• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

atheism is a (religious position)

DNB

Christian
So we agree. This god couldn’t figure out a less violent way to punish people who made it mad. And what sense does it make to claim that an ‘all knowing’ god was so oblivious that it didn’t KNOW that its creation would continue to sin? Are you admitting that it wasn’t omniscient either?
God reveals things for our sake, not His.
We have to learn how rebellious and obstinate that we are, not Him.
If it wasn't for the tests that God allows us to undergo, we'd all think that we were pretty good people
 

DNB

Christian
If that god were real he is wicked. If he was real I would not be thankful, I would say save one of the 10,000 children who starve every day instead.
But I don't believe folk tales in books without evidence.
Claiming that there's no evidence simply because you can't discern it, is a self-incriminating accusation
 

DNB

Christian
And your God made humans how he wanted. How is creating wicked humans merciful when that design hurts children?

The more Bible literalists assert their interpretation is correct the more God is either inept or a sociopath. Or both.


So you are claiming to be righteous only because you interpret the Bible literally? It’s righteous to make God look like a total idiot or criminal with that sort of interpretation?


This interpretation is still a bad look for God because everything is how God crested it.

If God wanted a permanent Eden don’t you think God would have succeeded? Humans can be moral with free will, but God sabotaged Eden by making Adam and Eve naive and unable to resist temptation. Remember God created Satan and allowed him to tempt A&E. God knew they weren’t capable of resisting.

We blame God, not the naive.
You're delusional esteem of man, is going to affect your own stability
 

F1fan

Veteran Member
God reveals things for our sake, not His.
This isn’t a factual statement. It’s religious dogma.

We have to learn how rebellious and obstinate that we are, not Him.
No we don’t because nothing you claim has any basis in reality.

If it wasn't for the tests that God allows us to undergo, we'd all think that we were pretty good people
I don’t think Christians really take much of this seriously. Too many disagreements and not enough truth.

Claiming that there's no evidence simply because you can't discern it, is a self-incriminating accusation
False. Believers struggle to verify their beliefs. That’s because the claims are absurd and lack evidence.

You're delusional esteem of man, is going to affect your own stability
I have no idea what you’re trying to say. I made no such assertion. And it’s interesting that you bring up stability as a judgment towards me. Perhaps you’re struggling with stability and projecting?
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
Premise 1: Having a God Concept makes any belief system a religion - if a belief system features a belief about God then it is a religious belief system

Premise 2: Atheists have a God Concept. They have a position on God, an opinion on God that qualifies as a position and an opinion on God, even though Atheists either see no valid reason to believe in God or explicitly reject such a belief. The point is, they still have God-beliefs

You cannot spell "Atheist" without the word "Theist" :cool:

The Atheist God Concept is that God is made up by humans who didn't know any better and is nothing more than myth

Conclusion: Atheism is a religion

Edit: I no longer believe Atheism is a religion. But I do maintain that it is a religious position, so is the same type of thing as religions

I suppose only if you see a non-position as a position.
And, I'm not saying that all atheists don't have a God concept they disbelieve just that having a disbelief in a particular God concept is necessary to being an atheist.

I simply see the existence of any Gods beyond my knowledge. Such not being a position I've chosen just a self awareness of where I find myself to be. Better defined as an agnostic atheist.

A gnostic atheist on the other hand has a definite position on the God concept though I couldn't really find anyone who is a famous gnostic atheist. Not sure if any actually exist. :shrug:
 

Bthoth

*banned*
Premise 1: Having a God Concept makes any belief system a religion - if a belief system features a belief about God then it is a religious belief system

Premise 2: Atheists have a God Concept. They have a position on God, an opinion on God that qualifies as a position and an opinion on God, even though Atheists either see no valid reason to believe in God or explicitly reject such a belief. The point is, they still have God-beliefs

You cannot spell "Atheist" without the word "Theist" :cool:

The Atheist God Concept is that God is made up by humans who didn't know any better and is nothing more than myth

Conclusion: Atheism is a religion

Edit: I no longer believe Atheism is a religion. But I do maintain that it is a religious position, so is the same type of thing as religions
I have found that the majority of athiest are evolved or grown up theist, across the board.

Many atheist are labeled with the term, by theist.

And finally, most atheist have no issue with any god, just the people that tell them how to think.
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
Feel free to offer a more accurate perspective, if you can?
If you want - as to Adam and Eve being a mythical tale, as to Noah's Ark being so too, as to humans being closely related to other primates, as to life on Earth being driven by evolution rather than design, etc. So mostly what the evidence tends to show rather than literally believing what any particular religious text might say - such as the Bible - and where some discrimination is necessary to sift the myths from any truths that might exist in said text(s).

And some news in - which isn't really that much news - as to many primates exhibiting the same behaviours as humans but seemingly dismissed as of no relevance by so many who refuse to see the connections between these primates and humans - and watch the accompanying video in the article:


Footage of great apes has revealed that humans are not the only ones to endure seemingly endless bouts of teasing dished out by their smaller and weaker young who appear intent on pushing their luck. Recordings of chimps, orangutans, bonobos and gorillas found the animals to be masters of the dubious art, embarking on an impressive range of playful and occasionally somewhat aggressive acts ranging from the cheeky and plain silly to the fabulously irritating. From 75 hours of footage taken at San Diego and Leipzig zoos, scientists documented 142 clear instances of great apes teasing their compadres, with most instigated by juveniles aged three to five years old. The apes poked, prodded and ran away, offered objects and then pulled them back, body-slammed one other, stuck their faces in others’ faces, pulled on wisps of hair – a move particularly common in orangutans whose hair is amply long enough – tugged on body parts, tickled, and dangled things in front of each other. And that was only for starters. In all, the researchers in Germany and the US counted 18 different varieties of teasing in the footage. More than a fifth employed an element of surprise, with an ape approaching its target from behind or while it was looking the other way. “We cannot really say why they are doing it, but we can observe that they are doing it,” said Dr Isabelle Laumer at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany. “This playful teasing is provocative, intentional, and typically one-sided. It comes very much from the teaser and it often remains that way throughout the interaction.” As with all the best teasing, a failure to respond to an unexpected poke, or an ape’s face suddenly looming into view, was met with more of the same, with apes repeating their chosen move in 84% of cases or escalating the situation with more elaborate acts of annoyance.

No surprise, and much will be simple attention-seeking perhaps just as with human children.

The study of nine bonobos, four orangutans, four gorillas and 17 chimps was too small to find major differences between the species, but adults and juveniles had different strategies. Poking was the most common form of teasing for both adults and juveniles, but while juveniles engaged in hitting and waving body parts at others, adults were gentler and favoured tickling and stealing. “What’s interesting is we found similarities with human infant teasing,” said Laumer. “When human infants tease their mother, they tend to look to their mother’s face for a reaction. We see that in these great apes too.” Human infants engage in playful teasing as early as eight months and before they can produce words. Scientists believe the behaviour may help test social boundaries and strengthen relationships.
 
Last edited:

Firenze

Active Member
Premium Member
God reveals things for our sake, not His.
We have to learn how rebellious and obstinate that we are, not Him.
If it wasn't for the tests that God allows us to undergo, we'd all think that we were pretty good people
The tests?? Children suffering in terror and pain, and eventually dying of cancer because this god refuses to answer their desperate prayers..... is a test?? How exactly does that horrible, rebellious and obstinate 6 year old pass this test? Beg their parents to tithe more?

Perhaps if Christians had more self respect instead of self loathing, and chose not to abrogate their gift of Reason in favor of their self-absorbed craving for 'eternal life' - they might actually BE pretty good people.....
 

joelr

Well-Known Member
Claiming that there's no evidence simply because you can't discern it, is a self-incriminating accusation
Yes I discern the evidence quite well. It's no better than evidence for Mormonism, Islam, Krishna or any other myth.

Please, cite some evidence that is good evidence. Not evidence that you buy into from your religion and reject from all others.
If the Mormon Bible si not evidence neither is yours.
But I am familiar with the historicity and archaeology of the Bible and that evidence is almost 100% certain that its' a syncretic mythology.

I'm going to guess you have read zero historians on the OT or NT.
 

joelr

Well-Known Member
The Bible is true, your fairy tales are not
LOL, is that some of your "evidence"!!!

"It's true because it says it's true"

Ok, off to a bad start. I do believe the Epic of Gilamesh is a folk tale and Noah is also a folk tale inspired by those older flood stories.
This is the consensus opinion in historical scholarship. The people who study the source material in the original languages and have no doubt of this. We also have strong evidence from geology there was no world flood which you can explain to me how you debunk. Since you seem to be the expert in evidence and I'm unable to discern it. I'm waiting. First provide people in the historical field, who have PhD and peer-reviewed work on your flood myth being real.

In fact, these are all textbooks used in University courses:

John Collins, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible 3rd ed.
“Biblical creation stories draw motifs from Mesopotamia, Much of the language and imagery of the Bible was culture specific and deeply embedded in the traditions of the Near East.

2nd ed. The Old Testament, Davies and Rogerson
“We know from the history of the composition of Gilamesh that ancient writers did adapt and re-use older stories……
It is safer to content ourselves with comparing the motifs and themes of Genesis with those of other ancient Near East texts.
In this way we acknowledge our belief that the biblical writers adapted existing stories, while we confess our ignorance about the form and content of the actual stories that the Biblical writers used.”

The Old Testament, A Historical and Literary Introduction t
o the Hebrew Scriptures, M. Coogan

“Genesis employs and alludes to mythical concepts and phrasing, but at the same time it also adapts transforms and rejected them”

God in Translation, Smith
“…the Bibles authors fashioned whatever they may have inherited of the Mesopotamian literary tradition on their own terms”

THE OT Text and Content, Matthews, Moyer
“….a great deal of material contained in the primeval epics in Genesis is borrowed and adapted from the ancient cultures of that region.”


The Formation of Genesis 1-11, Carr
“The previous discussion has made clear how this story in Genesis represents a complex juxtaposition of multiple traditions often found separately in the Mesopotamian literary world….”
The Priestly Vision of Genesis, Smith
“….storm God and cosmic enemies passed into Israelite tradition. The biblical God is not only generally similar to Baal as a storm god, but God inherited the names of Baal’s cosmic enemies, with names such as Leviathan, Sea, Death and Tanninim.”
 
Top