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Current time: March 29, 2024, 3:59 am

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A Question for Thesists
#1
A Question for Thesists
To the theists who frequent this board, I have a question for you.  I haven't been around here long, so apologies if it's already been asked.  My question is simply this.  Why do you believe in god?  Is it a simple matter of continuing the tradition of the way you were raised?  Is it the result of scientific research in which you determined that religion answered your questions about life and the world more accurately than science?  Something else?  I have a difficult time establishing what specifically causes most people to believe.  As a follow-up question, had you been raised atheist, what do you suppose the chances are that you would have found your god and converted to your religion in adulthood?
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#2
RE: A Question for Thesists
sorry AA... We're all too battle fatigued at the moment.
No God, No fear.
Know God, Know fear.
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#3
RE: A Question for Thesists
Funnily enough, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of theists actually don't know the real reason. Either that, or they refuse to say what it is. The reasons I get given I feel strongly are self-made strawmen, despite protestations to the contrary.

I would love people to really think, look deep inside and find that real reason.
Feel free to send me a private message.
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#4
RE: A Question for Thesists
If you asked me this question when I was a theist, I would not have been able to give you a good answer. I would of probably made some emotional appeal and then followed it up with descriptions of mundane coincidences that happened in my life, simply trying to avoid having to give the real answer of "that's what I was brought up to believe."
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#5
RE: A Question for Thesists
What! Are you implying that if I say "Australian English" is the ONE true English pronunciation, then I'm only saying this because I was born here! nonsense! Dodgy
No God, No fear.
Know God, Know fear.
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#6
RE: A Question for Thesists
Brownie points in the unlikely event of an afterlife? Eh, beats me
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#7
RE: A Question for Thesists
getting the real truth from a theist is impossible.

All baby's are born atheists.  Depending where they grow up, they will become (for the most part) what ever their parents are.
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#8
RE: A Question for Thesists
That's a fun little positive of being an atheist: You can recite when, where, how, and why you became one. Most theists will always have to wonder about that. I know I couldn't tell you when I became a Christian.
I can't remember where this verse is from, I think it got removed from canon:

"I don't hang around with mostly men because I'm gay. It's because men are better than women. Better trained, better equipped...better. Just better! I'm not gay."

For context, this is the previous verse:

"Hi Jesus" -robvalue
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#9
RE: A Question for Thesists
Interesting.  I wouldn't have thought they'd have an aversion to stating that they believe simply because they were raised with a particular belief.  Although now that I think about it, saying you believe something just because your parents taught you to does sort of give your almighty deity less power than he "deserves".

The "all babies are born atheist" thing is definitely true.  I can't think of a single instance in which a child (not an adult) decided of their own accord to start believing in a deity their parents didn't buy into.
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#10
RE: A Question for Thesists
I can tell you how I become a christian and how I become a atheist. I had always been raised Christian by my grandparents when me and my parents lived there. When I was 14 I had an idiopathic attack of a potentially fatal auto-immune disease. At the time I thought healing was gods way of saving me, now I realize that I was simply seeking a refuge from my fear of death. After I recovered I started going to church regularly and I became filled with that wonderful feeling that Christians refer to as the holy spirit. It was a amazing mix of love, peace, and joy. I attended church every Sunday for 2-3 years after that.
I became a atheist at the age of 22. I had a friend in college and we both loved to debate such things. He brought up some passages in the bible that I didn't realize were there the first times I read it. At the same time I was looking into why atheists hate Christians and came across some positive statements of belief made by atheists. When I read them as a Christian I thought they were somewhat non sensical. After that I started reading and trying to make sense of some of these problem passages. But instead of just reading on autopilot I used my critical faculties. Reading the story of exodus did it for me. I thought " This is a God that believes so hard in freewill that he allows babies to die by the millions, yet he comes in and hardens pharoahs heart so that he has a excuse to make an example of the Egyptians?" After that the nonsensical things in the bible started flying at me from every which way. Such why does make people gay, then make them suffer for being how he made them? My answer was simple. The bible is made up bullshit, I came to that conclusion because apologetics just seems to address one objection with taking into account everything else, so the bible is bullshit became the clearly simpler and more satisfying answer. From then on I explored my new conclusions and came to people like Ingersoll and hitchens.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
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