20 Questions for Theists

[Gabriel Syme]

I believe in the existence of God.

1) Why are you a theist? Duh

That simply says "I am a theist". It doesn't answer why you are a theist, which was the question.

"Why are you a theist?" "I am a theist because I was raised one/because I have experienced a god/because I think theism best explains the universe/because I take Pascal's Wager/because etc...."

Hi Mononoke,

I don't agree I just repeated the question lol

I am a "theist" because I believe in God. If I didn't believe in God, I would be a theist.

Saying "I believe.." is just distilling down the various thoughts and considerations I have been over, the OP just asked for a simple answer not a whole justification.

Your examples of replacement answers preclude the possibility of coming to the conclusion of God, having thought about it. They only allow for a glib / unthinking religiosity, or taking a wild guess.

Without wishing to take the thread off-topic, some of the considerations I had gone over include:

- comparing my experience of life as "nothing" (identifying as neither theist or atheist) versus my latter experience as a Catholic: in terms of which was more satisfying and why?; which was more meaningful and why?' in what positive / negative ways were these experiences different? etc etc

- considering Catholic morality & viewpoints and their supporting arguments*, versus "other" morality & views and their supporting arguments (other includes secular but also other religions). In terms of: what is my gut reaction? which is more reasonable? which is most accurate? which is evidence based? What is true? which is honest and which is tainted by self-interest or other agendas? What is appealing? What is just?

(*note, a religious person can never credibly use "because it says so in my holy book" as a supporting argument, when talking with anyone other than a co-religionist.)

- comparing Catholic philosophy with other philosophy: What makes sense? which is complete? What other arguments are there, if any? Which of these are plausible, if any? If we cannot eliminate anything, what is more convincing or likely?

- comparing Catholic culture with other culture: which is beautiful? which is eternal?

- considering Catholic understanding of God: view and meaning of scripture, of tradition, of Jesus Christ: do these documents have a common thread? Is this reasonable? Is this reasonable if God exists? Is this what we would expect from a God? etc

I went through various considerations like this, to ultimately reach my conclusion, on and off, over several years.

[Angrboda]

My father wanted to sell me into slavery. Unfortunately I was too willing, and the buyer got suspicious and backed out of the deal.

[Colanth]

I am a "theist" because I believe in God. If I didn't believe in God, I would be a theist.

Yes - since "theist" means "believes in a god", believing in one of them (God, in your case) makes you a theist. But If you're asked why you're wet and you answer "because there's water on my skin", you're not answering the question, you're explaining the definition of the question.

Maybe the question should have been "what made you become a theist at the time you first became one?" Of course, most theists wouldn't be able to answer that question because the indoctrination began in the womb.

- comparing my experience of life as "nothing" (identifying as neither theist or atheist)

"Neither theist" (not theist) IS atheist. Or, to break it down, not believing in any god (not theist) is not believing in any god (atheist). You can't both not have any belief in any god and not lack belief in any god. Not having belief means that you lack belief. Not theist means atheist.

versus my latter experience as a Catholic: in terms of which was more satisfying and why?; which was more meaningful and why?' in what positive / negative ways were these experiences different? etc etc

What does "more satisfying", "meaningful" and "different" have to do with "true"? God doesn't exist because believing is more meaningful to you (unless you're positing a purely subjective god), it exists because it exists (if it does).

- considering Catholic morality ... which is more reasonable?

To you? The one you already believe is. Duh!

which is most accurate?

Morality, being non-factual, can't be "accurate".

which is evidence based? What is true?

Same argument. Morality is consensus, not fact.

which is honest and which is tainted by self-interest or other agendas?

Religious "morality" has always been driven by self-interest - the interest of the hierarchy.

What is appealing?

Appealing has nothing to do with right.

What is just?

Infinite punishment for finite transgression is unjust by definition. (That makes Charistianity - all sects - inherently unjust.)

- comparing Catholic philosophy with other philosophy: What makes sense? which is complete?

Catholic philosophy once held that the Earth was the center of the universe, and unmoving. Does that make sense? Was it complete?

What other arguments are there, if any? Which of these are plausible, if any? If we cannot eliminate anything, what is more convincing or likely?

Catholicism seems to have proved itself to be worthy of being the eliminated opinion many, many times.

- comparing Catholic culture with other culture:

There's no "Catholic culture". There's African culture, among certain Africans who practice Catholicism. There's Caribbean culture, among people in the Caribbean who practice Catholicism. But African culture and Caribbean culture are nothing alike.

which is beautiful?

What does that have to do with anything?

which is eternal?

Not even the universe is eternal. There are only about 10^100 shopping years until the last Christmas.

If you mean eternally true, it was once part of Catholic philosophy that priests could marry. Then, for financial reasons, not religious reasons, it was proclaimed that God didn't want priests to marry (only among Western Catholicism - the Eastern rite still allows the clergy to marry). That "eternity" didn't last too long, did it?

- considering Catholic understanding of God: view and meaning of scripture, of tradition, of Jesus Christ: do these documents have a common thread?

Again, what if they do? All Harry Potter books have a common thread. Does that make them true?

Is this reasonable?

For books that copied other books to have a thread in common with the books they copied from? (It's known that 3 of the gospels were copied from the 4th.) Of course.

Is this reasonable if God exists?

It's reasonable if God doesn't exist.

Is this what we would expect from a God?

A book that's not completely understandable a mere 2,000 years after it was written? No. A book whose morals (it's not only moral to own other people, it's moral to beat them) soon become morally repugnant? No. Yes, I know, there are Christian explanations for that. A god that created the entire everything couldn't have made it just as morally repugnant back then? (Careful how you answer - either answer is saying that you have grave doubts that your religion has any meaning.)

I went through various considerations like this, to ultimately reach my conclusion, on and off, over several years.

It looks more like you started with your conclusion and "considered" how to justify it.

[BettyG]

20 Questions for Theists
1) Why are you a theist? It is the most rational explanation of the universe and human existence.

2) Were you born in a religious home? Yes.

3) If you answered "yes" to #2, do you currently subscribe to the religion you were raised in? Yes

4) Have you ever considered other religions/philosophies at some stage? Yes

5) If you answered "yes" to #4, what were they? I checked out Protestantism and studied Judaism.

6) What reaffirms your beliefs as being correct over other religions/philosophies? Jesus died and rose from the dead out of love for me.

7) Do you ever doubt from time to time the truths of your religion? Not any more.

8) Do you read your religious/philosophical text(s) daily? Yes

9) Explain why you answered yes/no to #8 It is inspiring and life giving. It helps me be a better person.

10) Do you believe your answers to the past 9 questions sincerely? Absolutely

(now the fun section)

11) Who would win a fight between a theist and an atheist? Street rules, of course. Theist.

12) How do you like your eggs? Scrambled

13) What did you think of Inception? If you mean beginning new things, yes. I haven’t seen the movie.

14) Favourite mythical creature? Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia

15) Favourite book? Bible

16) Favourite band? Can’t decide.

17) Indoors or outdoors? Indoors

18) Summer or winter? Summer

19) If you could travel in time, what year/era would you go visit and where would you go? Jerusalem, 33 AD

20) So far, have you enjoyed your stay at AF.org? Yes, just joined recently.
Any questions for me?

[Michael Schubert]

[quote='Rayaan' pid='438545' dateline='1367304015']

1) Why are you a theist?

Because I believe in God.
I believe in a Creator.
I don't believe that we are simply some accidents of nature.


Evolution is not accidental. Every biological step in the evolutionary cycle is built upon the previous. Compare yourself today to when your mother was still pregnant with you. You went from an archipelago of sperm and egg cells and evolved into a full-grown adult. That's evolution.

[Minimalist]

This thread is a good idea. Provides definitive evidence that our resident theists are totally fucked up.

[Full Circle]

While this does end the debate for the OT Jew, it might leave questions (like the following questions you posted) for anyone not looking to worship as or convert to Old Testament Judaism. That is why in my arguements against Homosexuality I simply break it down to it core sin. That being Sex out side the santified pretext of a biblical marriage. As there is not a santified pretext in which homosexual people can marry biblically, any homosexual sex is considered sin, a sin like any other. Which means ALL Sin is an abomination to God not just the sin of Choice of the Homosexual man or woman. Thus forcing one to seek attonement, if that person can be honest with themselves.

It is a common misconception that the OT was supplanted by the NT. According to Jesus you don't get to choose.
Mathew 5:17
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

As for sanctified marriage and sexual realtions as per the Bible, well let's see...
One man and his sister - Leviticus 21:3
One man and his dead brother's wife - Genesis 38:8
One man and one woman plus her servant - Genesis 30:4, Judges 19:24
One man and his rape victim - Genesis 34 (caveat: as long as everyone agrees to be circumcised)
One man and many women - Judges 8:30, Esther, Exodus 21:10
One man and his captive - Deuteronomy 21:14

Yeah, that's much better.

[Angrboda]

This thread is a good idea. Provides definitive evidence that our resident theists are totally fucked up.