Posted on 11/27/2005 6:32:15 AM PST by machman
Morning Edition, November 21, 2005 ·
I believe that there is no God. I'm beyond Atheism. Atheism is not believing in God. Not believing in God is easy -- you can't prove a negative, so there's no work to do. You can't prove that there isn't an elephant inside the trunk of my car. You sure? How about now? Maybe he was just hiding before. Check again. Did I mention that my personal heartfelt definition of the word "elephant" includes mystery, order, goodness, love and a spare tire?
So, anyone with a love for truth outside of herself has to start with no belief in God and then look for evidence of God. She needs to search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power. All the people I write e-mails to often are still stuck at this searching stage. The Atheism part is easy.
But, this "This I Believe" thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith that helps one see life's big picture, some rules to live by. So, I'm saying, "This I believe: I believe there is no God."
Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.
Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.
Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, "How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.
Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.
Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.
Ah, but God believes in you.
I'm soooooo glad my tax money went to help this crap get aired.
Can you just imagine the improvement of their "act" if neither of them would talk?
Teller is much easier to listen to.
Liberals are, by far and wide; very unhappy and miserable people. They hate their lives, and everything American.
And they want to make you as miserable as they are.
Like the bumper sticker says:
P*ss off a Liberal.
Work hard, earn money and enjoy life.
Psalm 14, Verse 1 "The fool hath said in his heart, "There is no God".
And who cares what he don't believe in. The world is full of people who turn their backs on God, he's just one more.
It almost sounds like she is trying to convince herself that she is happy. And, she isn't convinced yet.
Of course, without God, it is all the same whether I smash your face in or decide to sit nicely with you and discuss reality. Without God no one can tell me that your precious family should live, or not. Without God, if I am stronger than you, then my reality becomes your reality. Without God, your good genes will do you no good when it comes to imposing the will of a tyrant. Without God, there is no right and wrong -- only opinion. And who says yours is any better than mine?
If God did not exist, we would have to invent Him. -- Voltaire
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
1. There is a God.
2. You aren't Him.
Fail at the first, and one by necessity fails at the second.
Poor Penn, the ultimate sophomore, whistling past the graveyard.
"This I Believe" thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith...."
So, he believes in faith, just not leaping?
I heard this on the radio a few mornings back. I was as surprised then as I am now.
I wasn't surprised that an entertainer would state such an unpopular opinion in a pubic forum, but rather by how much I agreed with him.
/this thread will not end well.
It's just an opinion. Tax money goes to airing all sorts of opinions. Besides, NPR gets most of its funding from private sources.
He's not even bright enough to realize that he just said exactly the same thing.
It's Penn Jillette, the magician. It's a he.
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