plague10 2011-06-02 00:56:53

Its a tough decision to reject god, especially for someone who was once very religious, u deff have my respect

dbaque 2011-06-02 10:43:41

Please keep in mind that I'll be the first to say that I don't know your original denomination, your background, or the amount of thought that you've put into this. However, you invited comments, so I'll comment on atheism in general.

While Christianity is a matter of believing testimony and evidence (of which there is a lot, but that is for another post), whether God exists is a matter of proof and what is reasonable. Whether the theist has the burden of proof b/c he's the one demonstrating or the atheist b/c he's disagreeing with more than 90% of the men who ever lived or are living, doesn't really matter.

First, questioning isn't critical thinking; reasoning out answers is. If the loving God were to send a man to hell for this, it wouldn't be for thinking but rather for laziness & giving up. After all, whether God exists is among the most important questions a man can consider; an answer radically changes how we see & what we do with life. Besides, why would it be out of character for a loving God Who lets men choose not to care about Him in life, to let men choose not to be with Him after death?

Second, talk about man's need to make a god is sophistic; it makes the towering assumption that the universe/nature is ultimately absurd, that it produces desires that have no basis in reality. Men can only get hungry because food really exists. Men can only get sleepy because sleeping really exists. Men can only long for money, power, fame because they all really exist. If men observe that they have a need for God, then it is evidence that He exists, not the contrary. An absurd universe throws science/reason out the window and makes any discussion nonsensical.

Third, the big bang theory is no solace for the atheist. It is a complicated theory of how the billiard balls of the universe exploded outward at the very beginning. But anyone familiar with billiard balls knows that they don't move unless they are moved/hit by something else. It is basic physics that everything in the material universe is like that. Since an infinite regression of balls being hit by another ball is absurd and really no explanation, for us to have any moving balls now, there must have been an original mover, not moved by another (making this mover quite different from the rest). Men have named this unmoved mover God.
Feel free to comment back. Sorry about the length.

memx1031 2011-06-02 10:54:51

I can't really say much to your experience and why you left. But I am sorry that you view Christians as suppressing critical thinking and that the way is too narrow to believe. I hope you do understand there are those of us that do think critically about our own faith as well as the world around us and that is fine - there is no problem with having questions. But as for the one and only way being through Christ, I would take that over any religion that says I need to basically be a good person, because I really believe (and know as a fact) that in my sin all I would do is suppress truth and goodness. I think doing good is honorable and right, but as the grounds for my right standing - I need to be saved.

AdamIpsen 2011-06-02 20:55:47

4ris: Promised myself I wouldn't respond to anything on this thread, but your comment about "Most religions borrowed from Christianity" was too much for me to ignore =)

Aside from the fact that Christianity plagiarized wildly from Judaism (And does nothing to hide this - the old testament, all plagiarized) - the second half is also wildly taken from other religions too. The Babylonian/Assyrian and Greek flood myth that predates the bible even being written by 1000-2000 years, the Osiris being slain and rebirth myth in Egyptian mythology, not to mention that most of Christianity's ethics have been lifted right out of Zoroastrianism. Let's not get into the fact of Constantine sitting down in a roman senate and actually deciding to write the bible and establish Christianity as a state religion- a few hundred years after 0AD.

What you might be mistaking as other religions supposedly taking parts from Christianity was actually a slow, methodical process of conversion. Take for example, the Norse religion - one might say that being dated around 1200AD, their take on Baldur (a hero who dies to be reborn at the end of days, Ragnarok), is a blatant lift on the bible - not to mention going to "Hel".

And you'd be half right - the norse people were so difficult to convert to Christianity, aspects of Christianity had to be inserted into Norse culture over many years to turn them around to the faith. What you're seeing is not so much borrowing, as a deliberate lending from Christianity =) No take-backsies.

Just as the Romans took on parts of Greek culture after conquering/adopting it into their society (Zeus became Jupiter, Aphrodite became Venus), both the conquered and the conqueree take on aspects of each other's culture.

And as nations from a Judaeo-Christian background have assimilated 70-80% of world cultures over the last 1600 years, there's been a lot of mingling both ways.

Vert 2011-06-03 08:45:30

155 comments.

Jezz.

Don't people realize that this is a deeply personal decision, the aftermath of what can only have been a deep period of personal reflection? Honestly... a couple of words on the internet is hardly going to make any difference.

Oh, and Fuck.

Meant completely unironically or satirically.

T_T

teitox20 2011-06-17 16:31:48

for me all of the gods are shit i pray and they dont do nothing so y beliebe in the demon he do something