What unproven claim is that? I claim that I don't believe in any gods.
Your an atheist right.
Atheism is the doctrine or belief that there is no God or disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings. (
Dictionary.com). The non-existence of God or there is no God is something you cannot prove right?
That's what *I* call an "unproven claim and opinion not based on any empirical evidence"
As posted earlier I do not need to prove that to you. That is already proven to me so for me I know it it true and have no doubts. Proving my own personal experience with God to you is like me taking a bite of an amazing fruit and asking you what my fruit tastes like. Now if my personal experience with God was a one off you could perhaps argue pink flying elephant no evidence. But if my experience in meeting God was not a once off event and people from all over the world starting claiming the same experiences then your argument loses its weight and empirical evidence although not proving the existence of God starts proving that the existence of God cannot be discounted due to replication. You talk empirical evidence but it is all around you and you simply ignore it. Today there are over 2.6 billion Christians in the world today from nearly every country in the world today most professing to have met God? That must be an amazing coincidence in your eyes. Also, as posted earlier, no one can see or know God if they continue to seek God in their sins and unbelief. Practicing sin and unbelief is what separates us from God according to Isaiah 59:2. Unless we are born again we cannot see the kingdom of Heaven and know God. Yet once again you will always have that burning question (what if I am wrong).
That's the formula for self-deception: 'First I choose to believe something, then I believe it.' What can't you believe using that method?
I use to believe that as an atheist. I thought to give faith in Gods Word and repentance of me sins a try to see if God was real as faith and repentance are Gods conditions for finding Him through His Word. Now I am convinced that it is self deception to think you can ever find God if you continue in your sins and unbelief when it is our sins and unbelief that separate us from God. Now lets get real. If there was a God (I say that on your behalf I know there is a God) then why can't he set the conditions on how and who he chooses to reveal Himself to? I did not set the conditions for meeting with God. This is something God made through His Word. The scriptures are how we find God. They are like a lamp and a map when the road is dark and narrow (John 3:36; Matthew 7:13-26).
I've told you that I don't read scripture. I just don't care what it says. When I saw "(see Jeremiah 29:13; Acts 5:32; John 3:3-7; John 3:36)" I knew that it was nothing I cared to read. Why can't you understand that? I gave you examples of what it's like to hear somebody else with beliefs you don't share offering advice from their belief set. You didn't even bother to comment you saw it. If you understand why you didn't care about any other ism's words, you can understand why you scripture is just like that for me. You'll need to make compelling arguments yourself if you want to persuade. That's not the way to go about it.
Yet here you are in a scripture debate forum. How ironic. Maybe you came to the wrong place. The only reason I posted those scriptures if you took the time to read the rest of my post instead of micro quoting me you would see that those scriptures was only provided in support of what I have been telling you from the beginning. That is according to the scriptures, no one can see or know God if they continue to seek God in their sins and unbelief. Practicing sin and unbelief is what separates us from God. If we continue in our sins and unbelief we will be forever lost in our sins and unbelief and only meet God come judgement day according to the scriptures because we never tried to find God in Gods appointed way. This is why you cannot find God.
Sure, very young. One of my investigations was a decade in Christianity beginning about that age. Then I returned to atheism and humanism, went to school, married (happily the second time), devoted much of my life to travel, art, and music, and retired to paradise. That's what life is at its best - love, friends, beauty, peace, and a sense of connection and belonging in one's world. And if there is consciousness after death, we'll discover that then and explore that.
This section of your post reminds me of the scripture in Hebrews 10:26-31 that says; "26, For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, 27, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28, He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29, Of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite to the Spirit of grace? 30, For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, said the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For me these scriptures state your experience perfectly. If you stay in known unrepentant sin according to these scriptures you will not need to worry about the afterlife. You will die in your sins and will need to stand before God. If you had peace in your life you would not be here right now spending all your time in Religious Forums.
That's why the fiction of hell was devised
I agree. Biblically there is no such thing as the Roman Catholics version of eternal burning Hell. The Hebrew and Greek simply means the place of the dead. In most context it is a reference to the grave. In others the judgements of God.
"What if I'm wrong?" It's to prevent thinking like you just read, which liberates one from the bondage of the empty threats of a god created for the purpose of threatening man and giving him commands. But they made mistakes inventing this god that let us understand that it is a fiction. It's an allegedly perfect god who also regrets his mistake and tries to correct it with another mistake by using the same breeding stock. It's an allegedly tri-omni god that presides over a world full of what would be needless suffering if such a god existed. That's the Wizard of Oz, and we can see who's pulling the strings.
The fact is as humans we can be right or we can be wrong. Both can have either positive or negative consequences right? So there is nothing wrong with critical thinking. Being wrong can also mean that our understanding of what we thought was right were simply lies so we should always be prepared to examine ourselves. Lets also be honest here. We are all in bondage to sin. Which is defined in the scriptures as breaking Gods law and not believing and obeying what Gods Word says. Society and countries are governed by law millions of different law to promote civil rest and they still do not work because people break them. It is sin (breaking law) that is the cause of all sorrow and suffering that is in our world today. It is mankind's departed from God that has caused their own sin and suffering. Sin (breaking Gods law and unbelief) is what we are in bondage to and it is sin that is the cause of sorrow and death. We play in it we will be lost in it.
Critical thinking allowed me to understand that god claims were all fictions and poetry or worse and to reject them again. And I have never regretted the return to atheistic humanism and am grateful that I possessed the tools to get out of that mental pitfall I had willfully walked into. I was still able to experience cognitive dissonance despite having chosen to suspend disbelief and was still able to evaluate evidence und understood what it revealed. So, I escaped. Without those tools, I'd have been locked in. That's why I say that learning that skill was one of the best things that happened to me. It has served me repeatedly since. With it, I have no trouble knowing whether to take a vaccine, where there is a climatological catastrophe looming, or who won the last American presidential election.
Sounds like critical lies to me from someone who was once a Christian and gave their life to God but then fell back into temptation and sin which led them away from God and His Word into unbelief in fulfillment of the scriptures in Hebrews 10:26-31 as posted earlier. Yet here you are today in the Religious forums because I believe deep down inside you have no peace and the burning question "
What if I am wrong?". Please forgive me but I do not believe you learned critical thinking. So we will agree to disagree on that.
Take Care.
