Why God?

[Unbeliever]

I've often wondered why man finds it necessary to have a God. It came to me the other night and the simplicity is such I'm amazed I didn't think of it at 10 years old.

Man created God to place between himself and the unknown; later he honed That to fit between himself and a random universe.

I think it's about control - or at least, the feeling of it. When primitive humans could look at their world with those new minds they'd developed, they felt completely helpless in the face of disasters such as flood, famine, volcanos, etc., so they invented gods in order to have something to appease and perhaps gain some small control over their environment.

But the better we understand our world, the less we need gods to appease.

I looked for God in my family - I didn't find Him.
I looked for God in my culture - I didn't find Him.
I looked for God in religion - I didn't find Him.
I looked for God in science - I found I didn't need Him.

[Ro3bert]

Well..The original rulers of masses of people needed a way to control them and get them to do the dirty work, but the rulers couldn't keep an eye on everyone at the same time so they conjured up someone who could see all and even read your thoughts.. As long as the ruler was appointed by god himself he didn't have to worry about being questioned because the ruler being appointed by god only had to answer to god and not mere mortals..  The ruler only had the power to punish you till you died, but god could punish you long after you die and since the ruler was appointed by god he could by extension keep punishing you forever and ever and ever and ever and ever.. Best do what your ruler says or he'll have his lacky god kick your ass for eternity..  The ultimate strong man dictator, god.

I disagree, I believe as slush33 believes, Gods came before rulers as an outgrowth of the need to explain why things were as they were. 

[Baruch]

Like the case of Jesus ... and the explanation by Freud ... male gods have to do with being haunted by dead human fathers.

I didn't become religious as an adult until my father died, but it may be a coincidence ;-)

[Michael M Perez]

simply beacuse for every negative there is a positive

[Mike Cl]

simply beacuse for every negative there is a positive

Really???  What does that even mean????

[Baruch]

Really???  What does that even mean????

Dualism is inconceivable to the monist ;-)

[Mike Cl]

simply beacuse for every negative there is a positive

I would imagine that this is really just theist mumbo jumbo from this guy--most like another drive by anyway.  Only in the world of math does every negative have a positive; not in any other sense.