Are Atheists Really Just Christians With Weak Faith?

Quickly, you're being far too judgmental. How should anyone know which G-d is the right one? Being a devout, kind and righteous Christian, Jew, or Buddhist isn't hurting anyone. If your entire family is as such, there is little motive or reason to make a serious statement and choose another faith/religion for which there is no proof. To punish for being a good, righteous person but choosing the wrong deity seems beyond ludicrous, as Jerry Falwell preached to his tremendous congregation that the Jews were going to Hell unless perfected to Christianity (see also Ann Coulter.) If you joined a religious group that required an annual human sacrifice or active forced conversions and the likes of the Falwell and Farrakhan groups, then I agree with you about seriously questioning your actions as a human and taking responsibility for your actions. For those more severe acts there is little if any excuse and agree with that.

 

For the lard hath tawld him! Almighty-ah Jesus-ah and his-ah faithful members do so holy-ah declare that everyone and everything is the creation of god-ah! From when man lived-ah with the dinosaurs-ah and then smote the dynosaurs-ah, to when little baby Jesus-ah walked on the water-ah, to when Oppenheimer-ah let loose his atom bomb-ah, and the salvation it would bring-ah! All in Gawd's name-ah!

/Preachness. All speeling errwrors intendentionalatale.

I thought there was a Santa Clause until I was five. Then I investigated. Then I found that there was no Santa. Tooth Fairy, Leprechauns, and all others followed soon after that. The only holiday to not disappoint me with a fictional being that did stuff so far is Halloween - because from the get go Halloween is what it is.

Many of you probably don't know the difference of Julius and Augustus Caesar and what role each played in the Roman Government and which one was in power at the death of your Messiah. Anyone who blames Julius can go to the moon without a spacesuit. There's a hint for you.

 

Like I said, you can believe it's not possible and hope it doesn't matter. A lot of people want a God that will say they're good people and deserve to be in heaven. That sums up N - 1 religions in the world. That 1 religion that doesn't fit that mold is Christianity. So if you want to believe that you can earn your way to the best place when you die then you have N -1 choices that have various moral standards that you must meet to earn heaven. Or you could go with the 1 religion that says your personal goodness has nothing to do with it.

It'd just really suck to be wrong. A lot of people just assume and don't bother to look.

By who's standards?

"good" and "righteous" are terms that require moral judgement.

My wife who left the LDS church before I met her would remind me how good Mormon people are and give me grief if I talked about some of the questionable doctines they have. She doesn't do that anymore and laughs when she hears other people use that line. She left for doctrinal reasons. She made the "mistake" of believing the Bible. Things didn't sound right to her at the time and now that's she's studied the Bible she knows why.

Of all the religions in the United States the LDS church is one of the few that doesn't have even a single hospital. But they have plenty of multi-million dollar temples that only the "good" Mormons can go to. You see "good" people but it is a very selfish organization. The welfare farms, etc are for Mormons first.

edit: my mistake, they have a single hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah

The protestant churches and the Catholic church have hospitals all over the country.

 

I don't disagree that people should look and question. I don't blame people for believing what they have and just being wrong about something which doesn't hurt others.

Another question too long to answer. I define that, simply, as being honest in your dealings, respectful of others, care for others, etc. more of a thoughtful, communal living that enables the group to survive peacefully as opposed to survival of the fittest, etc. Yes, that's a much longer issue but for the moment I'm assuming you have an idea of what I'm talking about. Can we agree that "Mother Teresa" is a good example whom if she chose the wrong deity it would seem unjust to punish for having chosen the wrong faith. That's all. I do understand where you're coming from and am sorry to hear the details.

 

So let's pretend for a moment that the true God wants you to live a good and righteous life in order to allow you to heaven.

When you die, how certain are you that you were "good enough?"

The Mormon line is that you are "saved after all that you can do." A Mormon leader recently gave a lecture on that very topic wondering how you know if you've done all that you could do.

What are this God's standards and how do you know? And how do you know you met those standards?

As for Mother Theresa

http://www.slate.com/id/2090083/

Maybe she wasn't as good as you thought.

 

Man, you've seriously got a bone to pick with a religious group. I don't doubt there is serious justification but it's totally clouding your vision as to my point. Missing forest for trees. Technically but we don't have a person in common I could use as a reference so I used someone who, at least *symbolically*, is what I'm talking about. THAT is the point. What is not the point is what we do agree on - whether or not she was just made out to be this perfect person posthumously (as if dozens of other "saints" weren't a disgrace to the human race but also had really good PR and a large church or other organization to keep the presses rolling and praising.) In many religions the largest benefactors and "most honored" members of the organization are frequently those who made their money stealing it from others. I am fortunate to know several people who are just innately so thoughtful, sweet, kind beautiful people. Mostly the sick, the retarded and others at the mercy of the cruel world and the most sensitive, caring people. Those are far more giving and concerned about others who are incapable than they are for themselves. You know the kinds I'm talking about, if you are fortunate enough to know them. Take any one of them as the example. The "meek" who shall inherit the earth (asterisk - if those who aren't meek don't destroy them first.)

I don't know what "the standard" but, in the same philosophy as law, if you have an innocent mind you didn't commit a crime. I find it difficult to believe that a deity could hold a person such as the above "guilty" for not choosing to worship a religion -- for which there is no proof. How about a person born poor in Greenland who couldn't make enough money to travel and be exposed to the area which has "the right" religion? If a person lived without hurting others, I'm not sure I can conceive of a crime that makes sense to me. It's just a conclusion I've come to. If we all want to live in a world together then we need to find ways to help each other. I'm not naive to think the world will ever become such a place, nor even close in my lifetime, but it is perhaps the manifestation of what I would think would be a most beneficial and beneficent society.

So yes, by all means question what is around you. People should be skeptical of what they are told is fact, especially if there is no proof whatsoever. They should think about what goes on around them. I think we're on the same page... and I really can't take time to go on much further and think I've explained it all sufficiently. It's a long conversation, lol.

 

It is hard for me to believe that in todays enlightened world man can still believe in a "god". It is OK to understand that after death we experience oblivion. In fact, if you think about it, it is impossible for oblivion to be bad. No remorse, no pain, no regrets as those are for living brains, not dead.

 

Let's assume that God will give heaven to anyone who never gets a chance to hear about him. Such as all the babies that are aborted every year. There's no reason to not believe that.

But, how do you know you havn't been exposed to the right religion and rejected it?

Let's think about that for a second. Let's imagine that you're on a good old fashioned boat that is powered only by a sail. You believe that there is an Island paradise but you have no map and no compass. Oh, and you're also blind. After being blown about by the wind for awhile you end up at the Island paradise you were looking for.

How did you get there? Was it something you did or didn't do on the boat? Of course not, you have no control of the boat. Who controls the wind?

How many people have been to heaven and have come back to tell you how to get there? So wouldn't it be awfully suspicious if someone was giving you a roadmap to heaven full of twists and turns that you have to do to get there?

You think you have the right roadmap but you don't know. And why should you trust that roadmap? You just made it up.

How many religions in the world tell you heaven exists and don't give you a roadmap to get there? You assume that it exists and you even made one up yourself.

Doesn't it make more sense that if God is going to be so "secrative" that the big ol secret is that you don't need a roadmap?

That it's not about what you did but what God did.

But that'd be ridiculous. Of course there's a map!

Fact: You don't even know that heaven exists.
Fact: If you don't know where something is then you can't make a map to get there

So if God exists and there is a heaven who is the only person you can trust to get you there since He's the only one who knows where it's at?

How many religions in the world place your ability to get to heaven soley in the hands of God?

Because you're right, nobody knows. So why do you "know" that there has to be map? Why doesn't it make sense to you to just toss the map idea (and any religion that peddles one) and just trust God?

Did you ever find it odd that religions that sell maps tend to all have at least one self serving rule?

 

So why believe in any religion at all then? Why not just universally pray to a god without a denomination, as many Agnostics do? Are they gonna rot in the fires of hell because they didn't have the "right" religion?

 

What are they praying for?

Are they praying for selfish/worldly things or are they praying for salvation?

 

incorrect, logical fallacy. no it doesnt mean that at all. faith in what? that we are nothing and no-one in the big scheme of things, what makes you or I so special we should continue compared to the countless infinity of life that's gone before us and will come afterwards? talk about vanity.

lol. and what you think or decide is going to make a blind bit of difference to what happens?

neither exist. have you thought about that? and even if they did, I could study Hans Christian Anderson's work, or our Lord Ricky Jervais writings for the hidden messages to life, I feel they're somehow as relevant as those centuries old babblings. what a total waste of time. Why not focus that on living your life the best you can by everybody, not on what might happen to you afterwards, just because you didnt do as you were told by one of a thousand ridiculous versions of the same fairy tale?

l oh well. there may also be a race of super-otters we have to contend with in the future too, but i wont be losing sleep about either.

what makes mormonism any more or less ridiculous than any of the rest of them? its just the same thing in another variant of the language or dialect of religion. ..."mines right, No mines right" lol! - I'm Brian and so's my wife.

or you could just live your life the best you can, by humanist morals and rules and prepare to be recycled into the cosmos the same as every other living thing throughout the billion of years here has done before us. enjoy it while it lasts and stop looking for the truth in anything written by men with ulterior motives dude.

all youll find there are their motives if you look deep enough.