They may have existed, and they may not have been exaggerated. However, worldwide floods, burning bushes, people whose superhuman strength comes from their hair, men living in fish, people born of a virgin, who walk and water, and rise from the dead? That certainly sounds exaggerated, if not mythical.
Some of it is symbolic and some is not.
I know that it is true one way or another because Jesus and the Apostoles died for them.
That's all the proof
I need.
It's not enough for you. That's fine!
Then why not take food, and why sell clothing for a knife if they're not going to be violent?
If you are really interesed, you can google the position each Chirch takes on the subject.
I do not plan on giviing you a theology lesson.
I just assumed that I needn't put forth anything from the Old Testament, as it is pretty much recognized as a bloodbath.
Ever read the Sermon on the Mountain?
And today, the excuse is?
What happens today? There are some phyckopaths and some m*rons arguing with other m*rons.
These people will always exist. Deal with it.
They are not representative of the whole Christian Community, and to say that every Christian is like them is bigoted and insultive.
I do not know; I believe it. DUH!
I am as much certain for it as much as you are certain that there is no God.
I don't believe myself to be better, and don't see why I'm expected to be.
It is our purpose in life to constantly get better until the day we die.
It is the purpose of the human species.
You must see what is bad and avoid it, instead of adapting and becoming part of the problem.
You clearly don't hold Christians to the same standards you're holding me know. No Christian does.
You are wrong.
I have a lot of friends who are atheists or irreligious. And I respect them more than a lot of jerks who dare to call themselves Christians.
The reason for wich I look down to you isn't because you are an atheist, but because you are a nihilist who's saying that it is OK to be intolerant, since everyone is doing it, it will always be happening and that we should adjust to it.
I can't. It's not for me to fix. I gave up a long time ago. Now, I just try to understand.
That's bullcrap!
You can wanna know what you can and should do to solve a problem like intolerance, racism etc.?
Stop doing it yourself, and incourage other people in your life to quit it too.
Not by force, but by your example of life.
This is all you or I can do, and whether it proves to be pointless or not, you should try for the shake of human dignity.
That's why there's dozens of threads on the Christians Only forums about how atheists are jerks, but none that hold Christians to that same standard. Although, I'm certain I can find several that praise Christians for being jerks.
The same thing goes on to an atheist forum, a muslim forum, a comunist forum...
Do you want me to go on?
I never said there was one. I follow their lead on this. In all honesty, if Christians consider me their enemy (and they do), it would be downright stupid of me to not recognize that by defauly that makes them my enemy.
Wrong; It would be downright stupid of you to prove them right.
Hatred cannot be solved with hatred.
Aproach them, show them that you are a human being just like them, that you share the same problems with them... Make a friend out of them! Or ignore them and show them you are no threat to them.
In any case, BREAK THE SYSTEM MAN!
That doesn't mean you don't hold the belief. It just means that your politically correct.
That's all I am asking. It's OK to disagree with someone or dislike him, but you must be nice with him, and not cuss him, mock him for his belief/lack of beliefs/race etc etc.
People may act a certain way. It doesn't mean that they don't hold themselves above those who are different than they are.
Once again, you are looking for excuses to be the victim.
How do you know what people believe? It is their actions that let you know.
When a Christian is nice with you but you say;
"Yeah that's what he is doing now, but he really believes I am an abomination"
you are a freaking hypocrite.
I'm just saying that's how it is, and there's nothing to be done about it. It's the nature of religion to seek out enemies, and most of the time those enemies are unbelievers. That's simply how religion works.
It is in the (bad) nature of humans to seek out enemies to fight and arrays to join.
It's not neceserily in the nature of religion, and it's definetely not in the nature of Christianity.
Religion is an istitution that tries to bind the sociaty together.
Not tear it apart.
That is why some people dislike you when you reject it.
They believe you become a threat to the balance of sociaty.
I do not hold this belief but to say that my religion is by it's nature bad prompts me to.
The only reason I do not insult or verbally asault you for saying that is not for being politically correct,
but to be a good follower of the Christ.
So not only does my religion not encourage violence, but it is the only thing that keeps me away from it.
Maybe, but that's how it works.
Nazi; Jews are the cause of Germany's poor economic sate and the root of all evil in general.
Me; That sounds pretty bigoted
Nazi;Maybe, but that's how it works.
Christian Fundamentalist; Atheist are a threat to our sociaty's morality and must be secluded and rejected.
Me; That sounds pretty bigoted
Christian Fundamentalist; Maybe, but that's how it works.
Extremist Muslim; Non-muslims are a plague that must be whiped out from the face of the Earth!
Me; That sounds pretty bigoted
Extremist Muslim;Maybe, but that's how it works.
.
.
.
When will you people EVER learn?
The phase "maybe, but that's how it works" ISN'T AN ARGUMENT!!!
That's true. However, statistics show that the more religious someone is, the more racist, bigotted and intollerant of unbelievers they are likely to be.
What statistics show that? The Atheist Sociaty of America's Statistics?
What atheist army? And anti-theists are simply people who hold the belief that there is no God. It's essentially just a strong atheist.
An atheist is a person who says;
I believe that there is no God"
A positive atheist is a person who says;
"There is no God"
An anti-theist is a person who says;
"There is no God and the belief in one is harmful to the sociaty. Religious people must disappear."
I never said that they hadn't. I just said that the more religious someone is, the more likely it is that they are intollerant, bigotted, and racist.
Again, that's bigoted in itself. Besides, what do you mean by saying
"the more religious someone is"? I consider myself to be very religious.
Definetely more than some suiside bombers.
The difference is technology only allows people to kill more. It doesn't actually correlate with hate.
Nor does Christianity. It teaches pacifism, and acceptance of every being that God allows to exist in this World. Humans can be hateful whether they are religious or not.
Like I said;
Religion can be a way through which a person can channel his hatred towards others.
You can take away religion, but it doesn't matter. The cause remains;
He will find another way to cahnnel his hatred;
Political beliefs, the belief that religion is bad and must be extinct (wink, wink) etc etc.
Either religion causes the hatred, or people who are hateful are attracted to religion. In either case, religion is not helping.
It does for me;
to say that my religion is by it's nature bad prompts me to. The only reason I do not insult or verbally asault you for saying that, is not for being politically correct, but to be a good follower of the Christ.
So not only does my religion not encourage violence, but it is the only thing that keeps me away from it.
Besides, it doesn't go beyond my notice that the hatred between political beliefs is somewhat exasperated by bringing religion into it.
I am not an American, so I do not know what goes on out there.
But the soviet Union was pretty violent, but it was an atheist sate.
Hitler and Musolini were violent but they were both atheists.
I am not saying that atheism is causing people to be hateful, I am just saying that religious beliefs are irrelevant.
That's not the point. You're selling religion on it being something beautiful that one is missing out on if they don't experience. And that I'm a coward if I don't want experience it. But the experiences were beautiful, and calming for those who experienced them, but I don't think either of us would want to go through the same thing. Does that really make us cowards, or realists?
No but again his experience
wasn't NATURAL! The need to believe is.
People get hungry and thirsty because our bodies need energy to survive. We have a biological drive to get food and water, like all animals.
I know.
Nobody has articulated why we need to aproach something divine
Then why has every human culture in the world developed some short of religon?
It's the same as the need to have friends or to socialise or to create.
It's not just material needs. Every organism has a few
unique needs, and human is no exception.
Besides, if you search/read about it, you will realise that it definetely is a human need.
and it's clear that other animals do not seek out God.
Can we really know this? Perhaps they do!
Perhaps they are just not intelligent enough to, or perhaps their way of life makes it unnecessary.
My wife was Jewish. We can coexist. My best friend is Hindu. My partner is Muslim. We can coexist. Christians have made it abundantly clear that they wish not to coexist with atheists, Muslims, gays or Jews. Look at my signature, that pretty much says it all.
So simply because you know people who are muslims/jews/hindus that you care about, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism are OK, but because you haven't a Christian friend, Christianity is bad?!
I've put my life back together after I was excommunicated by my church, and abandoned by my family...because I wanted to marry a Jew. I get to blame that on Christianity. My best friend was driven to suicide when his family, friends and church abandoned him because he was gay. Our pastor then danced on his grave. I get to blame that on Christianity. I still get migranes, because several years ago I was given a concussion by a Christian who assaulted me for being an atheist. I get to blame that on Christianity.
I get to blame these thing on intolerance, and the insecurity of these people concerning their own beliefs.
Our pastor then danced on his grave.
Wha-? Then he is a freaking PHYCKOPATH!
I still get migranes, because several years ago I was given a concussion by a Christian who assaulted me for being an atheist.
WHERE THE HELL DO YOU EVEN LIVE IN?!
ARE YOU MAKING THESE THING UP?
What kind of monsters are you surrounded by?
In any case; Whe
I get to see a christian arguing or attacking someone of different beliefs, I don't just sit back and enjoy the show;
I interfere, remind him the teachings of Jesus, and he quits.
I can't solve them, and I do enough for this world just by existing, and doing what I do. I accept that religious intolerance is, as it has always been, a fact of life. All I can do is point it out, and hope that the religious hold themselves to a higher standard of humanity than where they are. However, that will never happen. I'm the religious minority, and Christians will always hate me for not believing in their saviour.
Nihilism at it's finest.
I am sorry, but I happen to hold the belief that every huma being (whether christian/muslim/jew/atheist) in the Earth, has the duty to strive to improve the world, and give the next generations a better place to live in.
People who do not do that live meaningless lives. To simply exist, isn't enough. It's just a waste of oxygen.
But, nevermind, it's your choice...
Anyway, if you have decided that these things happen and that you don't wanna do anything about it, then what's the use of understanding them?
You understand the nature of a problem when you plan to fix it.
If you don't plan to do this, then why bother?
Just seclude yourself from these "Christians" and get on with your life.
Plus, why waste time asking christians to tell you why they are intolerants against you? DO you really expect them to tell you?
Read the Bible, read phyckology, and make your own conclusions.
Don't ask Christians why Christianity sucks so much because it's not really gonna work out.
You're selling religion...
Watch your tongue! I don't sell religion.
The title of this topic is asking why would an atheist come to Christ.
I answered you, because I thought you were sincerely trying to understand.
But I see now that you aren't. Your sole aim is not to "understand" but to provoke.
I am done!
This conversation is clearly going to end up in a misconception since there is no common ground or points of references. I even doubt we give the word "God" the same definition.
And in any case, to willingly and conciously prompt Christians, or any other religious group, and then, when they react to defend their beliefs, whine that they reject you and that they are intolerant against you is hypocritical!
