Religion

[TheWalshinator]

It sure didn't take long for someone to start preaching.

"Atheists r stoopid HUR godnjesus4ever honk4jesus etc, ad nausium"

That isn't what I was saying at all.
NOBODY IS STUPID.
But that doesn't mean we don't do stupid things, everyone does.

[Bridge]

But that doesn't mean we don't do stupid things, everyone does.

The problem is you saying that atheists are more likely to do stupid things than religious people.

[TheWalshinator]

Alright, let me say a few things too.

I'm not an atheist. And even though I'm baptized and wear a cross, I wouldn't call myself Christian either. Based on what I learned about religion, prayer, etc, I've developed my own faith. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks like this, I would assume a lot of agnostics do, for example, it's just that there is no religion for it.
I believe there is a god, but I don't believe in the personification of god. I believe that "god" is actually within each of us, within everything. To me god is love, the purest and probably the most potent feeling in this world. And it is indeed capable of miracles. I believe that the more love you give to the world, the more love you will receive back. I believe that if one truly wishes for something, but in an non-destructible way (wishing for your own success, not for your enemy's failure, for example), it will be achieved sooner or later. I can say that this has worked for me twice. And the more people concentrate on the same goal, the more powerful that force becomes. Maybe prayer works in the same way.
So to me it is important to try and deal with everything (yes, even people I dislike) with love and not to give in to negative emotion. It's also extremely important to love yourself, because you're part of god, after all.


I also don't believe in heaven or hell. I think we are sent to this world to develop and learn. Each life is a lesson. If don't learn our lesson, if we don't discover our potential and put it to use, we get kicked in the same circumstances in our next life.


Hope that didn't sound too stupid.

There are some things that I agree with, I won't deny that, but God is the personification of perfect, unconditional love, and He is also a Judge. Think of Him as a Father figure, not waiting for you to screw up so that He can beat you with a stick, rather waiting for you to come to Him so that He can lavish His love on you

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But that doesn't mean we don't do stupid things, everyone does.

The problem is you saying that atheists are more likely to do stupid things than religious people.

I didn't mean it in that way, sorry, sometimes I have difficulty expressing myself in a way that can't be misinterpreted. That is a flaw in my character.
What I meant to say was: they will use their belief of only living once as an excuse to do something stupid.
I hope this doesn't come across the wrong way.

[i3670]

I find this discussion about religion and non-belief futile. We humans always create something to make our lives have meaning, in this case religion. However, the fact of the matter is that religion is an invented phenomenon and this is a fundamental flaw in all religions. Creating something to fill the void of meaninglessness. If you accept God (or any other kind of invented form of belief) and elude the Absurd you will never be able to confront it and live fully.

[Bridge]

What I meant to say was: they will use their belief of only living once as an excuse to do something stupid.

Stupid people may, but it is not something inherently atheistic.

[Ghieri]

What I meant to say was: they will use their belief of only living once as an excuse to do something stupid.

There is literally no way you can phrase that better. It's premise is incorrect.

I've been doing stupid things since before I converted. XD

[HorrorElementFilms]

When I was younger, I always learned that the universe was millions of years old. My Christian parents always told me that the age of the universe was 6000 years. Because I was young, I had never been able to argue the fact that I was right. To me, it didn't make sense that so many things happened in such a little time span. But now, I know simple methods that would disprove the age of the biblical Earth.

Spoiler below!

Tests have been conducted, where beams of light have been shot at reflectors on the moon. Tests concluded that it took about 1.3 seconds for the light to reach the moon, then come back to Earth. It takes around 5 minutes for the light from the sun to reach Earth. Everything we see is possible because light reflects off of the surface of what we see. Even though it's almost instantaneous, there is still a delay. Everything we see, is how it was in the past, however short the past from the present may be.


However, the nearest star to the sun is 4.37 light years away. That means, that the it takes 4.37 years for the light to reach us. In other words, the star that we see, is actually how it was 4.37 years ago. With this in mind, imagine how many millions of light years the size of our galaxy is. That means that all the far away stars we see, were created millions of years ago. That would completely disprove the age of the universe, according to the bible, which claims it to be about a mere 6000 years.

[Wapez]

If there was no need for a God, then why are we here? If there was no Creator, then we or this Earth wouldn't exist. If you think that this Earth could create itself, or that it was just here with people and animals in it, then where did the people and animals come from? Where did the germs come from? Where did atoms come from? Where did EVERYTHING come from? There must have been something before everything else.

A lot of recent science points towards a very interesting and logical theory. There has never been nothing, because nothing is not a valid term in our universe. Nothing is, in fact, something.

The first, most basic idea of nothing — empty space with nothing in it — is agreed not to be nothing. In our universe, even a dark, empty void of space, absent of all particles, is still something. It has a topology, it has a shape, it's a physical object.

This means that it has always existed something, that also might be the reason for the evolution of the next "something".

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By the way, I enjoy the fact that the bible notices that homosexuality is a sin in several places, like this one:

Lev. 20:13, "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon them"

However, no one were concerned about Jesus that was hanging out with 12 other dudes in dresses during several years.

[i3670]

By the way, I enjoy the fact that the bible notices that homosexuality is a sin in several places, like this one:

Lev. 20:13, "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon them"

However, no one were concerned about Jesus that was hanging out with 12 other dudes in dresses during several years.

I am sorry but I don't see the connection. Are you saying that if all your friends are men, if you all your pupils are men you are therefore homosexual? If there was something along the line of "And thus Jesus touched upon the turgid male parts of his followers" then you would have a point but sadly, for you, there is not.

Also, what's wrong with wearing dresses? Several straight men wear dresses in the middle-east. Are you saying that they are also homosexual?

[Ashtoreth]

There must have been something before everything else.

Right. So, in your opinion, what was there before God? I mean, there must have been something before him. Or did he come from nothing?