Quote from Fordz

I feel like I'm doing a lot of sin by thinking that He ain't true. :/

A god that punishes you for thinking would be an asshole. Just saying.

Quote from Fordz

Yeah, I meet atheists because of animation, they really got me thinking about God. I feel like I'm doing a lot of sin by thinking that He ain't true.

You're talking about a deity that gave you a mind capable of rational thought, but if you use it to ponder its existence, that's a sin? Don't you think that's a little strange?

Think about why you believe in a god. Did you start by examining the world around you, logically considering your observations before arriving at "God must exist" as the most likely possibility? Did you read the Bible before deciding to believe in the god it describes? Did you read other religious scriptures to make sure Christianity was the religion that you wanted to follow over all others?


No. You were likely born in a Christian family, who told you all about god. You never had a chance to not believe, because by the time your mind was developed enough to think about the concept in any meaningful way, you already spent your entire life assuming it's true. Not because of logic or reasoning or self-reflection, but because you were told as a child that a god exists.


So, now that you can actually think about the concept of a god and its role in this universe, you're hesitant to. You already believe that god exists, he loves you, and you'll get to spend eternity in paradise when you die. How much better can it get?

And now you run into atheists saying you're wrong -- well, what does atheism have to offer? If god doesn't exist... well, fuck, what's the point of anything? If he didn't purposefully create the universe, then why are you even alive? How did you get here? And if heaven doesn't exist, where do you go when you die? Are you just gone for eternity? That's all life is? And holy fuck, what if you're wrong? What if you die, find out god DOES exist, and now you're stuck in hell for eternity? Why the hell would you choose to believe in THAT instead of sticking with god?


So yeah, that's enough to put you through an existential crisis, I know from experience. I get it. What I don't understand is how people willingly embrace anti-intellectualism and ignorance to continue living in their fantasy world. I can't understand how people delude themselves into believing the universe is only 6,000 years old despite all evidence to the contrary. It's embarrassing.

Quote from Fordz

BTW, I have my own ways of detecting atheists. They use the term god instead of God and other things related to Him. Especially Exilement :/

That's because god is a generic word describing a deity, I use it in that context instead of "God" as a proper noun for a specific deity that I don't believe in.

Quote from Exilement

That's because god is a generic word describing a deity, I use it in that context instead of "God" as a proper noun for a specific deity that I don't believe in.

How exactly do you decide when to use god as a proper noun? For example, let's say you are discussing Descartes' ontological argument. In this argument, it is clear that Descartes is arguing the case for the God of classical theism, a Christian God, however he may not directly reference that fact (I can't remember whether he does. For the sake of argument, let's say he doesn't).

Let us then say that the sentence you wish to write is "Whether this argument proves the existence of God is doubtful". (of course if you change it to "a god" then it's easy enough to leave it non-capital).

What should you do there? Is it a specific deity you are talking about or a non-specific one? Genuine question, I always struggle in deciding whether to capitalise god or not.

[edit]
I guess what I'm getting at is, isn't it analogous to cats, for example?
If I say "I want a cat" it's not capitalised. If I say "I want Tammy" (a cat), it's capitalised.
The problem occurs because the word god and God can be proper and improper. God can be used to mean "Tammy" or "cat" in this analogy, depending on its context.
And then that's the hard part, because as is with the example above with the ontological argument, the context is hard to spot.

I only capitalize the word "god" when I'm specifically speaking of the Christian one.

If you use god by saying, for example, "god doesn't exist", doesn't that imply that it's a specific deity? Take the cat example that I just gave:

saying "cat doesn't exist" is wrong. Saying "Tammy doesn't exist" is correct. Does that not imply that saying "god doesn't exist" is wrong, but saying "God doesn't exist" is right?
The only way to use god non-capitalised, therefore, should be to say "a god doesn't exist", correct?

[edit]
to relate it to the way Exilement was using it, he said:
"told you all about god"

Now when you think of that in relation to other things, such as the cat, it doesn't make sense. If he's claiming to use the word god as meaning all gods, then he should say "told you all about a god", otherwise he should capitalise it so that it's "told you all about God" and accept that it's a specific, Christian God that he is discussing.

I try to think of it in relation to other nouns like cats, then it becomes a lot clearer.

Of course, I could be completely wrong. I was never too good with English.

I don't put much thought into it. I assume people know what I'm talking about regardless of its capitalization. My point was that "god" isn't incorrect just because I don't care enough to capitalize it.

Oh well I wasn't sure about post here, because of the possible answers I would get but. I do believe in god, and I know it not because someone took me to the church when I was a little girl, I believe in him because of personal experiences, that tells me once and again and again that he's there whiling to help me whenever I need

I would like to give a whole explanation of his existence, but I think that All I'll get it will be posts with scientific arguments, I would only recommend, that I you want to know, I you REALLY want to know if he exists, not just for curiosity.... pray that's all

I believe there isn't a god. I was raised as a catholic my entire life, and I believed in a god because I'd been taught to. I never gave it that much thought, but then I started to question it. I realized that the reason people invented the belief in god(s) is because they want answers to unexplainable things. This belief is flawed though. Because as time passes science can explain more and more about the world. If god is just a pocket of unknown information, like he is to most people, then he is constantly shrinking. Also something I'd like to add. If there was a god, I wouldn't worship him. Due to the fact that if such an omnipotent, and loving being existed, why would there be so much misery in the world? In the christian bible he says "Thou shalt not kill." Yet he goes on to murder millions of people. What kind of loving god would do that? I challenge any christian to explain why, if a loving god existed, he would be so cruel and evil. And if god isn't loving, but an uncaring god. Then I see no reason to worship him.

Quote from _camila_

Oh well I wasn't sure about post here, because of the possible answers I would get but. I do believe in god, and I know it not because someone took me to the church when I was a little girl, I believe in him because of personal experiences, that tells me once and again and again that he's there whiling to help me whenever I need

I would like to give a whole explanation of his existence, but I think that All I'll get it will be posts with scientific arguments, I would only recommend, that I you want to know, I you REALLY want to know if he exists, not just for curiosity.... pray that's all

how has the all knowing creator of everything bent down and personally touch your insignificant life multiple times?

Quote from Exilement

I don't put much thought into it. I assume people know what I'm talking about regardless of its capitalization. My point was that "god" isn't incorrect just because I don't care enough to capitalize it.

on the subject of capitalization

well

i'll just leave this here

Cobalt, when science discovers more and more about the universe, we realized that we don't know anything about, probably we'll never have a complete knowledge about it, it impossible to us to understand everything

About the ppl dying in an unfair way.... God gave us all a free will over our actions, if he controls every single unfair thing on earth, what would be the purpose of life? How are we going to progress espiritually without challenges on our ways? people who does in unfair ways, are the perfect proof to punish the "unfair " people, if god just stops everything, there'd be no proof or sin to punish. And cobalt Catholicism is not the only religion in the world, I don't want to offend any catholic with this, but I personally don't like that religion

And 2-D first of all... Every single one of us is a diamond for god, we're his children, you cal call it anything but "insignificant", and dude, god has an endless power, knowledge and love, so amuch that we can't even imagine, having that I our minds it's not hard to believe that he can be in "multiple places at the same time", the realm of why he can do that it's because his time is different to ours, I can't remember the exactly measure but it's like 1day ---> 1 year

to be honest i personally don't believe in Gods or religion (no offence to people who do) . i'll admit im an atheist. i'll admit i do belive in intergalactic races or alien species. Just for the fact that the universe is just far tooo big, for there not to be other forms of life. and im pretty sure science has just proved that we were created through millions of years of evolution.

but if there was a god, wouldn't he want the best for all of us, wouldn't he want us to be equal in every way. theres people all around the world getting picked on and bullied for nothing, there homeless people, people dying of hunger and starvation, theres children dying everyday, theres people commiting murder everyday, theres wars amongst people, even hatred amongst entire races of people. if there was a god, he left this place along time ago.

so I rest my case

Quote from Snuggz

to be honest i personally don't believe in Gods or religion (no offence to people who do) . i'll admit im an atheist. i'll admit i do belive in intergalactic races or alien species. Just for the fact that the universe is just far tooo big, for there not to be other forms of life. and im pretty sure science has just proved that we were created through millions of years of evolution.

but if there was a god, wouldn't he want the best for all of us, wouldn't he want us to be equal in every way. theres people all around the world getting picked on and bullied for nothing, there homeless people, people dying of hunger and starvation, theres children dying everyday, theres people commiting murder everyday, theres wars amongst people, even hatred amongst entire races of people. if there was a god, he left this place along time ago.

so I rest my case

But didnt He do enough by giving us life....its humans that invented money and payment methods and the murderers choice is to be a murderer, God cant do anything there.
EDIT: I didnt read what Camila said, completely agree.

My opinion are that humans (myself included) are STUPID, we are dumb, selfish, glutenous and because of this all these religous opinions wont matter, because we will kill ourselfs it will be fallout people! We will start a nuclear war and destroy our entire race because we dont know how rationilse, take other peoples opinions, be equal, if we did not have any war we would have already invented interstella travel, everyone on earth would have a place to call home. But peace will never be achived so long as humans walk the earth, we have already wasted alot of earths resourses and it wont last forever. So if your either religois or non-religious, it wont help you when we kill ourselfs harsh but true. -pie