Is there such a thing as an atheist?

[nl]

Originally Posted by IntoTheVoid

Hey at least I don't threaten people with eternal torture if they don't have the same belief as me. Nor am I aligned with any authority who has a 'Believe or Burn' policy.

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My reading of Scripture indicates that Almighty God delights in mercy and prefers it to strict justice. But, justice is what He must apply if mercy is not applied.

I believe that eternal suffering would not extend beyond what justice required so there's no need to dramatize it to extremes.

Myself, I'd rather receive mercy and pardon and then thank God and Jesus for it. I'd rather give praise to God than depend upon my own praise-worthiness.

Fish don't know the realities outside of their fishbowl. Humanity and science have much to discover and much that it doesn't know.

Eternity is a long time. It seems important not to be wrong about it. Besides, knowing God becomes a greater and greater delight over time as the relationship and experience extends and deepens.

 

[Cycel]

Doesn't answer the question as to WHY you are here on Saturday, when there are about a billion other things you could be doing.

When you see my old buddy on the golf course would you need to ask him, "WHY you are here on Saturday, when there are about a billion other things you could be doing"?

PS. I've been to the greens with him, but I was bored. Oh, he's an atheist, but never posts. Go figure.

 

[homwardbound]

The only junk science I know of is creation science. Science points neither to or away from the existence God. Science does not pass any judgement on God's existence at all.

God is the science of all creation that man is still trying to figure out
Now all through out the Bible he calls us to have Faith in him and never once have I ever reads him to say figure it out
Anyone?

 

[mpaper345]

I do not believe there are any atheists for I believe they do believe in a higher power but choose to ignore it even if it eats at them,which usually stems from their hatred of God because of problems on earth.

The Bible says that creation testifies that there is a God and tells His attributes that He is good for He provided for our needs,powerful,and intelligent,so if God created us and is good then we ought to be good.

But God said when they knew God they did not want to believe it but wanted to believe that things came about in a different way like evolution.

I do not believe that nobody is an atheist when they first enter this world and grow up but believe there is a higher power but will become an atheist later in life which stems from their hatred of God.

God said they are haters of God but how can they be haters of God if they do not believe there is a God but it is instinct to believe in a higher power but some people change their mind or do not want to believe it later in life.

If you look at the kingdoms prior to America it seems as if they all believed in a higher power but the antichrist kingdom is close and that kingdom is all about man with no governmental or religious authority above them but although they will not recognize any power above them the atheists as of right now would not like that kingdom for they will believe in tapping in to nature for power.

The atheists cannot truly say there is no God for this is a big universe and they do not know all that is in it.

I do not believe that there is any atheists at the start of life but a decision they make later in life which stems from hating God that they do not want to believe in a God.

If they do not believe that there is a God that has no beginning then they have to say that physical matter has no beginning which is absurd.

 

[PennEd]

When you see my old buddy on the golf course would you need to ask him, "WHY you are here on Saturday, when there are about a billion other things you could be doing"?

PS. I've been to the greens with him, but I was bored. Oh, he's an atheist, but never posts. Go figure.

Too cryptic an answer for me. Looks more like a dodge to my questions.

 

[homwardbound]

I'm sorry but this is an ignorant and unfounded statement. Just because we don't share your faith does not mean we hate anyone or any thing! Do some of us object to people preaching and attempting to force their beliefs onto others? Yes. But this is still not hate. At a push it may be distaste or annoyance. Every Atheist I know has at some point in their life analysed a reason for believing in some deity or other due to cultural reasons and for whatever reason decided they do not. Despite various efforts throughout history (the crusades etc.) you can not force something as personal as belief onto a person. Your response shows a lack humanity which surely should be the most Christian of characteristics?

A horse can only be led to water, if forced to drink, they will not willingly. So Brother Jesus is the water that if you decide to drink, will never thirst again, and my obedience is not perfect, ever, Christ's is So I see this: And just love you in which ever Choice you make

 

[Simona25]

I don`t believe there is such thing as a 100% pure atheist. I know a lot of atheists who use the word "luck". This word has a magical-religious meaning (not christian, but religious) and it`s usually used to express things that are out of man`s control and that some exterior "forces" conspired to a happy development of events.

Also, I think that even the user st_sebastian (may God have mercy on him) would do a "crazy" thing like kneeling and pray to God if it was one his beloved that faced the disease instead of him. It`s not hard to look calmly at your own death, but when it comes to your wife and children, things do change a lot.

I believe this song illustrates very well the faith of atheists:

[video=youtube;HqG1Dh36-6s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqG1Dh36-6s[/video]

 

[nl]

God is the science of all creation that man is still trying to figure out
Now all through out the Bible he calls us to have Faith in him and never once have I ever reads him to say figure it out
Anyone?

Deuteronomy 29:29 indicates that there are some things that we will never know. We can know some things. But, some knowledge is reserved for Almighty God alone. He knows secrets that we will never know.

 

[homwardbound]

So in a simple answer to the OP. Yes there is. I am one. I am one of many, and every year there are more, which may be directly proportional to the number of bigoted statements like the ones unfortunately witnessed within this very post. If you want to know about us. Talk to us! We humans also. Talk to us and not at us and may be surprised at what you find.

I once wanted to be an atheist over the group of people that I fellow shipped with. Being put under law so badly that all I did was sin trying not to sin against my neighbor
I came to the end of me trying and gave up telling God if this is you I want nothing to do with you.

This is what I heard "I" God, just love you. I have responded to this ever since in thanksgiving and praise. And amazingly being in thanksgiving and praise that thing that was besetting me left

I saw this as a man thinks of flesh so is he and I was trapped in being selfish to others, only caring about me.
Then in the Spirit of God's love, Mercy I see freedom to love all the same and have no dogmas in the way of loving anyone

 

[homwardbound]

Not miraculous phil. Merely chance. And they may have. In another world the human race would not exist, in another time repitiles would have become the dominant species and formed their own complex societies which resulted in the creation of their own faith structures to explain the unknown. and of course their may be billions of nothing. The fact you don;t realise is that just because we are here does not make one even slight difference to the rest of the universe. Case in fact: while we have been having this conversation. over 2000 people have probably died around the world. Do you feel any different? Has your life changed? Answer: No. That example was on the same planet. If you think of the scale of just our Galaxy which has over 100,000,000,000 stars each of which may have planets around it. What makes you think that any other part of the universe is worried if we didn't exist?

There is more to Heaven and Earth than what meets the eye alone Heratio

 

[nl]

When you see my old buddy on the golf course would you need to ask him, "WHY you are here on Saturday, when there are about a billion other things you could be doing"?

I like to be purposeful and responsible with my time but we all need to discern our own best course through life and make choices. At the end of my life, I expect that God will hold me accountable but I/we can enjoy some things along the way.

Yes, IMHO, there can be time for music, fitness, watching the Olympics, a little wine with your wife, sightseeing, etc. We have liberties that Almighty God has given and it is good to make use of the freedoms and liberties that we enjoy.

 

[homwardbound]

Is what is morally good commanded by God because it is morally good, or is it morally good because it is commanded by God?

There are various issues that can arise from divine command theory.

For only the creator as I see it is good and I choose daily to partake in this righteousness of Father and seek to see as he leads me to see past this physical world

 

[IntoTheVoid]

I like to be purposeful and responsible with my time but we all need to discern our own best course through life and make choices. At the end of my life, I expect that God will hold me accountable but I/we can enjoy some things along the way.

Yes, IMHO, there can be time for music, fitness, watching the Olympics, a little wine with your wife, sightseeing, etc. We have liberties that Almighty God has given and it is good to make use of the freedoms and liberties that we enjoy.

All jokes aside im actually in work and using this site in company time lol

 

[homwardbound]

I would submit that there is actually more then one reason that people do not believe in God because you know..it's in the bible.

2 Corinthians 4:4

Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

4 in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Okay, time to shine, and continue to blind or gain sight in the Spirit of the Creator of all, known as God the Father of Christ the Son and through the Son we are made perfect unto God the creator to get , have and keep new life in the Spirit of God in resting in peace here and now
Religion binds and keeps one in sinful behavior of not loving their neighbor as God loves us
Where as Spirit of God gives life that is free from bondage of selfishness, stress free, worry free:
Luke 12:25 “And besides, what’s the use of worrying? What good does it do? Will it add a single day to your life? Of course not!

Worry and stress take away and religion preaches worry and stress. God preaches life to the fullest in love to all

 

[doseofreality]

Play and watch sports a lot? That is worship, whether you want to believe it or not. Anything you do that takes more of your time than God is plain and simply a show of adoration (worship) to something other than Him.

You are making a straw-man, I will not dispute that on some level I worship sports, I worship money, I worship my health, and so on.
However, these things I worship are tangible and I am not elevating these things to be gods of any sort. I do not pray to these things or claim to get revelation from these things.
Therefore the logic that if someone worships something, then they must be a theist is absurd.

 

[doseofreality]

I submit they are simply liars - to themselves and to those they tell that to. We have all heard the saying "there are no atheists in foxholes", well I believe that is true. I believe when facing death every man knows he is facing a meeting with his maker. People simply want to be the man in charge. They don't want to answer to anyone, or anything else. They want to believe they are the ultimate authority in their life, that they run the show. I had a thought a couple of days ago - how long would it take an atheist in a space ship, after being jettisoned out the door like so much flotsam, to call on God? That thought alone makes one feel quite insignificant.

This is a christian chat site, so lets stop using the term atheism. There are either christians and non-christians and leave it at that.

 

[JesusLives]

Hey at least I don't threaten people with eternal torture if they don't have the same belief as me. Nor am I aligned with any authority who has a 'Believe or Burn' policy.

John 3:17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be SAVED.
People might threaten but God's intent is to Love and Save.

 

[Simona25]

If you`re child was kidnapped, would you calculate what are the chances and probabilities for him to survive or would you cry out to God (the God in which you don`t believe)?

 

[homwardbound]

As an atheist I think Islam is a lot of nonsense, but my background is Christian. I have no knowledge of Islam and would really have a difficult time debating the matter. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and other well known atheists have and do attack Islam, but again, their backgrounds are Christian. They were raised as Christians and so they have a minimal understanding of that other religion. I don't know whether you ever listen to atheist debates, but if you did you would learn that Islam is often a target. On the other hand there are those atheists, who were themselves former Muslims, who go after Islam exclusively; and yes, they do it at great risk to themselves.

Christ did not come to destroy the world, rather through him to save it. It all through God's Mercy given to us through Christ seek this Mercy and be set free from all religious dogma

 

[nl]

All jokes aside im actually in work and using this site in company time lol

Some people can eat meat with a clear conscience. Others cannot eat meat with a clear conscience. I can respect both positions regarding what people eat. I think that people should restrain themselves in doubtful situations.

You know your situation. You make your own choices.