Arken

Dinner.

Biff the unclean

Oh…well that goes without saying, cannibalism being such a large part of Atheism after all. You know how it goes. No god so we can have no sense of morality or beauty. Nope, everything is just atoms and meat. Save me a drumstick please…sorry, I didn't mean to say please

Mageth

Pain, suffering, fear and loss....but I also see salvation and utter peace ahead for the little person.

And do you see the God that stands by, watching, doing nothing, twiddling his thumbs between making the occasional pretty sunset, while that child and its family suffers, perhaps for years?

Demigawd

*whacks Biff on the head*

Not only did you say "please", you also apologized! What kind of evil atheist conspirator are you, anyway?!

Whispers

You guys are funny............crack me up!!!

Alan N

Sorry for the alias mix-up.

Christianity never told me what to think. They supply the message and the 'evidence [bible]', but it's your decision to align yourself with that system of belief or not. The church will no doubt attempt to harmonize your thinking into the mainstream view (of that church), but every social group attempts this. Every person decides for themselves every step of the way whether to ascribe to the 'thinking' before them. Regardless of whether you are a christian or an athiest or a buddhist, you go whichever way you want to go, given the evidence. Perhaps you value particular evidence more highly than a Christian. Perhaps they more than you. Christianity affected me deeply. It gave me great joy and hope. It was also the source of
even greater guilt and pain. I think no differently now than I did then. I simply decided to walk a different direction.

Evidence does not persuade. People choose to be persuaded.

Whispers

I do....I just dont see him like you do.

In one Buddhist tradition, the question..."why do we suffer", is answered simply with, "because we were born".

The concept of suffering is very tricky and may require another thread? I dont know?

I do not profess to have all of the answers, but I am certainly happy to expore these sticky areas with you. Let me know.

Biff the unclean

Which is why Buddhists want to excape the eternal series of lives unlike Christians, who do just the opposite and seek eternal life.

But that is the problem with the intentionally incomplete view of god you presented us with. You looked at the parts of life that you enjoy and attributed them to god. But instead of attributing the parts you don't enjoy to god too you went into a little tap dance

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?
-- Epicurus, (341-270 BCE)

Obviously this same tap dance has been going on for quite some time. Epicurus was talking about Zeus, but the gods of Olympus act no differently from your god. They act as if they weren't even there

Viti

Warning : the following links are to pictures that are graphic and deeply disturbing.

Maybe you could tell me what you see when you look at

Harlequin Fetus

In fact, maybe you can look through the images and decriptions here and tell me what you see


Edited to add disclaimer - liv

Steven Carr

You obviously know little of Christianity.

A true Christian would look at an 11 month old child and say that that was an utterly depraved creature deserving of hell-fire....

Please look up 'utter depravity' in a theological dictionary and tell us why atheists are wrong to reject the concept that humans are depraved, vile, sinful creatures.