Reasons for nonbelief

I can so see this thread getting off topic and bitchy, but ill try

What are your reasons for not believing in, or being agnostic about, g-d?

I don't think many people actually ask that without trying to convert the person who replies! So yeah. Not why you dislike religion (unless its part of the reason), but purely why you decided g-d does not exist (or skepticism in his existence)

I'll start if ya want.
I'm a bit of an odd one on this, cause I do believe, in a very abstract way, now. I started off being athiest, and I guess I was athiest partly because of my age (young teens).

The main reason is that I didn't (and still don't) feel that I need a reassurance. A lot of people seem to believe in g-d because it's an assurance, they can feel loved, and feel like good people, and I just think if you need a fairytale to make you feel loved perhaps you should work more on who you are then spend time worshipping something... I saw belief as a sign of weakness, and still do in some people. Now I've grown up a bit and realised that not everyone who believes in g-d is a scaredy cat with noone to love them, needing an excuse! I was an athiest because the alternative disgusted me and would make me feel weak.

(I'm not saying that believing in g-d made me strong with his love or any crap like that either. I don't feel weak because I don't believe g-d loves me. Believing to feel loved and not fear tomorrow still disgusts me.)

 

Hello there. I understand where you are coming from...and I can relate. I've been discusted by many things my whole life...trying to understand people and their reasons. Being athiest, I could see how being discusted would fall along the same lines. Believing there is nothing, I think, in my opinion, is giving up, copping out....but then I think again... Anything is possible.


I'm agnostic.
I believe that anything is possible...because it is... We don't know the answers, and we're still digging for them all over the world. Scrolls, what scrolls? Was god's signature on them.. did it glow from an unexplainable source? No. They are words.. like these are in these forums. They aren't proof. I look outside, did god create all of this? Then why isn't he here suffering or enjoying the earth with us? Does he have other worlds he tends to?? Was this one was not a victory? Did he leave us behind? Why if I 'can't' believe in him, I will suffer and burn and live in a hell for all eternity? I have an open mind...if he created me...he created that as well. I think that he would be a sick god to let those who have pure intentions, live in the dark with demons forever. And those who bowed down to him and repented over and over again, will live like clouds in a heaven that is beyond beautiful...forgetting about the ones who suffer down below. If there is a god, and I'm his creation...I'm ashamed to be that.


I believe that people surround themselves in religion as if though it were a bubble. To protect them from wandering into the unknown...because they'll never find it and if they tried to, they'd just get lost...they'd lose faith...something people need. They leave it up to the scientists, the Pope, Buddah, whatever they will.
People need to believe...they need a beautiful outcome, a place that never ends, because we're people and we have feelings, and we don't want to think that when we die,that's it. Say goodbye to your existance as a human being and say goodbye to that thing you called your spirit, your soul.

I believe that athiests should look around. There is something. Maybe not what you hear them talking about, but there is something, there is a reason for all of this, a cause, a possible higher power. But then again, who knows?


I believe in living. Not for a god, but for myself and for those around me. I believe that the bible has truth, but I'm not sure if it came from this mystical god. I believe and follow some things in the bible, only because there is truth and it applies to love. Whatever, whoever, wrote it, knew what they were talking about hundreds of years ago. I respect them for their intelligence.


I don't believe in bowing down or worshipping something that isn't there. I believe that could be foolish. I believe that I'll die. But I can only 'HOPE' that there's no ending.
<3

 

I decieded when i thought well the earth is about 4.55 billion years (plus or minus about 1%). We have not been on this planet for 4.55 billion years ..Why should i think God thought mmm i am bored let me populate this tiny planet with human life (and all other 'gods' creatures) . We are a carbon based life form and the amazing thing is we got to were we are now...now aliens giving us a push start, this i can believe.

 

interesting perspective. Although years of 'evolution' and learning and living to see the outcome of things, changes the next generation. There's a lot going on in our heads...and it keeps getting bigger...more intelligent. We keep evolving...into aliens, hmm..I don't know...maybe. Is that why we are unsatisfied?

 

I was half joking with the alien thing, but i can get into that thinking rather than a omni present 'god' .. it makes a lot more sense . Unfortunatly i don't think their is a lot going on in our heads (well that might be just me). We are unsatisfied because this is it and the truth is we can't accept that this is it so we make our lives and 'us' 'special' yeah are heads are getting bigger and bigger.

 

There are lots of reasons that I consider myself to be agnostic. I only have the time to touch upon a few of them. I suppose the main reason is an neverending search for truth, which religion fails to provide for me. If something is based on blind faith or falsehoods then I feel that I must reject in because it stands in the way of truth. Forgive me if I focus mainly on the Christian religion. I try my best to be completely respectful of everyone's beliefs, but it is the one that I am most familiar with. Even if I knew without a doubt that there was a creator, I would still choose not to worship him because I know absolutely nothing about him/her/it or what it's motives were for creation. If there is such an all powerful entity as God, then why would it have made the choice to bring evil into the world? In order to create something you must first think about it. If it is a thought that resides in your head, then it is a part of you. Therefore in order to create Satan, God would had to have Evil residing within. If you created a living thing would you would design it to kill and make others suffer? Why would our creator purposely create us to do such things? I can't think of a logical reason. I cannot even begin to force myself to believe that this very massive universe was all created as a distraction for human beings to look at, and that in the end it's all going to boil down to everyone either going to heaven or hell for eternity. I could go on and on about this, but I'll just leave it at that.

 

I agree with what many of you have said. I think at the base of my agnostic beleif is the ultimate search for truth. Even biblical verses enforce the importance of seeking, asking... searching. IMO anyone who speaks as if they have it all figured out is furthest from figuring anything out. Not to say that people do not have wisodm to share, but saying "god is this...", "god wants this...", "god says this...", "god did this..." Frankly it just pisses me off sometimes. People who will beleive something that is told to them without taking any time to research or seek answers for themselves don't have a lot of right to go around telling everyone else how wrong they are.


I am constantly impressed at how little many Christians know about who wrote the bible, who built it, who edited it. Paul's influence - Rome's influence - Pagan influence - Jewish tradition. I am conastaly amazed at how narrowly they can read the scriptures and take only the meanings that they have been taught - without actually thinking for themselves.

The only thing I know is that I don't know. I feel there is a force at work on this planet (anf proabably countless other planets) that can not be explained by scientific logic. Life is simply amazing in my opinion. I think we are a facet of something larger - something you could call god. But without being able to describe that beyond a feeling it can hardly be called a beleif.

 

I'm agnostic simply because to me, God seems extremely ficticious. For one, the only reason Christianity is so widespread is because Constantine (among other leaders) forced it upon his people. Later, the Catholic Church in the middle ages basically held belief by fear. I can't support anything with a history like that.

The ancient "mythology" used to explain things has long since been dismissed as stories. Personally, I don't see why modern religion is any different. Also, Jesus was considered a cult leader in his time. So was Muhammed (although he was more successful) and other religious founders. In my eyes, religion reminds me of a cult- a crutch to lean on when support is needed and a scapegoat for when things go wrong ("it's not my fault, it's all part of God's plan"). Maybe it's because I live in the deep South that I see it this way with Jerry Falwell and the holy rollers running amok, but it has deeply impressioned my views toward religion.

I think there's some kind of supernatural life force, but not in the form of a god or any watchful being.

 

Shock
"If it is a thought that resides in your head, then it is a part of you. Therefore in order to create Satan, God would had to have Evil residing within.

This is very true...I've never thought of this..thanks for bringing it to the light.

 

Shock

Occam agrees

But has learnt a small wisdom. You speak as you do because you , as occam , have a small understanding of the actual size of reality and it's complexity.

This small understanding..Is not a common thing.
He realized this in full at 37 or so when at a restraunt with 8 other people and someone starded talking about black holes
In one of occams greatest moments he spent a hour listening to everyones ideas on what exists beyond the sky...Without offering comment.
One of the hardest things he has ever done

Occam

The result was..despair

 

I used to think that I was crazy for thinking such things. I remember when these thoughts first started pouring into my head. It was the fear of going to hell that kept me from thinking outside the box. Once I broke the chains that had been wrapped around my mind then I was able to look at things from a unique outside perspective. It was very liberating to say the least.

 

erm..Lucifer (satans actual name, he seems to have a lot) was an angel rebelling against g-d, because they were given free will and because it was rebelling I don't see it as a part of g-d.. either way, he isn't considered evil in the initial literature on him, our interpretation was that it's evil to go against g-d's will. He doesn't guard over hell, or entice people to sin, either. hell was invented faaar later, he was simply banished to the lake of fire (a bit rusty on that, I think he's banished to fall into the lake of fire when the world ends).

:H man that sounds coo

Anyway what I'm kinda worried (worried? maybe not the word for it) about is that people don't separate g-d and religion.. you don't like religion, so you don't like the concept of a g-d.. That's what I'm kinda interested in, cause it's not the same thing and we're always so intent on putting the two together. Like, if I believe in g-d but also believe in science then some may view the science as overruling and thus I am athiest.. It's weird. I guess its because one began the other.

 

If he was created by god (by the way you don't need to censor the word), then god would have also had to instill that rebellion within Satan correct? I don't see how you fail to see it as part of god.

 

Disarm

Which 'begat' the other?

Occam

 

I had astronomy 114 this semester. forcefully rips your eyes open to just how small you are. I think the Hitchhikers guide also has a bit on this subject, as a method of mental torture if i remember correctly, a brief view of the entirety of exsistence, and where you stand in it.

as for why i after 18 years of being raised catholic i became atheist?

there's just no solid proof. it just occured to me one day...that the only reason i belived any of it was because I had been told to. turns out thinking for yourself is dangerous. it'll change ya.

 

No evidence.

 

Great minds think for themselves. Power to ya.

 

Not to defend Christianity here, but ... G-d's "gift" was that of "life," which constitutes "free will." Free will is not determined by God, but by the individual it is given to. And if that individual chooses to rebel, then that is the individual's decision alone.

The way I see it, if G-d and S-t-n exist, they are complete opposites to eachother, and the war is not good versus evil, it's "1" versus "0." G-d, of course, believing that free will is perfection even if it's evil half the time, and S-t-n believing the opposite.

This ought to be taken in the same sense that the universe is considered "perfect" if it attains minimum energy and maximum entropy, a simple chemistry concept that states that the laws of this universe attempt to make every unit of matter/energy completely uniform and repeating in every direction throughout the universe.

That's just my personal idea, though; that does not tie in with Christianity whatsoever. And that's IF G-d and S-t-n exist, which I don't believe they do (in the senses of either word).

 

Blackguard

Thus to satan and god...it is all a game.
For satan knows god..being omnipotent..can make satan go away forever.

A silly story...Winnie the pooh is better.
And christopher robin does;nt stove in the heads of his enemies like in the bible. Or send good men to eternal torment.

Any religion that has a hell..automatically disqualifies itself in reality.
For hell is gratuitous torture...[forever]

And no natural law is gratuitous.

Occam


Occam

 

So my and Hikky's plan to assassinate Satan is a no go? Ah well, that explains why my 20 years of taunting and deriding Satan as being a coward, to chicken to face me has not worked.

Seriously, I came to the same conclusion re endless gratuitous torture when I was eleven.
I can't see the Dalai Lama going to hell, that is the definition of ludicrous.