What is wrong with those people who don't believe in God?

sovietchild said:

I have a question for you. If God tomorrow would reveal himself, would atheists actually believe? Would they still believe in him? Will atheists come up with all sorts of theories to explain what happened? Was it a hallucination, or some magic trick played by someone, or some other medical-scientific reasoning behind it?

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What would you do if a god entirely different to the one you believe in revealed itself tomorrow?

Your honest answer to that question will be pretty much the same as the honest answer for most atheists. The truth is that we're all pretty much the same outside this one specific element of theological belief.

We are all on a journey. People fall into two distinct categories. Those who follow what is fed them by Orthodoxy as 'truth' which they don't question. And those who do question it.
Of the latter, everyone's truth or understanding of truth is different. Similarly one's view of God, the Divine, is going to be different or a denial of the existence of God.
In ancient times, especially when the power of Greece and Rome was at its heights, there were multiple gods - giant humans who lived up in the heavens.
When the Church took over the mantle of religious supremacy they took on this mindset, but with just the one God and that has coloured people's concept of God ever since.
I believe in God, but my notion of the Divine is not the same as it was in younger years.
As for atheists, we are not automatons, they are entitled to their views. Though I wonder is it someone else's view of God that they are denying?
I was reading Bede Griffith's 'The Golden String' in there he beautifully describes his 'finding of God' by walking alone on the hills amidst the beauty of nature, sensing a sacred Presence in everything and all about him.
Life, as I said, is a journey. Whatever you believe, one should never cease seeking, and with an open mind and a full heart, never cease striving to learn.

sovietchild said:

I have a question for you. If God tomorrow would reveal himself, would atheists actually believe?

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Probably not. Those are, after all, the wrong question to ask and the wrong expectation to have.

What would constitute a God revealing himself? There is no shortage of claimed revelations from Ibrahim's God, so I assume you mean something different from what we have already.

Perhaps a mystical certainty in all people's minds. But that would answer your own question and point out that ultimately there is no particular reason why we should believe in the existence of God.

At the very least, it should be clear that there is no God insisting in making his existence self-evident to us. And that fact, by its turn, leads one to wonder why some believers perceive belief as a need when even God himself (taking for granted that he exists) apparently does not.

Would they still believe in him?

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I assume that would depend on which reasons, if any, we would be given to believe.

Of course, people have been demanding atheists to become theists for a couple thousand years at least, so there is little reason to expect any convincing argument or evidence to have been neglected so far.

Will atheists come up with all sorts of theories to explain what happened?

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You will have to give us some idea of what could happen before we could opine, I guess.

Was it a hallucination, or some magic trick played by someone, or some other medical-scientific reasoning behind it?

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Often enough it is not even that.

But that is ok. No one has any particular need or duty to believe in God's existence. I really wonder why so many people insist on making a problem of what never needed to be a problem.

Rapha said:

They are all ignorant because they all obey their globalist handlers, by functioning as cannon fodder in wars that do not make any sense to them. They do this to usher in the antiChrist, who, supposedly they do not believe in.

Give them a paycheck and they will gladly nuke themselves to prove Order out of Chaos when the antiChrist takes control of the world.

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Hey, no fair. I should have been invited to that party.

Of course, I am a teetotaller, so maybe not?

sovietchild said:

What is wrong with those people who don't believe in God?

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What is wrong with those people (the vast majority) who do not believe in YOUR god?

Ciao

- viole

sovietchild said:

What is wrong with those people who does not post a straight forward answer and talk about something else altogether?

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They're both 'loaded questions', which the link explains. The point is that the questions you've posed have been fallacious.

sovietchild said:

What is wrong with those people who don't believe in God?

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Because it's a real ***** to reconcile the world and the notion of a just, loving god. Now an amoral, cold prick of a deity? That's something you could sell to me.

sovietchild said:

What is wrong with those people who don't believe in God?

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Well, many, like me, who used to believe in the fairy tale we call God matured in their spiritual understanding. We realized that these folktales that served the powerful in society so well, that kept the masses under control, were useful fictions. We realized that spirituality doesn't depend on the God of the Bible.

sovietchild said:

What is wrong with those people who don't believe in God?

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They are not you?

idav said:

What is wrong with a God that doesn't make itself readily apparent to everyone?

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What's the point?

sovietchild said:

I have a question for you. If God tomorrow would reveal himself, would atheists actually believe? Would they still believe in him? Will atheists come up with all sorts of theories to explain what happened? Was it a hallucination, or some magic trick played by someone, or some other medical-scientific reasoning behind it?

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+1
Truth is subjective

HonestJoe said:

What would you do if a god entirely different to the one you believe in revealed itself tomorrow?

Your honest answer to that question will be pretty much the same as the honest answer for most atheists. The truth is that we're all pretty much the same outside this one specific element of theological belief.

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+1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

viole said:

What is wrong with those people (the vast majority) who do not believe in YOUR god?

Ciao

- viole

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See above.

Orbit said:

these folktales that served the powerful in society so well, that kept the masses under control, were useful fictions. We realized that spirituality doesn't depend on the God of the Bible.

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You mean I can touch myself and not get sent to hell for eternity which doesn't even fit the crime???? Sweet!

/sarcasm

Sums it up right here. "God" and what most people think of God (guy sitting on a throne sippin bud light and watchin my peeps suffer) are two very different, distinct things. Come on now... If you were God, and you were trying to prove a point about the godlessness of man, would you intervene? Uhhh no! If you follow the bible, this is the whole point right? Man without God == sucky existence. So why would he jump in and save starving kids? IF you follow that line, then those starving kids will have suffered nothing in comparison to what they will gain in everlasting life. Not saying I buy into any of that, but it's funny how Christians think their God should fix everything. If it's the God of the bible, why would he?

If you're an atheist, same applies. If there's a God, and he's all powerful, he wouldn't be jumping in stopping "bad stuff" from happening. Man sinned, Satan rocks right now, and no point in stepping in until the preposition has played out. Period.

So whether you believe in God or not, this is of no meaning. Believe what you believe and ride that S*** to the grave (or change? dangerous notion for some), but whatever you do, be kind to those around you and everyone you meet. God or not, live a good life.

I should add... Happy Thanksgiving Murcians! I'm a bit saucy already

Altfish said:

It is not an argument, it is a hypothesis, that is based on evidence.
Look at Scientology or Mormonism we know who created both those religions - because they are fairly recent creations, how do you know that the other religions didn't start in similar ways?

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Because humans appear to be predisposed to creating gods which is why they exist in every society.

It's an anachronistic projection of the modern mind to suppose thousands of cavemen independently came up with the cynical idea to create some gods to control others.

Gods also existed before religions.

columbus said:

But when we nontheists ask "Why?", the evidence always devolves into delusions and preferences and humans making unsupported claims.
Tom

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So why make exactly the same mistakes as them by making unsupported claims clouded by personal biases?

sovietchild said:

I have a question for you. If God tomorrow would reveal himself, would atheists actually believe? Would they still believe in him? Will atheists come up with all sorts of theories to explain what happened? Was it a hallucination, or some magic trick played by someone, or some other medical-scientific reasoning behind it?

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I have a question for you.
If god was proven to not exist, would you accept it or would your need for god make you believe in it anyway?

What makes you think there should be something wrong with them?

Augustus said:

So why make exactly the same mistakes as them by making unsupported claims clouded by personal biases?

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We don't. That's the whole point to nontheists, we don't make such claims.
We don't know how life came to be. So we can present theories and see if facts support them or not. That is in direct contrast to theists who simply make claims based on some human delusions and demand that we take them as God's Representatives on Earth. Even when the Prophets are demonstrably wrong.
That is the reason for Creationism. "Believe my Prophet! Not some people who actually study Reality!"
Tom

sovietchild said:

I have a question for you. If God tomorrow would reveal himself, would atheists actually believe? Would they still believe in him? Will atheists come up with all sorts of theories to explain what happened? Was it a hallucination, or some magic trick played by someone, or some other medical-scientific reasoning behind it?

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Well, I would be sceptical, but assuming that we accept that who ever revealed themselves was the god of the Bible, or is that the god of the Qu'aran or maybe it's Zeus?
Would I worship it? Not until he/she explains childhood cancer and tsunamis and even then worship is not really my thing.

columbus said:

We don't. That's the whole point to nontheists, we don't make such claims.
We don't know how life came to be. So we can present theories and see if facts support them or not. That is in direct contrast to theists who simply make claims based on some human delusions and demand that we take them as God's Representatives on Earth. Even when the Prophets are demonstrably wrong.
That is the reason for Creationism. "Believe my Prophet! Not some people who actually study Reality!"
Tom

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I think you have got the wrong end of the stick. What I was arguing against was the specific point that "gods were created by men who wanted to control other men and women".

I find the argument that gods were created as a method of control as far fetched as anything said by any theist.

Ironically, it appears to be seeing agency when none exists which probably played a big part in the human predisposition to create gods.

sovietchild said:

I have a question for you. If God tomorrow would reveal himself, would atheists actually believe? Would they still believe in him? Will atheists come up with all sorts of theories to explain what happened? Was it a hallucination, or some magic trick played by someone, or some other medical-scientific reasoning behind it?

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If God revealed Himself tomorrow I WOULD BE ALL ABOUT IT!
I would finally have Free Will! I could freely choose the best thing for me. I would not even have an opinion about what that is, no mere Faith in some human prophet, I would know what and why and everything important.
But there is no God who cares about anything that much. The evidence for that is better than the evidence for the sun rising tomorrow.
Tom

No buddy really attacked me in this topic like they usually do. As if atheist actually believe deep inside.

sovietchild said:

No buddy really attacked me in this topic like they usually do. As if atheist actually believe deep inside.

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Hehe. You really don't get it, do you? I would wager that there are many atheists who have thought about god more than theists have.

In Islam they call it fitrah - Primordial Nature of Man.

"Every single child is born upon the fitrah, and then his parents may make him into a Jew or Christian or Magian."

Pretty much it means everyone was born believing in one God.

sovietchild said:

In Islam they call it fitrah.

"Every single child is born upon the fitrah, and then his parents may make him into a Jew or Christian or Magian."

Pretty much it means everyone was born believing in one God.

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Which is, of course, rubbish. But, saying it is so does make some fragile human animals feel good - for some obscure reason.

For example, I have a very good memory from my earliest days. My first recorded memory is somewhere around 8-12 WEEKS old. The point is, since I was not brought up in a religious household I simply did not think of god or believe in god. Santa was the real thing for several years though.