Is there such a thing as an atheist?

[ColinCat]

It ain't about evidence.

If you were convinced that God exists, would you submit to and obey him?

That's what it's about.

And as I've already answered. Id need to get to the belief stage before i could submit and obey.

It's quite sinister the way you position your question.

Reminds me of John Carpenter's 'They Live'

 

[Elin]

Let's get to the belief first.

My question posits belief.

I can't just jump in and say I would submit and obey lol

Would you give him thanks and glorify him as God?

 

[ColinCat]

My question posits belief.


Would you give him thanks and glorify him as God?

Your asking me to get to B without getting to A first. Its not something I can visualise me doing. I have never experienced what it's like to believe.. let alone submit and obey.

 

[Elin]

Your asking me to get to B without getting to A first. Its not something I can visualise me doing. I have never experienced what it's like to believe.. let alone submit and obey.

Do you want to believe God exists?

 

[ColinCat]

Do you want to believe God exists?

Again my position is the total opposite to yours. I've also never been one who Persued God and then failed and then I became atheist like some atheists.

I've always been an atheist so Ive never considered the 'what ifs'. I've read the bible and many other religious texts out of general interest and admittedly I've read them with different colour spectacles than others so there are a lot of aspects of religion and a lot of aspects about their Gods that I really don't like. However as I'm not a believer i may not understand certain aspects as a believer might.

This is the first time I've ever gone down this line of questioning lol so I can't give you a straight out answer right now.

 

[Elin]

Again my position is the total opposite to yours. I've also never been one who Persued God and then failed and then I became atheist like some atheists.

I've always been an atheist so Ive never considered the 'what ifs'. I've read the bible and many other religious texts out of general interest and admittedly I've read them with different colour spectacles than others so there are a lot of aspects of religion and a lot of aspects about their Gods that I really don't like. However as I'm not a believer i may not understand certain aspects as a believer might.

This is the first time I've ever gone down this line of questioning lol so I can't give you a straight out answer right now.

I appreciate your thoughtful answers.

But it's kinda' hard for me to believe that your conscience doesn't tell you that God exists.

 

[ColinCat]

I appreciate your thoughtful answers.

But it's kinda' hard for me to believe that your conscience doesn't tell you that God exists.

The existence of any type of God never even registers with me. But i do find it fascinating that others believe. Hence me being here.

 

[oldhermit]

Sort of. I believe similar to you that we are products of our environment.

So the question remains, where does man's sense of right and wrong come from? Who has the right to determine what is right and what is wrong?

 

[Elin]

The existence of any type of God never even registers with me. But i do find it fascinating that others believe. Hence me being here.

Well, we're glad to have you, but you can't be more than on the outside looking in,
and won't have a real understanding of most of it.

It's only if you really want to understand it that there is any possibility of your being able to do so.

 

[Kerry]

The existence of any type of God never even registers with me. But i do find it fascinating that others believe. Hence me being here.

No, you are here because God has directed you here. He wants to save you and has sent you here. Even though you are defiant and kick against the goad. God loves you so much that He has directed you here in hopes that you might accept Him and have no excuse on the day of Judgement. God is righteous and no man will be able to point the finger and say I didn't know. well now you know and it's up to you what you do with this knowledge. I can only hope that you make the right choice.

 

[Cycel]

I've also never been one who Persued God and then failed and then I became atheist like some atheists.

Ah, that would be me. I started out a Christian and after much soul searching became an atheist (though I don't believe in the existence of the soul, so that is really just a figure of speech).

Actually, I think it might be more proper to say that the belief in God just left me.

I've always been an atheist so Ive never considered the 'what ifs'. I've read the bible and many other religious texts out of general interest and admittedly I've read them with different colour spectacles than others so there are a lot of aspects of religion and a lot of aspects about their Gods that I really don't like. However as I'm not a believer i may not understand certain aspects as a believer might.

You are like my kids, ages 26 and 31. Neither of them ever believed in God. The one doesn't concern himself with these matters, but the other has my interest in Christian history. Neither comprehends how I could ever have believed in God.

If you asked my kids if they would ever want to believe in God the answer would be "No."

 

[Elin]

Ah, that would be me. I started out a Christian and after much soul searching became an atheist (though I don't believe in the existence of the soul, so that is really just a figure of speech).

Actually, I think it might be more proper to say that the belief in God just left me.


You are like my kids, ages 26 and 31. Neither of them ever believed in God. The one doesn't concern himself with these matters, but the other has my interest in Christian history. Neither comprehends how I could ever have believed in God.

If you asked my kids if they would ever want to believe in God the answer would be "No."

That is in agreement with the NT.

 

[Kerry]

Ah, that would be me. I started out a Christian and after much soul searching became an atheist (though I don't believe in the existence of the soul, so that is really just a figure of speech).

Actually, I think it might be more proper to say that the belief in God just left me.


You are like my kids, ages 26 and 31. Neither of them ever believed in God. The one doesn't concern himself with these matters, but the other has my interest in Christian history. Neither comprehends how I could ever have believed in God.

If you asked my kids if they would ever want to believe in God the answer would be "No."

That is tragic, what is it in the Christian belief that is so wrong? What's wrong with being a Christian, they are the best neighbors you can have. Just being a Christian effects the whole neighborhood or would you rather have a meth house drug dealing neighbor? Anyway you are what you are by your choice and I perceive that you had parents that went to church and loved God. Yet you have rejected Him. That is your choice and I cannot make you nor can God make you beleive, it is your choice Heaven or hell that's your choice.


I have talked with people on their death bed and they chose hell.

 

[Cycel]

If you are looking for indisputable evidence in the existence of God before you will believe then you will never believe.

I realized this a long time ago. There is no physical evidence of God, which is why there are an estimated 33,000 Christian denominations and sects (figure from The Christian Encyclopedia).

Faith comes by hearing the word of God, not by empirical evidences.

I also made this connection, which is why at age sixteen I sought God through faith. I turned to the Bible and prayer. In the end God never revealed himself and I came to the conclusion that I must have been wrong to believe.

This was the whole reason God placed the tree of knowledge in the garden. Man had to make a choice whether to obey a God whom he could not see or draw conclusions about his own relationship in the natural world based on the things he could see.

No, no, no. This is wrong.

"They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden... and hid themselves.... He (Adam) said, 'I heard the sound of you in the garden, and was afraid....' "

Both, Adam and Eve, clearly were familiar with God. God was not invisible to them. They had knowledge of him based upon direct contact and communication. God could do the same thing now if he wished, if he existed. It is wrong to state that in the story of Adam and Eve those two literary characters had to rely solely on their faith. Think about it. Without a Bible or any cultural heritage how would they even be aware of God unless he communicated directly with them? No, those two had direct knowledge. Even the snake knew, during his one recorded chat with Eve that God had been talking with herself and her husband. Perhaps he had listened from the bushes?

Faith that requires evidence is not faith.

I agree, but Adam and Even did not require faith. They had direct knowledge of Him.

Any fool can believe what he sees.

Spoken by a man who rejects the things he can see in favour of that which is invisible.

This is why the righteous live by faith, not evidences.

The righteous live by faith because they have no other choice. In the absence of evidence what else are they to do?

 

[Cycel]

... I cannot make you nor can God make you beleive....
If God is real then he only need make himself known as he made himself known to so many biblical characters before me. The creator of the universe can't make himself know? That's hard to believe.

I have talked with people on their death bed and they chose hell.

Kerry, no one chooses Hell. What you mean is that you have met people on their death bed whom you could not persuade to believe in God.

I don't choose to go to Hell. I just don't believe that Hell exists. I also find it hard to believe that a loving and empathetic deity would create such a place. If both Hell and God are real, then God can't be the loving Being you imagine he is; and I am in a great deal of trouble.

 

[phil112]

... .....................Kerry, no one chooses Hell. .................

When one becomes convinced of the existence of God and rejects Him, then one chooses hell. Never forget that. When you reach the point where you can no longer deny His existence, then you are making a choice.


Given my pm any further thought?

 

[Cycel]

Given my pm any further thought?

I looked up some years on Wikipedia but didn't see anything that fit terribly well. I have yet to read the passages from Daniel that you directed me toward. That doesn't mean I am not interest, I just have too many things I am pursuing. I need to retire.

I will get to it.

 

[hopesprings]

I wouldn't say that atheism is a religion, same as not collecting stamps is not a hobby lol. But I get what your saying. I even saw a ridiculous atheist mega church on the internet once. And then theres those idiots who demanded to wear those spaghetti bowls or whatever. We certainly don't do ourselves any favours in many aspects. For every Westboro lunatic who gives Christians a bad name there are an equal number of idiots who make me look like a fool.

No. I don't believe in aliens personally.

an atheist mega church? Well there's a contradiction for you. And yes...there are a lot of Christians who have given, and continue to give Christianity a bad name. It's a good thing Gods bigger than all that nonsense...

 

[Cycel]

When one becomes convinced of the existence of God and rejects Him, then one chooses hell.

This would be true if someone just chose to reject the teaching of a deity they still believed in the reality of, but not if they lost belief in that god. If you don’t believe in God and don’t believe in the existence of Hell, then you are not choosing to go to Hell when you die.

I was taught as a child to believe in God. I didn't know anyone who didn't believe and when I became an atheist I thought I was the only one in the world. I kid you not. Then in grade 5, during a classroom discussion, a fellow student announced that he did not believe in God. I remember being stunned by the admission, not because he didn't believe, but because he said it out loud. You see, I didn't believe either, and this memory is the first one that allows me to attach a date to my own atheism. I also remember making a diorama as a school project in grade 4 and filling it with dinosaurs. Attached to this memory is another one. I wondered why there were no dinosaurs mentioned in the Bible. So I suspect that I still believed in God at that time. So sometime between grade four and grade five I seem to have lost belief in God, though I have no memory of that happening.

Nor do I recall coming to believe in God in the first place. Young children simply believe whatever they are told, regardless, whether if be belief in the Tooth Faerie or something else.

Never forget that. When you reach the point where you can no longer deny His existence, then you are making a choice.

Oh, if I had reason to believe in God, then I would believe in God. If it takes my demise to recognize that God is real, then of course I would believe in God at that point. I don’t reject physical evidence, and I suppose that would constitute physical evidence. In the meantime I just don’t believe in things that lack plausibility.

 

[jkalyna]

When one becomes convinced of the existence of God and rejects Him, then one chooses hell. Never forget that. When you reach the point where you can no longer deny His existence, then you are making a choice.


Given my pm any further thought?

I need to laugh, Phil,*every-time*I look at your avatar, I think your trying to scare people like, see this, don't get any funny ideas, lol, I wonder if that's why you put that pic. there, but that's alright it is funny lol. *