Official ATHEIST/AGNOSTIC THREAD

[demandred]

Demandred has returned to write giant walls of text that I won't be reading, I see.

Truth is, God doesn't exist. People who believe in God are silly and should be mocked.

I've got a paper by Dan Dennet somewhere about preachers who have lost faith but still preach because they don't know how to do anything else. I'll upload it sometime in a better thread.

Thank you I appreciate the love... I see you haven't changed... at all... in all this time

 

[theillestrator]

theillestrator much love

Just a random general statement that I thought as I read what you stated

I do agree that whatever this whole mission to spread whatever faiths has grown perverted over time, I am always careful with stepping on other people's toes in whatever when it comes to belief, because I would def like the same respect... from my own viewpoint of God that I see... is that he gives us all freedom to choose whatever we all wish... If that is what he does... then why should I do something different... what makes me want to step over a boundary that not even who I believe to be God will cross?

I believe the strongest way to pull people into whatever it is that you are doing is your own lifestyle... not preaching and hounding them into the ground... all people are in different time periods in their lives and need different things at those time periods... part of life is having the freedom to evolve through these time periods..

I believe that if we focused less on the technicalities of the different faiths and instead focused on the general things that they have in common which is ALOT, when it comes in terms of societal growth... then we would be much better as a people growing in unity vs division as the result of division is never positive

So with all that said regardless of a person's faith or lack of ... if their focus is the overall growth of people and love for people.. then we are on the same side

i hear you. i have absolutely no problem with that. i feel that as long as person can look back on his/her life and be satisfied and happy with what he/she has done and is doing...then mission accomplished. peace bro.

 

[tri3w]

I'm searching for a middle ground in which we can relate in, I'm happy you were willing to share this part of your life with us... so I guess the only common part would be to share some of mine

I myself can never declare myself an atheist I think I was much more agnostic... growing up I just wanted to see God.... I didnt have a real purpose in it... other than I just wanted to know that it was real... I've had a long passionate disdain for church in what the black community does on sundays... because I just never felt like I could see God in it... it just didnt fit my image of what I thought God would be like... and I'll admit I was a bit selfish, self centered, and arrogant as a kid(we never change much) but I just couldn't see it.. I went to a Preschool that atleast taught us moral law... and when I reached the rest of the world and grew up some I had to shift or adjust to the point that people ... didnt care about what I learned in preschool... I went through my little brief time with the sex, drugs, gangbangin, alcohol, but I was a honor roll student at heart.. I just got caught up... for a nice portion of my life... I dont live in my regrets, but I do wish I did some things differently... but my male influences was ... rather limited.... I just needed answers and I reached a certain level of breaking... I decided that I would finally sit down and try to read the book I grew up calling the instruction book to life until I understood it... and it took a long time and I still wasnt able to comprehend it... it wasnt until I got around some preachers who were solid in their teaching as well as some jews who taught me the culture and help bring this book into reality to me rather than just the pages in just another book

and just to be real... when I was a little guy I use to always want my old man to come around, so I just grew tired of how things were, and I just spent a while and just prayed.. I didnt know what I was doing I tried it and I just hoped it would work... the day after my prayer was answered... so I knew prayer worked... perhaps the only people that need prayer for themselves this desperately are those in desperate need of something.... but now as Im a bit older... I am just figuring more and more out about God in prayer... it brings understanding to alot of things in life including the Word... it may sound crazy, but I can only share my experience for what it is

But ya that does suck that there may of really only been one reference towards dinosaurs in the word... I wish it woulda been more for you in there for you to read about dinosaurs, and I feel you on the Church thing... I spent a large part of the beginning dreading it, I just didnt enjoy it... but I found a place where I feel was made for me and accepts me how I am and even gives me a chance to share with the rest of the people....

and the biggest thing that I had to deal with before I was converted over was opening up my mind to the possibilities, allowing me to accept it from someone elses perspective, and then bringing it into my own perspective in terms of my own understanding and reality... I know quite a few even preachers that are powerful in the Word, but they are powerful in intellect... raw intellect 100% by itself rejects God... you have to almost throw it out and learn it from a spiritual aspect in order for it to start turning on the light bulbs within... contrary to some people though God is very much logical if you are willing to accept it on spiritual terms

Not to use a Bible story, but I feel that it clarifies it... Christ was rejected and killed not because he necessarily did something wrong... its just the people that rejected him could not accept the spiritualism that he was trying to bring into a very intellectualistic Judaism ... some of the things he spoke of seemed completely backwards, contradictory, impossible, and generally offensive to how they thought, lived, and did business.... only those who were willing to toss out their mindstate and enter into his and see it from his perspective were able to make sense out of whatever it was that Christ was to them...

demandred, much respect to you. i definitely understand your angle. as an atheist, i think people (not you) automatically think that I view religion/spiritual beliefs in a bad way. not necessarily, i just don't subscribe to it. to give christianity a chance, I would need to give every other "reasonable" view that same respect. however, I don't see a need to give any of them a chance because from what i know about them...it's not enough. to me, to become "spiritually convinced" means to falsely persuade myself of something. faith doesn't work for me, and I understand that it works for others. it's easy to believe and it's easy not to believe, it just depends on your state of mind. i'm cool with plenty people of different faiths. i don't knock anyone for that. the only problem i have is with people who try to force views on me.

Objectivity, a very beatiful thing........it dont happen all the time like it needs too, but when it does, its a good thing.........if the wolrd could grasp this concept, we would be in a different place rite now..........props to Demandred and Illestrator

 

[earth two superman]

bush never said that, damn lie

and yes to the question

im still waiting for your response jen.

 

[earth two superman]

still waiting jen bush.

 

[glowy]

I just came in here to tell Jen Bush hi.

 

[Chike]

If you want to combat religion, the best way to do so is revealing the truth. The worst thing you can do is post pictures of a Jesus blow up sex doll as your ammo.... very childish. lol

 

[ThaChozenWun]

If you want to combat religion, the best way to do so is revealing the truth. The worst thing you can do is post pictures of a Jesus blow up sex doll as your ammo.... very childish. lol

LMAO that's funny.

 

[ThaChozenWun]

As for the thread definitely. First DoU comes out telling me I'm going to burn in hell and God is going to laugh at me while it happens, and then he puts Popeye in his AVI to threaten me.

 

[Chike]

LMAO that's funny.

In what way? I don't get it lol

 

[ThaChozenWun]

In what way? I don't get it lol

You try combating religion by teaching truth to religious folk....

It's differing opinions on what truth is...
Like I believe other inhabitable planets being of existence as truth
I know a good bit of Christians who still think Earth is the center of the universe and everything revolves and depends on it.

 

[Chike]

So you to believe that that image was Jesus?

No, I don't.

You try combating religion by teaching truth to religious folk....

It's differing opinions on what truth is...
Like I believe other inhabitable planets being of existence as truth
I know a good bit of Christians who still think Earth is the center of the universe and everything revolves and depends on it.

If you can't reach them with reality, that's not your problem.... But I don't find it antagonizing for religious people who sincerely believe what they believe, trying to sway people into their belief since that's what they are taught to believe they need to do...

Some of the things DoU says about non-believers may dip into the antagonizing category, but I think it's just poor marketing and poor use of analogies on his part.

 

[Skeratch]

If you want to combat religion, the best way to do so is revealing the truth. The worst thing you can do is post pictures of a Jesus blow up sex doll as your ammo.... very childish. lol

word . . .

 

[alissowack]

If you don't believe that these deities exist, then you have nothing to worry about...unless....

But to try to be serious, if there is a Hell, then a "Christian" can't send you there.

 

[earth two superman]

stilll waiting................

 

[jonlakadeadmic]

didnt read through.

yes i would.

 

[ThaChozenWun]

If you don't believe that these deities exist, then you have nothing to worry about...unless....

But to try to be serious, if there is a Hell, then a "Christian" can't send you there.

They Tattle

 

[kingblaze84]

Forget it nigga, they ain't voting for a basketball playing nigga with a Muslim father a second tine. Fugetaboutit.

LMAO........

For the record, I'll vote for an atheist or agnostic.

Who you pray to don't make me shit.

 

[Shuffington]

check this out.

These poor ministers endless pursuit into Christian divinity eventually ether'd their faith. Now they haven't figured out how to transition their way out of the church without being persecuted by the clergy and or ostracized by their family; or even still they dont have an alternative plan to earn cash and make a decent living that doesnt involve the church.

tough break

I am an atheist," says "Jack," a Southern Baptist with more than 20 years in ministry.

"I live out my life as if there is no God," says "Adam," who is part of the pastoral staff of a small evangelical church in the Bible Belt.

The two, who asked that their real identities be protected, are pastors who have lost their faith. And these two men, who have built their careers and lives around faith, say they now feel trapped, living a lie.

"I spent the majority of my life believing and pursuing this religious faith, Christianity," Jack said. "And to get to this point in my life, I just don't feel like I believe anymore."

"The more I read the Bible, the more questions I had," Jack said. "The more things didn't make sense to me -- what it said -- and the more things didn't add up."

Jack said that 10 years ago, he started to feel his faith slipping away. He grew bothered by inconsistencies regarding the last days of Jesus' life, what he described as the improbability of stories like "Noah's Ark" and by attitudes expressed in the Bible regarding women and their place in the world.

"Reading the Bible is what led me not to believe in God," he said.

He said it was difficult to continue to work in ministry. "I just look at it as a job and do what I'm supposed to do," he said. "I've done it for years."

Adam said his initial doubts about God came as he read the work of the so-called New Atheists -- popular authors like the prominent scientist Richard Dawkins. He said the research was intended to help him defend his faith.

"My thinking was that God is big enough to handle any questions that I can come up with," he said but that did not happen.

"I realized that everything I'd been taught to believe was sort of sheltered," Adam said, "and never really looked at secular teaching or other philosophies. ... I thought, 'Oh my gosh. Am I believing the wrong things? Have I spent my entire life and my career promoting something that is not true?'"

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/atheist-ministers-leading-faithful/story?id=12004359

read some of the comments too. These fundamental zealots have no compassion at all!... its kind of sad.

 

[Disciplined InSight]

We're in the latter times...I guess the great falling away of the faith has begun.