to all you nonbelievers in religion

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m1ldslide1

Platinum Member
Feb 20, 2006
2,321
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Well if you're still wondering, I think it's a crock of sh!t. The whole thing about faith is that you're supposed to honestly believe, through some collection of personal experience and spiritual feelings. Being told that if you're right you go to heaven, if you're wrong you've lost nothing doesn't in ANY way inspire faith in me.

Fire and brimstone in general wreaks of this to me - your belief isn't supposed to come from hedging a bet or self(soul) preservation, it's supposed to come from love of <insert deity> and deep acceptance of their principals. Hell, the whole thing with confession in the Catholic church and repentance with protestants is that you can mess up the deep acceptance part big time, so long as you have the love in your "heart". If you shallowly profess your faith with little personal conviction (like most folks) then you would think that an omniscient being would see right through it.

Speaking of omniscient beings, it's all been decided and free will is an illusion. This is getting into the cliche, but I mentioned it to a hardcore thumper once and was told "Well that's where the faith comes in - it may seem like a contradiction to you, but God knows what hes doing and you shouldn't think about it so hard".

Um, yeah, I don't pretend to out-logic omniscience, but as a call to Church I just don't buy it.

Confused sorry for calling you out - didn't realize that you brought it up because you'd heard about Pascal.
 

DAGTA

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,172
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Pascal's Wager worked for me. I decided to give it a chance and see what would happen.
 

Mathlete

Senior member
Aug 23, 2004
652
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I believe it was Thomas Aquainas that made the commentary about how you shouldn't "Wager" on religion.

Can we put a stop to all this "you should believe this" and "you shouldn't believe that" crap. Jesus Christ, I am a Catholic and this is getting annoying.
 
Jan 31, 2002
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Originally posted by: MichaelD
Originally posted by: confused1234
why dont you believe in the bible. what would happen if you keep convincing yourself that god doesnt exist only to find out when you die he does and you go to hell. so i say believe in god because if religion is wrong NO BAD can come form it and if religion is right so much good can come from it

I didn't read any posts after the intial one. Your entire post, though, was originally thought up here...a long time ago!

Pascal says REPOST!

"It is better to live your life as if there are no Gods, and try to make the world a better place for your being in it. If there is no God, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent God, He will judge you on your merits and not just on whether or not you believed in Him."

FTW

- M4H
 

touchmyichi

Golden Member
May 26, 2002
1,774
0
76
I wrote a term paper on how illogical Pascal's wager is, take some philosophy classes before you spout simplistic skeletons of decent arguements online.
 

yhelothar

Lifer
Dec 11, 2002
18,409
39
91
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Originally posted by: MichaelD
Originally posted by: confused1234
why dont you believe in the bible. what would happen if you keep convincing yourself that god doesnt exist only to find out when you die he does and you go to hell. so i say believe in god because if religion is wrong NO BAD can come form it and if religion is right so much good can come from it

I didn't read any posts after the intial one. Your entire post, though, was originally thought up here...a long time ago!

Pascal says REPOST!

"It is better to live your life as if there are no Gods, and try to make the world a better place for your being in it. If there is no God, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent God, He will judge you on your merits and not just on whether or not you believed in Him."

FTW

- M4H

Doesn't work according to christianity, as they claim you are evil by nature.
You're no better than a mass murderer to them.

 
Jan 31, 2002
40,819
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Originally posted by: virtualgames0
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Originally posted by: MichaelD
Originally posted by: confused1234
why dont you believe in the bible. what would happen if you keep convincing yourself that god doesnt exist only to find out when you die he does and you go to hell. so i say believe in god because if religion is wrong NO BAD can come form it and if religion is right so much good can come from it

I didn't read any posts after the intial one. Your entire post, though, was originally thought up here...a long time ago!

Pascal says REPOST!

"It is better to live your life as if there are no Gods, and try to make the world a better place for your being in it. If there is no God, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent God, He will judge you on your merits and not just on whether or not you believed in Him."

FTW

- M4H

Doesn't work according to christianity, as they claim you are evil by nature.
You're no better than a mass murderer to them.

Ah, but there's the important "I don't give a **** what they think" factor. :)

Christian: Blah Blah Blah Heathen Living In Sin Blasphemer Heretic Etc Thou Shalt Not
M4H: I'm trying to raise money for cancer research, piss off.

- M4H
 
Nov 3, 2004
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Originally posted by: virtualgames0
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Originally posted by: MichaelD
Originally posted by: confused1234
why dont you believe in the bible. what would happen if you keep convincing yourself that god doesnt exist only to find out when you die he does and you go to hell. so i say believe in god because if religion is wrong NO BAD can come form it and if religion is right so much good can come from it

I didn't read any posts after the intial one. Your entire post, though, was originally thought up here...a long time ago!

Pascal says REPOST!

"It is better to live your life as if there are no Gods, and try to make the world a better place for your being in it. If there is no God, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent God, He will judge you on your merits and not just on whether or not you believed in Him."

FTW

- M4H

Doesn't work according to christianity, as they claim you are evil by nature.
You're no better than a mass murderer to them.

depends on which of the billion christians you ask
 

oslama

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2001
3,103
33
91
Originally posted by: confused1234
why dont you believe in the bible. what would happen if you keep convincing yourself that god doesnt exist only to find out when you die he does and you go to hell. so i say believe in god because if religion is wrong NO BAD can come form it and if religion is right so much good can come from it

Why do i have to believe in the "bible"? why cant i believe in the koran, the gita or book of the dead?

What if when you die you do not go heaven nor hell. What if if your soul attached to the many noodles of the flying sphagetti monster and you were like 'man, i was reading the wrong book and following the wrong diety; I should have been worshipping pasta'.
 

Saint Nick

Lifer
Jan 21, 2005
17,722
6
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Your belief in God is only just if you believe it with your heart, not your mind. No amount of knowledge of the Bible, the history of Christianity, helping other people, and tithing will send you to heaven. It's you who has to dedicate your life to God, not your actions.
 

DougK62

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2001
8,035
6
81
Originally posted by: confused1234
why dont you believe in the bible. what would happen if you keep convincing yourself that god doesnt exist only to find out when you die he does and you go to hell. so i say believe in god because if religion is wrong NO BAD can come form it and if religion is right so much good can come from it

IMO, what you stated is much worse than being a true religious person, AND is much worse than someone who does not believe in religion.

 

Garet Jax

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2000
6,369
0
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Originally posted by: DonVito
Along the same lines, why would anyone refuse to believe in the Tooth Fairy? If you lose a tooth and you believe, you get a quarter under your pillow, whereas if you don't, you get nothing!

That's true, but a quarter is not quite the same as your soul...
 

So

Lifer
Jul 2, 2001
25,923
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Originally posted by: pOwder
Your belief in God is only just if you believe it with your heart, not your mind. No amount of knowledge of the Bible, the history of Christianity, helping other people, and tithing will send you to heaven. It's you who has to dedicate your life to God, not your actions.

How can I believe something in a pulsing mass of involuntarily moving muscle. :confused:


:p
 

imported_michaelpatrick33

Platinum Member
Jun 19, 2004
2,364
0
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Originally posted by: Jeff7
If I die and stand before God, hey, I'll believe he exists. And I'll say that he's an ass for giving humans one pitifully tiny lifetime to determine the ultimate nature and reason for existence (God did it), and then administer an infinite amount of punishment. That's just psychotic behavior.
If I die and no afterlife exists, I'll never ponder much of anything ever again, just basically rot in the ground.

Tjat is why you should be Hindu ;) Plenty of chances to get it "right." Of course for me God is all faiths paradoxically because God can be all things paradoxically. "Right" is a wonderful human construct to better ourselves at the expense of others when it comes to subjective cultural norms.
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,258
14,677
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Originally posted by: Garet Jax
Originally posted by: DonVito
Along the same lines, why would anyone refuse to believe in the Tooth Fairy? If you lose a tooth and you believe, you get a quarter under your pillow, whereas if you don't, you get nothing!

That's true, but a quarter is not quite the same as your soul...

heck no, you can spend the quarter on something material...
 

imported_michaelpatrick33

Platinum Member
Jun 19, 2004
2,364
0
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Originally posted by: newParadigm
omg. let it die. I am one of the most devoted people to the christian faith any of you will ever meet, but arguing on an internet forum isn't the right way to spread the message. I have succesfully preached to only one person on any internet forum, and he was already on his way to understanding the truth of scripture. If some one wants to be an atheist sobeit, scripture does sayt "the fool hath said in his heart there is no god", but my continual berading of someone will not change their mind.

Nice subtle condenscension :roll: :laugh:
 

6StringSamurai

Senior member
Apr 10, 2006
658
0
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I have a question to interject for all the wise all knowing religious ones of the board. If, there is a heaven and a hell, and if I choose not to believe, how will my "soul" feel the pain of the fires of "hell" if I lack the necessary nerve receptors and brain power to process that oh so dandy burning sensation?

Proud member of the church of "nonbelievers in religion"
 

MiniDoom

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2004
5,305
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Originally posted by: 6StringSamurai
I have a question to interject for all the wise all knowing religious ones of the board. If, there is a heaven and a hell, and if I choose not to believe, how will my "soul" feel the pain of the fires of "hell" if I lack the necessary nerve receptors and brain power to process that oh so dandy burning sensation?

Proud member of the church of "nonbelievers in religion"

Jews dont believe in hell.;)
 

CKent

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2005
9,020
0
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Lol, you people are hilarious. Some dipsh!t teenager hears about Pascal's Wager for the first time and makes a fumbling, stupid thread about it, and you argue for 2 pages and counting... Don't ever change, this is why ATOT is so entertaining :heart::D