do religious people really believe?

[Mystical]

Esquilax Wrote:
Except you've got no assurance that it will endure. Neither of us do...We only have one life we can be sure of, after all.

ChadWooders Wrote:
The difference between us is I have assurance in my continuance. A disbeliever, such as yourself, has no such assurance.

missluckie26 Wrote:
I fear death less as an athiest.

THomM Wrote:
Sorry - but an atheist has NO reason to fear death at all

Death brings nothing past the event to fear

Why are you sorry? That's what I was saying, innit?

[EGross]

No, a Supreme Being is not necessary, just highly desired by those who want some certainty about the future, some reassurance that his or her life won't just go "pffft!" and that is it. The darkness is scary, so we create the necessity that there be some assurance that this reality had a Divine Purpose, and that we, as ego-centered beings, have believed that the Universe (and certainly the sun), revolves around us alone.

If a Supreme Being never had a Creator, then that same logic can be applied to an Eternal Universe that never had a Creator, but came into being. If one wants to argue "But Who made it come into being", one can apply that same question to a Supreme Being. Speaking of a Creator is only adding another layer to the story, and it's "turtles all the way down." You can keep adding Creators, or just drop that entire thought and it works equally well.

[Esquilax]

The difference between us is I have assurance in my continuance. A disbeliever, such as yourself, has no such assurance.

None of us has any such assurance. We're just being honest with ourselves about that.

It doesn't matter in the end, of course, but you only get this life, you ought not to waste it preparing for an afterlife which exists only in your fantasies.

Whoa, hey: Esquilax very much did not write that. He would have written something much more... factual.

A Supreme Being is metaphysically necessary

I think you've been here long enough to know we're going to need more than a flat assertion before we go along with that.

[Ryantology]

QUOTES!!!!

[archangle]

To me there is confusion about looking at if there is a "higher power" and the traits of a higher power. Weather there is one or not, I can't say for sure. But there is data that points to a higher probability of yes than no for me.
The traits of this "god" are the real issue. Like damming that which you created to hell forever. That can't be.

[Neo-Scholastic]

If a Supreme Being never had a Creator, then that same logic can be applied to an Eternal Universe that never had a Creator, but came into being. If one wants to argue "But Who made it come into being", one can apply that same question to a Supreme Being. Speaking of a Creator is only adding another layer to the story, and it's "turtles all the way down." You can keep adding Creators, or just drop that entire thought and it works equally well.

You do not understand the complexities of ontological arguments. There are serious challenges to them, but yours is not one of them. The problem has never been infinite regress. The difference is between non-contingent things that must be of necessity and non-contingent things that things that are not required even though they exist. This issue is currently being debated on the thread about Deism.

---

I think you've been here long enough to know we're going to need more than a flat assertion before we go along with that.

True, but I save the more detailed and subtle arguments for people who can understand them, like Apo, Gen, FTR, and Whateverest. You just don't rise to their caliber.

[xXUKAtheistForTheTruthXx]

I think some of them really believe to a point. They're the ones who let their kids die by praying rather than take them to the doctor. However, most of them are terrified of death and a lot of other things they shouldn't be afraid of, given what they claim to believe in.

Yeah cause their ignorant!

[Esquilax]

True, but I save the more detailed and subtle arguments for people who can understand them, like Apo, Gen, FTR, and Whateverest. You just don't rise to their caliber.

Try me, bitch.

Or you could keep acting like a morally superior infant, because, you know, that's been going so well for you so far.