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Why do “believers” attribute the unexplainable to their God?
I’ve been a member of Atheist Nexus for about three months and have finally summoned the courage to post on a subject dear to my heart but sure to cause a bit of controversy.
I know that we do not believe in a supreme deity, or we would not be members of this group, but why do so many of us refuse to believe in anything that relates to the supernatural?
Consider Edgar Cayce, and Peter Hurkos. Edgar Cayce attributed his remarkable power to Jesus, but because he believed that Jesus was the source of his talent does not necessarily make it so. Cayce’s revelations could just as easily be explained if you believed in a parallel universe. Peter Hurkos is considered by experts to have been the world's foremost psychic of the 20th century and he attributes his “gift” to be from a fall off a ladder and landing on his head. Whatever the reason for paranormal experiences there is no denying the fact that there is more to our physical world than what can be seen or felt with our five senses, and all of them can be attributed to forces other than to a supreme deity.
I, for one have had some very strange things happen to me and I’d like to talk about them in future posts. But for now would anyone like to relate his or her story? We can talk about things like: out of body experiences, precognition, extra sensory perception, miraculous healing, and other paranormal activities. The only thing I would ask is that we stay away from subjects such as flying saucers, little green men, and topics that might land us in a funny farm. There are other forums for those subjects. What I would like to know is: “Why do “believers” attribute anything they can’t explain to a God when there are so many other explanations, and what are the other possible explanations?”
Tags: parallel, paranormal, precognition, psychic, supernatural, universe
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Andy Reid on
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I can certainly agree with you. I have experienced strange things as well. I still have friends that run a paranormal research society in Wichita KS. Although I don't attain any of these happenings to a deity, I do believe there is some natural explanation for them that we have just not attained an answer to at the present.
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Permalink Reply by Donald Macnow on -
Have your friends in the Kansas paranormal research society have had any positive results? If they have, please share it. If not, I am still not deterred in my beliefs as controlled situations are seldom fruitful. That's another mystery.
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Permalink Reply by Joshua Francom on -
I may or may not believe in some of the things that you brought up. However I realized that my beliefs were meaningless compared to truth and fact. My beliefs should never be a higher priority than what can be shown to be true.
If a hypothesis was formed and by using the scientific method you could show demonstrably that these things are not only based in fact, but repeatable and explainable then I would have no problem endorsing them.
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Permalink Reply by Donald Macnow on
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Repeatable and explainable are not always possible. Don't ask me why. However facts are facts and I'd like to talk about irrefutable evidence at another time as my wife is calling me for dinner
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Permalink Reply by Joe C on -
I haven't actually noticed that believers do attribute all unexplained phenomenon to their god(s) at all.
Some do. Some don't.
I've certainly known people who believe both in a god and additionally believe in non-religious views of astral projection, ESP, psychic precognition, etc.
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Permalink Reply by Donald Macnow on
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Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that all theists attribute every paranormal incidence to God. It's just that many do.
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Permalink Reply by Joe C on
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Oh, i get ya!
If you have noticed a strong correlation, it's probably worth noting that most paranormal & supernatural explanations tend to use psuedo-science.
In the same way theists don't feel as strong a need to turn to science for explanations, they probably don't feel as strong a need to turn to psuedo-science for explanations either. Whatever religious beliefs they have seem to be supplying them with explanations they feel satisfied with and they feel no need to explore them further.
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Permalink Reply by Donald Macnow on
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I agree with you 100%. But to get back on track, I'm not trying to label anything. It's just that I have experienced strange things and I wonder if others have also. Since we are all atheists here, and don't believe in angels, demons, or evil rogue spirits sent to us from Heaven or Hell, than there must be some other mechanism that accounts for the paranormal world. We are like a child who sees a flower growing. He doesn't know a thing about biology, and doesn't care either. But he can see, touch and smell the flower. To quote Max Planck, the founder of the Quantum Theory We have no right to assume that any physical laws exist, or if they existed up to now, that they will continue to exist in the future
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Permalink Reply by Napoleon Bonaparte on -
According to the dictionary definition you are an Atheist and, what's more, you are an exception to the general understanding among Atheists that the supernatural does not exist. In the discussion 'The supernatural does not exist..It's the scariest discussion on the Net', no-one of your genre made any comment.
It is not a fact that 'there is more to our physical world than what can be seen or felt with our five senses, and all of them can be attributed to forces other than to a supreme deity'. Cayce and Hurkos stories are nonsense because the paranormal or supernatural do not exist.
Out of body experiences, precognition, extra sensory perception, miraculous healing, and other paranormal activities are for stupid people.
Welcome to Atheist Nexus.
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Permalink Reply by Donald Macnow on
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I read all of the post, The Supernatural does not exist, and enjoyed it very much. However I have to take issue with much of what you have to say. I pasted and copied the following from your posting:
We can lump together all supernatual beliefs for argument. For example, how can you have a ghost without having a god and visa versa. They're both fantasies about non-existent supernatural beings.
For starters you can have a ghost (if you want to call an entity a Ghost) without believing in God. A parallel universe will explain it. Also you deny Cayce and Hurkos. Google them and see what is on the net. But all in all I enjoyed your posting, especially the Uri Geller spoon trick. Keep up the good work. :)
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Permalink Reply by Napoleon Bonaparte on
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I hereby amend the penultimate paragraph of my previous statement.
'Out of body experiences, precognition, extra sensory perception, miraculous healing, and other paranormal activities are not necessarily for stupid people.'
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Permalink Reply by Donald Macnow on
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Thank you for the retraction. Actually I had to look up the word penultimate in the dictionary, and I should have know it as it is a literary word and I have published a book The Ouija Board Killer, a semi-autobiographical novel recounting my paranormal experiences and weaving it into a fictional tale of murder and madness.
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