What being an atheist means in practical terms

There is no evidence to support anybody's belief in God you don't believe in God because there's evidence you believe in God because you want to.

 

Ummmm…..you want to read that back to yourself and then get back to me….it makes no sense.

 

I read it several times makes perfect sense to me.

I have no idea why it makes no sense to you.

Maybe I can rephrase that.

People who have faith operate without evidence that's the point.

 

Maybe if you’d broken it up into sentences…

Some do. Some claim that they have evidence; what the Bible says, personal revelations, ‘signs’, etc. Not very compelling evidence in my book, but they argue that their belief is based upon….something.

 

me too, read it once, get the crayolas ready!

 

I think they're lying to themselves. There is no evidence that's why faith is so important.

It is based upon something. It's based on the words of Jesus if they're Christian since you mention the Bible That's obviously what you're talking about.

You can trust Jesus or not that's a decision you make. It's not based on evidence but placing trust in something rarely is.

 

Or, more to the point, you can trust what others tell you is Jesus having said something or not. Jesus doesn't seem to appear very often (nor God) to tell people these things directly. It is always some priest purporting to speak for God/Jesus.

 

Nope. Not the words of Jesus. The words of a bunch of anonymous people claiming to know what Jesus is supposed to have said.

The Bible is the claim, not the evidence….

 

Reminds me of this very old but excellent parody:

 

that's true of any historical figure.

Or some historian reporting to speak for some historical figure.

You don't get to experience history first hand. So you just have to trust what we have. Same with science unless you plan to devote your life to the research and so forth to determine whether or not someone's telling you the truth.

 

that's where trust comes in. If you're faithful you believe they are the words of Jesus.

You don't have to be faithful I'm not saying you're wrong if you aren't.

I don't know why you didn't pick up on this the first time I said it there is no evidence that's why it's faith. You believe the claim that's why it's a belief.

 

Yes. But most other historical figures aren't claimed to be super powered beings who don't stay dead and who should have the power to show up and communicate directly, instead of others purporting to speak for them. Religion is special in this regard.

 

Yes. And the faith is first and foremost in the priests selling the story. Are they really in touch with this God they claim to speak for, or are they dupes? Or are they con men? That's the act of faith that the faithful rarely acknowledge, instead speaking of faith in Jesus/God themselves, who for some (I would say very suspicious) reason don't speak for themselves, despite being all powerful and thus able to without effort.

It amazes me how many people believe these people who claim to speak for Gods, without wondering why Gods won't speak for themselves.

 

Right there is Faith connected to religion. I already said that.

 

Yes, but you said faith in Jesus. It is moreso faith in humans purporting that they speak for him. I think that's an important difference.

 

no the faith is in the story itself.

some of them absolutely are con men.

I disagree there seems to be a lot of criticism from many Christian and religious people of the common within the religion.

If you are suspicious then don't have faith in it that's okay.

Who says Gods won't speak for themselves?

 

I'm not familiar with any religion that worships people as living Prophets you'll have to give me examples.

 

The vast majority of God believers do not hear voices in their heads. And the mere existence of holy books and of prophets shows this. An actual all powerful God would have no such limitations.

A select few people DO hear voices in their heads and say it is God (or Satan). Usually even the religious brand such people as delusional, unless they dress up in religious outfits or other religious garb. Then they are sometimes trusted as prophets.

Which is really quite odd if you think about it. These people trust the voices in these select few other people's heads, but when hearing voices in their own, think they are going mad (and they are).

 

first, how could you possibly know what happens in the mind of others?

Second what do you mean by voices. I have thoughts and these thoughts are arranged in words are you saying I'm special?

again I don't understand what you mean by voices in their heads. I figured most if not all people had some sort of internal monologue.
[QUOTE[
Usually even the religious brand such people as delusional, unless they dress up in religious outfits or other religious garb. Then they are trusted as prophets.[/QUOTE] for hearing voices in the head whatever that means?

You've completely lost me I have no idea what you're talking about at this point.

 

An all powerful being can have you know whatever it intends you to know, with no need for books, messengers, etc. That books, messengers, etc claiming to speak for God exist is therefore very suspect and a lot if faith is put into anyone who is believed to be conveying such messages purportedly from Gods. That's where the faith is, moreso than in the purported God being itself.

By voices in your head, I mean a voice other than your own internal dialog, that you hear talking to you rather than perceive as you talking. Hearing such voices is rare and usually will get you diagnosed as mentally ill.

 

I don't think they know what you are thinking.

Explain what you mean by voices in heads. That should be simple.

 

Good luck with that

when one posts the kind of stuff (in bold below) its seems pretty clear they dont know what they are thinking either?

Now I normally would let things like this slide under the rug, but when they call me a boat load of names when after 9 dodges ( so far) I think its pretty clear they made claims they cannot justify, I mean arguing abo9ut grammar and cant even tell us what kind of statement that is! (in the bolded)

Maybe you will have better luck getting him to actually 'engage' in debate than I did, but expect name calling.

 

I don't think so when I got anywhere with him he just gave up.

 

1. Good luck trying to get me back into church.

2. I don't care how smart Blaise Pascal was, he was just plain wrong on his proposition.

 

I actually don't believe in a hereafter. If my consciousness did not exist before I was born, what's to stop it from ceasing in the future?

I believe in a rather vague deity. In short, I believe everything is connected and there is a higher purpose all living things are working towards. What the ultimate purpose is I can only speculate. I don't know... maybe my thoughts and actions will echo in a future Universe.

When Christians see complexity in life and in the Universe, they see the fingerprints of a Creator. I don't. I see a purpose. I see a plan. God is a god of growth and experience. That's why there is evolution, human advancement in society and technology, plant life struggling to grow towards the light, childhood to adulthood etc. The culmination and total of all our physical experiences is what the Urantia Book calls "The Supreme"

God is a formless and infinite entity. Not an old man in the sky as the book of Exodus would have you believe. The closest "form" you could assign God is an ever present cloud. What we experience in the 5 senses is the reflection of this spiritual presence.

Now, I'm open to the idea that I'm 100% wrong, but these are just my conclusions when thinking about the meaning of life.