The question of whether or not some sort of god exists is not one which should necessarily occupy the minds of atheists all of the time. Theists - especially Christians - regularly challenge us with arguments and ideas which supposedly demonstrate that their god definitely exists. But prior to that, there is an even more important issue to address: is a god really important in our lives?
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I am not driven by people’ s praise and I am not slowed down by people’ s criticism.
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Gender: Male Location: Huntington Beach, California
No...
and the question is....how is he?
I don't believe in God and I'm more successful than most people my age. I have a great job, a great education, a goregeous girlfriend...and dreams of a loving family.
God didn't give me those things, I went out and grabbed them myself.
__________________ "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
-Voltaire
"That includes ruining Halloween because someone swallowed a Bible."
"I just thought you were a guy."
"... Most guys do."
Gender: Male Location: Welfare Kingdom of California
Interesting topic about God matters. I find it intriguing that Atheist discuss so much about God. They reject God, that's fine. To say that God doesn't exists is quite a declaration. I been trying to stay on the philosophical area of God. But ppl keep saying God doesn't exist.......how? and where did they came to that conclusion? then again, how did other ppl came to the conclusion of God's existence.
Gender: Male Location: Welfare Kingdom of California
So far Philosophical works have make me ponder the question of God's existence. What I'm more interested in is what cause and atheist to be an atheist? Or where you born as an atheist?
Most atheists don't believe because they see no good, rational reasons for believing. Atheists generally think one should have good reasons based on evidence for believing something. Since religious beliefs do not fit this criteria (as far as we can tell), they do not believe.
__________________
I am not driven by people’ s praise and I am not slowed down by people’ s criticism.
You only live once. But if you live it right, once is enough. Wrong. We only die once, we live every day!
Make poverty history.
Well, not to everyone, but at least to a huge amount of people. Theists mostly believe in some kind of higher existance cause they need to feel secure, they need to feel that they are not alone out here, that something greater than them exists and will protect them. So they keep finding strength to live
and especially elders, knowing that life will soon be over, believe strongly in God cause they know the end is probably near.
Lastly, many religions define morals and preach about peace, love, compassion, making us better people
I myself am not religious, but many people do NEED a God to believe in.
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shallow me, then spit me out
for hating you I blame myself
seeing you it kills me now
no, I don't cry on the outside anymore...
For hundreds of years, Christian apologists have argued that without a belief in a god, basic social structures would disintegrate and people would no longer find reason to act morally.
The question is whether or not belief in any god or higher power is required for morality and social stability.
An examination of history makes it evident that believers in gods can be very violent, especially when it comes to other groups of believers who follow different gods.
Another interesting fact to point out is that the claim doesn' t actually require any god to really exist. If social stability and morality are only achieved with believing in a god, even a false god, then the theist is claiming that human societies require massive deceit in order to survive. Moreover, the theist is arguing that a society doesn' t actually need their god, since any god will apparently do.
A more fundamental objection, however, is the implicit portrayal of humanity which such a claim makes. The unspoken reason why humans need some god to be moral is that they are not capable of creating their own social rules and, hence, require an eternal rule-giver with accompanying eternal rewards and eternal punishments.
How can a theist possibly claim this when even chimpanzees and other primates are clearly capable of creating social rules? The theist is attempting to create ignorant children out of all of us. In their eyes, we are apparently incapable of running our own affairs; worse yet, only the promise of eternal reward and the threat of eternal punishment will keep us in line. Perhaps this is actually true of them, and that would be unfortunate.
__________________
I am not driven by people’ s praise and I am not slowed down by people’ s criticism.
You only live once. But if you live it right, once is enough. Wrong. We only die once, we live every day!
Make poverty history.
Gender: Male Location: Huntington Beach, California
true...they looked to God for strength.
But these two gentlemen found strength within themselves. They believed in their cause, and fought for it. They didn't ask God why things couldn't be different. They made things different themselves...
yeah but, Storm, as you can see, humans are one of the very few beings on this planet that kill each other; chimpazees, for example, don't, that's why men need defined morals
as for some turning violent, I agree, but I'm sure the people that are becoming better persons through religion, are more than the ones that are influenced in a bad way
I completely disagree! it's not a matter of weakness, to me it has to do with intelligence, environment, insecurities and yes, weakness too, but you CAN'T generalize like that
__________________
shallow me, then spit me out
for hating you I blame myself
seeing you it kills me now
no, I don't cry on the outside anymore...
The weak rely on God, ohhh come on. It takes a much bigger person, more courage, more boldness to have Faith in God, then to just say, he doesn't exist.
KMC Community Forums
Aug 25th, 2004 06:45 PM
