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RE: Hello, everyone.
January 3, 2011 at 10:04 am
(This post was last modified: January 3, 2011 at 10:07 am by Edwardo Piet.)
(January 3, 2011 at 10:03 am)barboft Wrote: No you can't live your life doubting everything just for the sake of it. You have to have faith in something.
I try to believe the things that are evident to me. Sure I can have faith and consider something evident to me when in fact it was just my imagination, but I would consider that a mistake because I value knowledge over ignorance.
This is why I try to doubt as much as possible. And I do that because I consider it rational. I don't think I can hurt myself this way, I am not afraid to doubt a lot. It comforts me. For example, I don't think excessive doubt could lead to paranoia because if I was paranoid I wouldn't be doubting my doubts enough.
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RE: Hello, everyone.
January 3, 2011 at 10:04 am
I have faith in kermit the frog.
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RE: Hello, everyone.
January 3, 2011 at 10:06 am
(January 3, 2011 at 10:04 am)thesummerqueen Wrote: I have faith in kermit the frog.
That's great.
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RE: Hello, everyone.
January 3, 2011 at 10:08 am
No it isn't.
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RE: Hello, everyone.
January 3, 2011 at 10:08 am
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RE: Hello, everyone.
January 3, 2011 at 10:08 am
(This post was last modified: January 3, 2011 at 10:13 am by GodIsNotGreat.)
(January 3, 2011 at 9:58 am)barboft Wrote: It sounds to me like you let your doubts get the better of you.
I didn't leave Islam because I had doubts, those doubts only caused me to critically examine my former faith. Upon rational scrutiny, Islamic theology fails to make any sense whatsoever. But why would you care, you're a Christian, I'm going to burn in hell forever either way.
(January 3, 2011 at 10:03 am)barboft Wrote: No you can't live your life doubting everything just for the sake of it. You have to have faith in something.
Why the hell do I "need" to have faith?
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RE: Hello, everyone.
January 3, 2011 at 10:15 am
(January 3, 2011 at 10:08 am)GodIsNotGreat Wrote: (January 3, 2011 at 9:58 am)barboft Wrote: It sounds to me like you let your doubts get the better of you.
I didn't leave Islam because I had doubts, those doubts only caused me to critically examine my former faith. Upon rational scrutiny, Islamic theology fails to make any sense whatsoever. But why would you care, you're a Christian, I'm going to burn in hell forever either way.
(January 3, 2011 at 10:03 am)barboft Wrote: No you can't live your life doubting everything just for the sake of it. You have to have faith in something.
Why the hell do I "need" to have faith?
Don't be ridiculous. No one said you're going to go to hell.
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RE: Hello, everyone.
January 3, 2011 at 10:21 am
(This post was last modified: January 3, 2011 at 10:22 am by Skipper.)
(January 3, 2011 at 10:15 am)barboft Wrote: Don't be ridiculous. No one said you're going to go to hell.
We all sin, and unless we except your idea of god and jesus into our hearts and seek forgiveness we are going to hell. Thats right isn't it?
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RE: Hello, everyone.
January 3, 2011 at 10:22 am
(January 3, 2011 at 10:03 am)barboft Wrote: No you can't live your life doubting everything just for the sake of it. You have to have faith in something.
According to who?
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
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RE: Hello, everyone.
January 3, 2011 at 11:37 am
I posted this on a Muslim forum, I guess this could be used as a more detailed bio.
Al-Murtad Wrote:Hi, everyone. I’ve come from the CEMB forum because one of your members said this over there:
Please understand this, you guys just wanted freedom of the lower self...that seems to be your predisposition
This crude, condescending generalisation made me seethe and motivated me to make this thread. It disrespects us ex-Muslims as people, it demeans the choices we’ve made, the difficult journey we’ve undertaken and the hardships we have to endure because of Islam. Leaving Islam was by far the most difficult thing I’ve done. The mental anguish, the emotional turmoil, the prolonged confusion and doubt I went through was unbearable. I felt isolated, lonely, I had no one to talk to, I internalised everything, trying hard to suppress my doubts and attempting to restore my faith. I genuinely tried to believe.
I’m from a Muslim family, I was born as a Muslim, I was raised as a Muslim. It was only right that I remained a Muslim? This is what I kept telling myself over and over again. I watched Islamic lectures, read Islamic sites, familiarised myself with the “scientific miracles of the Qur’an” and all of the other arguments supporting Islam. NOTHING. Absolutely nothing could convince me that Islam was true. I saw though the broken logic, the distortions and sometimes, flat out lies used by some Muslims to support their belief in Islam.
I couldn’t rationalise Allah, Islam or its teachings. It didn’t make sense to me. Some of the stories within the Qur’an and hadith seemed ridiculous – especially to me, someone who is unable to believe in the supernatural. Certain verses of the Qur’an and hadiths were repulsive, immoral and inhumane. I couldn’t believe for a second that these verses and commandments had come from an omnibenevolent god, I just couldn’t. I couldn’t believe for a second that the Prophet Mohammed was insaan al-kamil, a man who is supposed to be the perfect role model for all of humanity until the Day of Judgment when there were things that he did that I find to be utterly revolting.
I didn’t leave Islam out of arrogance or pride, or because I wished to satisfy my carnal desires. I left Islam because I don’t believe it is true. It’s as simple as that. I’m an atheist. I don’t see any evidence whatsoever for a god, let alone a personal god.
Debasing us, saying we only left Islam because we wished to live sinful lives, where we get drunk and have sex is insulting to the nth degree. What if I said that all (male) Muslims believe in Islam only because they want to have sex with wide eyed houris with pale skin and round, pert breasts? That you only pray 5 times a day because you wish to deflower these houris over, and over again as Allah makes their hymens regrow again and again. Would it not enrage you that someone had misrepresented your intentions for belief and had tried to delegitimize your position simply through accusing you of being motivated solely by sexual desires?
We, ex-Muslims suffer enough due to Islamic oppression. Some of us fear the death penalty because we live in Islamic theocracies. Some of us fear rejection from our friends and families because we were unable to believe and they couldn't accept us for who we are. We have to live double lives, pretending to be good Muslims, praying, fasting - whilst deep down inside thinking that organised religion is a complete farce. We have to deal with enough BS in our lives and we certainly don't need your snide condescension on top of that.
Peace out.
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