I am a catholic
I believe that there is a god who created mankind and the environment. I believe Jesus died on the cross for us. I believe this because it is what i was taught, and what i have come to believe
I have studied several different religions, both in textbook form and by having friends of different religions.
I beieve that it is a very bold statement, and one that is mislead to accuse people of only believing because they are afraid of going to hell. Just believing in God will not let you go to heaven. The devil knows God exists and look where he is
. To accuse people of only believing in God due to fear would be like accusing people of not killing others only because they don't want to go to jail. Yes it is true that jail will deter some from killing, however the vast majority will not do it because they have great moral issues with killing someone.
If you're an atheist, that's fine, its different than what i believe, but hey whatever floats your boat.

I have a few freinds that are athiest, and i had a
civil coversation about religious differences with one of them. After around 20 minutes we decided that there was no point in arguing about it because we were both set in what we believe. There is no point in
flaming
anyone about what they believe because it is what they believe, and your not going to change that. However it is a great idea to
calmly discuss the differences.
I believe in God becuase I look around and see so many things that couldn't have just
randomly been created. I believe in God because
IMO there is no better explaination to these creations other than God.
I don't think that anyone on these boards were condemning anyone to hell with they're scenarios. I think that they were simply saying, that even if your "religion" (athiesm) is right and there is not a God. They would be in no worse shape than you because we are well, both dead and no longer exist. However if my religion (christianity) turns out to be right I would be in a lot better shape than you. If you don't care and believe that there isn't a God, none of us will know
for sure until we are dead. However, I like my posistion better than yours. This is
not the only reason i believe in God however.
I like having faith in God. You may like not having faith in God. Or you may like believing in Allah. I have my reasons, you have yours. Don't accuse me of believing my religion for a certain religion. And i won't accuse you of believing yours for a certain reason. I respect other people's relgions as long as they respect mine.
In the words of Fantastic 4 dude (Johnny Storm) "Flame on"