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If You Were A Theist
#1
If You Were A Theist
Hello everyone, this is a spin off of this thread: http://atheistforums.org/thread-35404.html ...posted by Shuffle. 

While it is a a very difficult question to answer, I thought it was interesting to think about, and wanted to ask the rest of you and hear answers from the other side.  

Anyone can answer, of course, but I am most interested in hearing from those who have been atheist their whole lives, or at least, who have never been a devout/practicing theist. 

If you were a theist tomorrow, how would you change the rest of your life? Personality, morals, etc.

Thanks!

EDIT TO ADD: Any of the Abrahamic religions.
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly." 

-walsh
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#2
RE: If You Were A Theist
You'll have to pick a religion, cause they're all too different.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god.  If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
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#3
RE: If You Were A Theist
I can't answer except to say I can't answer.

The only difference I can see is that i'd live exactly as I live now except I'd constantly have to grapple with the cognitive dissonance of believing in a (presumably Abrahamic) religion which actively condemns some of the things I think is ok (eg. Homosexuality).
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#4
RE: If You Were A Theist
Well that depends a great deal on the God I believed in, and also a great deal on whether or not Theism comes with the belief in an afterlife. Theism itself is way too broad of a subject to be able to really comment on, considering the wide myriad of Gods that have been believed in and still are.
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#5
RE: If You Were A Theist
I'd go back to doing the same thing I always did. Go to church once or twice a week. Pray to Jesus. Be as good a person as possible. Try to avoid debating about the bible, because it's hard to defend a lot of this stuff. After all, that's why my faith broke down so fast after I reached adulthood.
Poe's Law: "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."

10 Christ-like figures that predate Jesus. Link shortened to Chris ate Jesus for some reason...
http://listverse.com/2009/04/13/10-chris...ate-jesus/

Good video to watch, if you want to know how common the Jesus story really is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88GTUXvp-50

A list of biblical contradictions from the infallible word of Yahweh.
http://infidels.org/library/modern/jim_m...tions.html

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#6
RE: If You Were A Theist
Nothing about my life would necessarily have to change. The details depend on the minutiae of the faith in question.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition

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#7
RE: If You Were A Theist
What Alex said. I can't imagine my personality and so forth altering all that much.

If I ever do get religion, I sort of hope it's one of the nice, sedate ones. Not that I'm shy, but I really don't see meself dancing round a pentacle in the nuddy.

Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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#8
RE: If You Were A Theist
(August 27, 2015 at 5:49 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: Hello everyone, this is a spin off of this thread: http://atheistforums.org/thread-35404.html ...posted by Shuffle. 

While it is a a very difficult question to answer, I thought it was interesting to think about, and wanted to ask the rest of you and hear answers from the other side.  

Anyone can answer, of course, but I am most interested in hearing from those who have been atheist their whole lives, or at least, who have never been a devout/practicing theist. 

If you were a theist tomorrow, how would you change the rest of your life? Personality, morals, etc.

Thanks!

I would become a conceited moron who thinks I can pass myself off as humble.   I would believe I can have the most important knowledge without the least facts.   I would think that, knowing no facts, I can nonetheless call any actual fact that I dislike bullshit.   I would think I can waste the life I have because I will Be rewarded in another life that I won't actually be having.   I would feel I can be truly happy with myself for all of those things because I can rely on people even dumber or more unscrupulous then me when they tell me a holy book of known falsity and uncertainty provinence said I can be.
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#9
RE: If You Were A Theist
(August 27, 2015 at 5:51 pm)Jenny A Wrote: You'll have to pick a religion, cause they're all too different.

Without getting too specific, would it be ok if I said any of the Abrahamic religions, since they are the most common? Or do I have to pick a particular one?
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly." 

-walsh
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#10
RE: If You Were A Theist
I'm assuming you mean believing in a specific religious doctrine?

My life would probably be a lot different. I wouldn't have had kids when I did, might not have them at all because religion makes sex sound like something evil. I'd probably have begged my ex-husband to stay with me when he left me, and thought that I had done something wrong because I would have believed in the churches teachings. I'd never speak up, because the bible teaches women not to speak up. I'd have disowned my bi-daughter who's planning on getting married to her girlfriend. I'd attend church every Sunday instead of sleeping in. I'd be a lot less fucking awesome than I am.
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