Is it a good idea to be an atheist?

[daver49]

It's a good thing he's unchangingly changed to a more mellow god now who does fuck all no matter how many times I call him a strawberry flavoured dildo.

Or maybe we changed? We do evolve, right?

[FatAndFaithless]

If you're trying to imply that God is nothing more than a reflection of human ideas of the times...then yes.

[Silver]

I love God and anybody can.....

Yes, anyone can, yet there is no rational basis for any reasonable individual to form an emotional relationship with an imaginary being, especially considering it is a one sided relationship with absolutely no reciprocation.

[Tonus]

If every case of cancer was cured through prayer to a particular god, that would settle the issue quite plainly. But apparently it's only the occasional case, told second-hand by an anonymous person on the internet. One wonders why the doctors in this case did not demonstrate the amazing example of a man whose terminal cancer literally disappeared overnight... apparently they just patted him on the back and sent him on his way.

So how many of your other prayers have been answered so sensationally? Was it just that one? Have you considered taking a crack at world peace? Or ending hunger at least? The occasional cancer cure is impressive, but surely god can do more if you'd just get him up off of his lazy ass?

[abaris]

The cancer was very severe and he had a few days to live. The security guard was very sorrowful because this brother had 2 small kids and naturally he was concerned about their futures. I felt great compassion for him and that day when I left work I started to pray for Michael....I didn't even know his surname. The trip home was about 40 minutes and when I had travelled about 5 minutes I had what one may call an epiphany....I knew immediately that something had happened. The next day the security guard was completely elated because his brother had been miraculously healed the previous day.

A few things about this. Don't you dare playing the modesty shtick here. You're obviously so important to god that he heals on your behalf. And not just anybody but a terminally ill person that walked like Lazarus.

Within a day noone recovers fully from that kind of condition without anyone outside his family noticing. If they had, it would have been splashed all over the frontpages and the evening news.

And then there's the obvious question. At the same time, there were probably dozens of people praying for that poor sod. But god waited for you to pray a right hook, since you have this special relationship. Speaking of false modesty and unverifyable woo.

[Simon Moon]

Around 2005 I owned a company and befriended a security guard who did work at our company. At some stage he confided in me that he had a brother (If I remember his name was Michael) who was dying of throat cancer - The cancer was very severe and he had a few days to live. The security guard was very sorrowful because this brother had 2 small kids and naturally he was concerned about their futures. I felt great compassion for him and that day when I left work I started to pray for Michael....I didn't even know his surname. The trip home was about 40 minutes and when I had travelled about 5 minutes I had what one may call an epiphany....I knew immediately that something had happened. The next day the security guard was completely elated because his brother had been miraculously healed the previous day. Well I naturally was just as happy and proceeded to tell him what happened to me on the road...His brother was discharged 2 days later and came to see me (With his wife and the 2 kids) to personally thank me for praying for him - It was one of the greatest days of my life.

This is no fairy tale and happened exactly as is stated here....I have no reason to fabricate a story like this. If it was a fabrication then my own Christian walk would be a sham and worth nothing!

This is what I mean by a personal relationship....You cannot be a Christian for 25 years and suddenly turn away. Yes there a backslidden Christians but once you are marked you can never be the same.

At the end of the day I cannot force anybody to believe that God is as real today as he was millions of years ago. I cannot fathom the mysteries of the ages and frankly I don't want to....I just cannot turn my back on a God that listened to my prayer and healed Michael. There are other miracles that came about thru my prayers...

I love God and anybody can.....

While the spontaneous remission of your friend's brother is unusual, it is no miracle. And I doubt it happened over night.

It happens all the time to people of all, or no religion, at equal rates. Christians don't have lower death rates from cancer than any other religious group.

Hell, when cancer studies are being done on lab animals, the scientists know going in that a certain percentage of them will have spontaneous remissions. Does that mean that 'God' is causing miraculous healing of cancer among lab rats?

By the way, why don't you donate your time to cancer hospitals to help cure the terminal patients?

[Thumpalumpacus]

Actually, if I'm reading this section correctly, both "believe" in something.
The "believer", in this case, believer of a god, believes god exists.
The atheist, believes god doesn't exist.

Some do, but not hardly all of us. I don't believe there are no gods. I don't have faith, and gods don't have evidence, and that means I disregard the hypothesis as unsupported.

I find gods unsupported and therefore irrelevant.

---

My question is simply were any of these members Christians before - Here I mean, did any of these members have a personal relationship with Jesus and then became atheists? Anybody can 'belong to a church' but to have a relationship with God is something totally different....

Yes, I was one. Then I realized that I was too young to be talking to myself.

[Joods]

....I knew immediately that something had happened. The next day the security guard was completely elated because his brother had been miraculously healed the previous day.

Weed... I bet it was weed.

My fiancee's grandmother had stage three lung cancer. Her sister has stage four lung cancer. While my fiancee's grandmother passed away in September of last year, her sister battles on to this day. She smokes weed on a daily basis - several times a day. My fiancee's grandmother refused to try it even though we begged her to.

I'm going with weed because well, see my avatar.

[Smaug]

Most basic considerations known to most people who have ever though about it: there is technically infinite amount of imaginable gods. Someone may say that all gods are just distorted versions of one true god and worshipping one is better than not. Even without going into details it's clear that this is an extremely weak arguement. Now we take abrahamic faiths. They have such a difference that more often than not all the denominations and sects do not accept each other or even hate each other and label as false, vile etc (not to say of their attitude towards other religions). So we arrive at a conclusion that it's technically impossible to choose the correct variant even one of them were true (which is an infinetely large if). Plus, religious zeal has negative effects on one's psychological condition (i.e. induces constant anxiety, guilt etc.).

[Jesusislord]

Why did God wait until you prayed for Michael's brother? Surely there were other people praying the man, why do you take credit for your prayer being the catalyst?

I take no credit - I knew when I hit the motorway on that day and at that exact moment that he was cured. That was the epiphany...I just knew it. There have been times when I have prayed and nothing happened and it frustrates me....But in that case it did. No doubt other people were praying for Michael - However the revelation/epiphany was revealed to me. Not in some audible voice or clear outward revelation....In my very soul I knew it! Also this is the first time since it happened (in 10 years) that I am revealing this supernatural event on a public forum. It is only for the benefit of this audience and I will take no credit....I cannot....I have no power to cure anybody. What I do know is that when you pray with a sincere heart that miracles do happen and if they don't I must be mature enough to accept that this too is God's will. May God bless you!