LISTEN, CHRISTIANS!

[MTL]

I have a question for Christians. This is out of genuine curiosity:

If God were to manifest himself before us, will you "unconditionally" accept and worship Him, if He is not the God of the Bible?

Wow, I made the same point, earlier, but you made it far more succinctly than I did.

For some reason, I felt the compulsion to write a novel to make that same point.

Brevity is not my strong suit.

But I will take this opportunity to add to the point, now:

That THIS is the very reason I am an Agnostic who is NOT mad at God.

I allow for the possibility that God exists

....but I do NOT allow for the likelihood that God, if he exists at all, has ANYTHING to do with ANY of the religions of the world.

I can't fathom a truly genius, almighty god....who is as cruel, petulant or stupid, like the God of the Bible is.

I figure mankind just made-up the Biblical God....and that doesn't mean that there really isn't a God, out there, who is completely different.

The way I imagine God, he doesn't care if people believe in him or not;

He doesn't care about "sin" (another man-made concept);

He doesn't care about people taking His name in vain, or blaspheming.

The God I imagine, would, ironically, be most interested in talking with people like Dawkins or Hitchens...

....and would probably think religious people are annoying, pathetic and disgusting.

So, I imagine the courtyard in front of the Pearly Gates one day being filled with slack-jawed Theists who are trying to grasp the concept that God DOES exist, but is NOTHING like what they thought he would be!! 

They'll be expecting God to hurl the Atheists into hell,
but would be dumbfounded to discover that not only are the Atheists NOT being hurled into hell,
but that God would RATHER chat with the Atheists, than will the Theists!!

They'll be incapable of comprehending that God isn't offended by the Atheist lack of faith, whatsoever.

I just cannot attach any credibility to the concept of a God
who cares whether or not mankind believes in him,
any more than I, as a human,
can attach importance to what the squirrels in the back yard think of me.

[ignoramus]

MTL, you speak our language!

[Thumpalumpacus]

As I've said before, I think the pussy has put on ignore anyone who has asked a question that can't be answered with "Yeah, but catechism!!!"

You know, I wish there were some part of the site that let me know not who, but how many people put me on ignore.  I would then like to compare myself with others.  I want stupid shit for brains assholes to ignore my posts.  I regard it as a compliment to be ignored by such vermin.

It is good to be thought highly of by good people and good to be hated by bad people.

I'd like to see a plug-in on this site under, say, the "kudos" line that discloses how many people the author of a post has on ignore.

That is good intel on the quality of the post, right there.

[robvalue]

MTL: You bet! The idea that there is "some sort of creator" isn't a ridiculous notion, in my opinion. It's an understandable emotional response, if not a logical one.

But what is absolutely mind buggeringly screwed up is the idea that we have little story books that tells us all about this creator. Frankly it's really insulting to any potential guy in charge, especially since the characters playing him are such idiotic violent monsters.

[Bob Kelso]

Wished I had gotten here earlier in the thread, sorry fellow Christians.

Ah, yes, what would they have done without you? The chosen one.

Like I just said to Rhondazvous, there are many here that are mad at God and many of the Christians who were here in the past have said so also.

So... what? We're supposed to take your assertion, and the assertions of the other theists over those of the people who actually know how they feel? 

Ok.  

Just because those atheist deny they are not mad at God they can't hide their real feelings, at some time or other they will show their true self.

Whatever helps you sleep at night Ray Comfort. 

One doesn't have to come out and say they are mad and an atheist wouldn't because the others would be all over that person for claiming to be an atheist, so atheist are very careful not to say such a thing, they can't stand having the truth told, so denial is their only way out.

Hey, GC, you're in denial. Go ahead, tell me you aren't. 

Min, Esq, Cin, Nei and many others, all that one needs to do is read with attention and see they are mad at God and His people, actually the better word here for what they do is hate, it's what Christ said of them.

GC

Anyone else think that GC has that ol' spiritual gift of discernment? He's so spot on it's like he's psychic. Bravo mate. 

---

In all seriousness, your ego is just so entertaining.

[Spooky]

You know, I wish there were some part of the site that let me know not who, but how many people put me on ignore.  I would then like to compare myself with others.  I want stupid shit for brains assholes to ignore my posts.  I regard it as a compliment to be ignored by such vermin.

It is good to be thought highly of by good people and good to be hated by bad people.

I'd like to see a plug-in on this site under, say, the "kudos" line that discloses how many people the author of a post has on ignore.

That is good intel on the quality of the post, right there.

3. One of which as banned months ago

[Longhorn]

Min, Esq, Cin, Nei and many others, all that one needs to do is read with attention and see they are mad at God and His people, actually the better word here for what they do is hate, it's what Christ said of them.

Just refer to what I already said, four times. or don't. it's not like I give a shit.

you're just mad at reality and in denial. so fuck off.

[Nope]

Min, Esq, Cin, Nei and many others, all that one needs to do is read with attention and see they are mad at God and His people, actually the better word here for what they do is hate, it's what Christ said of them.

Just refer to what I already said, four times. or don't. it's not like I give a shit.

you're just mad at reality and in denial. so fuck off.

You hit the proverbial nail on the head with this comment

The only reason modern people believe in god is because they have vulnerabilities that religion helps them either deal with or outright deny. We all have weaknesses so a part of me can sympathize with religious people. When religious people get defensive about their faith, I think that it might be a self protective stance to prevent acknowledgment, on their part, that they have those weaknesses.

[Rhondazvous]

I get this completely. Some of you have been hurt or disappointed by Christians, and you're angry at them - not at God (who, after all, does not exist).

So I guess my next question is, if you get it, why default to "angry at god" at all? You did it with me, you've done it with some others here... why make that leap based solely on the presence of anger when you can't have a clear idea of its source?

Still, is it purely coincidental that for some, the loss of faith in God has coincided with this hurt/disappointment? Or would you say that they were totally unrelated?

I think it varies from person to person. I'm not saying that people never deconvert for emotional or bad reasons, I'm just pointing out that it's a fairly common christian refrain to assert that the reasons individual atheists believe as they do are those emotional or bad reasons, when they don't have a good justification for doing so.

Finally, I also get that in some cases, folks have REALLY cried out to God in a time of real need, and they got no answer. First, they got mad, then they concluded that "silence = non-existence". And now they are angry at ANYONE AND EVERYONE who supports the God who let them down because they feel like they've been lied to all those years.

Am I missing anything?

Again, I don't doubt there are people deconverting for bad reasons. I just don't think the people here are in that group, nor that the existence of that group is at all informing your accusations; you certainly didn't hesitate to accuse me of being angry with god, and I never had anything to deconvert from in the first place.

this is what I'm talking about. Christians are taught that we have a small repertoire of reasons why we don't believe, then they come here telling us that our reasons as invalid. Even if my reasons were one of those he lists here, it is my reason and not subject to the approval of any theist. We can't let them put the burden of proof on us. We find reasons not to believe and we find the reasons they give for believing o be uncompelling.

I started this thread, not because I need theists to approve my reasons, but, as I said, it irks me when they come here chastising us like naughty children. This is a discussion board for adults

[Neo-Scholastic]

To the OP. Atheists are mad at God by extension, since they dismiss the testimony of nature and conscience (ROM 1) and twist logic and reason to deny Divine Truth (psalm 1:1).