Just wondering (Edit - moved to Atheist vs. Theist)

Ishmerai
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Just wondering (Edit - moved to Atheist vs. Theist)

So I guess I should start by saying that I am a Christian. Please . . . try to contain your overwhelming disgust!

 

My question is this. After watching the debate on niteline I started thinking. I understand why Kirk Cameron and other Christians go to such lengths to argue the existence of Jesus and God and all other Holy things. What I don't get is why you guys seem to care so much that there are Christians out there. Christians, whether you believe it or not, are just trying to save people. That is what we believe. What exactly is your cause? What difference does it make to you if your neighbor believes in God? Why are you so hell bent on proving that there is no God?

 

I just had to ask because I truly don't get it. Hope this didn't come off as offensive. This is pure curiosity getting the better of me. That and I am clearly avoiding sleeping at this point in the night! =) Thanks for you answers in advance!


deludedgod
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So I guess I should start

So I guess I should start by saying that I am a Christian. Please . . . try to contain your overwhelming disgust!

Well. Someone is slightly antagonistic.

 My question is this. After watching the debate on niteline I started thinking. I understand why Kirk Cameron and other Christians go to such lengths to argue the existence of Jesus and God and all other Holy things.

 What I don't get is why you guys seem to care so much that there are Christians out there. Christians, whether you believe it or not, are just trying to save people.

Thats just it. The idea that people need to be "saved" because they are not Christian is mind-numbing, idiotic, arrogant, ridiculous belittling nosense.

 hat exactly is your cause? What difference does it make to you if your neighbor believes in God? Why are you so hell bent on proving that there is no God?

THAT is your argument? Atheists care more about their beliefs therefore they are wrong? Are you telling me you dont care about philosophy, even if it is seemingly irrelevant? You don't search for truth? You arent interested in why, how and what? You only care from the consequences? What a ridiculous and oblique way to view the world.

Surely the atheist ought to be commended for being so interested in their philosophy. When Marcus Aurieles was asked "why do you philosophize" he replied "What? You don't?".  

that and I am clearly avoiding sleeping at this point in the night! =) 

You cant sleep at night because atheists are concerned whether or not God exists? 

"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.

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Ishmerai wrote: So I guess

Ishmerai wrote:

So I guess I should start by saying that I am a Christian. Please . . . try to contain your overwhelming disgust!

 

My question is this. After watching the debate on niteline I started thinking. I understand why Kirk Cameron and other Christians go to such lengths to argue the existence of Jesus and God and all other Holy things. What I don't get is why you guys seem to care so much that there are Christians out there. Christians, whether you believe it or not, are just trying to save people. That is what we believe. What exactly is your cause? What difference does it make to you if your neighbor believes in God? Why are you so hell bent on proving that there is no God?

What you do and what you believe are two different things. I've seen no saving done from christianity or any other false religion. I've seen cruelty and lies, not saving. I've seen brainwashing and hate, not love and understanding.

Ishmerai wrote:
I just had to ask because I truly don't get it. Hope this didn't come off as offensive. This is pure curiosity getting the better of me. That and I am clearly avoiding sleeping at this point in the night! =) Thanks for you answers in advance!

I don't take offense, and hope you don't take offense either. But I see saving people from religion in the same light that you see saving people for christ. With an added bonus. I'm not just saving the person from religion, I'm saving everyone that person could hurt in the name of that religion.

Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.


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If you encounter someone

If you encounter someone that is trying to disprove the existance of God you have found someone that is just as daft as the person who tries to prove Gods existance. There is no way to prove or disprove an idea which has no identifiable parameters of any kind.

 To try and do so is just an exercise in madness. 

What you will find people like the Rational Response Squad do attempt to do is to refute the fantastically illogical assertions presented by the religious community. What they do is to promote thought and encourage everyone to throw off the shackles of religious dogma.

 To answer your original question: to actively refute illogical claims and insane thinking is what I would consider to be a public service. Watching our fellow man toil under the suffocating fantasy of religion without speaking out is allowing what you would consider "evil". Why should we not have an opinion about the voluntary dillusion which mankind seems determined to subject it to? Why should we not try to free the minds of enslaved people?

 You try to convert people to your way of thinking just as we do. The primary difference being that we are trying to convince people to think reasonably while you are trying to teach them to be better slaves to fantasy. 


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Ishmerai wrote: What I

Ishmerai wrote:
What I don't get is why you guys seem to care so much that there are Christians out there. Christians, whether you believe it or not, are just trying to save people. That is what we believe. What exactly is your cause? What difference does it make to you if your neighbor believes in God? Why are you so hell bent on proving that there is no God?

 As an agnostic, I am not trying to prove anything about god's existence or lack thereof.  I have no problem with Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc that are not trying to cram their religion down my throat at all.  It's when those religions try to convert everyone and tell people they are going to hell forever that it starts to become a problem.

To be fair, I know many people of those religions who do not believe in hell and thus are not set on converting others, and those people I highly respect as they understand that their religion, while it may work for them, does not work for others.  If people have that attitude, I have no problem.  It is those who want to force everyone to accept their views or else that I begin to have problems with.

Christianity may work for you, but some of us have been there and it didn't work for us.  If you want to continue trying to force it on others, expect people to fight back.  If you want to open your mind and realize, "hey my religion is good for me, but isn't effective for others," then people like me won't have a problem with you ever.


Ishmerai
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Well, as a general rule I

Well, as a general rule I don't try to cram my religion down other people's throats.  I am not into bashing people's heads in with my Bible.  I really hate the way Christians have been stereotyped.  Jerry Fallwell and the Christian coalition are just a bunch of zealots that make us look bad.  It's the same with any group of people.  Often times it's not the majority of a certain group that you see it's the loadest.  Jerry Fallwell makes a big stink about gay people or masturbating and the average citizen thinks that is what all Christians are like.  It's just not true.  I'm a Christian and I love to masturbate!  Hey!  God made it feel good for a reason.

 

So, I guess what I am trying to say is that my particular way of witnessing is to just go about my life and hopefully people will see something different in me and ask what it is.  And, if you want to know a secret.  It works!  I could get all cheesy and Christiany right now and explain to you what I mean by that but I don't think that you would appreciate it and would probably think that I am a fantastical lunatic.

 

I would just like to add that nobody who responded to my post has managed to answer my question in a way that makes any logica sense to me. 


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I would just like to add

I would just like to add that nobody who responded to my post has managed to answer my question in a way that makes any logica sense to me.

Didnt you read what I wrote?

 

"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.

-Me

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