MsCassieMollie
Proud Member
Re: Athesit Thread version 2 (sorry K.O.S.).
^^^Oh dear....
^^^Oh dear....
I am posting this video here because it so beautifully explains my position, and I believe it is food for thought for anyone who calls himself a theist or atheist. Please read or watch it
[youtube]kKFDYf_YmmQ[/youtube]
"I cannot bring myself to be a religious person.
I cannot believe in Gods and Angels and Heavens and Hells. It all sounds too limiting, too convenient and too anthropomorphic.
I don't think religious people are wrong in believing in it however. What matters is that you believe in something that fulfills you and as long as they don't try to enforce their morals and beliefs on me, whatever makes them happy is just fine with me.
But I'm not ready to believe there is nothing after we die either.
It may well be true.
But its just as possible that it isn't.
Looking superficially at the world, you may be led to believe that there is no life after death. That there is no God, no Creator of any kind, for if there is one, who created him ?
But what do we really know about our existence ?
To examine that, lets ask the most basic questions:
Who What Why Where When
Who
Who are we?
Yes we are humans, but are we alone, are we unique in the universe, or are there others like us?
Do we die and disappear or do we live on in some way?
We have no context. Nothing to compare us to except other animals born on our planet, from which we ourselves have evolved.
Given the size and richness of the universe, that's a pretty small sample.
What
What are we?
Yes we are living organisms of biological origin.
But we know so little. How do our bodies really work? We have advanced immensely but we still can't change them, can't stop them from getting cancer or aging. We know much less of our brains. We don't really understand how they work and we're nowhere near imitating them.
Of matter, we know its mostly empty space. We're not even allowed to look deep into it because by looking, we change it.
Why
Why are we here?
The universe does not need us. It would get along fine without us.
So why did it generate us?
We don't serve any purpose and fulfill no apparent need.
Where
Where are we?
The universe is big. Too big for us to understand.
Where does it end?
Even if they told us the answer; would we understand it?
We would keep asking -- ok, so what's outside that?
When
Like the Where, this is a question we can not know the answer to.
Would never be able to understand it.
When did time start?
Any possible answer would beg the question -- ok, what was there before that?
So we can't even answer the Who, What, Why, Where and When of our existence.
We can see that we probably wouldn't even understand the answers.
We're playing in a game where we don't know and maybe can't know all the rules.
Given that, how can we be anything but agnostic
Some people say its cowardice.
They say: "You are only an agnostic because you linger on to your need of a daddy and are afraid to be alone and afraid of the repercussions in case there is a God. You should be brave. Do away with God, you don't need him."
I find that so childish.. Like a schoolyard dare.
I don't need backing. I don't need a peer group.
We all die alone.
The only thing I want is the truth. A truth I can believe.
Since we've seen how much we don't know, how can we know there is no higher power ? Not even a cold and uncaring one. How can we know there's nothing after we die ?
I'm an agnostic because I haven't given up wondering.
Haven't given up thinking.
And based on what I know to be true, an agnostic is the only thing I can be."
This is an interesting thread. I'm curious though, why there is such vehemence by some when discussing the idea of religion vs no religion? Almost as if you are defending yourselves against an attack? At least that is the way it comes across to me. Maybe it's just my perception.
Anyway, I see most of the negativity is directed toward Christianity and the Bible, but there are other religions out there. How do you all feel towards, for example, Judaism or Buddhism or Shintoism or Wicca?
You can't believe in the existance of a soul, can you? So what animates us, what makes us unique, what give us a life force? What about those who have had near death experiences? I'm really curious to know the atheist point of view here.
This is an interesting thread. I'm curious though, why there is such vehemence by some when discussing the idea of religion vs no religion? Almost as if you are defending yourselves against an attack? At least that is the way it comes across to me. Maybe it's just my perception.
Anyway, I see most of the negativity is directed toward Christianity and the Bible, but there are other religions out there. How do you all feel towards, for example, Judaism or Buddhism or Shintoism or Wicca?
You can't believe in the existance of a soul, can you? So what animates us, what makes us unique, what give us a life force? What about those who have had near death experiences? I'm really curious to know the atheist point of view here.
I think that all religions are false. Even if one of these religions is right, then the rest must be wrong, and who is to say that Christianity can be one of the false religions? Evolution and everything like that is the reason why we are all here. Science can prove why we exist, religious people can't. The Bible isn't proof. Those people who have had near-death experiences were just lucky, simple as that.
That's a misconception. The evolution theory does not explain why or how we got here, nor does it pretend to. Evolutionism and theism are not mutually exclusive. The evolution theory only provides an explanation of how life on earth evolved and resulted in the many different species that exist today. Personally, I believe in the concept of natural selection. It is logical and can be observed all around us. For example, I think there was once only 1 kind of bird. Through migration, natural selection and 'survival of the fittest', this specie of bird slowly mutated into other kinds of birds that were more suited to survive in different circumstances. However, I find it very hard to believe that all organisms derive from one common ancestor. An ant and a gorilla are related to each other? Humans are related to turtles? That sounds like science fiction to me. Afaik, this aspect of evolution theory has never been proven as there is no physical evidence for it. It's just a theoretical framework.
Also, science does not answer WHY we exist. As one of my previous posts noted, there is no functional reason why we exist. "The universe does not need us. It would get along fine without us. So why did it generate us? We don't serve any purpose and fulfill no apparent need". On the other hand, religion does provide an answer for why we exist, although it is based on belief rather than evidence.
I was talking about natural selection as well
As in science proving why we are here, I was talking about the fact that there was a big bang that created the universe, that can be proven, which would seem to be that the idea of God creating the universe is false
I clicked Play on that video and then turned it off as soon as he said 'the work of the devil'.
I clicked Play on that video and then turned it off as soon as he said 'the work of the devil'.
I thought it was hilarious. You really should watch it, especially where he talks about how fast a snail can run when it really has to. A bit of satire, eh?
I clicked Play on that video and then turned it off as soon as he said 'the work of the devil'.
I clicked Play on that video and then turned it off as soon as he said 'the work of the devil'.
I think that all religions are false. Even if one of these religions is right, then the rest must be wrong, and who is to say that Christianity can be one of the false religions? Evolution and everything like that is the reason why we are all here. Science can prove why we exist, religious people can't. The Bible isn't proof. Those people who have had near-death experiences were just lucky, simple as that.
Can anybody prove God exists? No.
Can anybody prove that everything that's written in the Bible really happened? No.
Can anybody explain why God supposedly created people on the sixth day, but when the dinosaurs were around there were no humans? No, because humans were not created before the dinosaurs came about.
These are some of the reasons why I believe religion is false.
Let me look at your questions in a different way:
Can anybody prove God does not exist? No.
If people ask this question about God, you could also ask the same question about everything mythical, legend, etc. If people make a point that God exists because there's no evidence to prove that he doesn't exist, then I'm going to claim that unicorns and flying pigs exist.
There is one huge scandal going on right now in my country.....so many people are without jobs...working but not getting paid....people can"t pay their bills and buy food....and the catholic church has built a huge building...some kind of a catholic center. Covered with onix on the outside and worth more than 16 million euros.
Talking about compassion.
yeah and where has my post gone? and why is there a christian thread where no debate is allowed yet theres debate and argument in this thread.cant we souless atheists be left alone lol