The origins of atheism

[As I was saying]

Hello there everyone. I am sure this has been discussed before but I would like to start a new discussion on this. I want to hear your opinions on why do you think atheism exists and its cause. I will tell mine only after I see yours.

Atheism can be traced to Ancient Greece in the 5th century BC. Diagoras of Melos is often referred to as "The First Atheist", and other men who claimed to be atheists include Theodorus of Cyrene and Euhemerus. Epicurus and Lucretius, who are often described as atheists, believed that the gods existed but that they were unconcerned with human affairs: a position better described as Deism than atheism. Protagoras espoused a position which we would describe today as agnosticism, stating that "With regard to the gods I am unable to say either that they exist or do not exist." At the time, however, atheism was a capital offense in Greece—it was the crime for which Socrates was executed, though he denied the charge. It is therefore possible that some individuals may have concealed their true beliefs.

In Medieval and Renaissance Europe, instances of atheism are rare. The existence of arguments put forward to demonstrate God's existence by Aquinas, Anselm and others suggests that non-belief was not unheard of, but few records of it are known.

Modern atheism did not begin until the Enlightenment. In addition, the French Revolution increased the spread of atheism in Europe. Baron D'Holbach's book The System of Nature was the first publication which explicitly denied the existence of God. Other atheists from this time included the philosopher David Hume. Others denied being atheists (heresy and blasphemy were capital offences) but held materialistic, empiricist, broadly deistic views; these include Voltaire, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Paine, John Locke and Immanuel Kant.

 

[Dmitri Martila]

That's incorrect. To be an atheist...

Say, brother, Who has put you to judge what is right and what is incorrect? Your inner feelings might come partly from the satan, so you can not rely on your "common sense".

 

[As I was saying]

So atheists are broken people, and the omnipotent, benevolent God does not cure the broken people and instead condemns them to a bad afterlife for all of eternity because of a defect? I think you'll be hard pressed to find another person here to agree with your sentiment, let alone any serious or otherwise significant theological argument favoring it.

Yes, atheists are broken people and no God does not condemn them to a bad afterlife. That is their choice not his. And yes he does cure broken people as the scripture makes it very clear.....

To as many as receive him, to them he gives the right to become sons of God even to those who believe in his name.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

The wages of sin in death but the gift of God is eternal life.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God.

God sent his son into the world that we might live through him...

We are all broken because all have sinned and come short of God's glory and there are none righteous, no not one so there is no point saying well I am a good person at heart because the scripture says that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked and that includes you.

Your only way to fulfilment is through repentance and baptism as the scripture makes very clear. Any other way is false and will lead you up the garden path to nothingness as Jesus told us that he is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to father God except through him.

If he is the way, the truth and the life then that means nothing else is so following other philosophies, religions and ideologies is a waste of time because they are the wrong way; there is no truth in them and they can't give you life abundant which Jesus gives.

 

[Archaeopteryx]

Say, brother, Who has put you to judge what is right and what is incorrect? Your inner feelings might come partly from the satan, so you can not rely on your "common sense".

I'm not relying on "common sense."

 

[Eudaimonist]

I am honestly baffled by how, and why, people claim not to believe in a Creator of all.

I believe you.

I can't imagine why they think they exist

That's a huge subject, but I think that we exist because we evolved in an uncreated physical reality.

or what they think when it comes to their purpose... the purpose of life....

Atheists will no doubt vary in their answers aside from not attributing purpose to divine beings. For my part, I think that the naturally-appropriate purpose in life for anyone is to flourish as the unique and irreplaceable individual that they are. They need to figure out what sort of values are needed by and exist in harmony with their natural well-being and work towards those values.

we are all born with a 'knowing' that something greater than ourselves must exist

I wasn't. I had to be told that a "God" exists when I was a little child. I still don't "know" that a God (or whatever "greater" conscious entity) exists.

Honestly I think atheists are what they are merely because they don't like the idea of rules, and they view religion as a set of rules, rather than as a blessing

I like the ideal of rules. I'm not some lawless anarchist. I'm not someone who wants to dispense with morality and declare that anything goes.

Honestly I think atheists are self-deceived in order to pursue life the way they want to pursue it... making themselves their own gods.

I've heard that so often, that is seemingly the Christian Party Line. I recognize that I am only human.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Eudaimonist]

Atheism is choosing to not believe in God.

It was never a choice for me. However, I agree that it makes more sense to reserve the word atheist for a being that can at least conceptualize a deity, and babies might be too young for that.

The word "a-theism" literally means against God

It means "without God(s)", not "against God(s)".

but we now understand it as disbelief in God or gods.

Who is we? I understand it as a lack of belief in a God or gods. I am far from alone in this.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[asherahSamaria]

Yes, atheists are broken people and no God does not condemn them to a bad afterlife. That is their choice not his. And yes he does cure broken people as the scripture makes it very clear.....

To as many as receive him, to them he gives the right to become sons of God even to those who believe in his name.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

The wages of sin in death but the gift of God is eternal life.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God.

God sent his son into the world that we might live through him...

We are all broken because all have sinned and come short of God's glory and there are none righteous, no not one so there is no point saying well I am a good person at heart because the scripture says that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked and that includes you.

Your only way to fulfilment is through repentance and baptism as the scripture makes very clear. Any other way is false and will lead you up the garden path to nothingness as Jesus told us that he is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to father God except through him.

If he is the way, the truth and the life then that means nothing else is so following other philosophies, religions and ideologies is a waste of time because they are the wrong way; there is no truth in them and they can't give you life abundant which Jesus gives.

"Yes, atheists are broken people" - What a rude, condescending and offensive remark. You might consider yourself broken - I don't. Thankfully it seems that form of judgmental thinking is diminishing rapidly as humanity throws off the primitive superstition.

 

[As I was saying]

"Yes, atheists are broken people" - What a rude, condescending and offensive remark. You might consider yourself broken - I don't. Thankfully it seems that form of judgmental thinking is diminishing rapidly as humanity throws off the primitive superstition.

Sorry that the truth hurts and you can't handle it. What is rude, condescending and offensive is your remark about me being rude, condescending and offensive. Autistic people which I am do not know how to be rude, condescending and offensive. I should take time to read up about autism then that will help prevent you from being rude, condescending and offensive.

 

[Eudaimonist]

Sorry that the truth hurts and you can't handle it.

The only thing that hurts is my face when I have to slap my hand against it after reading your posts.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[DogmaHunter]

Atheism as a large scale movement began with Lucife'sr fall away from faith in the unseen Father and attempted coup d'état.

The doctrines of doubt may well have developed on their own into the Atheist religion but the scale of the fall and the consequence of confusion still seem to drive the ism of Atheism.

You are making zero sense.

 

[DogmaHunter]

Ha, are you the arbiter of what's valid and invalid questions?

It seems clear you don't have the answers to the toughest questions in life and that's fine, you'll figure it out eventually.

I prefer people that simply honestly admit that they don't know something as opposed to people who pretend to know because they blindly believe the claims of some bronze age legend.

 

[DogmaHunter]

You could know many true things and still miss the truth.
View attachment 163586

And the only way you'll find out is through evidence, as shown by your attachment.
Not through"faith".

 

[As I was saying]

The only thing that hurts is my face when I have to slap my hand against it after reading your posts. eudaimonia, Mark

If you are stupid enough to do that it is your problem not mine.

 

[quatona]

Atheists are those who will not accept a moral authority greater then themselves.

If by "authority greater then [sic!] themselves" you mean self-appointed mouthpieces of God I tend to agree - even though this isn´t a tenet of atheism.

 

[asherahSamaria]

Sorry that the truth hurts and you can't handle it. What is rude, condescending and offensive is your remark about me being rude, condescending and offensive. Autistic people which I am do not know how to be rude, condescending and offensive. I should take time to read up about autism then that will help prevent you from being rude, condescending and offensive.

My son is autistic and I know very well the limitations- but it is not a panacea excuse. Again you need to curb your judgementalism.

You erred when you thought to bring up autism as an issue as I am the member of many autism groups and have an excellent grasp of the many issues involved. Many people with autism are neither rude or offensive - to use that condition as an excuse is simply hiding behind it.

 

[sparow]

There is no one specific reason.

In general, the reason is simply that not everyone is persuaded that divine beings exist, just as not everyone is persuaded that fairy tale creatures exist.


eudaimonia,

Mark

If there was a reason it would be found in the Bible. Hypothetically if the Biblical Paradigm is true, war between good and evil culminating in the resurrection of the good to eternal life and after a thousand years the resurrection of the evil to the second death, then one would expect the atheist would typically belong to the second resurrection. The Atheist would be on the wrong side for a wrong reason; those purposely on Satan’s side would know God exists.

 

[juvenissun]

Animals are all atheists? How absurd. Animals cannot be either theists or atheists because they cannot think abstractly enough for such things. It is likely that if my pets COULD think abstractly, they would think that I was their god.

Animals do not know God, so they are equivalent to atheists. I know atheists are humans. But a great majority, if not all, of them think they belong to a species of animal.

 

[Foxhole87]

Yes, atheists are broken people and no God does not condemn them to a bad afterlife. That is their choice not his. And yes he does cure broken people as the scripture makes it very clear.....

If an atheist is broken and in such cannot sense or otherwise notice God's presence, how could any atheist actually be held accountable as though their lack of acknowledging God is intentional?

According to Christian theology, there's only one absolutely unforgivable sin, and that sin is to reject God.

If atheists are broken, then they cannot do anything but reject God.

If scripture is the basis of salvation, and an atheist necessarily can't acknowledge the truth value you associate with scripture, how can any atheist be saved?

To put it in another way:
Imagine that I am born without ears and all the other equipment I need to hear sound.
Now, imagine you scribble on a pad of paper "listen to this music and you will grow ears".
Seeing as how I am broken and cannot hear the music, your request that I listen to the music is an absurdity.

 

[David Colin Gould]

If he is the way, the truth and the life then that means nothing else is so following other philosophies, religions and ideologies is a waste of time because they are the wrong way; there is no truth in them and they can't give you life abundant which Jesus gives.

That is certainly a true statement.

But given that all it says is, 'If x equals 1, then x does not equal not 1', its truth is of the most mundane sort. Because if x does not equal 1 (ie, if Jesus is not the way, the truth and the life ) then x must equal something else - some other philosophy, religion or ideology must be true, and thus Christianity is a waste of time because it is the wrong way.

Atheists agree that if a deity exists then believing that a deity exists would be a correct belief. The thing is, we do not at present accept that a deity does indeed exist.

 

[Colter]

You are making zero sense.

In my theology the creator Sons are the Fathers of their respective domains. Lucifer would be a being created by Christ Michael, aka Jesus. Lucifer was a high administrator Son in the celestial world overseeing our world and many others.

In short, Lucifer, as well as many other orders of created or eventuated beings, live by faith in the unseen Father just like man does. Being a high administrator of a different realm than we live in, Lucifer knew his creator brother Michael and other celestial associates, but not the Universal Father.

Lucifer lost faith in the Father and launched a rebellion against the rule of the Paridice Sons in the name of the Father.