Wow! Hi, i'm sorry I couldn't reply to the thread this week-end, i returned see my family and I don't have any internet acces there. But, I read all of your replies.
First at all, I want to thanks everybody to take of their time to read me and answer, your replies where very interesting, and I wanna quote-reply to some:
Greetings,
First off, How can you be an Atheist, then ask questions about the actions of God? If you believe there is a God, then you are not Atheist. Atheists believe there is no God. You say you are an Atheist and want to know why God does this or that. So let us address that first. Do you believe there is a God or do you believe there is no God?
^i^
Ok I want to reply to this one first. I believe there is no god, that is what I think. BUT I also think you need to understand what people are thinking in order to be sure of your own faith.
So it's really important for atheist to understand what people over the world thinks too. In my case, I want to know how religion could answer the question I asked, because I don't think religion is a stupid thing, but I don't believe it.
Religious people need to ask themselves questions too, and to question their faith, as much as I can question my atheism. I think that believe in what you have heard about God is not the thing to do, you need to ask to people who aren't religious, in order to see if you understand their feelings (Don't take that for yourself!!! I talk in general).
The question "Is there a God or no?" is too simple to sum up a believe. The world isn't black or white. In my head, I don't say: "I am right and you are wrong" that's why I came here, to understand more, because I knew that I will find here people whith huge knowledge of religion, and I knew you would answer with respect (And i wasn't wrong)
Hello Clément, welcome to CC! You summed up very well, except that nobody earns salvation. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God...
You were many too say that, sorry for my mistake!
GOD has written his law in every man's heart, and each man's conscience bears witness to it. Some are given more knowledge than others about the particulars of GOD's dealings with mankind, but all men are responsible to obey GOD's law. Every man will be held responsible for the knowledge he has received.
For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law, these, [although they] do not have the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written on their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts [one] after another accusing or even defending them on the day when God judges the secret things of people, according to my gospel, through Christ Jesus. Romans 2:14-16
But the one who did not know and did [things] deserving blows will be given a light beating. And from everyone to whom much has been given, much will be demanded, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will ask him [for] even more. Luke 12:48
This is I think the most interesting explanation I heard. That makes me think differently about how religion works: Not a believe nor something anyone
taught you.. It's more than a feeling, with yourself.
Clement I am a former atheist and I asked the same questions myself. I had a background in electronics so I had a descent understanding of physics and sub-atomic particles. I always knew that this existence we call life is not real, it's an electrical simulation. Think about it.... if you were to take an atom and scale it up to where the nucleus was one foot in diameter, the electrons in the first band would be approximately 10 miles away. So an object we call solid is actually nothing but empty space and positive and negative charges. I say all of this for a reason lol.
Since this existence is a simulation then the rules of the simulation are whatever the Author wants it to be. The rules are laid out in the bible. The bible says that God, the author, created some beings for destruction and some that are his chosen people. The bible also says that we encounter angels unknowingly. This means that not all people we encounter are "real" people. That's as far as I can go with the bible, the rest is speculation on my part.
God is love and he is just. I believe that God created a number of "real" people to be his people and he created a vast number of people to be "players" in the simulation. The players are created to interact with us to do the purpose God created us for.
I believe all "real" people will hear the gospel no matter where they live and will be saved according to the election of God. The rest are "players"... vessels made for destruction when the simulation is over.
This post had many answer on the thread so I want to talk about it by myself.
For know, electricity is the only think which can explain life, according to physics. BUT, which is huge with science is the fact that all question aren't unvealed. Science doesn't have all the answers, and doesn't have all the questions too. People need to find them, and I think that the question behind existence, life, isn't answered yet, and I don't think we live a simulation, BUT it's also a possibility, and physics cannot deny it (at least for the moment), so think about it is all except stupid.
If you are atheist you are probably one of the most polite atheist i know of and especially for your age group.
Luck fate destiny is all myth, it's worth having a really good think about that, trust me you will see it for what it really is.
Thank you! But I think it's a mistake to say that atheist aren't really polite, there are groups of people in every cultures and believes. Religious people can be rude too, especially when they have a deep disrespect for atheists.
What many atheists do is focus on the physical realities and ignore or pooh pooh the spiritual realities. In fact, many atheists seem incapable of acknowledging that there are spiritual realities. They have been blinded by the god of this world.
Clément, please do not think I am talking about you. I have spoken to many atheists over the years, and was once a non-believer myself, for most of my life, actually. But many atheists think believers simply have an imaginary friend as if we are delusional to believe in God when they have not experienced Him, despite the testimony of millions throughout the ages.
And this is because it's a HUGE step to think about spiritual realities. I was used to think that religious was stupid people when I was young (No offense, everyone made mistakes). One day the boss, with which she had a relationship, of my grandma died. She was really sad. The next day, she saw him in vision. And she said 2 things he wants her to do. One is to sell his mill, and I don't remember the second one. My grandma didn't even knew that he had a mill.
This learnt me to think. And I think that some things can't be explain with physics. Of course religion provide answers for these questions.
Hi Clement. My heart goes out to you. You're French and your family is Catholic; that's two strikes against you when it comes to establishing a close, loving relationship with God in Jesus Christ. But do not be dismayed, for the Holy Spirit has touched your heart otherwise you would not have joined this site, seeking answers and wisdom.
Read the Bible, pray and continue to ask questions. You are on the right path to coming to know God and all His glory that is in Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord and Savior. I look forward to sharing with you, and you are in my heartfelt prayers.
The main reason why I do not believe in God is because.. i don't believe the bible can answer the questions I ask. Nor any other religions by the way. But the fact to understand everybody's believe is essential to understand yours.
Maybe he means to say as wikipedia states ....
Irreligion and
atheism have a long history and a large demographic constitution in France, with the advancement of atheism and the deprecation of theistic religion dating back as far as the
French Revolution.
That is true. We don't have a really stong religion's culture in France. Only few people are going to church every week, especially not people of my age.
Clemént, welcome to our cozy little forum.
Ma grandmère était née en France, dans une petite ville au nord du Paris, qui s'appelle Bruay! Elle viens a Canada après le première guerre, avec mon grandpère qui était Canadien.
So much for my French, which does need some brushing up.
I was also an atheist when I was young. But I had a grandmother who prayed for me, and God gradually drew me to him! He showed me that atheism was not logical or rational. Because the world has to come from something. So agnosticism first.
Then I read a lot of the holy books of the world, but found nothing that made sense or was real.
Next, God placed people in my life who told me about Jesus Christ. And that he died for my sins, and I needed to repent and believe. That does not mean I did works to be saved, but rather, I turned away from the world, and the evil in the world, and began to follow Jesus, with all my heart mind and soul.
As far as people in the world not hearing about Christ, that is the fault of believers.
1. We need to pray for all these people, that God would give them the opportunity to hear the gospel, or good news about Jesus Christ.
2. We need to go and be missionaries. We are failing in our mission to tell the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour.
3. We need to pray that God would call people. In some cases, this is through missionaries, or our witness. In other cases, through visions and dreams. There is a real movement among Muslims in which dreams and visions show who Jesus is.
Finally, I pray you will open yourself up to the possibility that Jesus Christ is real. My father, when he was an atheist used to ask me the same question as you, all the time, "But what about all those people who have never heard about Jesus?" He was saved 5 months before he died at age 83. After he was saved, he said two things,
"I never realized that God was the most important thing of all."
"All those people haven't heard about Jesus because we have failed to tell them."
My Dad had a Ph.D and was a university professor. As for me, I am the theologian and pastor. I have my Master of Divinity and I minister to people on-line.
If you want to talk further about this, away from the main forums, please send me a private message.
Praying you will realize that God is calling you, and that God loves you very much!
Thank you for your really interesting reply, and the little attention if french. (Chich is really good, the only mistakes you made, if you want to know, are: You need to say "de Paris" de for precise locations, "du Nord" for none-precise ones, and also "elle est venue au" instead of "viens a")
You precised that your grandfather got a Ph.D, but don't worry, I don't believe that intelligence departs of the religion's way. Descartes was really religous and once said that science is a divine quest.
I'll be pleased to send you a private message whenever i got some stuff to ask! Thank you again.
This thread needs to be renamed "Off the Wall Echoes"
Sorry to let know that, but be sure I read with interest everything.
