Enmos
Valued Senior Member
It's amusing how you guys put two and two together, and come up with something bizzare like seven hundred and nineteen.
jan.
Ok well.. please tell me how I should have interpreted that post then
It's amusing how you guys put two and two together, and come up with something bizzare like seven hundred and nineteen.
jan.
Ok well.. please tell me how I should have interpreted that post then
The way you intended, with a pinch of salt.
jan.
I should interpret your post the way I intended ?
What I was asking you is how you meant it..
Did I bring up the subject of unicorns?
jan.
I'm an atheist and I believe, just because you won't get punished for it, it doesn't mean you should be mean. I don't need a reason to be nice to people, and treat people the way I want to be treated. I don't need to believe I'll got to hell as a motivation, I just think it's common sense to respect everyone.
question for theists
if you knew beyond reasonable doubt that God doesnt exist,
1- would you steal,lie,cheat,kill etc
or
2-would you be honest,good,nice to everyone
The OP, assumes everyone who believes in God goes round in some do-good haze that comes to an abrupt end upon them choosing to believe God does not exist.
jan.
Is the OP me? If so, that's not what I think. I don't understand how you came to that conclusion. I used to believe God exists, and the main reason I tried to be nice was because it made sense to me, not because I thought I'd go to hell if I didn't. I just think people aren't doing themselves justice by having a reason to be nice which is just to do with fear. Anyway, I was just explaining my personal beliefs to the person who made this thread. Forgive me if this wasn't aimed at me, but agreeing with what I was saying. I am relaitively new to this.
The "OP" is the opening post(er), I believe.
I was agreeing with you.
jan.
Liebling,
Do you know what happens when we die?
Do you know if God exists or not?
Is this life all there is?
jan.
Would you agree that your children benefit more and stand to live a more fulfilled life if they develop a spontaneous loving relationship with you?Oh wait, I forgot one. What kind of God or Gods would require praise and worship to accept and love his/her people?
As a parent, I understand that my kids won't praise me or respect me. I love them unconditionally regardless and wouldn't harm them or not allow them to come home just because they didn't worship me.
I'll play your game...
Does it matter what happens next, or when we die? I
s it not better to live in this moment and make this moment great?
Why not?
What need is an afterlife?
How does that change who we are?
Shouldn't we be more concerned about how we treat our fellow man than we should be about salvation of ourselves?
Does a belief in a God or Gods make us a better person, or can we be good citizens and great people without knowing God?
Does there need to be something more to life? Why? Is love not enough?
If we were made in God's image, we should be able to fathom what he would fathom, and yet we understand so very little of our existance.
Why does a belief in God require an absense of logical thought and common sense?
Why is it that we must explain that which we can't understand with a divine belief. Can we not fathom and be patient with not knowing, instead of replacing it with belief?
Must we do good for a reason and not for goodness sake and to allievate man's suffering?
For me, whether or not God exists is inconsequntial to the way I treat my fellow man. I will continue to love, and have compassion for others regardless of how far it does or does not get me in life or afterlife.
It wouldn't matter at all in the end because of how I lived. If belief was the sole prerequisite, than it wouldn't be worth surviving in the afterlife.
interestingOh, I think it's vital to them that they love all people,
hmmmbut I wouldn't love them less or shut them out of my life if they didn't.
Would you expect them to respect you?And I would never want them to blindly believe or worship me.
and that is what religion is in essence - "the process of coming to know god" - love is simply a symptom of that knowledge - IOW one can only be expected to love someone to the degree that they actually know them. God is no different. Loving god is the final perfection of religion. Not the initial step.I would not expect them to love me if they did not know me, either.
What do you think of the statement "obedience is the first step of love"?I would like to think that I could set a good example for them, but it is only a loving guiding hand, it requires no strict adherance or worship.
There is no knowledge, common-sense, feeling, or understanding of God's existence. It can only be a matter of gullibility.
You seem to argue here that god is known because he is known. Which is, of course, complete nonsense.Wrong.
Hence the reason why God is known throughout all time, and place (on earth)
That is why I asked the above, as unicorns are also known throughout 'time , and place'.You mean like unicorns ?
Here you seem to argue that if there was a book like the bible about unicorns, then they would be real.If so sayeth the book of unicorns, then so be it.
jan.
Hence my reply above..Oh so you base your entire concept of reality on one dusty old book ?
It's amusing how you guys put two and two together, and come up with something bizzare like seven hundred and nineteen.
jan.
Ok well.. please tell me how I should have interpreted that post then
You seem to argue here that god is known because he is known. Which is, of course, complete nonsense.
That is why I asked the above, as unicorns are also known throughout 'time , and place'.
I could just as well have mentioned dwarfs, ghosts, or whatever wellknown mythical creature.
Here you seem to argue that if there was a book like the bible about unicorns, then they would be real.
So, please, tell me what I missed here.. :shrug: