ex-preacher

I can see why someone would be agnostic about the giant and kind Invisible Pink Unicorn who rules the universe, but personally I cannot understand why anyone would choose to not believe in her. Surely you believe, ansar?

ansarthemystic

What does this mean? Are you being sarcastic?If you are it is uncalled for!And no I don't believe in the IPU.

peace and blessings

WWSD

Atheism is not a choice IMO. Here's why:

When I am interested in knowing the truth of a situation, I try to verify the truth using empiricism. I cannot rely on "faith" because that is not empirical.

Thus, if you told me that there were fruit flies living in Oregon and I was doubtful, I would try to find reliable data demonstrating thier existance in Oregon. If I found none, I would conclude that there are no fruit flies in Oregon.

Reliable data is data that I can see, that I can understand, that has been observed by a number of reliable sources, and, if it is of the type that can be replicated, that I can replicate.

Thus, I can read many firsthand accounts of people dealing with fruit flies in Oregon, I can see pictures of the fruit flies, I can ask someone in Oregon to send me some of thier fruit flies, and I can actully go to Oregon and track down some fruit flies on my own. All of these things would lead me to conclude that fruit flies did indeed exist in Oregon.

I cannot apply the same principles to a god or gods, I cannot varify thier existence in any other way than faith and some old texts which may or may not be authored by who they claim to be authored by.

By way of comparison, perhaps all the references I found about the fruit flies in Oregon were sparse and contradictory and were written by unreconizeable authors.

Perhaps I could find no one who had actually had any first hand experience with fruit flies in Oregon.

Perhaps I could find no preserved specimens or any live flies in the wild.

All of that would lead me to conclude that there are no fruit flies in Oregon. I did not choose to believe that no fruit flies live in Oregon, I came to the conclusion that no fruit flies live in Oregon.

Thus I have no belief in the existence of gods.

It was not a choice, it was a conclusion, just as I can conclude that there actually are fruit flies living in Oregon. Evidence is evidence, it does not allow for choice as far as I am concerned.

ex-preacher

Do you think you could choose to start believing in something that you really didn't think existed?

Could you choose to start believing in the IPU?

Could you choose to believe in leprachauns?

Could you choose to believe the moon is made of cheese?

What if I offered you large sums of money - could you choose to believe that your mother is not really your mother?

What if I threatened you with eternal punishment?

You can choose your behavior, but not your beliefs.

If you disagree, I challenge you to start believing in the Invisible Pink Unicorn.

pinkorag

Everything points to the non-existence of a god but of course you can't prove that because you can't prove a negative.

raindropple

Could please tell a few things that you were skeptic about in the "Koran and God"?

You were very religious. What does that mean? How did you fall out? Which Parts of the koran would you say made you fall out? What did you actually know about Islam? Do you think a good muslim is one who wears a scarf? If so where does this idea come from and why is it a bad idea? Please quote from the Koran.

Tell me about this climate you lived in?

Thank You for your previous replies.

raindropple

Please, could you explain to me how Islam shows you this non existence?

Also show me some things that points to non existence of a God.

Thanks

ansarthemystic

Can anyone PROVE that god or the Ipu does or does NOT exist? I don't think so. Therefore one can CHOOSE whether to believe or NOT to believe. Your analogies don't make sense to me. You seem to equate "thinking", believeing, with actual knowledge. If one knew for sure god exists one would stop believing god exists and know it to be true.

I could choose to believe in the IPU if I wanted to, it hasn't been proven to exist or not, just like god.

peace and blessings