Yet we observe believers very comfortable claiming they believe their version of God exists, and some even claim they KNOW God exists. That doesn't suggest they are comfortable?Uhh, no.
First, we are all materialist thinkers. Just because some thiests believe what they believe is immaterial is irrelevant. Second, neither you or other theists have explained what is rational about deciding supernatural concepts that lack evidence is a rational thing to believe are true.Again, that is like saying that religious people are not being rational, if they think that God is likely to exist.
Your idea of "critical thinker" is more one of "materialist thinker".
This doesn't offer anyone a reason to assume a God exists given the lack of evidence. And I'll defend deferring to experts in science because they avoid assuming a spuernatural as that assumpion is unnecessary and unwarranted. It is a liability in undestanding how things are in the universe.Well, you are safe there then.
"experts" in science are not gods, but human mortals like ourselves. Why should God show them the unseen, but not us?
They were both written well before the age of reason, science, and modernity. They aren't considered factual given the references to gods and supernatural concepts.The Qur'an is not "ancient", relatively speaking .. and nether is the NT.
Yes I did wonder thy Christians didn't get along when they claimed their belief is of love and Godliness. The lack of consistency was glaring and I couldn;t ignore it. That Christians and other theists make lofty moral claims that they themselves don't follow suggests there is something flawed in religious belief, devotion, etc.Did you?
We see in the OT, that mankind are often envious of one another. Adam's son, Cain, killed his brother Abel .. not even over wealth, but over his brother being praised.
As I have noted I would be im pressed by believers if they all showd a remarkable wisdom, balance, tolerance, knowledge, and moral comittment. But they are no better than average folks. Christian and Muslim extremists tend to ignore many lessons in their holy books, and that suggests they don't take God or the books seriously.
And their failures reflect on the claim of God existing. I find it odd that believers think a Satan exists along with God. The more reasoned conclusion is that the idea of God is symbolic of the good in humans, and Satan is a symbol for what is bad in humans, yet Abrahamic believers through the age of reason and into modernity still take these concepts literally, and refer to God ad Satan as real beings influencing humans. This illustrates how the tradtion of belief is a powerful social phenomenon, and devout minds have little control and authority over it.Both Muslims and Christians are tempted by evil .. being religious in fact, often means that satan [the envy of others] causes them to behave badly .. temptation is there for all.
Now it makes sense. Why didn't I assume an improbable actor was respsonsible instead of me? That damn reasoning!!Mmm .. "satan" probably decided you are no longer a threat, and you get some peace.
Followers will go along with the norms. They are busy trying to stay alive than sit back and ponder what is popular lore in their society.Yes, the tradition was forced on the Romans by their rulers, and the tradition still remains.
I believe what I do, because the Qur'an leaves no doubt.
i.e. Jesus is the promised Messiah, and not God
Are you admitting that you aren't aware of the high standard of evidence for the sciences and the courts?How is that?
This is not difficult to understand, and you can read up on the standards quickly. In court hearsay evidence is questionable. Some forms of hearsay are not allowed. Yet in religion hearsay evidence is crucial. Many believers claim the Bible or Quran is evidence. No, they are books that have a known history, and content that is not verifiable, and even implausible, so not evidence that these books are true at face value. The supernatural elelments of these books needs ebidence themselves before the books can be evidence of anything.
I'm not sure how this is relevant to anything. The "truth" is relative and subjective, so naturally Hindus won't assign meaning to your truth, and vise versa. You have assigned validity and meaning to Islam for certain reasons, as have Hindus.Why is it that people tried to kill Jesus and Muhammad?
Human beings are not all interested in the truth .. some despise it.
Sounds like tribes fighting each other, and no God around to keep the peace. Typical human behavior.Of course not. It is only because some Christians oppressed others that Jesus "must be God".
The Qur'an is explicit .. the Jews have it .. God cannot be a person .. a person is created by God.
It makes sense in a naturalistic, materialistic approach. It doesn't make sense when a believer assumes a God exists and is the loving author of life.I can't understand it. The more my health declines, the less it makes sense.
False, there iare reasons why some organisms succeed and many die off. The reasons are somewhat random, as the climate changes, the environment changes, and this all affectsthe organisms that live there. There have been asteroids that have hit earth and this has changed things dramatically. There is no reason to assume these changes were planned or had a cause. Entropy is the only driving force we can name. Gods? Where, when, what? Did you know the Hawwian Islands were created by Gods that the original people believed in? It's a very interesting story. This is how ancient people explained their worlds, as they wanted answers and lacked adequate knowledge.However, what makes the least sense to me, is that the world evolves just "because" .. no reason .. only creatures have reason that comes from naught.
How did this happen? Why is your mind telling your mind this? And who told your mind to believe this? And why did you accept what they said?My mind tells me that Almighty God is the creator from naught.
So your God is nothing, or it came from something else.Nothing can come from naught, without something else being responsible.
I doubt you are genuine with this invitation, and you know there is no more evidence for Jesus being God any more than Allah existing. You have your beliefs, and thus far you offer no explanation that you have arrived at this decision via evidence and reason, so why would I expect you to use evidence and reason at all in regards to religious concepts.Nothing to do with ego.
If you can convince me that Jesus is God, or that God does not exist, I will change my beliefs.
This illustrates an earlier point I made, that you and other theists will appy a standard of evidence and reason to other religious concepts, but not your own. It's a logical fallacy called special pleading.
Sure, Christians create experiences that validate their beliefs, so why wouldn't the same apply to a Muslim? Of course your experiences will verify what you already believe. This is the basis of self-deception. Atheists examine all religious claims with the same skepicism, you only apply skepicism to those that are not your own.So far, I have not found a better coherent explanation. My experience shows that it is the truth .. whether I am able to follow it or not is another matter. I can but try.
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