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I was born not believing in god..well not even hearing about it. I had no idea what "god" or "the bible" was until I was 19 and visited the USA last year. So according to christian labels i guess I am an atheist.
Well NihonKitty, many atheists are such because the Christianity they hear about is this one that claims to annihilate wicked people or eternally torment them and some of these atheist have used logic to rule out the idea of "Christianity" because that is all they ever heard. The found it illogical for a God to proclaim love and be ALL Powerful that can't even manage save all of its own creation. If I didn't find universalism, I probably would have eventually become an atheist also because I continued to search and sort out those contradictions in the Bible until I found that Universalism isn't contradictory to that understanding of a God of Love and Mercy that is ALL Powerful that has the power to save EVERYONE He Created.
So many atheists, I'm sure have also remained atheists because they just don't get the nonsense of Eternal Torment and Annihilationism.
It's my hope you will seek out the God that is Almighty that can Save all of His Creation.
lots of christians and buddists in japan. dont know if i would call a buddist an atheist but definitely a belief in the higher selfhood and a great model to do it. as to low crime and good social cohesion 2nd to none.
Did you seriously just say lots of christians in Japan? Are you...um how can I say this without offending you..well I cant so I wont say it. But look at the statistics, there are NOT alot of christians in Japan. In fact non christians outnumber christians 100 to 1 actually .8.
You think .8-1% of a population that is decreasing mind you is "alot" ?
Probably because it says in the word that men are without excuse concerning God. They believe, to a degree, but some choose to deny.
Ah yes of course.
Nihon, in your situation you say you never heard of "god" until you were 19. When you were growing up, did you ever look around at creation and wonder if some supreme being had created it all?
Again you need to read what the big bang is, not one scientists claims matter and energy came from nothing as you're assuming, meaning the building blocks of the Universe were always present (at least in a finite time when the big bang occured), what happened before? Maybe time was infinite no one knows. That is the answer period, no one knows. No one knows is a much better answer than an invisible conscious floating around somewhere that didn't need a creator himself and somehow magically created stuff out of nothing.
Where did the initial matter that made up the mass that originated before the bang?
Well NihonKitty, many atheists are such because the Christianity they hear about is this one that claims to annihilate wicked people or eternally torment them and some of these atheist have used logic to rule out the idea of "Christianity" because that is all they ever heard. The found it illogical for a God to proclaim love and be ALL Powerful that can't even manage save all of its own creation. If I didn't find universalism, I probably would have eventually become an atheist also because I continued to search and sort out those contradictions in the Bible until I found that Universalism isn't contradictory to that understanding of a God of Love and Mercy that is ALL Powerful that has the power to save EVERYONE He Created.
So many atheists, I'm sure have also remained atheists because they just don't get the nonsense of Eternal Torment and Annihilationism.
It's my hope you will seek out the God that is Almighty that can Save all of His Creation.
Paul
If i ever do turn to theism, it will be just that theism, i will never pick up and read a bible in my life. It's outdated, written by humans, and based on nothing. And i would openly tell myself it's only faith and based on nothing.
And your last sentence...I mean it's not necessary I would say thanks..but I feel like you pitty me, it's the same way shintoists, muslims, jews, taoists etc every other religion says they are 100% right and hopes you join their religion..
That's an interesting comment Paul. Why do you say "as if there is such a thing"?
Because a God is Spirit and man has a spirit. So if you don't accept other Spirits as your god then that leaves your own SELF serving nature to accept which means you accept SELF as your own god. Spirit IS "BEING". God said "I AM". He was referring to the fact that He is BEING. Your BEING is what defines who you are and your personality and character. That is your spirit. Hope that helps.
Did you seriously just say lots of christians in Japan? Are you...um how can I say this without offending you..well I cant so I wont say it. But look at the statistics, there are NOT alot of christians in Japan. In fact non christians outnumber christians 100 to 1 actually .8.
You think .8-1% of a population that is decreasing mind you is "alot" ?
I can't even understand what you're talking about. What is more than "i would have believed"? First of all show me god, give me factual proof, give me an observational piece of his body or matter, you have nothing. But you didnt answer my question? Why should I believe? Japan has never believed and believes even less today, we have the longest lifespan in the world, the lowest crime rate in the world. We are living just fine.
I can ask you the same question, why don't you believe in amaterasu and buddhas teachings?
What was the question you asked me ?
Why should you believe ?
Jesus said I came that you may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
What life is this ? Eternal life.
Can amaterasu and Buddah offer this , if they could i would be interested.
If not i would never be interested .
What proof is there that God exists just have a look at yourself , the bible tells us we are wonderfully and fearfully made. Look out your window and the whole creation tells you there is a God.
Where did the initial matter that made up the mass that originated before the bang?
Paul
Did you not read a single thing i said in that post? Re-read it please.
I'll put what scientists say
Quote:
All ideas concerning the very early universe (cosmogony) are speculative. As of today no accelerator experiments probe energies of sufficient magnitude to provide any insight into the period. All proposed scenarios differ radically, some examples being: the Hartle-Hawking initial state, string landscape, brane inflation, string gas cosmology, and the ekpyrotic universe. Some of these are mutually compatible, while others are not.
So again there is no answer yet, and it's possible we will never know unless we go back in a time machine. The answer is to the same as "what happens after you die" answer = i dont know, there is no evidence or facts to show what happens after we die. And again the big bang does not say something came from nothing.
Again how is that alot? That is .9% of the population of japan. Again how is that alot?
That link is disgusting.
Quote:
The statistics show that there are probably .5 to 1% who are actually members of a church. And only half of them actually attend a church.
So how should we respond to this Gallup poll? I think that we should be excited! This should change the way we do mission in Japan, and how we minister to Japanese in North America! Just think that there are at least 3 million Japanese in Japan who identify with Christianity, but have little or no connection with His churches! And the same percentage is true with the Japanese who come to North America as students, business people and tourists
Looks like evangelicals want to invade japan and make some $
And theres alot more than 9 million buddhists in japan
Quote:
According to the CIA World Fact Book 84% to 96% adhere to Shinto and Buddhism
That is several hundred million. And as shown in the recent study 65% of japanese dont believe/follow any religion. I myself am shinto-buddhist by name only but don't believe anything.
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