Mr Quatro, Jesus said it return would be during the life times of his disciples, you are following a failed prophecy. An atheist is just as like to take heed of your fear-mongering as those from other dooms day cult leaders like Jim Jones or David Koresh.
That is what makes us non-theists, we don’t believe in your man made myths and monsters.
However, some people who cheat (sin), wear cotton jeans with silk shirts (sin), cast judgement on others (sin) or happen to think someone of their own gender is attractive (sin according to you) aren’t non-theists.
Some of them still believe the ghost stories of a bunch of iron age goat herders. By definition they are not “atheists” just as you are not an atheist for sinning and doing “work” on the sabbath (Saturday) which is one of the Ten Commandments.
Mr Quatro: if as nothing more than a matter of gentility and etiquette, please don’t tell me what I believe or worship. I do not worship the Beast, the Anti-Christ, Satan, or, for that matter, the Sun, Moon, an Oak Tree in Wessex, or the Marvel Supervillain named Spiral. (Hm… The last, just maybe…)
No, seriously: you ought, by right of courtesy if nothing else, accept that atheists are a-theist. No gods. None at all. They don’t “worship” evil, any more than a child-molesting priest – still a Christian – or an embezzling local Protestant minister – still a Christian – do. Atheists are not players in your game. Don’t try to claim we’re on one side or another: we aren’t. We’re on the sidelines. We watch, but we don’t participate.
rat avatar: I’m far more close to you in viewpoint than I can ever be to a believer. But I’ll give them just enough wiggle room to re-interpret their prophecies in whatever self-serving way they wish. If they decide that Jesus excluded them from the Kosher laws – but somehow didn’t exclude them from similar prohibitions on cussing, engraving holy images, or men having sex with men (amusing that lesbians are not an abomination, only gay men!) – I say, phoo. Let 'em. It’s faith, man.
Faith – when healthy – is no more than any other personal taste. I like raspberry, another guy hates it. Abstract faith (is God “one” or is God “three?”) is like raspberry to me. Whatever you like. What kind of idiot would go around saying, “The raspberry is unclean, and God holds detestation and ruin for any who would partake of it!”
The sad part of this is how often faith has left the path of health.
Unless people try and force their beliefs into the laws of the land or on others I have no intrest in the beliefs of others. I was trying to be blunt and explain one possible world view of a non-theist. But when the OP wants to randomly select passages from his mythology and direct them at others with authority it is fair to push random quotes back.
Satan…or defining satan as one, single lesser god in the “mono-theistic” abrahamic religions is a bit of a mess in it’s self. Lets see here, in Genesis the snake which many Christians claim was Satan is just pointing out the truth, that ELOHIM is flat out lying, which proved to be true.
And lets not even start with the evil things God did due to his bet in the story of Job.
So yes, to make the OP feel better and confirm his assumptions, as far as the myth goes I hold your “god” at a higher level of disgust than Satan. He is just an underling who is doing the bidding of a vindictive, evil, jealous god. That doesn’t change the fact that millions of women and men love this “God” and hate themselves because their biology and mind make their hearts pitter patter when they see someone they find attractive who just happens to have the wrong “equipment” according to some bronze age herdsmen. For the OP to claim this is being an “atheist” cheapens these peoples beliefs, and although it may be true in his self defined world view it is not the holding of any major sect of the Abrahamic religions that I know of. Everyone being sinners is the core precept of most “Christian” sects and the OP has given no evidence to show that there is some thinking that being aroused by the wrong gender automatically turns you into a non-believer. The fact that everyone is a “sinner” is one of the major selling hooks of the entire branch of that religion.
“Back to near normal”? The thread was a trainwreck from the beginning. You have some really weird ideas, or you have no idea how to turn your thoughts into words.
I see it a little like Yoda in the Star Wars movies. He is intended to be the gentle, wise, loving spiritual guide – he was even designed to look a little like Einstein. But, in the muddle of the moviemaking, he becomes an evil, lying, manipulating, helpless, hopeless jerk. Nearly everything he said to Luke was untrue, and he could have simply told the truth, straightforwardly, and saved a lot of agony.
Same, then, for God in the Bible. He’s meant to be wise and loving, a perfect father figure. But in the mess of the actual writing, he stumbles terribly.
I’ll differ slightly. I think, at times, it can have a therapeutic effect. It works a little like tranquilizers. You shouldn’t depend on it, but if it helps allay anxiety, and there are no other effects, it isn’t so bad a thing. At very least, I think there are times when faith is not unhealthy.
The best part of this thread, and I’ve read pretty much the entire thing, was the whole “I’m an athesist in the sense that this thread doesn’t have a thesis” comment. Loved loved loved it.
