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.
I'm just saying going to Church doesn't just up and make you a better person. As there are good people who go to Church, there are bad people, and some people who use Church as an excuse to be bad.If your definition in housing refugees after a hurricane, helping people with financial issues, volunteering to help build houses for Haiti (for free), going to Africa to build wells so the people there can have clean water, then yeah, they're just horrible people.
Well, you do think it's ok for soldiers to kill innocent civilians, and you're down with Yahweh's commands for rape victims to marry their rapists. I wouldn't call you the embodiment of evil but I'm rather surprised that you support these positions.
(And you didn't respond to my super long post! It's ok that you didn't, we weren't really getting anywhere)
I'm just saying going to Church doesn't just up and make you a better person. As there are good people who go to Church, there are bad people, and some people who use Church as an excuse to be bad.
When I first started going to church to see what the big deal was all about, I went with a opened mind
because a friend of mine told me, I would rather believe in it then die and not believe and go to hell.
Its not like its going to make you any worse of a person.
Most people dont go to church and then go and rob someone.
Its going to make you a better person.
I think atheists people are selfish. Because most of them just dont want to hear about it period. They already have there minds made up, and think they know the answers.
When I first started going to church to see what the big deal was all about, I went with a opened mind because a friend of mine told me, I would rather believe in it then die and not believe and go to hell. Its not like its going to make you any worse of a person. Most people dont go to church and then go and rob someone. Its going to make you a better person. I think atheists people are selfish. Because most of them just dont want to hear about it period. They already have there minds made up, and think they know the answers.
I might get to it later, but I'm reluctant to jump into a reply that could take over an hour to prepare. That, and I'm not really enjoying the debate much, anyway. Oh, and we were taking this completely off topic.
This a good example of what I was talking about, GrayAngel.
Of course, how could I have been so wrong? Now I accept the earth was created from a body of a troll.So let me ask you this.... This was also another question that got me thinking... Where do you think we came from? Earth had to start somewhere.. Someone or something created it. And yes before I looked into religion it felt like some sort of fantacy that ppl created to me as well... Until I was asked Where did we come from? and who created the world then......??? It all makes sense.. You just have to want to find the answers and search for them... And when you open your heart to the idea and ask god to help you find your way to him it will happen... God knows your heart.....
i have a dear friend in Australia who calls atheists his pre-Christian brothers and sisters
Where do you think we came from?
Earth had to start somewhere.. Someone or something created it.
And yes before I looked into religion it felt like some sort of fantacy that ppl created to me as well... Until I was asked Where did we come from? and who created the world then......??? It all makes sense..
You just have to want to find the answers and search for them...
I would find it annoying to defend the deaths and weird laws in the OT, so I understand your apprehension.
Where do you think God came from?
Science makes more sense to me on this issue than religion.
And when you open your mind to reason and investigate with honesty, you may discover what I did, which is that we live in an amazing natural godless universe.
Is that a bad thing?
I'm not a big fan of his, but you two would get along perfectly.
I'm not going to stick my neck out to tell you why, because I'm sure somebody will flag me for it, but I ended up blocking him because he got on my nerves a bit too much.
I haven't seen him around recently. I'm sure he hasn't left, though.
Ah, so this is a polite way of you saying that you don't care for me? Eh, that's alright. Yeah people are pretty trigger-happy as far as flagging posts here.
Unfortunately our only interactions have been on the ethics of the OT (something I get very heated up over). I'll have you know I'm not a total jerk.
Why would you assume that? And, why should anyone agree to start with that assumption?\
To me, God as the start of the universe makes more sense to me than the natural approach.
Assuming that the universe was created,
Why?There would have to be a point in time where nothing moved and nothing changed (no cause and effect).
A God who never changes cannot do anything since doing requires change. Hence, such a god cannot even decide to make a universe.The only way this time before time could exist is with a limitless God, who never changes from one point of eternity to another.
He fits this profile very well because you are begging the question. That is, you've made a list of requirements that you assume is necessary because you believe in the god that has those requirements.The Christian God fits this profile very well. He has full control over all the universe, He's unbound by time, and the Bible describes Him as constant and never changing.
This is the assumption that because we use the word laws that those laws must be given and hence given by somebody or something. But in reality what we call laws in physical sciences are those things that are observed to happen. That is, there is no such thing here is as "convenience", only what is.One is the idea that the universe expands itself (the Big Bang), then it retracts to the center and starts over. But this doesn't tell us how the universe developed such convenient laws to operate by, giving our universe.
See above. The apple doesn't listen to gravity nor is it compelled to. We call it a law because apples always fall when dropped.Why does the world have to operate the way it does? We know that if you drop an apple, it'll fall. But why does it fall? Because of gravity? Why does the apple have to listen to gravity? Why not just stay where it is?
Those fantasies have the advantage of relying on physical reality and, at least in principle, could someday be tested. The idea of God is not testable and hence useless for understanding the universe. The idea of God is useful only insomuch as it helps us understand believers.Then there are some very creative ideas, which sound so profoundly mythical in nature, it seems hypocritical for them to call God a fantasy. Such as the idea that there is some kind of universe between universes, where all realities are created with their own sets of laws.
Let me repeat what so often must be repeated: Atheism is not a claim. It is a rejection of the claim of theism. That's it. There are, indeed, some atheists that go so far as to claim that God doesn't exist (rather than merely that there is no evidence that he does), but IME those atheists usually claim that all posited ideas of God are incoherent, or logically impossible.Sure, it's possible, but it seems like a rather far-fetched claim to make on a whim. Most people who don't believe in God say it's illogical to believe in something you cannot prove exists. There's no way to test this universe-creating machine, so how is this idea any more scientific than God?
But everyone has their own interpretations and opinions. One person's logic is not necessarily weaker or stronger because it's different.
Why would you assume that? And, why should anyone agree to start with that assumption?
Why?
A God who never changes cannot do anything since doing requires change. Hence, such a god cannot even decide to make a universe.
He fits this profile very well because you are begging the question. That is, you've made a list of requirements that you assume is necessary because you believe in the god that has those requirements.
This is the assumption that because we use the word laws that those laws must be given and hence given by somebody or something. But in reality what we call laws in physical sciences are those things that are observed to happen. That is, there is no such thing here is as "convenience", only what is.
See above. The apple doesn't listen to gravity nor is it compelled to. We call it a law because apples always fall when dropped.
Those fantasies have the advantage of relying on physical reality and, at least in principle, could someday be tested. The idea of God is not testable and hence useless for understanding the universe. The idea of God is useful only insomuch as it helps us understand believers.
Let me repeat what so often must be repeated: Atheism is not a claim. It is a rejection of the claim of theism. That's it. There are, indeed, some atheists that go so far as to claim that God doesn't exist (rather than merely that there is no evidence that he does), but IME those atheists usually claim that all posited ideas of God are incoherent, or logically impossible.
Interpretations and opinions are not the same thing as logic. There aren't different logic(s). Either one's conclusions follow from one's premises or they don't. Either your premises can be substantiated or they cannot.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?