> > > Ok, I'm not trying to say anything bad about what you think, or trying to start another religious debate, but I just find it odd that you think God, someone who might not even exist (at least in my opinion, I don't believe in God) is more important than your family.... I guess you're sure he exists though, so, I spose that not existing thing doesn't really apply to you.... I wish I believed in God, that would probably make lots of things easier than just thinking we're just here acause of some accident where lightening hit some rock and turned it into a little creature, who turned into all of us...
> > >
> > > Jimmy O"I don't like doughnuts"f York
> >
> > Don't answer this if you don't want to, but you said you wish you believed in God. What would it take to make it possible for you to?
> >
>
> Well, my parents probably would have had to have drilled it into my head when I was younger, I would need proof to believe now....

My two pfennig:
My parents were never really big on the whole "religion thing" when I was younger. When I finally got into it for myself, at first I felt really stunted. All the people my age and older I was trying to learn from had never really, it seemed, thought anything other than what they did. Hearing them more at length, however, I realized that nearly all of them wished they would have learned for themselves, at an age where they could better make their own decisions, about God. In short, it isn't all about what you grew up with. I don't deny, however, it is helpful. It was very hard for me to go against by parents' beliefs-- certain aspects of the faith, creationism/evolutionism/combinationism, etc.-- and hold my ground. I'm still deciding lots of moral-religious issues for myself.
As for the proof part, first let me quote for you:
"It is the heart which experiences God, and not the reason." --Blaise Pascal
[clipped from the paper and taped to my history binder]
Proof there is, but it is, for me, in the form of my personal experiences. And believe me, they still leave me with many doubts (far too many, in fact). I think most people, myself definitely included, find ways to dispute the 'proof' we asked for when confronted by it.

You mentioned it would be easier to believe in a God. This seems to be a grass-is-always-greener issue for many. I've recently been having some troubles dealing with my faith [spreading to enough depression and distress for me to leave the forum, for anyone who was wondering] and they lead me to believe that atheism is most definitely easier. Speaking as someone-- albeit a very young someone-- who's believed a small myriad of things, everything is dependant on circumstances and how you, personally, react to them. Maybe in your life believing in a god would make things easier; in mine it doesn't. Ease, though, however appealing, is not the point. What is is something that must be decided for yourself.

Chris