What do you get from being atheist?
More sleep on Sunday mornings.Freedom from sin.
Intellectual liberty.
Lots'o proselytizing from fundies.
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What do you get from being atheist?
- Thread starter Evangelicalhumanist
- Start date
Freedom from sin.
Intellectual liberty.
Lots'o proselytizing from fundies.
RestlessSoul
Well-Known Member
Open your heart with complete humility and willingness, and perhaps She will. Perhaps She already has…
You know, I actually despise this ridiculous notion that those who don't believe what you do, don't believe it only because they're stubborn -- have "closed hearts."
To put it to you succinctly, that is hubristic rubbish!
In fact, most of the atheists I know are much, much more open to learning and investigation than most of the theists I've met.
RestlessSoul
Well-Known Member
Strong words, seems I touched a nerve.
But please understand I’m not talking about belief, I’m talking about experience. And I’m sorry that by your own pride, hubris, prejudice or fear, you deny yourself the possibility of that experience.
Actually it's not him, Its those to use irrelevance because irrelevance is what they want people to believe.
BTW, the heart is muscle.
Here's the thing, though: we can steal good ideas from anywhere.
As a non-adherent of a religion, I can still cherry-pick all the demonstrably good and true parts of it and use them myself. The only things that the adherents get from their religion that I can't is the stuff that isn't demonstrably good or true.
If there's an effect of religion that's positive, I can have it, too.
But here's the thing: from my perspective, what you're selling does not strike me at all as having anything to do with a "Creator's purpose for humanity." In fact, it's indistinguishable from a scam.
If I thought that a creator did exist and had a purpose for humanity, there's nothing about your religion that would suggest that I might find it there.
As someone whose religion is very much grounded in experience and constant questioning and learning, I think this is unfair. Humans derive different meaning from their life experiences. Differences in conclusions may have nothing to do with arrogance or pride, fear or prejudice, much less any active denial of anything. It can involve those things, but not by necessity or nature. I would not call a polytheist, monotheist, or atheist prideful or arrogant because their experiences of the sacred led them to different conclusions about it. I would call them followers of their own nature and being in accord with who they are - or at least I hope they are.
From what I understand, God does not hide/veil himself from creation, except their acts are for other than him. Your direction is other than God. Had your direction, journey, and aim been God, you would have seen him clearly in your soul and beyond in the horizons and sky connected to this world. More over, you would have seen the guides and lanterns appointed to guide you and be your companions in the journey to God.
The problem atheists are in a far place, and even if God is proven in a logical manner, they are in a state of rebellion and hate towards the truth.
But while my mind is Muslim and a believer in God, my heart is a hedonistic polytheist (low desires and bad people as gods). It's as if I don't believe in God.
Sometimes the guilt is overwhelming that I wish that it was all not true what my mind knows to be true. But I won't take my mind to the grave, but rather my heart and soul will be there, and I'm not better than any atheist but worse in terms of the evil situation and distance I am in.
I've been in the past on the path towards God and remember the place of proximity to God and his guides. It's been a long time since I been there.
Sometimes when I think of friends and colleagues going to hell and people who are good to me, going there, I wish hell was not true. But my wish for hell not being true won't change reality.
The biggest problem in the world, is that believers are full out hypocrites - double faced - and hardly acting on their knowledge. They talk the talk but can't walk the walk.
I deserve hell. It's hard to admit. But it's true. If God saves my soul and frees me from my evil ways, it won't be out of anything I earned from honor nor merit, but purely out of his mercy and grace. It's up to him.
The problem atheists are in a far place, and even if God is proven in a logical manner, they are in a state of rebellion and hate towards the truth.
But while my mind is Muslim and a believer in God, my heart is a hedonistic polytheist (low desires and bad people as gods). It's as if I don't believe in God.
Sometimes the guilt is overwhelming that I wish that it was all not true what my mind knows to be true. But I won't take my mind to the grave, but rather my heart and soul will be there, and I'm not better than any atheist but worse in terms of the evil situation and distance I am in.
I've been in the past on the path towards God and remember the place of proximity to God and his guides. It's been a long time since I been there.
Sometimes when I think of friends and colleagues going to hell and people who are good to me, going there, I wish hell was not true. But my wish for hell not being true won't change reality.
The biggest problem in the world, is that believers are full out hypocrites - double faced - and hardly acting on their knowledge. They talk the talk but can't walk the walk.
I deserve hell. It's hard to admit. But it's true. If God saves my soul and frees me from my evil ways, it won't be out of anything I earned from honor nor merit, but purely out of his mercy and grace. It's up to him.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
I feel the same way.
And you're doing it again, as if you can't help yourself! What prevents me from having the experience of having my arm broken? Not breaking my arm is what! And not having whatever "experience" you have had is because I didn't have it, not that I denied it to myself.
And often enough, since you were willing to push the matter into my face again, there are a whole lot of "experiences" that people think they have that are in fact 100% fantasy. There are quite a few mechanisms by which the brain can generate "experience" that never happened, which you can find by doing a little browsing into neuroscience. The generation of false experiences by the brain is a complex phenomenon that has been studied in that field. Above all, you have to understand that the brain is not a perfect recorder of events; instead, it actively constructs perceptions based on sensory input, memories, and internal cognitive processes. Here are some key factors and phenomena related to the generation of false experiences:
- Perception and Interpretation:
- Sensory Input: The brain relies on sensory information to construct its perception of the world. However, sensory input can be ambiguous or incomplete, leading to perceptual errors.
- Top-Down Processing: The brain often uses prior knowledge, expectations, and context to interpret incoming sensory information. This can sometimes result in the misinterpretation of stimuli.
- Memory and Reconstruction:
- Memory Distortions: Memories are not perfect records of past events. They can be influenced by various factors, such as emotions, post-event information, and cognitive biases, leading to the creation of false memories.
- Reconstruction: When recalling memories, the brain reconstructs the events based on stored fragments of information. This process is susceptible to errors and alterations.
- Cognitive Biases:
- Confirmation Bias: The tendency to interpret new information in a way that confirms preexisting beliefs or expectations, potentially leading to false conclusions.
- Expectation Bias: The brain may generate experiences that align with expectations, even if the actual sensory input is different.
- Hallucinations:
- Sensory Hallucinations: The brain can generate false sensory perceptions in the absence of external stimuli. Conditions such as schizophrenia or certain drug-induced states can contribute to hallucinations.
- Dreams and Imagination:
- Dreaming: During sleep, the brain can generate vivid and immersive experiences that may feel real, even though they are entirely generated internally.
- Imagination: The brain has the ability to create mental simulations and scenarios, blurring the line between imagined and real experiences.
- Neurological Conditions:
- Certain neurological conditions, such as epilepsy or migraine auras, can lead to altered perceptions and experiences. These conditions may involve abnormal neural activity that can generate false sensations. Other such conditions include agnosognosia, schizophrenia
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
It is? I don't believe that God hands out any free passes.
I would not want to sin even if I was an atheist. Some sins are bad and other sins are just boring.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
I get all of that and I am a believer.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
I'll second that.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
God has a purpose for humanity but you won't find it in Christianity because Christians do not know what God's Purpose for humanity is.
It is hinted at in the Bible but Christians have misinterpreted the Bible so they are still waiting for something that is never going to happen.
Catholics can say that, too. There's afternoon and evening Masses on Sunday, so you don't have to go in the morning if you don't want to (or can't because of your work schedule, like me, since I have to be at work at 6am on Sundays).I get all of that and I am a believer.
Yeah... your religion feels like as much as a scam to me as Christianity feels like.
Maybe a different flavour of scam, though. The Baha'i faith has more of an "MLM" vibe to me... or at least that's my impression from the Baha'i members here. Still nothing I would look to for profound truths.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
What something 'feels like' is not always what it actually is.
I do not know what MLM is.....
Where would you look to for profound truths?