by cofty 188 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
That's ridiculous. If you wish to propose that in addition to the materials of the universe that we can see and hear and taste and touch, there is also something you call a "spirit" world you have all your work still to do to provide as much as an iota of evidence.
Are you associated with the The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University?
Thus you can simply view belief in God as a way of maintaining a model of desired behavior.
That doesn't work. Prisons are full of religious people.
Everywhere is full of religious people, what's your point?
Cofty, there's nothing wrong with anyone doing that. That isn't the point I'm making. If someone wants to believe in God then that's their perogative and they shouldn't be made to feel wrong for doing so. Just because someone believes in God doesn't mean they haven't looked at the facts, it just means they've come to a different conclusion.
I'm not so sure I understand why the atheists on here are so keen on getting christians to dump their faith? I can understand fully why you'd want JW's to dump their faith in the WT organisation but when someone simply wants to have a personal relationship with God without involving anyone else, why are you so interested in what they believe anyway?
As far as I'm concerned, you're an atheist, you're happy being an atheist... you've done all the 'God/religion' thing and decided you don't want it. Who am I to try and change your beliefs? Or even try to. What you have found has made you happy. On the other hand, what I have found has made me happy. Why are you so concerned with trying to change it?
Cofty, I'm simply saying I'm an amaterialist. I'm not here to convince you of anything. I'm only promoting an open mind along with the realization that there is much that humans do not know.
There are many people who have expericenced god, to try to convince them using the philosophy of materialism that they're expericences are just hallucinations or indications of a deranged mind will not bear fruit. They know that something higher than them exists.
However they should not use their experiences as a means to convince anybody of a higher powers existence. This must be done by each individual.
You have the right to believe in materialism and I have no desire to try to convince you otherwise. There are no infallible beliefs in this world including materialism.
I have no affiliation with The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.
Militant atheists like cofty have simply decided that all religion is the enemy, that it stifles free thought and scientific inquiry. Never mind whether someone is an open-minded universalist unitarian, a dogmatic orthodox, or a new-agey spiritualist who likes to read about science. I'm reminded of Witnesses I knew who were previously Catholics and never missed an opportunity to make a negative comment about their former religion, as if it was worse than any other false religion.
Just because someone believes in God doesn't mean they haven't looked at the facts - tornapart
99.99% of the time it does.
Everybody who has examined the facts objectively, and who is not prejudiced by superstition, accepts the fact of evolution, rejects the idea of "the fall", Adam and Eve, a global flood, the inspiration of the bible and many other things that most believers advocate.
Who knows how many believers might be grateful that information challenging thesim is becoming increasingly available. "There fields are ripe for harvesting," to quote the carpenter.
Militant atheists like cofty have simply decided that all religion is the enemy - Apog
On the contrary I have often said on this forum that there are christians who have the intellectual honesty to align their beliefs with reality. You've not been paying attention.
BTTT
cofty: Sorry, I hadn't seen you say that anywhere, I take my remark back then. I guess I was lumping you in with people like Hitchens who seem to hate any kind of religious thinking.
Does anyone's conception of anything align with reality - that's the question! How can we know for sure?
