Are you an Atheist? What Promted Your Choice?

[emgee420]

life is less complicated without an imaginary friend in the sky keeping tabs on your choices and deciding if you get to take the elevator up or down in the end

 

[emgee420]

life is less complicated without an imaginary friend in the sky keeping tabs on your choices and deciding if you get to take the elevator up or down in the end

 

[its that dude]

Originally Posted by So Nyuh Shi Dae

It's still a huge mystery, but I don't think it's true to say that we haven't made any real progress. Just by understanding the genome more we are making progress. Still, I don't see how you're able to conclude that it's statistically improbable for life to originate via natural processes when we still don't understand that process works.

Didn't you see his support?  ANECDOTAL QUOTES from scientists from a Huffington Post editorial written by a rabbi!

Science hasn't figured it out yet...God did it!  same old fallacious argument....

 

[larrydavidswag]

Originally Posted by Its That Dude

Is it a reasonable argument If I were to say the great Flying Spaghetti monster created us?

How can I calculate the chances of that by the way? Please enlighten me.

  

look at all the evidence...

i mean,  the great Flying Sphaghetti Monster creating our existance is as likely as your God creating it, as described in the bible....

i mean, since we're talking percentage of chance and all...

 

[larrydavidswag]

Originally Posted by Its That Dude

Is it a reasonable argument If I were to say the great Flying Spaghetti monster created us?

How can I calculate the chances of that by the way? Please enlighten me.

  

look at all the evidence...

i mean,  the great Flying Sphaghetti Monster creating our existance is as likely as your God creating it, as described in the bible....

i mean, since we're talking percentage of chance and all...

 

[capricdragon]

Originally Posted by acts65

Originally Posted by Hazeleyed Honey

Originally Posted by acts65

5) God is good, in control, evil exists, and God has some purpose for evil, sometimes we can understand why but for the most part it remains a mystery (Christianity)

Personally, I believe in #5

Pain, evil, and suffering are a difficult thing to accept.  My cousin died in college.  He was a good guy, hard-working, helped out those in need, etc.  Why did he have to die?  Honestly, I don't know.  There is not easy answer to this question.

But isn't the basis of institutionalized religions to install morality and lead the way of life for the good life? If God is good and in control, then to what extent? When can he or does he intervene in life of humans? Why allow some good people to die such horrible and tragic deaths?

God has purpose for evil? So God created everything, right?Then he did create evil. So God creates and allows maliciousness, evilness,rape,murders,etc. all the while telling us not to commit such sins? Where's God's morality?

You say you can't explain it.I just think it is just all so illogical.  

I think to say that the basis of all institutionalized religion is to install morality and lead the way of life for the good life is oversimplifying and generalizing it.  As a Christian, I certainly want to live a life in obedience to how Jesus and the Bible's instruction, however, salvation is not by living a good and moral life, but rather in faith by grace, recognizing my sin and weaknesses and Christ's perfect life, death on the cross and resurrection.  As a result of my belief in Christ, I would seek to live a life in obedience to Him.  But yes, in some ways, you can say religion installs morality and a way of life for the good life... but I believe there is more to it than that.

I believe God is good and in control to the fullest extent.  Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of God's intervention with man, such that He sees the chaos, evil, pain, and suffering as a result of man's wickedness and sin, and sends His Son to die a provide a means of salvation from this world.

God has a purpose for evil.  He created all things.  My understanding of it is that God created all things, including man.  He created man with the ability to choose between good and evil.  Man chose evil and the world we have today is the consequence of that decision.  Man is responsible but wants to shift the blame to God.

As previously stated, most of the time we don't understand God's purpose for evil, but there are examples in the Bible that seek to explain it... one example in the Bible is the life of Joseph... his brothers are jealous of him, sell him into slavery.. but eventually Joseph becomes Pharaoh's right hand man and God is able to use him to prepare for the famine..  an example when it is unclear is when Job goes through all the suffering... God never explains to him why, but clearly God had a purpose for it...  so yea... I say hard to explain... you say illogical... I think it can go either way (in that I understand why you would say that it is illogical.

Quick question about your question about why bad stuff happens to good people.  How do you define "good"?  At what point does someone go from being defined as "good" to "bad"?  What is the standard and line?

@ACTS:  very interesting.

I'm Catholic and I believe in God... but I don't really have an opinion about the whole 'institutionalized religion' argument or 'who created the universe' argument... I'm more on the side of "just try to treat everyone the way you'd like to be treated" and everything will be smooth.
I don't try to explain or theorize why people die 'early'.  My dad died at the age of 60.  Is 60 'too early'?  Would I have wanted him around for another 30 years?  Sure.  But I can grasp that no one lives forever.  I try not to waste brain cells mulling over the 'why do good people die early' debate.  My dad held my first child in the hospital for an hour shortly after he was born.... then he left for the airport for his business trip.... he died while on his business trip, but I was lucky enough to 'randomly' talk to him 2 nights before over the phone.  We just shot the !@#$ over the phone about the baby, work, traffic, etc.  Am I thankful for all the time I remember spending with my dad?  Of course.  Do I believe he and my grandparents are watching over me and are with me during the good times and bad times?  Of course.  
I don't think things like cancer or natural disasters are 'evil'.  I just think they're a part of life.  My aunt died of breast cancer after a 4-year fight.  She lived a long, happy life with 5 kids and 6 grandkids.  Do I think God is heartless for "letting" my aunt die from cancer?  Of course not.  
There are the types of people that push one religion over another.  I just ignore them and go about my business of loving my wife, paying my bills and raising my kids with proper morals and values.

I'm cool with people that are Agnostic, Atheist, Muslim, Jewish, or whatever.  It's all the same to me.  

 

[capricdragon]

Originally Posted by acts65

Originally Posted by Hazeleyed Honey

Originally Posted by acts65

5) God is good, in control, evil exists, and God has some purpose for evil, sometimes we can understand why but for the most part it remains a mystery (Christianity)

Personally, I believe in #5

Pain, evil, and suffering are a difficult thing to accept.  My cousin died in college.  He was a good guy, hard-working, helped out those in need, etc.  Why did he have to die?  Honestly, I don't know.  There is not easy answer to this question.

But isn't the basis of institutionalized religions to install morality and lead the way of life for the good life? If God is good and in control, then to what extent? When can he or does he intervene in life of humans? Why allow some good people to die such horrible and tragic deaths?

God has purpose for evil? So God created everything, right?Then he did create evil. So God creates and allows maliciousness, evilness,rape,murders,etc. all the while telling us not to commit such sins? Where's God's morality?

You say you can't explain it.I just think it is just all so illogical.  

I think to say that the basis of all institutionalized religion is to install morality and lead the way of life for the good life is oversimplifying and generalizing it.  As a Christian, I certainly want to live a life in obedience to how Jesus and the Bible's instruction, however, salvation is not by living a good and moral life, but rather in faith by grace, recognizing my sin and weaknesses and Christ's perfect life, death on the cross and resurrection.  As a result of my belief in Christ, I would seek to live a life in obedience to Him.  But yes, in some ways, you can say religion installs morality and a way of life for the good life... but I believe there is more to it than that.

I believe God is good and in control to the fullest extent.  Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of God's intervention with man, such that He sees the chaos, evil, pain, and suffering as a result of man's wickedness and sin, and sends His Son to die a provide a means of salvation from this world.

God has a purpose for evil.  He created all things.  My understanding of it is that God created all things, including man.  He created man with the ability to choose between good and evil.  Man chose evil and the world we have today is the consequence of that decision.  Man is responsible but wants to shift the blame to God.

As previously stated, most of the time we don't understand God's purpose for evil, but there are examples in the Bible that seek to explain it... one example in the Bible is the life of Joseph... his brothers are jealous of him, sell him into slavery.. but eventually Joseph becomes Pharaoh's right hand man and God is able to use him to prepare for the famine..  an example when it is unclear is when Job goes through all the suffering... God never explains to him why, but clearly God had a purpose for it...  so yea... I say hard to explain... you say illogical... I think it can go either way (in that I understand why you would say that it is illogical.

Quick question about your question about why bad stuff happens to good people.  How do you define "good"?  At what point does someone go from being defined as "good" to "bad"?  What is the standard and line?

@ACTS:  very interesting.

I'm Catholic and I believe in God... but I don't really have an opinion about the whole 'institutionalized religion' argument or 'who created the universe' argument... I'm more on the side of "just try to treat everyone the way you'd like to be treated" and everything will be smooth.
I don't try to explain or theorize why people die 'early'.  My dad died at the age of 60.  Is 60 'too early'?  Would I have wanted him around for another 30 years?  Sure.  But I can grasp that no one lives forever.  I try not to waste brain cells mulling over the 'why do good people die early' debate.  My dad held my first child in the hospital for an hour shortly after he was born.... then he left for the airport for his business trip.... he died while on his business trip, but I was lucky enough to 'randomly' talk to him 2 nights before over the phone.  We just shot the !@#$ over the phone about the baby, work, traffic, etc.  Am I thankful for all the time I remember spending with my dad?  Of course.  Do I believe he and my grandparents are watching over me and are with me during the good times and bad times?  Of course.  
I don't think things like cancer or natural disasters are 'evil'.  I just think they're a part of life.  My aunt died of breast cancer after a 4-year fight.  She lived a long, happy life with 5 kids and 6 grandkids.  Do I think God is heartless for "letting" my aunt die from cancer?  Of course not.  
There are the types of people that push one religion over another.  I just ignore them and go about my business of loving my wife, paying my bills and raising my kids with proper morals and values.

I'm cool with people that are Agnostic, Atheist, Muslim, Jewish, or whatever.  It's all the same to me.  

 

[mrmac9]

the truth

 

[mrmac9]

the truth

 

[al audi]

God doesn't exist

coming back in 2016

The lord and savior

 

[SC kid]

Atheism is so 5 yrs ago.

 

[iamjusayn]

The disrespect parents get, smh

If there were a god then that would be him, all in one, androgynous, your parents...mother n father. DNA, chromosomes, genetics, chemistry, etc.

The Sun, another "God".

How much more "God" can you get get than this?

You take away the Sun, everything ceases to exist.

The Sun btw is the only being that has defied the law of change that I'm aware of. Change is the one constant in this world but the sun has risen in the east since forever and that has not changed.

If we are going to discuss a god then let's discuss a being that actually makes a difference and not allegories and assertions from texts.

/G\

 

[SC kid]

Theres billions of suns tho and they all will eventually die

 

[dipsetgeneral]

My father became an atheist after his mother passed after a decade ago.

 

[Belgium]

I've never believed in god. I went to a catholic elementary school but they also offered an alternative (ethics class) instead of catholic class so I chose to take ethics instead in the 1st grade.

I know it sounds weird that the alternative class is called ethics but it was a lot more than that. Very varied, the first year or 2 consisted mostly of painting, drawing and crafting all sorts of things. Then it became more about actual ethics, philosophy, all major religions, ...

For the first 2 or 3 years it was just me and my muslim friend in that class 

 Everyone else took catholic class.

After that we gradually got more students changing to ethics class.

My parents aren't religious so I wasn't indoctrinated with religion from an early age. I think that prompted my choice. 

Nowadays the only religious people I know are either muslims or over the age of 70. 

 

[andretti]

Yep

When I was a kid we used to go every Sunday then stopped eventually a few years after

I used to pray fairly often but not daily,felt my prayers weren't being answered.

I got back in touch with a childhood friend a couple of years back and he was deep into Christianity ,I seeker some type of guidance so I would go to his house to learn about it. The more I learned,the less I liked the religion.

Free will.

 

[al audi]

i went every sunday growing up

my mom is from MS so people from that state are BIG into church

i stopped going when i was 18...............

i won't get into the whole god/no god debate

i just wake up everyday thankful

 

[Master Zik]

The disrespect parents get, smh

If there were a god then that would be him, all in one, androgynous, your parents...mother n father. DNA, chromosomes, genetics, chemistry, etc.

The Sun, another "God".

How much more "God" can you get get than this?

You take away the Sun, everything ceases to exist.

The Sun btw is the only being that has defied the law of change that I'm aware of. Change is the one constant in this world but the sun has risen in the east since forever and that has not changed.

If we are going to discuss a god then let's discuss a being that actually makes a difference and not allegories and assertions from texts.

/G\

Bruh do you understand how gravity works?

 

[iamjusayn]

^ I got a mini stalker, smh

Anyway. I think the more you learn about science and the human body, the less believable the bible, religions (divisions) Jesus, God, etc become.

 

[Master Zik]

So that's a no? Just throw the word stalker out there to deflect from your ignorance?

Okay

 

[Based Jesus]

This dude just said the sun has never changed and wants to talk about science 

 

[sea manup]

went to a christian school from grades 5-7. there was religion class but I never took it seriously, it just seemed like nonsense.

went with a classmate to sunday school once and everyone got a shot of grape juice and piece of bread. I refused to eat it because I was scared of being a part of a mass cult suicide 

always got in trouble for complaining about wanting to go shoot hoops rather than chapel, again it was just a huge waste of time.