Queen of Swords

Originally posted by Magus55
Everyone has the same intuition and ability to find God,

And with so many different gods to choose from, it's no surprise that some people find Allah, and some find Krishna, and some find Xenu, and so on. It's like a big Easter Egg hunt, where everyone gets an egg.

Rhaedas

Correct, that has the same flaw as Pascal's Wager, that you'd have to truly believe, without question...there's no "choice" of believing or not. Any god worthy of the title would know your true beliefs or doubts. The excuse "but I wasn't sure" won't fly.

And any god who creates a person who has a questioning mind, dictates conditions of pure blind faith to be saved, and doesn't allow any evidence of existance, is just sadistic. Or doesn't exist. Take your pick.

never been there

In practical terms, making people go through the motions serves the theistic purpose. If you can make someone behave as if they were religious, their beliefs will change to be consistent with their behaviour. There's a good account of this in Malcolm X's autobiography where he stopped eating pork before becoming a Muslim.

I don't know what makes the difference between that phenomenon and the young (or not so young) folks on these boards who ditch their faith while still attending religious services. Maybe it's like a fish in water - it doesn't affect you the same way if you're raised in it.

xsquid

I hear a roaring silence from Magus55. Maybe he realizes how dumb that statement was and is writing a retraction...?

Naaah.

winstonjen

My guess is that he's praying to find a way to refute the arguments, and as we all know, nothing fails like prayer. When no response is received, he'll repeat his assertions in an attempt to convert people.

Sound accurate?

AJ113

Thanks for the input so far. I am disappointed that I am no nearer to finding an answer to my OP, and that Magus failed to answer my question, but the response is really no less than I expected, to be honest.

As I see it, this is a serious religeous issue, especially for a recent de-convert like me. Unfortunately, I don't see the theists rushing to put me right on this, probably because they do not have an answer.

(OK, I know it's an atheist forum, but I also know that there are plenty of theistic members.)

Ah, well, off to hell I go...................

Kassiana

So what about the poor atheist who doen't have this elusive intuitive calling? Is he damned to eternal punishment because the god that he doesn't recognise failed to give him the intuition that would facilitate god's recognition and acceptance?

Kass:
No, because there is no such thing as hell. Far as I'm concerned, if there is an afterlife at all, probably atheists and agnostics get to choose whatever one they'd like, from drinking with Thor in Valhalla to the afterlife of Bob with Slack.

Of course, that depends on there being an afterlife. There may not be, in which case you're no worse off than anyone else.

Tellurian

My God, the Great Irony, sends all Theists to Hell and all Atheists to Heaven.

Opera Nut

Excellent points, gang.

Magus is SOOO predictable in his unprovable and untestable statements, it's not even funny -- it's pathetic. And it is so easy to shoot him down -- you don't even need to be a philosophy major or a debate team champ!!

keyser_soze

Troll and run called again, when will the horror ever end?