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Hoosier:"Would someone intelligently explain the attraction to atheism?"
These are a few of the clues for me.
1. The origins of the new testament are extremely controversial. There are no original manuscripts, they are all copies, written by whom and when is debated.
2.The incredible creation story in which a perfect God created imperfection.
3. The dogma that I will burn in hell for all etenity if I don't believe in Jesus.
There are countless parables in the Bible that you must believe to be factual in order to be "saved". Now the Bible is a great book and it will teach you many life lessons, but to take every verse as God's written word is ludicrous.
I think we would all agree that you should'nt believe everything you hear. Maybe the Atheist simply wants empirical evidence or a personal experience to some degree. That's a basic human survival instinct, to investigate the waters before you jump head in.
Would someone intelligently explain the attraction to atheism? What is the draw to this religion?
I realize I never actually answered this one.
The draw of Atheism is simply a matter of applying an objective and rational viewpoint toward the concept of religion and exercising some critical thinking skills.
After that all you really need is intellectual honesty.
I don't think that all philosophies are religions but I do believe that all religions are philosophies.
I consider atheism a philosophy and not a religion. The thing is that there are very intelligent atheists and very dumb theists. Then again there are very intelligent people who simply refuse to acknowledge empirical data simply because they choose to believe otherwise (for example a dogma for theists and their ego for atheists).
Hoosier:"Would someone intelligently explain the attraction to atheism?"
These are a few of the clues for me.
1. The origins of the new testament are extremely controversial. There are no original manuscripts, they are all copies, written by whom and when is debated.
2.The incredible creation story in which a perfect God created imperfection.
3. The dogma that I will burn in hell for all etenity if I don't believe in Jesus.
There are countless parables in the Bible that you must believe to be factual in order to be "saved". Now the Bible is a great book and it will teach you many life lessons, but to take every verse as God's written word is ludicrous.
I think we would all agree that you should'nt believe everything you hear. Maybe the Atheist simply wants empirical evidence or a personal experience to some degree. That's a basic human survival instinct, to investigate the waters before you jump head in.
I see this type of response all the time and I don't quite get it. The disbelief in the Bible as the "truth" doesn't directly equate with atheism or agnosticism... it just means that you don't buy into the belief that the Bible is the truth.
It's possible to believe in the jist of the Bible without believing all of it and still claim to be a Christian. It's also possible to believe in the God of Abraham and not believe that Jesus is God, but just a prophet. And it's possible to believe that all "manmade" religion is hogwash but still believe that there is a "god" or higher power that created the universe.
I don't care what you choose to believe, but I don't think the next logical jump from not believing the Bible is completely true to atheism... but I could be wrong
Atheism cannot be proven and God’s existence must be accepted by faith AND it takes just as much faith to believe in atheism.
It is God’s desire for people to believe in Him by faith (2 Peter 3:9) and accept His gift of salvation (John 3:16).
If a person is not willing to accept God’s existence by faith, then they are definitely not ready to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Atheism cannot be proven and God’s existence must be accepted by faith AND it takes just as much faith to believe in atheism.
It is God’s desire for people to believe in Him by faith (2 Peter 3:9) and accept His gift of salvation (John 3:16).
It takes no faith to not believe in something.
It takes a lot of faith to believe in a fairy tale.
Atheism cannot be proven and God’s existence must be accepted by faith AND it takes just as much faith to believe in atheism.
It is God’s desire for people to believe in Him by faith (2 Peter 3:9) and accept His gift of salvation (John 3:16).
If a person is not willing to accept God’s existence by faith, then they are definitely not ready to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Ummmm.... and to that I say it requires just as much faith to not believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I then ask: Why don't you believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster and would you be willing to examine the proof if it were given to you?
twojciac:"I see this type of response all the time and I don't quite get it. The disbelief in the Bible as the "truth" doesn't directly equate with atheism or agnosticism... it just means that you don't buy into the belief that the Bible is the truth."
"It's possible to believe in the jist of the Bible without believing all of it and still claim to be a Christian. (Yea, that is called being a HYPOCRITE)
It's also possible to believe in the God of Abraham and not believe that Jesus is God, but just a prophet." (of course Judiasm)
"And it's possible to believe that all "manmade" religion is hogwash but still believe that there is a "god" or higher power that created the universe."(Agnostic)
"I don't care what you choose to believe, but I don't think the next logical jump from not believing the Bible is completely true to atheism... but I could be wrong [/quote]"
The question being addressed was how could anyone consider atheism and I pointed out some of the more obvious, blatant, in your face flaws of the Christian religion to give an example of how someone might consider atheism to such incredible myths. All major religions have their flaws, for they are man made, I would be just as quick to point out that they also have their beauty. The OP seems to believe it is a unique concept for someone to think outside the box or to examine, let's say a religion, rather than taking it on face value based on what someone else said or wrote.
We could pose the same question another way: " How could anyone question the validity of a religion or question whether or not there is truly a God based on empirical evidence? OR how could anyone ask questions ect...ect..
jfre81:"OK...maybe I'm missing something, but how is the lack of a religion a religion?"
It's a little bit like asking "What's the deal with anarchy? What draws people to that form of government?"[/quote]
So can we surmise that you consider Atheism and Anarchy as synonymous?
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Then again there are very intelligent people who simply refuse to acknowledge empirical data simply because they choose to believe otherwise (for example a dogma for theists and their ego for atheists).
