If you have issue with what I wrote, it behooves you to state it rather than come up with some pathetic quip.
Whats the worst that can happen if I do not believe in god?
- Thread starter New Atheist
- Start date
He's just running out his time until his next ban. A religious martyrdom for his SciForums persona.
Belief in one's soul and theism don't have to coincide.
And, one can have belief in one's self without thinking that it is immortal.
Assuming that an infant has a default immortal sense of being is convenient, but not demonstrated.
Your saying then All babies know they are going to die?. Go to the "your own death" thread and debate with me there about this, can you not see a connection between the age you first thought about your own mortaity and having your faith in an immortal self subconsciously.
What do you mean by Belief in ones self without thinking it is immortal, you refer to self awareness of your own existence?. that is not the topic.
Interesting analysis.
New Atheist
Registered Member
First... do you believe in God or not?
If yes, then whichever religion or God you follow should probably give you guidance. But I'm assuming that you no longer hold belief in God...
So, the issue then is: if it turns out you are right, then the worst that can happen is... nothing.
If it turns out you are wrong, and that God does exist, then it rather depends on how this God thinks of and treats people who didn't believe in him. And the question then is how you could find out, given that this God presumably hasn't given enough evidence to convince you that He exists, let alone tell you how he will treat you should you not believe in him.
Pascal's Wager would have you believe in God purely on the gamble that if you do and you're wrong then you lose very little, but if you're right then your reward is eternal life in heaven etc.
But then the question is whether a God would reward someone for believing purely to hedge bets.
My own advice, for what it is worth, is that one should not come to belief or non-belief on what you can potentially gain or lose, but on whether you do truly believe or not.
I do not have a belief in God, and no matter what rewards I am offered or what the risk of non-belief is, I could not force myself to believe... I could at best offer lip-service.
If I am wrong, and God does exist, I guess I can only hope he judges me on aspects other than belief.
Well put and phrased parallel to my line of thinking as well.
Between the existence of god and the belief in any given religion are a long series of questions and answers. For example, if a god does exist, did he intentionally create us... if Yes, then the next questions is why - an answer which he/she/it should equip us with. If No, then there should be no question of worship, since we are an "accident' with equal probablity of being here versus not. and the questions go on and on. And if you follow that all the way down to the existence of religion, it starts to seem highly improbable that there is a God who intentionally created us and wants us to worship him while we kill each other defending each's religion.... lex parsimoniae - the concept of religion and by extension god, is convoluted.
Yes, he does, he created us intentionally, he created us for a purpose and as a test, worship is the purpose but you have a choice to go against that.
When asking questions on religion it's best to seek answers from people of faith. Like any other field of knowledge it's best to go to the right people, don't ask a plumber to do your electrics, dont ask a biology teacher about physics, dont ask an atheist about god.
Peace/
Chi's wrong. We were created by Quetzalcoatl, for reasons known only to him.
http://www.plu.edu/~staffokm/world-myth/home.html
Many atheists know more about different religions than a theist does, since logically if you think you believe in the True religion, why would you study any others? So that reasoning isn't sound.
Furthermore, if you have to restrict yourself to a theist expert for religious questions, which religion? Obviously a certain believer will tell you what he deems true based on his religion, but that may not necessarily apply to all religions.
You are free to beieve that Repoman , go ahead.
New Atheist
Registered Member
Peace EFOC,
Thank you for your responses. I have to say that you do make a good point. However, the topic is a little more complex and soliciting thoughts from those of faith and those of reason will tend toward a more holistic picture. Don't you think? And here is another problem I have and hope you can clarify, what in you tells you (the voice of faith so to speak) that god exists - now mind you I am not asking you for empirical evidence (thats another thread) I am asking you how do you know (with all your heart) god exists?
Asking about various religions is not asking about God. Am I not allowed to give non new age Christian gospel answers here?
Nobody has to restrict themselves, they have freedom of choice, they can ask atheists about God if they so wish. If you don't agree with my personal opinions or suggestions I gave to him then that is fine.
superstring01
Moderator
Except that the question was being asked at random about a subject that is full of idiotic half-truths, blatant fiction and more hate than any other subject in human history.
We aren't being asked something "technical" that requires an expert to fix. We're talking about beliefs that only the most foolish buy in to.
~String
Peace EFOC,
Thank you for your responses. I have to say that you do make a good point. However, the topic is a little more complex and soliciting thoughts from those of faith and those of reason will tend toward a more holistic picture. Don't you think? And here is another problem I have and hope you can clarify, what in you tells you (the voice of faith so to speak) that god exists - now mind you I am not asking you for empirical evidence (thats another thread) I am asking you how do you know (with all your heart) god exists?
You are most welcome,
You wont get past the point of "Prove god exist's" when debating an atheist about God and his ways, A theist will engage in deeper meanings with you, All the atheist is pushing is "I don't believe in god, period so all these scriptures and things mean bunk".
I have been Atheist/Agnostic most of my life I ony just recently became a so called "Theist" I didn't have faith until it was forced upon me. I started a thread called "Forced Faith forced Atheism-The test." to prove this point nobody has yet claimed they have been able to change their mind about it voluntarily.
There are ways to help unock new faith and get your faith back but you need to have certain seals unlocked first and be rewarded with faith a-new.
Peace be unto you.
I didn't say it's totally Invalid, just might not be the best place to seek answers to certain things.
Actually I don't push non-belief, but rather ask why one would believe this or that.
Don't ever get solid answers, so therefore I'm still not convinced.
Exactly. You just have different standards than me in belief.
You wan't to know why I believe in God?, I have explained many times that I was forced.
What are my standards could you explain them.