When I was in college I was an atheist, on a trip to Mexico I was busted for drug smuggling and the federal police shoved me to the ground and placed machine guns to my head, I tried to pray. But I think that was just a reaction to the fear and terror I felt, but it was desparate prayer none the less.
I've heard many atheists I know say Jesus wasn't real, just because they didn't believe in God. Now, they are all around my age, so maybe they haven't researched their atheist ways enough. Not saying you believe Jesus is divine or the son of God, but Jesus did exist. Don't understand why people try to say he didn't.
My age being 20. Even if one thinks Jesus was just a fool walking around trying to say he is God, there was still a man named Jesus walking around saying he was God. Historical fact.
No it's not. I already posted this link in reference to one of your previous comments. Again: http://www.nazarethmyth.info/Fitzgerald2010HM.pdf Just because there's a story doesn't mean it's true, especially one that is so poorly corroborated by non-religious sources of the time (as well as there being no existing eye-witness records).
It is "historical fact" that people ~ 100 years later wrote that there was a guy named Jesus who walked around. Then later people wrote that it was written that he walked around based on NT documents. There is no "historical fact" that it was true. There was nothing written during his time that identified him or any kind of rebel religious leader in the area. No extant Roman documents. The historical record, unfortunately, is filled with many things that were written as "true" that were completely made up. Corroboration is usually the best way to parse these out. Jesus's story does not really have corroborated historical accuracy. They might have existed and are lost now or they might not have ever existed. Regardless, there is no "fact", only assumption, educated guesswork, and/or belief and faith. I pray to Joe Pesce. I prey on hot chicks. Because I am married. The devil wishes he was as evil as the wifey.
I believe that it is a natural inclination of the human being to pray to a higher power. Atheists and those that are of any faith whether or not if they are practicing & devout, half-assed or are apathetic, when there are times of overwhelming hardship, fear, terror, or any calamity of some sort, the human being is compelled to call out to God for help. I'm a Muslim and this is actually mentioned in the Quran. The faith and the faithless, those that worship statues and think there are many god etc, or those that don't even give a damn whether there is a God or not, all call out for God to get them out of sticky situations and when the calamity they are facing subsides and there's a period of ease, they are ungrateful and act as if God didnt just get them out of their pickle. So for an atheist to "pray", it wouldn't surprise me because it's intrinsically a part of our nature because we were created to serve and be dependent upon our Creator. Amazingly, God allows us to have free will to believe or disbelieve. He allows us to ponder upon the world around us and come to the conclusion that He created mankind. He also allows us outright reject the fact that He even exists. No matter our own choices, it is still part of our natural inclination to be dependent upon our Creator because God made it that way.
Nope. I hope and wish for things, but never pray. I do say "oh my god" out of habit, usually with an F word before the god part. A couple of my girl friends took me out to dinner for my birthday, and before the meal, they bowed their heads and prayed. I felt really uncomfortable because I wanted to laugh. Does that make me a bad person?
It might be intrinsically a part of our nature - and it might not. You are assuming everybody prays when they're in trouble. I assure you there are people who do not. Also, we're taught as babies that everything is given to us from "above". And then as children, we're taught to always ask our higher powered parents to get us out of difficult situations. And as children, many of us are taught to pray to God/Allah or whatever deity. So is it intrinsic? I don't know. I would say it is learned. Tough to tell. The one thing I would say is that it's not amazing that "God allows us to have free will to believe or disbelieve" when disbelief equals torture, pain, and misery. If I wanted people to have free will on whether or not they wanted to follow me, I certainly wouldn't make them guess as to whether or not I existed with no empirical evidence for my existence whatsoever. I would make myself so obviously evident that everybody knew I existed, but had the choice as to whether they wanted to follow my plan or not. If they did, I'd save them. If they didn't, I might let them die a natural death, but I certainly wouldn't torture them. That just seems evil.
depends? bad to me is lying (no matter how big or small) cheating (no matter the amount) envy (trying to out do other people) hating (not forgiving others completely) grudges (holding back good from your enemies) prejudice (living like you are more important than other people) vanity (thinking even if there is a god he is meaningless compared to yourself)
So, the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the Book of Acts were written in 134 AD? Hmm, you could make a lot of money with that discovery. Can you prove it?
It is logical to hope. It makes now more palatable. Why set yourself up to live stressed, depressed, anxious and disappointed if you can mitigate it in your on head?
It's widely accepted by historians that the gospels were written at least 50 years after Jesus' death. And many historians, such as Bart Ehrman, have "proved it" (at least outlined the evidence which leads to that conclusion). It's really not cutting-edge information... In fact, just Wikipedia it (and of course confirm everything you find with the sources... don't just take Wiki's word for it): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Matthew - "between AD 80 and 90" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mark - "around AD 64" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Luke - "early as 59 or 60" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_John - "written c. AD 90"
What's stressful, depressing, or disappointing about not having a god up in the sky? How is "hope" lost? Hope for what? Hope for a pipe dream where you get to live forever and ever in a magical wonderland?
Mostly I do what I did anytime I was doing poorly on a class near the end of the semester: just assess the possible damage of the worst case scenario and work on the backup plan.
1. I was thinking more along the lines of Josephus who "wrote" about Jesus circa 94. His work is not referenced until the mid 300's and the only extant copies of his work are medieval. 2. I used "~" for a reason. It doesn't mean "precisely". I don't think I can make money on that discovery. 3. The gospels themselves are tricky because their dating is varied (3814 is off with his numbers...how can Luke be before Mark, etc.? Consensus range is still 70-110 or so). There is no archaeological record of them until about 170 and nothing solid until the 4th century (all of that to be expected considering the history of the early Christian churches) so that doesn't help, either. 4. Gospel motivation is obvious - they are religious texts. If you want to accept them wholeheartedly as "historical evidence" then what of all the other religious or cult texts from the same time period? Religious texts are not historical records by themselves.
Never. However, this thread got me watching a few "the Atheist Experience" youtube clips. Its a lot like reading yahoo! comments, full of entertainment.
So, if a theist ever has a moment of doubt, even if it is absolutely hollow and purely reactionary/habitually enforced, they're not a theist?
