- Lorenzo Lorenz
- Lusaka
- Zambia
This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »
Why have people (Atheists) Chosen not to believe in God? Does this give freedom to live life without becoming answerable to anyone?
Many people are atheists because of the way they were brought up or educated, or because they have simply adopted the beliefs of the culture in which they grew up. So someone raised in Communist China is likely to have no belief in God because the education system and culture make being an atheist the natural thing to do.
"Other people are atheists because they just feel that atheism is right." It is on this premise that i am asking this question.
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Obey No1kinobe 50+
At some point religions come down to faith. Their gods or goddesses are not tangible in an ordinary sense etc etc.
I note faith is not a good method for discerning the truth as evidenced by wild array of religious and related beliefs.
You mention "God". You haven't defined which one you mean. There have been thousands of gods and goddesses including Deist and Pantheist etc, some with many more sects and millions if not billions of specific individual interpretations.
I not Christians have Chosen not to believe in the Muslim God or Zeus etc. Atheists, just go one more.
There is just a huge soup of conflicting supernatural beliefs and claims. None I know of have any compelling evidence.
What if god is actually best described by an extinct religion?
Lorenzo Lorenz
I MEAN THE GOD WHO CREATED THE UNIVERSE, HIS FINGERPRINTS ARE ALL OVER IT AND WE ONLY HAVE TO LOOK AROUND US TO SEE TANGIBLE EXAMPLES OF WHAT HE IS LIKE.
There is only one God, and He has made Himself known to us in three Persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each reveals a different aspect of God’s character; much like a diamond with many faces or facets reflects the light, and displays the beauty within the whole gemstone.
Another picture that helps us understand what God is like is water. Water can exist in three different forms; solid, liquid and gas. We know the solid as ice, the liquid as water and the gas as steam, but each state is still water – just in a different form.
God made us in His image. This doesn’t mean that we look like God, but that we have some of the characteristics of God within us. We have aspects of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit within us and the easiest aspect of God for us to identify with, the Son; Jesus Christ.
God the Son, Jesus, came to Earth and was born as a baby. Jesus had a human body, knew hunger and thirst, he got tired and slept, he felt pain and sadness, he worked and grew, he learned and he was tempted, just like us! All these characteristics, and more, show us that Jesus was human.
However, Jesus was also God. He did miracles and healed people to demonstrate the power of God. What was even more amazing is that Jesus allowed the authorities to put Him to death, so that the penalty of our wrongdoings, the sin that separated us from God, could be paid. However, this was not the end; because he was God, death had no control over Him and he was raised to life again. When Jesus did return to Heaven, the Holy Spirit came to live in the hearts of those who became followers of Jesus and enables them to be like Jesus.
Colleen Steen 500+
You say..."What was even more amazing is that Jesus allowed the authorities to put Him to death, so that the penalty of our wrongdoings, the sin that separated us from God, could be paid".
Apparently, he had no control over the attenpt to pay "the penalty of our wrongdoings, the sin that separated us from God", because we are told that as little babies coming onto this earth, we are born with original sin. We are told we are sinners, for no apparent reason, and must suffer and work toward connecting with god our whole lives. Then "he" will judge us at the end of our life.
We are also told, based on comments on this thread, that it doesn't matter anyway, because our names are already written in a book, which indicates who will be saved, and who will not.
Surely you see the contradictions, which are very apparent.
edward long 100+
edward long 100+
John Dunbar 10+
Also Lorenzo you say the one true God? How can you be sure of this?There have been hundreds, if not thousands of Gods that have popped in and out of existence since the first records of human culture. Why is it that you are not saying Horus is the one true God? You offered nothing to answer obey's question, except your assertion that this God you speak of is all around us. Where is he, can you be more specific?
Colleen Steen 500+
Sorry I could not get this closer to your comment starting with...
"Your second paragraph is at variance with the Holy Bible."
I respect the fact that you believe the bible to be a good reference book, and I believe the bible to be, at best, an interesting story about conditions at the time it was written. That being said, I would not, of course, use it for reference. It seems silly that you would ask for that!
The comment, which seems to offend you, is from my experience of 12 years with catholic schooling. The nuns taught hundreds/thousands of us that we were born sinners, and must suffer and work toward connecting with god our whole lives. It's only information I was told with 12 years of catholic schooling Edward, and it is something I do not believe.
Again Edward, I remind you of the topic..."Why have people (Atheists) Chosen not to believe in God?"
It does not seem reasonable or appropriate for you to demand bible references, when I am trying to explain why I do not believe in a god, or the bible as a reference for life.
It feels like you are grasping for straws to keep your argument going.
Linda Taylor 50+
It's a nice story but it is only a story.
Obey No1kinobe 50+
Sounds like one of the Christian trinity type gods based on the bible. Thanks for clarifying. There are so many different ideas of god and gods this helps.
You seem pretty sure you know there is a god and what he is like and the book that describes him best.
Without relying in the bible, for which there is no reasonable evidence to support its supernatural claims, how do you know your god created the universe and not some other god or even some not well understood natural process?
If you rely on the bible for evidence then so can anyone with an old religious text.
How do you know a God exists? Who created god? Where did he come from and how do you know this, again with proper evidence.
If you say the universe is evidence of god, that is like someone else saying it is evidence of their gods, or me saying it is evidence of a natural processes and the laws of physics. That is not evidence.
What convincing evidence is there that the bible is absolutely correct?
If you were born in Saudi Arabia would you not be making similar claims about Allah, and demote Jesus to a prophet?
How do you know Jesus did miracles and was ressurected?
If he did, how do we know that he was an aspect of god, how do we know all the other claims are correct, how do we know his followers letters and memory and interpretations were correct after he died. Do you just assume it is correct? He could just as well been an alien. His followers could have been wrong and the message just for Jews and wrote down the new testament books to suit their assumptions.
How do we distinguish your assertions from those of other religions?
If you believe because of faith, you are entitled to your beliefs but you might start with " I believe,,,," because you believe it is true, but don't know for sure and have no way of demonstrating any of it is true.
Doesn't your point about atheists growing in communist China also apply to you growing up with Christianity?