The Concept of God

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

^^^
My humble apologies for misinterpreting your post.  I am ashamed of myself for being off by two words in bold that was making your point.  I apologize.

Two words too many!  No excuse!  Ha ha, just kidding. 

Now about that, " I can remember the day I knew the Easter bunny, Santa and the tooth fairy were false"...

OMG, I can't believe I posted that picture.  Funny but UGLY!  Let's try again:



Awwwwwwww, see, ral as can be!

I wonder if atheists would "recommend" their way of believing (not believing) i mean what does it give you? 

oftenreading said:

Annafalk said:

I wonder if atheists would "recommend" their way of believing (not believing) i mean what does it give you? 

The knowledge that you're dealing with the world as it is, and basing decisions about your actions accordingly.

Thank you for responding and I appreciate your answer. I can somewhat understand what you are saying here and to me that is life, I live my own life and make my own decisions. For me to be honest, I need God, he supports me through life and I cant be without his presence.

God is dead. 

HughFreakingDillon said:

oftenreading said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

oftenreading said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Annafalk said:

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

I wonder if atheists would "recommend" their way of believing (not believing) i mean what does it give you? 

The power to think critically.
The ability to appreciate the world much more deeply.
The hope that someday people will stop killing and hurting each other due to their self-delusions.

Faith doesn't limit the abality to think critically.

I appreciate the world very much and deeply.

I agree and also hope people will stop hurting and kill each other. People won't stop killing each other even if lets say, religion was forbidden.

People will always find reasons to kill each other sadly.

in some ways, it can. look at that evangelical leader who said "god has given trump the authority to take out kim jong un". 

I disagree with gambs saying atheists appreciate the world more deeply. I think a lot of theists believe in god for the very reason of their appreciation of the wonders around them. some of them even cite that as proof of god in and of itself. 

To me, the appreciation part depends on whether they are creationists or not.

Understanding the enormous, beautiful complexity of evolutionary biology leads, in my opinion, to a far deeper appreciation for the natural world than the simplistic thinking of "it's that way because God made it that way".

I think it depends on the person, not their belief system. 

It could be that we are using terms differently, but I don't believe that one can have a "deep appreciation" for something if one has no understanding of the thing's complexity. You can have a strong appreciation, but not a deep appreciation. That's the scientist in my speaking, though. 
 

being religious doesn't necessarily negate their ability to have both. 

Then you missed my part about "depends on whether they are creationists or not"

HughFreakingDillon said:

oftenreading said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

oftenreading said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

oftenreading said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Annafalk said:

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

I wonder if atheists would "recommend" their way of believing (not believing) i mean what does it give you? 

The power to think critically.
The ability to appreciate the world much more deeply.
The hope that someday people will stop killing and hurting each other due to their self-delusions.

Faith doesn't limit the abality to think critically.

I appreciate the world very much and deeply.

I agree and also hope people will stop hurting and kill each other. People won't stop killing each other even if lets say, religion was forbidden.

People will always find reasons to kill each other sadly.

in some ways, it can. look at that evangelical leader who said "god has given trump the authority to take out kim jong un". 

I disagree with gambs saying atheists appreciate the world more deeply. I think a lot of theists believe in god for the very reason of their appreciation of the wonders around them. some of them even cite that as proof of god in and of itself. 

To me, the appreciation part depends on whether they are creationists or not.

Understanding the enormous, beautiful complexity of evolutionary biology leads, in my opinion, to a far deeper appreciation for the natural world than the simplistic thinking of "it's that way because God made it that way".

I think it depends on the person, not their belief system. 

It could be that we are using terms differently, but I don't believe that one can have a "deep appreciation" for something if one has no understanding of the thing's complexity. You can have a strong appreciation, but not a deep appreciation. That's the scientist in my speaking, though. 
 

being religious doesn't necessarily negate their ability to have both. 

Then you missed my part about "depends on whether they are creationists or not"

why would that have an impact on how they view the world around them? how the world was created and how long ago, in my mind, doesn't make a difference. I might not have a full understanding of creationist beliefs, I'll admit, however. 

If one believes that the world was created as-is by some mystical being, then that's incompatible with a deeper understanding and appreciation for the amazing forces of evolution and the changes they have wrought. 

I would think rhat we've all had the experience of seeing something (maybe a complex engineering project) and thinking "oh, that's cool", and then having its inner workings explained, and having your mind blown by that. 

oftenreading said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Annafalk said:

rgambs said:

Annafalk said:

I wonder if atheists would "recommend" their way of believing (not believing) i mean what does it give you? 

The power to think critically.
The ability to appreciate the world much more deeply.
The hope that someday people will stop killing and hurting each other due to their self-delusions.

Faith doesn't limit the abality to think critically.

I appreciate the world very much and deeply.

I agree and also hope people will stop hurting and kill each other. People won't stop killing each other even if lets say, religion was forbidden.

People will always find reasons to kill each other sadly.

in some ways, it can. look at that evangelical leader who said "god has given trump the authority to take out kim jong un". 

I disagree with gambs saying atheists appreciate the world more deeply. I think a lot of theists believe in god for the very reason of their appreciation of the wonders around them. some of them even cite that as proof of god in and of itself. 

To me, the appreciation part depends on whether they are creationists or not.

Understanding the enormous, beautiful complexity of evolutionary biology leads, in my opinion, to a far deeper appreciation for the natural world than the simplistic thinking of "it's that way because God made it that way".

This, and in addition, belief in afterlife inherently diminishes the current life.