If you know god, then what?

I am more comfortable with that. Religions that believe in deities can't all be right, but they could certainly all be wrong.

I see creation as being real, that requires a God, as such I believe God is real. Religions are messy, and fraught with self-serving doctrine.

Edit: Just for the record: I am a Christian, in the sense that I believe in Jesus and His teachings. Some Groups within Christianity have strayed, and like to call themselves "Christian", but don't really embrace the teachings of Christ. Jesus foresaw that.
understand and I pretty much agree. You either know him or you do not. I know him, he knows me. I stray, I will suffer but he is there for me. I try everyday. I hear him. He talks to me in verse. He questions me thru questions. He is my base, my grounding. My guide thru my life.
 
Since no one really knows, if we act like we know, or we have accepted an explanation from without, it is wasted energy. We only find life while living within it.

Experiencing life does not need knowing a beginning or end.
I see knowing as not a necessity, although we are often preoccupied with knowing, sometimes on the order of obsession. This is true for the superstitious as well as the cosmologist. But if you absolutely need to know, conduct the search with reason. It may not get you where you want to go, but it's the most reliable thing we have.

My dog isn't preoccupied with knowing. He actually resists knowing, but I can through patience and repetition teach him things I want him to know: "You can chase the deer out of the yard, but you must not leave the yard." He knows this. I don't think he knows why. I doubt that "why" has ever crossed his mind. He doesn't seem to obsess on things. Wasted obsession seems to be a human trait.
 
the odds of that happening?

Depends on what you're asking. An often quoted number is somewhere around "1 in 400 quadrillion", or so. However, that's the calculated odds of YOU existing in the universe as an individual, not for the creation of life itself.
When we look at habitable planets, it is estimated that the odds are 3-1. However, we must clearly be cognizant of the fact that we've not been able to closely examine or test such a planet. Since the closest is 4.2 light years away from Earth, it's going to be some time before we can know for sure, so the numbers are fuzzy.
Honestly, at the moment we simply don't know enough to be able to calculate odds on how often life comes about.

Also worth noting, God is an Unfalsifiable Hypothesis - meaning the scientific process can neither prove, or disprove God's existence. So we can't meaningfully calculate the odds of there being a God.

In short - thinking in terms of "odds" isn't - IMO - useful in this context.
 
I don't guess you belive in Hell either? If You don't,... You Will when YOU Get There

Can't answer for Pepper - but for me, you would be correct, I do not believe there is a hell.

Honestly, I can't comprehend of a God who would allow Hell to exist under any circumstances. I know all about the original sin and repentance and the rest, but I have a very difficult time even considering that a loving God would allow eternal suffering because an individual on a planet of His making, and played by His rules, had made specific choices. Let alone fall to their knees before him.
 

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