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Discussion: ATRL Great Debates Thread | Is America Racist?
Member Since: 8/4/2012
Posts: 23,716
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The "school" books isn't going to teach the life of God of course. Because science believes that we came from monkeys. Do you believe that?
The only book that explains God him is the holy bible. The bible is God's spoken word to us.
How would it be an insult to you that there is a God?
Yes you have a biological father but you're Ultimate father is God. I'm sure your father works hard to take care of you, correct? But who gave all of him that? The job, the food, the money he has? God! When your father goes asleep. Who is watching over you when you're sleeping? God.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 4,721
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Member Since: 9/1/2013
Posts: 6,762
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No 
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Member Since: 4/25/2011
Posts: 41,661
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Yes I do believe in God.
I believe there is a supernatural up there.
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Member Since: 8/4/2012
Posts: 23,716
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Quote:
Originally posted by alexanderao
Do I believe in God?
I'd like to say a few things before I make my argument. The first thing that I'd like to point out here is that the current debate surrounding religion and belief in God is often extremely oversimplified and mistakenly misconstrued. Secondly, I want to assert that belief in God and the moral standing of a person are completely unrelated. Too often, those who do not believe in God are viewed as immoral and untrustworthy. Finally, I would like to give some context into my own life. I was raised without discernible bias towards or against religion and the concept of God, and my parents have repeatedly stated that they are OK with whatever path I choose. I will try to make the most objective argument I could possibly make.
There is no empirical evidence for the existence of God, and I find that there are not any convincing arguments either. The main text cited as evidence of God's existence, the Bible, is quite untrustworthy and does not deserve our attention any more than a different 2,000-year-old book with stories about deities. I struggle to understand why people so easily accept it as truth, and adhere to its teachings as if it was the ultimate authority, especially when it is factually incorrect and contradictory. Hence my lack of grasping why someone would take what is said in the Bible (that God exists) as truth.
My viewpoint is that the burden of proof lies with the believers. If you're going to believe in something, you had better give me a reason to believe in it. For example, if someone told me that they had the highest Flappy Bird score in the world without actually telling me what their score was or showing me proof that they had achieved the score, I would not believe them. Similarly, if a book like the Bible tells me that there is this omnipotent being who created the universe and watches over everyone in the world without actually providing evidence for this extraordinary claim, I don't believe it.
When I talk to people about this, occasionally I encounter someone who claims to have had a personal experience that has (fairly unwaveringly) convinced them of the existence of God. Usually, the situations are perfectly explainable with conventional reasoning. To me, it's incredibly annoying when someone is crediting God for a positive event or stroke of luck in life (such as someone recovering from cancer or leaving their hometown a day before a devastating tornado hit) when the aforementioned event can be understood without any belief in such a deity. Thus, I conclude that personal experiences are a poor, non-convincing reason to believe in God.
Additionally, sometimes I have heard people say that they believe in God either because they are afraid of going to hell or are eager to go to heaven. I say that there is no reason to worry about either; just like with God, there's no reason to believe that heaven and hell exist. The notions of heaven and hell but really of afterlives in general stem from a general fear of death and denial of human mortality, and I completely sympathize with anyone who is afraid of dying. However, it is illogical to assume that there is an afterlife just because of this fear, or because it is stated in the Bible.
I would like to apologize if this post has offended anyone. My intent was not to put down or insult believers in God, but rather to strongly, objectively, and accurately convey why I do not believe in God.
This is a good Reddit post that addresses some concepts I discussed in my post while also touching on others that I did not mention.
So, in conclusion, I do not believe in God.
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I'm going to answer all of your questions the best of my knowledge.
Are you an atheist? Have you ever experienced God? Have you been to church? You don't believe the bible because it been her for so long? What you think about the history books that we have or the science books we have. They had to been long for a very long time. The Bible is God's spoken word. You don't believe in God because YOU don't want to get to know him. You DON'T want to go out there and be like let me see if he is real or I think I should try him and go to a church service.
You don't think God don't do does nice things like helping us pass a test or curing us if we have a disease or something?
Yes. Some people do that. They believe it's a God but do they KNOW it's a God. People that believe in God is either living like they want to and that isn't the way to do it. Christians know it's a God because he died for our sins so we could have internal life with him which is heaven. It's so much better living for him than living how I want to live.
When you died where you think you going? You have a soul and a body. Your body is called the flesh which going to be left on the earth.
People are fearful of dying because they don't know where they are going which is heaven or hell.
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Member Since: 8/4/2012
Posts: 23,716
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Quote:
Originally posted by beautiful player
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You're getting false articles from the Internet.
So you was born as a monkey?
The bible wasn't mistranslated by just any man. It was man through the Holy Spirit which is God.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 4,721
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You have to be trolling? Right?
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Member Since: 7/15/2012
Posts: 13,331
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I do believe in God. To those who know me I may not come across as very religious, and for the most part it doesn't take up a large part of my life, but I take comfort in knowing that He is watching over me, and is willing to forgive me of any sins I commit throughout my life.
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Member Since: 11/27/2010
Posts: 9,806
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I am an atheist and it's not up for a debate. Sorry, I don't believe in ghosts.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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Quote:
Originally posted by ririfan21
Are you an atheist? Have you ever experienced God? Have you been to church? You don't believe the bible because it been her for so long? What you think about the history books that we have or the science books we have. They had to been long for a very long time. The Bible is God's spoken word. You don't believe in God because YOU don't want to get to know him. You DON'T want to go out there and be like let me see if he is real or I think I should try him and go to a church service.
You don't think God don't do does nice things like helping us pass a test or curing us if we have a disease or something?
Yes. Some people do that. They believe it's a God but do they KNOW it's a God. People that believe in God is either living like they want to and that isn't the way to do it. Christians know it's a God because he died for our sins so we could have internal life with him which is heaven. It's so much better living for him than living how I want to live.
When you died where you think you going? You have a soul and a body. Your body is called the flesh which going to be left on the earth.
People are fearful of dying because they don't know where they are going which is heaven or hell.
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Yes, I am an atheist- by definition, an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in God.
The Bible's antiquity is just one reason why I do not believe it. As I wrote in my original post, it is factually incorrect and contradictory, and there's no reason to let such a book dictate my beliefs. There are so many things that we can use to understand our natural world, and the Bible is simply not one of them, because there's no evidence for its extraordinary claims. You can't prove that the Bible is God's spoken word, and you can't prove the existence of God, so I don't understand why you'd believe that.
You are simply not correct when you say that I don't believe in God because I don't want to. As I said in my original post, I was raised totally unbiased regarding this issue. I came to a logical conclusion based on strong arguments. I never specifically wanted to be a theist or an atheist.
Of course God doesn't help us pass tests or cure diseases. When I do well on a test in school, it's not because God wanted me to, it's because I studied for the test and because I know the content well enough to succeed. When people are cured of diseases, it's because there are teams of doctors who know how to cure diseases by their side the whole time.
And the principal reason people are afraid of dying is because dying means that your existence is over and that you now do not exist for the rest of eternity. A lot of people find that scary. I don't blame them.
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Member Since: 8/4/2012
Posts: 23,716
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Quote:
Originally posted by beautiful player
You have to be trolling? Right?
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I'm not trolling.
You said human came from monkeys right? If we came from monkeys, we would have been born as a human when we came out of our mother's womb.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 4,721
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Quote:
Originally posted by ririfan21
I'm not trolling.
You said human came from monkeys right? If we came from monkeys, we would have been born as a human when we came out of our mother's womb. |
That's not how evolution works. I'm sorry, but where is your education?
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Member Since: 8/4/2012
Posts: 23,716
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Quote:
Originally posted by alexanderao
Yes, I am an atheist- by definition, an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in God.
The Bible's antiquity is just one reason why I do not believe it. As I wrote in my original post, it is factually incorrect and contradictory, and there's no reason to let such a book dictate my beliefs. There are so many things that we can use to understand our natural world, and the Bible is simply not one of them, because there's no evidence for its extraordinary claims. You can't prove that the Bible is God's spoken word, and you can't prove the existence of God, so I don't understand why you'd believe that.
You are simply not correct when you say that I don't believe in God because I don't want to. As I said in my original post, I was raised totally unbiased regarding this issue. I came to a logical conclusion based on strong arguments. I never specifically wanted to be a theist or an atheist.
Of course God doesn't help us pass tests or cure diseases. When I do well on a test in school, it's not because God wanted me to, it's because I studied for the test and because I know the content well enough to succeed. When people are cured of diseases, it's because there are teams of doctors who know how to cure diseases by their side the whole time.
And the principal reason people are afraid of dying is because dying means that your existence is over and that you now do not exist for the rest of eternity. A lot of people find that scary. I don't blame them.
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I know what an atheist is. You're kinda insulting my intelligence. And that isn't the way to discuss the topic. What parts do you want to point out that it's incorrectly or contradictory? Where do you think we came from?
It's somethings that I can't answer or unanswerable. I'm sorry.
But I can tell you what I know. Before I felt the Holy Spirit, I believe there was a God but I really didn't know him. When I felt that energy, I knew it wasn't from me. It was God. It felt like I was at another place. It was unreal.
My friend friend's is an atheist. My friend invited him to my church. I give him props for at least coming to it. And to experience it. During service he stood up and right there he was shaking he started to literally shake in the middle of service. After service my friend asked him how he feel. It felt great. And he asked him do he believe in God know. And he said Yes.
We maybe not see God but I know he is always there. I'm going to pray for you.
You are relying on what you lived off of. And I totally understand that. I'm sorry you lived that why and never went to church. I'm sure you heard people talking about God. Have you ever want to step out of your comfort zone?
God gives you the mind to study those things and to remember them.
Doctors are here to help us but what if something goes wrong with the medicines that have. Are you sure that the medicines they give us are going to work properly? The doctors don't know if the body going to operate with the body well for us to survive.
What is scary that you don't believe in God and I'm trying my best to speak the word to you.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 40,803
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I want to be, but idk 
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Member Since: 7/23/2010
Posts: 6,705
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What many people don't know is the Bible that we have is not the original writings. It is a copy of the original writings which are the autographs. It is the autographs that are inspired not the copies so obviously there are some errors that have crept in but that is not to say the Bible cannot be trusted because according to textual criticism, the Bible stands at about 98% accuracy. There is only a small percentage of error which makes NO doctrinal difference. If anything, the Bible is the only ancient document that has withstood thousands of years of transmission and translation with remarkable accuracy. It has far more textual evidence to its favor than any other ancient writing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual...#Old_Testament
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual...#New_Testament
Regarding the historical and scientific accuracy of the Bible, I don't think even the early Church and the early Christians viewed it to be literal history or a science journal. Neither the Bible nor the Church claims it to be scientific. Quite the opposite. It is not a scientific text at all. It is only the religious fundamentalists and critics that keep on insisting the Bible to be scientific to be credible. In fact, conveying scientific knowledge is one of the least of concerns of the Bible. The Bible represents salvation history and the vehicles for that revelation include myths, legends, fables (which doesn't necessarily equate to being fictional but rather allegorical), poetry (1/3 of the Bible is poetry), and even historical passages so obviously not everything is intended to be literal truth. The Bible does recount a certain amount of history but biblical history does not correspond to the rigorous historical writing of modern academics. All in all, the Bible is a theological book. It is meant to be inspirational, spiritual and instructional, and not strictly historical or scientific.
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Member Since: 8/17/2012
Posts: 17,268
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I personally don't believe in God (I'm open to the possibility of it existing, but I don't live my life assuming it does), but I completely respect people who do, as long as they don't disrespect or criticize people who don't. Additionally, I don't really care if people choose not to believe facts that contradict the bible (evolution, for example) because it's your life and you're free to think whatever you want, but it bothers me when people tell their children or others influenced by them that these facts are wrong because the Bible says so. You can deny something's true, but don't pass that denial on to a new generation, because that's simply irresponsible.
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Banned
Member Since: 6/9/2011
Posts: 17,950
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I believe in a higher power and I'd like to think that there is some form of energy which is protecting me but lately - and I don't wanna get morbid - I've been feeling the omen of death. I just feel like I'm going to die soon and that it might be my time to leave Earth, or maybe I'm misunderstanding the universe. God has a plan for me but it's beyond my comprehension, unfortunately. 
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Member Since: 5/19/2012
Posts: 5,925
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Quote:
Originally posted by ririfan21
Do you believe in God. If so, that is great.
If not, you have any questions about it? |
Yes. I do have my skeptics sometimes though.
Not to bash atheists, but the whole "big bang" thing doesn't make sense. How can some explosion create things so perfectly constructed. Like I'm so sure we got beating hearts, opposable thumbs, and sexual organs all because of some explosion.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 4,721
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Quote:
Originally posted by OnikaSlays
Yes. I do have my skeptics sometimes though.
Not to bash atheists, but the whole "big bang" thing doesn't make sense. How can some explosion create things so perfectly contructed. Like I'm so sure we got beating hearts, opposable thumbs, and sexual organs all because of some explosion. |
It does make sense, you just don't understand it. Educate yourself by watching this: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xv1...010_shortfilms
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 56,234
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No, I do not believe in God. I seek no higher power and I take responsibility for my own actions. I am not reliant on the rules of an ancient text to tell me how to live my life and I don't believe what I do in this life will affect any more than that; this life.
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