Yet for all that, Drich, there are many who can tell you that for all their "faith", god failed them at every turn.
Yes, I know we could get on about personal accountability, but in the end, when someone of faith is told that all they have to do is ASK, as you put it, and they do just that and still god fails them, the light bulb comes on and they realize that it was all just made up by man. We could go round and round about everything that's been discussed before but it really gets us nowhere.
At the end of the day, the reasons for why people don't personally believe are just that... their reasons. And they have a right to their non-beliefs just as much as believers have a right to their beliefs. And that's really the bottom line here. I think the point of this thread was to get people talking about what led to their mindsets as far as believing in a deity goes. It wasn't an invite for people to be preached to or for people to be challenged on why they don't believe.
I don't believe in any god or gods. I stated why pages and pages ago. That's good enough for me since god had failed time and time again to present himself in front of me. Both when I was a child and grew into an adult. If I have to conjure up some sort of image of him because he fails to "show himself", as it were, then in my opinion, he's not real. I've extended the invitation to him to join me for lunch (I'll pay) to answer some questions, time and time again. He's not ever taken me up on that offer. Therefore, the magical sky daddy is just some made up entity, created by man so that they have something to follow. That's it. That's all there is to it. If you think differently (and you do), that is entirely your right to do so. But without some sort of physical evidence, I cannot applaud your efforts to try and change any minds here.
Yes, I know we could get on about personal accountability, but in the end, when someone of faith is told that all they have to do is ASK, as you put it, and they do just that and still god fails them, the light bulb comes on and they realize that it was all just made up by man. We could go round and round about everything that's been discussed before but it really gets us nowhere.
At the end of the day, the reasons for why people don't personally believe are just that... their reasons. And they have a right to their non-beliefs just as much as believers have a right to their beliefs. And that's really the bottom line here. I think the point of this thread was to get people talking about what led to their mindsets as far as believing in a deity goes. It wasn't an invite for people to be preached to or for people to be challenged on why they don't believe.
I don't believe in any god or gods. I stated why pages and pages ago. That's good enough for me since god had failed time and time again to present himself in front of me. Both when I was a child and grew into an adult. If I have to conjure up some sort of image of him because he fails to "show himself", as it were, then in my opinion, he's not real. I've extended the invitation to him to join me for lunch (I'll pay) to answer some questions, time and time again. He's not ever taken me up on that offer. Therefore, the magical sky daddy is just some made up entity, created by man so that they have something to follow. That's it. That's all there is to it. If you think differently (and you do), that is entirely your right to do so. But without some sort of physical evidence, I cannot applaud your efforts to try and change any minds here.
Disclaimer: I am only responsible for what I say, not what you choose to understand.
