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Originally Posted by excon

Hello:

Well, I'm an athiest and I'm not happy at all. I guess that proves it.

But, I don't think I'd be happier if I started pretending about things, though. Do you know how silly I would feel if I started pretending? No, you don't, do you?

excon

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I think that Pretending is a huge factor here. We need to look a little deeper about what we are actually saying and doing. No pretending just honest words and thoughts...
I mean really, if I look hard enough and deep enough, I will see that I have definitely pretended, purposely as well as accidentally... No pretending. It is so hard not to be contradicting. So hard that I question my own faith. Hugs to all. Start

Thank MY GOD, (GET IT)

I NEVER SAID PEOPLE WHO DOD NOT Believe WERE UNHAPPY. You point out where on earth I said that. All I said was that in my opinion those that truly believe are CAPABLE of reaching a happiness that those who do not believe cannot reach as it says in the BIBLE, (not in those exact words of course). SO, if I believe the bible because I believe in God than I am only telling you what I believe. NOWHERE, did I ever mention that non-beleivers were miserable people, you guys or girls keep thinking that is what I am saying and that is what has caused this whole discusiion to spin out of context. I too am done with this topic, I much rather talk about woman anyway:)

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Originally Posted by BMI

I NEVER SAID PEOPLE WHO DOD NOT BELEIVE WERE UNHAPPY. You point out where on earth i said that.

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Here you go -->https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/spirit...tml#post560524

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Originally Posted by BMI

I doubt the truly happy beleive in nothing, i just can't accept that.

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Does that not preclude that only believers can be truly happy?

NeedKarma, that is right. It is important to accept people for who they are and what they believe. No need to agree, just a need to accept it. I agree completely...

I'm an ateist I guess I don't classify myself I just don't believe, I went to church and bible groups and camps and all that memorized the bible versus and gave my heart to god , but I was just doing it because the other kids I knew did it. I never believed there was something out there I honestly think that the big bang theory is entirly possible and probable, and I think that's what happens when you die you get buried you cease to excist, I don't know if you go somewhere or have dreams or get reborn I guess I will have to find out but I don't think some mystic being that nobodys seem in thousands of years , and all we know is written in some book, he could have been a man with a big imagination and that's where the bible came from who do you know it wasn't a child's book meaning to teach children to be good and law abiding , why haven't we seen this god like I think its such BS a huge brain washing sheme ( that new movie jesus camp holy ****) I just think that it's a nice story but get your head out of the clouds sceience can explain everything, and when it can't its because were not smart enough to explain it I think God is a lie taking credit for what naturally occurs

The brain washed ones! w.e. I don't know if that's a good comment or bad but I was told my ideas on atheisim would not be critiqued so??

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Originally Posted by O_Troubles

the brain washed ones! w.e. i dont know if thats a good comment or bad but i was told my ideas on atheisim would not be critiqued so ????

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I gave you a green mark, but wanted you to know that I wasn't in the clouds...
I am not an atheist, but I do understand how someone would be. I can take it sweet... And by the way who said that your ideas wouldn't be critiqued?

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Originally Posted by firmbeliever

Please do not think that I am going to argue your points,just curious!!!:confused:

Thanks in advance.

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I guess critiqued was a bad choice of words but yeah power to all the jesus freaks out there but if you ask me WWJD I'm going to say " he'd renounce" I don't mean to be rude to believers out there I just don't believe so this is my opinion

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Originally Posted by O_Troubles

i guess critiqued was a bad choice of words but yeah power to all the jesus freaks out there but if you ask me WWJD im gonna say " he'd renounce" i dont mean to be rude to believers out there i just dont believe so this is my opinion

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I am the one who started this thread and I agreed not to criticise anyone's belief, but I am not speaking for those answering my thread, they are free to state their opinion as they see fit!:)

Oh OK sorry my bad... well then blow me away people.. just ask yourself WWJD ?

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Originally Posted by O_Troubles

oh ok sorry my bad... well then blow me away people ..just ask your self WWJD ?

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Not to sound dumb, but what does WWJD stand for?

"What Would Jesus Do" is that what it means...

If so it is not relevant to me as I am not a Christian...

Thanks for your thoughts though...

Yeah that is what it means I went to bible camps and we got braclets with WWJD on them so that if we were in a bad situation we could look at the braclets and be all "good" lol I knew a girl who had one one and I went up to her and asked her if she knew what her braclet meant she said no after I told her she flipped out and threw the braclet away her friend gave it to her and she didn't know what WWJD meant lol

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Originally Posted by O_Troubles

i guess critiqued was a bad choice of words but yeah power to all the jesus freaks out there but if you ask me WWJD im gonna say " he'd renounce" i dont mean to be rude to believers out there i just dont believe so this is my opinion

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Who are you calling a Jesus Freak... Just because someone stands for something different than you, you have decided to lable them as a freak. IT IS OK FOR YOU NOT TO BELIEVE SWEET, it really is.
And Firmbeliever, your thread has been enlightening. I love it.

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Originally Posted by startover22

Who are you calling a Jesus Freak....Just because someone stands for something different than you, you have decided to lable them as a freak. IT IS OK FOR YOU NOT TO BELIEVE SWEET, it really is.
And Firmbeliever, your thread has been enlightening. I love it.

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Thanks Start,:)
I thought it is interesting to see it all in one thread than read all the atheistic views given at different times on different threads...

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Originally Posted by firmbeliever

Thanks Start,:)
I thought it is interesting to see it all in one thread than read all the atheistic views given at different times on different threads...

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Nothing wrong with that either. :)

O Troubles, it sounds like your experience with church and bible camp was a little on the extreme side, so maybe you have a bad taste in your mouth with anything that is similar to that. I don't think that is what I, may others have discussed at all. Anyone has the choice to believe or not believe, we were given free will. That is a gift. Yes the big bang theory is possible and so is a creator to create a big bang. The specifics of who and what the creator is, and how, or what rules we should follow, all come from different sources, over thousands of years. Men did write the bible and no we don't know the intent of what God wanted, only the perception of the men writing it. HOwever, there wouldn't be so many religions if there wasn't some universal truth to all of them. I don't consider myself religious, although I was raised in a Catholic family. I have created a relationship with God that is personal. I recognize that God is within me and within all of us. The energy and the ability to give and receive love, is how I feel God exists. It is a opinion, based on my own life experiences. I have strayed away from God when I was younger and when I had my first child, I felt the love within me, for myself and for my child, that I knew had nothing to do with science. I cannot tell you what happens after this existence. I know that our physical one ends after this life, but I feel that my spirit will continue on and time is irrelevant to that. WE don't have the capacity to understand that now and that is partly where your skepticism comes in. NObody can force you to have faith or believe something that doesn't make sense, but when the beauty and wonder of love, nature and the small miracles every day, woke me up, there was no denying a creator that is greater than this existence, or for my limited understanding of it. I hope that you surround yourself with people who love and support you, regardless of your beliefs and that you may know that you too, have something miraculous in you that allows you all the feelings you have. It is beautiful and it is love, for me, that is God. Whatever you define it as, is fine with me. Just try to have an open mind for other perspectives as well. IT doesn't mean you have to agree.

Well I'm sure that all atheists are too much confused with all these religions existence. They think that the only way out is believing in non of these but it has been made clear that since the time there has been human life on this earth people have never stopped searching in something to believe. I have always believed that a human must have something to believe,a religion, that gives him/her strength because no one is perfect and we fail so often as humans in our daily lives and need support.. I believe that we can gain this strength by praying..

Actually, people believing in religion since the dawn of man in pretty simply explained. We need a way to explain what we don't understand, and in general, our feeble little minds don't think the way genius people's minds do. So, when ancient man saw it was raining he thought, "That comes from the sky. Something must be up there. I can't see anything up there. But something HAS to be up there. If that something can make it rain, it's pretty powerful. I'd better make it happy." Ancient man had no way of knowing rain is caused by a front moving in or a low pressure system. It took a while to figure that one out.

This sort of logic still applies today. Say tomorrow the sky turns bright green. Neon green, not a natural shade, and unmistakable that it is, in fact, green. Scientists are baffled. They don't know why the sky is green any more than anyone else is. You will have a lot of people who say that god made the sky green (some no doubt will say it's the end of the world), but you will have others who say there is a scientific reason for the sky to be green. A few weeks, months, maybe years pass with scientists trying to figure out why the sky is green. Eventually they find some new gas that reacted with all the smog or whatever and THAT'S what turned the sky green. Not god, gas and smog. Some people will accept the scientific POV and reject the "god did it" excuse. Others never will.

Of course my example is silly and totally made up, but it illustrates why man has always had religion; it's an excellent way to explain the things we aren't able to understand.

Just curious, how does science explain the ability to give and receive love?

Sure!

There are chemicals in the brain... actually, this is a medical explanation that I can't really give.

Can God explain why some people just hate each other, for no particular reason? Say... siblings who never got along, practically from birth, no matter how much they both tried?