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Why sometimes I incline to Atheism and how I rationalize myself out of it.
June 7, 2014 at 10:09 pm
Sometimes I think about the problem of evil and it makes me really question things.
I never lose belief in God but it does make me think.
Anyways, I've been thinking perhaps it has to do with wanting to create diversity in the universe including diverse sentient lifeforms. And to do that, the wisest way to go about it was to make things happen through evolution naturally.
I don't even know if this is possible or not, but, perhaps in creating life naturally like that, it was bound to happen that we face hurricanes, diseases, etc...
The alternative would be that he magically interferes with everything that happens in the universe. So in the future, when we go exploring planets, instead of life and planets forming naturally, they would be being created on intervention basis.
I think this is a silly type universe.
Anyways, just some thoughts.
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RE: Why sometimes I incline to Atheism and how I rationalize myself out of it.
June 7, 2014 at 10:21 pm
Maybe the Earth is the sentient being and all of the life forms on it are simply parasites that it's trying to eliminate. In other words, humans are just bedbug pests to the Earth and it's trying to kill us off.
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RE: Why sometimes I incline to Atheism and how I rationalize myself out of it.
June 8, 2014 at 7:42 am
(This post was last modified: June 8, 2014 at 7:45 am by Confused Ape.)
 Where are the snake and mushroom smilies?
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RE: Why sometimes I incline to Atheism and how I rationalize myself out of it.
June 8, 2014 at 12:07 pm
When I finally admitted to myself I was an atheist, the relief that ensued was immense.
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RE: Why sometimes I incline to Atheism and how I rationalize myself out of it.
June 8, 2014 at 12:14 pm
(This post was last modified: June 8, 2014 at 12:15 pm by Cyberman.)
(June 7, 2014 at 10:21 pm)Wyrd of Gawd Wrote: Maybe the Earth is the sentient being and all of the life forms on it are simply parasites that it's trying to eliminate. In other words, humans are just bedbug pests to the Earth and it's trying to kill us off.
Red Dwarf Wrote:“Why does it have to be such a big deal? Why can't it be like, like, human beings are a planetary disease? Like the Earth's got German measles or facial herpes, right? And that's why all of the other planets give us such a wide berth. It's like, 'Oh, don't go near Earth! It's got human beings on it, they're contagious!'
-- Dave Lister
“So you're saying, Lister, you're an intergalactic, pus-filled cold sore? At last, Lister, we agree on something!“
-- Arnold J Rimmer
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: Why sometimes I incline to Atheism and how I rationalize myself out of it.
June 8, 2014 at 12:18 pm
(This post was last modified: June 8, 2014 at 12:19 pm by Mudhammam.)
(June 7, 2014 at 10:09 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: Sometimes I think about the problem of evil and it makes me really question things.
I never lose belief in God but it does make me think.
Anyways, I've been thinking perhaps it has to do with wanting to create diversity in the universe including diverse sentient lifeforms. And to do that, the wisest way to go about it was to make things happen through evolution naturally.
I don't even know if this is possible or not, but, perhaps in creating life naturally like that, it was bound to happen that we face hurricanes, diseases, etc...
The alternative would be that he magically interferes with everything that happens in the universe. So in the future, when we go exploring planets, instead of life and planets forming naturally, they would be being created on intervention basis.
I think this is a silly type universe.
Anyways, just some thoughts. What kind of God do you believe in? A God bound by natural laws? What makes him more special than the Cosmos if he can't do anything but mechanistically follow a certain set of rules that over time brings about the diversity of lifeforms through natural selection? Why not just believe it is the Cosmos i.e. observed reality that causes these disasters, instead of an invisible puppet master?
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RE: Why sometimes I incline to Atheism and how I rationalize myself out of it.
June 8, 2014 at 12:26 pm
Re the OP:
A god that is bound by the physical laws of the Universe is a useless, emasculated god.
A Universe that is bound to the will and the whims of an interventionist god is, as you say, a silly one.
I fail to see the problem.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: Why sometimes I incline to Atheism and how I rationalize myself out of it.
June 8, 2014 at 2:35 pm
I don't think it's a useless God. Perhaps it with it's immense knowledge and wisdom, knows the natural laws would be enough to create life all over the universe. This also doesn't take away his role in constantly causing existence to exist, just not playing intervention role. Also life after death etc, all can happen, but this universe with diverse life has it's wisdom in which it would be governed by natural laws.
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Why sometimes I incline to Atheism and how I rationalize myself out of it.
June 8, 2014 at 2:46 pm
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RE: Why sometimes I incline to Atheism and how I rationalize myself out of it.
June 8, 2014 at 2:57 pm
(This post was last modified: June 8, 2014 at 3:02 pm by Simon Moon.)
Obviously, the title of this thread is misleading, as you are not questioning your belief in a god.
The reason why it is bound to happen that we face hurricanes, diseases, etc, is because we live on a planet in a universe that looks exactly like what one would expect if it is of completely natural origin, operating completely naturally. There is no need for your magic deity anywhere in the functioning or origin of the universe.
Putting a god anywhere in the equation has no explanatory scope or power. You might as well be saying that universe creating pixies are responsible.
You always strike me as being quite intelligent. Don't you think it's time to let go of your Bronze/Iron Age mythology?
I'm still wondering why you consider yourself a deist? You are a theist.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
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