Zone1 I've been an atheist for 60 years and have never once been tempted to believe in any god

[K9Buck]

I thought everyone was according to your religion. And that I am going to be forced to come to Jesus no matter what.

This is a good time to remember what Jesus said.

Matthew 7:6 ESV
Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

 

[Blues Man]

This is a good time to remember what Jesus said.

Matthew 7:6 ESV
Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

You're really all over the place aren't you? Either I'm forced to come to Jesus or I'm not Either your god made everything and everyone or it didn't

And isn't it prideful to hold yourself so far above other people?

That's one of the Big 7 sins you know.

 

[gtopa1]

When I was 10 years old, we had a dog named Silver. A sealyham - sort of a largish Westie. He had been struck by a car when I was much younger and that had left him blind in one eye. We adapted. He adapted. But whenever he entered an unfamiliar space (the furniture moved, for instance) he would collide with things. I felt bad for him. Like most children my age I believed what I was told was the truth by my parents and the church they took me to. So I prayed as fervently and selflessly as I could manage that God would restore his vision. But, as would happen in any bad movie, his poor vision led Silver to wandering out in front of another car where he suffered another concussion which left him completely blind. Now all dogs go to heaven because all dogs are innocent. Every non-human form of life is innocent of the many sins the Bible spells out. Initially, I was angry. How could God cause my innocent dog to suffer, regardless of his motive or intent? The standard "mysterious ways" line didn't help at all. What did help was the realization that the best explanation was not that god was mysterious or unknowable, but that he simply wasn't there. The existence of the god described by the Bible and by our preacher and the believers I would talk with was simply not possible; not only because it violated all the laws of nature but because absolutely no evidence I could find supported the idea. Every thing I could learn about the world and how it worked refuted the idea of a caring, personal god who had created miraculous humans and a miraculous Earth to be their home and was everpresent, watching over us and, on proper supplication, violating the laws that he himself had set in place - if he felt like it.

As the years went by I simply became more and more convinced that there is a great deal about the working of the universe we do not yet know, but the basics - the principal of uniformitarianism, holds, everywhere and everywhen. Nothing is supernatural. No will directs or inspires the stream of events taking place over the passage of time. Only physics.

What signs or signals should I have caught that might have lured me back to my childhood faith? And how might my life have been different had I done so? I have lots of friends and I'm pretty sure most of them think I'm a nice guy. I buy fully and heartily into the Golden Rule. I believe it to be the sole basis of human civilization. How do you think my complete lack of divine faith hurt me? Will your god throw into a lake of fire because I led a good life but failed to do him obeisance? That is, of course, precisely what scriptures tells us. Why would ANY of you believe, much less WORSHIP such a god? He seems a monster. Would anyone care to correct me?

Dilligaf??

Greg

 

[K9Buck]

You're really all over the place aren't you? Either I'm forced to come to Jesus or I'm not Either your god made everything and everyone or it didn't

And isn't it prideful to hold yourself so far above other people?

That's one of the Big 7 sins you know.

Proverbs 9:7 ESV
7 Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.

 

[Blues Man]

Proverbs 9:7 ESV
7 Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.

That was probably plagiarized like most thing in the bible were

 

[K9Buck]

That was probably plagiarized like most thing in the bible were

Why do you hate God?

 

[Blues Man]

Why do you hate God?

I don't.

I don't hate anyone I just don't buy the snake oil religions are selling.

IF there is a god I am pretty sure it ain't the god in the bible and I'm not sure there is only one.

But I think we can know the way of the universe and live in balance with it while not knowing or even caring to know how we got here

 

[K9Buck]

I don't hate anyone I just don't buy the snake oil religions are selling.

I can't speak for every religion but I can tell you that God wants us to seek, love, and follow him and to love and forgive one another. Do you consider that to be "snake oil"?

 

[Blues Man]

I can't speak for every religion but I can tell you that God wants us to seek, love, and follow him and to love and forgive one another. Do you consider that to be "snake oil"?

Well I don't presume to know the mind of an immortal omniscient omnipotent being
And you can do all that without the religious dogma and people did just that before The Iron Age when the Abrahamic religions were invented

 

[K9Buck]

But I think we can know the way of the universe...

I submit to you that it's better to learn the way of God. The universe does not love you nor did it create you and it is only temporary. Your creator, who gave you life out of love, is eternal.

 

[K9Buck]

Well I don't presume to know the mind of an immortal omniscient omnipotent being
And you can do all that without the religious dogma and people did just that before The Iron Age when the Abrahamic religions were invented

God gave us his word. Again, how did Zechariah know 2,500 years ago that Jerusalem would be the issue that it is today?

How did Ezekiel correctly predict the rebirth of Israel and the exodus of modern Jews to that place?

God.

 

[Blues Man]

I submit to you that it's better to learn the way of God. The universe does not love you nor did it create you and it is only temporary. Your creator, who gave you life out of love, is eternal.

There is no evidence your god loves anyone.

In fact he capriciously killed untold numbers of the people he created and supposedly loved.

 

[Blues Man]

God gave us his word. Again, how did Zechariah know 2,500 years ago that Jerusalem would be the issue that it is today?

How did Ezekiel correctly predict the rebirth of Israel and the exodus of modern Jews to that place?

God.

No, men wrote those words.

And an organized religion decided what would and wouldn't be in the definitive "Word of a god" that became the bible.

 

[K9Buck]

No, men wrote those words.

And an organized religion decided what would and wouldn't be in the definitive "Word of a god" that became the bible.

Time to save those pearls for someone who will appreciate them.

 

[Blues Man]

Time to save those pearls for someone who will appreciate them.

Or maybe I'll stop wasting them on a denier of reason

 

[K9Buck]

Or maybe I'll stop wasting them on a denier of reason

 

[Blues Man]

View attachment 871836

Is that you yelling at atheists?

 

[K9Buck]

Is that you yelling at atheists?

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Why There’s No Such Thing as an Atheist​

November 02, 2015 by: Voddie Baucham Jr.

Believe No One Who Calls Himself an Atheist​

If what Paul says in Romans 1 is true, there is ultimately no such thing as an atheist. Anyone who calls himself one is wrong on at least three fronts.


First, someone who claims to be an atheist is suppressing the truth he knows. According to Romans 1, “What can be known about God is plain to them” (v. 19), and their denial is an expression of the fact that they are among those “men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (v. 18). Therefore, whatever they believe about themselves, the God who made them says otherwise, and we must believe God rather than man.


Second, anyone who claims to be an atheist is contradicting the God of truth. It is one thing for a person to be wrong about himself. It is quite another thing for him to be in disagreement with what God says about him. God says every man knows. Therefore, anyone who says he doesn’t know is calling God a liar. It’s a bit like a man arguing with his mother about what day he was born. Only in this case, it’s not his mother, but his inerrant, infallible, Creator.


Third, anyone who claims to be an atheist is ignoring his greatest need, and his only hope for its fulfillment. Man’s greatest and ultimate need is God. Apart from God, man is incomplete. Moreover, he is utterly incapable of achieving or attaining what he lacks. This is what drove Solomon to write, “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (Eccles. 2:11). This is the state of every person apart from God.

1. People Know There Is a God​

As we have already seen, Paul makes it very clear that people know God exists. However, they suppress that truth in their unrighteousness. Nevertheless, the knowledge is within them.


We see it in various ways in even the most ardent deniers of deity. (1) We see it in times of crisis, like the days following the tragedy of September 11, 2001, or December 7, 1941. (2) We see it in times of great joy, like the birth of a baby or the moment their team wins the big game. (3) We see it in times of fear, like when the Apollo 13 astronauts were in peril, or during the Cuban Missile Crisis.


In times like these, men are well aware that God exists.

2. People Know There Is Truth​

Much has been written about post-modernism and its denial of absolute truth. However, even the most hardened truth-denier believes you should take him at his word. The oft-used example is the person who states, “There is no absolute truth,” only to be faced with the response, “So you’re saying truth exists and Jesus is Lord?” To which he will respond, “No, that’s not what I said.”


Of course, this admittedly simplistic example fails to capture the complexity of postmodernity. However, the point is clear: all people believe in truth. They prove this every time they make a statement that they expect others to understand.

3. People Know There Is Right and Wrong​

One of the first phrases children learn to say with conviction is, “That’s not fair!” We know in our bones that some things are just not right! Events like September 11, 2001, and December 7, 1941, stand as lasting reminders that there is a universal sense of right and wrong.


On those days, people didn’t stand around debating whether the Bible condemns murder; they just shouted, “That’s not fair!” Ironically, many of them did so in direct opposition to the worldview they had embraced. Nevertheless, in moments like these, even fools become wise—at least for a moment.

4. People Know They Are Not Righteous​

Shortly after we learn to say, “That’s not fair!” we learn to say, “Nobody’s perfect.” This is our way of acknowledging our lack of righteousness without impugning ourselves. You see, if there is one who is perfect, then I am simply a sinner. However, if there is not one who is perfect, then I am no worse than anyone else, and, therefore, righteous by comparison.


Of course, there is One who was and is perfect. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to introduce those who have imbibed this falsehood to our perfect Savior.

5. People Know Judgement Is Necessary​

On May 2, 2011, we discovered that an elite team of Navy SEALs had executed a predawn raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where they captured and killed Osama Bin Laden. Response to the news was almost universal, as people from all walks of life sighed in relief knowing that one of the most notorious terrorists in world history had faced swift justice.


Why do people respond this way? Why is the natural, visceral response one of almost universal approval of retributive justice? Because people know that judgment is necessary. They know that wrongs need to be set right. And if they know that, then they know, somewhere down deep in their own souls, that they, too, deserve justice for the sins they have committed. Of course, people suppress this knowledge in various ways, from appealing to others’ worse behavior to judging ourselves by our intentions rather than our actions But the fact remains that we know better.

What a steaming pile of idiotic falsehoods.

"I have this pile of fetishes and neuroses, and i think I am normal, so everyone must have them, too!"

Uh, no.

 

[Insaneworld]

Will your god throw into a lake of fire because I led a good life but failed to do him obeisance? That is, of course, precisely what scriptures tells us. Why would ANY of you believe, much less WORSHIP such a god? He seems a monster. Would anyone care to correct me?

I don't believe you would be punished just for not believing in God.

You sound like someone empathetic, you mention the 'golden rule', and you seem to care (at least to some degree) about the suffering you cause, and the suffering that others cause. In my view this is what's most important.

Genuine faith in God can be very difficult to find for some of us, it can take a while and maybe the time is not enough for some. Personally I believe that's okay.