A question for atheists/etc

[huberm]

As a Christian I have developed a relationship with Jesus and through faith, without a shadow of a doubt, I know He exists and He is Lord.

However, I have a hard time understanding the motive behind not searching for an answer by many. Please don't take this post the wrong way, I am not trying to offend nor convict anyone, I am just curious in knowing your thoughts.

From what I understand, an atheist believes there is no God and our existence is merely a coincidence that happened at some point a long time ago, is this correct? Also, do you feel it is logical to think that once our body dies, we cease to exist forever?

Again, I am not trying to offend anyone. I am just seeking these answers out of curiosity. I would greatly appreciate it if no one flamed another's religion, it would make the discussion go much smoother.

Thanks!

 

[TwiceOver]

Well I'm not an athiest... But I don't believe in god.

Really I laugh at the whole religion thing. It really is the chicken and the egg. I could say the big bang created everything, but then who created the crap in the big bang? Someone could say god created everything, and I could say who created god? ( I mean a guy just didn't wake up one day and say "hey... I think I'll be god to a couple billion people today and create a universe in my off time"...)

For me, I don't believe in "god". Maybe Jesues... I mean, there had to be a guy named jesus that had some cool sh!t going on... It happens every now and again. Going back to the chicken and the egg thing, I can't not believe in god also... I mean.. who created the crap that exploded into the sh!t we live on?

Not sure, really don't care either I guess.

 

[Skunkwourk]

<Esqueleto> "I believe in science" <Esqueleto>

 

[Cattlegod]

searching for an answer presumes that there is a question. for many people, this question does not exist. I ask you, what question did you have that you needed to search and find an answer for?

 

[huberm]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
searching for an answer presumes that there is a question. for many people, this question does not exist. I ask you, what question did you have that you needed to search and find an answer for?

I came to the realization that there was no way that we were put on this Earth to exist for only a short time, and then fade away forever. There had to be some continuance beyond physically dying.

 

[her209]

If God is all knowing, then does he know everything that he's going to do before he himself does it.

*head explodes*

 

[kogase]

The simplest reason I can give is that I have not been presented with enough compelling evidence towards the existance of any god. In my opinion people who have convinced themselves "through faith" that God exists are reliving what every child lives through when they convince themselves that a monster is under their bed. While their common sense tells them that a monster could not be under the bed, the power of suggestion is enormous, especially when faced with nebulousness. Like the child who looks into the empty darkness under his bed and imagines a monster, the religious person looks into the empty darkness formed from their lack of complete understanding of their life and environment and imagines a god.

 

[Powermoloch]

<--- Agnostic

 

[iamaelephant]

I can understand people who believe in God, but the only reason you people believe in Jesus is because you have been brought up to believe he is real. How can you have a hard time understanding that we don't believe in a person when there is absolutely no proof that he exists?

I am an atheist. I also realise that people turn to God as a way of trying to understand the world around them (although I think it's a lazy method). But Jesus is just a character in a very fictional book as far as I'm concerned. Tell me, if your parents never told you about Jesus, never brought you to church and never gave you a bible as a young fella, do you think you would have absolute faith in Jesus?

 

[Xonoahbin]

I'm Agnostic. I believe in Jesus, but not necessarily in God. I don't necessarily believe Jesus was the son of God, but I believe he died on the cross for the world. I regard Jesus incredibly highly, among some of the best men to live, but I don't believe in God. God hasn't been disproven or proven, so therefore I'm Agnostic. And don't say something like "not believing in God is Atheism." You can not believe in God because you don't believe in things that you can't prove/disprove.

 

[weiv0004]

Well, most of the people I talk to this about consider me to be an atheist, although personally I guess I just haven?t put enough thought into it to decide altogether. What has lead me to me current beliefs are a variety of reasons.

First of all, I've seen no proof for the existence of any higher power. I've never witnessed a miracle, I've never witnessed divine intervention. Now, in a position to affect my creation's lives in a positive manner I would definitely try to have some impact. Of course I've heard the argument that the higher power can't intervene, because without the evil (dark) that is in the world, we would se no good (light.) I can see the logic of this, but all the same, did we really need the holocaust, or any other genocide to enjoy the beauty of life?

Additionally, the evidence for evolution, in my humble opinion, are blatantly undeniable. This, to me, negates the theory of divine creation. Finally, the fact that church has been historically and currently a huge source of income to purveyors of religion, leads me to believe that if there was a higher power, he would certainly have something to say about this perversion of our faith in him.

Well, I've discussed this topic endlessly with friends and have many other theories and reasoning, but that?s all I've got off hand. Oh, and yes I do think it is "logical" to think that once our bodies die, we become fertilizer. While some may claim seeing evidence of divine intervention, I don't see any feasible way to prove the existence of an afterlife one way or the other. No one has come back to tell the story.

-Sorry if this is poorly written. I'll edit/update later if this thread is still around.

 

[akubi]

jesus, flying spaghetti monster, what's the difference?

 

[Cattlegod]

Originally posted by: huberm

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
searching for an answer presumes that there is a question. for many people, this question does not exist. I ask you, what question did you have that you needed to search and find an answer for?

I came to the realization that there was no way that we were put on this Earth to exist for only a short time, and then fade away forever. There had to be some continuance beyond physically dying.

sounds good. why do you think there has to e some continuance beyond physically dying?

the main reason i don't think so (i.e. you just end it) is when you go to sleep at night. you go to sleep and what happens (when you don't remember you dream)? nothing happens. you wake up the next day as if nothing happened. the time past by instantly. you are closest to death when you go to sleep as many of your brain functions shut down.

 

[Drift3r]

Jesus was not the son of god. If there is a "god" he is not the domian of any religon period and niether can anyone claim to "know the mind of god".

 

[iamaelephant]

Originally posted by: huberm

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
searching for an answer presumes that there is a question. for many people, this question does not exist. I ask you, what question did you have that you needed to search and find an answer for?

I came to the realization that there was no way that we were put on this Earth to exist for only a short time, and then fade away forever. There had to be some continuance beyond physically dying.

That's where your thought processes differ from mine. We weren't "put" on this Earth. The Earth came about due to a series of events and mistake of nature beginning with the big bang, the forming of the stars and galaxies, the fusing of hydrogen in heavier elements and ultimately the decay of those stars.

Life came about on this earth because of a series of unlikely accidents of nature over the course of several billion years. Nothing was "put" here, there is no rhyme or reason. The only reason we can even consider this chain of events is because they happened. It doesn't matter how unlikely it is, it happened. We think it happened because we are here to observe it.

Look up the Anthropic Principle on Wikipedia for more information.

 

[M00T]

Originally posted by: huberm

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
searching for an answer presumes that there is a question. for many people, this question does not exist. I ask you, what question did you have that you needed to search and find an answer for?

I came to the realization that there was no way that we were put on this Earth to exist for only a short time, and then fade away forever. There had to be some continuance beyond physically dying.

Fear of death is the reason many people hide behind religion.

 

[McGyver]

without a shadow of a doubt? here're a few questions, what happened to people before moses/christ? how about the indians that the european conquerers slaughtered? do you believe in original sins? is jesus the only perfect being in the world and if so, how can you prove that he's the only one? why is the process of canonization of bible took at least 400 years before the first one ever published? if christians are so sure of themselves, why is their bible changes from time to time throughout the 2000 years? do you believe in cavemen? what does jesus look like to you by the way, can you please describe him?

 

[weiv0004]

If god created everything, doesn't the fact that he created some animals simply to be born, grow to edible size and be eaten by us have any effect on the thought that:

there was no way that we were put on this Earth to exist for only a short time, and then fade away forever. There had to be some continuance beyond physically dying.

Wouldn't it be cruel for god to create life, to be used as fuel? Wouldn't it have been more benevolent to create a non sentient fuel source for us? Why favor us, and not all life?

By the way, I am in no way a vegetarian or vegan. The more dead stuff on a sandwich, the better as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Tab]

Why don't I beileve in god? That's easy, I read the bible.

 

[6shiw1]

As a regular member in my church for 10+ years (up until recently) I've found that many of the assurances exist through personal experiences. I've grown to find these experiences unreliable. "God was really with us at this last retreat" - people were nicer to each other and the community achieved an emotional high- so?

basically it came down to whether or not you believe Jesus was the son of God, and that God exists. Some evidence have surfaced pointing to the fact that a man named Jesus existed, but what is there linking him to God(enough so to convince the general population)? or proving that there is a God? Many people believe that a God exists (because they want to?) because too many coincidences happen to them or whatever.

To sum it up: I think you either choose to believe, or choose not to believe. Neither choice can be proven false or true. For this reason I've always thought people pushing their religion were rather ignorant.

I actually think the church is a very good thing: you stay connected to a community in what I think is a positive way, and generally live in a better fashion (hold your fire this is just my opinion). Therefore, on certain weekends I choose to believe, others, not so much (ok, you can make fun of this statement).

Also: if plants and animal die and cease to exist, why cant humans? Do we have souls that no other living thing have consisting of matter/energy?

 

[rbV5]

They lost me at the "immaculate conception" part.

 

[6shiw1]

 

[Skunkwourk]

Originally posted by: M00T

Originally posted by: huberm

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
searching for an answer presumes that there is a question. for many people, this question does not exist. I ask you, what question did you have that you needed to search and find an answer for?

I came to the realization that there was no way that we were put on this Earth to exist for only a short time, and then fade away forever. There had to be some continuance beyond physically dying.

Fear of death is the reason many people hide behind religion.

At the same time, continuance beyond physical death does not prove the existence of god. Its all up for interpretation. What is heaven?

 

[6shiw1]

Holy ****** i started writing when there was 1 reply- there's two pages by the time i clicked submit.

 

[Cattlegod]

Originally posted by: 6shiw1
Holy ****** i started writing when there was 1 reply- there's two pages by the time i clicked submit.

sweet blank post up above too