Originally posted by Loving_Daniel11
God's there whether you believe it or not. And for those who dont believe in God, I believe you will be condemned to hell in certain circumstances. Then you'll understand.
This is the exact crap that makes me hate religious people even more.
First of all, if god is so forgiving, he'll be pissed at us for all of 3 seconds before forgiving us for our arrogance/ignorance.
Seocond of all, you ever hear of the Son of Sam? Yeah...Well, he's a born again Christain. Full blown. He even has his own website, I forget the site address, when I find it, I'll be SURE to post it. Every Catholic/Christian that I've talked to that has read the site has said, "God will forgive him. He has repented!"
Repented my ass! Do you realize how many girls he killed?! I just chose not to believe in something right now in my life, he's never shown me that he existed in fact, if anything, he's shown me in my life that he wants me to be miserable overall. I've worked my ass off for what I've gotten...Hell, I won our area's golf championship...Guess what, I got NO media coverage. Know why? A FRICKIN FLOOD BLOCKED THE MAIN ROADS AND THE NEWSCASTERS WERE TOO LAZY TO DRIVE AROUND!
Yeah, might not seem like a big deal but, that was my breakout tournament. I beat 150+ kids to win that bastard(in a playoff at that) and, because of some friggin Hurricane that traveled 800 miles after SMASHING Florida into bits, my name doesn't get out to colleges? That's right, colleges!
Who's to say that if I would have gotten the usual 10 minutes of airtime that some scout or coach wouldn't have said, "Damn, that kid must be a player to win that tournament! And in a playoff!!!! WOW!" No...
No...I worked my ass off for my skills and my grandmother(who I loved VERY dearly) died 2 years ago...Never got to see me succeed fully in the sport that I love. Guess what, I barely made varsity that year...There's nothing that I wouldn't have given for her to see the moment I made that 4 footer to win...
Anyway, if god is out there, he's cruel, incompetant, or just a douchebag. One of the above is true...If you'd like to know why...Ask me.
And I have a great website for atheistic quotes...I'll post it when I find it again also...
it's not know but believe. whether you believe in a god or something else, the main thing is you have faith in something or an expectation. if there is nothing at the end of the road, people might think there is no purpose in anything at all. people commit suicide when they lose faith or the occasional chemical imbalance. but THAT DOESN'T COUNT!
religious forums are for the birds. I believe in God, and have experienced his presence, and found proof of his existance more than once. A forum is not enough to shake my belief in God, nor is it enough to change the views of a strong headed atheist. But in my opinon, atheists deny God because they want to live their lives on their terms without eternal consequence. For this I believe they will be denied God forever, and will suffer eternally in Hell. These are my beliefs.
Xeous
Claiming to be a Christian and "being" a Christian are two totally different things.
When considering ones character like the Son of Sam, it's easy to become intoxicated with anger, or fear for the matter. Yes, he commited treacherous crimes, and was an evil man.
However, your in no position to judge him. Both small and great sin seperate us from God. As you may have already heard, it's God's line of work to judge. You can't apply your own philosophy when it comes to Christianity. Christians must stand frim on the teachings of the Holy Bible.
Has the Son of Sam trully converted to Christianity? Who knows? God will reward or punish him accordingly. The gift of salvation is free to all who ask with ALL their hearts and find faith in Jesus Christ. It's the gift of grace; forgiving others when they have done you wrong. It's hard to swallow, but that's the way it is, espeacially dealing with murderers.
Being forgiven is not as easy as saying, "Hey God, I really messed up. Sheesh, I'm such an idiot. Please forgive me... I'll never do it again. Oh, and I believe in Jesus Christ; don't want to forget that part."
It's not as easy as going through the motions. He may have a great amount of remorse and pain regarding his past? He may trully be a different person? Knowbody knows but God and himself. At any rate, I'm sorry you feel that way.
Yes, I believe in a God. After a book I have recently been reading, I believe that there is no other way, and that Atheism is merely the easy way out.
Let me ask you this: Do you believe there is a right and a wrong? If you do, then you also believe there is a God. In order to not believe in a God, you must think that absoluetly everything in this world is terrible, and thats just the way it is, there is nothing wrong with it, and nothing we can do about it. For in calling something wrong or bad, you are making a comparision. And you are comparing something a unlimately good and Godly force. Take this analogy for instance: how can you know what a curvy line is, without the knowledge of a straight one?
Originally posted by Lianslo
Yes, I believe in a God. After a book I have recently been reading, I believe that there is no other way, and that Atheism is merely the easy way out.
It's not atheism, but theism that's the easy way out, because theists have the easiest answer for everything - GOD...this God just snapped his fingers and everything was there - as simple as that - that's the easy way out, because god is the answer and solution to all problems for the sleepy minded theist!
Hey, Finti - I think you and I are both as arrogant and childish as the other - we'd make a good team, don't you agree?
Originally posted by finti
I believe in right and worng but I dont believe in any god, man knew right or wrong before they started making up gods. There is no universial right or wrong just cultural.
Ok, what I was trying to say in my previous post comes from this book I am reading for my Theology class. Its written by a man who was an atheist, set out to prove he was right, and then became a Christian. I want to post a small segment of his argument for there being a God...and see your reactions. Because it makes the point I was trying to get across better then I ever could.
"My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it? A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal: a fish would not feel wet. of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too - for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist - in other words, that hte whole reality was senseless - I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality - namely my idea of justice - was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning."
Originally posted by finti
I dont htink he gets the point across good at all, sounds like the rambling of one who actually dont know what to say. It is weak.
And the thingie with man and fish is hillarious, what a lame argument that he actuelly cant be sure off
I find you to be quite wrong. Do you even know what concept he's trying to get across? The entire point is that if there is no God, then we should never have known the concept of right and wrong. The fish example is a metaphor. Its saying that if there is no God, and we are therefore creatures of darkness, then we should not even know that we are living in darkness, just as a fish does not feel wet, because he is a water animal.
The fish example is a metaphorso is the god part.......................and just because water animals live in water we really dont know it they feel the wet,..................
Goodness, so, your going to pick apart every detail of this metaphor? You think that will prove your point? If your not happy with that metaphor, look at his other examples. He gives plenty of them. Besides, it is not the metaphor that is the important part. I don't understand why you are arguing about this trivial issue. The entire point (which it seems that you are failing to understand) is that if we all live in darkness, and there is no God, then we should never have realized the darkness that we live in.