Yes. I have personal standards, and I try to employ them in my judgment. Don't you?
I find it an abandonment of responsibility to declare that some or other view expressed in a book can be taken to be absolute.
What's the point of declaring that God has all that knowledge if we don't have access to it? It may as well be a lie for all the good it does.
Yes, that he's a sadist or an amoral authoritarian. I endeavor to be neither. Don't you?
Goodness me! That's a shocking picture of a god, who has to torture people to substitute fear for respect. Should we model our governments on such a principle because someone alleges God does?
Ah, there's the difference right there. I have respect for my fellow humans, rather than send them into traps.
We drew lines, yes, but we never hit any of our children, merely reproved, on not very many occasions restricted, but largely explained. Seems to have worked pretty well.
It never occurred to us to ask our kids to worship us. What benefit does worship bring the worshiped one, do you say?
[He] doesn't act like [he] wants anyone to believe [he] exists. [He] never appears, never says, never does, even when terrible things happen. In my morality, if something bad is foreseen and can be prevented with effort proportional to a good result, then I do it. I certainly don't look on if a small child falls into a swimming pool, for instance, or is about to run onto the road ─ let alone the events that overtake adults. But if there's a God, and if that God is good, then [he] shouldn't just sit on [his] hands, any more than I should.
Or else [his] morality is seriously different to mine, much cruder, much more barbaric.
The number of authenticated miracles is zero, of course.
Does it ever occur to you that the world behaves exactly as if the only place manner in which God exists is as a concept / thing imagined in individual brains?
So, first of all you didn't answer the very first question of this debate:
(If believers were to be correct about afterlife) What would you say then?
Now for the misconceptions:
"The number of authenticated miracles is zero, of course."
What you said here is absolutely invalid and if no such miracles occurred I myself would be an atheist just like you.
But let's first agree on a single definition for "Miracles", They are irregular acts that are against logical/rational thinking, are against nature and from these acts we can conclude that they are connections between a divine world (consider it to exist) and the secular world. So these acts were created by a God to further prove his existence to human beings.
From these miracles are:
- The fact that an illiterate person "invented" / "created" such amazing and long poetry 1400 years ago (Qur'an) that consists of about 600 pages is itself a miracle.
- God said: (
Didn’t those who disbelieve see that the heavens and the earth were an act of embellishment, so we devoured them) Al-Anbiya’s: 3 :Qur'an
The scientists' amazement at the Islamic Youth Conference held in Riyadh in 1979 reached its peak when they heard the holy verse and said: Truly, the universe at its beginning was a huge nebulous cloud of smoke, contiguous and gradually transformed into millions of millions of stars that fill the sky.
Then the
American Professor (Palmer) stated that what was said could in no way be attributed to a person who died 1400 years ago because he did not have telescopes or space ships to help discover these facts, so the one who told Muhammad was God. Then the Professor (Palmer)
converted to Islam at the end of the conference.
- God said: (
And we made from water every living thing, will they not believe?) Al-Anbiya ': 30: Qur'an
Modern science has proven that any living organism consists of a high percentage of water, and if it loses 25 percent of its water, it will inevitably die because all chemical reactions inside the cells of any living organism take place only in a water medium. From where to Prophet Muhammad, - may God bless him and grant him peace -, with this medical information?
- God said: (
And the sky we built with our hands, and it's expanding) Al-Dhariyat: 47: Qur'an
Modern science has proven that the sky is constantly increasing in capacity. Did Arabs own telescopes and satellites 1400 years ago? Or is it a revelation from God, the Creator of this great universe? Is this not conclusive evidence that this Qur’an is true from God?
- God said: (
And we made from the sky a protecting roof) Al-Anbiya ': 32: Qur'an
And modern science has proven the existence of the atmosphere surrounding the earth, which protects it from harmful solar rays and destructive meteors, so when these meteorites touch the Earth's atmosphere, they are raging in contact with it, so they appear to us at night in the form of small luminous blocks falling from the sky at a great speed estimated at about 150 miles per second. They quickly extinguish and disappear, and this is what we call meteors. Who told Muhammad, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, that the sky is like a roof that protects the earth from meteors and harmful sun rays? Is this not from the definitive evidence that this Qur’an is from the Creator of this great universe?
Is this enough or would you like to know more? Source is the one and only Qur'an (
The Noble Quran) which I doubt if you have even googled before.
Famous Islamic advocate [Zakir Naik] said himself that if anything mentioned in the Qur'an was proven scientifically 100% to be incorrect or to be against humanity/moral values, he would become an atheist and I strongly agree with him, that further explains why the first verse that was revealed by God to prophet Muhammed -peace be upon- him was just "Read." which at that time meant to seek learning and science (since he was illiterate).
God knows that science is going to further proof his existence, and if you say anything related to "Oh, that was just a coincidence" then I have to tell you that Richard Dawkins have explained our existence on earth among billions of other planets to be also a coincidence, and that the shift between regular chemistry and biochemistry on Earth was not discovered till now and was said to also be a coincidence and that we being the only creatures that can debate right now was also a coincidence.. Coincidence after coincidence after coincidence? Now THIS IS irrational for any normal human being. (Especially when you're presented with miracles that exist till now.)
God knows that science is going to convince millions who are in doubt that this book itself is a very obvious miracle and that God actually exists. A single prophet A single person A single human being who can't write or read, Muhammed -Peace be upon him- invented this book? an illiterate person literally created the Arabic Grammar? An illiterate human being mentioned all these scientific information 1400 years ago?
I love logical and rational thinking, I love to critic everything and everyone and even myself, and I love the way atheists think, BUT. There is a huge misconception among all atheists it's that any religious human should be radical, irrational and unscientific which is absolutely incorrect for all what Heavenly religions urge (Islam, Christianity and Judaism) and the only book that was never swerved till now is the Qur'an (Unlike The Bible and The Torah).
I'm an ordinary Muslim and I'm sure you have met Christians and Jews before, we are all as ordinary as you, we all approve of Science just like you, don't feel as if we are all stupid, fooled and brainwashed. We think, create, imagine, criticize and eat just like you! but when proof from God is presented in form of conclusive miracles
then and only then life does have a meaning, we obey his rules proudly and genuinely believe.
