Religion

secret_goldfish:

but why is fear a bad thing? is it so horrible to admit that there is something more powerful than you are? i think that saying that your not afraid of anything is worse than saying you are afraid of everything

That's just it. People like to think they are the best, they alone can withstand everything and that they are the almighty. The idea of something planning their every move is just something they either can't understand or don't want to accept.

Starr:

secret_goldfish:

but why is fear a bad thing? is it so horrible to admit that there is something more powerful than you are? i think that saying that your not afraid of anything is worse than saying you are afraid of everything

That's just it. People like to think they are the best, they alone can withstand everything and that they are the almighty. The idea of something planning their every move is just something they either can't understand or don't want to accept.

Oh, there are a lot of things more powerful than me. Something is planning my every move. Government, anyone?. It sure as hell isn't 'god', because 'god' supposedly gave free will. I'm not an anarchist, so I guess that throws that argument out of the window.

I think a lot of you are getting confused. For an atheist to believe himself to be god, would be hypocritical. That isn't an atheist view. That is a fundamental violation of the sole and singular athiest belief.

Bloodraine:

secret_goldfish:

and another thing, atheism seems to be a fad. again the majority of you who have commented against my opinion, have bands in your ava whose members are atheistic. its amazing how much the media affects the public these days...

Well, not all of us.
I don't even know what his religon is...

See, i'm getting in touch with what you're thinking when you say atheists are all cycnical, nihilistic, anti-establisment, spiteful, ignorant trolls. Well, that stereotype does exist. I'd like to think as a fairly optimistic, happy person (who just so happens to not believe in god), i'm not one of them.

I suppose atheism implies a lack of belief, and a lack of belief in turn accentuates a lack of hope. Not necessarily, but the basis for such a belief is still there.

Now, can you really justify branding such a vast group of people 'ignorant'?. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheists number around 1.1 billion believers the world over.

i will and im sorry for doing so. and i dont think that atheists are trolls. i think that athiests are just individuals who refuse to believe in God. and i think that saying that all athiests were ignorant only made me seem ignorant. not because i am a catholic and believe in God, but because i havent met every single athiest living on this plant. i was using a stereotype as a reference and some prior knowledge. it was a poor assessment.

secret_goldfish:

but why is fear a bad thing? is it so horrible to admit that there is something more powerful than you are? i think that saying that your not afraid of anything is worse than saying you are afraid of everything

Hmm.
I think there's a difference between being fearful and feeling powerless. Particularly concerning what use you put that fearfullness too. I don't think there's any reason to fear God; in my experience, it's the Church that inspires fear in people. Rigid rules, historically cruel punishments (Spanish Inquisition, Witchhunting, heretic-burning, etc.) often make followers of a religion fear its deity when really its representation on earth that poses the threat.

People who say that there's nothing more powerful than them or that they have nothing to fear are lying. Everyone's scared of something. But fear, like most emotions, needs limits. Because you don't want to spend your life afraid.

secret_goldfish:

i will and im sorry for doing so. and i dont think that atheists are trolls. i think that athiests are just individuals who refuse to believe in God. and i think that saying that all athiests were ignorant only made me seem ignorant. not because i am a catholic and believe in God, but because i havent met every single athiest living on this plant. i was using a stereotype as a reference and some prior knowledge. it was a poor assessment.

See, I used to be a catholic. Wasn't my own choice, but I was a catholic for long anough to know that is a religion full of hypocrisy and other less favourable things, but I won't make a point of that. I know saying all catholics are bad would be equal to saying all atheists are bad. I've said this before, but you get bad muslims, bad atheists, bad catholics, bad jews, bad everything really.

Bloodraine:

Oh, there are a lot of things more powerful than me. Something is planning my every move. Government, anyone?. It sure as hell isn't 'god', because 'god' supposedly gave free will. I'm not an anarchist, so I guess that throws that argument out of the window.

Damm right the government are controlling our every move, but God is supposed to have our lives planned out for us, is he not?

Quote

I think a lot of you are getting confused. For an atheist to believe himself to be god, would be hypocritical. That isn't an atheist view. That is a fundamental violation of the sole and singular athiest belief.

Atheists don't believe they are their own God, that is Satanists.

I am a spiritual person I don't believe in the church and what it has to say, Im not atheist but don't have anything against it.
My friends are atheist.
Anyways I believe in God but no offense most people that go to church think they are safe and are total hypocrites judging everyone around like if they are perfect. No one can judge me only God. No offense to other religions...

clarissa:

secret_goldfish:

but why is fear a bad thing? is it so horrible to admit that there is something more powerful than you are? i think that saying that your not afraid of anything is worse than saying you are afraid of everything

Hmm.
I think there's a difference between being fearful and feeling powerless. Particularly concerning what use you put that fearfullness too. I don't think there's any reason to fear God; in my experience, it's the Church that inspires fear in people. Rigid rules, historically cruel punishments (Spanish Inquisition, Witchhunting, heretic-burning, etc.) often make followers of a religion fear its deity when really its representation on earth that poses the threat.

People who say that there's nothing more powerful than them or that they have nothing to fear are lying. Everyone's scared of something. But fear, like most emotions, needs limits. Because you don't want to spend your life afraid.

i agree with you. but such threats like the spanish inquistion (renaissance) witchhunting (late 1600's) and heretic-burning (again renaissance) were quite a long time ago. that doesnt mean that i deny that these things exist, but if they do it is scarce and rare.

secret_goldfish:

i agree with you. but such threats like the spanish inquistion (renaissance) witchhunting (late 1600's) and heretic-burning (again renaissance) were quite a long time ago. that doesnt mean that i deny that these things exist, but if they do it is scarce and rare.

True, my examples occurred centuries ago and I would have to say that the Catholic Church in particular is generally a lot nicer nowadays. But I do question its relevance. I can't comprehend the desire to spend hours in Church, just like you can't agree with athiesm. And many religions are still a source of fear today: the whole GodHatesFagz phenomenon, suicide bombers, etc. Not that I think the world would be a better place without religion; there would probably be fewer successful charity organisations. So for me, religions are a strange mixture of good and bad that I'm interested in them but would prefer to remain uninvolved.

Bloodraine:

So, here we have tackled my views on the God of the people. Now, on to the creator. So, something put us in this world, something created the universe, something catalysed the creation of a Cosmology we know as the universe. I can agree with that. Whatever that 'thing' was, no human knows, but I do believe it existed at one point.

Is this a good time to go into the Design argument? I vaguely remember it from GCSE RE. Something to do with the complexity of a watch and drawing a parallel to the complexity of the world.

Can anyone remind me? It'll bug me all night otherwise.

clarissa:

Bloodraine:

So, here we have tackled my views on the God of the people. Now, on to the creator. So, something put us in this world, something created the universe, something catalysed the creation of a Cosmology we know as the universe. I can agree with that. Whatever that 'thing' was, no human knows, but I do believe it existed at one point.

Is this a good time to go into the Design argument? I vaguely remember it from GCSE RE. Something to do with the complexity of a watch and drawing a parallel to the complexity of the world.

Can anyone remind me? It'll bug me all night otherwise.

William Paley, right?

I remember how it goes. If you found a watch in the middle of nowhere, something must have made it. Put this is in perspective; The universe is 100x more complicated than any watch on earth, yet people say it had no creator?.

secret_goldfish:

and another thing, atheism seems to be a fad. again the majority of you who have commented against my opinion, have bands in your ava whose members are atheistic. its amazing how much the media affects the public these days...

I have been an athiest for a long time
in my heart i knew that there was no god
i dont care what the beatles or my chemical romance thinks about god
i am an anthiest becuase i dont belive in god
music has nothingto do with it
end of story

[Teal]:

secret_goldfish:

and another thing, atheism seems to be a fad. again the majority of you who have commented against my opinion, have bands in your ava whose members are atheistic. its amazing how much the media affects the public these days...

I have been an athiest for a long time
in my heart i knew that there was no god
i dont care what the beatles or my chemical romance thinks about god
i am an anthiest becuase i dont belive in god
music has nothingto do with it
end of story

and that is your opinion and your own experience.
you are not the only athiest, as mentioned before there is a population of 1.1 billion.

secret_goldfish:

and another thing, atheism seems to be a fad. again the majority of you who have commented against my opinion, have bands in your ava whose members are atheistic. its amazing how much the media affects the public these days...

Thats true of all religions: there are trends. But I think its wrong to assume that there is a link between people being aetheist and their having an aetheist celebrity in their ava. Its pretty hard to change what you believe. I refuse to believe that its a choice - are you honestly telling me that you COULD choose believe in something other than God? Or in there being no God at all? Its the same principle. People can lie to others, they can even lie to themselves, but they can never truly believe in something that they just don't. (I know the grammar in thats pretty wobbly, but I hope you understand what I'm getting at.)

Mud:

secret_goldfish:

and another thing, atheism seems to be a fad. again the majority of you who have commented against my opinion, have bands in your ava whose members are atheistic. its amazing how much the media affects the public these days...

Thats true of all religions: there are trends. But I think its wrong to assume that there is a link between people being aetheist and their having an aetheist celebrity in their ava. Its pretty hard to change what you believe. I refuse to believe that its a choice - are you honestly telling me that you COULD choose believe in something other than God? Or in there being no God at all? Its the same principle. People can lie to others, they can even lie to themselves, but they can never truly believe in something that they just don't. (I know the grammar in thats pretty wobbly, but I hope you understand what I'm getting at.)

I understand what you are "getting at." i think that religion is a choice. choosing what you believe in is not like homosexuality or a deformity, you are not born with it. the environment in which you are brought up in influences you decisions about life which associates with religion. again i think it is human nature to question the existence of God for there is no real proof. but when an individual chooses to be atheist, it is a decision just as it is when an individual chooses to be religious. i highly doubt that all of you who claim to be athiests from birth told your parents that there is no God when you were three.

secret_goldfish:

I understand what you are "getting at." i think that religion is a choice. choosing what you believe in is not like homosexuality or a deformity, you are not born with it. the environment in which you are brought up in influences you decisions about life which associates with religion. again i think it is human nature to question the existence of God for there is no real proof. but when an individual chooses to be atheist, it is a decision just as it is when an individual chooses to be religious. i highly doubt that all of you who claim to be athiests from birth told your parents that there is no God when you were three.

I did. I told the Church I was made to go to, too.

And you didn't answer my question: If I can choose to believe in God, even though it isn't something inherent in my nature, can YOU choose not to believe in God? Isn't your belief in God something ingrained in you? Isn't your religion supposed to be a part of your heart?

I agree that beliefs are deeply affected by environment. But that includes yours, not just aetheists.

Bloodraine:

William Paley, right?

I remember how it goes. If you found a watch in the middle of nowhere, something must have made it. Put this is in perspective; The universe is 100x more complicated than any watch on earth, yet people say it had no creator?.

I think its a coincidence. Sure, the idea of the Big Bang is pretty flukey, but there is some evidence for it, such as Red Shift (the red appearance of distant stars because the wavelength of their light is stretched as they move away from us). All this was pretty unlikely to come about, but its a big universe, so eventually something extremely improbable is going to happen.

In my opinion, its entirely feasible that the universe exploded from one dense area of matter. Where did the matter come from? Where did God come from?

I'm not saying your beliefs are wrong, but I don't think its quite as simple as the watch analogy.

Mud:

secret_goldfish:

I understand what you are "getting at." i think that religion is a choice. choosing what you believe in is not like homosexuality or a deformity, you are not born with it. the environment in which you are brought up in influences you decisions about life which associates with religion. again i think it is human nature to question the existence of God for there is no real proof. but when an individual chooses to be atheist, it is a decision just as it is when an individual chooses to be religious. i highly doubt that all of you who claim to be athiests from birth told your parents that there is no God when you were three.

I did. I told the Church I was made to go to, too.

And you didn't answer my question: If I can choose to believe in God, even though it isn't something inherent in my nature, can YOU choose not to believe in God? Isn't your belief in God something ingrained in you? Isn't your religion supposed to be a part of your heart?

I agree that beliefs are deeply affected by environment. But that includes yours, not just aetheists.

actually i can choose whether or not i believe in God, but i choose to believe in God. God has not ingrained anything in me. sinning is a choice so why cant religion be a choice? and i think that when you told the church you were made to, it was acted upon boredom, not because you didnt believe.

secret_goldfish:

actually i can choose whether or not i believe in God, but i choose to believe in God. God has not ingrained anything in me. sinning is a choice so why cant religion be a choice? and i think that when you told the church you were made to, it was acted upon boredom, not because you didnt believe.

If your religion is something you can turn on or off at will, I think you've missed the point. Because if you can choose to believe something else, then you don't believe it 100%. If you can choose to deny it, you never really meant it in the first place. I believe you do firmly believe in God, but I think your assessment that you could choose not to is brash.

And actually, I wasn't bored at Church. It was a kid's group, mid-week while all our parents were at work. I liked being told stories, the activities and the songs. I just didn't believe in God and I told them so. I got in trouble for it, but that was what I believed.

Hey!
Most of you have no idea who I am, though I constantly say stuff.
I was a Christian until I realised that I was empty because religion is empty. It's just telling people what they do wrong.

And so my youth group helped me a lot.

I do not have a religion.
I have a relationship with God.

I sin. You sin. Everyone sins, and anyone who says, "oh, gay is bad" or "oh, you shouldn't hang out with them" is forgetting some of God's major teachings.

Sin once, and you are just as bad as anyone on earth. All sin is equal.

If you are tired of Christians shoving religion and righteousness in your face, and holding their standards, which they don't meet, to you, and making you feel crappy, I hope you haven't lost all faith in people who call themselves Christians.

I call myself that because I don't know what else to call it.

I would like to be able to find God or something.

I could say it clearer but I hate cliches and cheesy Christian crap.

So yeah.

If you have a question against Christians or the bible or something, I would love to talk to you about it.

If I'm doing something against the rules, don't kill me. I just have this thing where I try to do stuff and crap.... but what I'm saying is I'm doing it in the name of peace and hope you can forgive me.