atheism

[baremission]

ok, i don't mean to offend anyone here i really don't but if you are a devout christian or have devout religious values you might not want to read this.
I am christenened..and so..technically a christian. howevever i have recently decided i am a definite atheist.
God DOES NOT EXIST.fine fine...people can tell me that in their opinion he does...and thats fine of course everyone is welcome to their own belief but i just cannot fathom it. i spent my whole childhood believing in God but i've recently been thinking a lot about the whole issue of faith and decided that there is no way...none at all..that God exists, that Jesus ever was born etc etc. There is such little to base this on and science just overules it all with much more possible evidence. The only evidence of god is the bible..and thats just written by biased people. I'm saying this and im not even a science fanatic or anything.
Again i'm really sorry if i have offended anyone...of course people can believe what they want..I'm just not going to kid myself anymore that there is a god. because i believe that that is partially what it is..kidding yourself that God is there to protect you and everything when really..after all the terrible terrible things that happen..theres no way that god is there even trying to protect us.
Anyone else feel like this? or can anyone sway me the other way and really convince me that there is a god?

[Floodie]

Good evening!

I dipped into this discussion by chance whilst looking for crossword answers. I don't think there's an answer to this question though. (God does he/she exist?)

Many many people need to believe in something greater than theirselves for whatever reason. They may just follow the indoctrination of their parents, may have been "converted" at a stage in their lives when no loving parental figure was around, they may need the discipline and routine of a formal religion to ward off anxiety or depression or they may simply believe from evidence they see around them.
As an agnostic I can appreciate all this. After all it's natural to seek answers to the origin of this fantastic universe.
For me it's difficult to belief in a God when there are so many religions, so many scriptural texts. All thinking they've got the right answer

I think that life is just a happy accident (at least for the fortunate ones) And has a scientific explanation

And I go back to the eternal question If God did create the World then who made God.?

This is my last contribution to the debate. I'm going back to watch the rest of the concert!!

Best wishes and my respect to everyone for their own views

Floodie

[mibn2cweus]

I have no doubt whatsoever that �God� exists. The existence of �God� has had and continues to have a profound impact on the history and future of humanity. The problem this creates for us is that this term, �God� is undefined and by its nature indefinable in anyway that offers a means to use it to gain more knowledge or provide a better understanding of the world we live in or how to live in this world together in peace and prosperity with each other. This lack of definition opens up an unlimited vista of opportunities for those who wrongly perceive an advantage in and an excuse to believe whatever they choose. The current state of human interaction accompanied with advances in technology make this opportunity a very dangerous and proven grounds for atrocities that have followed it throughout history and continue to plague us.

Isn�t it time we ceased asking a question that has always and will always have no other answer than, �Yes; �God� obviously does exist!� and instead ask ourselves and each other, �What the hell are we going to do about it?�!

[Romeo]

Chakka - OK you win this time (bah! curses!). You Church of England bishops always have an answer, don't you?

[chakka35]

Ah Romeo, you have sussed me! The trouble is that when I go to the House of Lords to join the Lords Spiritual they chuck me out just because I�m an unbeliever. Have you ever known such prejudice?

johnlambert, of course I realise that you can write about people you have never met, but to do so you have to have information about them. The gospel writers could have had none.
Not a word was written about Jesus during his supposed life or for 20-25 years afterwards. Neither are there any eye-witnesses to anything in his life.
Paul first mentions him in the 50s, claiming that there was once a man called Jesus (he doesn�t say when) who was the son of God, who came to earth as a redeemer, was crucified and rose again, and that anyone who believes that story will have everlasting life. Paul says little about Jesus the man, being concerned only with Jesus the divine.

So what did the writer if the first gospel (Mark about AD70) base his account on? Luke (AD80) and Matthew (AD90) are largely copies of the earlier Mark, and John (AD90-120) is something else again.

As for Josephus, do you make up this stuff as you go along? Where does he claim to have interviewed witnesses? Where does he name them?

You are fully entitled to accept the Jesus story as a matter of faith, but to claim that it has a historical basis is intellectually dishonest.

[Octavius]

Baremission, you are of course entitled to believe what you wish and anyone and everyone should respect that. My query is, that since your are asking for proof of the existence of God, that you are merely a sceptic and not quite an atheist, although this can be called weak atheism. To be a true atheist, as far as I understood, one would need to assert an explicitly held belief that God does not nor cannot exist.

It is simply a matter of degrees, but there is a difference between the strong and weak atheist, and some falling by the wayside even call themselves agnostic. Disbelieving in God is not the same as believing he/she doesn�t exist. If you feel that we do not know for sure whether God exists then you are probably agnostic. One theory is that without God atheism wouldn�t exist, so therefore to be an atheist there must be a god for you not believe in!!

Whether you feel the need to label yourself as Christian, atheist or agnostic is up to you, but I wouldn�t lay awake at night dwelling on it. As said above, just live.