• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

Ask an Atheist anything!

Status
Not open for further replies.

cerad

Zebra Fan
Dec 2, 2004
1,473
110
67
✟25,975.00
Faith
Atheist
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
Well in my oppinion he doesnt, because he doesnt exist. Its all a matter of the players playing. I find it very Arrogant to assume that any of the teams would get some divine favor at all.
It's not arrogance, it's humility.
 
Upvote 0

Tinker Grey

Wanderer
Site Supporter
Feb 6, 2002
11,743
6,299
Erewhon
Visit site
✟1,142,765.00
Faith
Atheist
Acronym for Alabama is UA.

How do you think God decides which team to help? Millions of fans on both sides all praying for a victory. Must put a lot of strain on him. Of course when Teebow when down in flames a few years ago there was no doubt which team had god on their side.

Naw. He just contents himself that in one of his alternate realities the other team did win.
 
Upvote 0

Exiledoomsayer

Only toke me 1 year to work out how to change this
Jan 7, 2010
2,196
64
✟25,237.00
Faith
Atheist
Marital Status
Single
Not at all, do educate me?
Certainly, It is essentially a weekly live call in show taking questions from callers or emails and answering them on the air, aswell as discuss some topics related to atheism in an attempt to provide information.

Ask An Atheist
 
Upvote 0

GrowingSmaller

Muslm Humanist
Apr 18, 2010
7,424
346
✟56,999.00
Country
United Kingdom
Faith
Humanist
Marital Status
Private
Upvote 0

AlexBP

Newbie
Apr 20, 2010
2,063
104
43
Virginia
✟25,340.00
Faith
Anglican
Marital Status
Single
If you want to, feel free to ask me anything.
1. Have you read any books of Christian apologetics? If so, which ones?

2. Some people say that they have had personal contact with God or experiences with angels or other spiritual beings. Do you believe that such people are lying, hallucinating, or something else?

3. Do you believe that all things which occur in the minds of humans, such as thoughts, feelings, memories, and so forth, are purely the result of material events involving the cells of the brain, or do you believe in some sort of soul distinct from the brain?

4. Do you believe that humans have free will?
 
Upvote 0

Davian

fallible
May 30, 2011
14,100
1,181
West Coast of Canada
✟46,103.00
Gender
Male
Faith
Ignostic
Marital Status
Married
No because I believe that wont happen, and I stand by the fact it wont. And if IF it happens I would not convert. A god who controls peoplem would not base going to heaven on what religion you follow, but on how you live your life, otherwise that would be really stupid.


Can you point out what you intended to say by posting that video?

Having watched the full version of that talk, I don't see where she posited that what she experienced was anything other than brain states.

Full Video:

How it feels to have a stroke - YouTube
 
Upvote 0

Im a theist

Newbie
Oct 29, 2011
15
1
England
✟22,640.00
Faith
Atheist
Marital Status
Single
1. Have you read any books of Christian apologetics? If so, which ones?

2. Some people say that they have had personal contact with God or experiences with angels or other spiritual beings. Do you believe that such people are lying, hallucinating, or something else?

3. Do you believe that all things which occur in the minds of humans, such as thoughts, feelings, memories, and so forth, are purely the result of material events involving the cells of the brain, or do you believe in some sort of soul distinct from the brain?

4. Do you believe that humans have free will?

1. I havent read any mainly Christian related books. I tend stray from them as i feel that they are very bias. I have read a few Religion and psycology book of names i cant remember.

2. I gennerally dont question what they have seen or not seen. I tend not to do this as i do indeed respect religion and dont want to seem persuasive or bias. If you do want my oppinion on this i believe it is a sort of placebo affect. The believer believes in god or spirits and creates the reality in there head. This is backed up by the point that your most remembered memories are your least acurate, the brain could have edited that memory in.

3. I believe that a soul indeed does not exist. I do have some knowlege in the neuroscientific field about how the brains workings are just biological signals, synapses and cells. Another interesting thing, a bit off topic, but did you know that for the brain to remember something it litterally replays the event in your head. Quite cool.

4. Yes. I believe we are not controlled by anything more than ourselves. No god or idol, only the memories and ideals we put in our head guide us.
 
Upvote 0

Im a theist

Newbie
Oct 29, 2011
15
1
England
✟22,640.00
Faith
Atheist
Marital Status
Single

I see what you mean by posting that. Due to my purely biological beliefs, i would take it for my own heads working. I wouldnt be swayed by this image of utopia, we can halucinate, especially during strokes you know? I take that as an uninformed dessision.
 
Upvote 0

GrowingSmaller

Muslm Humanist
Apr 18, 2010
7,424
346
✟56,999.00
Country
United Kingdom
Faith
Humanist
Marital Status
Private
Can you point out what you intended to say by posting that video?

Having watched the full version of that talk, I don't see where she posited that what she experienced was anything other than brain states.
No she talks of (in parhaps the longer version) of her experiences in terms of brain states. So why did I post? It was an attempt to show that such experiences, and therefore by extension experiences at death, may well overwhelm and overturn one's ordinary perceptions of reality. And one may have little say in this, whether one likes it or not whilst philosophising on the www. So when the OP ("Im a theist") said he would not be affected, I think there is room to reasonably doubt this.

I'm a theist said:
No because I believe that wont happen, and I stand by the fact it wont. And if IF it happens I would not convert. A god who controls peoplem would not base going to heaven on what religion you follow, but on how you live your life, otherwise that would be really stupid.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0

GrowingSmaller

Muslm Humanist
Apr 18, 2010
7,424
346
✟56,999.00
Country
United Kingdom
Faith
Humanist
Marital Status
Private
I see what you mean by posting that. Due to my purely biological beliefs, i would take it for my own heads working. I wouldnt be swayed by this image of utopia, we can halucinate, especially during strokes you know? I take that as an uninformed dessision.
But can you be sure you would have the disinterestedness and the cool distance you have now, if your "world is overturned" as in a dream and you are travelling down that tunnel?
 
Upvote 0

AlexBP

Newbie
Apr 20, 2010
2,063
104
43
Virginia
✟25,340.00
Faith
Anglican
Marital Status
Single
2. I gennerally dont question what they have seen or not seen. I tend not to do this as i do indeed respect religion and dont want to seem persuasive or bias. If you do want my oppinion on this i believe it is a sort of placebo affect. The believer believes in god or spirits and creates the reality in there head. This is backed up by the point that your most remembered memories are your least acurate, the brain could have edited that memory in.
I would like to probe your positions here a little bit deeper. Obviously you believe that some things are true and that some persons are able to perceive those truths rightly. Yet, at the same time, you believe that other persons experience hallucinations or let their beliefs and biases affect what they perceive. How, then, can you tell who's in the first group and who's in the second? In other words, how do you know who to trust? If someone comes along and says that they perceive something, how do you determine whether this person is in the reliable group or the group that hallucinates and falls prey to the placebo effect?

Most people, when I ask this, respond with some claim to the effect that they believe in things that are repeatable and verifiable, but not those that aren't. If that's your response, then what specifically do you mean by repeatable and verifiable?

3. I believe that a soul indeed does not exist. I do have some knowlege in the neuroscientific field about how the brains workings are just biological signals, synapses and cells. Another interesting thing, a bit off topic, but did you know that for the brain to remember something it litterally replays the event in your head. Quite cool.
If every thought in your own head is a biological signal traveling along synapses, then why would you trust those thoughts? Wouldn't it be the case that if you had inherited different genes from your parents, or if different synapses had sprung up among your brain cells, then you'd believe entirely different things? And if so, then why are the thoughts that arise from your current brain configuration any different from the thoughts that would have arisen from any other?
 
Upvote 0

quatona

"God"? What do you mean??
May 15, 2005
37,512
4,302
✟190,302.00
Faith
Seeker
If every thought in your own head is a biological signal traveling along synapses, then why would you trust those thoughts?
What would be the alternative (what else do you expect me to trust) - and how would this alternative not be subjected to the same process?
Wouldn't it be the case that if you had inherited different genes from your parents, or if different synapses had sprung up among your brain cells, then you'd believe entirely different things?
Sure.
And if so, then why are the thoughts that arise from your current brain configuration any different from the thoughts that would have arisen from any other?
They are different because...well, you have just mentioned it: because I have inherited different genes etc.
 
Upvote 0

AV1611VET

SCIENCE CAN TAKE A HIKE
Site Supporter
Jun 18, 2006
3,856,287
52,674
Guam
✟5,163,457.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Baptist
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Republican
Hi, im Jacob and yes im an atheist. If you want to, feel free to ask me anything. You may wonder why im here, i want to get to know your views and maybe chat. We could educate each other. :)
Where did you go?
 
Upvote 0

Wiccan_Child

Contributor
Mar 21, 2005
19,419
673
Bristol, UK
✟46,731.00
Faith
Atheist
Marital Status
In Relationship
Politics
UK-Liberal-Democrats
Hi, im Jacob and yes im an atheist. If you want to, feel free to ask me anything. You may wonder why im here, i want to get to know your views and maybe chat. We could educate each other. :)
Cool. Could you elaborate, as unambiguously as possible, what you mean by 'I am an atheist'?

Your flag says you're in the Antarctic, but your 'location' says England - just where are you? :p
 
Upvote 0

ChristianT

Newbie Orthodox
Nov 4, 2011
2,059
89
Somewhere in God's Creation.
✟25,331.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Politics
US-Others
Hi, im Jacob and yes im an atheist. If you want to, feel free to ask me anything. You may wonder why im here, i want to get to know your views and maybe chat. We could educate each other. :)

Ok. Here's a good sub-topic:
"what are your thoughts regarding abiogenesis?"
I'd like to know what you think. :)
 
Upvote 0
Status
Not open for further replies.