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I have an honest question for theists.
#11
RE: I have an honest question for theists.
(July 5, 2012 at 2:00 pm)Simon Moon Wrote:
(July 5, 2012 at 1:19 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: I would live as if he was real.

(July 5, 2012 at 1:25 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: Yup +1

Please let us know what this would look like. How would you live your life as if 'he' was real?

Are you only referring to your ethics and how you would live in society and how you'd treat other people?

Or are you saying that you'd continue to obey the dictates of the religious text and perform whatever religious rituals the god you previously believed existed required?

In other words, if you previously believed that premarital sex or eating pork were against your god's laws, and that is the reason you did not partake of either, would you now partake of them? If you previously voted against allowing gay marriage based on Biblical laws, would you change the way you vote?

Well I don't have a religion.

If free-will were to be proven it doesn't exist, I would live life as if free-will exists. Why? Because living life as free-will doesn't exist, will make me feel I have no control over my life and every decision will be determined, and there will be no honour in any of our actions, because it's all set and determined. So if free-will were proven to me be false and a delusion, I would ignore the evidence.

Living as if God exists, even in face of evidence otherwise, to me would believing that I have a higher purpose, and I'm not here to just enjoy life, but a build a high character. I would live as if this is my purpose, even in face of evidence otherwise.

I don't believe in any religion. But as for morality goes, believing in God, gives morality the highest infinite authority. The "should" do, is to absolute ultimate degree.

I will life my life as if morality has a metaphysical existence. I would live life as if I am soul that will exist forever and ever. Why? The same reason I would if there was solid evidence of free-will being illusion.

To me ascending towards God is a high goal. I would live towards that goal, no matter what evidence is presented.

I would act towards ascension and metaphysical existence, no matter the evidence for a similar reason as to why I would act as if free-will exists, no matter what the evidence.
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#12
RE: I have an honest question for theists.



Well, allow me to make a modest observation in return. It sounds like you are asking about the refutation of a certain subset of religions which postulate a god or gods. I'm not sure I can imagine the alternative you are suggesting, in part because my relationship with my god is determined in part by psychotic delusions. My psychiatrist at my last appointment asked If I had any doubts about the truth of my delusions. The answer was a flat no. A psychologist once tried to discourage my chronic suicidalism by suggesting that, like the Hindus who revere cows, there's no telling what the truth of the afterlife might be, and therefore I shouldn’t hurry death. I was rather offended, but it's hardly the first time a health care worker has tried to illicitly manipulate me, and it probably won’t be the last. Though if someone were to show me that shri Kali Devi, or more properly, my conception of her, was unreal, I doubt I would care. I love my goddess, but it's a different kind of relationship than that of the Judeo-Christo-Muslim gods. And while my Hinduism certainly has idiosyncratic elements to it, it is largely a Bhakti faith, experiencing the divine through love of the divine. If Kali is ultimately not real, it matters little — my love is real, and I’m not looking for compensation for my belief. And ultimately, I really don’t care. I have no evidence of her existence; I need none. It’s common for atheists and the Abrahamanic faiths to view themselves in a struggle against one another. I don’t. I see both, and others, as the outflowing of biological processes — mostly expressed through psychology — which reflect a different set of truths, a meta-view in which all are both beneficiaries and victims of a biological nature, which, is largely mythologized and misdescribed by both sides. But, in the words of Lou Reed, it’s just a temporary thing. And I am already making plans to end it. There’s little that changing the immediate landscape of my twin faiths would really affect me in any significant way, AFAICT. I’m nothing if not highly adaptive. And I exist in a layer that floats above the specifics of particular beliefs. So, the answer for me would be, a) I don’t know, b) it wouldn’t matter, and c) I don’t believe we can ever truly conceive of the reality of something that is fundamentally at odds with our current beliefs and biases.

[Image: extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg]
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#13
RE: I have an honest question for theists.
(July 5, 2012 at 1:19 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: I would live as if he was real.

What? No don't "yep" that, thats ridiculous. What do you mean "I would live as if he was real"? What, so despite knowing for the purposes of this question you'd know he isn't you'd carry on acting like he was?
It wouldn't change your views in any shape, way or form?
I seriously hope you didn't think that through because thats actually more mental than basing your life on that premise not knowing whether he does or doesn't exist.
"That is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die." 
- Abdul Alhazred.
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#14
RE: I have an honest question for theists.
(July 5, 2012 at 11:28 am)Annik Wrote: I'm not trolling, I'm not trying to be insulting, I'm just curious.

How would you live your life if it was proven to you that there is no god? I'm not attempting to prove anything, we're going to take it as an assumption for the sake of curiosity. Whatever it takes to prove to you there is no god, they just found it and it's all over the news.

What would you do/how would you proceed? I'm just curious to know, is all.

Seems the unbelieving want to change the subject, this is what I've tried to stress all along, they will do anything to upset a conversation, even if it means starting an argument between themselves. I'm not going to give an answer, even though I have one, one that I've had long before I came to this site.
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
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#15
RE: I have an honest question for theists.
Low and behold, GC refuses to answer a hypothetical scenario where his god doesn't exist by claiming that somehow asking this question is just trying to 'upset the conversation.'

A disingenuous response by attacking rather than answering an uncomfortable question.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
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#16
RE: I have an honest question for theists.
(July 5, 2012 at 3:44 pm)Godschild Wrote:
(July 5, 2012 at 11:28 am)Annik Wrote: I'm not trolling, I'm not trying to be insulting, I'm just curious.

How would you live your life if it was proven to you that there is no god? I'm not attempting to prove anything, we're going to take it as an assumption for the sake of curiosity. Whatever it takes to prove to you there is no god, they just found it and it's all over the news.

What would you do/how would you proceed? I'm just curious to know, is all.

Seems the unbelieving want to change the subject, this is what I've tried to stress all along, they will do anything to upset a conversation, even if it means starting an argument between themselves. I'm not going to give an answer, even though I have one, one that I've had long before I came to this site.

I think you'll find that you're the one attempting to derail this thread, actually.
If you had a legitimate answer you'd share it, we all know you're not the introverted type. If you're not going to share an answer or discuss others answers you should probably, in the politest possible terms, shut the fuck up and go on threads where you are willing to discuss the subject matter.
"That is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die." 
- Abdul Alhazred.
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#17
RE: I have an honest question for theists.
(July 5, 2012 at 3:30 pm)RaphielDrake Wrote:
(July 5, 2012 at 1:19 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: I would live as if he was real.

What? No don't "yep" that, thats ridiculous. What do you mean "I would live as if he was real"? What, so despite knowing for the purposes of this question you'd know he isn't you'd carry on acting like he was?
It wouldn't change your views in any shape, way or form?
Well I don't know if I would stop believing God (change my views), perhaps I would, perhaps I wouldn't.

I mean all my actions would assume he exists. I would act as if there is a higher purpose to life. I would act if morality as ultimate authority, and is metaphysical. See my post before where I elaborated.

Even if the evidence is strong enough to be conclusive, I wouldn't say God doesn't exist for sure, but have hope he exists and act as if he does.

It's a similar reason as to why I would ignore evidence that free-will is a delusion and act as if free-will is real.
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#18
RE: I have an honest question for theists.
(July 5, 2012 at 3:44 pm)Godschild Wrote: Seems the unbelieving want to change the subject, this is what I've tried to stress all along, they will do anything to upset a conversation, even if it means starting an argument between themselves. I'm not going to give an answer, even though I have one, one that I've had long before I came to this site.


What a crock of bat guano.

All the OP did was pose a hypothetical situation to theists. What subject was the OP changing? It was his subject in the first place, being the OP and all....

As others have said, a pretty disingenuous reply to the OP.

You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
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#19
RE: I have an honest question for theists.
(July 5, 2012 at 2:00 pm)Simon Moon Wrote: Please let us know what this would look like. How would you live your life as if 'he' was real?
Well although this would be impossible, I guess the loving inspiring core is what would be removed. How can you be drawn to a positive force if that force were not there? My ethics should be the same, but uninspired and driven by reason alone. Much like being an atheist I guess.
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#20
RE: I have an honest question for theists.
(July 5, 2012 at 5:35 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: My ethics should be the same, but uninspired and driven by reason alone. Much like being an atheist I guess.

Reason and intelligence are pretty good sources of doing right, being moral, being productive and living peacefully. Live and let live, treat others how you would like to be treated. Basic moral standards based on reason.
Big Grin
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan

Mankind's intelligence walks hand in hand with it's stupidity.

Being an atheist says nothing about your overall intelligence, it just means you don't believe in god. Atheists can be as bright as any scientist and as stupid as any creationist.

You never really know just how stupid someone is, until you've argued with them.
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