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Speak for yourself, a free thinking person continues to reevaluate questions as important as why am I here and where am I going after I die?
When I was in my 20s I was athiest because my parents and most of my family were athiests. Through my own thinking processes over the decades my thoughts have evolved to reject pure athiesm but also not believe the christian doctrine either, and lately I've been leaning the other way towards athiesm again. I'm always looking for proof and what is the most likely scenario of my existence, and get a lot out of this subforum even though I don't post much. So to answer your question "why bother?" I think you are right concerning those stuck in the mud with the brainwashing they recieved as children and never will let go of. For those who are open minded and search for truth rather than what they want to believe, I say keep thoughts coming.
Thanks to you too as well and by all means keep those thoughts coming...
You seem to touch on what I see as mostly futile in these respects, however. You are more optimistic anyway. We do tend to establish our own truth through our "own thinking process" fairly early in life, but to what extent we are truly open to other thinking later in life tends to make the exchange of opinion among adults -- about our core beliefs -- mostly a waste of time, or so this forum seems to well prove.
Time I best waste no more as I get on with other things now, but maybe tomorrow. Cheers.
PS: I am speaking for myself BTW, sharing my observations and thoughts about this dynamic and question I ask myself all the time. What I see as the rule even though there are the rare exceptions. My comments that hopefully invite others whether they agree or don't. Perhaps as part of my thinking and evaluation process if you will...
As I scan many of the threads and comments in this forum focused on a topic of interest to me for a long time, no matter which threads and comments I read, I notice the same thing over and over...
Many of the same people attempting over and over to address the very same differences about what we believe, in all the same ways, and always to the same end. I'm so tempted to just go to the end of each thread and simply link to these two threads with one simple question...
Whether you answer here or in any of the two above threads, I am curious your reason(s) given what I think we can all see is the futility of it all. I also ask, because more often than not I find myself asking the same question of myself. Why do I bother? Maybe someone can provide a better answer than I have been able to come up with myself, because with time it seems more and more to me the answer is there is no good reason to bother.
Ironic given how important our ultimate universal truth really is for all concerned...
Opinion:
Many years ago I read a book on the commonalities of all religions written by an atheist. There were two. Love God with heart and soul and love they neighbor as thyself. Love is the common of these two. Love brings together what evil divides.
We are given the freedoms to choose between the two and Love is worth the bother if we want to live in a world worth living.
I guess I first came here because as an atheist, I'm interested in minds that don't tick like mine.
I tried to understand where other people were coming from.
After a while I grew to realize that I'll never fully understand 'faith' because I don't think you can understand it unless you have experienced it. But by then I had grown to be quite fond of a number of posters (and characters!) so I still drop by to see how people are doing.
I'm not sure both questions are much different, but either way you provide an answer I'm not sure I've seen explained before. Thanks. I've seen your name before too. You explain you are "new" to this forum, but obviously you have been commenting in many threads since 2008. I was more focused on the general exchange of opinion that goes on in all these threads.
If I understand you correctly then, in this particular forum anyway, you find the best answers from reading your own writing? If I understand correctly, I'm not sure this forum serves you any better than your own personal journal. I will also admit some curiosity about the best answers to your metaphysical questions, but I suspect you too are beyond objectively evaluating how true those answers may be...
I thought my post was clear. Apparently not. I am new to THIS forum and yes I have been posting since 2008. Yikes!
It is the ACT of writing down my thoughts, in my journal or here, that brings me clarity. It is NOT as you say reading my writing. There is something magical about writing, an interiority that brings forth words.
As for truth, what is truth. I don’t worry about truth in spiritual seeking.
I believe and know the living God through Jesus Christ , and as this I can understand the spirit of truth so I come here for inspiration and encouragement , See it does not bother me if people don`t believe like me............ God gives here some Words for threads , which gives me a unity of interaction with God
I guess I first came here because as an atheist, I'm interested in minds that don't tick like mine.
I tried to understand where other people were coming from.
After a while I grew to realize that I'll never fully understand 'faith' because I don't think you can understand it unless you have experienced it. But by then I had grown to be quite fond of a number of posters (and characters!) so I still drop by to see how people are doing.
I guess I first came here because as an atheist, I'm interested in minds that don't tick like mine.
I tried to understand where other people were coming from.
After a while I grew to realize that I'll never fully understand 'faith' because I don't think you can understand it unless you have experienced it. But by then I had grown to be quite fond of a number of posters (and characters!) so I still drop by to see how people are doing.
Your name is another I well recognize but not so much the others you mention, so maybe I've just not noticed when any such "shackles" about anything have been "shed" thanks to anyone's efforts in this forum. Nice to think such a thing is possible but I have my Cement Theory that tends to prove the exchange of facts, reason and logic to establish truth take a far back seat to ego, bias and ignorance once we get past our earlier more impressionable years. Mostly our opinions are "cemented" by the time we get past our twenties...
I don't think that's true. It isn't true for me, anyway. I have expanded and changed my opinions and my worldview, particularly spiritually, in many ways since my twenties, and I've no doubt that I will continue to do so now that I've entered my seventh decade.
As a matter of fact, I would think a person who did not change some opinions has lived a rather stagnant life.
I thought my post was clear. Apparently not. I am new to THIS forum and yes I have been posting since 2008. Yikes! It is the ACT of writing down my thoughts, in my journal or here, that brings me clarity. It is NOT as you say reading my writing. There is something magical about writing, an interiority that brings forth words.
As for truth, what is truth. I don’t worry about truth in spiritual seeking.
I write to discover what I know ~ Flannery O'Connor
Of all the quotes by, for, and about writers, this is the one with which I identify most.
Learning is something I have considered in terms of why bother with this forum, because there is no doubt sometimes people do provide information worth considering and/or knowing, but one really doesn't need to comment to get that sort of information and it's probably far more time efficient to learn about the same things by other means. No doubt I learn far more just following the news in the morning than I do when after I'm done with that I bother with this forum.
I've even considered the "drip, drip, drip" notion about promoting what I think is right over wrong, truth over nonsense, but all evidence seems to point in the direction of what is ultimately summed up in the two other threads I reference in my first comment. Your name is another commonly encountered in these threads and try as you might, I don't see your "drip" doing any better than any other when it comes to evidence that anyone changes their mind about much along these lines in the slightest.
Perhaps if you can point to any evidence beyond your hopeful wishes, we can better measure the truth of what you believe, but of course that's impossible. Much like getting people to agree about our universal truth despite what even in some cases is obvious...
I'm not sure it's an evidence "thing". It sort of reminds of the battles for civil rights. Did one event win that war? Or was it more like a thousand cuts? And it' still going on, drip by drip by drip.
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