How to Authentically Experience God

[athoughtfulman]

I wouldn't say that a Muslim experiences the opposite of what I do. It's a fine line (and they're all NUTTERS! </joke>) but the delusion/ ahem! reality is the same.

What is it with christians? Do they always start joking when they can't properly answer a question? So what does the muslim experience? Is it your god, another form of your god, or another god? Christianity and islam are by definition, mutually exclusive. Christians follow the way of jesus, but muslims see jesus only as a prophet. They follow mohammed and allah. Both can't be true. It is either none or one. So why is yours right? What makes your 'personal experience' of god any more certain than a muslims?

Or maybe you think that they're both at the same level; that you're both as right as each other. That doesn't make sense for reasons stated in above paragraph. If you are both as right as each other, why are you still a christian? Why not just convert to islam if its the same?

Or is christianity simply 'more real' to you? In that case, you're delusional. You've stepped away from reason and fact. You say you have faith, yet faith is just an admission that there is no evidence. If there is evidence of something, faith is impossible; its nonsensical. There is empirical evidence of the sun, hence we know the sun's there. No one says that they have faith the sun is there, or that we revolve around it, or that it wont rise in the morning.

The last stupid argument the religious have is 'faith'. If we were to argue with faith as satisfactory evidence, absolutely anything could be proven real.

Go see my undefeated <oops, joke#2> thread on evidence where I explain the futility of that search.

Again another joke, highlighting that you aren't answering my questions.

The futility of the search for evidence of god? Sure. It means his not real. There is a futility in the search for the easter bunny, santa claus, unicorns, and so on. Why is the search for your god any less futile?

Heaven is right here, right now (Fat Boy Slim break....)

Uh, What?

Acting on base human instinct isn't anti evolution. Denying our human nature is surely?

I'm not talking about human nature, I'm talking about maturity. People seek religion because it brings up feelings of protection and loss of ego that they felt as a young child. How is this productive? It's more like a bad habit. Just because we feel more comfortable doing something (IE religion), does not mean it's good for us.

Human nature? If you're a christian, you must believe in some sort of original sin, you know, the reason jesus came to save you. If we're sinners, then why would our human nature be a good thing to follow? Our nature is sinful, and destructive, according to the bible. Denying the human nature is what many christians advocate, thinking that this makes them more holy.

So if original sin exists in adam, why is human nature a good thing to follow. Answer me that.

Atheism is destructive (which can also be good to eek out truth). Religion is constructive.

This is where most people misunderstand atheism, as you have just done.

You've got it mixed up - atheism is not destructive; religion is. Take a look at the last 2000 years and all the evil things that have been done in the name of religion. Many times when science made a discovery, the church would hush it up, discredit, burn the person or the papers, and ultimately try to get ride of it. Why? Because the person's discovery had negative implications in the authenticity of their religion. Religion has tried to deny any science that discredits their religion. Religion has been at the forefront of keep humanity in the dark ages (ironically, it was the church who ruled during that time).

Atheism is constructive because it is evidence based. It is not a belief in anything, it is simply non-belief. An atheist can do many evil things, but he doesn't do any of them in the name of atheism. Atheism has no dogma; no set of beliefs. It is simply belief in observable, tangible reality.

Would you say it was right or wrong to wan't to follow the example of Christ as opposed to not? Our society mirrors Christian values so you'd think most westerners would welcome the ideology. In my mind (no comments please ) our present zeitgeist seems to suggest that those values suggest an evolutionary goal.

Again, I repeat my question from my last post: Is there anything atheism can't do that religion can?

Why keep religion if atheism can do it just as well, if not better? The example of christ is a good ideal to aspire to, but do you know that buddhism and jainism had well developed systems of morality similar to jesus' message, except that they thought of it hundreds of years before jesus! Jesus isn't the only one with a nice, pretty message.

Our society mirrors christian values? As well as vilifying homosexuals, slowing science, discouraging birth control, etc. You might want to know too, that the christian states in the US have a higher crime rate than the other states. So what is christianity actually meant to do again? Oh that's right - make people better people.

Seems like it's doing more harm than good.

Sure, you can list all the good things done in the name of religion. Take charities for example, they help, feed, protect people all around the world. But why does a charity need religion? Many charities are refused access to certain countries because of their religious worldview. Charities could be more effective if they were atheistic, hence save more people.

Then there's all the bad that's been done in the name of religion which would probably send this site offline if I posted it.

Oh and, I'd avoid the jokes. They're not making you look any more intelligent.