How sure are you of your belief/non-belief in a god?

[ThunderPower_14]

Anyone who wouldn't be willing to change their mind if unquestionable evidence came up is completely mental IMO.

[Sie]

Vojskovoda, have you ever seen the TV call-in show The Atheist Experience? I think it'd be great if you called in and put your reasoning in this thread across to Matt Dillahunty. Failing that, you could always email him.

[Risso]

Anyone who wouldn't be willing to change their mind if unquestionable evidence came up is completely mental IMO.

It would be quite easy for God to remove all doubt wouldn't it? He was apparently happy enough to talk to a few goat herders in the desert a couple of thousand years ago, but he's been a bit more shy ever since. Next time Manchester United are playing Chelsea on Sky, or it's the X Factor final, why not turn Alex Ferguson into a pillar of salt, or zap Simon Cowell with a lightning bolt from a huge godly hand? That would shut Richard Dawkins up for good then.

Unless God doesn't exist and it's all bollocks of course.

[bickster]

Anyone who wouldn't be willing to change their mind if unquestionable evidence came up is completely mental IMO.

Why? Even if god does exist I'd refuse to worship him, who the **** would he think he was heaping such misery on the world in his working in mysterious ways. Just like I'd rather be a citizen of a country rather than a subject of the Queen, I really don't do subservient to an undeserved higher power

So even if he did exist, I'd still have nothing to do with him, worship no one or nothing!

[AVFCLaura]

You can take a page out of this thread if you remove the amount of times poor Ben had to explain himself... LOL

[Stevo985]

You can take a page out of this thread if you remove the amount of times poor Ben had to explain himself... LOL

I really didn't think it would require that much explanation!!

[Gingerlad]

[Gingerlad]

Anyone who wouldn't be willing to change their mind if unquestionable evidence came up is completely mental IMO.

Why? Even if god does exist I'd refuse to worship him, who the **** would he think he was heaping such misery on the world in his working in mysterious ways. Just like I'd rather be a citizen of a country rather than a subject of the Queen, I really don't do subservient to an undeserved higher power

So even if he did exist, I'd still have nothing to do with him, worship no one or nothing!

No one asks you to worship him, but if it was proven beyond doubt then surely you'd have to admit he did exist?

Like Santa.

[Sie]

I want my kids to learn the basics of western Christian thoughts and principles, you know, the nice modern liberal slanted bits. I believe it’s a good starting point in life.

I'm assuming, without going into specifics as you have not done so yourself, that the above are sentiments along the lines of being a good person with good morals and a respect for others etc. And of course, you're absolutely right about that being a very good start in life. I think that's a good goal in life too.

The correction I would like to offer though is that all of that has zip to do with the Christianity you've attributed it to despite that particular religion's claims of authorship.

Those good qualities are merely human qualities, not Christian ones. They're in Christianity because humans authored Christianity, just as they can be found in many other religions too.

[P3te]

Anyone who wouldn't be willing to change their mind if unquestionable evidence came up is completely mental IMO.

Why? Even if god does exist I'd refuse to worship him, who the **** would he think he was heaping such misery on the world in his working in mysterious ways. Just like I'd rather be a citizen of a country rather than a subject of the Queen, I really don't do subservient to an undeserved higher power

So even if he did exist, I'd still have nothing to do with him, worship no one or nothing!

nobody mentioned worshipping, just believing

4 is the only sensible option

worshipping is out of the question tho

[TheDon]

The interesting thing about an omniscience god is that if he really knows everything then your entire life is already mapped out, from birth to death god knows everything you're going to do.

That means god wants you to kill yourself.

Think about it, if you kill yourself right now, then you were always going to do it, it was part of the plan, you had no choice, it was a destiny already wrote in the mind of god. If you weren't meant to kill yourself, if that wasn't part of the plan, then something will happen to stop it from occurring as god goes "oh shit, that isn't meant to happen!" so what are you waiting for, get to it!

[paddy]

Using the amount of people who believe is a bit ridiculous imo. Otherwise surely the different religions wouldn't be clustered in different areas of the world. So many people believe it because that's what they're brought up to believe. It's amazing that no children brought up by Christian parents believe in other gods, they believe in the one that their parents told them to believe in (this might change when they get older but they believe in what they're told is fact rather than opinion).

edit: It would be interesting to do a study to see how many children brought up with no religion (not by militant atheists either, just where religion isn't seen as an issue at all) end up 'believing' in a religion having been left with a totally free choice about which religion to be part of (if any). I expect most would end up not part of any religion.

[Davkaus]

Anyone who wouldn't be willing to change their mind if unquestionable evidence came up is completely mental IMO.

Completely mental is what I'd be if I thought I saw unquestionable proof. I'd like an example of this contradictory proof, how might it manifest itself?

If God came to Earth in physical form, or sent his next son who turned out to be able to cure cancer, rid the world of poverty, and let us take day trips to Hell to observe the evil that dwells there, I'd think I was completely mental. I can't think of any sort of possible unquestionable proof of God's existence that would make me believe that there truly is a God. I'd think I was insane.

Would you think yourself sane if evidence were presented that showed that the tooth fairy exists? Ludicrous, right? Either someone is taking the piss, the evidence isn't as conclusive as you might think, or maybe you've just gone **** crazy. I know which I'd bet on.

[trimandson]

[TheWalletInspector]

I thought he was more up your street trim.

[trimandson]

Either/Or old bean

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

I watched a good debate between an educated, and rather reasonable christian (i know, i know) with Christopher Hitchens. It's on youtube somewhere but i can't be arsed looking for it at the moment but it's worth a watch.

I just don't quite understand people who are so firm in their belief that they are arrogant and ignorant towards others, because everything we think we see and think we know is bollocks. We don't know anything, so **** it. I'll live my life and come to my own conclusions, which will more than likely be bollocks but at least i had the balls to stand up and think for myself, instead of kneeling down and chowing down on some priests/rabbis/scientists nuts.

[MR.Smalljob]

I'm 100% sure there isn't a god anywhere, and where would he be?

Believe more there is a Devil

[blandy]

Didn't He reveal himself to exist by appearing inside an Aubergine, on Bury market, as a sort of pattern? Surely that's enough. Some people seem to want even more than that.

No pleasing some people.

[Sie]

We don't know anything, so **** it.

Woooooooah there Nelly, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater just for the sake of sounding reasonable. Science doesn't know everything (if it did, it would stop*) but come on. We don't know anything? That's so far from the truth I don't know where to begin. There's nothing arrogant in being incredibly proud of everything humans have discovered about reality. We know a considerable amount about reality. Really, a lot. Certainly enough to dismiss the idea of divinity that mainstream religions depict in their biblical texts. Conceptual pseudo-philosophical bullshit about "but do we REALLY know reality" is just apologetics to muddy the water.

When it comes to the more transcendental interpretation of God, pressing the issue usually boils down to someone simply renaming a scientific concept and attributing divinity to it. For example, the argument that God is merely the energies within all matter - he is what gives matter its ability to exist. Certainly sounds spiritual but it's really just a religious apologist reinterpreting sub-atomic particles to fit their needs with **** all to back it up.

*The only organisations that have stopped when it comes to explaining existence are religious ones. It's all in their biblical texts - case closed. It's why religion has a history of suppressing science and persecuting those who have questioned God.