General

I dont want to be any of the choices cuz they all sound related to Christianity and I don't want to associate with them

@axleary2010:
I can shoot down your beliefs when you're basing them on a Bible verse. Don't quote Bible verses to a Christian and expect your twisted interpretation to hold. That's not being mean, that's being fair.

If I told you God visits me on a daily basis and is physically in my room right now looking over my shoulder? I can answer that one for you, you wouldn't. Apparently you didn't read your Bible carefully enough because right now you are exactly what Romans 1 describes. "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." You've hardened your heart like Pharaoh. If you read your Bible, how do you not notice these parallels with yourself? God knew that there would be people like you, who decided that their faith just wasn't good enough for them.

God sent plagues and plagues on Egypt and Pharaoh and yet he refused to acknowledge God's existence because of it. Once you've hardened your heart as you have, God's essentially given you up to Satan.

You want proof that God exists? What proof would suffice? The Bible clearly describes people like you as refusing proof anyways.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.

If you did read the Bible, think about to how it predicts your exact actions right now. If instead you were lying, go try reading it.

Theist over here

[quote=Obscene]@axleary2010: I don't agree with you here. You said that "that's not what Jesus would have done". Yet in the Gospels there is the incident of Jesus going into the temple of flipping tables and making havoc. He seems to be doing exactly what you are describing here. Love is acceptance of the person, not their actions. The Bible also teaches that you should hate sin and some of the prophets claim that if God wills you to, you should be willing to even reach to violence to spread His will. Jeremiah 48:10: "Cursed is he who shows slackness in the work of the Lord, cursed is he who keeps his sword from bloodshed". The work of the Lord is combating evil, Satan and sin.

Now I agree with you about Christians forgetting to love people when they witnessing, and to be honest that's rather counter productive. However be careful when you use the term "greatest sin". It doesn't matter the size, any singular sin brings eternal condemnation on you. Christians screw up to, yes we should over time be screwing up less, but we screw up regardless.[/quote]

Okay, I was nice at first. But it is not okay for you to shoot down my beliefs like that. Why should I care about sin? I'm agnostic. Sins don't hurt me. Now I'm gonna switch this argument back to you. Prove to me that God is real. Where have you actually SEEN him. Don't tell me you felt him, because that's horse s***.

@cinamon87 We don't know that we're the only planet that can maintain life. We have only seen a decimal of the universe.

Atheist c:

[quote=WhaleKisses]Herp Derp[/quote]

the key-word is planet, not civilisation and yes there have been numerous accounts of planets with the same temperature/climate as ours that have water. It isn't a coincidence nor the work of some fictional higher being, it's a process that has taken 4billion years to achieve.

[quote=WhaleKisses]Herp Derp[/quote]

Haha. Perfect usuage, made me laugh.

OT: Theist.
Messianic Judaism.

[quote=cinamon87]God doesnt need to come here to show us he is real. He let the evidence all around us, why are we the only planet, the only planet with so much life on it, we are the perfect distance from the sun, if we were any closer or further we would either freeze to death or burn to death. that goes the same for the earths size. Is it just a coincidence that everything corresponds with one another. Plants need carbon dioxide, we need oxygen, it can't just be coincidence, everything about the earth is perfect. Scientists can't put into words shy the properties of water are so perfect, almost a medicine, the thing we need most, water goes in a revolving cycle forever. Water has a healing property, let me try and hear you say this is all just a coincidence. We are the dominating species,why? In the beginning of the bible it mentions that god wants us to populate the earth, and isnt that exactly what we did? There are so many reasons to believe, most people just ignore the facts, if you actually think you'll realize what god has intended, God bless all [/quote]

you do realise there are billions more planets like ours in the universe right?

Like every Muslim, I believe in "one" God and simultaneously believe in whatever scientific or logical reason behind any phenomena.

Oh and please, arguing about whether God exists or not is stupid, God mentioned in Quran/Bible(?)/Torah(?) that life was supposed to be a test of faith, and He would show Himself (physically and not physically, there is a lot of off-topic details about this point) until the world ended (called in Islam Al-Qiyama, and Armageddon in Christianity), so what kind of proof are you people trying to find when God Himself said that He wouldn't show Himself until life was over?

It's either you believe in the existence in time or you don't, hence calling life a test. No room for such thing as agnostic, simple as that.

[quote=cinamon87]God doesnt need to come here to show us he is real. He let the evidence all around us, why are we the only planet, the only planet with so much life on it, we are the perfect distance from the sun, if we were any closer or further we would either freeze to death or burn to death. that goes the same for the earths size. Is it just a coincidence that everything corresponds with one another. Plants need carbon dioxide, we need oxygen, it can't just be coincidence, everything about the earth is perfect. Scientists can't put into words shy the properties of water are so perfect, almost a medicine, the thing we need most, water goes in a revolving cycle forever. Water has a healing property, let me try and hear you say this is all just a coincidence. We are the dominating species,why? In the beginning of the bible it mentions that god wants us to populate the earth, and isnt that exactly what we did? There are so many reasons to believe, most people just ignore the facts, if you actually think you'll realize what god has intended, God bless all [/quote]

You sound like every single religious propaganda pamphlet that I have read. There are millions of planets in the same Goldilocks region from a star as Earth. Plants also require oxygen for respiration. So on and so forth.

God doesnt need to come here to show us he is real. He let the evidence all around us, why are we the only planet, the only planet with so much life on it, we are the perfect distance from the sun, if we were any closer or further we would either freeze to death or burn to death. that goes the same for the earths size. Is it just a coincidence that everything corresponds with one another. Plants need carbon dioxide, we need oxygen, it can't just be coincidence, everything about the earth is perfect. Scientists can't put into words shy the properties of water are so perfect, almost a medicine, the thing we need most, water goes in a revolving cycle forever. Water has a healing property, let me try and hear you say this is all just a coincidence. We are the dominating species,why? In the beginning of the bible it mentions that god wants us to populate the earth, and isnt that exactly what we did? There are so many reasons to believe, most people just ignore the facts, if you actually think you'll realize what god has intended, God bless all

I honestly don't care about religion in the least. So I guess I'd be in the agnostic category? *shrug*

@axleary2010: I don't agree with you here. You said that "that's not what Jesus would have done". Yet in the Gospels there is the incident of Jesus going into the temple of flipping tables and making havoc. He seems to be doing exactly what you are describing here. Love is acceptance of the person, not their actions. The Bible also teaches that you should hate sin and some of the prophets claim that if God wills you to, you should be willing to even reach to violence to spread His will. Jeremiah 48:10: "Cursed is he who shows slackness in the work of the Lord, cursed is he who keeps his sword from bloodshed". The work of the Lord is combating evil, Satan and sin.

Now I agree with you about Christians forgetting to love people when they witnessing, and to be honest that's rather counter productive. However be careful when you use the term "greatest sin". It doesn't matter the size, any singular sin brings eternal condemnation on you. Christians screw up to, yes we should over time be screwing up less, but we screw up regardless.

agnostic. even if i die and am brought back with a defibrillator and "see" heaven, that could easily be a result of my brain cells dying off. i'd ask god for proof that it wasn't that. and a few other personal questions...

Hopping between agnostic and atheist.

[quote=Obscene]@axleary2010: Props to you. 99% of people who say "I went to Church and it convinced me to be an atheist" never read any of the Bible. And you're right, it's not up to me to judge; I'm just tired of people who haven't read the Bible discussing Christianity. It seems to me though that you missed the point of Romans or as a matter of fact most of the Pauline epistles. Singing in your Church band, passing out Jesus cards and even loving in general do not equate to faith.

I was in a spot like you were too, except there came a day when things started to make sense. I too experienced "religion without faith". But when we let this happen, it's as CS Lewis puts it in The Screwtape Letters: "The church is Satan's greatest advocate."

I like your favorite verse. But if anything that verse points to the most obvious physical instance of the Holy Spirit that most people will encounter: love itself. From an atheistic viewpoint, can you describe love? How does patience, selflessness and humility fit in with the dog-eat-dog world of evolution? If anything love itself points to some kind of supernatural force (not necessarily the Christian God).[/quote]

Not necessarily. Love does not have to originate from any supernatural being. One of the main reasons I chose not to follow Christianity is because a majority of "Christians" do not live by love. The Bible, in black and white, says God loves everyone. And since everyone is God's children, we should love everyone too. But in today's society, that is not the case. Some Christians focus too much on belittling others and throwing verses at them trying to change or convert them, all the while saying they're doing it out of love. Love is simply being there for someone. Putting your arm around someone who needs it because you care about their well being. Their well being is NOT trying to fix them. Not judging them for who they are. Not trying to change them. For example, homosexuality. In the Bible, verses on God's love for every single human being on this planet is far greater than verses about homosexuality (there are only 7 verses on homosexuality, mind you). The saying "Love the sinner, not the sin" can only be followed to a point. Making it known that you hate their sin is not loving them. That's not what Jesus would have done. He would have loved every single person. Every. Single. Person. There are no exceptions. It says it in the Bible. You can not truly love someone if you also hate their sin. This is the only problem I have with Christianity. There are so many people that are so focused on witnessing to others, that they lose themselves and their track of their own sin. Because not loving others (and again, some Christians think that by witnessing to others and telling them that they are living wrong is an okay thing to do, when it actually hurts the other person) is the greatest sin of all.

And for the record, I do not claim atheism. I claim agnostic theism.

[quote=Fusionpressure]Atheist.

When I was a child I was immature and when my Grandfather died I cried to "god" and said why take him, why not me.

Growing up, my mindset changed considerably. My conclusion came around 15 years of age that there isn't a higher power.[/quote]

I understand completely how you felt but have you ever thought that maybe there is a higher power out there. Just not one like in the bible. Every creature in this world has base instincts and things like that. So ever thought that the god everyone refers to is just a being whos base instincts are to create. Why does it have to be some empathetic being? Also who's to say God doesnt give justice to people in the end?

But anyways im agnostic and won't sway from being agnostic until ive done enough research to make a well informed decision. If i'll even change then.

I'm an apathetic atheist. I think religion is a huge drag and a waste of my time and it has no significant meaning to my life; I don't care whether a certain deity exists or not because arguing about it is stupid. For my atheist side, I believe in science because it actually has theories that makes sense.

[quote=Jobrjo]I know for a fact God exist.

And this thread will serve no good, except for, as usual, flame wars with incorrect knowledge on all sides. I do hope I'm wrong...[/quote]

> Hopes for no flame war.
> Basically asked for a flame war with his first sentence.

OT: Agnostic ft Atheist. Mostly Agnostic. I guess I just don't really care for religion.

Atheist. However when I was younger I often considered myself to be a higher power or "special"... lol.

Im part of the 'Don't know, don't care.' people.

To religious peoples: If you have an ant farm, you got it to watch the ants do better and to grow a colony. You want to see them advance and start to live well, if your ants start worshipping you instead of working wouldn't you be a little annoyed? Just live your life, god or no god.

To Athiests: If theres no god stop wasting your damn lives arguing about it! You're just as bad as everyone else.

To anyone "Agnostic": Thank you for not assuming, you people are hopefully the ones that don't care and I applaud you for your common sense.

[quote=zero2g]I'll just leave it with this...

Real scientists never say they created, they say they discovered... Who or what left it there?[/quote]

Haven't figured that out yet, but whoever did leave it there doesn't want to be found.

Agnostic Atheist. I was raised a born-again christian by both my parents. Around age 14 I started questioning my faith after reading the bible more thoroughly, and realizing that almost all science I've been taught in school is not incompatible with what I learned as a christian. As they all make vastly different claims. I've began to feel like I was unable to come up with a good reason for believing in god. Of course, my reasoning was poor at the time. After learning about the scientific method and studying logical fallacies, that was it for me.
I turned to science.

@Omelet: Yes, this is very true. It makes me sick hearing people argue for Christianity when they don't know what they're talking about out and they end up worse off then when they started.

@SonsOfAnarchy: I understand that most Christians have never read the Bible. I looked at your study. It isn't about Bible knowledge, it's about "religious knowledge", AKA what the Catholic Church believes on the issue of transubstantiation and who founded Protestantism. These questions aren't answered in the Bible. However I do agree that there are atheists who are fairly knowledgeable about the Bible.

There are a lot of sheep in Christianity, and not in the Biblical sense. There are a lot of people who don't want to think for themselves and just follow the herd. However, this is not everyone. There are many of us who do study the Bible, and it's a completely different experience.

Agnostic I suppose since I never cared about religion one bit in my entire life
I almost never even thought about religion
I don't really care about our origins or about our existence
Sorry if that sounds ignorant

[quote=Obscene]@axleary2010: Props to you. 99% of people who say "I went to Church and it convinced me to be an atheist" never read any of the Bible. And you're right, it's not up to me to judge; I'm just tired of people who haven't read the Bible discussing Christianity. It seems to me though that you missed the point of Romans or as a matter of fact most of the Pauline epistles. Singing in your Church band, passing out Jesus cards and even loving in general do not equate to faith.

I was in a spot like you were too, except there came a day when things started to make sense. I too experienced "religion without faith". But when we let this happen, it's as CS Lewis puts it in The Screwtape Letters: "The church is Satan's greatest advocate."

I like your favorite verse. But if anything that verse points to the most obvious physical instance of the Holy Spirit that most people will encounter: love itself. From an atheistic viewpoint, can you describe love? How does patience, selflessness and humility fit in with the dog-eat-dog world of evolution? If anything love itself points to some kind of supernatural force (not necessarily the Christian God).[/quote]

[i] I'm just tired of people who haven't read the Bible discussing Christianity.[/i]

Not trying to be mean or anything, but I would bet money that the majority of "christians" have not read the bible.

@axleary2010: Props to you. 99% of people who say "I went to Church and it convinced me to be an atheist" never read any of the Bible. And you're right, it's not up to me to judge; I'm just tired of people who haven't read the Bible discussing Christianity. It seems to me though that you missed the point of Romans or as a matter of fact most of the Pauline epistles. Singing in your Church band, passing out Jesus cards and even loving in general do not equate to faith.

I was in a spot like you were too, except there came a day when things started to make sense. I too experienced "religion without faith". But when we let this happen, it's as CS Lewis puts it in The Screwtape Letters: "The church is Satan's greatest advocate."

I like your favorite verse. But if anything that verse points to the most obvious physical instance of the Holy Spirit that most people will encounter: love itself. From an atheistic viewpoint, can you describe love? How does patience, selflessness and humility fit in with the dog-eat-dog world of evolution? If anything love itself points to some kind of supernatural force (not necessarily the Christian God).

Atheist. I was raised by a christian father and a pagan mother, but at age 12 I began thinking for myself and separating right from wrong.
As a fellow redditor, I respect all faiths, but will never back down if it means protecting my own.

Deist, I believe in a higher power, but not in the interpretation that religion perceives. I believe it's something, I don't know what it is however.

@SonsOfAnarchy Or let's not forget how Republicans did us such a huge favor by halting funds to stem cell research for a few years.

Theist.

I've been going to Catholic church ever since I was inside my mom. After almost 17 years I can still say that I believe in God. Not with a blind faith though, cause I don't go around believing what everyone tells me. Basically I believe in what I've read and what I've learned throughout the years.

[quote=SonsOfAnarchy]I don't believe that people should be "entitled to their beliefs". Where did this respect and tolerance of religion even come from? Why does being religious give people a social license to push their religious views onto other people, onto politics, and onto the rest of society?

I think if people have beliefs that are not based on reason it can be harmful. I don't want someone who is highly religious affecting political and medical decisions.

Just look at the leader of Iran, he hates Jews and he has publicly said if he had a nuke he would use it on Israel, should he be entitled to those views? And many times these extremist views stem straight from extreme religious beliefs.[/quote]

Well, coming from that angle, I can easily understand what you're saying.

Religious beliefs are a sticky situation because it has the leverage to influence a wide array of decisions that shouldn't be influenced by illogical factors. I wouldn't want highly religious leaders out of the fear that their religion influences their decisions either.

However, I was mostly speaking for the average person that is unlikely to take extremist stances. If they're not making any decisions that are impeding on any other person's life, then they're entitled to do whatever they'd like. I simply see supernatural beliefs as anything else like your favorite sports team or what shows you like to watch, in the end, there isn't an objective right or wrong decision, you're free to follow or dislike whatever you choose to.

Agnostic. My parents never shoved my religion down my throat, although we celebrated the holidays as a proper person of that faith would. I see no proof with my own eyes that there is a higher being, and I see no proof that there isn't a higher being.

[quote=xXheadsho7Xx]if you stand by that statement, why do you not consider the idea of God creating humans a theory as well? judging by what you said, you argue that evolution has no proof, and i say the ideas you were raised by do not contain it either.[/quote]
aren't you jewish? O.O

@SonsOfAnarchy: Of course I have, I asked him to put forth a response to my question which he already answered.

Thiest.

God is unfalsifiable.

An atheist will look at evolution and say, "With this, we are able to understand how life came to be and how we got to the point of where we are."
A theist may look at evolution and say, "This is another example of a creation of God. Just like a pebble or a dolphin, processes such as evolution is God's work."

A concept may be seen in radically different ways depending on an individual's point of view.
Some people may look at concept 'a' and be satisfied with what they see and take it for what it is - concept 'a' is concept 'a' - there is nothing more to see than what can be seen. Others may be unsatisfied and try to find a more abstract explanation to an abstract question, i.e., "Why does concept 'a' exist?" that may or may not exist.

Since belief in divinity can be seen as a simple difference in point of view, then I'd like to think God can never be proven or disproven.
People are entitled to their own beliefs, beliefs are simply firmly-held opinions - opinions don't have to be based on facts.
I cannot think of any one way to disprove God. Even with finding the answers to the larger questions in life, someone with a different perspective will see it as just another answer leading to God.

Agnostic.

Pies, definitely pies.

Somewhere between Atheist and Agnostic I suppose.
Although I'm sure all of us in our lifetime have prayed to God for something even if we don't believe in him/her.

Solid Atheist.

[quote=MarxMaster]That would be an answer I would expect, but I wanted to ask the guy whom I directed the question at to double check.[/quote]

I understand. By all means, if those miracles happened today and it turned out that that story was actually true, I would believe in God. Right now, there is not enough evidence to prove that the event happened at all. Sure, they found wheels and bones at the bottom of the Red Sea near where they guess Moses and his followers crossed, but it has been thousands of years since then. Waters shift. Continents move. Even if only a fraction of a centimeter a year.

I had this discussion with my sister, and she said she was agnostic, I said atheist. She stated "Well I believe there's a higher power/god, but I don't know it."
I stated "I just think we're not smart enough to know how it [i]all[/i] happened."

[quote=MarxMaster]Why don't you?[/quote]

Easy. Because the Bible contains stories that can not actually be true. For example, the parting of the Red Sea. It is not possible, in any way, for this to happen. And if it did, why don't we see those types of miracles today? The answer is obvious: there is no God.

[quote=PinapplePoPo]I only drink dr pepper cause I'm agnostic [/quote]

Don't get it.

Of those three, I'm apatheist.

I consider myself a Theist, though I think religion is not a thing for me. I do believe in God but not in all the rituals of the religion...

i see myself as a Christian although i dont believe everything the Church or Bible says
i also believe in sience

[quote=Obscene]Just curious, in those 16 years of attending Church, did you ever read through the Bible in its entirety?

If not, I don't think those 16 years mean anything.[/quote]

Yes, I did. More than once. And I sometimes led services on youth night. My 16 years of religion is not for you to judge, anyways. I led a straight life. Not any time during those 16 years did I once experience God or the Holy Spirit. I sang in my church's band. I never felt the spirit while I sang, even though I closed my eyes and got lost in the music. I believe, now, that the Holy Spirit is not a real thing. Someone confused it with getting into the music, you know, when you get chill bumps up and down your body and you just dance and have fun. I spread the word about God to friends at school. I was that guy in the Walmart parking lot, going up to strangers and handing them cards with information on Jesus while saying "God loves you!" I was an all-loving person. But God did not let me know that he was out there. So here I am. I'm still the same person, really. I care about everyone. I love everyone. Even the Christians that try to shove the Bible down my throat, when they don't know that I have read it many times. They're usually surprised when I quote my favorite verses: 1 Corinthians "4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

If anything good came out of me being religious for 16 years, it's that quote. I follow it. And I think the world would be a hell of a better place if everyone else did too.

Just curious, in those 16 years of attending Church, did you ever read through the Bible in its entirety?

If not, I don't think those 16 years mean anything.

theist
I guess kind of an agnostic too