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Why Debate the Existence of God with Non-believers?
- Thread starter steeltoes
- Start date
To plant seeds of doubt that may later sprout.
Aren't the non-believers the ones that doubt?
I was referring to placing seeds of doubt in their atheism.
Sir Doom
Cooler than most of you
More than anything, because I find it stimulating.
I also have a strong urge to refine my beliefs on the subject with the input of those who don't believe a scrap of it.
I also feel compelled to dispel what I see as misconceptions about God.
(yeah I mostly copied and pasted this from the other thread
)
What is it like to be a former atheist?
Sir Doom
Cooler than most of you
Believable.
For me, just barely so.
I must assume that when it happens is because of very unusual circunstances. And although it may sound disrespectful, I must assume that they were somehow not truly atheists deep down.
Way better now. As you probably know, I believe in reincarnation and the eventual merger in the divine.
It's better in enthusing my internal efforts for spiritual mindedness knowing that all that is not annihilated at death.
It enthuses me to know the best is still ahead for me and others. That is a positive.
It's pleasant to know loved ones who have passed are still experiencing, loving and progressing.
I know the atheist responses to these things but I would not have any motivation to make any spiritual efforts if this is all there is. Maybe that's just me because I'm naturally an inactive and depressive sort. Pointlessness is something easy for me to grasp onto.
My reason for believing comes from objective study and consideration (starting with a study of the so-called paranormal) but these are the subjective advantages I've found.
So that they have doubts about their doubts?
Gjallarhorn
N'yog-Sothep
Sounds a lot like the "scared straight Christians" who were "atheist once", did drugs and felt reality lose its whimsy, got arrested, then found their way back to Jesus.
Yes that's it.
Yeah. For as long as I knew you, you never looked even remotely like an atheist.
It must have been a terribly difficult time for you.
I can't begin to figure how it happened.
Sir Doom
Cooler than most of you
You may have a point there. I can only speak for my own experience, of course but when I was atheist, it had a lot to do with having recently discarded the faith of my childhood. I was pretty angry at having been 'duped', as I saw it. Eventually, I realized my own responsibility in the entire affair. Since then, I have tried to be as open and honest with myself about what I believe as I can. This lead me to recognize that I WANT there to be a God, whether there is one or not. Now, my path is clear. Find the God that does exist. Still working that one out.
You do know I'm talking decades ago now. If I was a former atheist how would you expect me to look?
Yes. But a lot of life is difficult in your late teens and early adult years for many theists and atheists.
You mean the conversion? The first NDE books were released in the mid 70's and the hard materialism seemed untenable. But then what? I began investigating and went through a progression from spiritual but not religious, to Baha'i, to spiritual but not religious again, to advaita (after investigating Satya Sai Baba in depth).
More skeptical.
True, but what I mean is being or believing yourself to be an atheist is so not you. That alone must have caused a lot of suffering.
No. You thinking of yourself as an atheist in the first place.
I honestly have a harder time thinking of myself as a former atheist than thinking of myself as a former male.
Heck, I have an easier time picturing myself as a werewolf than as a theist.
That is believable enough. That is like you, like what I know of you.
But to think that you once saw yourself as an atheist... still boggles the mind.
Gjallarhorn
N'yog-Sothep
Consider the fact that he experienced this in his teens and young adulthood. How many teens call themselves Satanists or Christians or Buddhists or atheists or vegetarian without actually following what the label applies to?
Sounds more like teen confusion and rejection of parental opinion that was given a completely antagonistic term to label it.
Hmmm....You seem to think being an atheist or a theist is more built into the machine than I do. And it's very hard or rare to go against the design of the machine. I don't see it that way.
I was more logical than most. The arguments of hard determinism seemed to be all that could possibly be right.