par4dcourse Posted March 7, 2013 Posted March 7, 2013 I'm asked almost daily "why don't you believe in god?" usually followed by some form of Pascal's wager. I've come up with a short pat answer that seems to at least make them THINK. "I don't think there is a god because I have never experienced ANY empirical (provable or verifiable by experience or experiment) evidence that there is such. If there were an omnipotent god, I sincerely doubt he cares one iota what humans wear, eat, how they wear their hair, or how many times they think to themselves and call it prayer. If there were a god, he would be intelligent enough to judge not on silly religious practices, but on one's character."
Adrianime Posted March 7, 2013 Posted March 7, 2013 I'm asked almost daily "why don't you believe in god?" usually followed by some form of Pascal's wager. I've come up with a short pat answer that seems to at least make them THINK. "I don't think there is a god because I have never experienced ANY empirical (provable or verifiable by experience or experiment) evidence that there is such. If there were an omnipotent god, I sincerely doubt he cares one iota what humans wear, eat, how they wear their hair, or how many times they think to themselves and call it prayer. If there were a god, he would be intelligent enough to judge not on silly religious practices, but on one's character." Not bad. You could call god an "it" instead instead of assigning a sex .. Although I've always thought that a god (if the concept were true) would more likely be female, as females are the life bearers.
mymistake Posted March 7, 2013 Posted March 7, 2013 I wish you the best of luck on getting Christians to think. It's no easy task. I suspect I will have to face this a lot more very soon. I'm going to toss Pascal's Wager right back at them with Anubis weighing their heart and being judged by Yama according to Karma. Why don't Christians worry about those judgements? Oh yeah, it's because those gods are not real.
florduh Posted March 7, 2013 Posted March 7, 2013 I usually just ignore or deflect such questions. A couple of times I have asked them the same, "Why don't YOU believe in God?" Why don't they believe in Krishna, Odin, Allah, etc. What if they believe in the WRONG god? Meh, doesn't matter what you say to them, but I like your answer.
Lerk Posted March 7, 2013 Posted March 7, 2013 I wish you the best of luck on getting Christians to think. It's no easy task. I suspect I will have to face this a lot more very soon. I'm going to toss Pascal's Wager right back at them with Anubis weighing their heart and being judged by Yama according to Karma. Why don't Christians worry about those judgements? Oh yeah, it's because those gods are not real. If Pascal's Wager were any good, we should all be Unitarian Universalist, just to make sure we didn't miss whichever god or gods were real.
QualifiedCommenter Posted March 7, 2013 Posted March 7, 2013 Christians, especially if they're younger, are taught not to take in thoughts like those. They're told NOT to think about these things, since it could (*cough*mostdefinitelywould*cough*) damage their faith. This is something that was taught in my youth group a lot. Before I was an atheist, Pascal's Wager really convinced me. The only thing that got me thinking was when I decided to think for myself. No argument in the world could have forced me to do it. It had to happen by itself. I guess it's lucky I was kind of always a skeptic, though, even as early as Jr. High when I began asking questions none of my youth leaders could answer in any convincing way. I doubt most people are skeptics about whatever they're taught to believe, so I doubt many people would have had the same cause to even look into things the way I did.
user_0168486295 Posted March 7, 2013 Posted March 7, 2013 I'm glad I'm not in your shoes, par! Asked almost DAILY? I'd be on a killing spree by now! lol
Chikirin Posted March 7, 2013 Posted March 7, 2013 I'd say "Because I see no evidence for any 'holy spirit' being present in the lives of believers" The Holy Spirit is not something that is in the past, or something that is to arrive at some date in the future, the holy spirit is supposedly the present manifestation of God. I thinks puts much more pressure on the christian to explain it. The christian hasn't the luxury of it being way in the past liek the resurection, or promising it will be revealed in the future, liek the rapture. He has to show evidence of it now, but there is no way he can do so.
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