Is there such a thing as an atheist?

[Jda016]

Thank you for your kind words. Though I must confess surprise that spoken says amen here yet promises punishment eternal in an earlier post. Allow me for one second to give you my outlook.

The human race are insignificant little creatures on an insignificant little rock in space. At some point, that rock is going to become uninhabitable for the creatures. After that, the sun which warms it and makes life possible is going to burn all it's fuel and become and start to grow and shed it's material. Obliterating the closer planets and making life here as impossible as mercury is today. Excluding the possibility that our galaxy doesn't crash into another spewing planetary systems in all directions including into the supermassive black hole at it's centre. But of course we may never see any of this due to the countless asteroids being hurled around space, the output from a passing pulsar or many other fatal interactions with our planet or system. But chances are, that none of this will affect me as I will be long dead. At any moment if my fleeting existence, my life could come to a end. When it does, there will be no judgement, no consciousness, no thoughts, just the biological machine shutting down and then.... nothing. `Not even an endless dark, just nothing.

So you may ask, why do I bother to live? Well I live everyday preciously because this is all I have. I try to make what I can in the world a little better because I want it to be here long enough for my children to see it and experience all the things I have. Because that's al they will have.

From what I see, the majority of devout Christians spend their lives preparing for the end of days which thay all predict will happen soon. Please look at this article:

List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The antichrist had been born and was massing his armies from around 375 AD. It's now over 1800 years later. He really is taking his time. Or maybe.....just maybe. The scriptures are wrong! So they predicted a couple of things right over the millenia, even a stopped clock shows the right time twice a day!

Live each day as precious.
Teach you children by your mistakes and those of your Generation.
Look logically at our planet an how much life it can support.

We may one day move into space and colonise other worlds, but even that will be the intergalactic equivalent of sitting on our own doorstep.

So in summery. I have tried many times to see the world through your eyes. Now wy don't you try to see it through mine. There isn't enough empathy in this world.

Though I long for you to know God, I do believe the Bible is true. I can not discount the doctrines of hell simply because they are offensive. I do not want you to think that I pick and choose what I like in the Bible. I believe all the words of Christ.

This doesn't lesson my love for you though and if I could give you a glimpse of God that you might believe, I would. My heart aches when I read your worldview, because I see my savior dying on a cross so that you may have, not just life, but life eternal, but you do not believe in Him.

I long for you to believe in God, not because I need you to agree with me, but so that you might share the life that Christ died to give you. If you were a starving man, I would give you food. If you were dying of thirst I would give you water. If you were naked, I would cloth you. This is the love I would show you and this is the love that the Bible preaches, no matter how other Christians may treat you.

So in this I offer you Christ that you may be saved. I know you reject God, but please see that my heart desires you to believe, because I see it for your ultimate well being, not because I am trying to "make a convert" or get you to simply agree with me.

i don't care about winning an argument, I care about your eternal well being. That is why I am here on this thread, to show those who don't believe the love and truth of God to the best of my ability.

 

[Jda016]

I've commented on this many many times. It's a self fulfilling prophecy.

I must confess I am incredulous at this.

If you knew the history of how these things happened, then you would know that no one was conspiring to make them happen simply because a book said so. None of this would account for the miraculous victories that Israel had after the surrounding Arab nations swore they would not rest till Israel was driven into the sea, let alone that the Jews survived as an independent people through out the world for 1900 years and were not assimilated into other cultures.

The Palestinians did not have it in their minds to fulfill this scripture when they sold certain plots of land to the Jews. They did it for the express purpose of taking it right back once war was declared the day Israel became a nation. Little did they know that they would lose the war.

But I see it is futile arguing this point with you, because you refuse to look into it any deeper than you have. I will leave you to your beliefs in this regard.

 

[deepthought]

God spoke and bang there it was and is.

Thats an opinion and not an explanation of the Big Bang Theory. Same applies to you Kerry. Have you read any of the journals pubished which detail the big bang theory.

 

[IntoTheVoid]

I also get hit with the Free Will argument a lot.

As in if god was to actually prove to me he exists then it would be taking away my free will to believe.

But let's assume for the moment that god is real. Then he is infact depriving me of free will. If I knew he existed then I can make a conscious choice to follow him or not.

But at the moment, he has made it impossible for me to believe he exists. I simply cannot accept the magical stories in the bible as true, they don't register in my brain as remotely believable. So therefore he is taking away my right to choose wether I follow him or not because he is not willing to show that he even exists.

 

[Brother_Don]

got to believe it to see it. i really feel for those, that have nothing to look forward to, and i hope their eyes can be opened to see. You have nothing to loose and eternity with Jesus to gain. Amen.

 

[Brother_Don]

won't see as much of the Almighty Creator on the computer as you can out in His creation.

 

[And]

Athiesm is classed a s a religion
the Bible calls them faggots for the burning.

 

[IntoTheVoid]

Athiesm is classed a s a religion
the Bible calls them faggots for the burning.

Haha! Here we go again with the threats.

Believe or Burn!!!

 

[BenFTW]

I also get hit with the Free Will argument a lot.

As in if god was to actually prove to me he exists then it would be taking away my free will to believe.

But let's assume for the moment that god is real. Then he is infact depriving me of free will. If I knew he existed then I can make a conscious choice to follow him or not.

But at the moment, he has made it impossible for me to believe he exists. I simply cannot accept the magical stories in the bible as true, they don't register in my brain as remotely believable. So therefore he is taking away my right to choose wether I follow him or not because he is not willing to show that he even exists.

Is lack of imagination (ie; creativity) reason to disbelieve? Is it an excuse? This isn't to say the bible is fabricated or imaginary, but that you may hold to a mindset that is held to the natural when we live in a two-fold existence. Supernatural and natural. The natural coming from God, from the supernatural. For example, think that anything that is, was first created in the non-physical, such as the mind. The very chair you sit on, first was imagined in the mind and then became a part of reality.

You are not wrong to wish to be convinced actually. Jesus Himself during His ministry (as if its stopped, it hasn't) performed the miraculous. He did it as a sign of Who He was. He did it to back up his Word. The Word of God teaches us that when we preach, to go not in words, but in power. Paul speaks of this, I think numerous times. He didn't convince with human wisdom but by the power of God. So, don't let anyone tell you that you need to just believe. You can witness the supernatural, do you not think that God, through signs and wonders, and healings can use such things as to bring glory to Himself and also as a way to minister (to a soul for salvation)? Jesus died for you on the cross already, also was scourged for YOUR healing. If God decided to heal you on the spot, it was out of His mercy and love, and through Christ's scourging. It would be a revelation to you, of the reality of such things that DID take place.

So, you say you want God to reveal Himself to you? He has an answer to you, as He does to all men. "Seek and you shall find." If you're being honest and you truly wish to know God, your Creator, seek Him. You want to see the supernatural? Go to a meeting that is speaking about the Holy Spirit or power, or any type of conference such as Voice of the Apostles where God moves and heals people. If you have integrity and this isn't just talk for talk but in your heart you really wish to have a definitive answer, seek Him and pray. Say, "God, I wish to know you. Please reveal yourself to me. I want to believe, if you truly exist. Reveal Jesus to me."

 

[deepthought]

Athiesm is classed a s a religion
the Bible calls them faggots for the burning.

[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, san-serif]Religion is defined as “a set doctrine of beliefs that people follow with ardor and faith”. Atheism is not a doctrine of beliefs. It's not about belief; it's about NON-belief...the non-belief in any and all gods. [/FONT]

[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, san-serif]You, my friend, are proving typical of the bigotry that we void and I were speaking of earlier. Shame. [/FONT]

 

[nl]

...So, you say you want God to reveal Himself to you? He has an answer to you, as He does to all men. "Seek and you shall find." If you're being honest and you truly wish to know God, your Creator, seek Him...

Welcome. I find that the Bible teaches man seeking God as in Matthew 6:33 and 7:7. I also find that the Bible teaches God seeking man as in Psalm 119:176 and Jesus the Good Shepherd seeking the lost sheep (John 10, Luke 15). Both are true.

God is glorified in man's dependence. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) has a sermon on that. Free will is real but limited. In the Incarnation, God became man in the form of Jesus Christ and dwelt among us. It is good and right for men and women to seek God. It is good and right for men and women to praise and thank God for the air they breath and the earth they have walked on and the heavens they have beheld. For spiritual endowment, men and women are dependent upon God to give his grace and Holy Spirit.

 

[BenFTW]

Well, i'm a musician, composer, designer. These are roles I am paid for. So obviously people think me creative or I would be seeking another vocation. So I ask you. Is a creative mind a prescient? Here is a list of some famous theists:

Category:Atheist - Celebrity Atheist List

So in here you will find, artists, musicians, actors, writers etc. etc. Are all these people not creative? Lack imagination? When you look at the skies, you see God, I see a series of scientific explanations and questions. But no less wonder than yourself.

You misunderstood what I meant by imagination. I meant to think beyond the natural, into the supernatural. Maybe I could have chosen better wording. I wasn't questioning his creative expression.

PS: Basically, just because you can't understand it, doesn't make it not so. This also follows along the lines of, lack of evidence is not evidence of absence.

 

[deepthought]

You misunderstood what I meant by imagination. I meant to think beyond the natural, into the supernatural. Maybe I could have chosen better wording. I wasn't questioning his creative expression.

PS: Basically, just because you can't understand it, doesn't make it not so. This also follows along the lines of, lack of evidence is not evidence of absence.

This is very true. Just because we don't understand something doesn't mean we should dismiss it. So for me, I have looked at a biblical explanation and a scientific explanation. I didn't fully understand either initially but had to research both thoroughly. Once I had, I decided that the scientific was the most rational based on the evidence was repeatable. And when there is a question that science does not have the answer to but the bible does, I will wait until both are available because by this point the scriptures had been proved to be wanting or far from reality on too many occasions. So, how about you. Have you looked into the other options and opinions fully?

 

[homwardbound]

'And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.'

or

“God made two great lights -- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.”

Which is more advanced, the first sentence or the second? Are either of these concepts more advanced than the wonders of our knowledge you described above? I submit that nothing in Genesis 1 demonstrates advanced understanding. Any of it could have been, and was, written by a Bronze Age author. “Let there be...” are the words of an author who has no understanding of the origin of anything. These words are place holders only.


Absolutely, Homewardbound posted numerous names yesterday, or the day before, of early scientists who believed in God and who pursued science as the means to understand creation. Many of them were the first to arrive at the discovery that Genesis did not fit the observations so they turned to hypotheses that did explain the physical evidence. Their intelligence was sound. Adapting our science to match a 3000 year old cosmology is not the answer.

That was not me that posted that, all though I do know many scientist have come to believe through their studies to find out truth as well as many archeologists have as well, and I know God the creator has called you and all, and God is plain and simply put LOVE, not a tyrant as projected by m any or even appears that way in interpretations of the First Testament
Anyway, thanks Cycel and I appreciate you

 

[homwardbound]

I predicted that answer was coming hence my response. However, has God told you that you are a good person? Has god laid down writings telling you what being good is outside of the writen word of man in the religious texts? For example, could god not write it inside quartz? Something not technologically possible by ancient man? or ignite the air and have the message appear in a universally understandable language in the sky? Or instead do you follow mans interpretation as written in the religious texts?

That is the problem man following man, one says that man's interpretation is correct while another says no that man's over there is and religions are formed separate, yet all claiming God, Jesus or not and saying we are right and you are wrong, not having conversations, rather if conversations starts, fights come to a head and separation happens when in the word it says this and we are divided in groups to go here or there.

1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

The above to me is the Spirit of Love to all, and not fighting, loving each other is what God wants is it not, for me to love you regardless if you agree with me or not, why can't us as people get this:
Luke 6:32

Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

[SUP]32 [/SUP]For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

Why do we have to be segregated one from another, instead mutually love each other and do no harm to each other, that is why I do not belong to any religious group here on earth, nor do I condemn any either, I only to speak love to all as is what Gold has done per the word from the start on. MERCY
No matter what on miracles or not, God said if you do this you will die, and they did what God said not to, did they die right away or eventually through stress kill themselves as God said they would die?
God did not kill them or us we kill ourselves by stress, and worry, lacking to love, selfishness in our genes, we are plain and simply born with
Think maybe that needs to change, one's selfishness, maybe?

Mercy. go and learn waht that means is said to us all, what is Mercy and how will we react to Mercy, only to the depth we see that we get or have right or wrong?

 

[homwardbound]

Then how can you not know that JK rowling was not being influenced by God when she wrote the harry potter series? Or the Mesopotanian writing which pre date the bible by thousands of years which tell stories of many gods, a different creation story. How are these not the writings of God as they were man's earliest recorded texts therefore should be the most accurate? So which is it? The incredible popularity and widespread adoption of the text (Harry Potter) or the ancient documents (mesopotanian textx)?

For me, I relate everything to Love God's and my paths to love all are straight. no selfishness in the way
In the word if read it, Jesus never once gave any credit to himself, and Father never gave credit to himself, The creator, God the Father has reached out to us all in love to us all, to love each other in truth, giviung each other praise and not selkf in communicating and agreeing to disagree
And in love praising others and not self is loving others and no problems can occur if one is busy loving all correct?
That is who God is, and man has screwed this up and caused wars over this not seeing that God is love and this love is to all.
God is not religious, we the people are, which I personally gave up religion, I saw me trying to get God and people to be pleased by me and what I did or said. I was being a creator trying to get others to respond to me, and did a pretty good job, getting pats on the back from those that agreed with what I said and did, So I ended up loving only those that loved me back ans that is when the God of Love showed me this,
[h=3]Luke 6:32[/h]Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

[SUP]32 [/SUP]For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

That is when I began the mind renewal in the Love God has not only for me but for all, and wow, to truthfully say I love you all, is because I know God the creator of all, loves you all
I could not truly love all until I saw God's love to all. That in whole is what the Bible is all about a Love story to us all, and if it does not fir love to all, in any interpretation, then one might have the wrong interpretation
Thanks for reading and seeing truth is Love and God is love to us all, even when it does not seem so.
Get seek to get one's selfishness out of the way and quit in essence playing God, and be humbled you might see life beyond measure
That is the whole message of the Gospel from Gods to us all

 

[homwardbound]

But it was not god who mantained and spread the word of the bible, but men. Through military conquest and slaughter over centuries. As with Islam now, or many otehr eeligions which have survived over history, it's philosophical Darwinism. If you want to see a real world example of this look how Islam is being spread by the Taliban. Follow or suffer. That was the same ethos of early christians from the Romans to the Puritans. Everything from the Spanish Inquisition, to the crusades to the Salem Witch Trials shows you how the most brutal religion will be the one which survives.

Brother, what you posted is truth as is what man is and does is selfish, and will kill to be right over anyone and everyone else. So sad selfishness is in us all, and that to m e is what needs to be killed
Just look at Acts when Stephan took the stoning to his own death standing firm in love, and went to death over it, stating GOD does not live in buildings and yet man has taken over again in man's selfish ways and formed a new religion of selfishness, using God just as they did in Christ's day to get their way
Selfishness is what is in thew way of all mankind, Christ came to change that to us to help one another and kill one another in word or deed
Thanks for listening

 

[homwardbound]

The above didn't get it changed in edit time enough

Selfishness is what is in thew way of all mankind, Christ came to change that to us to help one another and kill one another in word or deed
Thanks for listening

Should read and not kill each other in word or deed

 

[homwardbound]

Observations anyone could make. There is nothing here that looks inspired. My point, Genesis 1 adds nothing to our understanding. What we find in this chapter is a very ancient cosmology.

Cycel does selfish makes sense as that is what is in us all, when born or placed in us as we all grow up, as we see and hear, we make up our minds and become selfish to what we think against others and kill possibly to be right and not wrong.
Where as Christ himself did not fight why? Did Christ not fight back and go willingly to the death?
The world does not do this do they, so is there a difference or not?
I think selfish, is in the way of mankind still to this day and religions are formed one against the other, no unity in reality none
So sad, I just love you and all the way God does and is not selfish, ponder that if you will
Thanks

 

[homwardbound]

Oh I have not forgotten, but you must admit they share a common point of origin, and do we need to look in detail at an organisation that sings from the hymn sheet of Vladimir Putin?

Yes, so sad selfish hate, so sad