Agnostics “R” Us...

fuck that Jesuit

 

Nobody actually ‘knows’ anything more than that.
All else is just belief by faith.....x

 

o rly?

 

“Why should we place Christ at the top and summit of the human race? Was he kinder, more forgiving, more self-sacrificing than Buddha? Was he wiser, did he meet death with more perfect calmness, than Socrates? Was he more patient, more charitable, than Epictetus? Was he a greater philosopher, a deeper thinker, than Epicurus? In what respect was he the superior of Zoroaster? Was he gentler than Lao-tsze, more universal than Confucius? Were his ideas of human rights and duties superior to those of Zeno? Did he express grander truths than Cicero? Was his mind subtler than Spinoza’s? Was his brain equal to Kepler’s or Newton’s? Was he grander in death – a sublimer martyr than Bruno? Was he in intelligence, in the force and beauty of expression, in breadth and scope of thought, in wealth of illustration, in aptness of comparison, in knowledge of the human brain and heart, of all passions, hopes and fears, the equal of Shakespeare, the greatest of the human race?”
― Robert G. Ingersoll, About The Holy Bible

 

Yes.

Yep.

He created the universe. Isaac Newton was a total believer BTW.

 

@Jazzer I apprecaite the opportunity to post on a Forum category that is not

I appreciate the idea behind this thread, but I don't believe in debate with theists. They are going to invade this thread and try to ruin it. I think that you should stipulate that attempts by believers to discredit, criticize or disprove atheism, agnosticism, freethinking, materialism, humanism, etc, are not welcome. Let them start their own thread(s) to do this. Make no mistake about it - they are not going to change their minds by reading anything here, and nothing we can say will shake the faith of the true believers. Letting them ruin this thread would be a tragedy, and they would not allow people with beliefs contrary to their own to do it to them. The reason that all of the above-named groups failed, is because they allowed themselves to be divided, and did not think strategically.

 

Sweet Mary, mother of... Lord have mercy!
Ahh... excuse me, oops... wrong thread... terribly sorry.

 

@Luman - I am very pleased to meet you.
A true free thinker.
Let me say that some of my best friends are believers.
My adorable wife is quite the most impressive and loving person I have ever met.
She is a believer.
It does not cause any trouble.
We both accept each other right to a belief.
An invasion of theists would not bother me a scrap.
Debate can be exhilarating and should be possible without anybody getting upset, as long as we respect each other’s right to an opinion.
Opinion of course is the right word.
After 2,000 years, there are no provable facts.
It is my belief that if there were in actuality a real god, he would have seen and responded to a desperate, isolated child, as described above. (Me).

 

I can hardly believe it.
After a year of near isolation on here,
this free thinking thread actually has visitors.
Please come back and support us you guys.
It is not my intention to cause distress, but merely to give like minded folks an opportunity to have a voice, and state their views, which they have every right to do.
Of course, we could be talking about inconsequential stuff, like the weather, and the price of fish.....x

Love to everybody
Dave x
Jazzer

 

Does anybody else not believe that Jesus Christ of Nazareth ever existed, even as a normal, mortal man, let along a god who made magic and came back from the dead?

If so, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor, that you are correct.

 

Hi Jazzer & friends

A believer here, but I've been chuckling some of your memes. I get it, I was agnostic for 21 years. For me, though, my faith is now a great source of comfort and strength. We don't need to try to change each other's minds on that.

I'm glad you are open to respectful debate, but what would happen if there was a Theists' thread started for similar reasons, but then the Agnostics weighed in on that one? Both of the threads could end up becoming indistinguishable from one another.

But it's your thread, so enjoy it. In the meantime, I may have to go and find some memes of my own ;-)

 

When the universe was created wasn't there a big explosion or big bang where a lot of loud noise and pollution was made, but nobody was around. So maybe this is why we have weak ears and bad weather conditions like thunderstorms and lighting that nobody cares about, but us.

 

Hi MM - Great - a religionists with a broad mind, open to debate, and with a good sense of humour.
Glad to know you friend,
Dave x

 

I would not mind a theist coming here but we don't need to be "saved", and unfortunately too many of them try to do this. We're outnumberd, we've been tortured, burned alive, discriminated against, definitely kept out of political office in most cases, silenced in almost every possible way and basically it's time to say, "No more Mr. Nice Guy".

 

Uh, that's not why I believe in God.

 

Making fun of Christian martyrs? That's pretty low my man.

 

@JohnAdams - I guess people have been martyred in every cause.
People have been martyred for holding to no deity also.
But if you feel it is particularly offensive I can ask for it to be taken down?

 

If I remember rightly John, when we spoke before about such matters, it was the prophetical aspects within the bible that convinced you.

My own disillusionment was the apparent failure of an all powerful, all knowing, all loving, God to respond to a broken child, in any way whatsoever.

 

I have struggled with that as well but my answer to that is that the things promised after resurrection to eternal life on the new earth are going to be so good, and everlasting, so much so that all the troubles of life in this age are going to be as nothing, including the absolute worst of suffering.

 

@JohnAdams - amazing that what totally convinces you, completely fails to convince me.
I can only think that one cannot ‘decide’ to believe.
It has to go deeper than that.
Belief must be a matter of conviction,
something much stronger than a decision.

Where you are convinced that the kingdom of heaven is a reality, and it genuinely exists, and is all laid on for us, I am so unconvinced as to be nonchalantly dismissive, and unconcerned, even given the biblical threats.

(Matthew - lakes of fire.)

 

I guess I see it all as a Middle Eastern religious cult.

 

We do not know why we suffer, but we know that God himself was humiliated, tortured, felt hopelessness, felt forsaken, cried, etc, and so He knows how we feel and we can take comfort in this.

 

We've heard about eternal reward, and eternal punishment. A great man once said, that if he had the choice of spending eternity with a malevolent god that would sentence his own children to the fires of hell, or the the other place where the majority are sent, he would choose to be among, and console, the unfortunate majority, who ended up there due to the creator's mistakes or deliberate design flaws.

Of coarse, no rational person actually believes these horrible biblical tales, myths and fables. The bible comes from the minds of primitive, superstitious, often mentally or criminally disturbed, people. Such books belong on the same library shelves as volumes on witchcraft, voodoo, astrology, and fortune telling.

 

I believe that the bible was written by men.
There was a messianic climate and a mythology somehow emerged.
Whatever relevance there was to any actual historic figure is open to doubt I believe.
But at least we can talk through our differences.

 

Before delving into different religions, bashing the Bible, this should be explored:

Most people, even those without any knowledge of any religions and born in the most remote of regions, subconsciously have these two beliefs: 1) there is more to life than this life (afterlife), and 2) we will be held accountable one day (judgement, heaven and hell).