RE: Be honest, am I going to hell for "my" atheism?
April 9, 2015 at 11:44 pm
(This post was last modified: April 9, 2015 at 11:54 pm by Lek.)
(April 9, 2015 at 8:54 pm)Iroscato Wrote: Also, when did we suddenly decide that omnipotent can be equated with goodness? Power is known to corrupt, and absolute power...
Oh, but I suppose God is perfect and incorruptible, therefore the rules don't apply to him, never have and never will. And who was it who apparently told you of his perfection? Oh that's right! The big man himself! My, what an extraordinarily high opinion he has of himself! And he demands your complete and unyielding worship and adoration as well, otherwise he will send you to a place that is specifically designed to instill as much agony and fear in a human being is possible. And he could quite easily not BURN YOU FOR ETERNITY, but he does anyway, because...?
Oh that's it, because you refused the gift he offered you! You refused to have a relationship with him. Yes, yes of course. In your heretical employment of that pesky free will he programmed you with, you simply couldn't muster up the belief in his existence due to a laughable lack of actual empirical evidence. Therefore, you will BURN FOR ETERNITY.
Oh, but you should have known he existed! Look around you, can't you see the wonder of nature and the miracle of life? Yes, I do, and I am amazed by it. I do not require belief in a cloud-riding sky fairy to give substance to that amazement though. I see nothing that exists that could only have been designed.
I see global horrors playing out daily. I see suffering on a truly immense scale, and evil vested interests manipulating the world and its people. I see these horrors, and they reinforce themselves in my mind and fuse with the utter lack of evidence for a deity, and what emerges is a two-step atheistic chimaera.
1) There is no evidence for God.
2) If he does exist, he is wicked.
I may as well put that in my sig, I have a feeling I'm gonna be saying it a lot to an array of chucklefucks over the next few years...
First of all, I don't belief that the bible teaches that one's time in hell is eternal. And when I look at the world I do see it as evidence of a creator. Once science proves that everything came about without a creator or that everything just always existed, I'll re-examine my beliefs. I also believe that there is a purpose for everything that exists. When I see a human, I see something more than a walking and talking pile of dirt that is here by accident. As far as there being no evidence for God--it depends on what you consider to be evidence.
(April 9, 2015 at 11:43 pm)Iroscato Wrote: I believe something in which there is an enormous amount of research, evidence and common bloody sense to vouch for it. It has been consistently shown that only an intact, healthy and whole brain can sustain a consciousness. In situations where the brain is altered, affected or shut down temporarily, you have no conscious thought and are not aware of anything, or your very perception of the world is distorted and you change as a person entirely. Now extrapolate and apply that to permanent brain death. You cease having the ability to be aware of anything. That is simple logic. I am distressed you cannot follow it.
Extremely shaky recollections of near-death experiences - which are experienced by definition by people whose brains stop working for a bit - aside, there is zero evidence to support your claim.
Why do you believe God is omnipotent? Because he told you? Because the magic book said so?
According to your understanding of what we experience after death, we simply don't exist. There can be no feeling of peace or suffering or anything else. There is simply no awareness at all. We can't even comment on that state because none of us have experienced it.
I believe God is omnipotent because the bible says he is and I accept the bible as true in what it teaches about God.