I’m an atheist. So why can’t I shake God?

[Ravenshire]

Would god violate a rapists free will if he waited until the rapist had made the decision to rape, stepping in after that moment but before the rape occurs to protect the victim?  Nope.  No more than a cop who sees an assault-in-progress and prevents it before serious harm is done has somehow violated the free will of the perpetrator.  

These free wills excuses are just horrid.

All I can provide is a story my aunt told me. After a high school dance her date took her out behind the school. After a while he pushed her to the ground and tried to rape her. She resisted, but being a very petite female didn't stand much chance. She started praying to Jesus. Suddenly her date looked up and behind her with a startled face, and ran away. She had no idea why, but the next day talked with him who told her a very tall man glowing in light was standing behind her and scared him away.

This is a true story, and I have others. All it takes is a faith in God. I would recommend Jesus since there are many other stories I can share. All you have to do is invite Jesus into your heart, and ask for forgiveness. Jesus will save you. God is real.

(emphasis is mine)

Why should we believe this story is anything other than pure fabrication. You keep going on and on about "free will" this, "free will" that and "free will" the other, yet, your "aunt's" prayer got an answer that violated your most holy (bullshit) belief. The "free will" of the rapist. Something you claim gawd won't do.

[Ravenshire]

Do you understand what a category error is?

The wife/bachelor analogy fails because you are confusing facts of existence with terms of relationship. This analogy only works for you if by being married all other women cease to exist. Similar for the home analogy. The only other way out of this for you is to acknowledge the existence of all the other gods, but claim you don't worship them.

Curious. How could you possibly have thought this bullshit reasoning would work?

Do you understand how stupid it is to call a monotheist an atheist with respect to all gods but one?

So, do you believe in those other gods in their thousands?!?

[Ravenshire]

Now why would an auntie tell a story such as that to a nephew? Maybe it's because the budding sociopath needs a deterrent from doing that to his classmates!

When you call it a "true story", this implies that the only part which is true is that it's a story.

I heard it from my my dad and later verified by eventually her. When you don't think it's not a true story you think they are lying because it doesn't fit your belief system. Kind of like many religious people I know. The more I'm on here the more I realize that atheist have faith just like religious people do, however their faith is based on what the scientific community allows them to know. Then you learn there is a lot of science in the classified realm that you don't know about, which will not be known, or anything they don't talk about is lies. I guess that would make sense as to why it's important to restrict information and classify it. Oh that's right, nothing can be kept secret, and anything that doesn't fit in the paradigm is a lie, although anyone who questions them is paranoid because they can't lie, or a liar themselves. I'm starting to understand this belief a lot better now, which is why i'm here.

This makes me start to wonder who the atheist has faith in. And once that's understood, how can it's manipulated. Come across many different variants while here, although all claim to be atheists. I'd say it's more like variations of religion, where you have different sects, like Lutherans, Catholics, etc. The only thing in common I've read is that whatever is verified is what you personally have verified, which is just like everyone. So far the difference more than I thought, but not surprised to find the variations. Afterall, like I continue to say, perception of reality, is what we perceive.

(emphasis is mine)

No, we think you (or the person you got the story from) is lying because there is no demonstrable evidence of this type of occurrence ever having happened.

[The Valkyrie]

All I can provide is a story my aunt told me. After a high school dance her date took her out behind the school. After a while he pushed her to the ground and tried to rape her. She resisted, but being a very petite female didn't stand much chance. She started praying to Jesus. Suddenly her date looked up and behind her with a startled face, and ran away. She had no idea why, but the next day talked with him who told her a very tall man glowing in light was standing behind her and scared him away.

This is a true story, and I have others. All it takes is a faith in God. I would recommend Jesus since there are many other stories I can share. All you have to do is invite Jesus into your heart, and ask for forgiveness. Jesus will save you. God is real.

(emphasis is mine)

Why should we believe this story is anything other than pure fabrication. You keep going on and on about "free will" this, "free will" that and "free will" the other, yet, your "aunt's" prayer got an answer that violated your most holy (bullshit) belief. The "free will" of the rapist. Something you claim gawd won't do.

I would have just kicked him in the balls.

Praying to an imaginary being seems an unreliable for of rape prevention.

Seems as effective as, "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're our only hope!"

[God of Mr. Hanky]

This makes me start to wonder who the atheist has faith in. And once that's understood, how can it's manipulated. Come across many different variants while here, although all claim to be atheists. I'd say it's more like variations of religion, where you have different sects, like Lutherans, Catholics, etc. The only thing in common I've read is that whatever is verified is what you personally have verified, which is just like everyone. So far the difference more than I thought, but not surprised to find the variations. Afterall, like I continue to say, perception of reality, is what we perceive.

You've been around here long enough to know we don't do that faith game with anyone - that word is the invention of the Christard culture.

Haaaaaaaa, you want to learn how to manipulate us? Good luck with that, smarter theists than you warn others not to bother trying - it's specifically why they hate and fear us so much!

[KevinM1]

I heard it from my my dad and later verified by eventually her. When you don't think it's not a true story you think they are lying because it doesn't fit your belief system. Kind of like many religious people I know. The more I'm on here the more I realize that atheist have faith just like religious people do, however their faith is based on what the scientific community allows them to know.

Science is, ultimately, a method of inquiry. Your aunt's story is one that defies how we know the universe works, and has no evidence to support it (your dad being familiar with it doesn't lend it credibility). We're not going to accept wild assertions without proof.

Then you learn there is a lot of science in the classified realm that you don't know about, which will not be known, or anything they don't talk about is lies. I guess that would make sense as to why it's important to restrict information and classify it. Oh that's right, nothing can be kept secret, and anything that doesn't fit in the paradigm is a lie, although anyone who questions them is paranoid because they can't lie, or a liar themselves. I'm starting to understand this belief a lot better now, which is why i'm here.

I have no idea what this means, outside of a general sense of paranoia on your part.

The scientific community isn't some nefarious cabal intent on silencing information. Indeed, scientific results (and the methodology used to generate them) are always published in order to undergo further scrutiny. Peer review is a powerful and necessary tool, and there's nothing like it in religion.

Furthermore, science is never definitive. There's always a margin of error, always an implicit "This is what we observe, but we may be wrong" embedded in every result.

This makes me start to wonder who the atheist has faith in.

We don't have faith liked you have faith. There's no atheist messiah, no guiding voice or hand to put us on any path. Our "faith" comes from the combination of knowledge, experience, probability, and predictability. I have a certain level of "faith" in my family members because I've known them for nearly 36 years. I can reasonably predict what they're going to do and how they think. But those predictions aren't absolute, and my faith in them, while deep, still has limits.

And once that's understood, how can it's manipulated. Come across many different variants while here, although all claim to be atheists. I'd say it's more like variations of religion, where you have different sects, like Lutherans, Catholics, etc. The only thing in common I've read is that whatever is verified is what you personally have verified, which is just like everyone. So far the difference more than I thought, but not surprised to find the variations. Afterall, like I continue to say, perception of reality, is what we perceive.

So, wait, you're trying to manipulate us? Or you think someone else is doing it?

And, yes, atheists come in all different shapes and sizes. That's what happens when the only thing guaranteed to be shared among us is a lack of belief in any gods. I'm not sure why us being a collection of individuals rather than some groupthink monolith is surprising.

[rexbeccarox]

@scoobysnack:

1. Needing to iterate immediately after a story how true it is usually indicates its untruthfulness.

2. It's hard to believe a story that ends with the likes of:

SS' aunt: Hey, Billy. Why'd you stop raping me last night?
Billy: Oh, well, you know. Jesus scared the bejeezus outta me!

I mean, seriously? We're supposed to believe that your aunt approached her rapist the very day after he tried raping her and asked him why he stopped???

[robvalue]

Well, he's now either a Poe or an incredibly sinister person. His flip-flopping between "just sharing his beliefs" and lecturing us on why we should believe him is very confusing, especially as I've pointed it out several times before yet he continues.

I'm betting on Poe.

[LadyForCamus]

What is the underlying motivation of a Poe? I don't think I quite understand the term. Are they actually Christians who are only pretending to be fundamentalists? To what purpose? To just everyone riled up, like a good old fashioned troll? Could someone explain the nuance to me?

[Edwardo Piet]

They're just fucking bored people with no life acting cray, or cray people who are indistinguishable from fucking bored people with no life acting cray.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law