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[Me - about the video]
"I feel sorry that you do not understand the ways of our Lord. God is not imaginary, and I'm really sorry that you think so. I pity those who do not will themselves to believe. God is amazing. He has blessed me and others around me in so many ways. I know you will not be convinced by my words, much as I am not convinced [by] yours..."[Him - someone bent on crushing people's beliefs]
"laieesha[Me]
We feel sorry for all of you, I pity YOU!
I love how you say "I know you will not be convinced by words." Maybe if you had something plausible and even half intelligent to say to back up your claim god is real we could actually get into a real debate about it, but you have nothing but scripture, written by MEN, and your ridiculous faith in something you have been conditioned to believe. You're weak."
"ApocalypticMetalHead[Him]
How does having faith make me weak? Why the need to DEBATE about faith and beliefs? It's either you have it or you don't. I believe in coincidences, I believe in science -- but that doesn't mean I cannot believe in God.
If you are trying to "disprove" the existence of God, does that mean you don't want anything to do with those who DO believe? You may hate all those who believe in a higher power, but that just makes you a lonely person, and again, I pity you..."
"Believing that there is a god, and believing that by having faith in this god will help you in anyway shows how intellectually and emotionally weak one is. You can have faith in something without believing in god, but to have faith IN GOD is to admit there is a god in heaven and that's just silly. The need to debate is very IMPORTANT. These ridiculous beliefs affect all of us, even the many of us who do not believe in a god, and when this intrudes into our lives through politics and culture, it needs to be brought out in the open and debated. If you believe in science you cannot truly believe in god because the two contradict each other. If you really believe in both then you're a hypocrite[Me]
Being I have no need to disprove something so ridiculous and implausible I don't attempt to disprove god, I ask for proof of god, which there is none.
That is a great question! "does that mean you don't want anything to do with those who DO believe?" Being I have some family left that does believe in god this has been a conflict for me, for family I have decided to not debate them on their beliefs only out of respect that they're family, but I no longer have friends or acquaintances that believe, if I do met someone good and then find out they believe I politely engage them in debate, and if they can at least acknowledge to me that god may not be real I will accept them, but if they are so ignorant as to not even try to question their belief, I politely move on. I judge people's intelligence by if they believe, I make exceptions to those who were brought up from birth being force feed these stories, but eventually one has to think for themselves and if one can't admit to the absolute hypocrisy religion is, they're not worth my time or company. I have yet to find a religious person who has any physical(science) proof of any gods existence. Faith and scripture is not proof."
"Believing in both God and science does not make me a hypocrite. It makes me rational. Being rational doesn't mean I don't believe in God anymore. Knowledge and blessings are given by Him, to guide us but not restrict us from what we do. Some people take what the Bible says too literally, and those are the ones who restrict their every action. I am not one of them. I don't pick and choose what I follow, I just don't do the literal meanings of what was written a long time ago.************************************************
I don't believe I am weak intellectually nor emotionally just because I believe in the divine. If anything, believing in God makes me a stronger person. Like, when I get angry, I pray instead of lashing out. A weak person will not be able to control emotions. As much as I'd love to take revenge and inflict pain, I think about the consequence and worth of my actions. Rational. Strong.
I'm not perfect, but my beliefs guide me in the right direction (and it succeeds most of the time... again, I'm not perfect.) Also, those who believe in God do good things. We're not harming anybody. I'm just generalizing now, since there are people who believe in God who still do unthinkable things, but believing in God makes us form friendships, help others, and try to make our surroundings a little better by just being there. For me, it makes me a better person.
Oh, and as I've mentioned above about restrictions, it seems you too are restricted by your non-belief as much as others are restricted by their beliefs. Why would you debate those or not include others who has beliefs in your life? You should not call them ignorant. A person who has strong faith will not question their belief just for you to "accept" them. Faith should not be a basis for other people's acceptance.
Ok, so you ask for physical proof of God. I have to ask the same about science. Since the birth of science, it has always been about proving the unknown. Doesn't it start with an idea, and so tests are done to prove this idea? Lots of ideas have unknown results, hence the testing, yet they continue to do it because of faith. Is there proof that there is cure for cancer or AIDS? If there's no physical proof yet, why continue researching? Why do astronomers go out and beyond looking for proof of life on other planets? Has there been real physical proof of aliens? Curiosity? Maybe, but it is by faith that one day, there will be cure, that we will find the answers. This faith in the unknown keeps us going. The faith in God makes us better people.
Yes, this does affect everyone since it is in politics and culture, but really, what is the harm in that? I'm talking about physical harm, not the mental effect it has on atheists. Isn't it the people who have beliefs that are persecuted, not the ones who have no faith? Are we FORCING anyone to believe?
You may not believe in God, and I am not telling you that you should believe, I'm just saying that you should understand why others do..."
[Him]
"There is nothing rational about religion. By definition rational means being reasonable, sensible and of sound judgment, none of these can be associated with religion. "I just don't do the literal meanings of what was written a long time ago." You mean the old testament? If so, I can understand why a woman wouldn't take the old testament seriously, as much of it considered a woman to be lower than man and preached you have no place in the church other than to obey. The new testament was just a PR move, it was written, or re-written if you will, to make it look not as...horrible as the old.[Me]
A rational person would neither lash out nor pray, but I do not disagree your belief makes you FEEL stronger.
Nobody is perfect, there really is no such being that is perfect. SOME, some people of faith do very good things, some do evil things, and most just go to church every Sunday and leave it at that. Religion doesn't hurt anyone? Please. I'm both happy and sad your beliefs help you through life, happy that it helps, sad that a lie is what you base you beliefs on.
lol "Restricted by my non-beliefs" That's funny. I always love how you religious folks think us non-believers are the ones who are narrow-minded and closed-minded.
I not trying to be accepted by anyone, I'm on a mission of truth and religion sits in my crosshairs among other things. I'm not a mean person, I'm just an honest person.
Like all believers you give the same response to the proof issue, and I can't blame you being there is no rational or logical proof of any god. Your analogy is a bad one. There has been many cures for many diseases created and discovered by scientists, therefore a belief that there is a cure for everything can exist. What has god done that anyone can scientifically prove? Not one thing. Astronomy!? Astronomy is older than christianity! Astronomers have mapped our solar system and many others, they can see systems and events further off past those, therefore they have a REASON to BELIEVE. To be honest, in the last 50 years there has been more proof of ufos than any god. Other lifeforms would actually make more sense but I'm a skeptic there as well. So it's faith that will find a cure for cancer and aids, not hard work and experiments? Life itself is no mystery, we are born into this world the same way all animals and insects are, maybe not figuratively the same way, but we all are born, we live a while, and then we die. We are no more special than any other species and to think so is arrogant. What's beyond our planet, or solar system and deep space, now that's a mystery, but one thing I do know, it's not anything we know of.
Atheism is still a belief system, although theirs is much more simple and rational than yours. What is wrong with religion in politics? Only a religious person would ask this. Everyone is persecuted at one time or another. Yes, religion forces millions to believe, they are called children.
I absolutely understand why other believe, they're afraid and they're weak."
"I always love how you religious folks think us non-believers are the ones who are narrow-minded and closed-minded."
Not saying non-believers are narrow minded or closed minded. I think YOU are such because of the way you don't even give others a chance just because they believe in something. You're pretty much shutting out most of the people in the world, which makes YOUR world that much smaller. I'm happy that you have friends and that the people you surround yourself with all share the same "belief" as you do. At least you're not completely lonely. I know people who don't believe in God, but I don't exclude them from my life. In fact, my boyfriend does not share the same faith as me (or any religion for that matter) and yet I love him and I don't force my beliefs on him.
And no, I'm not saying FAITH will cure illness. I'm saying that FAITH in finding the cure is what keeps the researchers going. If they don't BELIEVE that they will find a cure, then why bother? They hope, they wish, they BELIEVE that one day, they will have the answer. My analogy was not a bad one. We're talking about faith, are we not? By definition, it is confidence in something or someone. Astronomers, clinical researchers, hell, let's throw in stockbrokers, who all have faith in SOMETHING even before they have proof. Same with people who believe in God or other great divine. We believe in something without proof.
You say you are just an honest person. Contrary to what you said, I think you ARE mean. You are bent on crushing what makes others happy. We are ants and you are a kid with the magnifying glass on a hot, sunny day. You claim you understand, it is because we are afraid and weak. For argument's sake, let's say you're right. We are afraid and weak... but we're happy. I'm happy. Believing in God makes me stronger in the sense that I do not crawl up in a ball when something bad happens and just let the world go by. My fear prevents me from doing bad things or causing pain to others. My faith lets me get up in the morning and do good things. I bet you wake up every morning thinking where and how you can rub in someone's face that what they believe in is complete and utter bullshit and see what kind of reaction you get.
Which brings me to another point, your last message, you said, "if one can't admit to the absolute hypocrisy religion is, they're not worth my time or company."
Hypocrisy. I think you just embodied it, my friend. Not once did I deny my faith nor did I say that religion is hypocrisy, yet you've spent so much time explaining your (form of) belief to me. I'm sure that the last couple of messages didn't take just 2 and a half minutes to think of or type out.
Well, that was fun. You can reply or not, but I'm done with this conversation. Til we meet again, non-believer..."
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