Theism/Atheism. Help me.

BinauralJam

Take about 5 oz of these and in about three hours you can ask God any questions you may have directly.

KB262864

"Also, if you are a staunch atheist and are well educated on evolution please help me to understand why you are so confident in your belief. I cannot seem to come to grips with a few of the must puzzling questions that I can't seem to find an answer in evolution to."

As a lifelong atheist, I fortunately did not have to struggle with de-programming religious beliefs. My very Catholic girlfriend did, but that was about a decade ago, and she is definitely still an atheist.

What I would recommend is not worrying about the answers you can't find or don't understand. That is the beauty of atheism. Despite what detractors say, atheism is the absence of dogma. I am not tied to what some book written thousands of years ago says. I read and learn as much as I can. I try to find as many different sources as I can. When new, verifiable information comes to light, I change my mind.

Dawkins actually addresses it in one of his books. It is called the God of Gaps. If there is something science can't fully explain, then people say, "well then it must be God". Well, not really. As others have cited, there are thousands of things we didn't know 50 years ago. How much more will we understand 50 years from now? It is immeasurable.

StillHere

BinauralJam wrote:

Take about 5 oz of these and in about three hours you can ask God any questions you may have directly.

OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!!

BinauralJam

StillHere wrote:

BinauralJam wrote:

Take about 5 oz of these and in about three hours you can ask God any questions you may have directly.

OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!!

Just trying to help

Hugh Freaking Dillon

Vitalogy Man wrote:

If you are struggling with your faith, LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW....

Very few here will encourage you to grow in your faith....


Evolution and the existence of God are NOT mutually exclusive.

Evolution IS God's plan, in my very humble O.

Good luck to you man.

I would change "to grow in your faith" to "to think for yourself". there are enough people on both sides who think they are right no matter what. then there are those of us that admit we don't know, and can only offer words of encouragement along the way.

I would say sticking around here helps you learn alot about free thinking in general and the challenges you will face if you rely on other people to explain things to you.

Sludge Factory

I have heard people say this is an interesting perspective for those who are in a place such as yourself. Apparently it is about a dude who was a staunch Christian for a long time but no longer is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSy1-Q_B ... plpp_video

catefrances

Hugh Freaking Dillon wrote:

oh, and I'd have to mention that if any religious person, even the most devout, tells you they haven't doubted their faith at some point, they'd be lying.

ive never doubted my absence of faith... is that the same thing?

Prince Of Dorkness

Vitalogy Man wrote:

If you are struggling with your faith, LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW....

Very few here will encourage you to grow in your faith....


Evolution and the existence of God are NOT mutually exclusive.

Evolution IS God's plan, in my very humble O.

Good luck to you man.

yeah, we're such an evil bunch, telling a young man to stop being a little boy and actually think for himself.

So shameful.

binauralsounds182

Vitalogy Man wrote:

If you are struggling with your faith, LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW....

Very few here will encourage you to grow in your faith....


Evolution and the existence of God are NOT mutually exclusive.

Evolution IS God's plan, in my very humble O.

Good luck to you man.

Thanks, but to all those who keep quoting this post, I am not seeking to grow IN my faith. I don't want encouragement as a Christian, I want to grow in knowledge and I want to know your views on the matter. I am not seeking re-assurance of my faith, as I said I now consider myself agnostic, I'm seeking whatever knowledge you guys can give me.

catefrances

binauralsounds182 wrote:

Vitalogy Man wrote:

If you are struggling with your faith, LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW....

Very few here will encourage you to grow in your faith....


Evolution and the existence of God are NOT mutually exclusive.

Evolution IS God's plan, in my very humble O.

Good luck to you man.

Thanks, but to all those who keep quoting this post, I am not seeking to grow IN my faith. I don't want encouragement as a Christian, I want to grow in knowledge and I want to know your views on the matter. I am not seeking re-assurance of my faith, as I said I now consider myself agnostic, I'm seeking whatever knowledge you guys can give me.

i think that was your first mistake... seeking knowledge from us guys.

i cant give any advice beyond reading... A LOT... and weighing up what it is youre reading... come to your own conclusions.. and be ok with what it is you feel and think. but always have in mind this journey may quite possibly take the rest of your life.... there is no rush. oh and dont be afraid to change your mind.

pandora

it also may take much more time than this lifetime

pandora

binauralsounds182 wrote:

Vitalogy Man wrote:

If you are struggling with your faith, LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW....

Very few here will encourage you to grow in your faith....


Evolution and the existence of God are NOT mutually exclusive.

Evolution IS God's plan, in my very humble O.

Good luck to you man.

Thanks, but to all those who keep quoting this post, I am not seeking to grow IN my faith. I don't want encouragement as a Christian, I want to grow in knowledge and I want to know your views on the matter. I am not seeking re-assurance of my faith, as I said I now consider myself agnostic, I'm seeking whatever knowledge you guys can give me.

what about encouragement as a believer? not a Christian ...
what about freeing yourself from the box and just knowing God the confidant the creator

Hugh Freaking Dillon

pandora wrote:

binauralsounds182 wrote:

Vitalogy Man wrote:

If you are struggling with your faith, LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW....

Very few here will encourage you to grow in your faith....


Evolution and the existence of God are NOT mutually exclusive.

Evolution IS God's plan, in my very humble O.

Good luck to you man.

Thanks, but to all those who keep quoting this post, I am not seeking to grow IN my faith. I don't want encouragement as a Christian, I want to grow in knowledge and I want to know your views on the matter. I am not seeking re-assurance of my faith, as I said I now consider myself agnostic, I'm seeking whatever knowledge you guys can give me.

what about encouragement as a believer? not a Christian ...
what about freeing yourself from the box and just knowing God the confidant the creator

I have a feeling he's using "christian" and "theist" interchangably. Many do. To some it's just a way of speaking.

iamica

I went through the same thing when I turned 18. My advice to you is, read and do research on all the religions/atheism/every belief. If you have questions about Christianity, do a thorough search for answers. It took me at least a few years to settle on what I believed after doing a ton of research and visiting various houses of worship. And if you want to PM me and talk about it, feel free. I've been there.

mookeywrench

Cormac McCarthy, an author who is nearly 80, responds to questions about his faith and whether or not he believes in God with, "i'm still trying to figure that out".

Take your time, let your spiritual life be a journey, not a decision.

nuffingman

Pontikas wrote:

religion is poison.

As I head towards my senior years and have given religion a great deal of thought I tend to agree with you. I think the world would be a far more peaceful place without it.

pandora

mookeywrench wrote:

Cormac McCarthy, an author who is nearly 80, responds to questions about his faith and whether or not he believes in God with, "i'm still trying to figure that out".

Take your time, let your spiritual life be a journey, not a decision.

beautiful!

Hugh Freaking Dillon

nuffingman wrote:

Pontikas wrote:

religion is poison.

As I head towards my senior years and have given religion a great deal of thought I tend to agree with you. I think the world would be a far more peaceful place without it.

I used to think that too, as most conflicts in the mid east and radical anything is usually based in some type of religion. but think of how it evolved people back in the early days socially. christianity was almost like their first version of a real legal system. most religions teach tolerance and love, it's those that take it to extremes that do the harm.

brianlux

binauralsounds182 wrote:

Thanks, but to all those who keep quoting this post, I am not seeking to grow IN my faith. I don't want encouragement as a Christian, I want to grow in knowledge and I want to know your views on the matter. I am not seeking re-assurance of my faith, as I said I now consider myself agnostic, I'm seeking whatever knowledge you guys can give me.

Good for you for wanting to learn more- I always find that commendable. The more knowledge you have, the more you grow in wisdom. The more critically you think, the wiser you are. And sometimes it's ok to just not know certain things. Life without mystery is boring enormous. And never listen to a guy that sounds like an aphorism machine.

I laugh at myself. That's also useful!

hedonist

brianlux wrote:

And sometimes it's ok to just not know certain things.

I laugh at myself. That's also useful!

Excellent pieces of advice!