warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
What leap of faith am I taking, as a weak atheist?
Preaching Atheism
- Thread starter Ziggy Stardust
- Start date
What leap of faith am I taking, as a weak atheist?
I've heard it said that Atheists are closest to God, for they admit that there is no God, while theists only believe in God.
I myself am Unitarian Universalist. I do believe in God, and I am Creationist but at the same time Evolutionist. I am not very religious, however very spiritual and believe that every living thing has a spirit that you should bless upon the arrival of its corpse.
Although that probably sounds like nonsense to a lot of you.
I myself am Unitarian Universalist. I do believe in God, and I am Creationist but at the same time Evolutionist. I am not very religious, however very spiritual and believe that every living thing has a spirit that you should bless upon the arrival of its corpse.
Although that probably sounds like nonsense to a lot of you.
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
Hey, I'm an atheist, and I admit no such thing 
aelf
Ashen One
What do you mean by disbelieve? I suspect I disagree with your statement. Why should it be unreasonable for me to behave as if God doesn't exist if there are insufficient reasons to believe that he does? I think it's perfectly reasonable and thus not really a matter of faith.
On the other hand, Christians do have to take a leap of faith - because they essentially assume that God exists, for whatever reason, without there being sufficient reasons to establish their belief as one that is unreasonable not to hold.
Moss said:
So you mean it requires more faith to believe in a benevolent and personal God than to believe in the existence of one? Why, yes, I should think so. I don't see how this leads to any interesting conclusion about faith and reason, especially not what you're saying next...
Moss said:
So you're suggesting that because believing in the existence of God requires less faith than believing in the existence of a personal God, Christians do use reason and logic when it comes to believing in the existence of God? I just don't see how the former necessarily means the latter.
Lillefix
I'm serious. You can.
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Far more than that. They have to assume that their God exists and none other.
ParadigmShifter
Random Nonsense Generator
You mean their God that is the same God as the Jewish and Muslim God?
Cheetah
Deity
Yup. The same God that is at once everything and allthing. He (for some reason he definitely isn't a she...) is the beginning and the end.
At the same time he is Yahweh, God (all of the Catholic, Protestant, Jehovah's witnesses, Mormon, and cultish versions included) and Allah. He is also and isn't also Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He is always merciful, always vengeful, with unlimited love and never-ending hatred. He is extremely pity and extremely gracious, he's malevolent and magnanimous, never changing or going back on his word, but always changing and going back on his word.
He is omnipotent and omniscient, but is always surprised at the good and evil thoughts and acts that humans do. Which he didn't foresee when he made them. Even though he has planned how everything will work out from the beginning (Except the Tree of Knowledge-part. He knew that was going to happen, he made Lucifer/Satan (which is and isn't also the snake which did and didn't have legs while talking to Eve) and the humans and made the garden and put the tree and the humans and the snake there, but was shocked when it happened).
I should go on, but I'm bored. Go read the some "holy" scriptures if you want all the details...
At the same time he is Yahweh, God (all of the Catholic, Protestant, Jehovah's witnesses, Mormon, and cultish versions included) and Allah. He is also and isn't also Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He is always merciful, always vengeful, with unlimited love and never-ending hatred. He is extremely pity and extremely gracious, he's malevolent and magnanimous, never changing or going back on his word, but always changing and going back on his word.
He is omnipotent and omniscient, but is always surprised at the good and evil thoughts and acts that humans do. Which he didn't foresee when he made them. Even though he has planned how everything will work out from the beginning (Except the Tree of Knowledge-part. He knew that was going to happen, he made Lucifer/Satan (which is and isn't also the snake which did and didn't have legs while talking to Eve) and the humans and made the garden and put the tree and the humans and the snake there, but was shocked when it happened).
I should go on, but I'm bored. Go read the some "holy" scriptures if you want all the details...
luke2345
Warlord
What do you gain from preaching atheism
PeteAtoms
FormulaRandom
The same thing that's lost by preaching religion.
Traitorfish
The Tighnahulish Kid
It is implied that "their" god refers to the God of Abraham, rather than the solely Christian interpretation; after all, you would refer to the God worshipped by Methodists and assume that it would be understood to refer to be the same God worshipped by Catholics. What is meant is that it assumes that this particular deity exists, rather than, say, Zeus, Thor or Perun.
Of course, it gets more complex with that when you encounter non-Abrahamic monotheistic deities, and the opinion generally depends on the believer in question. Those which are understood to have had some historical relationship with the Abrahamic faiths, such as Zoroastrianism and Sikhism, are generally accepted as the same deity, while those that emerged separately, such as that of monistic Hinduism or of Chinese Heaven Worship are more divisive. Some take them to be mere coincidence, while others- particularly the Roman Catholic Church- hold them to be the same deity, and cite the independent emergence of such beliefs as evidence of God's self-evident existence. For example, when early Jesuits arrived in China, they were over-joyed to find that the Chinese observed Heaven Worship, an indigenous form of quasi-monotheism, and to this day, Chinese Christians typically refer to the Abrahamic God as "Shangdi" or "Highest Lord", the same title used in that religion, and take pride in their nation's independent "discovery" of God.
More leg-room in heaven?
Ziggy Stardust
Absolutely Sane
No. What do you gain from preaching atheism?
Traitorfish
The Tighnahulish Kid
Not really; Jesus saw his religion as the fulfilment of Judaism, and himself as fully and entirely of that faith, while Buddha appeared to see his as superseding Hinduism.
...But I'm not sure what that has to do with anything.
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
Fixed. Religion in itself doesn't hurt anyone. Insensible religions do. But sensible religions don't. Don't mission where it is unnecessary.
PeteAtoms
FormulaRandom
I agree with your post. But I don't see how my response to his would need fixing.
I was just giving the question (as it is) a measured and symmetrical answer.
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
Lol, just got your post. Brilliant play on words, I must say. You really got me there; but it was merely logicaly wordplay.
Kismet!
Ziggy Stardust
Absolutely Sane
Religion is like a hammer. You can build a bridge with it, or use it to bash someone's skull. When you bash in someone's head with a hammer, the hammer is not to blame, but the one wielding it is. The same goes for Religion. It can be used for good things and it can be used to make people do bad things.
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
That really depends on the religion. You atheists should really stop thinking of faith as all-Abrahamic.
I agree, to a degree, however. I just wanted to point it out.
