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

[Fort Fun Indiana]

You're scared. I understand.

A grown man, using 3rd grade taunts.

Expected.

 

[ding]

A grown man, using 3rd grade taunts.

Expected.

So was your cowardice. That's why I challenged you. I knew you would refuse.

 

[Arlette]

Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness.

Not so. Religion promotes believing in the religion it promotes. Under threat of eternal damnation. Read your first commandment

 

[Meriweather]

Not so. Religion promotes believing in the religion it promotes. Under threat of eternal damnation. Read your first commandment

Understand it from the Hebrew perspective. Put God/love of God first. This life works better with that priority.

 

[ding]

Not so. Religion promotes believing in the religion it promotes. Under threat of eternal damnation. Read your first commandment

Religion teaches that we have a choice in how we behave.

 

[Carl in Michigan]

Consider this. Your best friend comes to see you bringing along another friend. "Hi, Batcat! This is my friend, John. I had to threaten him with hell before he would come see you."

Knowing Christ ourselves, is this best we can do? If so, perhaps Jesus needs better friends?

Jesus reminded the people of the consequences regularly. He talked about people being given SPACE TO REPENT, but it won't last forever. Eventually their chance will come to an end

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

 

[Papageorgio]

Accept? Huh? Has there been mass murders or imprisonment here that nobody told me about?

"No real beliefs"



"Real" beliefs, eh? Like, believing in zombie kings and prophets on winged horses?

I don’t think I mentioned mass murdersor anything else. I am tolerant of you and accept your stand but to my knowledge there were no mass murders or imprisonment, funny how you think.

 

[Papageorgio]

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?

In over 60 years I never once doubted there was a God. You might want to find another rule because the Golden Rule is based on Jesus’ teachings. I don’t care what your beliefs are to me, you are human, you have free will and you can believe what you need to survive, I’m good with that, I will continue to believe in God, as it has never harmed me nor has my faith harmed anyone else.

 

[Arlette]

Understand it from the Hebrew perspective. Put God/love of God first. This life works better with that priority.

But I do. I'm talking about the God who wants to teach us how to raise our children, even though he drowned all of his

 

[Meriweather]

But I do. I'm talking about the God who wants to teach us how to raise our children, even though he drowned all of his

How many have survived (or will survive) life on this planet? There have been plenty of natural disasters, not to mention epidemics and war. God is with us through it all.

 

[Blues Man]

Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness.

So does Buddhism and Taoism

 

[Blues Man]

No, I haven't even read it. I'm responding to something else you wrote. Apparently you need help to see the full picture.

Religion teaches accountability and responsibility.

Which is why the Catholic Church protects pedophiles

 

[Batcat]

Thank you Captian Obvious.

Now to the question you avoided:

Why would they want to convert?

Thus underlining my question.

People convert for a variety of reasons.

What Really Drives People to Convert?

Converting others is a goal of several of the major world religions, but what pushes people to exchange one religion for another?

www.beliefnet.com

 

[Blues Man]

People convert for a variety of reasons.

What Really Drives People to Convert?

Converting others is a goal of several of the major world religions, but what pushes people to exchange one religion for another?

www.beliefnet.com

The very first line of that article states that Buddhism is one of the religions that actively seeks to convert people

That is

 

[ding]

So does Buddhism and Taoism

If that were the case you wouldn't condemn respect for people of faith.

 

[ding]

Which is why the Catholic Church protects pedophiles

Read the John Jay report and then get back to me.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

I don’t think I mentioned mass murdersor anything else.

I did. I made my own point in my own words.

What does "not accept" mean? Your melodramatic words went undefined.

 

[Batcat]

The very first line of that article states that Buddhism is one of the religions that actively seeks to convert people

That is

Do Buddhists try to convert people?

I’ve had some conversations with Buddhists who proselytize their view as right. Do Buddhists try to convert people like other religions do?

www.lionsroar.com

 

[Mashmont]

Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness.

That's it right there. I've noticed the more religious a Christian person, the more of these things they practice.

 

[zaangalewa]

You don't need religion for any of that.

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Arlette, what did do science against the pest epidemies ("black death")? I'll tell you: Nothing! But Christians wan against this pestilences - with strange methods - but we wan.

And you make me personally now a little angry with your perfectly learned stupidity and perfectly learned atheistic hate messages. Reason: I was a relativelly young man when I read in the same newspaper "Bild" two short articles: One about a criminal weapon trader who had caused an economic loss of about 300 millions for others. And an another article about a nun who travelled to Africa for to help in an ebola epedemic. When I read this I was shocked from this nun because she was throwing her life away by dying on ebola - and I admired this weapon trader because he made 300 millions. Two days later I was ashamed about me on my own. How stupid had I been? This man had been a criminal and many people lost their jobs because of his crimes. And the nun was an hero fighting against one of our most cruel enemies: ebola.

Perhaps you should slowly really start to try to think about what you are doing on what reason.