Post your tough questions for an Atheist/Agnostic.

Discussion in 'Religion & Philosophy' started by tecoyah, Dec 31, 2016.

  1. tecoyah

    tecoyah Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    As it seems there is a Christian thread meant to answer tough questions (and will not do so) I propose a like thread concerning the opposite. You might note the combined Atheist/Agnostic, this is to quell confusion as both terms apply equally when the Theist is involved.
     
  2. Greataxe

    Greataxe Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I would make the thread Atheist/Agnostic/Progressive. They are all outside the family of God.
     
  3. tecoyah

    tecoyah Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Your abilities as a mind reading psychic wonderchild are indeed amazing in their ineptitude and inaccuracy.
     
  4. Johnny Brady

    Johnny Brady New Member

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    Theists base their opinions on several thousand years of eyewitness accounts of close encounters between humans and offworld beings as listed in the bible, but what do atheists base their opinions on, seeing as their "bible" is empty?..;)

    [​IMG]
     
  5. Johnny Brady

    Johnny Brady New Member

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    Whoa Jack, perhaps the fault lies with you in not being able to understand their answers, including mine?
    Fact is I've gained quite a reputation on the internet debating circuit over the past 15 years as somebody who never ducks a question..:)
    How about it Rock?

    "C'mon, it's true, but that don't bother me, I just wanna prove somethin', I ain't no bum, it don't matter if I lose, don't matter if Brady opens my head, the only thing I wanna do is go the distance, that's all.
    Nobody's ever gone fifteen rounds with Brady. If I go them fifteen rounds, an' that bell rings an' I'm still standin', I'm gonna know then I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood"...

    [​IMG]
     
  6. tecoyah

    tecoyah Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Atheism has no Bible, it instead uses human senses and scientific knowledge to explain life.
     
  7. usfan

    usfan Banned

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    1. How do you know for sure that your experience is absolute, & that there is no possibility of a supernatural 'cause'?

    2. You said you trust in science, but science has no answer for origins, either the universe, man, or life in general. How can you be certain of a naturalistic belief in origins?

    3. Is knowledge possible? Can things about the universe be known, or is it all relative or unknowable? (Skepticism vs Relativism) IOW, is there an objective Reality? THAT is actually the very first question that needs to be established.


    "Nothing can be known, not even this". Carneades (c. 214 - 129 B.C.)
     
  8. Johnny Brady

    Johnny Brady New Member

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    I got College of Preceptors exam passes in General Science and Advanced Science in my final school year, and I regard the Bible as a chronicle of a "Superscience" that we currently know nothing about so naturally it intrigues me..:)
    In particular, Jesus's 37 miracles are fascinating, he seemed to have the ability to bend "reality".
    Like he said, " I am not of this world...though you do not believe me, believe the miracles...I'll tell you things hidden since the creation of the world" (John 8:14/ 8:23/10:38/Matt 13:35),
    so my question to you is- doesn't he interest you and atheists at least a little bit?
    Hey Spock will you listen to JC?

    "Affirmative, I'm all ears"
    [​IMG]
     
  9. Johnny Brady

    Johnny Brady New Member

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    Speaking of humans senses, can you tell us if these wheels are turning or not?-

    [​IMG]
     
  10. anomaly

    anomaly Active Member

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    Why can't nonbelievers just accept that god created everything and then was not satisfied with the result so he killed most of them by water forcing them to start again...

    then his creation again turns in a performance he's not happy about so in order to appease himself he demands the death of his own son to solve the problem...

    and created a place of eternal torture for those unwilling to praise him for this rational behavior?
     
  11. Thehumankind

    Thehumankind Well-Known Member

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    Why does atheists believe in the unknown?
    like the big bang theory?
     
  12. Durandal

    Durandal Well-Known Member Donor

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    Suits me fine. God (El/Allah, that is) is a dick.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Why do theists refuse to learn even the basics of the scientific theories and disciplines that they are determined to reject and ignore-- Oh wait, I just answered my own question :D
     
  13. Thehumankind

    Thehumankind Well-Known Member

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    Because theories are also beliefs that are not theirs. ;)
     
  14. One Mind

    One Mind Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Atheism is nothing but the arrogance of an ego who claims to know something which he or she can never actually know. So, they make a guess, and then claim certainty. Same for the believer in god or gods. The agnostic is more humble, exhibits humility and honesty by saying that they simply do not know. And he is the only one stating a fact. The other two, the atheist and the theist are just liars. Writing checks their ass cannot cash , or issuing promissory notes. So, it is little more than ego arrogance.

    So I have no questions for the atheist, or the theist. For I do not like people pissing on my leg while declaring it must be raining.
     
  15. JakeJ

    JakeJ Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    What, exactly, are the poll options for this baiting thread started on the Polls board?
     
  16. tecoyah

    tecoyah Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Thus the title of the thread.
    - - - Updated - - -

    I mistakenly placed it here....should be in religion.
     
  17. Diablo

    Diablo Well-Known Member

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    How do you compensate for not having the rituals that people of religion enjoy? For example, Muslims are entitled to pray 5 times a day, have a Jihad, kill apostates and treat women badly. Christians, not so much. Crusades are off and they can't burn non-believers at the stake any more. Demonising gay people is OK, though. Do you feel you're missing out?
     
  18. HonestJoe

    HonestJoe Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I thought I’d really throw people and answer some of the actual questions (the vaguely serious ones at least). I should point out these are only my answers as I couldn’t and wouldn’t claim to speak for any other atheist/agnostic/non-believer;
    Well obviously only (most) Christians base their opinions on the Bible, not all theists and nobody will base them exclusively on the contents of a single book. You can’t avoid your general life experiences influencing your thoughts and opinions and most western atheists will have some experience of the Bible and so it will have some influence on our opinions too.

    1. I personally don’t claim to know (like many atheists and all agnostics by definition. I don’t know there is one and certainly don’t know which of the countless proposed it would be so it makes no sense to me to act as if any specific one exists.

    2. Being atheist/agnostic doesn’t automatically imply a “trust” in science. As it happens I do trust science to do exactly what science does, which is provide tools for examining and explaining phenomena. It is limited, largely in our abilities to use it and so we can’t have all of the answers to everything. As with the previous question, I don’t assert certainty in any explanation for our origins and actually feel no great need to know.

    3. That’s a big question but in simple terms I don’t think any individual being can know everything (because the “storage” for that knowledge would have to be bigger than the universe itself). I certainly don’t think we (individuals or as a race) can ever know everything or even most things. We can only ever work on the basis of our extremely limited viewpoint.

    Atheists don’t automatically “believe” the Big Bang Theory (and theists don’t automatically not believe it). Frankly most people (myself included) don’t have the knowledge and expertise to really understand it in the first place. None of us are especially rational in our views of the world around us and the things we believe, regardless of our specific opinions on the existence of gods.

    The general answer to all these is that we’ve all got a lot more in common that most people give credit for. Being human has infinitely more impact on what we think and do than theism or atheism ever could.
     
  19. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    The Bible is not based on eyewitness accounts. Nearly every book in it wasn't written until centuries after the events it purports to describe and the other books were written decades later.

    It's third hand accounts at best.
     
  20. Johnny Brady

    Johnny Brady New Member

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    You're an atheist so of course you'd bring up that old debunked conspiracy theory..:)
    PS- For centuries atheists said "Nazareth never even existed in Jesus's time", but they were left red-faced when that consp-theory too was debunked-

    [​IMG]
     
  21. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    What conspiracy theory? The books of the Bible were written at the very least decades after the events they purport to describe and were not written by the people they claim to be about.

    They are not eye witness accounts. Hell, the "books of Moses" weren't even written down by until more than a thousand years later. How can those possibly be "eyewitness accounts"?
     
  22. Johnny Brady

    Johnny Brady New Member

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    Haha that's just more consp-theory stuff..:)
    No offence mate, but are you Jewish?
    The life expectancy of the ancient prophets and early Christians was not very long at the hands of the snooty Jewish priestly establishment and their lackeys, so what on earth would have been the motive for anybody to sit down and make it all up?
    For example Stephen said to the snoots-
    "Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of Jesus, and now you have betrayed and murdered him too!"(Acts 6:52)
    And he got stoned to death for upsetting them-

    [​IMG]
     
  23. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    Again, what conspiracy theory? How can a book be an eyewitness account if it wasn't written until a thousand years after the events it describes?

    Do you think every single other religion on the planet that you don't believe is is involved in a conspiracy theory in regards to their holy texts?
     
  24. Johnny Brady

    Johnny Brady New Member

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    1- Matthew and John were actual disciples so their street cred was pretty good, no wonder their gospels quickly became bestsellers!
    2- Christianity is the only religion with the Son of God himself in it, which kinda gives it an edge on all the rest..;)

    Jesus said - "I've beaten the world" (John 16:33)
    [​IMG]
     
  25. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    None of the Gospels were written by the people they were named after. Linguistics studies prove this. Apparently quickly means "took several hundreds years" in your mind.

    Other religions have actual gods in them. Why are they not superior?
     

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