Are atheists simply rebellious? (believer, Jesus, difference, about)
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Pascal's Wager is never an appropriate response because it's so easily refuted. The "us vs them" is far too narrow when there's thousands of possibilities, not just two. What if we are both wrong? What if I'm wrong and there is a god, but you're also wrong and the God you've dedicated your life to is not the god that does exist?
Okay. I’ve just been fooling around with you folks up to this point. Just poking your cage with a stick to get a rise. I am sorry. But it IS kind of fun. And I see YOU folks doing it all the time. So why not?
Seriously though. It is difficult to understand why God reveals himself to some and not to others. How could I possibly know why? But for those lucky enough to know—well, we know. If you had ever been fortunate enough to see the light, you too would know.
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Originally Posted by Spotted1
As I asked Lightinsky in the other thread.. How many deities will you kneel down to in worship in hopes that you get the right one?
Ha ha! It is not a matter of playing the field, "hoping" to get the right one. If you kneel to God, that is enough.
While Mercury Cougar's reaction may have been excessive, I share his feelings on the matter. Pascal's Wager is a dead horse that has been beaten to a bloody paste - in fact, it had already been refuted in Pascal's time. Yet not a week comes by before I meet a theist who pretends it's still breathing.
Personally, I think Pascal’s wager is only an enticement to investigate faith. If nothing is revealed to you—well, I don’t know what to say. It is truly unfortunate.
As for Pascal's Wager being refuted in his time, I believe that particular writing was not published until after Pascal's death. Not that is matters, since you don't put any stock in that line of thinking anyway. Truly unfortunate.
Okay. I’ve just been fooling around with you folks up to this point. Just poking your cage with a stick to get a rise. I am sorry. But it IS kind of fun. And I see YOU folks doing it all the time. So why not?
Seriously though. It is difficult to understand why God reveals himself to some and not to others. How could I possibly know why? But for those lucky enough to know—well, we know. If you had ever been fortunate enough to see the light, you too would know.
Ha ha! It is not a matter of playing the field, "hoping" to get the right one. If you kneel to God, that is enough.
You're hardly poking my cage or getting a rise. You're just showing your own immaturity. You've worked yourself into a corner and you simply are out of answers because your other answers have failed.
And it is a matter of "playing the field" as you put it. You're hedging your bet that the God you've picked is the right one while sticking your fingers in your ears and singing loudly in order to ignore the thousands of other possibilities.
You see, there's roughly a 1% difference between atheists and believers. You deny thousands of gods, while I deny thousands of gods + yours.
Rebellious? I wonder about this myself. I sometimes seems like it. Either rebellious, or maybe just seeking attention by poking fun at those with faith.
I know several true atheists and they are good hard working people with great family's and good values.
No. Someone by definition cannot rebel against something they don't believe in. Orthodox believers often make this claim because they think that everyone has an innate sense that their god exists. What they fail to realize is that they are 'atheists' to every other god belief. I could also say that christians are rebellious because they don't believe in the plethora of other gods that are worshipped on the planet.
Personally, I think Pascal’s wager is only an enticement to investigate faith. If nothing is revealed to you—well, I don’t know what to say. It is truly unfortunate.
I find it ironic that theists think they have discovered pandora's box and we atheists have yet to discover it. Hint hint, 99% of atheists are ex theists so most of us have sampled your sky daddy and came to the conclusion he existed only in our minds.
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As for Pascal's Wager being refuted in his time, I believe that particular writing was not published until after Pascal's death. Not that is matters, since you don't put any stock in that line of thinking anyway. Truly unfortunate.
The fact it was refuted "in his time" like more or less his common era should be enough to not warrant its use.
Before you respond with the no true Scotsman fallacy of not being a true xian, you may want to itemize bullet by bullet what constitutes a true xian and what are the steps that one is supposed to sequentially go through to becoming a true xian.
Take your time and please do use your own thoughts rather than recycled rubbish from an apologist link.
If we rebel, it is rather at the proponents of theism than against a fictitious god. Seeking attention would go for all the theists that post here too.
Yes we poke fun at ridiculous claims. Anyone that simple states "I believe..." and does not try and advance that as ultimate truth, I/(we) leave alone.
It would be nice if you can offer some perspective on the lack of the church involvement when folks go through a "crisis of faith" or start asking awkward questions.
Most atheists I've known personally have, IMHO, been lovers of humanity unable to reconcile the unspeakable horrors of this world to the indifference to same on the part of many/most professed believers.
Most seem to perhaps take more refuge in their ego than might be prudent, but thats up to God to decide, not me.
In any event God knows why and what motivation any given person has, so I just try to love everyone I can,flawed as I am.
I would disagree, I also do not believe in Santa Claus or the toothfairy, disbelief in any fictional character is not necessarily an act of rebellion, it could be just an affirmation of reality.
Thinking you know what reality is, is an act of faith in itself.
Thinking you know what reality is, is an act of faith in itself.
But it's not faith in a religious sense. There's a world of difference between "I have to assume that my senses produce useful information" and "there's an unevidenced god out that that's deeply worried about what I think about him", even if you use the word faith to describe both of them.
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