Comments on: Summarising Religion and Atheism

By: The Atheist

The Atheist — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:19:33 +0000

simple-minded - In answer to your questions…
“Do you have real peace and joy deep down inside you at the core of your being?”
I am happy and content. More so, I am free to form my own opinions, unlike those who are religious, which gives me a fantastic freedom and happiness.
“Do you have real hope for humanity without God?”
If humanity can free itself from the shackles of the sham we call religion, stop waging religious wars and remove the need for one religious group to conquer another religious group, then yes. I have no hope for humanity with God, any God.
“Do you really believe science is going to solve our world’s problems and bring about true peace on earth. Can science ultimately cure people of their selfishness? Can science heal the loneliness of the human heart?”
It depends which problems you are talking about. The most intense selfishness I’ve come across has been brought about through religious belief, until people start accepting the evidence science provides, they will remain religious and ergo remain selfish. No doubt selfishness will remain, it’s part of the human condition, but it will be on a far more personal level, as opposed to the current selfishness we experience between religious groups. I’m not lonely, quiet the opposite in fact. And as for peace, I’m sure you’re aware of the impact religion has had on the peacefulness of people. Wars have been fought, invasions started, murders performed, all in the name of a God. The world would be unimaginably more peaceful without religion.
“Jesus was born into real human history and died on a real cross and came to life again. If His resurrection is true it changes everything.”
Not only has his resurrection never been proven, but the existence of Jesus has never been proven.

Judging from your comment, it’s easy to see why you are religious. You talk of selfishness and loneliness, no doubt you were brought to religion through a promise of friendship, something to fill the void in your life. Not all of us suffer this deficiency. And I don’t doubt that becoming religious has changed your life. Now you spend your Sundays repeating chants with the rest of the members of your cult. I can live unselfishly based on my own personal moral code, that I’ve been free to form on my own. I don’t need religion to force me to be a good person, I pity those that do.

By: simple-minded

simple-minded — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 03:27:04 +0000

I just have a couple of simple questions for atheist. Do you have real peace and joy deep down inside you at the core of your being? Do you have real hope for humanity without God? Do you really believe science is going to solve our world’s problems and bring about true peace on earth. Can science ultimately cure people of their selfishness? Can science heal the loneliness of the human heart? Science has accomplished many things for which we are truly grateful. (Thank God that He created such a magnificent and complex mind!) But science has unleashed much harm and suffering on many of the world’s peoples and continues to do so. Yeah, religion has too, which only proves the evil that the human heart is capable of. Question is, what is the true cure for the evil in our hearts? The Bible has an answer, Jesus was born into real human history and died on a real cross and came to life again. If His resurrection is true it changes everything. There’s certainly a lot of evidence it changed those who were his closest followers and spread out from them to change the lives of billions of people from all parts of the globe. You can believe it or reject it but those who humbly admit their sinfulness and need for Him find His help to learn to overcome the evil in their heart with good. I know that awesome news has radically changed my life and has given me tremendous hope and the motivation to live more and more unselfishly. I hope and pray that you will one day know Him & discover how He can fill your life with peace & joy and love and so much more.

By: The Atheist

The Atheist — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:41:44 +0000

Exatheist - Are you seriously suggesting the answers to all those questions are in the Bible!?!? I’ve read the Bible, and I don’t remember any mention of quantum mechanics! And bear in mind, saying “God did it” isn’t an answer at all. Because, by that measure, who/what “did” God? This whole “well it’s God” position that many religious people take really confuses me. You’ve listed a number of areas in science where there may (or may not, I’ll come on to that in a second) be questions. Yet I’ve never met a single religious person who’s willing to even begin to question to creation of their respective God. Hence comments similar to Clearly’s above.

As for the “questions” you’ve raised, well why is the world only 3000 years old? Why is the earth flat? Why is there no reproducible evidence of evolution? Those were all questions at once point, questions that have now been answered by science. Your assumption appears to be that science has plateaued, that it has ceased to progress. But that’s not the case, science is advancing at a staggering rate. And no doubt will continue to answer questions. This is the complete opposite to the Bible, which isn’t changing (as much as people want the sexist, abusive and slavery condoning parts to be removed). Science will always seek out the truth, the Bible is a static work of fiction. And anyone who believes is holds the answers is deluding themselves, especially since many of the “answers” it provides have already been proven to be false.

By: Exatheist

Exatheist — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:02:47 +0000

Where did the DNA come from that allowed the first simple cell to reproduce itself? What is the cause for the effect of life? What keeps protons from repelling each other? What is light? What are the requirements for life, and the statistical probability? What is the power source of a gravitational field that causes accelleration? What defined the speed of light? Why in history do we not find developing languages? Why did the human race wait until just 5 to 10 thousand years ago to produce language? Why in the last 50 years has techonology advanced so rapidly (about the time Isreal became a nation in a day . . .).

Answers to all this I could not find in my text books. I did however find them in the Bible. I then became a Christian, unable to maintain my atheism with science. Don’t confuse the truth with religion - they are not all the same. I was seeking the truth, not religion and the only way you will not find it, is if you exclude the possiblity before you look (how scientific!).

By: Underoath

Underoath — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:58:50 +0000

@nobody

Exactly what clearly said!! your question “where did god come from” implies that there was a starting point or a beginning to god which requires him to be stuck in a half dimension of time like we are. obviously such a powerful being, that we christians and other monotheistic religions beleive he is, would have control over his own creation, that being time in this case. he has no beginning, no end, there is no time line that starts or stops for him.

By: Clearly

Clearly — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:35:27 +0000

@nobody:
But that’s why he’s God! God is God because he is the only thing that doesn’t have to be made. He operates without any rules (he is infinite and has no beginning), and creates the rules that govern the world (everything else is finite and has a beginning). Being in the world, we can only think and operate within those confines, so we can’t measure God by them since he is not confined in the world like we are!

By: nobody

nobody — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:21:37 +0000

@Underoath, even if God created the universe, where did God himself come from? ..

By: Underoath

Underoath — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:23:04 +0000

How much other stuff are we allowed to dismiss? The universe did have a begining, or so it is now believed by a majority of scientists. So what caused this big explosion of matter just appearing? And what about all the dating methods that do in fact suggest thousands of years as opposed to billions? Do we dismiss the fact that there are discrepancies in dating methods scientists claim to be accurate? Or the cambrian explosion? Or the fossil record which seems to be missing the whole bottom three quarters of darwins tree of life? How bout if i blended up a frog for you. How many billions of years do you suppose it would take for the frog to put itself back together an jump out again? You do have all the essentials for life. Or even come out as something else. And turn into a man.

By: The Atheist

The Atheist — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:49:45 +0000

Yes I’ve heard of the kalam argument and like most people I dissmiss it. Apart from the obvious problems with using it to prove the existence of a God, see Bertrand Rusell’s response, asking someone to disagree with two arbitrary statements based on unfounded assumptions doesn’t really count as an argument in my book.

As for the presence of life on other planets, given the timescale involved (billions of years) and the limited number of plan eta we have access to, it seems highly unlikely we would be aware of any extra planetary life. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist outside of our current reach, nor that it hasn’t existed in the past/will happen in the future. That’s the problem when you’re talking about a series of unlikely events happening over the course of billions of years. Of course, if you believe the bible you can substitute “unlikely events” with “God’s plan” and “billions of years” with “thousands of years”.

By: Underoath

Underoath — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:54:59 +0000

ever heard of the kalam arguement?

which of the following statements would you disagree with?

1) everything that begins to exist has to have a cause.
2) the universe began to exist.