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
It's pretty straight forward if you ask me. This is basically what you did in a nutshell;
You, the gnostic atheist, make the claim i.e 'God does not exist.' with 100% certainty.
Therefore, you, the one who has made the claim, must present evidence in order to back up this assertion. It's not enough to go "You can't prove God is real, so therefore, he is not real."
This is the same logical fallacy as a theist's argument of "You can't prove God isn't real, so therefore, he is real."
You're just an atheist debating like a theist, and this is what separates you, a gnostic atheist, from an agnostic atheist.
[quote=Fiends]If you think i'm a troll then look again.[/quote]
[quote=Fiends]The whole thought or idea of a God or Gods is completely idiotic. Humanity needs to have a babysitter, nanny Jesus is a great example of this as humanity needs the thought of an omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent being to look after them. Pathetic.[/quote]
[quote=Fiends]Not only does the Bible condemn such behavior but medical professionals have affirmed that these kinds of sexual relationships are unhealthy[/quote]
You're either tiptoeing more around the Bible than your average Fundamentalist, or you're switching your perspectives more than Mitt Romney. Either way, the hypocrisy in your posts intensifies once again, and we still have yet to see any posts from you that holds water. Is this intentional? Who's to say at this point? Only thing we have so far is that it's eliciting responses from users on both ends of the table.
Well, he's exhibiting some classic symptoms of histrionic personality disorder, but we would need him to fill out a questionnaire to make a conclusive diagnosis.
Calling back to 452; just how can someone reconcile the notion of free will with divine creation?
I started this thread 3 years ago. Glad to see it's still going strong. The funny thing is, I'm not a Christian anymore. The church was kind of a **** to me, and that's a small part of the much larger scale of reasons that I am now a different religion entirely. but keep debating, this is amazing
how can someone reconcile the notion of free will with divine creation
The major point that many miss in this is that humans are often willing to perform, and not merely capable of, evil. If God did create us to the tiniest detail, for what reason did He make our natures be like that?
The major point that many miss in this is that humans are often willing to perform, and not merely capable of, evil. If God did create us to the tiniest detail, for what reason did He make our natures be like that?
I have to disagree with that. "Evil" is not an actual thing. People invoke "evil" when they can't come up with an acceptable explanation for someone's behaviour.
