What faith (if faith at all) do you think is the most plausible? I have no idea right now, so I'm just trying to get a few different view points on faith anf morality so I can shape my own view.
They're all equally ridiculous. People with faith in a higher being should fashion their own beliefs based on their own beliefs, and lead their own lives rather than doing what their magic book tells them.
Well, I'm atheist - agnostic, and I feel like it makes a lot of sense. I feel that there is no good, and even if there is a god, we won't ever know in this lifetime, so why worry about it.
That's pretty similar to the way I feel about it. The way I feel is, there probably is a god, at least I would like to believe there is, but I refuse to accept the way any of the major religions describe him is accurate. I believe in evolution and various other ideals that are incompatible with major religions, but I do believe there is a god, I just don't know for certain exactly what, if anything, he wants from us, and I'm not pretentious enough to assume I do. So for now, I'll live my life as best as I can and worry about it as little as possible and if I die and float up to heaven and it turns out one of the religions was actually the real path, then I'll apologise there and then and accept my mistake, and if god is as forgiving as the major faiths say he is, then I'll have nothing to worry about.
"Oh hey, God...I guess you are real...I was just kidding when I sad your Word was a joke and that your believers were ridiculous. My bad, I'll just walk on into heaven now. ttyl." Yeah, definitely nothing to worry about. -_-
GOD: "Oh hello... wait?! You didn't think I was real?!?! AWWW HELL NAW... GTFO" *Faith-Hammers you back down to the non believers*
...right, except that I don't doubt that he exists, just that any of the major religions are right. And if it turns out one of them is, well, all of them say god is always forgiving, so I'd have nothing to worry about. And if it turns out none of them were right, then I have nothing to worry about. It's like a double-edged sword, only both the edges are blunt.
But it's ridiculous to think that you'll be forgiven after you've been proven wrong. Yes, God is forgiving, but only those who have faith and (in my case) have accepted Christ's sacrifice. So I'm afraid that would be too little late. I'll give you a verse from the "magical book," if you're inclined to read it. John 20:29
Right, so god is only forgiving to those who choose the exact right path to follow and follow it perfectly, which in this case is the path you've chosen, correct? So, assuming you're Christian based on your last message, you believe every atheist, agnostic, jew, hindu, muslim and buddhist, along with all the other factions of Christianity that have similar but not identical beliefs to yours, will not be forgiven? How conceited one must be to fully believe that they and others that share their ways are alone worthy of forgiveness and entrance to the afterlife. Your arrogance is astounding. Tell me, do you propose that all of those that live good lives, performing good and helpful deeds simply to make the world a better place rather than in the name of a god, are somehow less worthy of entrance to heaven than those who contribute nothing to humanity but that they leave their couch on sunday to attend church and slap a "Christ Saved Me" bumper sticker on their car for no other purpose but to secure their place in heaven? Asking to be forgiven after being "proven" wrong, or at least realising the error of one's ways, is one of the major foundations of christianity itself. Your bible says we are forgiven our sins and trespasses, and yet you propose that only those that do not sin in the first place are forgiven? Or perhaps only those that sin while believing exactly what you believe are forgiven. Maybe it's that only particular sins are forgiven, who knows? I say, do you think god will be pleased with your arrogant assumption that you could possibly know exactly what he will and will not forgive? And if he's displeased with it...will he forgive you? I'd be careful about answering that one. Lastly, I wonder, what if you came face to face with god, and he told you that the path you followed was wrong. Would you regret it? Would you humbly apologise, acknowledge your mistake, and ask forgiveness? Would you expect forgiveness? Do you think you would receive it? Think hard before you reply. I would welcome a good debate.
I pick my battles wisely, and don't entertain people who pose arguments about religion just for the sake of debate or with the intent to instill doubt in those who do have faith. That being said, salvation is non-denominational, so no, I'm not assuming that everyone outside of my denomination is wrong or damned. Is it really arrogant to believe that I have a place in heaven? Absolutely not. I'm not going to judge the way anyone else choses to worship...that's not my place. I just know where I'm going and trust my faith. But what I do know is just being a "good" person isn't enough because you can never truely know what is good without God. Soooo that's all I'll say. *Posting from my phone. Ignore typos plz and thx.*
I'll be damned if i can not know what is good or not. I sure the hell don't need some 3000 year old book written by humans to tell me how to live a good life. I've done just fine so far and will continue to do so until the day I die at which point just like the flies, ants, birds, cows, dogs, and trees I will die and be nothing more or less then a part of the life cycle of earth. BEAM ME UP...
I most certainly do not intend to instill doubt in your faith. I challenge your beliefs because they are illogical and I seek to better understand why you believe them. People often assume that, because I ask questions that seem belligerent or aggressive, that they are not real questions, when the truth is quite the oposite. Perhaps, perhaps not. According to the King James Bible, those that are truly deserving to pass heaven's gates never consider themself worthy of doing so, and it is that humility that is their final test. This oft-cited nonsense is one of the many things about religious people that irks me, because it is so absurdly illogical even for a group of people that believes a magic sky giant made us out of clay. If this were true, all atheists/agnostics would be roaming around killing eachother when they do, infact, have a sense of morals and justice hardly any different from those of a religious person. As I've stated in a similar thread to this, the percentage of crimes commited by religious people is far higher than that of those commited by non-religious people. The rate of crimes per capita is far higher in typically religious countries than it is in typically non-religious countries. Once again, it is astoundingly arrogant but moreso, ignorant to assume that people are incapable of knowing good without god. That said, I'll respect your choice to not debate this further and, having spoken my mind on the matter already, I'll leave it at that. Only if you ignore mine.
Pascal's Wager: even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should "wager" as though God exists, because so living has everything to gain, and nothing to lose. Of course, that's under the assumption that belief in God has no effect on your life on Earth, which is ridiculous, and that's assuming that belief in God is simply making a choice about it, rather than, per say, truly believing in it whole-heartedly.