Clean sinks and heater grates? No thanks, I’d rather discuss metaphysics
For once, something of real interest came out of the U of I’s incompetence and disorganization.
As you may know (if I’ve told you over Messenger), my lovely little stalker and I discuss metaphysics (mainly the existence of god) during lunch. Well, we did so today—rather loudly, because he was attacking me ‘cause I’m not a theist. After lunch, my partner Mike and I were up at GSR. We cleaned the unlocked rooms pretty fast, so we sat down in the last one, prepared to wait a good hour and a half for Roy to come pick us up.
We’re sitting there in silence for a few minutes until he asks me what stalker boy and I were talking about over lunch; apparently he’d heard us debating but couldn’t catch what we were talking about. So I told him, and what do you know, he’s a Christian, so we start debating.
We debated for three hours. It was awesome. I must say, Mike did a pretty damn good job of defending his beliefs—in fact, I think it was the best theist argument I’ve ever come across. But from the directions his reasoning/evidence pointed, I’ve decided that if there is a god, he pretty much sucks. Best evidence for this: if we are striving to be like god in our virtues, universal compassion is NOT something we should be shooting for.
If the title distracts you from the crappiness of the blog, my work here is done.
These are great:
www.iamanatheist.com
Some of the best “arguments against”:
Hitler was an atheist.
“I don’t know about Hitler’s religion, but I do know that he was heterosexual, so can I assume you’re against that, too?”
Einstein believed in God. Do you think you’re smarter than Einstein?
“If he believed in God, yes.”
There are so many wonderful things in the world, how can you say there is no God?
“It’s really pretty easy: ‘There is no god.’ See?”
God made His image appear in this tortilla!
(Eats tortilla)
www.iamatheist.com
Some of the best “arguments against”:
How can God be omniscient, omnipotent, all good, and the creator of all things when those qualities lead to logical contradictions?
“It’s a mystery.”
How can Jesus have risen from the dead in three days if the first day was Friday? Wouldn’t the third day be Monday?
“It’s a mystery.”
How can God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit possibly be three separate entities and still be one God?
“It’s a mystery.”
The Bible says that men are the masters of women.
“That’s true.”
The Bible says you should not eat lobster.
“That part’s only for Jewish people.”
Why are there so many contradictions in the Gospels?
“There are no contradictions in the Gospels.”
But the Gospels can’t even agree on how many people showed up at Jesus’ tomb.
“There are no contradictions in the Gospels!”
Your arguments aren’t very convincing.
“Enjoy your eternity in Hell!”
The Atheist Blog (you knew it had to happen sometime)
I’m sick of Atheists getting a bad rap all the time. For me personally, I am not an Atheist because I am “evil.” That’s ridiculous. I am an Atheist simply because there is not enough rational proof that God exists. It’s just that simple. I believe God is a manmade concept thought up probably soon after human beings developed higher thought processes. I choose not to go along with this concept because I don’t see the need for it. I can be a reasonable, rational, kind, conscientious human being without the need for an ultimate reward in the form of an eternity that is better than life on earth. I don’t believe in an afterlife.
Therefore, I think we should live striving for a better life on earth rather than working for the goal of a better life in the afterlife. I don’t advocate violence, lawless behavior, nonsensical actions, or anything of the sort. I just don’t feel the necessity of a god figure in my life. Why is that so wrong? I don’t believe in the concept. That’s really all there is to it.
And yet, in most conversations I have in which religion/spirituality is brought up, I get told at least one of the following:
“Atheism is a corrupting force in society.”
Um, not really. First, I’d hardly call Atheism a “force.” If Atheism has anything to do with society, its job is to stay in the background. In fact, of all the religious/spiritual denominations and classifications, Atheism is probably one of the least intrusive. When was the last time you saw an Atheist handing out pamphlets or knocking at your door asking you if you’ve considered “converting” to Atheism?
Second, all sorts of conclusions are jumped to by implying that a lack of belief in a god is equal to corruption. You don’t need God to be good. Just look at all the law-abiding Atheists in today’s society.
“You can’t prove God doesn’t exist.”
You can’t prove He/She/They does/do. Until then, I’m sticking with what I believe.
“Okay, if God is a manmade concept, it is a necessary one in order to prevent people from doing wrong” (or, “without God there is a lack of morality.”)
Again, not so. Like I said, there are millions of Atheists in the world. I doubt the percentage of them that fall into immorality is greater than any other denomination or classification. While I believe that people do things in order to ultimately receive some sort of reward at some point, I believe that this reward can be found on earth, not in the afterlife.
“There is no definitive proof of God because He wants you to have faith that he exists.”
A god who will not reveal rational proof that it exists while requiring that people believe in it despite that is a god I don’t want a part of. If God does exist, why would He require us to prove our faith in the face of such overwhelming evidence that denounces his existence?
“Atheism is the same thing as believing in evolution.”
Not necessarily. I know many Christians who “believe” in evolution, and I know two Atheists who aren’t convinced enough by the evidence to trust the evolutionary theory. Atheism is the affirmation of the nonexistence of god(s) or the rejection of theism. Evolution is a theory. Big difference.
That’s about it. I hope I didn’t offend anyone. I’m just trying to explain things from an Atheist’s point of view.
And stop picking on Agnostics, too.
Eigenblogger 