Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumBelievers.......what is your single most convincing evidence that.....
God exists? The proof that you think is the best!!
Warpy
(111,305 posts)It's highly illogical to expect unbelievers to answer that question.
edgineered
(2,101 posts)and the FSM does exist, then you have just been royally screwed. It's in the gospel.
PassingFair
(22,434 posts)Last edited Wed Aug 6, 2014, 08:16 PM - Edit history (1)
I looked it up. :p
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)because if I say he doesn't, I will be ostracized! YIKES!"
(that's my imitation of the average believer)
LostOne4Ever
(9,290 posts)is definite proof that an all powerful benevolent god exists!
Oh wait...
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)mr blur
(7,753 posts)Iggo
(47,561 posts)Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Look at the Greek gods, bunch of assholes for the most part, and far from perfect. This whole Omni-* thing is just bullshit layered on top of other bullshit. It is just another lie told by that asshole Yahweh to the gullible goat herders. The whole perfection thing is frequently contradicted by the sociopathic Abrahamic deity anyway, for example when the psycho decided to wipe everything out with a Big Flood.
mr blur
(7,753 posts)is that they acknowledged that some of the "gods" were unpleasant or downright vicious. Because that explained the natural world as it is - some stuff will drown you or electrocute you or generally fuck you up. Because that's the way life is.
This is why Zeus is much more interesting than Jebus - if he can get away with it Zeus will sneak down and fuck your girlfriend while disguised as a swan.
Iggo
(47,561 posts)mr blur
(7,753 posts)We don't get many believers here. Why would they want to?. They don't last long anyway.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)marginlized
(357 posts)or a reference to your satchel of cosmic mysteries for World of Warcraft?
JNelson6563
(28,151 posts)I do hope no believers come and try to answer that in here. In fact, I daresay it might be a good idea to self delete your OP & repost somewhere more appropriate.
Julie
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)JNelson6563
(28,151 posts)Heddi
(18,312 posts)I should know. I'm an atheist but I prefer the term Apatheist.
whatthehey
(3,660 posts)Not a believer now but was for a while. The generic arguments of first cause, ontological etc have some merit at first reading but even then they struck me as too generic. Even if true, they tell us nothing at all about the god/s involved.
But there are some aspects of Christianity which struck me as remarkable. There are counterarguments of course or I would still be a believer, but that's another question.
In no particular order:
How did it go from a disorganized dispirited rabble to a growing group willing to martyr themselves in a year or two?
Why, in a society where women's testimony was worth less than men's, would a group telling false stories have the first witnesses to resurrection, its core claim, be women?
When all Biblical prophecies claimed the Messiah will set up an earthly Jewish kingdom of God, why would a group choose to fake the story of a Messiah who made absolutely no progress toward that, when you have say the Maccabees handy as alternatives?
Why have a Messiah die a disgraceful death fit for terrible criminals? That's not a prophecy to fulfill, but it is a detriment to his credibility. Why wouldn't a fake Messiah die peacefully in his bed? Or gloriously in vain attempted rebellion?
Jewish messianic and eschatological sects were common at the time, but few if any tried to expand into non-Jewish groups. Jews at the time were famously insular and parochial and indeed some ultra orthodox groups still are. Why would that one just imagine a Great Commission out of the whole cloth? What made them seek Gentile converts when their cohorts shunned Gentiles altogether?
Yes I can counter all those now, but many people who hear them cannot, and together they do form a general image of a unique situation with some remarkably original motivation.
frogmarch
(12,158 posts)*snrk*
So there.
skepticscott
(13,029 posts)if you're genuinely interested in the responses of believers (who you could hardly expect to find here), and not just shit-stirring.
I'm guessing you won't bother.