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I know the question sounds like an insult but I don't mean it to be. I am really wondering this question. I don't think humans are smart enough to have it all figured out so I don't understand how anyone can say with conviction that they are a believer or an atheist. I understand that in the first case, faith is what makes people believe; but I am not talking about faith here. I am just talking about this:
at the end of the day, why is it not just easier to say "I am too stupid to really get the full picture since I don't have the IQ to conceptualize what the whole world is about" than to go to all these lengths questioning belief or lack thereof.
At the end of the day I just feel like living my life and either have a pleasant surprise or nothing.
Any one out there think like me?
You can be a non believer in deist explanations without having to have an absolute answer yourself. I certainly do not know how everything came to be or whether or not there is some larger purpose to any of it. At the same time I find the god theories ridiculously childish and simplistic responses, an imposition of the human patriarchal model upon the entire cosmos, not all that distinctive from the Santa Claus legend.
Relative to what might be possible, we have no idea of how impressive human intelligence actually is. We have but the one model and nothing with which to compare it save those Earth creatures below us on the intelligence scale. As smart as we seem, we may actually lack some basic tools which are required to comprehend it all correctly. We might be like a dog trying to understand the assembly instructions for a bicycle.
I know the question sounds like an insult but I don't mean it to be. I am really wondering this question. I don't think humans are smart enough to have it all figured out so I don't understand how anyone can say with conviction that they are a believer or an atheist. I understand that in the first case, faith is what makes people believe; but I am not talking about faith here. I am just talking about this:
at the end of the day, why is it not just easier to say "I am too stupid to really get the full picture since I don't have the IQ to conceptualize what the whole world is about" than to go to all these lengths questioning belief or lack thereof.
At the end of the day I just feel like living my life and either have a pleasant surprise or nothing.
Any one out there think like me?
There is a wide range if IQ scores that still have the ability to post in message boards.
The fact that you believe the choice to be between a pleasant surprise and nothing indicates that you have conceptualized enough to discard a belief held by a huge chunk of humanity.
The difference in DNA between us and our cousins, the chimpanzee, is 2%. That's it. 2% is all that differentiates us. Chimps still fling **** at things. We can build the International Space Station. That's 2%!
So the real question, is what's another 2% above us? If aliens with an intelligence boost of 2% came to Earth, they'd laugh at us. Remember Superman? "Look, they still use machines to fly!"
Many people think like you. You have lots and lots of company. But it can be more fun to get a sharp stick and then go poke a bunch of these fundies. There are many giggles to be had out there!
I know the question sounds like an insult but I don't mean it to be. I am really wondering this question. I don't think humans are smart enough to have it all figured out so I don't understand how anyone can say with conviction that they are a believer or an atheist. I understand that in the first case, faith is what makes people believe; but I am not talking about faith here. I am just talking about this:
at the end of the day, why is it not just easier to say "I am too stupid to really get the full picture since I don't have the IQ to conceptualize what the whole world is about" than to go to all these lengths questioning belief or lack thereof.
At the end of the day I just feel like living my life and either have a pleasant surprise or nothing.
Any one out there think like me?
I don't think I "have it all figured out".
However, I can figure out the whole "God is a fairy tale" bit just as I can figure out the "Zeus doesn't exist" and "leprechauns are myths" bits.
There's a vast chasm between claiming to have it "all figured out" and not believing in a deity - and the fact that some people claim that their favorite version of a deity is the one responsible for "it all" doesn't change that.
I don't think humans are smart enough to have it all figured out so I don't understand how anyone can say with conviction that they are a believer or an atheist.
Do you like pie, or not? Do you have to know everything there is to know to decide that question? It's just a preference. It's like that with beliefs. You either believe something or not. Your problem isn't that you don't know what you (dis)believe; it's that you don't care. And that's fine. You don't have to be here or have this conversation.
In truth, I have settled the question and have no need to spend any further time thinking about it in order to sort it out. The Great Questions just interest me, in part because I'm a deconvert and I know first hand the degree to which one can compartmentalize and lie to oneself. It gives some meaning to my life to help others untangle their thinking. I'm mostly interested in helping fellow travelers on the journey out of faith.
You may be surprised to know that atheism is, in large part, an admission of what is unknown and probably unknowable. It is a far more "know it all" stance to make specific god claims than to default to unbelief.
I'm not smart enough on my own to figure it out. God has taught me about Himself. He has given me the knowledge I have of His ways, His salvation, His love and Grace in Christ Jesus.
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