Do you feel safe not believing in god?

[QUOTE="MystikFollower"][QUOTE="dracos9000"]

you should never feel safe regardless.

dracos9000

I feel safe knowing that I'm one of the few willing and able to put reason and evidence above social or public opinion. When you can examine facts and evidence and make sound, reasonable, conclusions based on those facts, you should feel at ease, knowing that you can think for yourself. In the process of thinking for yourself it becomes more and more impossible to believe the contradictions brought up in religious dogmas.

I feel safe knowing that I'm one of the few willing and able to put reason and evidence above social or public opinion. When you can examine facts and evidence and make sound, reasonable, conclusions based on those facts, you should feel at ease, knowing that you can think for yourself. In the process of thinking for yourself it becomes more and more impossible to believe the contradictions brought up in religious dogmas.

Diablo-B

Civilised man has been around for more than 30,000 years at least. Christian God has been around for 2,000 years. That means that about 93% of our civilised existence seems to have functioned perfectly well without it.

Lets take an even more ridiculous look at this:

The Universe is about, lets say 14 billion years old, (Im going to round this off to make it easier). Humans have been believing in the Christian God for about 2000 years.

This means that.....wow....my calculater cant even display how small a percentage that is of the universes existance. And people honest think, all the answers of the universe have come to them, through this book (written by people who thought the world was flat by the way), at this very point in time. This insignificant sliver of a percentage of the universes existence, and you are telling me your religion is right?

Right....

akuma_od3

The earliest written pieces of Judiasm go a little further back, and a lot of the 'prophets' described go further back still - notably Abraham who might have lived arround 4000 b.c. And the lack of written material doesn't mean that God / Monotheism wasn't active even futher back.

Also who's to say that the Jews, Chistians, and Muslims haven't heard from a higher power whos been arround for all time?

And what's the point of saying that the Bible is irrelevant because the writers believed the world was flat - the Bible is a religious work not a Science texbook.

Yes, because a God that would send me to hell for simply not believing in it without proof is a God I would not want to spend eternity with. I feel safe.

I fear that god may not be the good all loving god that everyone expects him to be. Looking at the world, my best guess is that god is good and evil.

I feel safe in the idea that if the choice to believe or not believe in god was really that important, then god, as powerful and knowledgeable as he would be, would make believing in him a much more reasonable choice (evidence and whatnot) than it is now, if he really expected us to believe in him.

I used to not believe in god. Thought it was all bunk, thought I felt safe at the time. Then I grew up.

Yes, because a God that would send me to hell for simply not believing in it without proof is a God I would not want to spend eternity with. I feel safe.

Pixel-Pirate

I believe in God, and i feel somewhat safe, but there is always that little part of my mind that says, "YOU COULD BE WRONG AND ANOTHER RELIGION COULD BE RIGHT! IT WILL BE TOO LATE BY THE TIME YOU FIND OUT!"

i would either like these two options:

-Christ is real

-no God at all

but i go with Christ. I just really wish that religion didnt come with punishments for those who don't follow it. Life wouldn't be filled with so much worry for me. Or sad pity for those in hell.

How is an atheist supposed to be scared of not believing in a god? This question makes no sense whatsoever.

I believe in God, and i feel somewhat safe, but there is always that little part of my mind that says, "YOU COULD BE WRONG AND ANOTHER RELIGION COULD BE RIGHT! IT WILL BE TOO LATE BY THE TIME YOU FIND OUT!"

i would either like these two options:

-Christ is real

-no God at all

but i go with Christ. I just really wish that religion didnt come with punishments for those who don't follow it. Life wouldn't be filled with so much worry for me. Or sad pity for those in hell.

Noskillkill

or they might die and not feel anything.

[QUOTE="Noskillkill"]

I believe in God, and i feel somewhat safe, but there is always that little part of my mind that says, "YOU COULD BE WRONG AND ANOTHER RELIGION COULD BE RIGHT! IT WILL BE TOO LATE BY THE TIME YOU FIND OUT!"

i would either like these two options:

-Christ is real

-no God at all

but i go with Christ. I just really wish that religion didnt come with punishments for those who don't follow it. Life wouldn't be filled with so much worry for me. Or sad pity for those in hell.

MystikFollower

So do you or don't you believe in God? it sounded like it at first but by the end it seems like ur challenging Him...which is it?

[QUOTE="MystikFollower"][QUOTE="Noskillkill"]

I believe in God, and i feel somewhat safe, but there is always that little part of my mind that says, "YOU COULD BE WRONG AND ANOTHER RELIGION COULD BE RIGHT! IT WILL BE TOO LATE BY THE TIME YOU FIND OUT!"

i would either like these two options:

-Christ is real

-no God at all

but i go with Christ. I just really wish that religion didnt come with punishments for those who don't follow it. Life wouldn't be filled with so much worry for me. Or sad pity for those in hell.

Noskillkill

So do you or don't you believe in God? it sounded like it at first but by the end it seems like ur challenging Him...which is it?

I dont think you can really choose whether or not to believe. How can you make yourself believe in something that you just dont?

i dont feel safe because im a paranoid person, but, its not like i can just force myself to believe in something that i am skeptical about... especially when there are so many different views about god, gods and everything in between.bionicle_lover

I used to not believe in god. Thought it was all bunk, thought I felt safe at the time. Then I grew up.

mephie25

What do you mean I don't believe in God? Talk to him every day.chessmaster1989

Of course. If I didn't then I'd probably force myself to accept some sort of religion.

Well, now I feel a LOT safer.

[QUOTE="chessmaster1989"]What do you mean I don't believe in God? Talk to him every day.BumFluff122

You don't appreciate Megadeth lyrics? :(

Yes, I feel perfectly safe because I believe in myself, and I believe that any kind of "hell" negates the concept of a loving god.

What do you mean I don't believe in God? Talk to him every day.chessmaster1989

[QUOTE="BumFluff122"]

[QUOTE="chessmaster1989"]What do you mean I don't believe in God? Talk to him every day.chessmaster1989

You don't appreciate Megadeth lyrics? :(

[QUOTE="chessmaster1989"]What do you mean I don't believe in God? Talk to him every day.Darth-Caedus

Indeed. :P

[spoiler] Wait, Darth, you got the Megadeth reference, right? :P [/spoiler]

Do you feel safe not believing in god?slipknot0129

This is my view on the situation - if God is as great as believers say he is, and if I live as good a life as I can and do my best to leave future generations a better world, then I think that me merely not believing and/or worshiping in him shouldn't be of any significance, and if he is so narcissistic that he actually condemns all those who merely don't believe and/or worship him, regardless of how the condemned actually live their lives - why would I even want to be in heaven with an entity like that? How great could heaven actually be if God were actually like that? -Sun_Tzu-

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Yes, I feel perfectly safe because I believe in myself, and I believe that any kind of "hell" negates the concept of a loving god.

black_cat19

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trust_nobody

[QUOTE="black_cat19"]

Yes, I feel perfectly safe because I believe in myself, and I believe that any kind of "hell" negates the concept of a loving god.

hiphops_savior

Hiphops, you're confusing people's beliefs with their desires. An atheist will not believe heaven exists, but I'm fairly certain almost any atheist would prefer heaven over hell.

yes

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"]This is my view on the situation - if God is as great as believers say he is, and if I live as good a life as I can and do my best to leave future generations a better world, then I think that me merely not believing and/or worshiping in him shouldn't be of any significance, and if he is so narcissistic that he actually condemns all those who merely don't believe and/or worship him, regardless of how the condemned actually live their lives - why would I even want to be in heaven with an entity like that? How great could heaven actually be if God were actually like that? hiphops_savior

Why is there only hell as a second option? What is wrong with pride in doing a good job if the pride hurts no one, but the resulting actions only help? Maybe they dont want to go to heaven, so they have to go to hell? a place of eternal suffering? God isnt forcing you to choose heaven, unless you dont like torture, that's the way i see the "option" of choosing heaven. unless there is somewhere in between. Like purgatory? but isnt that stage only transitory until you get sentenced to one of the above? if not, then cool, i guess people can just hang there with their buddies.

now i feel a need to relate back to the main topic at hand so not as to get into a debate about a specific religion... i'd probably be even more scared if i believed in a god, even more so if it were the God of hell and heaven.

EDIT: I'm not saying i dont believe a god or higher being exists, but im saying i dont believe in the religion kind... or something in that direction

I feel safe. I also believe in God. And this is kind of sending the wrong message. The point of Christianity is not to scare people into believing in God. If somebody becomes a "believer" just because they want to avoid an eternity of hell, they're doing it wrong.thequietguy

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"]This is my view on the situation - if God is as great as believers say he is, and if I live as good a life as I can and do my best to leave future generations a better world, then I think that me merely not believing and/or worshiping in him shouldn't be of any significance, and if he is so narcissistic that he actually condemns all those who merely don't believe and/or worship him, regardless of how the condemned actually live their lives - why would I even want to be in heaven with an entity like that? How great could heaven actually be if God were actually like that? hiphops_savior

What I am saying however, is that if God is so narcissistic that he won't let me into heaven because I don't worship him, why would I want to spend all of eternity with such a narcissistic entity? Sure, it might be "heaven" nominally, but who's to say that it would be heaven at a more substantial level?

[QUOTE="trust_nobody"]

Geeeet your salvation here, that's right folks salvation only $50, guaranteed or QUADRUPLE your money back, you simply can't beat that forumites...
cluclap

[QUOTE="black_cat19"]

Yes, I feel perfectly safe because I believe in myself, and I believe that any kind of "hell" negates the concept of a loving god.

hiphops_savior

Of course I want to go to heaven IF it's real! EVERYONE wants to go to heaven IF it exists because the alternative is an eternity of torture! The point here is not whether or not people want to go to heaven or hell, anyone would pick heaven over hell IF they existed, the point here is that I (like many others) just don't believe it exists to begin with, so how can I go to a place that doesn't exist?

IF heaven was real and I knew it to be real, then free will is an illusion, because God is telling you if you don't do exactly as he says you'll have an eternity of torment. Sure, you're "free" to disobey, but no one in their right mind would disobey if they were completely sure that god, heaven, and hell are real.

Again, the point here is not whether or not you want, or choose, to go to heaven or hell, the point here is whether those places are real to begin with. If you believe they aren't then you have no incentive to strive for one or the other, and if they're actually real then basically your hands are tied.