I grew up atheist for 16 years. I had always kept an open mind towards religion, but never really felt a need to believe in it. My sister started going to a Wednesday night children's program at a church. Eventually, I was dragged into a Christmas Eve service. Scoffing, I reluctantly went, assuming that this was going to be a load of crap, but when I went, I felt something. Something that I've never felt before. I felt a sense of empowerment and a sense of calling. Jesus called upon my soul, just like he did with his disciples. he wanted me to follow him. Now, my life is being lived for Christ. He died on the cross for my sins, and the sins of everyone who believes in him. He was beaten, brutalized, struck with a whip 39 times, made to carry a cross up to the stage of his death. This I believe to be true, and I can never repay him for what he has done. I still have my struggles with Christianity, but I've found this bit of information most useful. Religion is not comprehensible in the human mind, because we cannot comprehend the idea of a perfect and supreme being, a God, but we can believe it in our heart, and that's the idea of faith. Faith is, even though everything rides against me believing in Jesus, I still believe in him because I know that it's true in my heart. I invite my fellow Brothers and sisters of the LORD to talk about how Jesus has helped you in your life. No atheists and no insults please
...god is supposed to be all powerful, and all knowing, and all loving. when I was trying to desperately cling to the last shread of my beliefs, I asked him to at least give me something to show he is real. I would've accepted anything, even a comforting feeling, but I got nothing. it wasn't because I was a bad christian, or because i didn't try hard enough, it was because he doesn't exist. do you know what it is like to have your last shread of belief ripped away from you? do you know what it is like to feel truly alone, and to know that there is nothing there to change any of that? I hope you choke on your beliefs and waste your life praying and never getting the answer.
Holy cow! How many times have I heard this before? The "you don't know how I feel" talk. The "you don't know what it's like" talk. hmm. Do you have any idea how many people say that? How do you know I haven't experianced the same thing? Huh? You know what my preacher said? The only reason why people are miserable is because they chose to be. When people are miserable they doubt. When people are miserable they choose to forget what they already have. So stop going "There is no God becaus ehe didn't comfort me." Did you even try to comfort your self? Did you even try to remember the good times you had?
I know a person who has gone through a life that should have made him miserable, but he didn't complain. He was homeless couldn't get a job, he was spat upon and made fun of because he didn't have anything. Never have I seen a man so happy. It was as if he never experianced such pain. He gave his testimony saying, "I will always be happy because I know God is there for me no matter how bad the circumstances."
I hope you're not trying to put that forward as an argument -- it's comfort, sure, but false comfort at that.
Granted, there isn't much that can make you think well and good when you have nothing to look to, but there's a lot of things that people happily ignore as they deal with more luxurious and entertaining things -- the calmness and the wind drifting through trees, the silence and exile from humanity is so brilliant. Being homeless you have the opportunity for this quite, quite often -- being disconnected from the world could push you to the brink of insanity if the solitude is perpetual and uncertain -- but that is far from the case living in a community and sadly living off it's rubbish.
Read this and tell me if that's God, or if that's an actually good person -- because I find it insulting how people can perceive this as an omen from God, lending his hand -- not the good heart of another human being. I don't believe in God, but the person in this story is an examplar for why I am a perfectibilist.
Life is a ruthless, cold competition where the best feed on the weak and proceed. Humans are an exceptional exception -- carrying the weakest of us in survival, sustaining other competitors (species) if sometimes only to preserve and enhance ourselves, whilst being capable of completely annihilating the entire tournament at the same time. . . alas, he got the poor end of the stick, but his perception is what let him get through it -- the same way I would. The difference is likely what he perceived.
Holy cow! How many times have I heard this before? The "you don't know how I feel" talk. The "you don't know what it's like" talk. hmm. Do you have any idea how many people say that? How do you know I haven't experianced the same thing? Huh? You know what my preacher said? The only reason why people are miserable is because they chose to be. When people are miserable they doubt. When people are miserable they choose to forget what they already have. So stop going "There is no God becaus ehe didn't comfort me." Did you even try to comfort your self? Did you even try to remember the good times you had?
it's obvious from this that you feel sympathy, but not empathy. as long as you don't know this, then we will never be on equal terms. I was miserable because the very beliefs I was losing had no way to reinforce themselves. collapsed like a house without a foundation collapses in an earthquake. since you know no empathy, your words are as hollow to me as the useless rhetoric that you ministers often use.
I know a person who has gone through a life that should have made him miserable, but he didn't complain. He was homeless couldn't get a job, he was spat upon and made fun of because he didn't have anything. Never have I seen a man so happy. It was as if he never experianced such pain. He gave his testimony saying, "I will always be happy because I know God is there for me no matter how bad the circumstances."
then I hope he does well, but that doesn't change certain factors:
1.he is homeless, and most likely uneducated. he probably will never be an atheist because he has no knowledge to counteract the phrase "god exists". this makes him a thrall to his very ignorance.
2.he is okay with it because that is probably how he has spent most of his life, homeless. he has never known the feeling of a fresh, homecooked meal, or the knowledge that life is better than what he has if he just tries to apply himself.
I am different from this man because I am educated, and I have experienced these things. once again, your words are more empty than the vacuum of our ever-expanding universe. they have no value to me whatsoever.
You can't really just ask him to show up out of no where.
The Bible would seem to disagree with you on this one. Not only does this passage contradict this statement, it also would seem to go against the excuse Christians made up for why God doesn't seem to always answer prayers creating the yes/no/later scenario.
Mark 11:23-24 For truly I say to you, That whoever shall say to this mountain, Be you removed, and be you cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he said shall come to pass; he shall have whatever he said. Therefore I say to you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.
Iiiii'mmmm baaaack!! And I'd like to discuss a particular topic... Morals. But instead of creating a whole new thread about morals, I decided to revive this ol' dinosaur and prevent cluttering up the forums. Also, if the discussion is in here, it won't be off-topic if the discussion gravitates away from the subject of morals.
So, my atheist friends, how do you choose between right and wrong? Why don't you just do whatever the heck you please? Where do you get your morals from?
Well, I was taught from a young age that certain actions were right and certain actions were wrong, it didn't take a genius to work out that the actions that were wrong were the ones which caused unnecessary harm to people - such actions provoked feelings of guilt in me.
So, my atheist friends, how do you choose between right and wrong? Where do you get your morals from?
I believe this has been covered in this thread already (but really, what hasn't?) but I will repeat myself anyways.
1) Upraising. We get our morals from what we're taught is right and wrong.
2) Societal values. Based on the society you live in, certain things are and are not viewed as acceptable. A good example of this is clothing styles/concepts of beauty.
3) Personal reflection. I do not think it is right to cause another person harm or loss. This is for several reasons, the main two being that I would not want it done to me and that allowing such things would cause conflict.
Why don't you just do whatever the heck you please?
Why would we? Just because no supreme God is supposedly telling us what is and what is not right or wrong doesn't mean we don't have our own views of what is.
So, my atheist friends, how do you choose between right and wrong? Why don't you just do whatever the heck you please? Where do you get your morals from?
now that is a wonderful question. I will be happy to answer that one.
we get our morals from many different places. sometimes, we keep the morals that our religion (before we left it) taught us, because they are the only part of the religion we have use for. sometimes, we take what we were taught, and adapt it a little to suit our lives, and the rules of society. the last thing is that we just follow the laws of society.
Why don't you just do whatever the heck you please?
because even though god doesn't exist, the govenment still does, and so does their police force. we can do whatever LEGAL thing we want technically, but some people don't really want to due to personal preference.
I could just as well repeat Kasic's three points. But I will add on the third point:
3) Personal reflection. I do not think it is right to cause another person harm or loss. This is for several reasons, the main two being that I would not want it done to me and that allowing such things would cause conflict.
I think these several reasons can be summarized as - empathy - common sense
Why don't you just do whatever the heck you please?
Because doing so could be considered amoral under certain circumstances. We have different morals, we don't lack them.
So, my atheist friends, how do you choose between right and wrong? Why don't you just do whatever the heck you please? Where do you get your morals from?
Upbringing, social pressures, traits of empathy likely instilled through evolutionary processes to better ensure our races survival given we are social animals that tend to live in groups. We don't just do what ever we want because doing so can have a negative impact on ourselves. We can do something that benefits just us but harms others around us and because of this empathy we tend to have that in turn can also have a negative affect on us, even if there is a personal gain.
ive got them from family and school when i was young, ive got them from family and friends when i was a teen. ive got them from my family, friends and work when i grow up.
Does it count as atheist if you're baptized as a Christian but you only have Christian beliefs because you like celebrating Christmas?
You don't have to have Christian beliefs to celebrate Christmas. Many of the traditions found in Christmas actually don't originate from Christianity. In fact there was a time not that long ago where it's celebration was not recognized by the church.
Anyway as Kasic said it's all a matter of if you believe any god/s exist or not. Everything else goes by the wayside for requirements to be an atheist. As for being baptized, I was baptized twice and am an atheist.
