Admin webmdave Posted September 24, 2007 Admin Share Posted September 24, 2007 Sent in by Richard L I find no evidence of an omnipotent omniscient deity participating in my life or anyone else's. I find no evidence of a deity intervening in history. Natural disasters, diseases and famines (events over which humans have no control kill people regardless of their faith or philosophy. The burden of proof rests with believers to show their God is real. If faith is your only evidence, than you can't expect those who trust empirical evidence to share your belief. Creationism is a futile attempt to reconcile the Bible with science. Proponents peruse scientific literature for disagreements about evolution, between scientists who agree that the Earth is billions of years old and the human species a member of the primate genus. Creationists refer to statements in the Bible that they believe reveals something that science “rediscovered†centuries later, but their examples are easy to debunk by a knowledgeable skeptic. The Bible cannot coexist with science in a rational mind. I see no evidence today or in history of miraculous signs. They would violate physics and therefore can’t be expected to be real. Jesus promised his disciples they would be able to do such miraculous signs (even ones greater than he performed). I know of no missionaries today who have healed the blind and deaf, or the lame or those infected with HIV or Ebola. The black plague spread across Europe killing millions of Christians. Why couldn’t the “saints†of that day stop this scourge? The answer is a simple one: such acts never occurred because they are impossible. The power of prayer to heal illnesses is due to the power of positive thinking. I walked away from alcohol and prescription medication abuse at just the time I was strengthening my conviction as an atheist. I had just be laid off, but found a good job two weeks later. I was an “atheist in a foxhole†and got out without Jesus. It took great will power, but I did on my own. That’s how I lead my life today. I live my life focusing on what is real and on things I can control, without relying on faith. We all have "day to day" faith in things, but the FAITH of religion to me overstates its usefulness. I find Heaven, Hell and the Biblical God to be human inventions. This deity has all the characteristics of an iron fisted tyrant who shows mercy to his followers and is vengeful toward those who defy him. I suggest the same for Zeus, Osiris, Allah, Vishnu and other deities throughout history.http://exchristian.net/testimonies/2007/09...st-because.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 I have very little to add to that. You're right on the money! I can see no evidence for a deity. What some people count as evidence does not come across to me as evidence--never did and probably never will. Just doesn't make sense. Never did and probably never will. Back in the days very long before I knew about evolution my mother insisted that we "just know" that God exists because look at the beauties of nature! That has never seemed like a convincing argument to me at all. I don't understand how that can convince anybody. Any observant person who grows up on a farm like I did knows that when you put seed in the ground and the conditions are right, the seed grows into whatever kind of plant the seed came from in the first place. Such a person also knows that babies of animals and humans come from the kind of parent that bears them. That's just the way the world works. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The seasons come and go with predictable regularity. No schooling is required to learn this and no schooling was required for the aboriginals to survive for millennia in this environment. Schooling and religion are secondary and learned. Becoming familiar with one's native environment is learned, too. But attaching religion or other philosophies to them is secondary to that, I believe. On the other hand, it may be natural for children to attach imaginary names to phenomenon they observe if adults don't give names to them. Most phenomenon come to us with names attached as we learn about our environment as children. If left to natural evolution, new names evolve as new knowledge is acquired and old beliefs are abandoned. I'm not sure how long it takes for a radically new worldview to develop so that the majority of humankind feels comfortable with it. More than one century--that's for sure. How long ago was it that someone first suggested that the earth revolved around the sun and not the sun around the earth? I think today everyone is comfortable with that, and has probably been for a couple centuries. But the idea of evolution has been bouncing around for two centuries already (it started long before Darwin) and we know a lot of people are still extremely uncomfortable with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piprus Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 So true, so very true... If we could just simply perceive life, and the experience thereof, as a journey. Something to be grasped, manipulated, and developed and nurtured to its highest possible level, for the benefit not of ourselves but for those who are in the thread of life behind us....what a beautiful concept...that is one of the very few things that I am willing to utter..."Amen". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eccles Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 This is one of the best testamonies I have read. I just wish all Christians or anyone who believes in a "god" on the basis of faith would just sit down and think: think how illogical is the concept of a "god". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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