The SPrinkLer
Banned deucer.
I'm not entirely sure. I've been going to church, but it's hard to decide. I guess I'm a Christian.
"atheist" isn't the right word then. If you KNOW there is a God, regardless of how much time you devote to him or whatever, you'd be a theist.Wrong...practical atheism is defined as "disregard of God, godlessness in life or conduct. This doesn't imply that I am a Deist. I just never saw the purpose of having faith in God although I knew that there is God.
I agree with made up for people, i think its just there so humans have some sort of "GOAL" by the end of their lives.Ive always thought that Religion was just mad eup by man to make people feel better about lfie.
In relaity, I find it more comforting that everyone is not created for a purpose and thatt we have no control over anything, really.
For what it's worth, the most complex object in the Universe is probably the human brain, and life in general. Planets, stars, galaxies, all those sorts of things are pretty simple really. Even something like tourmaline, a mineral with the following general formulaIMO the worst argument you could possibly make is the whole "the universe is too complex for it to have come about on its own." This implies that there is some sort of objective "level of complexity" scale that you are ranking the universe on, when in fact you are only ranking the complexity of the universe compared to your subjective view of "complexity" based on everything you've seen and learned. Who are we to decide what is a reasonable level of complexity? For all we know, the universe could have been 100000x more complex. The fact that it looks complex to us is because... we are us.
But most Christians teach (from what I know) that anyone can get into heaven through faith or love or something, so the point is moot.If you'll end up in heaven or hell anyway, why does it matter?
I know I for one was born into mine, then indoctrinated, and now see no reason to change.So, I'm curious. How did any of you decide or settle on your specific brand of religion whether it's Judaism, Islam, Hindu, Mormonism, Protestantism, Ba'ha faith.... the list goes on.
I mean, all these different faiths, sects, variations on context seem to all have about the same amount of evidence, none at all.
This is why we have a lot of atheists nowadays. As for why religious people place so much stock in their faith- if you believe that an almighty power told you to do something and can punish you for disobeying, you will do it.There does not seem to be any documented supernatural occurrences of religious intervention barring bibles, mythology and fantasy. You're simply told to "have faith" by people that you trust, who were told by people that they trust.
I'm not trying to take a pot shot at any of you religious folks, I'm simply just curious as to why you all seem to place so much stock in your faith, using it to fight wars, base laws on etc.
Homosexuality isn't illegal in most developed countries, as far as I'm aware, but yes, homosexuality would be socially acceptable if it weren't for Christianity. Christians were essentially the only ones to campaign against it in California's Prop 8, which is proof as far as I'm concerned that only Christians care about it.If the majority of whatever nation you belong to wasn't Christian wouldn't homosexuality be legal? Without christianity wouldn't evolution simply be accepted or challenged using the scientific method only and not just by the argument "organisms are too complex to create themselves".
No, as I see it this is a completely valid point. If God supplied the points in the Bible, why is he wrong? Either readers have misinterpreted the Bible, misunderstood natural phenomena and wrongly asserted the earth is older than 6000 years old, or something was lost in translation to English. As you and I see it, Christians must go along with one of the three options.The bible says that the Earth is 6000 years old, and if you don't believe that you don't believe in the bible. Why do people say that they're Christian if they don't believe every single word written in their book? I mean, I can see the moral obligations to believe in God, and most of the stuff in the bible, but if that same religion also says something else, you either believe that too, or you're not really of that religion. (I know I'm going to get called out on this, so if I'm misinformed please inform me here.)
The basic argument is that if you can do something profitable for you without getting punished, you should do it. In Judeo-Christianity, all "sin" is punished by an omniscient God. If such a God does not exist, however, many of the same "sins" can be committed without much possibility for punishment- the potential reward outweighs the risk for many such things, such as cheating. One could still put the overall benefit of society above themselves and be moral, but there is no tangible benefit for doing so. Basically, nonreligious people can still be moral- but they have fewer reasons to do so.Why do I have to believe in God to know that it is wrong to kill someone? Why are the only people with real morals people with religion, as Deck Knight has been asserting. (I have the utmost respect for you Deck Knight, and I agree with you mostly in cong topics, but not right now). He also said something about how religious orginizations are the ones that are donating and volunteering and being stand-up and altruistic etc. I see how religion would motivate you to do good things, and be a good person, but why are people without religion unable to be this caring? And couldn't one argue that they are only doing that to pass the test of being a good person on Earth to get into heaven?
Anyway, my point of not currently having a religion (at least not being Christian), is not the lack of proof of God, but that in Juedo-Christianity, our existence is just a test to pass to get into heaven. This is just a test, and when you think about it, doesn't really mean anything. People find meaning in Christianity, but I see the exact opposite. If you'll end up in heaven or hell anyway, why does it matter? If there is no heaven or hell, then what you do in your life seems to matter more, because that is all that there is for you. This is true, at least for me personally, which is my answer to the question of this topic.
Main points: You don't need to be religious to be moral, and I personally see more meaning in life without the afterlife.
See my first response to Khyl; but your argument is quite valid. Imperfect people wrote the Bible and translated it several times, so the final product is by no means perfect.I'm not a Christian, but I see adherance to the teachings of Jesus Christ more important than adherance to the Bible. The Bible was written by people who weren't Jesus, so while it is an important document to Christianity parts of it can be taken with a little grain of salt. Though not all Christians would agree with that, that's how I see it.
Depends on the Christian.I'm an atheist, I have been for years. Mainly for the reasons stated in this thread - just no reason to believe in a particular god.
But most Christians teach (from what I know) that anyone can get into heaven through faith or love or something, so the point is moot.
I'm pretty sure it is in the bible and the teachings of Jesus that the only way to avoid hell is to be a christain, and this is what pretty much every christian I know believesBut most Christians teach (from what I know) that anyone can get into heaven through faith or love or something, so the point is moot.
But the point is still there that anyone can get into heaven, so it makes no sense to say it's out of your control.I'm pretty sure it is in the bible and the teachings of Jesus that the only way to avoid hell is to be a christain, and this is what pretty much every christian I know believes
And you think that positing a "higher power" explains anything? It doesn't. First, you are not even defining properly what that thing would be, so it doesn't amount to anything more than semantic noise. Second, time cannot "begin": if a process "begins", then there must be a moment when that process was not occurring and then a subsequent moment when it did. Something begins at a specific point in time. Saying that "time begins" (in time) is as nonsensical as saying that space has a specific location (in space). The "first moment in time" plainly and simply *cannot* have been produced by anything, because time is a logical prerequisite to creation. The first moment in time is uncaused by logical necessity. Similarly, to "start existence" is not only meaningless but inconsistent: whatever entity "starts existence" would have to exist before it could do any such thing.My religious background is rooted in science, and oddly enough, science convinced me that not EVERYTHING can be explained though science and that there is/was some sort of god. I am not able to accept that time never began, that time is an illusion. Some sort of higher power started existence; however, I make no claim that this higher power did anything more to push us onward.
Sounds like wishful thinking. If a soul exists, what does it do? It ought to be doing something. Unfortunately, not a day passes without us figuring out more and more about how each aspect of our behavior is correlated with brain activity. If the soul exists, then whatever its function is, brain damage should not hinder it. So that function isn't memory (Alzheimer), it is not personality or morality (lobotomy in the prefrontal cortex can make a nice person into a complete asshole), it is not emotion (emotions lag physiological changes), it is not language, it is not rationality... so what the heck does it even do? What parts of ourselves would be transferred in the afterlife? Forget that misleading feeling we all have that we are, somehow, "special". It just does not make any sense for us to be "more than chemicals" so far, that is, unless you wish us to be.I believe in free will, I believe that there is some sort of soul, that we are more than a culmination of chemicals. I believe that there MIGHT be an afterlife. One much unlike a Christian one, I see heaven being no better than hell. Their heaven is either eternal or terminal, neither of which can truly be happy. The afterlife would simply that, the life after this one. And how well we live this one has little bearing on that one.
Please. the Church of Turing was around as early as 1936.Hmph...upstarts. This is the original and true computing religion
One could postulate that the brain acts to 'connect' the soul to the body, and thus consider brain damage as affecting that connection. Not saying I or anyone else believes this, but it is one way (probably not wholly satisfactory it's true) to reconcile the hypothesis of a soul with the known effects of brain damage.If the soul exists, then whatever its function is, brain damage should not hinder it.
This post was just beautiful.Tl;dr, Christianity is Stockholm Syndrome?
Some sections of the Bible support the proposition that not just anyone can get into the Christian heaven; the second chapter of James more or less condemns those who believe that faith alone will save them, comparing them to devils who also know that their is one God. The whole topic we're discussing now could fill up a whole thread by itself, so I'll stop right here. Just know that there are arguments for both sides.But the point is still there that anyone can get into heaven, so it makes no sense to say it's out of your control.
And I'm not convinced Jesus actually said that.