I Am No Longer an Atheist (page 9)

OnTheWayOut

Tammy, many Christians and other believers seem to still become doctors, mechanics, get straight A's in college, invest money, etc. etc. I am not saying they don't know the ways of the world. Most are able to compartmentalize and separate their "believing" from their rational thinking and they still go to a doctor and take medicine and get surgery when they are sick, they still rely on experts with an education to guide them or care for their illnesses, they still go to work and plan for retirement and all that jazz. Even one who says that Jesus talks to him typically does all that. Deep down, they know they need to fend for themselves and rely on people instead of spirit. They know the ways of the world just as much as anyone else.

Alrighty then. As far as the rest, it just breaks down again.

Good day to you.

adamah

Adam said- believers, since they dogmatically state with 100% confidence that they're right,-Adam

Kate said- Since you are open minded Adam. Is your mind open enough to see this is a sweeping generalisation?

How else would you define someone who states with 100% confidence that they're right, which implies they don't even allow the tinest bit of room for the possibility that they may be incorrect? Even overlooking the impossibility of numerically quantifying one's beliefs, such a statement suggests the very operative definition of dogmatic thinking (although someone saying they're 110% sure of something would be moreso, I guess).

Kate said- I believe in God, but I do not insist I am dogmatically correct.

If you tell others you believe in God, then you now bear the burden of responsibility to present evidence. Lay it on us....

Kate said- You cannot prove to me in scientfic terms with my topic that God does not exist. You state I am filling the the gaps when I actually study science and discover gaps. I disagree with you Adam, I am not dogmatic nor do I try to convince you to believe what I believe. Kate xx

I bear no interest in trying to convince you of anything, esp after you deny your burden of proof after making a claim that you believe in God.

I'm not interested in convincing you, since you're likely the type who just has to figure it out on your own. I know you're coming at it from a chemistry background, but I'd encourage you to take some courses in the biological sciences (eg invertebrate anatomy, marine biology, plant physiology, etc) since the entire study of biology makes no sense without the unifying theory of evolution to tie it all together.

Adam

tec

Most who live in this world knows how to get along in this world - believer or non-believer. That does not mean they know the motivations, causes, forces... that drive the world, the entire world. (either the people in the world... and/or nature... and.or the universe) That was my point. A lack of undersrtanding (of Christ, of God, of the world) lead us to false conclusions.

Knowing Christ has helped me to know God, and in doing so... recognizing that God does not act outside of love. Ever. He cannot. He IS love. Man, however, does attribute things that are not of love TO God; blaming God in his ignorance of God. This is what man has taught others as well. Few can see past what man has taught about God (the lies and misconceptions)... so as to begin anew, learning from Christ. Some cannot hear His truth either, because it sounds so foreign to what he is familiar with hearing about God.

And many are very insulated by the culture that they live in... and the media/propaganda of that culture... including and perhaps even especially us here in the west. Spend some time in another part of the world, watching their culture and their people, and one can learn very fast that the judgments that they had formerly made of them are nothing more than biases and propaganda. So that we did not really know the way of the world as well as we originally thought.

Peace,

tammy

Watkins

judgemental Christians and believers!

Not all, otwo, not all. I don't like them either, but it's their mindset. They're just as judgemental to me as they are to you. Some people are just always right... even when they're wrong.

OnTheWayOut

Atheists have one thing in common, just one thing- they don't see any evidence of God.

Antitheists are willing to go one step further and say that they actively oppose theism. I am not talking about protesting, necessarily. I am not talking about burning churches and synagogues. But, an antitheist thinks it would be awful if the God of belief were real.

I hope one thing has become a wee bit clearer on this thread:

That offends many believers.

Further, judging unbelievers as just wanting to sin, angry at God, turning a deaf ear/blind eye to "evidence" - that offends many unbelievers.

adamah

OTWO said-

Atheists have one thing in common, just one thing- they don't see any evidence of God.

Yeah, I pretty much agree with what you wrote above, but would only quibble over the above statement on a fine-point distinction.

Describing oneself as an atheist is a single-position statement, only, describing a person's belief re: the non-existence of God (i.e. their conclusion), but the term says NOTHING about the evidence which they used to arrive at that conclusion.

The distinction is important, since as we often see on JWN, there's a HUGE disconnect between what someone professes as their belief about God and the evidence they used to arrive at the conclusion, where believers stick to their beliefs IN SPITE of a lack of evidence, or even after being presented counter-evidence (where their unfounded beliefs are often excused in the name of "faith"). Regardless of the lack of evidence, such beliefs ARE considered as beliefs, nevertheless (although delusional).

So it's possible for someone who hasn't examined ANY evidence to claim to be an atheist, or even for someone who feels they have experiental evidence to support their belief in God (eg TEC's voice-hearing) to later realize it's explained by some other phenomenon (eg an anomaly between the auditory centers in the brain), and then become an atheist as they "lose their faith". Hence the same perception used as evidence can cut both ways. There's MANY people who experience auditory hallucinations who once truly believed they were hearing the voice of God, but eventually came into contact with others who reported experiencing the same phenomenon (∼10% of the population hears voices in their head which are ascribed to a supernatural source), and came to the conclusion that their perception wasn't valid proof of God.

Adam

Terry

None of us can tell what the person across from us holds inside their mind to be true.

Believing seldom has practical impact on anybody's life until the "something stupid" gets said.

Once the "statement" for or against is uttered--well, there goes the ballgame.

I prefer NOT to know the contents of another person's thoughts.

I don't want to be inviegled into a corner conversationally and put to the test rhetorically or I'll have to let em' have it.

I was once approached by a Seminary student:

"Did you know that Jesus died for your sins?"

"Yes, but he came back to life didn't he?"

"Sure. But, God GAVE his only-begotten son for you."

"Yes, but He got him back, right?"

"Yeah, but you're missing the point. . ."

"Well, one of us probably is."

____________

_____________

I'd really rather not have those conversations.

144001

I don't believe in any of man's religions that I've learned anything about. But I'm also aware that I am not omniscient; I could be wrong! I have had a copule of weird experiences in my life that could be rationally explained as coincidence, but if I were to go into explaining the circumstances, many would believe they were supernatural experiences. I don't believe they were supernatural, but I have no explanation for them, and the timing and circumstances of the phenomena that I experienced was frightening.

The experiences did not make me believe in god, or any higher being. But it did change my "hard atheist" views of the time to my current "soft atheist view."

OnTheWayOut

14401, Star Trek taught us that it could have been aliens slightly out of shift with our time reference or simply "cloaked." Rationality teaches us that even incredible coincidences happen, and that often when broken down, are not as incredible as first believed.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

But I won't default to "God did it."

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - See more at: http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/there-more-things-heaven-earth-horatio#sthash.CPT8Qcf9.dpuf There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - See more at: http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/there-more-things-heaven-earth-horatio#sthash.CPT8Qcf9.dpuf There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - See more at: http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/there-more-things-heaven-earth-horatio#sthash.CPT8Qcf9.dpuf

Mr Fool

"atheist have one thing in common - they don´t see any evidence of God."

I do not see ANY evidence that God exists either, but I am open for the possibility that he MAY exist. And if I could, I would love to find out.

OTWO, according to you, Am I an atheist?

I Am No Longer an Atheist

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