Why aren't you an Atheist? (page 29)

cofty

Hi Cedars - Yes I was a "born-again" christian.

In the environment of an evangelical church every feeling and experience is given an exaggerated significance. Instead of people sharing their own personal thoughts and opinions about matters they get "a word from the lord" about things.

Emotional reactions to corporate singing and praying is interpreted as a "filling of the spirit". Recovery from trivial illness is a healing from god and an everyday coincidence is an answer to a prayer.

It is a delusional way to live; a lens that distorts everything and gives it sacred meaning.

Lots of the people were very lovely and I am still friends with quite a few.

OUTLAW

Good Afternoon Sab..

I`m Agnostic..

I have no Idea if God Exists or Not..

I`ve had some good conversations on this thread

The one thing I`ve learned from this thread..

"There are Atheists open to New Ideas ,should Evidence present itself"..

Atheists can`t be all Lumped Together..

I had to Throw Away the Large Brush I was Painting with..

..............................OUTLAW

cofty

Sab - there is no point in me trying to respond to that, its not even wrong.

cedars

Thanks cofty, I do appreciate your unique perspective.

It sounds similar to the sorts of things elders can come out with during elders' meetings. I remember one elder explaining how he had told a brother a piece of information he wasn't supposed to reveal, and his explanation was that he felt "moved by holy spirit" to divulge the information. Crazy stuff.

Cedars

cedars

OUTLAW - yes, quite a few atheists seem to view agnosticism as almost synonymous with atheism, which is also something I've learned only relatively recently. It can be rather confusing.

Check out this thread I started a while back...

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/226348/1/Richard-Dawkins-is-Agnostic

Cedars

cofty

I think its important to acknowledge that the emotional experinces christians have are very real. Often it is exaggerated by group-think and expectation but the gospel message of god dying vicariously for your own personal sins is a powerful emotional trigger.

The same euphoria can be experienced on the football terracing often based on a similar depth of delusion ;)

cedars

cofty

The same euphoria can be experienced on the football terracing often based on a similar depth of delusion ;)

Amen to that!!

Cedars

Badfish

It's better to be surprised than to be disappointed.

agonus

Cofty, I'll respond to your question with another question:

Have you ever had children of your own?

tec

Hmmm, I'm not sure what definitions of the words 'belief' and 'knowlege' you (TEC) are using.

I think of belief in the sense that I used it here, as something one chooses to believe becaues they want to... rather than what one believes because of evidence (which I would consider more 'knowledge', as I think you do too)

I have no problem with your preferred explanation of knowledge, so I will leave that as is.

By contrast, "belief" is for stuff which we can’t demonstrate. I believe that we will some day cure cancer, even though I can’t do an experiment to show it. I could wait a hundred years, but if it hadn’t been found, it might just need another hundred years.

I understand this as well. This would be faith of a sort... based on perhaps past records of being able to cure diseases, the amount of research/breakthroughs that have been wrought already.... but not something one can know for sure.

As per knowledge that can be tested.... there is personal knowledge as well; personal evidence. Now these are not going to do anything for anyone else; but no one else is going to be able to convince a person that they do not know what they know.

Religious faith is based on a belief, since 'hope' is a belief

No. Totally disagree. And as long as we disagree on this basic premise, I think we will continue to be at odds on this particular statement.

Hope is an emotion... a feeling... not a belief.

Peace,

tammy

Why aren't you an Atheist?

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