by dontplaceliterature 90 Replies latest jw friends
Tammy, is it evidence, of ANY sort, if no one but you can examine it...? Imagine going to court and trying that.... If god was so intent on everyone knowing him as christians would have us believe, as a loving father would WANT, why not give true evidence, indisputable facts...? He supposably made the entire universe but we have to wait to hear his voice????? And he dosent speak so everyone can hear????
Its so silly.... At least Thor gives us lightning and rain
Intelligence combined with honesty
It takes insufficient evidence to lead you down the road to atheism. Pure and simple. Nothing else. Everything else is just corollary to it.
EE, if i were the only one who could 'examine' it, then I would say you have a point. I am not though. I am no one special. I simply loved Christ (from what i read 'about' him); loved his teachings and chose to follow Him. I always believed in God though. There has never been a time that I did not.
Spiritual seeking, yearning, sensing. I think we are all born with it. I think that we can place this seeking/sensing in the realm of imagination, if this is what we are taught or if we are encouraged to do so by the teachings/stance of others.
This thread is not really about my evidence. I have a whole thread for that ;) It is about whether or not having faith or letting it go boils down to the theory in the OP.
But the OP theory does not apply to me, so while it might boil down to that for some (even though this makes no sense to me)... it is certainly not so for all.
Peace,
tammy
Tammy
How can anyone argue with your line of reasoning? It's all over the place and you make loads of assumptions and false statements. You hear God? When was the last time you two chatted it up? God's not a tyrant? Have you read the Old Testament, or did you tear that part out of your Bible?
Back to my challange to you, so that we stay on point, here...
You are giving reasons for loving/believing in Christ/God that are based on a reward system, i.e. "life", "ransom", "promises kept". So in what way is this worshiping/belivieving regardless of the reward? You accused cofty of not making any sense, but it seems like this is senseless to me, no offense meant, honestly. If nothing else, you believe because it makes you all warm and fuzzy inside, so in that sense, you believe for the reward of warm fuzzies, no?
Tammy---if following Christ, whom you love, brought you nothing but misery and pain, and everyone else that followed him experienced the same, with no hope of reward, with this life being all there was, but with Christ still being the same person he is---would you feel the same? If there was no payment, no good feelings, nothing positive other than following because you love him and love what he taught, would you be inclined to follow? It wouldn't even make sense to do so. Your choices would be a miserable life and passing into oblivion--with no reward, or simply living as though he didn't exist and enjoying this life and passing into oblivion. There is ALWAYS reward to belief---of course there is---otherwise what's the difference? It would make no difference at all. NC
How can anyone argue with your line of reasoning? It's all over the place and you make loads of assumptions and false statements. You hear God? When was the last time you two chatted it up? God's not a tyrant? Have you read the Old Testament, or did you tear that part out of your Bible?
My initial statement was very clear, but not accepted. I told you that I do not believe nor follow for the reason you stated.
You think I am wrong about my own feelings. What can I do about that?
(I do not tend to hear God... I DO hear His Son. God is shown through His Son... the Image and Truth of God. Not the OT... but I agree that this is the topic of another thread)
Back to my challange to you, so that we stay on point, here...
Okay.
You are giving reasons for loving/believing in Christ/God that are based on a reward system, i.e. "life", "ransom", "promises kept".
Believe - based on evidence (not necessarily proof).
Follow - based on love.
Love - not based on a reward system, but on qualities of Christ, and therefore God. Same as you might love your spouse...not because of what they can do for you, but because of who they are.
Hopefully, that is clear enough, lol.
So in what way is this worshiping/belivieving regardless of the reward?
Becasue I would still love and follow regardless of a reward.
You accused cofty of not making any sense, but it seems like this is senseless to me, no offense meant, honestly.
No offense taken.
Peace,
tammy
Let's just agree that you believe because you want to and leave it at that.
Hmm. But that is not accurate.
We can agree that I FOLLOW because I want to, though. That would be accurate :)
Peace,
tammy
Re: What it takes to become an atheist.
For me it was admitting I could be wrong...and there may not be a god.....I call it 'my reasonable doubt'
Once my thinking changed and I didn't try to make everything fit into my belief...things just stopped fitting so nicely. Then one thing kept leading to another...then helllloooooooo....what was I thinking?
