Why Isn't Everyone an Atheist?

[JoeB131]

I'm not afraid of dying. That doesn't mean I want to now or anytime soon.

I'm well aware of what Jesus said about few getting into heaven. I'm also well aware of what he said about NONE of your kind going there. At least in paradise, those like you won't be a concern because you won't be there.

Yes, so essentially, you really think that Heaven is for mean spirited, selfish assholes?

Have you actually READ the bible?

 

[JoeB131]

Atheist always amaze me. They thump their chest and proclaim that there is no God. Why do they spend so much time trying to convince other people that there is no God if God is so unimportant to them? There is no Santa Claus. Why aren't there hundreds of OPs harping on the fact that they don't believe in Santa Claus? To an Atheist there is no difference.

The big difference is, that people who believe in Santa Claus aren't trying to impose their beliefs on the rest of us or order society around the Naughty and Nice List. Mostly because they are six-year olds.

Theists have the temperment of six-year olds, but they keep trying to put prayer in school or keep people form getting married or managing other people's lady parts.

 

[JoeB131]

I'll tell any atheist that what I believe is based on faith. The interesting thing is that what they believe is also based on faith yet they don't understand that it is. Most atheists believe in evolution. Unless they've done the experiments personally, they have to trust the data and findings from someone else they use to support their claims. That makes them the same as a Christian operating by faith.

Jezus H. Christ, on some level you think that's logical.

Okay, here's the thing about evolution. It's not just that someone did some experiment and told us to take their word for it. They did research and their research has been validated by other experts. when a paper is published, it is peer reviewed, challenged, the challenges are addressed. Also, things are put through multi-disciplinary review. More importantly, when there IS an error, they correct the error. (See Piltdown Man).

If we ask for proof, they can show us the fossils in museums, they can show us physiology that shows that we and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor.

Now, for the Christian, what do you guys have. Well. YOu have the Bible. That's it. Just the Bible. And you guys do handstands if someone points out the Bible isn't even internally consistent, much less consistent with what we know about science and history.

 

[JoeB131]

Yes, I addressed "fear of mortality" in my post, did you miss that? Do people who believe in God not die? So there is no rational basis to believe that believing in God leads to immortality. Also, can you name any other living organism which fears mortality? All life strives to continue living or avoid death, but only humans worry about what happens after death. The REASON for this is our intrinsic spiritual awareness. The hard-wired understanding of something beyond mortality.

The fact we can conceptualize death is not proof of life after death.

In fact, there is no proof of life after death.

 

[Avatar4321]

Because some of speak with the Lord and have sacred experiences with Him. Some people seem the Lord and find Him.

Others don't but realize that if they are going to rational and not believe in God, that agnosticism is the way to go. After all there is nothing rational.about blindly believing there is no God, but admitting you don't know is quite rational.

 

[the_human_being]

Under a different thread on this board, I posted the below video, of Dan Barker of Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) fame, who speaks about why the biblical god is an impossibility as my response to a Christian's comment, which I paraphrase here, that everything one needed to know about living a good life could be found in the bible and that I should obtain one and read it. Since I received no reply from this person whom I directed it to, nor did I receive a reply from anyone else for that matter, I'm hoping that by now making it the subject of a thread some other bible believer will 'step up to the plate', so to speak, and tell us all where Barker errs in his belief that there is no God because of the many biblical contradictions that he cites. If no one can do it, why isn't everyone an Atheist like me? Thank you. ~ Susan

Why should they waste their time pleasing you? It's not like we haven't been ex[posed to fools before. If you choose to deny God and be a member of the Walking Dead, have at it. We Christians have chosen LIFE.

 

[Boss]

...but they keep trying to put prayer in school or keep people form getting married or managing other people's lady parts.

Not speaking as a theist here but it seems the problems in our schools and with troubled youth has grown exponentially since we took prayer out of school.

Yes, I addressed "fear of mortality" in my post, did you miss that? Do people who believe in God not die? So there is no rational basis to believe that believing in God leads to immortality. Also, can you name any other living organism which fears mortality? All life strives to continue living or avoid death, but only humans worry about what happens after death. The REASON for this is our intrinsic spiritual awareness. The hard-wired understanding of something beyond mortality.

The fact we can conceptualize death is not proof of life after death.

In fact, there is no proof of life after death.

Hey, look, we're having an intellectual conversation here, no one has proclaimed they have definitive proof of God. I clearly stated that man cannot prove any of his incarnations of God. So stop reading my posts in the context of believing I am somehow trying to prove God to you.

I am talking about human spirituality and our intrinsic understanding of something greater than self. This is not about conceptualizing death, I am sure when a lion is in the midst of battle with another alpha male, he is fully aware of the concept that if he loses he is dead meat. It is our ability to conceptualize something beyond death which makes us different.

 

[Hollie]

Under a different thread on this board, I posted the below video, of Dan Barker of Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) fame, who speaks about why the biblical god is an impossibility as my response to a Christian's comment, which I paraphrase here, that everything one needed to know about living a good life could be found in the bible and that I should obtain one and read it. Since I received no reply from this person whom I directed it to, nor did I receive a reply from anyone else for that matter, I'm hoping that by now making it the subject of a thread some other bible believer will 'step up to the plate', so to speak, and tell us all where Barker errs in his belief that there is no God because of the many biblical contradictions that he cites. If no one can do it, why isn't everyone an Atheist like me? Thank you. ~ Susan

Why should they waste their time pleasing you? It's not like we haven't been ex[posed to fools before. If you choose to deny God and be a member of the Walking Dead, have at it. We Christians have chosen LIFE.

Overwhelmingly, you xtians (and overwhelmingly, believers in all religions), have done nothing but accept the religion of your familial, social circumstances and that dictated by your geographic location.

You're just cultists of happenstance.

 

[Boss]

I'll tell any atheist that what I believe is based on faith. The interesting thing is that what they believe is also based on faith yet they don't understand that it is. Most atheists believe in evolution. Unless they've done the experiments personally, they have to trust the data and findings from someone else they use to support their claims. That makes them the same as a Christian operating by faith.

Jezus H. Christ, on some level you think that's logical.

Okay, here's the thing about evolution. It's not just that someone did some experiment and told us to take their word for it. They did research and their research has been validated by other experts. when a paper is published, it is peer reviewed, challenged, the challenges are addressed. Also, things are put through multi-disciplinary review. More importantly, when there IS an error, they correct the error. (See Piltdown Man).

If we ask for proof, they can show us the fossils in museums, they can show us physiology that shows that we and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor.

Now, for the Christian, what do you guys have. Well. YOu have the Bible. That's it. Just the Bible. And you guys do handstands if someone points out the Bible isn't even internally consistent, much less consistent with what we know about science and history.

First of all, evolution does not now, nor has it ever explained the ORIGIN of life. It is an ever-changing theory about how life can change over time to account for various factors of survival. Whether any portion of the theory is true or false has nothing to do with how life originated.

You can't show me any legitimate proof of how life started. We do not know the answer to this question and it poses quite the paradox in attempting to answer from a physical nature perspective. Obviously something started life because it exists, but the laws of biogenesis say life comes from life and there is no spontaneous generation.

As for the Christians, I'll let them fight their own battles, but just for sake of clarification here... it is possible for a God to exist without being the Christian incarnation. I will even go so far as to add, the current Christian incarnation is considerably different than the earliest Christians. This is why there is so much contradiction found in the Bible. Or one of the reasons, anyway. The Bible was written by many different people over thousands of years, later compiled into The Bible from translations of Hebrew scriptures (Torah) and through to the New Testament, the life of Jesus, and ending with Revelations, the prophecy of John for the future. But you have to know which parts are which and what is being discussed in the Bible, with context to what it means for Christian followers. The contradictions are often misunderstood context or failure to see the intention in the proper context. It takes years of studying the Bible and history of it, to fully grasp the details enough to understand it.

Now I love the Biblical Contradictionist... they approach this topic as if critiquing The Big Lebowski.

 

[the_human_being]

Under a different thread on this board, I posted the below video, of Dan Barker of Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) fame, who speaks about why the biblical god is an impossibility as my response to a Christian's comment, which I paraphrase here, that everything one needed to know about living a good life could be found in the bible and that I should obtain one and read it. Since I received no reply from this person whom I directed it to, nor did I receive a reply from anyone else for that matter, I'm hoping that by now making it the subject of a thread some other bible believer will 'step up to the plate', so to speak, and tell us all where Barker errs in his belief that there is no God because of the many biblical contradictions that he cites. If no one can do it, why isn't everyone an Atheist like me? Thank you. ~ Susan

Why should they waste their time pleasing you? It's not like we haven't been ex[posed to fools before. If you choose to deny God and be a member of the Walking Dead, have at it. We Christians have chosen LIFE.

Overwhelmingly, you xtians (and overwhelmingly, believers in all religions), have done nothing but accept the religion of your familial, social circumstances and that dictated by your geographic location.

You're just cultists of happenstance.

At least I am something! LOL!!

 

[Hollie]

Under a different thread on this board, I posted the below video, of Dan Barker of Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) fame, who speaks about why the biblical god is an impossibility as my response to a Christian's comment, which I paraphrase here, that everything one needed to know about living a good life could be found in the bible and that I should obtain one and read it. Since I received no reply from this person whom I directed it to, nor did I receive a reply from anyone else for that matter, I'm hoping that by now making it the subject of a thread some other bible believer will 'step up to the plate', so to speak, and tell us all where Barker errs in his belief that there is no God because of the many biblical contradictions that he cites. If no one can do it, why isn't everyone an Atheist like me? Thank you. ~ Susan

Why should they waste their time pleasing you? It's not like we haven't been ex[posed to fools before. If you choose to deny God and be a member of the Walking Dead, have at it. We Christians have chosen LIFE.

Overwhelmingly, you xtians (and overwhelmingly, believers in all religions), have done nothing but accept the religion of your familial, social circumstances and that dictated by your geographic location.

You're just cultists of happenstance.

At least I am something! LOL!!

Yes. A cultist. An accomplishment of some merit, I suppose.

 

[Hollie]

I'll tell any atheist that what I believe is based on faith. The interesting thing is that what they believe is also based on faith yet they don't understand that it is. Most atheists believe in evolution. Unless they've done the experiments personally, they have to trust the data and findings from someone else they use to support their claims. That makes them the same as a Christian operating by faith.

Jezus H. Christ, on some level you think that's logical.

Okay, here's the thing about evolution. It's not just that someone did some experiment and told us to take their word for it. They did research and their research has been validated by other experts. when a paper is published, it is peer reviewed, challenged, the challenges are addressed. Also, things are put through multi-disciplinary review. More importantly, when there IS an error, they correct the error. (See Piltdown Man).

If we ask for proof, they can show us the fossils in museums, they can show us physiology that shows that we and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor.

Now, for the Christian, what do you guys have. Well. YOu have the Bible. That's it. Just the Bible. And you guys do handstands if someone points out the Bible isn't even internally consistent, much less consistent with what we know about science and history.

First of all, evolution does not now, nor has it ever explained the ORIGIN of life. It is an ever-changing theory about how life can change over time to account for various factors of survival. Whether any portion of the theory is true or false has nothing to do with how life originated.

You can't show me any legitimate proof of how life started. We do not know the answer to this question and it poses quite the paradox in attempting to answer from a physical nature perspective. Obviously something started life because it exists, but the laws of biogenesis say life comes from life and there is no spontaneous generation.

As for the Christians, I'll let them fight their own battles, but just for sake of clarification here... it is possible for a God to exist without being the Christian incarnation. I will even go so far as to add, the current Christian incarnation is considerably different than the earliest Christians. This is why there is so much contradiction found in the Bible. Or one of the reasons, anyway. The Bible was written by many different people over thousands of years, later compiled into The Bible from translations of Hebrew scriptures (Torah) and through to the New Testament, the life of Jesus, and ending with Revelations, the prophecy of John for the future. But you have to know which parts are which and what is being discussed in the Bible, with context to what it means for Christian followers. The contradictions are often misunderstood context or failure to see the intention in the proper context. It takes years of studying the Bible and history of it, to fully grasp the details enough to understand it.

Now I love the Biblical Contradictionist... they approach this topic as if critiquing The Big Lebowski.

It's been explained to you both repeatedly and tediously that your phony "law of biogenesis" is a fraud. There is no such "law", except as it may exist at the "Watchtower Bible Society".

Secondly, the Theory of Evolution does not address the origins of life. Less Harun Yahya and more peer reviewed science makes Bossy a better poster as opposed to poser.

 

[Boss]

It's been explained to you both repeatedly and tediously that your phony "law of biogenesis" is a fraud. There is no such "law", except as it may exist at the "Watchtower Bible Society".

Secondly, the Theory of Evolution does not address the origins of life. Less Harun Yahya and more peer reviewed science makes Bossy a better poster as opposed to poser.

The Law of Biogenesis is certainly not a fraud and is supported by most of the science community as well as the mentally sane. Louis Pasteur is the scientist who gave us the Law of Biogenesis... you know, the guy who figured out you need to pasteurize your milk to keep it from killing your stupid ass? Yep... The Good Royalty in France thought dear Louie mad in the head... the notion that "beings" could live inside a person! What utter rubbish and nonsense!

And I know the theory of evolution doesn't address origins of life, I just made that point myself.

I have no idea what Harun Yahya is.... if it's glutens, you are probably correct.

 

[Hollie]

It's been explained to you both repeatedly and tediously that your phony "law of biogenesis" is a fraud. There is no such "law", except as it may exist at the "Watchtower Bible Society".

Secondly, the Theory of Evolution does not address the origins of life. Less Harun Yahya and more peer reviewed science makes Bossy a better poster as opposed to poser.

The Law of Biogenesis is certainly not a fraud and is supported by most of the science community as well as the mentally sane. Louis Pasteur is the scientist who gave us the Law of Biogenesis... you know, the guy who figured out you need to pasteurize your milk to keep it from killing your stupid ass? Yep... The Good Royalty in France thought dear Louie mad in the head... the notion that "beings" could live inside a person! What utter rubbish and nonsense!

And I know the theory of evolution doesn't address origins of life, I just made that point myself.

I have no idea what Harun Yahya is.... if it's glutens, you are probably correct.

You spend way too much time trying to be the head mucky muck at your local affiliate of the Watchtower Society.

CB000 Law of Biogenesis

Claim CB000:
Pasteur and other scientists disproved the concept of spontaneous generation and established the "law of biogenesis" -- that life comes only from previous life.

Source:
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1985. Life--How Did It Get Here? Brooklyn, NY, p. 38.

Response:

1. The spontaneous generation that Pasteur and others disproved was the idea that life forms such as mice, maggots, and bacteria can appear fully formed. They disproved a form of creationism. There is no law of biogenesis saying that very primitive life cannot form from increasingly complex molecules.

 

[JoeB131]

Because some of speak with the Lord and have sacred experiences with Him. Some people seem the Lord and find Him.

Others don't but realize that if they are going to rational and not believe in God, that agnosticism is the way to go. After all there is nothing rational.about blindly believing there is no God, but admitting you don't know is quite rational.

No one is speaking to you but the voices in your head. they have medications for that now.

Point is, you don't believe that there is a Zeus or a Krishna or a Odin or a Quezacoatl. You pretty much are sure those deities don't exist. You don't think they get together with Yahweh and Jesus on the weekend and shoot the breeze.

But if I'm absolutely sure that NONE of them exist, why, that's "irrational".

 

[JoeB131]

First of all, evolution does not now, nor has it ever explained the ORIGIN of life. It is an ever-changing theory about how life can change over time to account for various factors of survival. Whether any portion of the theory is true or false has nothing to do with how life originated.

You can't show me any legitimate proof of how life started. We do not know the answer to this question and it poses quite the paradox in attempting to answer from a physical nature perspective. Obviously something started life because it exists, but the laws of biogenesis say life comes from life and there is no spontaneous generation.

Okay, as usual, I'm not wasting time on the whole of your verbal diarrhea.

You need to look up the "Miller-Urey" experiment, which proved that the building blocks of life could be created by natural forces.

And it's much easier to believe that over millions of years, proteins could combine to form life than it is that some old guy with a beard decided, 'Meh, I'm going to create life so that in a few billion years, it's going to evolve into a species that is going to be smart enough to worship me, and those fuckers better not start doing any of that gay shit, or they are in real trouble!!!"

 

[PratchettFan]

I haven't discussed this with another species, so it is difficult to tell where else it might be. Human beings have a highly developed sense of imagination. Perhaps there is a tipping point. But the same tendency to create a god is used to create the character in a novel. Yet no one claims Scarlet O'Hara was a connection to a deity.

Human beings are pack animals. But we are also, pound for pound, the weakest and most ineffective species on the planet. Our claws are useless, teeth blunt, muscles weak and senses dull. We are slow, noisy and clumsy. The only thing we have going for us is our ability to see the future. We plan, look at raw materials and envision weapons. That is how we survive. Without it, we would have died out as a species long ago. A species which does that is naturally going to wonder what happens when the body dies. We live in the future and death is the ultimate future.

You speak of the Dark Ages. I would offer the proof of the effectiveness of a survival trait is survival. Did we not survive?

The only thing we have going for us is our ability to see the future. We plan, look at raw materials and envision weapons. That is how we survive.

The word you are looking for is "inspiration." Humans become inspired. Our inspiration comes from belief in powers beyond our mortal ability as individuals. Spirituality.

We live in the future and death is the ultimate future.

No, death is the end of life. What happens in the future after life requires a spiritual component.

Did we not survive?

Religion played a central role.

Civilization, or life in cities, became possible through the religious centers who were the earliest authority and government.

No. I wasn't looking for the word "inspiration". I use the word "imagination". It comes from our ability to make connections and extrapolate that to potential futures. No spirituality is required.

What happens after death is unknown. Human beings don't like unknowns. So we make up potential futures. Again, just another sign of our primary survival mechanism. No spirituality required.

You won't get an argument from me that religion isn't an essential aspect of human society. To claim otherwise would be counter to the obvious evidence. However, religion has absolutely nothing to do with spirituality. It is purely sociological. Faith is spiritual, but religion is all about group interaction. In any human society you will find government and religion, because they are the two halves of the same thing.

 

[DriftingSand]

The reason why not everyone is an atheist?

Because deep down, we are all afraid of dying. and if you aren't you're an idiot.

Religion gives us the comforting hope that after we die, we continue.

More than just a hope. A literal knowledge based on faith and the soft but powerful voice of the Holy Spirit.

 

[Newby]

Religion is a social club, nothing more. Beliefs in an afterlife has nothing to do with religion.

That is a bizarrely ignorant claim.

I just shook my head in dismay that there are people out there that ignorant. This board sadly proves it every day, however.

 

[Newby]

I'll tell any atheist that what I believe is based on faith. The interesting thing is that what they believe is also based on faith yet they don't understand that it is. Most atheists believe in evolution. Unless they've done the experiments personally, they have to trust the data and findings from someone else they use to support their claims. That makes them the same as a Christian operating by faith.

Jezus H. Christ, on some level you think that's logical.

Okay, here's the thing about evolution. It's not just that someone did some experiment and told us to take their word for it. They did research and their research has been validated by other experts. when a paper is published, it is peer reviewed, challenged, the challenges are addressed. Also, things are put through multi-disciplinary review. More importantly, when there IS an error, they correct the error. (See Piltdown Man).

If we ask for proof, they can show us the fossils in museums, they can show us physiology that shows that we and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor.

Now, for the Christian, what do you guys have. Well. YOu have the Bible. That's it. Just the Bible. And you guys do handstands if someone points out the Bible isn't even internally consistent, much less consistent with what we know about science and history.

First of all, evolution does not now, nor has it ever explained the ORIGIN of life. It is an ever-changing theory about how life can change over time to account for various factors of survival. Whether any portion of the theory is true or false has nothing to do with how life originated.

You can't show me any legitimate proof of how life started. We do not know the answer to this question and it poses quite the paradox in attempting to answer from a physical nature perspective. Obviously something started life because it exists, but the laws of biogenesis say life comes from life and there is no spontaneous generation.

As for the Christians, I'll let them fight their own battles, but just for sake of clarification here... it is possible for a God to exist without being the Christian incarnation. I will even go so far as to add, the current Christian incarnation is considerably different than the earliest Christians. This is why there is so much contradiction found in the Bible. Or one of the reasons, anyway. The Bible was written by many different people over thousands of years, later compiled into The Bible from translations of Hebrew scriptures (Torah) and through to the New Testament, the life of Jesus, and ending with Revelations, the prophecy of John for the future. But you have to know which parts are which and what is being discussed in the Bible, with context to what it means for Christian followers. The contradictions are often misunderstood context or failure to see the intention in the proper context. It takes years of studying the Bible and history of it, to fully grasp the details enough to understand it.

Now I love the Biblical Contradictionist... they approach this topic as if critiquing The Big Lebowski.

It's been explained to you both repeatedly and tediously that your phony "law of biogenesis" is a fraud. There is no such "law", except as it may exist at the "Watchtower Bible Society".

Secondly, the Theory of Evolution does not address the origins of life. Less Harun Yahya and more peer reviewed science makes Bossy a better poster as opposed to poser.

If it's so 'tedious' then why are you here, fool? Over and over again, no less? I just love these ironic posts! The ego on this one is through the roof, and you have to wonder why since there is nothing there to back it up??? lol