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Goodbye Jesus

The Bluegrass Skeptic

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TheBluegrassSkeptic

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If you haven’t read the recent Daily Mail piece by A.N. Wilson, I would recommend you do so to follow along with what I am about to go on about. Some of you might already be familiar with his emotional appeal drivel for Christ and might be able to save yourself the agony of reading more of his blatantly misleading depictions of atheism.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169145/Religion-hatred-Why-longer-cowed-secular-zealots.html

 

With that said, he likes to akin atheists belief that there is no soul to that of us believing we are “animated pieces of meat”. Sigh. I know what you are thinking, and what is brilliant about his work is that he actually proves that theistic beliefs in a deity being responsible for emotions and empathy would be considered “animated pieces of meat”. His article is essentially proving why it is a good thing to NOT believe in such things as divinely programmed morality and empathy.

 

Now, let’s tackle the article. From the get go, after his long rant about Easter, his emotional appeal for Christ based on his own “anger at being conned into believing that story”, and a hateful secular government that is ruining Britain, he decides atheists, well more specifically “material atheists”, have decided that humans are only composed of chemicals, and that does not explain emotion. So, I am going to assume that in this article Wilson has decided to toss all of neuroscience and biology out the window and put “God dunnit” in place instead?

 

I cannot accept the somewhat generalized view of material atheism. In all honesty, I think most atheists would be considered materialists, so I really do not understand why he would bother isolating such a specific word. We do not generally believe in souls or spirits. We do not believe in after lives. Overall, the atheist community accepts the idea that we are of our brains. Still, his framing of the atheist as being so detached from humanity is ridiculous. I think he is trying to distract his readers from what the heart of the issue really is, and it is at the center of a religion’s belief system, not that of the atheist.

 

We are not saying we are just animated pieces of meat. That is a very unfair analogy. Why not ask why it is such a terrible thing to believe that our emotions and reactions come from stimulus of our very complex system of senses, nerves, neurons, and chemicals produced by our bodies? I will tell you why, because this FACT of how our bodies works means is even more less likely that a higher power is in control.

 

Let’s take this even further. To say human emotion is derived from an idol and not from the complex workings of nerves, hormones and neurons is truly sad and insulting to the individual.By saying a higher power is the one making such experiences possible, then one is relegating a human being to something akin to an automaton.

 

We are apparently programmed ahead of time to react to certain things in a way God deemed fitting, after all, we are all individual. So He decided Mary will feel fear when she sees a spider, and William will feel immense distress if he has lost sight of his son in a crowd at the local mall? How is that different than an animated piece of meat? You have no control over how God programmed you to react because you are programmed. I would think that is the very definition of such a thing in all honesty.

 

At least with the scientific understandings of body signals and chemicals we can lend a more independent response to the world around us and not some programmed soul that risks damnation for not believing in a Holy Spirit. I respect A.N. Wilson’s choice to reconvert to Christianity and I would like to know what it is like deciding that he is now simply an animated piece of flesh only operating on the software God installed long before he was ever conceived of.

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I think one of the worst outcomes of Christianity is the notion that there are no gods existent apart from the one they worship. This leads people coming out of Christianity to throw off the notion of God altogether. I do believe in a higher consciousness whatever its nature and form may be. I do not believe we just came spontaneously from nothing and that we lose all conscious awareness forever at the moment of death. There are many spiritual people who detest the teachings of organized religions such as Islam, Judaism, and Christianity (the big 3) and yet steadfastly believe (based on spiritualistic experience) that there is indeed something "out there". Lately, there is a movement among scientists to even move away from a strictly materialist view of reality. This is being vociferously opposed by the adherents to scientific orthodoxy. The idea that there is something else out there that is beyond our space and time frame does not mean of course this being is anything like the biblical god. Personally, if the biblical God is God it would be an utter catastrophe and I would rather I had never been born! But we do not need to worry, the biblical god is an offensive illusion developed by primitive, racist men who sought power and riches.

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TheBluegrassSkeptic

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For me, personally, God isn't a notion, it's an antiquated term that people have not moved on from to the next step. I would think the next step is higher consciousness. Not so much as an architect being out there, but for us as a whole. Seeing how we can only observe so many dimensions due to the limitation of our beings, I really don't have any issue with those who believe there is something just beyond the veil of our senses. There is issue though with the non-materialist neuroscience supporters, and for me, the biggest issue is their leaders heading the push to maintain the idea of dualism are the intelligent design lackeys from the Discovery Institute.

 

I understand that by discovering how our emotions arrive out of the firing of our neurons, there is a further push to throw out the beliefs in souls and ghosts, etc. But, sometimes, by throwing out one belief in existence, the door to other possibilities open because it is no longer in the way.

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OrdinaryClay

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The atheist fear of facing their position head on is ever so revealing. If our minds are biochemical machines then make one. That's what science does. Instead we see posts like this that simply drop a bunch of science words into a mix of emotional (ironic) anti-Christian rhetoric.
 

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TheBluegrassSkeptic

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Which part is a "bunch of science words in a mix of emotional (ironic) anti-Christian rhetoric? Science words are not hard to understand, and there are plenty of resources online to help you learn them.  I don't see a constructive point here. You are always welcome to make comments, but if you insist on making belittling statements without any real substance to the conversation, you are more than welcome to shut the hell up and move on.

 

I give you a point for pity, since you had such a hard time with the content of the discussion, even with all the resources available to look them up. Willful ignorance is a sin you know.

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