whether people want to admit it or not. You can be Christian and be led into religion without even knowing it. I understand you have met so many hypocritical, religious theists, but be careful not to label EVERY single person who believes in the existence of God under the same label as "hypocritical" and "religious.""Religious person has a difficult situation-they pray.Atheist has the same difficult situation-They solve it."I, taking my stance as a non-religious, Bible-believing Christian, believe that God exists, that He is perfect, and that he loves us. (If you want to discuss this I would be happy to, but on a different debate...) He hates the problems in our lives and the fact that we go through so much pain. It hurts him to see how much pain we go through, but he will not mess with free will and make us like robots, to do whatever he wants, as that would corrupt His perfection and make him imperfect. The fact that we have free will means that we have a choice whether or not to believe in Him. He leaves that up to us. He gives us as much evidence as possible, so that we can figure out on our own that He exists just by using the tools he gave us in our minds, the tools of Logic and Reason. Because of our free will, we as humanity disobey God all the time. This disobedience is called "sin." We "sin" all the time, starting with Adam and Eve. Because God is perfect, part of His perfection is Justice. He must see that injustice is punished and justice is done, otherwise He would be corrupt. We have sinned, done wrong, and therefore have to be punished rightfully by just action. He is perfect and therefore has the right to judge us. He created a place called hell that is basically like a prison, a jail for the unjust. It is our punishment for our sin, and we deserve it. However God HATES to see us punished no matter what we've done because He loves us, and so because of His love He created a way that we could escape that punishment. He took a part of Himself, His son, and sent His son to die as a sacrifice in our place. That son was called Jesus Christ. Jesus set aside His divine attributes for a while and was born on Earth, and lived a perfect, sinless life. God had nothing to punish Him for, so when Jesus was crucified, God saw Him as a replacement for us, and God punished Jesus instead of us for our sin. Every sin that we ever would commit, God punished Jesus for it. Jesus finally died after God punished Him on the cross that He was nailed to, and then Jesus after three days in the tomb was resurrected, and defeated death and hell. Now, because of that, God is able to forgive us based on Jesus' sacrifice, and we don't have to go to hell and be punished; instead we can live with God in the place that He is designing for us as a blessing after we die. We now can have hope, and God can't wait to give us an awesome place in Heaven after death.All of this is simple: If you accept Jesus Christ's sacrifice, and believe that He died in your place, you receive forgiveness and don't have to worry about punishment anymore. All it takes is for you to believe it and accept it as truth.This is not religion, because God does not require you to go to church, go through any rituals, live a good life, or even be moral to be forgiven. And that is where the confusion lies in the world today. People think they have to do something to get heaven, and they become prideful and arrogant much of the time. It's all just confusion of the truth.Just use the tools of Logic and Reason to study all of these things that I have told you, and see if they don't make sense! Have an open mind, study translations of the Bible and see what it originally was meant to say as opposed to the translations in English. You will find it does not contradict itself. Study the life of Jesus, even using non-Biblical texts. Philosophers (Atheist and Theist alike) will admit to the life and death of Jesus. The empty tomb after He was resurrected has never been refuted, and if He was resurrected, that means He was who He said He was and that you can have faith in Him. Do all of this without bias and pre-conceived notions!"Us Atheists do not need someone else ruling our life just so we don't feel 'alone'."The question is not if you FEEL alone, it is whether or not you ARE alone. If God does not exist, there is no reason to be moral, to live with standards, regardless of how you feel. But that also means there is no hope. If you're wrong, God exists, and you have purpose and there is a meaning to life that you haven't discovered yet. I know where I am going when I die; I have hope, because I know there is purpose to life and this one is not the end. I can't explain it or prove it personally to you, you just have to experience it for yourself.I know where I am going, and I have a reason to have hope. Can you say the same?