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
Well, as a Christian, its my job to warn as many people as I can about this impending judgement on all(not just 3/4) of humanity. So if you acknowledge that this is going to happen then why are you trying to deny it? Im just saying, why not give God a chance so you wont have to face this tribulation.
i always found it extremely funny that while christians say their god is loving and accepting its also their job to warn other people from his wrath as if he is a monster.
"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God "For proof denies faith and without faith I am nothing." "Aha," says Man, "But what about the Babel fish? It proves you exist so therefore you don't. QED" "Oh dear," says God "I hadn't thought of that." and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Since the babel fish does not exist, we need to find somthing else that proves God's existence, in order to disprove him. I love paradoxes.
"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing." "But," says Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves that You exist, and so therefore, by Your own arguments, You don't. Q.E.D." "Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic. "Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy The Babel Fish does not exist, so you need to substitute it with your own proof in that text. I LOVE PARADOXES!
The users posting things against God are obviously atheist. This means that you either believe in evolution, or some other way that we came to be. And as I said, these are just beliefs, not quite fact, not to say that you dont have facts to back up your theories,but in the end, all of these arguments are just beliefs.
The users posting things against God are obviously atheist.
does that relly have any influence on the validity of our points?
This means that you either believe in evolution, or some other way that we came to be.
Evolution does not state how life became to be, only how existing life behaves. Someone in the 'Evolution' thread (I don't remember who it was) said quite beautifully that evolution is really not complicated, as it is inherent to life as we know it. Meaning, where you have life, there you have evolution.
And as I said, these are just beliefs, not quite fact, not to say that you dont have facts to back up your theories,but in the end, all of these arguments are just beliefs.
In the case of evolution, the question is not whether it happens or not, but how exactly it happens. For there is enough evidence for evolution to be sure of it's existence somehow.
Now, we're here to debate about both sides, so please.. you (and the other christians) didn't respond to some points made last page. Would you be so kind?
This means that you either believe in evolution, or some other way that we came to be.
...derp? Obviously we have some other opinion than a Christian, otherwise we would be Christians.
he users posting things against God are obviously atheist.
Or any of the thousands of other religions in the world. It's not like there's only two points of view (you're invoking the False Dilemma fallacy again).
these are just beliefs, not quite fact
Evolution is fact. We have observed it, we use it to predict adaptations and selecting traits, and it is the foundation to Biology.
Your post sounds like you are just trying to dodge the points I and others brought up. Here, let me refresh your memory.
This was never answered, just avoided: "Have you ever questioned the need for such a judgement?"
Nor this: "Or, we can look and see that witches, demons, faith healing, revival, and literal claims from biblical scripture do not in fact occur or are represented and realize that religion is just man's attempt to rationalize the world from a state of ignorance due to the unavailability of information because the proper technology and prerequisite knowledge was lacking at the time."
Or this: "If an omnipowerful being wishes something, by definition that is entirely possible. The only reason Hell would exist if God were real is if God wished to have people tortured for all eternity."
And this: "Sounds a bit messed up. Can you imagine parents wanting their children to never leave home and have their own lives?"
This: " If it were to be a real choice for all of us, everyone would have to at least accept the existence of your god; obviously not all do, so how can you say there are only two choices, and hold everyone responsible for their "choice", when not even the most basic premises are fulfilled?"
This: "i always found it extremely funny that while christians say their god is loving and accepting its also their job to warn other people from his wrath as if he is a monster."
You guys bring up amazing points against God, youve obviously done your homework, I dont have answers for every question tha you asked me, but you dont really have answers on how all matter came to be, its all theories.
Nobody will ever know how life came to be exactly, but we have the means to explain how it could have happened. Why believe in something you cannot explain? I won't ask that you forget all about your faith, but don't you ever question any detail about your religion?
I dont have answers for every question tha you asked me,
Then let's go with what you do know.
Why do you believe God exists?
but you dont really have answers on how all matter came to be, its all theories.
Saying "God did it" is a non-answer. 2000 years ago, God did lightning, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, witch doctors, miracles, and whatever else...except, we have no evidence for any of the supernatural claims and can clearly that natural disasters are in fact entirely natural. A god of the gaps argument isn't truly and answer and has a 0% rate of being correct in history.
To clear this up...
Big Bang = origin of universe (not matter) Abiogenesis = origin of life by natural means Evolution = how life changes over time
These are all entirely separate theories. None of them affect the validity of another. How solidly they are accepted varies between them, Evolution is almost 100% while Abiogenesis and the Big Bang have some minor competitor theories or alternate versions.
The big difference between religion and science though is that science doesn't claim absolute divinely inspired knowledge, while religion does and have been proven wrong time and time again.
Science, when proven wrong, gets more accurate.
Religion, when proven wrong, gets more convoluted.
The users posting things against God are obviously atheist. This means that you either believe in evolution, or some other way that we came to be. And as I said, these are just beliefs, not quite fact, not to say that you dont have facts to back up your theories,but in the end, all of these arguments are just beliefs.
not really since each religion believes in a different god (or at least in a god who acts differently from a god in the other religion).
i for example am jewish. im not even using science to show my views. i use simple logic which unfortunately no christian (except you if you are one) used it while talking to me
