Posted on 01/26/2005 9:46:21 AM PST by 7thson
When I pulled into the parking lot this morning, I saw a car covered with sacrilegious bumper stickers. It seemed obvious to me that the owner was craving attention. I’m sure he was also seeking to elicit anger from people of faith. The anger helps the atheist to justify his atheism. And, all too often, the atheist gets exactly what he is looking for.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Right on. And I am so glad to be living here, in the US, and now, when its become more socially acceptable to be an agnostic or atheist. Though, I rarely discuss my religious beliefs (or lack of belief) with the people around me in my daily life. Its a non-factor and just doesn't come up very often. Only people with misconceptions about atheism would be shocked.
Thanks!
This has been a fast thread. Wasn't sure if you missed these questions or just didn't want to answer...
If God convinced you that He does exist, how would you respond? You already agree with societal rules. Would you agree with God about sin and admit that you are a sinner in need of salvation? Would you accept the salvation offered?
Would you agree to allow God to do whatever it takes to convince you that He exists?
Of course! A supreme being would not need anything from you. Nothing at all! However, a supreme being, particularly a benevolent one, may very well want to give you something and that something might just turn out to be something you’re really going to need. He is supreme after all.
I can't see any reason to satisfy its needs as I don't know any of the properties of the supreme being and what it desires, if it even exits in the first place. Hey, if it made everything around me and me as well, it can make whatever it needs to satisfy itself.
Indeed, a supreme being can satisfy itself. No doubt. But what if its needs are not the issue? What if its something else? If the supreme being is supreme, then it would not be its own desires that it would be concerned with.
With all that capability and production capacity, its hard to believe it to so insecure as to require mere worship from mere humans. Oy Vey!
Of course not. Insecurity would have nothing to do with it. A supreme being would not even have insecurities. A supreme being could however require many things, including worship, for reasons other than insecurity.
So, until a supreme being reveals itself and explains its need for human comfort,…
Many know that the supreme being has revealed Himself and has explained a great many things and it isn’t comfort from humans that motivates Him.
I'll worry about what is necessary to carve out an honorable, meaningful, fulfilling life on terms that I, in the spirit of my human nature, desire.
Everybody passes when they grade their own work.
My mate, my friends, my dog, good food, red wine, good books, good health, exercise (swimming and cycling), some scuba diving, a few well deserved atta boy's at work, a modest but well maintained house, good music, the freedom to live as I like (as a direct result of my extremely fortunate circumstance of having been born in the best country on the planet)....and oh yes, a speedy internet connection. Wow, to marvel at the works of others, architcture, inventions, art, music, ideas.... That's about all I need to need to be happy and healthy. At some point, hopefully long and far into the future, I'll die.
Yep, you’ll die. And so will your mate and your friends, and your dog. And the good food will be gone and the wine and the books and your health and the scuba and your work and your house and your freedom and your country and the buildings and the inventions and the art and the music and the ideas… it will all eventually turn to dust. Zip. Nada. Zero. Nothing. It will all be for naught because there is nothing else. Nothing higher, nothing beyond, nothing else. Nothing.
Nothing lasts forever. Enjoy it while you can, but just in case there is a supreme being. You might want to seek Him. He just might have something for you beyond the nothing.
Peace,
jweaks
It's not a choice like that.
The choice as you are describing it, is like asking Why I'm choosing to drive a Ford instead of choosing to fly the Millennium Falcon?
It's not really a choice because while of course I would choose heaven or the Millennium Falcon over what I have now, the problem is no matter how much I want them, they don't exists, so it's not really a choice.
Actually, If it was a choice like that, I would pick Mormonism because they beat "regular" (For lack of a better word) Christianity hands down in who has the better afterlife, After they die they get to be God of their own planet. Now that's cool, I really wish that was a choice I could pick.
It's not for sale, but how good are you at playing cards? ;o)
After they die they get to be God of their own planet. Now that's cool, I really wish that was a choice I could pick.
Nah, too much responsibility, and besides, I need my coffee in the morning! :o)
My 80 year old grandma at the nursing home says I'm pretty good. Does a straight beat a flush and do they beat a 3 of a kind again? And what's this "raise" thingy again. Hold on, let me go cash in some of my stocks and bonds and I'll be right over.
Nah, too much responsibility, and besides, I need my coffee in the morning!
Yeah, You are probably right. So I choose Purgatory!!! Yes Purgatory!! I think it gets a bad rap. All the goodie two-shoes will go to heaven so it sounds boring, while the truly evil bastards will end up in hell, so I obviously don't want to go there and be with them. So all that's left is purgatory where the people there aren't really bad but they ain't totally good either, or in other words the cool-fun people end up in Purgatory. So if I got to spend eternity somewhere, I might as well spend it with the cool-fun people.
I was wondering why no one has suggested that all this time. The Soviet Union was filled with those "atoms", and also space rockets, and it was thought that science is in some opposition to religion. Gagarin -- the first man in space, -- supposedly was asked if he saw God up there and he reported that he didn't. Case closed.
The truth is that a monument to science is a monument to science. We all can celebrate human knowledge. Monks invented scientific method and the Church sustained science up till the point when the big government got into the picture. The Vatican to this day maintains an astrophysics lab. The notion that science somehow disturbs religion is conceit second-rate scientists have. Galileo and Newton were religious men (Newton considered his commentary on the Revelation, not the Principae, his greatest achievement). Einstein expressed his views on the quantum mechanics in religious terms. The notion that atheism has any intrinsic connection to science is a 20 century superstition.
Holy cow-----I didn't know athiests got their own symbol. Not a bad choice, either.
ROFL....
Are we having fun yet?
Seriously, I'm getting way too far from my original point on this thread, and I sure don't want to get into a copy and paste quote war or come off looking like an anti Christian zealot.
We are fighting a just war for the survival of our Rebublic. We are not religious crusaders out to conquer the world. All this clamor to proclaim America a Christian country causes fear in non Christians. A man who fears you will fight you.
Atheists are just as important to our survival as Christians. We need to put America first, IMHO.
...
You didn't upset met. But you keep throwing out assertions that are so dramatically contradictory to accepted and verifiable history, that you just have no credibility.
Usually the story about Jesus being in India comes from the "missing years" between 12 and the start of His missionary. Of course that has been debunked no less than 3 times.
To come up with yet another Jesus/India story and attribute it to Ignatious, when that is completely contradictory to Ignatious's known writings, just strikes me as hogwash.
What do you do? Stay up late at night reading alternative Internet sites and assume that they are gospel?
Are you calling me a Drama Queen for a quote in an article written by someone other than I?
LOL It was the state religion!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.