Ask the Atheist

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PLP, please tell me why there is no God, why He can’t exist, and then please explain to me the countless miracles that happen constintely. Thanks!
 
“I firmly believe those men who are willing to die for what they believe in.” I believe you are a very intelligent fellow, you have a lot of worldly knowledge. If I were to ask you, how is it that so many people have died for what they believe? Then I suppose your answer might be that they were unwilling to face the fact that their existance just stops and after this life it is over. So my question then is not to all martyers but to those who were apostles of Jesus who died in ways so horrid that if used today we could get a guilty confession from innocent people, yet these men suffered and died for what they had seen.
 
My question was do you believe we have free will? Explain your thoughts.

Matt
 
Please be patient, everyone; my Christmas vacation is over, and I have a ton of work to catch up on. :eek:
 
Break time! I have time for one response
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SpiritIsWilling:
What do you believe about creation/evolution? Do you sincerely think that, by some cosmic roll of the dice, we went from bacteria to beings capable of making heavier than air objects fly, atomics, science, medicine? Do you honestly believe it was all by chance, that the entire universe happened without any deisgn?
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I don’t believe it was all by chance. Evolution includes two mechanisms: heritable variation (random enough for practical purposes) and natural selection. Natural selection is what “steers” evolution. This is the process that seems to have resulted in human beings.
Secondly, do you think that in our everyday life we’re totally alone? There’s no one watching out for us, that every event that occurs is all based on probabilty, on some mathematical chance?
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I assume you mean “alone” in the cosmic sense; yes, I believe that we human beings are indeed alone in this sense. Again, I don’t believe that every event is entirely based on chance; there seem to be definite physical laws which constrain what can happen. To be more fussily precise, there are constraints on what can happen which we express as physical laws. But yes, I think basically that some events do happen entirely by chance.

I don’t think there is any guiding intelligence, only mechanical and non-purposeful physical laws.
That is the very essence of God, PLP. He is beyond any of our understanding, any of our comprehension.
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I should mention that I have a difficult time affirming belief in that which I cannot understand or comprehend!
You can’t prove him mathematically or scientifically. Those who attempt to are egotistical morons who think that THEY are the gods, they control where the world goes and what it does. You must take it on faith, that’s the basis of religion.
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This would seem a harsh statement mostly towards those theists who do in fact try to prove the existence of a God. I myself must admit at least a bit more tolerance. The idea of the existence of God has been discussed for a long time and it seems an interesting enough question to discuss rationally and philosophically.
I’ll pray for you my friend.
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And I’ll wish you well. 🙂
PS - It’s nice to see that you’re obviously educated and open to ideas and not here to refute everything we say without thinking.
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Likewise 🙂
 
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PLP:
I’m a strong atheist: I do not believe that any god exists. I’m not certain, but I think that the notion is so implausible that I would (like H.P. Lovecraft) consider myself “a pedant and a hypocrite” to call myself anything other than an atheist.

Atheism is not an ethical position. Ethically, I’m a secular humanist. I believe whatever it is we call good is knowable somehow by human beings, empirically and naturally. No god is required to have ethical beliefs.

You may ask me anything without fear of giving offense. I do not believe that contradicting or challenging my beliefs is in any way disrespectful. If the question is too personal, I might not answer, but I won’t feel offended for having been asked.
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Of course God is required to have ethical beliefs, because a divine judge is required to enforce rules of conduct. Otherwise, ethical guidelines are just suggestions. Why behave in an ethical manner if there are no eternal ramifications?
 
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Scott_Lafrance:
Of course God is required to have ethical beliefs, because a divine judge is required to enforce rules of conduct. Otherwise, ethical guidelines are just suggestions. Why behave in an ethical manner if there are no eternal ramifications?
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I was going to ask a question similar in purpose to this.

PLP, my question is more, how do you answer a value question such as ‘good.’ Where does such a standard come from? And is it possible for the standard to be anything except arbitrary in your case?
Little Mary:
Read Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis
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Maybe he’d be better off starting with Miracles first. 😉
 
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PLP:
I’m a strong atheist: I do not believe that any god exists.
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The power of faith is enormous. It is so great that it not only saves the believer: thanks to one person’s faith others are saved also.

The paralytic at Capernaum did not have faith. But the men who brought him to Jesus and let him down through the roof had it. The soul of the sick man was ill as well as his body. That is made clear in the Gospel: ‘And when Jesus saw their faith he said……”Rise, take up your pallet and go home.”’ The Gospel does not speak of ‘his’ faith but of ‘their’ faith. The stretcher-bearers believed and the paralytic had the benefit of being healed because of it. (Mark 2:1-11)

Then there is the death of Lazarus. Four days had passed. His body was already decomposing. How could one who had been dead for so many days believe and himself ask for the Deliverer? He could not possibly do so, but his sisters provided the faith for him. When they met the Lord, one sister fell down at his feet. He asked, ‘Where have you laid him?’ The other sister said, ‘Lord, by this time there will be a bad smell.’ Then the Lord said, ‘If you believe you will see the glory of God.’ As if to say, ‘As regards faith, you must take the place of the dead man.’ And the faith of the sisters succeeded in calling Lazarus back from the hereafter. (John 11:1-44)

So if these two women by believing in place of the other were able to secure his resurrection, how much more certainly will you be able to secure it for yourself by your own faith?

Perhaps your own faith is feeble. Nevertheless, the Lord who is love will stoop down to you, provided only you are penitent and can say sincerely from the depths of your soul: ‘Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief.’ (Mark 9:23)

Cyril of Jerusalem

I will pray for you PLP
 
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PLP:
I’m a strong atheist: I do not believe that any god exists. I’m not certain, but I think that the notion is so implausible that I would (like H.P. Lovecraft) consider myself “a pedant and a hypocrite” to call myself anything other than an atheist.

Atheism is not an ethical position. Ethically, I’m a secular humanist. I believe whatever it is we call good is knowable somehow by human beings, empirically and naturally. No god is required to have ethical beliefs.

You may ask me anything without fear of giving offense. I do not believe that contradicting or challenging my beliefs is in any way disrespectful. If the question is too personal, I might not answer, but I won’t feel offended for having been asked.
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What do you think of freemasonry?
 
PLP,
When you say " I wish you well" are you not desiring, in a way, that some good might come to a person, which is outside the control of that person? In which case it would have to be directed to that person, by some entity, so that your wish for that person might be fulfilled? Or do all things happen as a coincidence? Like every prophesies in the old testament about the Messiah being fulfilled in Jesus, or that all the prophesies which Jesus made about Himself came to fulfillment, even though those things would be outside the influence of a mere person.
 
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marty1818:
I myself believe we have free will. If we did not have free will things like punishments and awards make no sense. This is something that Aquinas notes and it’s a good point. If everything we do is not our own choice then how can we be held responsible for it?
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Punshishments and rewards make sense because they are effective: They actually change people’s behavior. Even though a dog is not a moral agent in the human sense, and cannot exercise conscious, sapient choice, we can still use punishments and rewards to modify its behavior.
My question was do you believe we have free will?
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I don’t know how to tell if even I myself, with my privileged introspection, actually have free will in the metaphysical sense. I don’t know how to tell a caused thought from an “uncaused” thought.
 
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BlindSheep:
Do you prefer eggnog or mulled cider? 🙂
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Eggnog is icky, and cider is too sweet; if you twisted my arm, I’d pick the cider, though.

I’m a beer drinker, mainly. In fact, I brew my own, and it’s actually quite good.
 
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Scott_Lafrance:
Of course God is required to have ethical beliefs, because a divine judge is required to enforce rules of conduct. Otherwise, ethical guidelines are just suggestions.
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Well, a god is not required to approve or disapprove of things. A god is not necessary to negotiate and enforce agreements.
Why behave in an ethical manner if there are no eternal ramifications?
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Police and prisons spring immediately to mind, as well as the value of the willing cooperation of my neighbors for our mutual benefit.
 
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RobNY:
PLP, my question is more, how do you answer a value question such as ‘good.’ Where does such a standard come from? And is it possible for the standard to be anything except arbitrary in your case?
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Why shouldn’t it be arbitrary in the sense of subjective? What’s wrong with my own subjective happiness, subjective suffering? Some mental states are intrinsically good, some intrinsically bad, by virtue of the natural construction of my brain.
Maybe he’d be better off starting with Miracles first. 😉
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I’ve read that too. I remain unpersuaded.
 
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tdandh26:
PLP,
When you say " I wish you well" are you not desiring, in a way, that some good might come to a person, which is outside the control of that person? In which case it would have to be directed to that person, by some entity, so that your wish for that person might be fulfilled?
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I don’t mean it that literally; I don’t believe my wishes have any direct effect on reality. I do like y’all, though.
Or do all things happen as a coincidence? Like every prophesies in the old testament about the Messiah being fulfilled in Jesus, or that all the prophesies which Jesus made about Himself came to fulfillment, even though those things would be outside the influence of a mere person.
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Well, it’s my opinion that the Gospels are largely works of fiction, so I’m not surprised that the writers would have their narratives fulfill prophecies–even prophecies, such as the virgin birth, which were not actually made.
 
if that were the case then wouldn’t the old and new testament have been written at the same time? Since it is a historical fact that Judaism goes back well beyond the time of Christ, and they’re book were developed over time as well. How is it that many individuals prophesied about someone to come later. Isnt it also odd that even those religions which are not Christian acknowledge Jesus as a person, such as Jews and Muslims. Plus read my previous post please.
 
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