RE: Atheists, tell me, a Roman Catholic: why should I become an atheist?
December 5, 2016 at 7:13 pm
(December 4, 2016 at 2:57 pm)Balaco Wrote: I know that, and depending on the atheist or theist perspective, the response to that would be that it's a test of faith (which I've seen conflicting views about), or simply that God isn't real.
So... god created us with brains that would logically tell us that he does not exist to test our faith in his existence? Which means god wants us to go against our own reason and logic and blindly follow his word? Would he want us to treat anything else with the same type of blind ignorance or loyalty? Would a loving god want us to just blindly follow anything because a claim is made by someone that doing so makes us better somehow?
(December 4, 2016 at 2:57 pm)Balaco Wrote: I've been looking into that and need to see how theist justifications hold up logically.
Why would a book that is supposed to be the perfect and infallible word of god have any contradictions or fallacies in it? What justification can there be for that?
(December 4, 2016 at 2:57 pm)Balaco Wrote: Earlier religions seem to have spawned to try to provide an answer to "supernatural" things that were actually natural but had a lack of evidence. Which is why they're easily disregarded.
Christianity seems to have so many different branches due to a mix of miscommunicated information and differing interpretations. Yet it's still relevant today, as it manages to adapt and provides justifications for supernatural events that "technically" can't be fully disproven (regardless of they're actually rational justifications).
I definitely can see how all this can work against religion.
So the earlier a religion was founded the more invalid its tenets and ideas? So Scientology is one of the most, if not THE most accurate religions of all time?
And does the fact that Christianity is composed of so many different denominations somehow make it more accurate because it has "survived" all of this miscommunication and error? Why would a god allow us to come up with so many incorrect interpretations of one holy, infallible book? Does that make sense to you?
(December 4, 2016 at 2:57 pm)Balaco Wrote: From my understanding, it's seen as a test to help them grow stronger in a sense. If God isn't real, that also explains why they don't get healed, so I guess the "right" answer depends on whether God is actually real.
So your god has to allow someone to lose a limb before allowing them to grow as a person? Why couldn't god just have injected some other type of extreme circumstance in their life that would allow them to grow or change as a person?
(December 4, 2016 at 2:57 pm)Balaco Wrote: A consequence of free will, or because there is no God. Again, the answer to that depends on whether God is real.
So god allows us the free will to be evil? So does that mean that god does not intervene or perform miracles? Is fate predetermined? If so how can we have free will if our fates are predetermined? What about hurricanes or other natural disasters that wipe out thousands of people at a time... Are those the result of free will? Are those things caused by god? If so... does that not mean that god is cruel?
(December 4, 2016 at 2:57 pm)Balaco Wrote: I was raised in the faith, and never questioned it until now (which I realize is common among theists).
So you are a Christian for no reason other than because your parents were Christians?
(December 4, 2016 at 2:57 pm)Balaco Wrote: By the logic of the above two, probably. Which is another reason why I feel like I need to actually question my faith rather than blindly accepting what I was born into.
So then what gives Christianity any more validity than Islam? Don't you think that Muslims feel just as strongly about their beliefs as Christians do? Who is right?
To be completely clear, I am just trying to walk you through these questions. You are well on your way to discovering that you are an atheist, trust me. But you have to follow all of these questions through because otherwise you will be thwarted by simple, yet deceptive tactics that many theists use to just brush these questions off and act like they don't exist. Keep following these questions through. Keep searching for more and more answers. If your god is real, surely he will bring you to the conclusion that he does, in fact, exist.
“Love is the only bow on Life’s dark cloud. It is the morning and the evening star. It shines upon the babe, and sheds its radiance on the quiet tomb. It is the mother of art, inspirer of poet, patriot and philosopher.
It is the air and light of every heart – builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody – for music is the voice of love.
Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to Joy, and makes royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.” - Robert. G. Ingersoll
It is the air and light of every heart – builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody – for music is the voice of love.
Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to Joy, and makes royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.” - Robert. G. Ingersoll