Ask an Atheist

[RogerTheAtheist]

I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to reason with athiests. I find that although they claim to live by reason alone when I can present facts for God they ignore them, and continue to say I have no proof. Examples of things that I share with athiests are sites that record proof of divine healing WCDN although not technically proof I also share my miraculous experiences at Know God Personally most would call me a lier rather than allow for the possibility of a God existing. I find most athiests are closed minded, a few a willing to discuss.

Atheists and theists tend to have different standards of evidence. People that believe they've been abducted by aliens will have a hard time convincing other people.

Yes I agree with this idea. I think children who die do go to heaven. But eventually even in that environment they would need to make a choice.

Are you saying that in heaven they choose whether or not to accept Jesus, or that as a child they do?

I believe that God gives every one a chance to believe in him. He can speak to people who don't have the gospel bought to them by us. This is a guy who had a NDE and God spoke to him Ian McCormack - Heaven Hell and the Box Jellyfish

NDEs are interesting because of the release of DHT as the brain is dying. This chemical causes hallucinations similar to very vivid dreams that are much more convincing than ordinary dreams while sleeping. People who are dying probably think about death, and religious people that are convinced they'll go to heaven with no doubts will likely dream about going to heaven. It wouldn't surprise me if people with absolutely no thoughts of heaven or hell didn't dream about either; I did once dream about going to heaven when I used to be a Christian (not a NDE), but interestingly I don't recall ever dreaming about hell.

 

[RogerTheAtheist]

-CryptoLutheran

Can you tell me about Lutheran views? You might be the first Lutheran I've ever talked to, and I know nothing about them. Do you use the same bible as Protestants?

 

[RogerTheAtheist]

I respect you for seeking evidence for your beliefs. I think however you are misled. Even if we assume evolution is true, there is no evidence non-living beings can turn into living beings. That seems a big step of faith for me.

There's also no evidence for non-physical beings creating physical beings. For me, the origin of life is a big and interesting mystery. It's thought that amino acids were present, possibly brought in my comets; but I wonder if one day scientists will be able to replicate the first spark of life and be able to detect it.

My children (still future tense) would have to decide for themselves if Christianity was true, and whether they agreed with my view on dating non-Christians.

I respect all replies similar to this as opposed to forcing children to believe a certain way.

No. I think that all the evidence is there that they need, but I don't believe they believed it. I'm not sure who would.

This goes for everyone who gave a similar reply: why would god not provide the evidence that would convince people and then eternally punish them for not believing? One might argue that god would know ahead of time that they would choose not to follow him even if they were convinced, but I strongly doubt that there wouldn't be some people that would've followed Jesus had they been convinced.

Yes. I'm sure you want more than that, so I await follow-up questions.

How can one justify a loving god holding imperfect beings to standards of perfection, assigning an eternal fate based on a finite period of time, choosing to create a universe with a literal hell as the only alternative to heaven, and sending people to hell not only for reasons beyond their control but also for not accepting what they were never convinced of in the first place? It would be difficult for me to count the number of possible realities I could imagine that would be more indicative of god's love than the reality proposed by the bible and its tens of thousands of interpretations.

I don't believe in post-death salvation. I don't think anyone would actually change their minds.

The trillions of people that were convinced of different religious views that in death would finally know the truth?

 

[RogerTheAtheist]

1. How come you dont want a personal theistic Creator (viz. God) to exist ?

I would prefer some form of existence after death to exist, such as reincarnation or heaven. If this requires a god, so be it. If this god happens to be loving, merciful, and personally present in the lives and/or afterlives of people that want to have a relationship with him, even better. It's not that I don't want a god to exist; I just see no evidence for one. On the contrary, I see example after example of humanity inventing gods to explain the unknown and of modern monotheistic religions using fear to pull people in and keep them from asking too many questions.

2. As a committed and genuine Atheist who believes that there is no personal Creator existing (or required) , has this degree of certainty been confirmed thru You making a Cosmic trip covering all areas of the Universe to make sure that no Creator is present ?

No, but I examine what evidence is available and make conclusions based on that, which I feel is the most intellectually honest approach one can take.

3. What precise evidence(s) for God would be enough for you to willingly surrender your entire Life to his personal care, direction, standards for living if being the Biblical God, including giving up any and all worldly living including present destructive cultural philosophies ?

God would have to personally reveal his existence to me and let me know not only that he exists but also what I need to do in order to follow him. Even if I knew that a god existed, I wouldn't know which one or which version of his written truth (if any) is the correct one. I would have to be fully awake and sober, preferably with witnesses, since otherwise it could be a dream. Ultimately, if god exists, he knows what it would take to convince me and would have the power to do so.

4. What kind of feelings and emotions are generated inside, when you consider Someone else being far greater than you in importance / you being literally Owned by such a Being / and you having ultimate moral accountability to such a Being ?

Thanks for your time .

For being greater than me in importance, are you talking about gods, people, or both? It would make sense for a god to be more important as well as for people to have more important parts in his plan than I might if he's real. As for people without a god existing, people who work hard should be more successful than people that don't; a US president has more importance than I do, and I have nothing against this.

Being owned in general would make me feel like property rather than a person, especially if it's something one doesn't have any control over. When I was a Christian, I was honored at the thought of being god's child and felt that everything of mine was his. The difference is willingly giving of myself, I suppose.

If a god exists, it makes sense to have moral accountability, although I would question why I was "programmed" to act immorally and born with the curse of original sin.

Thank you for your time as well.

 

[RogerTheAtheist]

I think we Christians have really just sullied the idea of God to most atheists.

Contemporary Christianity shoves "God loves everyone" and "God's love is unconditional" down everyone's throat and when we find verse after verse after verse of this being not true I don't blame them throwing their hands in the air and shouting "I'm done with this religion crap."

Get back to the Bible people...shut your ears to the carnal noise of this world and READ THE BIBLE.

I've heard that reading the bible is the fastest way to become an atheist. It would be great if all Christians would read the bible from cover to cover starting with the OT.

 

[RogerTheAtheist]

If the OP inquires, I'll explain what I think.

I'm interested if you take an approach similar to JWs and see places like Gehenna not intended to be places that people go after death.

Thanks again to everyone for your replies, and I look forward to your responses.