“Theists... they say that atheists
see ourselves as God, but it’s
Theists who claim to speak for
him.”___A Perfect Lady
______
They are correct. Atheists DO see themselves
as their own god. How so? Well because on
your lights, there is no higher authority
that YOU. Its either YOU or some other
human being{s}. You don’t see cats and dogs
as a highest authority. You see Yourself as
the Highest Authority
. So? So, de facto, YOU are your own god.
YOU decide everything for you.
God decides nothing for you.
So? So for all practical purposes,
YOU are your own god.
___________
Regarding Theists who speak for God.
The knowledgeable ones do NOT.
They say “God says the following if I correctly
understand what this Bible passage is saying.”
Saying THAT is not speaking for God.
God has spoken in the Bible.
We Theists have to “get it right” when
we tell you what God has said in the
Bible.
Of course, YOU can read it for yourself
and decide for yourself what God has said
in the Bible. Skip the “middle man” and
get yourself a copy of the NIV -— The
New International Version -— which is
the best English translation in existence
-— and start reading it.
Start in John’s gospel. You’ll love it.
Go for it.
If you’ve already done that, then “do it again”
-—this time it might stick, Perfect Lady. :)
``
I am not interested in John’s explanations any more than I am in yours, because all theists are the same in that they try to explain the discrepancies between the world as it is, and the world as it would be if it were really made by a benevolent, omnipotent, perfect God. And what they do (and what you do) is simply say what makes sense to YOU. Because you figure that if it makes sense to YOU, it’s probably right. You create God in your own image, and the rational you posit for God’s actions are actually what you figure your reasons would be, in his place. All theists seem to secretly believe that God is very much like them.