If you were ever a theist...

[*Deidre*]

If the religion bug ever got me I'd be mighty disappointed if I got stuck believing in a creator.

LOL why?

[Cephus]

There's a difference between being positive about things that are realistic and being pie-in-the-sky, believing-in-unicorns irrational.  Do I have hope in humanity? Sometimes, but at least humanity demonstrably exists.  I don't have hope that magical spirits are going to come down and save the world.  That's foolish.  And just having hope doesn't mean a thing, you actually have to take actions to make said hope come true.  Just sitting in the  corner hoping things happen doesn't actually result in anything happening.  Hope, in and of itself, is pointless.  It requires action.

I do agree, that hope by itself is useless...absolutely. I never said otherwise though. 

But, and I'm just generalizing here so don't take it personally, but a lot of people seem to think that all they have to do is believe and pray and sit around waiting for something to happen and when it never does, they just make excuses for not believing enough, or God having a plan or some other such nonsense.  We come right back to hope being generally useless without action and action does all the work.  What's the point of hope if you actually have to make things happen?

So yeah, I don't hope things get better, I get up off my butt and make things better and encourage others to do the same.  I really see no point for God in the mix because God doesn't demonstrably exist, nor does God ever seem to do anything worthwhile.

[Cephus]

If the religion bug ever got me I'd be mighty disappointed if I got stuck believing in a creator.

The only way the "religion bug" could ever catch me is if someone found objectively verifiable evidence that a specific god actually existed in the real world.  Since that's not going to happen, I'm safe.

[*Deidre*]

Then it wouldn't be called faith. It would be called...science. ^_^

[*Deidre*]

I do agree, that hope by itself is useless...absolutely. I never said otherwise though. 

But, and I'm just generalizing here so don't take it personally, but a lot of people seem to think that all they have to do is believe and pray and sit around waiting for something to happen and when it never does, they just make excuses for not believing enough, or God having a plan or some other such nonsense.  We come right back to hope being generally useless without action and action does all the work.  What's the point of hope if you actually have to make things happen?

So yeah, I don't hope things get better, I get up off my butt and make things better and encourage others to do the same.  I really see no point for God in the mix because God doesn't demonstrably exist, nor does God ever seem to do anything worthwhile.

Your worldview is very different than mine, Cephus. Even when I identified as an atheist, I hoped in humanity, in plans taking shape, in people coming through, etc. But, this didn't mean I was inert. What a different life it would be like, to go through it without feeling the need to hope. Interesting.

[Mr.wizard]

There's a difference between being positive about things that are realistic and being pie-in-the-sky, believing-in-unicorns irrational.  

Not everyone thinks the same as you do, Cephus. Just because someone (most people, really) doesn't agree with you regarding the existence of a God, doesn't mean they are not rational people. It just means they believe something different on this particular issue. 

You sound exactly the same as the snobby self righteous religious people you all hate who just say to anyone who does not believe: "you're wrong, I'm right, you're crazy, I'm sane, and that's just the end of it." That's just the opposite side of the exact same coin, my friend.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with making an argument for your particular way of thinking on this, but to sit there and say the other person is wrong and irrational, is completely counter productive. Because of course you think you're right and they're wrong, and of course they think they're right and you're wrong. That's the whole point of having a different belief.

I don't think he means they are irrational people over all, only in regards to their belief in god. If you are believing in a divine being based on faith, that would be an irrational position, right or wrong has nothing to do with it.

[Whateverist]

If the religion bug ever got me I'd be mighty disappointed if I got stuck believing in a creator.

LOL why?

To think that everything we see or can find out was just the arbitrary whim of some cosmic watch maker would detract from the wonder I feel toward the something there actually is.  Guess I'm old fashioned.  But I like my mystery straight, no go-betweens.

[Catholic_Lady]

With family for the evening and haven't had a chance to read all the posts, so sorry if this has already been addressed - just curious to know, what made you want to come back to Christianity?

Welcome back to the dark side, btw. ;-)

Hi Catholic Lady, well...I had an experience of faith a few months ago, something I'd consider was the Holy Spirit. I know that to many here (and I'd have thought this at one time too) that it could have been a coincidence, but even if I apply Occam's Razor to it, I believe it was spiritual as to what happened. So, I came back. I hadn't considered returning, nothing about Christianity interested me anymore, until a few months ago, and now, I'm back to prayer, church (not regularly though), and believing. I'm not strict on dogmas, I feel that faith should be experienced, as opposed to merely recited and agreed upon 'just because.' There are still some things within the Bible I question, but I believe that there is a Creator, and life is quite good. Thanks for asking.

Thank you for taking the time to answer. Hope you had a good Christmas and New Years!

[Angrboda]

With family for the evening and haven't had a chance to read all the posts, so sorry if this has already been addressed - just curious to know, what made you want to come back to Christianity?

Welcome back to the dark side, btw. ;-)

Hi Catholic Lady, well...I had an experience of faith a few months ago, something I'd consider was the Holy Spirit. I know that to many here (and I'd have thought this at one time too) that it could have been a coincidence, but even if I apply Occam's Razor to it, I believe it was spiritual as to what happened. So, I came back.

Such experiences kept me in Hinduism for years. Even after having officially crossed the line into atheism, I was still very vulnerable to the emotional component of such experiences. Thanks to some words of robvalue, I've become inured against those emotions. It's clear to me now how there is the standard apophenia that we all experience, seeing things that seem to defy our expectations of chance, and the tendency to invest such things with emotional value. The two can be separated, and in my case, they now are. The coincidences and experiences are no longer emotionally laden bombs, waiting to draw me back.

[Pizza]

If I had religious experiences I'd be more befuddled than converted. I wonder why we humans use such experiences to jump to wild conclusions about reality.