Official Atheist/Non-Believer Appreciation Thread. Vol. Yes we exist

[callhimar]

Originally Posted by Wooly Willy

Just wanna remind everyone that religion is not only Christianity. A lot of people bash religion but then end up just attacking Christian doctrines. I'm a practicing Muslim and I have Atheist friends and talk to Atheists (almost) everyday but they have never been able to make a valid point against Islam. The problem is that when it comes to observable natural occurrences (which Muslims believe in btw), Atheists have a sound argument in science but when it comes to occurrences that have yet to be explained by science (origin of life, universe, etc), their arguments devolve to the same irrationality that they accuse religions of following. Not tryna sound confrontational or anything so don't take it the wrong way. Its all love

btw, FlyJr i see you lurking in the thread. we still need to hold our iChat debate and since now you got the macbook with video chat it can get real good

Again, as stated before, the reason why people seem to be going after Christianity in general in this thread is because there aren't many other religionsbeing brought up to combat Atheists claims. A lot can be said in rebuttal of Islam as well. For example it seems all too coincidental that the Prophet receiveda great deal of revelations at very opportune times. Also, the fact that certain things were added to the story of the Prophets life in the centuries after hisdeath. Also, many of the stories of the Prophet may have been altered to make laws in a skewed manor as well.

 

[lizett]

Originally Posted by Dirtylicious

Originally Posted by KingFoamNYC

Religion was created by the government to give people a sense of "hope" and to keep them from realizing what's really going on in the world and what our future has in store for us. 1 world government, New World Order, aliens living on earth etc.

Religion in it's purest sense...the belief in a higher being has been in existence long before "government" ever was

Is that you Dirty? I've heard so much about you. NT Celebrity.

 

[roddyrodpiper]

Not believing in god we off that... you still on that???... yall cant be off it because yall never were on it? lol

 

[lizett]

Originally Posted by ONHOLLOWEDGROUND821

Originally Posted by The Yes Guy

My thing is (along with that earlier quote about all the other religions necessarily dismissed by people of faith), where is God now? He used to be involved in %##! according to the Bible, what's going on now? After Jesus he just figured "Screw it, we'll just take 2000+ years off then come in and have a rapture" ? Nowadays, if someone comes out claiming to have some new revelation, he's looked at as at best misguided, and at worst insane. Why did things used to be different?

he is givng us time! he can not come untill the gospel has been spread enough and people have the chance to see the light and exept it or reject it, and since he is not bound by time 2,000 years to him is a blink of an eye, we bound him by time "hurry up!" when he is doing everything in his perfect timing just like e said he would in the Word

There are 6.9 billion people in the world(http://www.ibiblio.org/lunarbin/worldpop) 2.1billion is Christian(http://www.adherents.com/...gions_By_Adherents.html) and the rest isof other religions so God is trying to convert people that don't accept the Christian god but that do believe in a God?

 

[lizett]

Originally Posted by undefinedinc

And it's funny, the OP "Lizett" is a complete herb and gets flammed everytime he post, all it took was the "Hey look at me, I'm atheist/hypebeast/rebel because I go against the grain in order to justify why my life really sucks" road and the same dudes who are lame like him embrace and show him love. By seeing how Lizett is a lame it makes sense he is atheist.

Keep your personal attacks out of this Thread please. That's not what I was doing I think you're just salty because you believe in God andmy disbelief of it offends you. I am not a lame just because you say I am, also my life doesn't suck that's why I made an "appreciation"Thread. "Dudes who are lame like him"? You mean non-believers right? I'm a lame so I'm automatically an Atheist.

 

[lizett]

Originally Posted by Nike Star Jay

Originally Posted by Lizett

Originally Posted by Cartier Urkel

What's the point of not believing in God?

see my previous post to DAYTONA 500

Alright sure dude. I made this Thread and I went to sleep and I'm reading EVERYTHING that's being posted so I'm only on page 6. Can you post a linkto your reply so I can read it? Muchos gracias.

 

[russ tha g]

I think the best thing I've heard in regards to this topic is:

Why not just be good for goodness sake?

Having different religions, like having different languages, racial & ethnic titles, etc. just divides people, and often just leads to hate and intoleranceof those that differ from ourselves. Aside from the logical reasoning I have towards categorizing myself as an Atheist, I think disagreeing with religion isalso an endorsement of the idea of not viewing people as a subgroup. I don't like the titles "African-American, Asian-American, etc.-American",either. If all these titles were merely descriptive and relatively arbitrary, I would have no problem with them. Unfortunately, they're used as a means ofclassifying people in a hierarchy of sorts, but it's a different, unagreeable hierarchy for each individual. If saying, "he's a French,Christian" held only the same utility as "that's a red, cotton shirt," then I'd be all for it. However, you get elitists who don'tlike cotton, or fair skinned people who don't consider red to be flattering. On a much more intense scale, you get people who hate non-Christians, ornon-French, too.

I like good people--no matter what other adjectives describe them. I am intolerant of intolerance. It just happens to be that people who are overly-prideful oftheir religion are typically intolerant of others (which is ironic in of itself because that's one of the seven deadly sins, for Christianity--the mostcommonly pompous religious group in America--also, that's the reason they're attacked the most in these discussions).

 

[kix4kix]

Yes, lets unite in our shared nonbelief in a god that doesn't exist. For not believing in something you guys sure make your voice heard on NT.

 

[lizett]

Originally Posted by RenaRene

Originally Posted by Banks2Pierce

See, the problem is that we can't even be sure that Jesus even existed. I do however know most of his teachings and how he lived and that is close to how I look at the world. Love to others. Treat others how you would like to be treated.

Also, I don't get how people are any of the popular religions and also join the armed forces, when that means going against the commandments. Is there a footnote to the commandment: Thou shalt not kill (except when it's for your country)

OK. So the next time you're about to get popped by somebody in the street, say this to the cop that saves your @+$$. Oh no sorry, if you're religious, I want you to follow your commandments and let this happen to me.

Nothing in there is meant to be taken "literally". They just follow the basic reason for why any religion even exists in the first place. To be a guideline on how to live a decent life.

OHHHH, so in that that CASE the 10 "Commandments" should be renamed to the 10 "Suggestions".

 

[Master Zik]

Good thread. I'll be sure to fully entertain myself by looking through each page.

 

[Master Zik]

Originally Posted by kix4kix

Yes, lets unite in our shared nonbelief in a god that doesn't exist. For not believing in something you guys sure make your voice heard on NT.

It's just being appreciated. I mean seriously some things in life are literally taken for granted

 

[championedition]

all this stuff is fun and games till you die and you're like "OH CRAP"
i personally dont know if god even exsists, but i HOPE there is. thats the whole point. there may be.
but to keep on the good foot in life and even being moral ill use the guidelines set by my religion to use my best judgement on living a not so sinful life.
so if there is nothing after...oops.
if there is... im in there like swimwear

 

[wooly willy]

Originally Posted by CallHimAR

Originally Posted by Wooly Willy

Just wanna remind everyone that religion is not only Christianity. A lot of people bash religion but then end up just attacking Christian doctrines. I'm a practicing Muslim and I have Atheist friends and talk to Atheists (almost) everyday but they have never been able to make a valid point against Islam. The problem is that when it comes to observable natural occurrences (which Muslims believe in btw), Atheists have a sound argument in science but when it comes to occurrences that have yet to be explained by science (origin of life, universe, etc), their arguments devolve to the same irrationality that they accuse religions of following. Not tryna sound confrontational or anything so don't take it the wrong way. Its all love

btw, FlyJr i see you lurking in the thread. we still need to hold our iChat debate and since now you got the macbook with video chat it can get real good

Again, as stated before, the reason why people seem to be going after Christianity in general in this thread is because there aren't many other religions being brought up to combat Atheists claims. A lot can be said in rebuttal of Islam as well. For example it seems all too coincidental that the Prophet received a great deal of revelations at very opportune times. Also, the fact that certain things were added to the story of the Prophets life in the centuries after his death. Also, many of the stories of the Prophet may have been altered to make laws in a skewed manor as well.

Okay that makes sense in a sense but nonetheless the focus of attacks generally by atheist scholars (not just on the board) are aimed atChristianity. I'm a member of the Muslim Student Association on campus and we have a booth set up everyday to clear up misconceptions about Islam and wealways have Atheists, Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc coming and talking to us, debating, etc. I just noticed that when the Atheist students come, they generallyapproach the debate as they would against Christianity.

But to answer your other points, these are easily explained:

1) The concept of revelation in Islam is different from the concept of revelation in Christianity and Judaism. For Muslims, the Qur'an is the literal wordof God. We believe it is the literal speech of God dictated to the angel Gabriel and then dictated to the Prophet by Gabriel. To add, the Qur'an wasrevealed over a period of 22 years with bits a pieces being revealed as needed be. So to answer your point of convenience of revelation, I agree 100% with youand that was the intention of the revelation. As events would unfold in the life of the Prophet or the introduction of new occurrences, revelation would comedown. For example, in the early years of the message, the Prophet was meeting with the nobles of Mecca to tell them about Islam. A poor, blind disciple of theProphet interrupted the meeting and asked the Prophet some questions about Islam. The Prophet continued speaking to the nobles of Mecca and told his discipleto come back. As a result of this event, the first few verses of Chapter 80 where revealed in which God told the Prophet he shouldn't have ignored thepoor, blind man and to not differentiate between the slaves of God. There are many more examples of this in the Qur'an. When the companions of the Prophetfeared he died during a battle and ran away from the battle field, the verses from God telling them the Prophet was just a man and would they turn away fromGod just because he died was revealed.

2) With the story of the Prophet's life and his narrations, there are multiple elements to the preservation of it. In Islam, there is a science incollecting and examining the narrations attributed to the Prophet known as Ulum al-Hadith. The process of collecting and preserving Hadiths began during thetime of the Prophet. He sat his companions down on multiple occasions and gave them advice, told them stories, etc with the purpose of their preservation. Whenscholars examine the narrations attributed to the Prophet, they have a ranking process. They rank the narrations as strong, good or weak. What makes a hadithstrong? One criteria would be that it was reported by so many companions that there is no way of it being fabricated. The Prophet had thousands of companionsspread out in a vast geographic area so it would be impossible for them to collaborate to knowingly fabricate a narration without others saying anything. Forthe sake of keeping it simple, I will stop there but there is a process the narrations from the Prophet goes through before being accepted by scholars. Evensecular scholars on Islam agree that this process of preservation is very strong and the chances of fabrication within these strong hadith is very unlikely. Ifyou wanna know more, I'll be happy to elaborate.

 

[uknowdonti]

[h1]Apatheism[/h1][h3]From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/h3]
(Redirected from Apatheist)

Jump to: navigation, search

Apatheism (a portmanteau of apathy and theism/atheism), also known as pragmatic or critically as practical atheism, is acting with apathy, disregard, or lack of interest towards belief, or lack of belief in adeity. Apatheism describes the manner of acting towards a belief or lack of a belief in a deity; so applies to both theism and atheism. An apatheistis also someone who is not interested in accepting or denying any claims that gods exist or do not exist. In other words, an apatheist is someone who considers the question of the existence of gods as neither meaningfulnor relevant to his or her life.

Apathetic agnosticism (also called pragmatic agnosticism) is the view that thousands of years of debate has neither proven, nor dis-proven,the existence of one or more deities (gods). This view concludes that even if one or more deities exist, they do not appear to be concerned about the fate ofhumans. Therefore, their existence has little impact on personal human affairs and should be of little theological interest.[sup][1][/sup]

Practical atheism can take various forms:

• Absence of religious motivation-belief in gods does not motivate moral action, religious action, or any other form of action;
• Active exclusion of the issue of gods and religion from intellectual pursuit and practical action; or
• Indifference-the absence of any interest in the problems of gods and religion;

Historically, practical atheism was considered by some people to be associated with moral failure, willful ignorance and impiety. Those considered practicalatheists were said to behave as though God, ethics and social responsibility did not exist; they abandoned duty and embraced hedonism. According to the French Catholic philosopher Étienne Borne, "Practical atheism is not the denial of the existence of God,but complete godlessness of action; it is a moral evil, implying not the denial of the absolute validity of the moral law but simply rebellion against thatlaw."[sup][2][/sup]

The eighteenth century French philosopher Denis Diderot, when accused of being an atheist, replied that he simply did not carewhether God existed or not. In response to Voltaire, he wrote:[sup][3][/sup]
[table][tr][td]"[/td] [td]It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley; but not at all so to believe or not in God.[/td] [td]"[/td] [/tr][/table]
Jonathan Rauch described apatheism as "a disinclination to care allthat much about one's own religion and even a stronger disinclination to care about other people's".[sup][4][/sup]

I would say I'm more of an apatheist than anything else. I'm confident that if a just god exists that I could reason with "it" to explainwhy I veered away from its faith in the first place. I was an extremely religious person when I was younger but once I realized the hypocrisy could notjustified, I found no other reason to hold on these beliefs. I live my life perfectly fine knowing that the burden of guilt the Church likes to place upon itsmembers no longer presides over me.

On the flip side, however, I'm not mad at people who do truly and devoutly belief in a higher power. If it works for you, then it works for you. Thoseanswers just didn't suit me, that's all. It is the extremists that really irritate me because they refuse to respect other people's rights to NOTbelieve in their doctrine. Belief, disguised and justified as rational discourse, is truly disturbing.

 

[kix4kix]

but what type of Athiest are ya'll? You know there are several.

 

[championedition]

Originally Posted by Nike Star Jay

Originally Posted by ChampionEdition

all this stuff is fun and games till you die and you're like "OH CRAP"
i personally dont know if god even exsists, but i HOPE there is. thats the whole point. there may be.
but to keep on the good foot in life and even being moral ill use the guidelines set by my religion to use my best judgement on living a not so sinful life.
so if there is nothing after...oops.
if there is... im in there like swimwear

see this is what makes me question a lot of why people are religious. you say, "hope" as if you're unsure. i thought the point was to be confident that there was a god? seems like most religious people have the same mindset as you... not sure if there is a god, but don't want to take any chances so you claim to be something you're truly not. for your own selfish reasons do you worship god, so that you can live life with a false sense of security feeling as if, if you believe (or in your case hope) there is a god, you won't suffer an eternity in hell.

you need to realize this and stop trying to be mr. kick knowledge and expand your closed mind.

humans, thru basic insticts dont know things exist until they can see it or see results.

now "God" had done some miraculous things before my eyes, but the human mind always thinks of the what if.
"what if this was coincidence?"
no one belives what they're told right away, but give it time and you may be convinced.
believing in God or any higher power isnt a 1 day thing. its a lifetime search for the truth.
and if i make it to old age and can die naturally, then i'll know exists for sure.

the ones who follow blindly always fail. in anything.

 

[lizett]

Originally Posted by ONHOLLOWEDGROUND821

Originally Posted by Russ tha G

funny conversation i had with two chrisitians. i asked them, if you lead an honest life your entire time living, never doing any real wrongs, will god accept you into his heaven? they told me no. they said that you might as well live a life full of sin because if you never recognize god, you're going to hell.

Perfect example of how it's hard to respect devout people of any religion. That is quite possibly the most nonsensical conclusion a person could come to, and that person happens to be the Christian in the situation. I mean, I know it's PC to not stereotype, but yeah.

Again this is why I like Dirty's quote, we but ourselfs and God in a human box, your "good" isnt God's good.....what you think is a good deed may mean nothing to God because deeds are not what he asks for, he Has 2 things he asks, Love your Lord God with all your heart and Love your brother as you would want to be loved and matter a fact it says "no greater love then a man to give his own life (time, heart, caring) to another man, that's his will in our lives........how hard is that? this is all he asks of us

So I don't have to give him 10% of what I earn?

 

[lizett]

Originally Posted by Damu

great thread until all the religious people came in and ruined it. jesus christ it's not a thread on whether or not god exists, it's a thread for people who believe he/she/it doesn't. what is the point of coming in and trying to start arguments? neither side will persuade the other, it's just a waste of time.

Quoted for Truth.

 

[p0tat0 5alad]

Deism FTW!

 

[gangsta207therevolution]

Its an energy thing, its not something that is all good or all bad, its just a transferance of energy, within people. Bad things happen to good people, becauseas a rule energy is something that must get transfered, but never dies. Thats why when a person dies people whom knew the person feel a bit of the person within.

Same principle with Jesus. The energy for which Jesus had was prob so great that he felt in a time of conflict that his legacy, his word could inspire, andallow man to continue.

The Chruch is a crutch, not cause of the beliefs, but because of the general genuine love you feel in a good parish.

To me if your an atheist you have to look at the major points of your belief, and determine if that energy isnt with in you.

I dont know if I believe in a forever heaven, but I do know that you can create heaven and earth with your mind, and the description of heaven is right in thebible, people just dont see it.

 

[lizett]

Originally Posted by Hugo

i believe in god and believe Jesus is our savior. If you guys would open your heart to god and feel the holy spirit, you guys wouldnt be mocking or joking about Jesus nor god.

I'm sincerely sorry.

 

[philballa09]

Originally Posted by Lizett

Originally Posted by Damu

great thread until all the religious people came in and ruined it. jesus christ it's not a thread on whether or not god exists, it's a thread for people who believe he/she/it doesn't. what is the point of coming in and trying to start arguments? neither side will persuade the other, it's just a waste of time.

Quoted for Truth.

yet you took time to troll over to "my mom needs your prayerthread.""


now you're trolling

 

[lizett]

Originally Posted by ONHOLLOWEDGROUND821

Originally Posted by Nike Star Jay

Originally Posted by ONHOLLOWEDGROUND821

Originally Posted by Russ tha G

funny conversation i had with two chrisitians. i asked them, if you lead an honest life your entire time living, never doing any real wrongs, will god accept you into his heaven? they told me no. they said that you might as well live a life full of sin because if you never recognize god, you're going to hell.

Perfect example of how it's hard to respect devout people of any religion. That is quite possibly the most nonsensical conclusion a person could come to, and that person happens to be the Christian in the situation. I mean, I know it's PC to not stereotype, but yeah.

Again this is why I like Dirty's quote, we but ourselfs and God in a human box, your "good" isnt God's good.....what you think is a good deed may mean nothing to God because deeds are not what he asks for, he Has 2 things he asks, Love your Lord God with all your heart and Love your brother as you would want to be loved and matter a fact it says "no greater love then a man to give his own life (time, heart, caring) to another man, that's his will in our lives........how hard is that? this is all he asks of us

did god ask this of you personally? if not, how exactly do you know this is what he asks?

Ummm The Bible in Luke 10 as clear as day......Im not just making that up lol

25 And they took notice, a certain expert in the law stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what can I do to inherit eternal life?"

26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?"

27 So he answered and said, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

28 And He said to him, "You have answered correct, do this and you will live."



Now to know what "God's Love" is you have to read Corinthians and again it will tell you clearly also where it talks about laying your life down for another is no greater love in John 15:13

Where can I get this so-called book also is it free or do I have to pay for it?

 

[lizett]

Originally Posted by M1dnightMobster

There's a reason why it's called faith. We don't need proof. And what we do have is more than enough.

When things get out of your control, Atheists, think about turning to the One that loves you.

 

[lizett]

Originally Posted by M1dnightMobster

Originally Posted by BlazeKicks

I find Christianity is used more as a tool of fear to guide your life from right and wrong

Honestly, people confuse religion with belief/faith.

Sure, Christianity and other religions have been used to constrain people or extort people i.e. indulgences in the Christian church but those were all devices of wicked men. True faith creates people like MLK Jr, C.S. Lewis, and even Gandhi.

Also, for you intelligent Atheists, try arguing with Descartes about the existence of God http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/descartes-god.html

True, Theism has created some of the best humans on Earth but look at the type of people non faith creates Lincoln, Jefferson, Grant the list goeson and on. Also imagine a world without the constraints of there being a God or not.