[max_power29]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('alexis', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EndDays', 'W')hy would you draw the conclusion that because there are bad people out there, then all "religion" is bad? There are bad people in all races and countries. It doesn't mean you shouldn't live around people of other races nor live in a country!

I'm a Christian, I love God and I love people. I follow Jesus Christ because I know I am guilty of breaking God's Ten Commandments and I need the Saviour who paid my penalty on the cross. Otherwise on Judgment Day, God will have to cast me into Hell. This is not something to take lightly, its the reality of being unrighteous by sinning against our Holy God.

To use an analogy, its just like a skydiver who needs a parachute because he's breaking the Law of Gravity. Otherwise when its time to hit the ground, he's not going to make it.

If your reason for being an athiest is dependent on the actions of others, that's not a very solid argument for why God doesn't exist.

Besides, where is the fault in any of what I said?

ED

[max_power29]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '
')
All religion is a cruel scam.

[Stratovarius]

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... b8d262d98e

[PolestaR]

Fucking athiests. They should have to wear some kind of marker on their clothes so we can recognize them from a distance and keep our kids away from them. I hear it is contagious, we should probably just put all of them into camps or something...

[Daculling]

Anything that starts with Myspace automatically does not get ckicked.... sorry Gen Z. STFUAGBTW

[Stratovarius]

Ok...putting aside Polestar's humor.

Why the hell are these atheists always trying to be the victim? Wah wah wah, take God out of the pledge, take it off our money. Although I don't contemplate God that much, I think everyone is born a Christian and people decide to be "atheist". And religion does keep people in line...it's NECESSARY for a complex civilization as ours. If nobody thought they were going to hell if they committed immoral acts, we'd have everyone looting and killing. America is a great success story. We have something like 90% Christians. God bless.

Those people on CNN really hit the nail on the head.

[gampy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Stratovarius', '.').. I think everyone is born a Christian and people decide to be "atheist".

[kabu]

We're born pagans, and then we're brainwashed into to becoming something else. I, however, turned myself back into a pagan some years ago, and it fucking rules.

[cynicalheretic]

Your comments are deplorable. Man is not born a Christian, when we are born, we are a blank slate on to which: Knowledge, experience, and bias are ingrained as we mature. Belief in a God is no different, I wish you could feel what it is like to be the one being persecuted and looked down upon because of your beliefs. I am so sick of people such as yourselves that try to claim moral superiority over others when you apparently are bigoted and lack anything resembling morals.

[Dreamtwister]

Religion is an anachronism, only useful to the cowards who fear personal responsibility (the masses) and the cowards who fear the masses (the leadership). The fact that they actually feared giving an athiest a platform proves it.

[cynicalheretic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dreamtwister', 'R')eligion is an anachronism, only useful to the cowards who fear personal responsibility (the masses) and the cowards who fear the masses (the leadership). The fact that they actually feared giving an athiest a platform proves it.

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Stratovarius', ' ')I think everyone is born a Christian and people decide to be "atheist".

[cynicalheretic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Stratovarius', ' ')I think everyone is born a Christian and people decide to be "atheist".

[Bas]

btw, I don't think atheism is a "belief" because it's not, they could have invited a philosopher though.

[cynicalheretic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'b')tw, I don't think atheism is a "belief" because it's not, they could have invited a philosopher though.

[username]

...and people say Fox News is bad, hoo boy. Turn off your TVs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dib2-HBsF08

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cynicalheretic', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'b')tw, I don't think atheism is a "belief" because it's not, they could have invited a philosopher though.

[Stratovarius]

I was being serious you brainwashed heretics! Repent!

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Stratovarius', 'I') was being serious you brainwashed heretics! Repent!

[Uninspired123]

I don't want this to turn into some sort of flame war but I do want to hear other atheist's opinions on the topic. Theists, please don't ruin my thread; this one is important to me. I know it seems strange at first, but just hear me out. I was raised Catholic and firmly believed it to be true unconditionally until I was 19 years old. I'm 21 now and firmly an atheist. Although my family and I weren't fundamentalist in our beliefs, we certainly had the go to church every sunday, give money, and all that on lockdown.

My deconversion started actually when I read the old testament. As anybody knows, the god of the old testament is no all loving, omniscient, omnipresent, whatever, any of those qualities, the god of the old testament is a jerk. At that point, I still reconciled my beliefs by saying the new testament was the true gospel where Jesus was the true God. (in the back of my head though, I'm sure there was some lingering doubt about how to reconcile that 1/2 of the bible was just filled with crap.)

I went to University and took a religion course which basically outlined a variety of different religions. I noticed the similarities with Greek/Roman gods as I learned that in high school for 4 years. I also learned how many religions merely sprung up as a means of solving local cultural problems, notably, the young years of Hinduism. There were many more examples of this, I won't go into detail, but the facts are there. This caused me to question a bit more.

I also took some philosophy classes where the whole notion of the Christian god was torn apart with the infinite regress arguments, problem of evil, etc etc etc. Philosophy simply tears through the Christian god, leaving the Christian only cop out arguments like "god works in mysterious ways" etc. I was even more skeptical by this point.

All the while, I continued to take my bioengineering courses learning about Darwinism and how simplicity breeds complexity without any real design being necessary. Of course, engineering courses teach you to question and that further added to my deconversion.

Finally the point where I realised there musn't be a God and faith is all a sham, was when I learned about peak oil. I'm not exactly sure how everything clicked in my mind, my reasoning/logic wasn't necessarily put together but something clicked in my head finally. It was something along the lines of 'nature clearly doesn't care about my hopes and dreams, essentially we are all subject to natural phenomena and are no different than the bacteria in the petri dish." It seems to me that if the world truly were designed perfectly for us by some creator, things wouldn't unfold the way we predict they will. Nature doesn't care about my hopes and dreams so here we are.

Of course, this reasoning isn't GREAT, i admit that, but for some reason it clicks and was the tipping point after all the other realizations. If someone could explain to me why it clicked, even though I can't logically, for some reason, figure out why it does.

Of course, after that point I did some REAL reading on the topic, read some Dawkins, read many more arguments for and against god and this strengthened my lack of belief.


discuss.

N.B. please theists, if you want to convert me, just PM me if you REALLY ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO, please don't derail this thread. I know religion is a touchy subject and don't want this thread to end badly or for me not to get other's opinions.

Thanks