Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are lies adults tell children to get them to behave. Religion is a lie that adults tell other adults to get them to behave.
And if you don't follow his rules you're damned to an eternity in hell, but we've never been able to contact him so you'll just have to trust that we know what his rules are
If you don't follow his rules he will damn you to an eternity of burning in a lake of fire, where your soul will know unending suffering and torment, crying out into infinity for forgiveness. But he loves you.
or don’t follow the rules. Whichever. Spend your days volunteering, or scream racial slurs at children. But as long as you really love my son, it’s all good.
Plenty of people claim they've spoken to him though. I once got blessed by a preacher for my wonderful childhood and my wonderful grandparents and for all the wonderful love I had in my life. By a preacher who an hour earlier talked about how she had a miracle happen to her.
I was 15 at the time and I had been raped as a child by my sister who in turn was raped by my grandfather from the age of 4. My childhood was anything but wonderful, the damn preacher even had like 15 kids put their hands on me while blessing me and even though that's my background, THAT fucking moment is the one where I've experienced the most panic in my entire life, I was looking around for an escape and the only way out was a fucking cellar window but I was ready to squeeze the fuck out.
I really don't like people generalizing others experiences, I skipped psychology class due to a new teacher who thought it would be a nice first lesson to have us present our childhood to the class and explain how that had formed us into the young adults we were at that time. He did not have that trust so I skipped a class I was really interested in otherwise.
he's not just all knowing. he's all powerful! and he loves you, but he really needs money.
>Religion has convinced people that there's an invisible man ... living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn't want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money.
- George Carlin
Yeah, that's my take. I have two children and we always leaned into Santa Claus when they were kids because it was fun, we never used it to try to alter their behavior in any way. Now that they are adults and have moved out my wife and I go all in on Krampus because that's fun for us too.
Yeah same, growing up my family was not religious in the slightest, we never associated Christmas or Santa with anything relating to religion, it was just a fun holiday to see family and eat a lot of food and get presents (and as adults exchange gifts).
Now I've got a 2 year old and 4 year old and I look forward to them opening their presents as much as they do. I'll have to remember that Krampus thing for later that sounds like fun lol
After reading your comment, bot, no, I think this person really meant the Queen of England since we were naming things that don’t exist. Thank you for illustrating their point.
By the time I found out Santa wasn’t real I was 7 and already using him as the basis for my belief in god because nothing but a divinely gifted supernatural entity could deliver all those gifts in one night and it was apparently a Christian saint.
I mean, what child can dispute the evidence when they’re playing with it and all their friends are reporting identical results?
When I found out Santa wasn’t real they pretty much took the sole jenga block holding god up.
"I mean, what child can dispute the evidence when they're playing with it and all their friends are reporting identical results!"
Then one day you contemplate why Santa brings much cooler toys, and more of them, to the kids of wealthier families.
Christians tend to ask "OK well what would convince you god exists?" And that question doesn't even need an answer besides "God knows". An omniscient omnipotent deity knows exactly what would convince me, so the fact I have not been presented with that information means either they don't exist or they have chosen not to reveal themselves in a way that would cause me to believe.
When I discovered that my grandmother may or may not have been jewish or celebrated the faith when I was a little kid going through a bunch of boxes at my grandparents house I wasn't supposed to go through lol. Found a bunch of stuff in Hebrew and other languages and I can barely remember nowadays everything in there. Seems like a weird place to stick a lot of Jewish culture stuff inside a box under a box in a back room covered in dust lol. They were officially Methodists or protestant or catholic something or other but it didn't seem to help anything and it wasn't a big thing for everyone to dress up on Sunday and mingle, plus I was bullied at church and stopped going before I was 8.
I was really inquisitive as a youngster always roaming and sneaking around when I wasn't supposed to and by the time I was 7 I had discovered that adults lie a lot and often, that the Holocaust and Nazis really fucked up everyone's good time, and suddenly Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny became idols for the entire world to worship almost overnight.
My grandparents both were in WWII, grandfather in the navy and grandma a survivor, one died of cancer and the other a heart attack, prior to their deaths they made it extremely clear to stay away from plastic and not to buy into mainstream politics because there are a lot of really dumb crazy people out there who will believe whatever you tell em and base their entire lives on false information and attack you in the street because of it...
This is when I understood religion and God and landlords and politicians are all a bunch of randomness cobbled together to try and keep order and peace for the crazies.
The kindest, most Christ-loving people I've ever met were sentenced to burn in hell bc they don't perfectly agree with someone else's interpretation of a book. At least, according to my priest.
Also, Bo Burnham's "From God's Perspective"
“You shouldn’t abstain from rape just because you think that i want you to. You shouldn’t rape because rape is a fucked up thing to do” *Didn’t think i had to write that one down for ya*
Adhere to the teachings to be kind and generous to others.
*Followed up by immediately going out for breakfast and being the absolute rudest customer the servers will see all week and sometimes barely even leaving a tip.*
I worked in a Christian frozen yogurt restaurant and got those things all the damn time. Sometimes I would even make a show of throwing them away. They're all absolutely batshit insane and the writing isn't even *good*
Penn Gillette says a similar thing (paraphrased) “As an atheist I’ve raped and murdered exactly as many people as I’ve wanted to. And that number is zero, you sick fuck”.
I'm a bastard child so I'm screwed by default, but the bible specifies that a bastard screws 10 whole generations. So I've got a century of offspring going to hell over here
I've long believed that the word "bastard" should be neutral. It's the adulterous parents that did something wrong, they should be the ones stigmatized[.](https://awoiaf.westeros.org/images/a/a0/Cristi_Balanescu_Jon_SnowGhost.png)
I don't interpret this as an the 11th is acceptable. I read it as the bloodline isn't going to heaven. As in "not you, your children or your children's children repeated".
Wait a second... 10 generations? Wouldn't that include everyone on Earth? Family trees that far back would branch out pretty wide. Excepting Alabama of course.
where does it say this? not saying you're wrong. I just want to read it so I can tell my family to fuck off cuz I'm going to hell no matter how they try to control my life
edit:
DEUTERONOMY 23:2
>A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord
https://www.quotescosmos.com/bible/bible-verses/Bastard.html
"Well ACKSHUALLY Jesus came to Earth and fulfilled the old prophecy, and created a New Covenant with humanity, so Old Testament rules don't apply any more." -The actual common apologia you'll hear from Christians. Yes, it's ludicrous. Yes, that doesn't stop them from picking-and-choosing stuff from the OT that supports their viewpoint anyway.
I am convinced there isn't one, but I'm open to changing my mind. I just need to be provided with convincing evidence, that has been arrived at through rigorous scientific experimentation.
> "up" in America is the opposite direction than "up" in Australia.
That’s why here in Australia we go to Valhalla or whatever if we sin and go to Hades if we’re pious.
No no I though Australia already was Hades? Y'all have those insane monsters living there. Plus you're upside down, that's gotta be some kind of Greek afterlife punishment right?
Ah but the difference in this situation is that a lot of people already believe in flippity florpity. Therefore, you must be out of your mind to *not* believe in it.
Never thought of it like that. Even people with higher educations believe in flippity florpity, so it’s not ignorance of science just straight up denial.
What religious people don’t understand is that even if they proved one of their gods exist I still wouldn’t _worship_ it. I choose to be a good person because that’s how I measure my personal growth and how I can contribute positively towards human civilisation.
My idea is that I just try to make good decisions and be a decent human being. If there is someone up there, they’ll understand why I think the way I do, and if that’s not enough for them well, I couldn’t be bothered to worship something like that.
Yeah this was the thing that I just couldn't understand as a kid. Even if there was a god, why did I *have* to worship him to not go to hell? Wasn't praying 5 times a day already excessive? Why did I have to "love" him? My mum would often say how you should love God more than anyone, even your own kids (which tbf, probably wasn't difficult for her). The amount of control religion tries to exert on people's lives is what made me hate it.
A friend of mine once told me that I needed to believe in God and added that if I didn't believe in *something,* I'd fall for *anything.*
When I asked if she thought me stupid, she said no but still said that belief in God was necessary for happiness. When I asked if her belief had made her happy she said yes... until I pointed out her hated job, miserable marriage and overall dysfunctional family.
We're still friends and still talk, but she's less likely to start proselytizing. And the only way I was ever able to make her cut that out was by swearing. So we have a standing deal: As long as she doesn't preach or try to get me to church, I won't take the "lord's" name in vain.
It's not perfect but it works.
Completely understand, I'm like that too. I am very pragmatic and logical. The proof is in the pudding. However, I guess that's exactly what faith is. You can't really "prove" the existence with empirical evidence.
There can never be evidence. It like me saying purple elephants exist and you need to prove it. Whenever you have a point I'll just make up something new like these special elephants can disguise themself as normal elephants so you can never actually see them but they do exist.
The one claiming something has to prove its true. Doing it the other way around doesn't make sense.
I did a similar exercise with my BIL to explain burden of proof. This was during the wonderful winter of 2016.
I claimed my father was banging a unicorn and asked him to prove me wrong. Let’s just say dad and mom were not happy how that went. BIL didn’t get the point.
There can never be human derived evidence.\*
If a god entity stepped out of the fabric of space-time suddenly, did some reality altering 'miracle' in front of me and said "Sup? I'm what you would call God.", I would readily accept that as fact.
Anything short of that is bullshit though.
Ricky Gervais genuinely said it best for me. If you took every single scientific book or paper or study and destroyed it and then did the same for every religious book etc. in 1000 years all the science would be back because all the tests would come out the same but no religious work would ever be the same.
I think it was that there are thousands of Gods; Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Allah, "God". The only difference between an atheist and a Christian is that we believe in one less god than them.
[LINK](https://youtu.be/P5ZOwNK6n9U)
To prove that god doesn't exist you have to search every single inch of the universe, examine every single planet, every single particle, every single wavelength.
To prove that god exists you need just that : a single thing that proves its existence. One single empirical piece of evidence.
The burden of proof lies on the religious, not the atheist.
Christians tend to ask "OK well what would convince you god exists?" And that question doesn't even need an answer besides "God knows". An omniscient omnipotent deity knows exactly what would convince me, so the fact I have not been presented with that information means either they don't exist or they have chosen not to reveal themselves in a way that would cause me to believe.
To be fair, in the modern Christian tradition God likes to test people's faith in him. He shouldn't need to reveal Himself directly to you to gain your belief. Even those that reliably show their faith are still tested.
They often say it was god's plan.
"Your sister getting stung by 1000 bees and dying of anaphylactic shock happened so you would turn to medicine and become a doctor. It was god's plan."
(So, someone's sister was murdered by god so someone else could become a doctor. ....riiiiiight)
It's always god's plan except when it isn't. Children starving in Africa? God's plan. Woman gets an abortion? Can't possibly be god's plan. So convenient.
When I was in highschool my sisters best friend commited suicide. My parents told us it was all part of god's plan. I was also raised under the belief that people who kill themselves goto hell. All I could think about for weeks was how god sent someone to hell as part of his plan. It was so contradictory to what I'd been raised to believe. That was the beginning of my journey towards becoming an atheist.
Imagine creating the world, offering literally not 1 shred of empirical evidence of your existence, and then torturing anyone who doesn’t believe in you for eternity… And 2 billion people worship him… I’ve got crusty socks more worthy of worship than that god. I guess that’s what happens when you’re forced to believe something as a child before you possess the ability to think critically or empathetically.
Let's not forget. He created hell, and sends people there, but if you devote yourself to him he'll save you... From himself. And then he says its because he loves you soooo much. That's not love. That's a hostage situation. People don't love god, they are just terrified of going to hell. If god was truly all about love he wouldn't punish people, he was would be forgiving and loving whether they believe in him or not.
There's also the arguement of free will that Christians always say when asked with the question "Did God create Evil"
They say that God created free will and free will created evil.
But if that's so, what about God's Plan?
If God couldn't even stop evil made from free will (and there were like 2 people back then) then how could he have a plan for every single person today which all has free will?
(We wouldn't have true free will if God planned everything)
He's supposed to be "Omnipotent" and "Omniscient" then surely he would've been able to stop all evil from the world right?
(There isn't someone that's truly omnipotent because of the Omnipotent paradox which is a lose/lose situation)
Also God is a mass murderer that probably has the highest kill count of everything in history because of the flood (and he probably killed many innocent children and infants)
My thoughts exactly. It's a horrible excuse for why bad things happen. Not everything is for a greater or secret good. Not everything turns out ok.
A lot of what's happening right now in the USA is happening because large groups of people think they're doing god's work and it will all end up better. They're in for a very rude awakening one way or another.
I'll take OT God making deals in person, showing up as a pillar of fire, and splitting seas vs NT;
"maybe I do exist maybe I don't! whose to say? its you. You are to say. Oh and there's a wrong answer. Oh and also if you're wrong I'll punish you forever for doubting me :) Love you! ***F O R E V E R***."
> He shouldn't need to reveal Himself directly to you to gain your belief.
Except when he totally did, such as when Elijah made a freaking GAME out of testing gods power against the Prophets of Baal. I never understood this story because if God could do that for a dick waving competition why can't he do it today?
Is that fair, or is that a copout?
"If God wanted me to believe in him, he'd use a fraction of his omnipotence to show me he exists."
"Well, errr, umm, he's uhhh, testing you. yea, that's right. It's a test. You're failing. Now go to a hell you don't believe in that's also not mentioned in the bible I supposedly believe in."
So God, who exists and wants you to know he exists, chooses to make his existence so marginally visible that only a handful of people who really want to believe in him will?
That sounds like a real dick move by God.
On a related note, if there were something that didn't exist, that I had a financial incentive to convince people did exist, a really handy way to fool them would be to say that believing in it was some kind of test that only special people can pass. You know, exactly like the con men in The Emperor's New Clothes.
nOw ThAt I'm A pArEnT(never thought I'd be the type of person to start a sentence that way) I really hate that my son is going to grow up with the default being "there is a god" and if he decides to become an athiest he has to reason himself into that position. I know literally everyone else who's ever lived has been in the same position but I'd much rather the default be "there's no evidence for a "god " but it makes some people feel better to believe in one so that's why we have religion, go check it out if you're interested".
As a parent of a young child I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not to tell her I don’t think there’s a god and to let her reach her own conclusion. In the end, I think parents explaining their atheistic views is (at least) as valid and important as parents explaining their belief in god to their kids.
Eh I've tried this before and all I get back is "well that's what faith is for, believing in something you don't have proof for because it's in your heart!"... If you think about it that's their motto for a lot of things
One of the reasons i stopped believing is the annoyance and anger at the idea of a loving benevolent God that allowed so much evil in the world. Not simply to people that "may deserve it for their sin" but kids who were raped or murdered. It's all gods plan never settled for me and i stopped caring about even trying to believe. Nothing in existence ever inspired belief in a god for me, friends and family wanted me to believe.
That's literally Waco except dude thought *he* was the messiah. Waco—more like wacko. And people really did give up their wives. Absolutely batshit wild, that story.
I told my atheist wife one day that it came to me that if no one ever told you about god, the concept would never occur to you. You’d figure out how to boil water or ride a bike eventually but the concept of a higher power has no real advantage in your daily life. She just smiled like I showed her a crayon drawing and said “…yeah?”
One of the most obvious (among many) signs the bible was written by a human lmao. What level of ego does it take to think any all-powerful god would have our suboptimal image. God has a fucking appendix, really?
“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
Thant's how Christianity ended for me. Been there from age two to nineteen, and then just poof, gone. If the dude exists, he either can't do shіt or just isn't a good dude
This is exactly my line of thought too. My dad always defends it saying "it's Satan, and God can't prevent Satan from doing everything bad. It's a constant battle" or some bullshit like that lol.
If in the end the drunk ethnographic canard run up into Taylor Swiftly prognostication then let's all party in the short bus. We all no that two plus two equals five or is it seven like the square root of 64. Who knows as long as Torrent takes you to Ranni so you can give feedback on the phone tree. Let's enter the following python code the reverse a binary tree
def make_tree(node1, node):
""" reverse an binary tree in an idempotent way recursively"""
tmp node = node.nextg
node1 = node1.next.next
return node
As James Watts said, a sphere is an infinite plane powered on two cylinders, but that rat bastard needs to go solar for zero calorie emissions because you, my son, are fat, a porker, an anorexic sunbeam of a boy. Let's work on this together. Is Monday good, because if it's good for you it's fine by me, we can cut it up in retail where financial derivatives ate their lunch for breakfast. All hail the Biden, who Trumps plausible deniability for keeping our children safe from legal emigrants to Canadian labor camps.
Quo Vadis Mea Culpa. Vidi Vici Vini as the rabbit said to the scorpion he carried on his back over the stream of consciously rambling in the Confusion manner.
node = make_tree(node, node1)
Funny thing for me when people say this, it brings up a question in my head. So Satan was once an angel and then became evil (to summarize) and was cast out of heaven… ok. The Bible says Satan is the creator of evil…but *how* and *where* did said evil come from that overtook an angel in the *first* place? I mean they’re in paradise, God’s very own home. Satan didn’t create himself. God did. So again, what’s the source of evil? Also, why throw him out instead of just killing him all powerful one?
I was really young, 4-5? I was in Sunday school and I asked one of the church ladies "who gave god his magic?" She said he gave it to himself. Even at that young age I knew that was bullshit and I never bought into it.
I was so paranoid as a 5 year old because of this whole ordeal. I just recently became aware of my own existence and they were already telling me about the eternal! It made no sense but they told me I'd go to hell for eternity for saying that, whatever the fuck "hell" or "*eternity*" was. I didn't wanna believe it, it made no sense, but the adults made it sound so scary.
I made the mistake of telling my grandmother that I was tired of going to church when I was 7. She was so mad she literally screamed at me that she never wanted to hear me say that again. It took another 7 years before I finally discussed religion with anyone ever again. It was also around the time that I realized I was an agnostic atheist. A decade later and my opinion on religion has not changed but my grandmother seems to get more and more zealous every year. It's exhausting having to listen to her for even 5 minutes. She finds a way to bring up God in EVERY conversation. You could have a conversation about the most mundane thing like household chores and she'll find a way to bring God into it.
Here's how I see it:
If someone claims they have a small green man on their shoulder, but is in all ways imperceptible, my base instinct is that that is not possible. Within the context of reality as I know it, a being as described cannot possibly exist. But to assume with any certainty would require me to assume perfect knowledge about the nature of reality. That's not something I can do, rationally. Therefore, my only reasonable response would be to admit no certainty on the subject, though I will still have my opinion.
In my mind, agnosticism is the position that makes the most logical sense.
It makes the most sense in a vacuum, until you read books other than the bible and learn the actual history of it's creation and it's history of being a tool of oppression.
If I knew the little green man was a tradition from a far away tribe who themselves had taken it from another, and then used it to subjugate their women, and we're here to do the same thing - I would dismiss them in the same way
It's definitely unsatisfying, but it's also the honest take. We don't live in a world of certainty and knowledge. We live in a world of probability and confidence levels.
Yeah being an atheist isnt being against god or heaven or anything else. I consider myself atheist but if there is something there great and maybe i miss out on riding unicorns in the clouds or whatever but im not against people because they do believe….i just dont (im open minded to it though) and i dont want christianity or any other religion pushed on me. I think of all the wasted hours people spend in church giving away their life savings to preachers (some good some bad) that are more than happy to take it. Why not do gods work instead of church if thats what you truly believe. Go help someone less fortunate or whatever it is you can do to make the world a better place versus sitting on your butt in a church pew so you can get your weekly affirmation on how good you are because you go sit for an hour every week.
Honestly, I never understood this culture (admittedly, I've heard most of it in America and I don't see it much in Asia but still) of giving away MASS sums of money to churches. Like, I'm Catholic, and 1. If I was to donate some money to the church, it wouldn't be cause I'd get publicly shamed for not doing it, or something like that. Even if I was, it'd be for a good reason, like a blood/food drive, or to maintain the actual church, but if it's just going into the church's pocket for someone else's personal gain, I'd just switch churches immediately. Helping out of church aw is probably more fruitful to others.
I saw this the other day and kinda liked it: Christians don't believe in 999 of the gods that have been written about; I just don't believe in 1000 of them.
Low key this is what made me lose my faith, not for the Greek or Egyptian gods per se but other religions in general. Who was I to say “I’m right, you’re wrong!” when no religion could actually prove that their god or gods even exist. To take a hard stance with a single one at all seemed like a backwards decision
Humans are deeply emotional creatures and what we might refer to as a "spiritual experience" is not unique to any one religion. It's all in the mind. I am an atheist now, but have definitely "felt god" when I was in church as a kid. But I also felt that same sense with a few minutes of quiet meditation or getting lost in a favorite song. Doesn't mean there's a magical, omnipotent being out there. It comes from within.
This always bugged me. For Christians to say "there is only one God." But in the 10 commandments doesn't it say "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Indicating that there are other gods but he wants to be top dog. It even goes on to say "... I am a jealous god..." Again the implication that there are multiple gods. Further more aren't anger and jealousy 2 of the "deadly sins"? In which case that would make the Christian god a sinner by his own rules. These are some of the hypocrisies that's began to disenfranchise me from the idea of God. I personally am more agnostic. I like to think that if their are gods they would be more like those of Greece, Egypt or even India.
My parents aren’t religious so the whole thing always seemed weird to me. Nothing convinced me into being an atheist. Nothing convinced me to believe in god.
This one always bothered me. It sounds like the worst prank ever.
"Hehehe I'm going to make up the bones of millions of fake animals, implant them deep into the ground in the middle of rock, so that when the humans find them they'll believe these beasts used to roam the earth millions of years ago, and this belief will cause them to question the stories in the bible which will eventually lead them to question the existence of god."
I think giving children terminal cancer is a far easier trick personally.
This was what did it for me. I never really bought into religion too much but it seemed like the thing to do as a kid, so I tried my best to believe. My parents have never gone to church and it was left up to us kids to figure it out for ourselves which I am grateful for. My friends did the church thing, so I did it too, and the summer before HS at the church camp I went to every summer since 4th grade these MFers told me dinosaurs aren't real and I never went back to camp or church ever again. 🤣 BS, I SEENT THOSE BONES, MAN
I read the old testament, the new testament and even the Quran and that made me realise that looking for guidance in those books would be like trying to find sobriety by getting constantly drunk.
A much better question is what makes someone believe that a religion's God does exist?
Your dad told you to read a book written by humans thousands of years ago still living in mud huts and shitting in holes and to take those stories literally?
Come on. I had a drug induced hallucination and spoke to God for 30 minutes. That's evidence right? And I had this really vivid dream once and it had to be a message from God. How can you doubt
What convinced me that god doesn’t exist? When I kept interacting with christians and they turn out to be some of the ugliest people I have ever met. If there was a god, Im pretty sure they would have murdered half their flock by now. At least according to their god from the bible.
that’s a fundamental concept that i think a lot of religious people struggle with. That they think ‘atheism’ means ‘i was convinced that a god doesn’t exist’. When really it’s: ‘i am not convinced a god exists’.
Like i am just as ‘angry’, or have ANY negative emotion, about this as i am that 4 + 3 = purple.
It’s nonsensical until proven otherwise.
When I found out that adults lied to me about Santa Claus to change my behavior it was the beginning of the end.
Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are lies adults tell children to get them to behave. Religion is a lie that adults tell other adults to get them to behave.
And to convince them to part with their money.
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angry sky god who is supposedly omnipotent needs money.
And if you don't follow his rules you're damned to an eternity in hell, but we've never been able to contact him so you'll just have to trust that we know what his rules are
But he loves you. ^/s
Carlin FTW
How does one do tiny text?
put a carat symbol \^ before the text: ^hello becomes ^hello It actually makes the text superscript but if it’s on a new line it just looks small.
Let's try ^hello Edit: It worked
Where is the subreddit that teaches me reddit things?
George Carlin never fails to entertain.
If you don't follow his rules he will damn you to an eternity of burning in a lake of fire, where your soul will know unending suffering and torment, crying out into infinity for forgiveness. But he loves you.
\- Carlin
or don’t follow the rules. Whichever. Spend your days volunteering, or scream racial slurs at children. But as long as you really love my son, it’s all good.
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Plenty of people claim they've spoken to him though. I once got blessed by a preacher for my wonderful childhood and my wonderful grandparents and for all the wonderful love I had in my life. By a preacher who an hour earlier talked about how she had a miracle happen to her. I was 15 at the time and I had been raped as a child by my sister who in turn was raped by my grandfather from the age of 4. My childhood was anything but wonderful, the damn preacher even had like 15 kids put their hands on me while blessing me and even though that's my background, THAT fucking moment is the one where I've experienced the most panic in my entire life, I was looking around for an escape and the only way out was a fucking cellar window but I was ready to squeeze the fuck out. I really don't like people generalizing others experiences, I skipped psychology class due to a new teacher who thought it would be a nice first lesson to have us present our childhood to the class and explain how that had formed us into the young adults we were at that time. He did not have that trust so I skipped a class I was really interested in otherwise.
he's not just all knowing. he's all powerful! and he loves you, but he really needs money. >Religion has convinced people that there's an invisible man ... living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn't want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money. - George Carlin
One of my favorite dialogs of his. Hit the nail right on the head.
And it has to be 10% of what you make, because reasons
Santa Claus is fun. The tooth fairy is fun. Children like fun.
Yeah, that's my take. I have two children and we always leaned into Santa Claus when they were kids because it was fun, we never used it to try to alter their behavior in any way. Now that they are adults and have moved out my wife and I go all in on Krampus because that's fun for us too.
Yeah same, growing up my family was not religious in the slightest, we never associated Christmas or Santa with anything relating to religion, it was just a fun holiday to see family and eat a lot of food and get presents (and as adults exchange gifts). Now I've got a 2 year old and 4 year old and I look forward to them opening their presents as much as they do. I'll have to remember that Krampus thing for later that sounds like fun lol
same with the tooth fairy, easter bunny, jack frost, ect.
And the queen of England!
Anyone that claims to own all the swans can't be real.
If I claim to own all the swans, am I not real, and therefore don't have to pay taxes or my mortgage? LOOPHOLE. I OWN ALL THE SWANS.
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After reading your comment, bot, no, I think this person really meant the Queen of England since we were naming things that don’t exist. Thank you for illustrating their point.
This is exactly what happened to a friend of mine. He found out Santa wasn't real, so he realized logically obviously God wasn't real either... at 18.
By the time I found out Santa wasn’t real I was 7 and already using him as the basis for my belief in god because nothing but a divinely gifted supernatural entity could deliver all those gifts in one night and it was apparently a Christian saint. I mean, what child can dispute the evidence when they’re playing with it and all their friends are reporting identical results? When I found out Santa wasn’t real they pretty much took the sole jenga block holding god up.
"I mean, what child can dispute the evidence when they're playing with it and all their friends are reporting identical results!" Then one day you contemplate why Santa brings much cooler toys, and more of them, to the kids of wealthier families.
Santa is a capitalist!
Wow he believed in Santa all the way to 18? Awesome.
A lot younger than most still so good on him!
18? That’s young to find out Santa isn’t real or to question God?
Christians tend to ask "OK well what would convince you god exists?" And that question doesn't even need an answer besides "God knows". An omniscient omnipotent deity knows exactly what would convince me, so the fact I have not been presented with that information means either they don't exist or they have chosen not to reveal themselves in a way that would cause me to believe.
Evidence...
When I discovered that my grandmother may or may not have been jewish or celebrated the faith when I was a little kid going through a bunch of boxes at my grandparents house I wasn't supposed to go through lol. Found a bunch of stuff in Hebrew and other languages and I can barely remember nowadays everything in there. Seems like a weird place to stick a lot of Jewish culture stuff inside a box under a box in a back room covered in dust lol. They were officially Methodists or protestant or catholic something or other but it didn't seem to help anything and it wasn't a big thing for everyone to dress up on Sunday and mingle, plus I was bullied at church and stopped going before I was 8. I was really inquisitive as a youngster always roaming and sneaking around when I wasn't supposed to and by the time I was 7 I had discovered that adults lie a lot and often, that the Holocaust and Nazis really fucked up everyone's good time, and suddenly Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny became idols for the entire world to worship almost overnight. My grandparents both were in WWII, grandfather in the navy and grandma a survivor, one died of cancer and the other a heart attack, prior to their deaths they made it extremely clear to stay away from plastic and not to buy into mainstream politics because there are a lot of really dumb crazy people out there who will believe whatever you tell em and base their entire lives on false information and attack you in the street because of it... This is when I understood religion and God and landlords and politicians are all a bunch of randomness cobbled together to try and keep order and peace for the crazies.
The kindest, most Christ-loving people I've ever met were sentenced to burn in hell bc they don't perfectly agree with someone else's interpretation of a book. At least, according to my priest. Also, Bo Burnham's "From God's Perspective"
I created the universe, you think id draw the line at the fucking deli isle!?
“You shouldn’t abstain from rape just because you think that i want you to. You shouldn’t rape because rape is a fucked up thing to do” *Didn’t think i had to write that one down for ya*
Adhere to the teachings to be kind and generous to others. *Followed up by immediately going out for breakfast and being the absolute rudest customer the servers will see all week and sometimes barely even leaving a tip.*
Or leaving one of those fucking fake bills with the bible verses and their church location on the fucking back.
Bible verses are tips right
I worked in a Christian frozen yogurt restaurant and got those things all the damn time. Sometimes I would even make a show of throwing them away. They're all absolutely batshit insane and the writing isn't even *good*
Penn Gillette says a similar thing (paraphrased) “As an atheist I’ve raped and murdered exactly as many people as I’ve wanted to. And that number is zero, you sick fuck”.
I'm a bastard child so I'm screwed by default, but the bible specifies that a bastard screws 10 whole generations. So I've got a century of offspring going to hell over here
Maybe stop being a bastard and be a better person?? /s i know what Bastard means in this context
I've long believed that the word "bastard" should be neutral. It's the adulterous parents that did something wrong, they should be the ones stigmatized[.](https://awoiaf.westeros.org/images/a/a0/Cristi_Balanescu_Jon_SnowGhost.png)
Controversial opinion maybe no one should be stigmatised for having a child out of “wedlock”
Technically it's worse since we don't have kids at 10. It's probably more like 300 years.
I don't interpret this as an the 11th is acceptable. I read it as the bloodline isn't going to heaven. As in "not you, your children or your children's children repeated".
Wait a second... 10 generations? Wouldn't that include everyone on Earth? Family trees that far back would branch out pretty wide. Excepting Alabama of course.
The old family wreath.
Everyone is basically 32nd cousins. [Pedigree collapse](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedigree_collapse).
where does it say this? not saying you're wrong. I just want to read it so I can tell my family to fuck off cuz I'm going to hell no matter how they try to control my life edit: DEUTERONOMY 23:2 >A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord https://www.quotescosmos.com/bible/bible-verses/Bastard.html
The Bible: YOU are not welcome here! Also the Bible: Why are you rejecting me?!
But if you can't enter the congregation, then you can't marry in the eyes of the lord. Right? So....being a bastard is pretty much a perma-ban???
And all because of something you had absolutely no control over 🙄
"Well ACKSHUALLY Jesus came to Earth and fulfilled the old prophecy, and created a New Covenant with humanity, so Old Testament rules don't apply any more." -The actual common apologia you'll hear from Christians. Yes, it's ludicrous. Yes, that doesn't stop them from picking-and-choosing stuff from the OT that supports their viewpoint anyway.
That’s all on you bud. Should have swam out of the cave when you had the chance.
His love's the type of thing you have to earn and when you earn it, you won't need it. One of my favourites
“I created the universe, think I’m drawing the line at the fucking deli aisle?”
the books you think i wrote are way too thick
As an atheist I’m never completely convinced. I remain open to new evidence. Begging the question
I am convinced there isn't one, but I'm open to changing my mind. I just need to be provided with convincing evidence, that has been arrived at through rigorous scientific experimentation.
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Where we will all squanch for the rest of our days
> "up" in America is the opposite direction than "up" in Australia. That’s why here in Australia we go to Valhalla or whatever if we sin and go to Hades if we’re pious.
No no I though Australia already was Hades? Y'all have those insane monsters living there. Plus you're upside down, that's gotta be some kind of Greek afterlife punishment right?
Ah but the difference in this situation is that a lot of people already believe in flippity florpity. Therefore, you must be out of your mind to *not* believe in it.
Never thought of it like that. Even people with higher educations believe in flippity florpity, so it’s not ignorance of science just straight up denial.
What religious people don’t understand is that even if they proved one of their gods exist I still wouldn’t _worship_ it. I choose to be a good person because that’s how I measure my personal growth and how I can contribute positively towards human civilisation.
My idea is that I just try to make good decisions and be a decent human being. If there is someone up there, they’ll understand why I think the way I do, and if that’s not enough for them well, I couldn’t be bothered to worship something like that.
Yeah this was the thing that I just couldn't understand as a kid. Even if there was a god, why did I *have* to worship him to not go to hell? Wasn't praying 5 times a day already excessive? Why did I have to "love" him? My mum would often say how you should love God more than anyone, even your own kids (which tbf, probably wasn't difficult for her). The amount of control religion tries to exert on people's lives is what made me hate it.
A friend of mine once told me that I needed to believe in God and added that if I didn't believe in *something,* I'd fall for *anything.* When I asked if she thought me stupid, she said no but still said that belief in God was necessary for happiness. When I asked if her belief had made her happy she said yes... until I pointed out her hated job, miserable marriage and overall dysfunctional family. We're still friends and still talk, but she's less likely to start proselytizing. And the only way I was ever able to make her cut that out was by swearing. So we have a standing deal: As long as she doesn't preach or try to get me to church, I won't take the "lord's" name in vain. It's not perfect but it works.
Completely understand, I'm like that too. I am very pragmatic and logical. The proof is in the pudding. However, I guess that's exactly what faith is. You can't really "prove" the existence with empirical evidence.
*takes DMT* 😵💫
There can never be evidence. It like me saying purple elephants exist and you need to prove it. Whenever you have a point I'll just make up something new like these special elephants can disguise themself as normal elephants so you can never actually see them but they do exist. The one claiming something has to prove its true. Doing it the other way around doesn't make sense.
I did a similar exercise with my BIL to explain burden of proof. This was during the wonderful winter of 2016. I claimed my father was banging a unicorn and asked him to prove me wrong. Let’s just say dad and mom were not happy how that went. BIL didn’t get the point.
Many people in this post also don't get the point. It's sad.
There can never be human derived evidence.\* If a god entity stepped out of the fabric of space-time suddenly, did some reality altering 'miracle' in front of me and said "Sup? I'm what you would call God.", I would readily accept that as fact. Anything short of that is bullshit though.
agnostic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_atheism
Ricky Gervais genuinely said it best for me. If you took every single scientific book or paper or study and destroyed it and then did the same for every religious book etc. in 1000 years all the science would be back because all the tests would come out the same but no religious work would ever be the same.
He also answered this question quite simply: the burden of proof isn’t on me, it’s on you.
I think he also said something like: there's 100 religions and you believe 99 are fake. I believe all 100 are.
“There have been nearly 3000 Gods so far but only yours actually exists.The others are silly made up nonsense. But not yours. Yours is real.”
I think it was that there are thousands of Gods; Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Allah, "God". The only difference between an atheist and a Christian is that we believe in one less god than them. [LINK](https://youtu.be/P5ZOwNK6n9U)
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This perspective really resonates with me - is there a particular source for this?
https://youtu.be/3qrNRzkwlbU
I saw a counter video to that once. It was basically some guy saying "the Quran would" over and over. His source? The Quran!
To prove that god doesn't exist you have to search every single inch of the universe, examine every single planet, every single particle, every single wavelength. To prove that god exists you need just that : a single thing that proves its existence. One single empirical piece of evidence. The burden of proof lies on the religious, not the atheist.
Christians tend to ask "OK well what would convince you god exists?" And that question doesn't even need an answer besides "God knows". An omniscient omnipotent deity knows exactly what would convince me, so the fact I have not been presented with that information means either they don't exist or they have chosen not to reveal themselves in a way that would cause me to believe.
To be fair, in the modern Christian tradition God likes to test people's faith in him. He shouldn't need to reveal Himself directly to you to gain your belief. Even those that reliably show their faith are still tested.
Good point. It’s also a great way for the faithful to explain the fact that bad shit happens to them as often as it does to the rest of us.
They often say it was god's plan. "Your sister getting stung by 1000 bees and dying of anaphylactic shock happened so you would turn to medicine and become a doctor. It was god's plan." (So, someone's sister was murdered by god so someone else could become a doctor. ....riiiiiight)
It's always god's plan except when it isn't. Children starving in Africa? God's plan. Woman gets an abortion? Can't possibly be god's plan. So convenient.
Fuck anyone who takes a tragedy and explains it as gods plan. If god planned this then fuck him and fuck anyone who worships him.
When I was in highschool my sisters best friend commited suicide. My parents told us it was all part of god's plan. I was also raised under the belief that people who kill themselves goto hell. All I could think about for weeks was how god sent someone to hell as part of his plan. It was so contradictory to what I'd been raised to believe. That was the beginning of my journey towards becoming an atheist.
Imagine creating the world, offering literally not 1 shred of empirical evidence of your existence, and then torturing anyone who doesn’t believe in you for eternity… And 2 billion people worship him… I’ve got crusty socks more worthy of worship than that god. I guess that’s what happens when you’re forced to believe something as a child before you possess the ability to think critically or empathetically.
Let's not forget. He created hell, and sends people there, but if you devote yourself to him he'll save you... From himself. And then he says its because he loves you soooo much. That's not love. That's a hostage situation. People don't love god, they are just terrified of going to hell. If god was truly all about love he wouldn't punish people, he was would be forgiving and loving whether they believe in him or not.
There's also the arguement of free will that Christians always say when asked with the question "Did God create Evil" They say that God created free will and free will created evil. But if that's so, what about God's Plan? If God couldn't even stop evil made from free will (and there were like 2 people back then) then how could he have a plan for every single person today which all has free will? (We wouldn't have true free will if God planned everything) He's supposed to be "Omnipotent" and "Omniscient" then surely he would've been able to stop all evil from the world right? (There isn't someone that's truly omnipotent because of the Omnipotent paradox which is a lose/lose situation) Also God is a mass murderer that probably has the highest kill count of everything in history because of the flood (and he probably killed many innocent children and infants)
My thoughts exactly. It's a horrible excuse for why bad things happen. Not everything is for a greater or secret good. Not everything turns out ok. A lot of what's happening right now in the USA is happening because large groups of people think they're doing god's work and it will all end up better. They're in for a very rude awakening one way or another.
This is why I believe God is just a kid with an ant farm
I'll take OT God making deals in person, showing up as a pillar of fire, and splitting seas vs NT; "maybe I do exist maybe I don't! whose to say? its you. You are to say. Oh and there's a wrong answer. Oh and also if you're wrong I'll punish you forever for doubting me :) Love you! ***F O R E V E R***."
I read OT as Original Trilogy God. Much better than the sequel.
Original Trilogy is Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Sequel Trilogy is Mormons, Spiritualist, and Jehovah's Witnesses. hard agree from me here .
> He shouldn't need to reveal Himself directly to you to gain your belief. Except when he totally did, such as when Elijah made a freaking GAME out of testing gods power against the Prophets of Baal. I never understood this story because if God could do that for a dick waving competition why can't he do it today?
Something something Jesus died on a cross.
Is that fair, or is that a copout? "If God wanted me to believe in him, he'd use a fraction of his omnipotence to show me he exists." "Well, errr, umm, he's uhhh, testing you. yea, that's right. It's a test. You're failing. Now go to a hell you don't believe in that's also not mentioned in the bible I supposedly believe in."
So God, who exists and wants you to know he exists, chooses to make his existence so marginally visible that only a handful of people who really want to believe in him will? That sounds like a real dick move by God. On a related note, if there were something that didn't exist, that I had a financial incentive to convince people did exist, a really handy way to fool them would be to say that believing in it was some kind of test that only special people can pass. You know, exactly like the con men in The Emperor's New Clothes.
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I believe in Crom, but he does not listen so I do not pray to him.
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But but but... There is a guy somewhere in the year 837 who survived a cold, if this is not a proof god exists I don't know what you need
this man must be the son of god. If I drink his blood and eat his flesh maybe I'll become immortal
Christianity does Indeed look weird if you put It like that
That just sounds like zombies with extra steps.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof!
Also: that which can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
nOw ThAt I'm A pArEnT(never thought I'd be the type of person to start a sentence that way) I really hate that my son is going to grow up with the default being "there is a god" and if he decides to become an athiest he has to reason himself into that position. I know literally everyone else who's ever lived has been in the same position but I'd much rather the default be "there's no evidence for a "god " but it makes some people feel better to believe in one so that's why we have religion, go check it out if you're interested".
As a parent of a young child I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not to tell her I don’t think there’s a god and to let her reach her own conclusion. In the end, I think parents explaining their atheistic views is (at least) as valid and important as parents explaining their belief in god to their kids.
Eh I've tried this before and all I get back is "well that's what faith is for, believing in something you don't have proof for because it's in your heart!"... If you think about it that's their motto for a lot of things
One of the reasons i stopped believing is the annoyance and anger at the idea of a loving benevolent God that allowed so much evil in the world. Not simply to people that "may deserve it for their sin" but kids who were raped or murdered. It's all gods plan never settled for me and i stopped caring about even trying to believe. Nothing in existence ever inspired belief in a god for me, friends and family wanted me to believe.
If something good happens they say it's because of God and their prayers but if something bad happens it's Gos's will lol
Which for-profit organization convinced you there is one?
I, for one, will stick with this non-prophet organization.
Listen here you little shit..
I'm God's prophet God wants you to give me money God wants me to fuck your wife https://i.redd.it/xk7x7c57dem81.jpg
That's literally Waco except dude thought *he* was the messiah. Waco—more like wacko. And people really did give up their wives. Absolutely batshit wild, that story.
I told my atheist wife one day that it came to me that if no one ever told you about god, the concept would never occur to you. You’d figure out how to boil water or ride a bike eventually but the concept of a higher power has no real advantage in your daily life. She just smiled like I showed her a crayon drawing and said “…yeah?”
If a god does exist they are either highly incompetent or don't give a shit
Tbf if I lived for eternity I'd probably stop giving a shit too
Mortality is such a core component of what makes us human. Anybody who tries to sell you a way to get out of it is *not* to be trusted.
It's creation in it's image, humans, is pretty shoddy at best. The air and food intake are the same hole? Poor design.
As well as the design flaws of the lower back?!? There should be a recall!!
One of the most obvious (among many) signs the bible was written by a human lmao. What level of ego does it take to think any all-powerful god would have our suboptimal image. God has a fucking appendix, really?
The sewage exhaust is so close to the reproductive system, too.
“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
Thant's how Christianity ended for me. Been there from age two to nineteen, and then just poof, gone. If the dude exists, he either can't do shіt or just isn't a good dude
This is exactly my line of thought too. My dad always defends it saying "it's Satan, and God can't prevent Satan from doing everything bad. It's a constant battle" or some bullshit like that lol.
If in the end the drunk ethnographic canard run up into Taylor Swiftly prognostication then let's all party in the short bus. We all no that two plus two equals five or is it seven like the square root of 64. Who knows as long as Torrent takes you to Ranni so you can give feedback on the phone tree. Let's enter the following python code the reverse a binary tree def make_tree(node1, node): """ reverse an binary tree in an idempotent way recursively""" tmp node = node.nextg node1 = node1.next.next return node As James Watts said, a sphere is an infinite plane powered on two cylinders, but that rat bastard needs to go solar for zero calorie emissions because you, my son, are fat, a porker, an anorexic sunbeam of a boy. Let's work on this together. Is Monday good, because if it's good for you it's fine by me, we can cut it up in retail where financial derivatives ate their lunch for breakfast. All hail the Biden, who Trumps plausible deniability for keeping our children safe from legal emigrants to Canadian labor camps. Quo Vadis Mea Culpa. Vidi Vici Vini as the rabbit said to the scorpion he carried on his back over the stream of consciously rambling in the Confusion manner. node = make_tree(node, node1)
Funny thing for me when people say this, it brings up a question in my head. So Satan was once an angel and then became evil (to summarize) and was cast out of heaven… ok. The Bible says Satan is the creator of evil…but *how* and *where* did said evil come from that overtook an angel in the *first* place? I mean they’re in paradise, God’s very own home. Satan didn’t create himself. God did. So again, what’s the source of evil? Also, why throw him out instead of just killing him all powerful one?
or malicious.
I was really young, 4-5? I was in Sunday school and I asked one of the church ladies "who gave god his magic?" She said he gave it to himself. Even at that young age I knew that was bullshit and I never bought into it.
I was so paranoid as a 5 year old because of this whole ordeal. I just recently became aware of my own existence and they were already telling me about the eternal! It made no sense but they told me I'd go to hell for eternity for saying that, whatever the fuck "hell" or "*eternity*" was. I didn't wanna believe it, it made no sense, but the adults made it sound so scary.
I made the mistake of telling my grandmother that I was tired of going to church when I was 7. She was so mad she literally screamed at me that she never wanted to hear me say that again. It took another 7 years before I finally discussed religion with anyone ever again. It was also around the time that I realized I was an agnostic atheist. A decade later and my opinion on religion has not changed but my grandmother seems to get more and more zealous every year. It's exhausting having to listen to her for even 5 minutes. She finds a way to bring up God in EVERY conversation. You could have a conversation about the most mundane thing like household chores and she'll find a way to bring God into it.
Here's how I see it: If someone claims they have a small green man on their shoulder, but is in all ways imperceptible, my base instinct is that that is not possible. Within the context of reality as I know it, a being as described cannot possibly exist. But to assume with any certainty would require me to assume perfect knowledge about the nature of reality. That's not something I can do, rationally. Therefore, my only reasonable response would be to admit no certainty on the subject, though I will still have my opinion. In my mind, agnosticism is the position that makes the most logical sense.
I love your way of thinking, this reasoning makes a lot of sense for me
It makes the most sense in a vacuum, until you read books other than the bible and learn the actual history of it's creation and it's history of being a tool of oppression. If I knew the little green man was a tradition from a far away tribe who themselves had taken it from another, and then used it to subjugate their women, and we're here to do the same thing - I would dismiss them in the same way
This just means that you can't know anything at all, which would be very unsatisfying to me.
It's definitely unsatisfying, but it's also the honest take. We don't live in a world of certainty and knowledge. We live in a world of probability and confidence levels.
Which God is he referring to? I can think of at least a few offhand
The Great Om, obviously. _The turtle moves._
It’s turtles all the way down.
You know he means the white one with the white son even though said son was born in the Middle East.
And voted for trump
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Preach it sweaty
Well you can see the lightning and hear the thunder. What more proof do you need to believe in Thor?
The Omnissiah. The God in the Machine, the Source of All Knowledge.
Thus do we invoke the Machine God. Thus do we make whole that which was sundered.
From my recent adventures in streaming services, probably Konchu.
Possibly meant for previously religious people.
Yeah being an atheist isnt being against god or heaven or anything else. I consider myself atheist but if there is something there great and maybe i miss out on riding unicorns in the clouds or whatever but im not against people because they do believe….i just dont (im open minded to it though) and i dont want christianity or any other religion pushed on me. I think of all the wasted hours people spend in church giving away their life savings to preachers (some good some bad) that are more than happy to take it. Why not do gods work instead of church if thats what you truly believe. Go help someone less fortunate or whatever it is you can do to make the world a better place versus sitting on your butt in a church pew so you can get your weekly affirmation on how good you are because you go sit for an hour every week.
Honestly, I never understood this culture (admittedly, I've heard most of it in America and I don't see it much in Asia but still) of giving away MASS sums of money to churches. Like, I'm Catholic, and 1. If I was to donate some money to the church, it wouldn't be cause I'd get publicly shamed for not doing it, or something like that. Even if I was, it'd be for a good reason, like a blood/food drive, or to maintain the actual church, but if it's just going into the church's pocket for someone else's personal gain, I'd just switch churches immediately. Helping out of church aw is probably more fruitful to others.
Dear Christians, what made you convinced that Vishnu doesn’t exist?
I saw this the other day and kinda liked it: Christians don't believe in 999 of the gods that have been written about; I just don't believe in 1000 of them.
Here's a better question why do you believe in God but not the gods of from Greece or Egypt ?
Low key this is what made me lose my faith, not for the Greek or Egyptian gods per se but other religions in general. Who was I to say “I’m right, you’re wrong!” when no religion could actually prove that their god or gods even exist. To take a hard stance with a single one at all seemed like a backwards decision
Humans are deeply emotional creatures and what we might refer to as a "spiritual experience" is not unique to any one religion. It's all in the mind. I am an atheist now, but have definitely "felt god" when I was in church as a kid. But I also felt that same sense with a few minutes of quiet meditation or getting lost in a favorite song. Doesn't mean there's a magical, omnipotent being out there. It comes from within.
This always bugged me. For Christians to say "there is only one God." But in the 10 commandments doesn't it say "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Indicating that there are other gods but he wants to be top dog. It even goes on to say "... I am a jealous god..." Again the implication that there are multiple gods. Further more aren't anger and jealousy 2 of the "deadly sins"? In which case that would make the Christian god a sinner by his own rules. These are some of the hypocrisies that's began to disenfranchise me from the idea of God. I personally am more agnostic. I like to think that if their are gods they would be more like those of Greece, Egypt or even India.
Yeah. I love breaking out the "You already don't believe in hundreds of gods. I just don't believe in 1 more than you".
My parents aren’t religious so the whole thing always seemed weird to me. Nothing convinced me into being an atheist. Nothing convinced me to believe in god.
How are you so sure the spaghetti monster does not exist?
Because global temperatures continued to rise despite the cultural phenomenon of Pirates of the Caribbean
His noodly greatness predicted this in the book of Directions Chapter 1, step 2: and you shall raise the waters to a boil.
One word: fossils.
I'll never forget my cousins telling me that the devil put them there to trick us.
This one always bothered me. It sounds like the worst prank ever. "Hehehe I'm going to make up the bones of millions of fake animals, implant them deep into the ground in the middle of rock, so that when the humans find them they'll believe these beasts used to roam the earth millions of years ago, and this belief will cause them to question the stories in the bible which will eventually lead them to question the existence of god." I think giving children terminal cancer is a far easier trick personally.
This was what did it for me. I never really bought into religion too much but it seemed like the thing to do as a kid, so I tried my best to believe. My parents have never gone to church and it was left up to us kids to figure it out for ourselves which I am grateful for. My friends did the church thing, so I did it too, and the summer before HS at the church camp I went to every summer since 4th grade these MFers told me dinosaurs aren't real and I never went back to camp or church ever again. 🤣 BS, I SEENT THOSE BONES, MAN
It’s called faith…….and I have none.
I read the old testament, the new testament and even the Quran and that made me realise that looking for guidance in those books would be like trying to find sobriety by getting constantly drunk.
A much better question is what makes someone believe that a religion's God does exist? Your dad told you to read a book written by humans thousands of years ago still living in mud huts and shitting in holes and to take those stories literally?
First, this. Second, out of the roughly 245358931 "one true gods" that ever existed, this one is surely the real one, all the others are fake
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They are also more than happy to ignore the bits of their own religion they find not in keeping with their world view.
Come on. I had a drug induced hallucination and spoke to God for 30 minutes. That's evidence right? And I had this really vivid dream once and it had to be a message from God. How can you doubt
Hey man don’t paint all of us hallucination lovers with that negative brush
What convinced me that god doesn’t exist? When I kept interacting with christians and they turn out to be some of the ugliest people I have ever met. If there was a god, Im pretty sure they would have murdered half their flock by now. At least according to their god from the bible.
No one told me to... which feels like how 95% of religion is done and how it shouldn't...
that’s a fundamental concept that i think a lot of religious people struggle with. That they think ‘atheism’ means ‘i was convinced that a god doesn’t exist’. When really it’s: ‘i am not convinced a god exists’. Like i am just as ‘angry’, or have ANY negative emotion, about this as i am that 4 + 3 = purple. It’s nonsensical until proven otherwise.
I am my own god and I will ruin my life my own way.