I am an atheist

[zerinus]

I think it is better not to believe, because belief can get in the way of learning. If you believe that 3+3=7, you are going to have a hard time learning that (3+3)x3=18, as you will be stuck with 21 (based on the original belief or 3+3=7).
If you don’t believe that 3+3=7, you are free to learn something that counters it.

That is based on a false assumption. It implies that all belief or faith is necessarily in error. My belief is not; yours may be!

In fact, the foundation of all learning and acquisition of knowledge is belief, or trust. You must trust those who teach you that they are telling you the truth, otherwise you would not have necessary confidence in their books, teachings, and writings to be able to learn from them. If I wrote a travel book describing my journeys into Mongolia, and all the interesting sights I have seen and experiences I have had, how would you know that I am telling you the truth? How do you know that I have not made it all up? You don’t; you trust me that I am telling you the truth. The same thing applies to religion. There are people who have had a personal encounter with God, and have related their experiences. We find them written in scripture. When Moses tells me of the personal encounter he had with God, and the miracles he performed in Egypt; or when I read in the New Testament of the miracles that Jesus performed, and of His death and resurrection; I am able to believe that what I am told is true. If you did not believe or trust anything, your life would come to an end. Your day to day living is based on continual trust. That is the same thing as belief or faith.

zerinus

 

[zerinus]

You have said a few times that atheism is a belief. That is simply not true. I do not believe in things that way. I wish you would try to understand it instead of just accusing me of being another kind of faithful. If you could understand it, I think we could come to respect each other just a little more.

I wish that you would try a bit harder to understand. What I said in that post is true. Atheism is a form of belief. It is a declaration of personal preference. It is no more possible to disprove the existence of God than to prove it; therefore whichever direction you chose to go is a matter of belief—and ultimately of personal preference.

zerinus

 

[zerinus]

Such indifference to this question is hard for me to understand.

It is important for me though to know why I am here, where I came from, and where I am going. I think it is important to you too.

zerinus

 

[zerinus]

I do not believe.Where did the universe come from ? I don’t know, but I know that it is not important to me.

It is important for me though to know why I am here, where I came from, and where I am going. I think it is important to you too.

zerinus

 

[zerinus]

I have seen none of this ‘evidence’. I do not believe.

No one can give you such an evidence. Only God can; and He won’t, unless you have a disposition to want to seek Him. I don’t think that you do. You seem to be proud of being an atheist! You will never find God that way. You will only find God if He chooses to reveal Himself to you; and He won’t—not with that kind of an attitude.

zerinus

 

[zerinus]

Also, I don’t believe. Not in evolution, gravity or gods.

You must believe! You can’t live without believing. No one can. See my post #141 above.

zerinus

 

[zerinus]

I notice you still didn’t answer my question about wether you believe in Allah, and wether that belief or lack of belief is a virtue as well.

Of course I believe in Allah. Allah is the Arabic name for God. I believe in God, that means I believe in Allah.

zerinus

 

[zerinus]

What I am suggesting is that you don’t believe, but subject everything you can to critical analysis. Some of our best advancements in human knowledge have been finding out that we were wrong! Look what happened when Gallileo looked through a telescope…he saw phases of Venus. This was finally conclusive evidence that the earth-centric world-view was incorrect. It shook the world. Hundreds of years later we still owe him a debt.
Einsteins great discoveries stemmed from his evidence that time was not a constant the way it was accepted in that era. He brought critical thinking to a part of the world and again, we owe him a great debt.

Belief and critical thinking are not opposites. I am very much a critical thinker, and I still believe. Einstein was a believer in God. That did not stop his “critical thinking”. Newton (possibly the greater scientist that has ever lived, even greater than Einstein) was deeply religious, and thought more on religion than on science.

Never believe, always question.

False dichotomy! Belief is not opposed to questioning.

zerinus

 

[zerinus]

If I am here searching for anything it is to find out why people believe.

Your best question so far! I believe because I have had a personal experience of God. He has revealed Himself to me.

zerinus

 

[bogoljub]

I have seen none of this ‘evidence’. I do not believe.
Do you believe in Zeus? If not why not?
Do you believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster? If not why not?
I do not believe in those 2 gods for the same reason you do not.
I go one god further.

God bless !

Please forgive me but u missed my posts !

You also believe - I have told u ! But u believe that there is no God - that’s a believe !

And agian you have no prooves of your believe ,or do u have a proove that there is no God ?

Instead of us we have many prooves that there is a good !

You say u believe in Nothing but this is also a believe, your God is Nothing----- our God is Christ./Trinity…

Why I do not believ in Zeus; I can tell u there are many logical reasons not to ! Or why I do not believe in a Spaghetti Monster …there are also good reasons for…

IN CHRIST

 

[_A]

God bless !

Please forgive me but u missed my posts !

You also believe - I have told u ! But u believe that there is no God - that’s a believe !

I told you a few times, I will try once more. I do not believe. I do not believe in any of the gods that have been described to me. None is more believable than another.

Instead of us we have many prooves that there is a good !

You have offered none of those ‘proofs’ here. If you can’t share your ‘proof’ with me, it is not worth mentioning in this context, except as *your * personal belief.

You say u believe in Nothing but this is also a believe, your God is Nothing----- our God is Christ./Trinity…

Just how many gods do you believe in? Doesn’t ‘trinity’ mean ‘three’?

Why I do not believ in Zeus; I can tell u there are many logical reasons not to !

You have not stated your logical reasons. Please do.

Why oOr why I do not believe in a Spaghetti Monster …there are also good reasons for…

I want you to list every logical reason you have for disbelieving the Flying Spaghetti Monster, then strike off all that also apply to every other god. Please post the remaining list for us to discuss.
Also, please stop saying that I believe in things which I do not. I have said that I don’t, so you can only be insulting me intentionally by continuing to say it. Please try to understand my position instead of trying to make it sound like I am something I am not.

 

[_A]

Fundementally, God is, or is not. If God is not, nothing “is”.

I don’t understand where you backed this up. That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

Anythin temporal is without meaning…eventually.

More assertions without proof. Please remember that I don’t accept much of what you do as proof, so I may be a little slow. Provide me with the evidence which has led you to this belief, here on the pages of this forum, and everyone will benefit.

The single most profound statement I ever read was from Augustine. “for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless til they find rest in Thee”

That sounds like slavery to me.

I believe because He planted the “believe seed”. And with His help, I watered it.

I have no such seed. In me there is no belief in any god. This is, I think, the real difference between myself and the average believer. You all had some belief to start with. I don’t understand how that started.

 

[_A]

oh actually I was miffed at both sides. I wanted answers.

well if you want next week post something on evolution, catholics here have some understanding somehow on it. (sorry guys just dont know what it is.)

I don’t know enough to really write about evolution, I could see myself answering general questions about it, but for more detailed questions, I would have to go ask a biologist.

 

[_A]

i suggest tonight you tackle the most complicated dilemma by first using the most simple method - asking Him yourself.
no one’s in your room. no one’s in your head, yet He’s always listening, so why not go ahead and try it.

I have tried prayer and failed regularly to gain anything from it. What do you make of that?

 

[_A]

Zerinus, you have to choose to believe in Yahweh. Not believing in gods is as much a belief as not collecting stamps is a hobby.
If there is a real god, he will reach me himself - not through one of the many confusing religions. Why would he set up the world with so many mutually exclusive ways of worshipping him? For that matter, what kind of being desires blind worship over critical assessment?

 

[DLC]

Dear Atheist friend,
How do you know that there is no God? Have you looked in every place possible to look to see if God might be there? Maybe He is in China, or Alaska, or on another planet, or even at the center of the earth. If you say there is no God can you prove that there is no God? You said there is no God how do you know for sure there is no God? Maybe there is a God and you have not found Him.

DLC

 

[Valke2]

I have tried prayer and failed regularly to gain anything from it. What do you make of that?

Have you tried using aluminum foil? It can help boost transmission.

Take a trip to the grand canyon and stand before it in the early morning hours. If you don’t hear God’s voice, at least you got to see the Grand Canyon.

 

[Valke2]

Dear Atheist friend,
How do you know that there is no God? Have you looked in every place possible to look to see if God might be there? Maybe He is in China, or Alaska, or on another planet, or even at the center of the earth. If you say there is no God can you prove that there is no God? You said there is no God how do you know for sure there is no God? Maybe there is a God and you have not found Him.

DLC

What is GOd doing in the center of the earth? If that is where He is, then I would guess he doesn’t want to be disturbed. If GOd wants us to find Him, She should be in a place that we can get to. Btw, yesterday I found God in a glass of ice water in North Jersey at approximately 6:30pm, easternstandard time. We sat with each other for about 30 seconds.

 

[Kitty_Chan]

Valke2

 

[Sagefrakrobatik]

First of all welcome to the forums and i hope you find what your looking for. Now before when a member asked you if you believed in God you answered with a question. Which God? But the question wasnt do you Believe in the Christian God the question is more general than that do you believe in God. Now your mythological construction as to who that God is, is a seperate issue. Most world religions agree on certain aspects of God. Most agree that he/she/it is the creator of the world and God has a relationship to his creation. Furthermore many religions believe that God is outside of the bounds of time.So the question is do you believe a God created you–that God can be Christ, Flying Monster Spaghetti(by the way did you read the book? Saw it at borders) Vishnu, Ahura Mazda Hashem, Allah or any other name for God.

Now the question you posed is why do people believe? Well i think my sociology project im working on can help clarify. One of the people i interviewed who converted to christianity did so because of personal experience. He noticed his life changed dramatically. For instance when he went to buy a lottery ticket he ended winning 6 Grand. The day before he had his friend pray for him and include finances into his pray. Sometimes people see signs in there life that they feel justifies believe.

Rember Faith is having trust in things we are not certain of. So if God were to come down to earth we would no longer need faith.

Out of curiousity what would you do if you were Jim Carrey in that movie Bruce Almighty?