IF in the end, you find that God does exist ....

[Alex K]

 Well forget it.  I know nothing .. NOTHING!

God who?

[Whateverist]

Well... you don't know me either. And I don't need your definition of Love. What if it turns out that God is Love? Then what?

You are the world's worst salesman for god.

Newsflash, we don't need to hear from you either. There is nothing you can say to us about your secret friend that is of use to us. What is it Min would say here? Oh yeah, blow it out your ass.

[robvalue]

So... If we answered no we got the wrong answer? Dang. If you're asking have I already made up my mind I'm not going to worship anything, then you're damn skippy. But we can be great mates, depending on whether he is up to standards. I'm sad to hear people would be so desperate to chuck themselves at his feet. I assume out of fear of what he will do to you if you don't. But he's a frigging God, he can do what he likes. He'd probably respect me more for manning up to him.

It's rather telling that you say God "made me in his image", that means God is extremely similar to me. He looks like me. And presumably shares all the same morals as me, as gods always tend to agree with people who worship them. He even knows everything I know... and he's my "personal God"...

Hmm. This God is sounding very familiar.

[Alex K]

[ignoramus]

I wish we all can all hold it together and slowly come to agree (be convinced) with the next xtard who does a drive by.
It'll be more fun than ignoring them. It'll give them false hope. They like that, right? But we can't be obvious! Socks and trolls excepted.

[emjay]

So... If we answered no we got the wrong answer? Dang. If you're asking have I already made up my mind I'm not going to worship anything, then you're damn skippy. But we can be great mates, depending on whether he is up to standards. I'm sad to hear people would be so desperate to chuck themselves at his feet. I assume out of fear of what he will do to you if you don't. But he's a frigging God, he can do what he likes. He'd probably respect me more for manning up to him.

It's rather telling that you say God "made me in his image", that means God is extremely similar to me. He looks like me. And presumably shares all the same morals as me, as gods always tend to agree with people who worship them. He even knows everything I know... and he's my "personal God"...

Hmm. This God is sounding very familiar.

Rob, I am gradually moving towards your position thanks to joining this site. But it will take time. Before coming here I did not give much thought to the idea of rejecting God on ethical grounds or even accepting hypothetical damnation on those grounds, but being on this site and seeing all the arguments put forward has been enlightening in that regard, and that in itself has strengthened my atheism enormously.

[robvalue]

Hey, that's great to hear! I'm glad it has helped you being here

Regarding damnation, any god who isn't a complete jerk would surely never punish you for using your brain and being honest. And I'm sure he would prefer someone leading a good, worthwhile life to someone always praying for favours and grovelling on the floor to storybook characters they know can't be real.

If it is really the God of the bible, which is pretty much a guaranteed impossibility, he's such an evil lying crazy jerk that nothing you do is going to make much difference to his erratic temper tantrum decision making. I'm sure over time the image of this foul, angry God (why does he have all these human emotions?) will fade, and you'll be able to put it firmly behind you

I hope you continue to feel stronger, it's great to have you on the forum!

[The Grand Nudger]

That's the strange thing about religion.  It becomes commonplace, the tenets conversationally acceptable, even when they shouldn't be.  Things fly under the radar because we are acclimated to both the notion and the adherents. So a person might never, for example, realize that there's a nasty ethical problem with vicarious redemption. That there are reasons to decline the "gift" even if it -were- offered....and that we make this sort of determination regularly in our lives with no trouble identifying why we should decline - even a christer could tell you why he can;t accept blood money, why he shouldn't set someone else up for the fall, or accept that another be punished for his own misdeeds.

-que endless litany of "oh, but it's totally different when it comes to christ" yes, yes..we know that you believe that.

I can't help but conclude that accepting this offer of redemption, would instantly disqualify a person from deserving redemption in the first place. But hey, if we're handing out redemption to the undeserving (and some christers would have no trouble with that statement, granted) then whats this business about withholding redemption based on lack of fealty......? Meh, who knows, I find it impossible to put myself into the shoes of a moral and ethical midget.

[Alex K]

*BUMP*

@ronedee
I don't understand what you mean by "accept", either. Can you clarify?

[Pyrrho]

So... If we answered no we got the wrong answer? Dang. If you're asking have I already made up my mind I'm not going to worship anything, then you're damn skippy. But we can be great mates, depending on whether he is up to standards. I'm sad to hear people would be so desperate to chuck themselves at his feet. I assume out of fear of what he will do to you if you don't. But he's a frigging God, he can do what he likes. He'd probably respect me more for manning up to him.

It's rather telling that you say God "made me in his image", that means God is extremely similar to me. He looks like me. And presumably shares all the same morals as me, as gods always tend to agree with people who worship them. He even knows everything I know... and he's my "personal God"...

Hmm. This God is sounding very familiar.

Rob, I am gradually moving towards your position thanks to joining this site. But it will take time. Before coming here I did not give much thought to the idea of rejecting God on ethical grounds or even accepting hypothetical damnation on those grounds, but being on this site and seeing all the arguments put forward has been enlightening in that regard, and that in itself has strengthened my atheism enormously.

Sometimes a picture is helpful to get things into proper perspective.  Here is something to think about the next time some stupid Christian prates glibly about how good God is: