New atheist.. question

[taylor93112]

ive recently come out to my christian parents that i am an atheist, and i have gotten in many arguments with them (as you can imagine). and there is always one statement they make that i can not seem to respond to.

any act of immorality in the bible that i mention to them, i get the response "God has a bigger plan and he see's the bigger picture. we do not understand why these things happened, and no one can understand. No one can understand the mind of God".

i do not know how to reply to that. i feel like there should be an easy answer.. but im just missing it.

any help?

[Silver]

No one can understand the mind of God".

They always seem to state that when they have no logical answer to provide. It seems better for them to make a baseless claim like that, than to imagine how wrong it is to believe as they do. It is also rather ironic that they make the claim of being unable to know what God's plan is one second, and then in the next second they are always making claims in regards to precisely what it is that God wants for all of humanity. When getting right down to it, they are simply being hypocritical.

[catfish]

Welcome to the elitist zone!

What kind of "help" do you want? Do you want an answer for the immoral acts or do you want ammo to defend being an atheist?

[taylor93112]

Welcome to the elitist zone!

What kind of "help" do you want? Do you want an answer for the immoral acts or do you want ammo to defend being an atheist?

well i was just seeing how other atheists would respond to a statement like "No one can understand the mind of god". i agree with what the post above said. that it is their answer to ignorance basically.

[Minimalist]

No one can understand the mind of God

They aren't giving you an answer. They are giving you a cop out. Sorry to say this but you sound a lot smarter than they are if they can buy such obvious bullshit and you don't.

[EGross]

Change the word "God" to "Aphrodite", and listen to how weird it sounds. It means the same thing, depending on which supernatural entity or entities you want to be a slave to.

Aphrodite has a bigger plan and she see's the bigger picture. we do not understand why these things happened, and no one can understand. No one can understand the mind of Aphrodite.

Now a love goddess...THAT beats out an angy old fart god any day!

[Angrboda]

ive recently come out to my christian parents that i am an atheist, and i have gotten in many arguments with them (as you can imagine). and there is always one statement they make that i can not seem to respond to.

"I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice." ~ Abraham Lincoln


This being family, I would suggest that you have a duty of care towards those you love, as much as you have a duty to truth and freedom of conscience.

Outside of family, however, let the fur fly!


And I appear to have misread your question. Towards the specific question, I suggest not concentrating on specific questions, and instead devote yourself to a broad education including religion, secularism, atheism, and logic. The answers will come.

[JDS]

ive recently come out to my christian parents that i am an atheist, and i have gotten in many arguments with them (as you can imagine). and there is always one statement they make that i can not seem to respond to.

any act of immorality in the bible that i mention to them, i get the response "God has a bigger plan and he see's the bigger picture. we do not understand why these things happened, and no one can understand. No one can understand the mind of God".

i do not know how to reply to that. i feel like there should be an easy answer.. but im just missing it.

any help?

I don't understand why we have to have intellectual arguments with people who believe in supernatural beings. There is nothing to debate or argue. Their god does not exist, it is nonsense, it is made-up fiction, like all the myriad of gods that have been dreamt up by mankind. It's silly to debate this stuff.

[Minimalist]

The problem arises because they engage in this.

[jstrodel]

I don't think it is irrational to believe that there could be some things that people might not be able to know very easily. I think it is a kind of humility.