Win Prizes Ask an Atheist II

[Gethelred]

Welcome to the Ask an Atheist thread II.

Previous part:

Win Prizes - Ask an Atheist - Shoe's on the other foot now!

Alright, we're going to have a change of tack. As I'm sure you can see, the thread title has been changed to Ask an Atheist. People who have a question to ask of the atheists who populate this thread - more than the christians do - should feel free to ask questions of them. If you've still got...

www.bigfooty.com

Standard board rules apply.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

I think no-one has put my perspective better than country singer Iris DeMent, in her song Let The Mystery Be:


Everybody is wondering what and where they all came from
Everybody is worrying 'bout
Where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be

Some say once you're gone you're gone forever
And some say you're gonna come back
Some say you rest in the arms of the Savior if in sinful ways you lack
Some say that they're coming back in a garden
Bunch of carrots and little sweet peas
I think I'll just let the mystery be

Everybody is wondering what and where they all came from
etc

Some say they're going to a place called Glory
And I ain't saying it ain't a fact
But I've heard that I'm on the road to purgatory
And I don't like the sound of that
I believe in love and I live my life accordingly
But I choose to let the mystery be

Everybody is wondering what and where they all came from
Everybody is worrying 'bout
Where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be

I think I'll just let the mystery be

 

[Vdubs]

I think no-one has put my perspective better than country singer Iris DeMent, in her song Let The Mystery Be:


Everybody is wondering what and where they all came from
Everybody is worrying 'bout
Where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be

Some say once you're gone you're gone forever
And some say you're gonna come back
Some say you rest in the arms of the Savior if in sinful ways you lack
Some say that they're coming back in a garden
Bunch of carrots and little sweet peas
I think I'll just let the mystery be

Everybody is wondering what and where they all came from
etc

Some say they're going to a place called Glory
And I ain't saying it ain't a fact
But I've heard that I'm on the road to purgatory
And I don't like the sound of that
I believe in love and I live my life accordingly
But I choose to let the mystery be

Everybody is wondering what and where they all came from
Everybody is worrying 'bout
Where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be

I think I'll just let the mystery be

How about this from AJ Cronin?
Above all am I convinced of the need, irrevocable and inescapable, of every human heart, for God. No matter how we try to escape, to lose ourselves in restless seeking, we cannot separate ourselves from our divine source. There is no substitute for God.

And this from CS Lewis? From Mere Christianity.
is it not frightfully unfair that this new life should be confined to people who have heard of Christ and been able to believe in him. But the truth is, God has not told us what his arrangements about the other people are. We do know that no man can be saved except through Christ. We do not know that only those who know him can be saved through him. And in the meantime, if you are worried about the people outside, the most unreasonable thing you can do is to remain outside yourself.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

How about this from AJ Cronin?
Above all am I convinced of the need, irrevocable and inescapable, of every human heart, for God. No matter how we try to escape, to lose ourselves in restless seeking, we cannot separate ourselves from our divine source. There is no substitute for God.

And this from CS Lewis? From Mere Christianity.
is it not frightfully unfair that this new life should be confined to people who have heard of Christ and been able to believe in him. But the truth is, God has not told us what his arrangements about the other people are. We do know that no man can be saved except through Christ. We do not know that only those who know him can be saved through him. And in the meantime, if you are worried about the people outside, the most unreasonable thing you can do is to remain outside yourself.

CS Lewis is only kidding himself.

No, CS, we don’t know that by any stretch, and he has no business speaking for the rest of humanity.

AJ Cronin is convinced? I’m not. Neither are billions.

I think I’ll just let the mystery be.

 

[Gough]

CS Lewis also wrote about talking mammals and magic wardrobes, so in his mind a bloke turning water into wine then dying and coming back three days later might not seem as far fetched as it does to the others.

 

[Boston tiger]

One the reasons CS became a catholic was being a literary historian he couldn’t see how the gospels could have been made up.

“Another point is that on that view you would have to regard the accounts of the Man as being legends. Now, as a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of thing. They are not artistic enough to be legends. From an imaginative point of view they are clumsy, they don’t work up to things properly. Most of the life of Jesus is totally unknown to us, as is the life of anyone else who lived at that time, and no people building up a legend would allow that to be so. Apart from bits of the Platonic dialogues, there are no conversations that I know of in ancient literature like the Fourth Gospel. There is nothing, even in modern literature, until about a hundred years ago when the realistic novel came into existence. In the story of the woman taken in adultery we are told Christ bent down and scribbled in the dust with His finger. Nothing comes of this. No one has ever based any doctrine on it. And the art of inventing little irrelevant details to make an imaginary scene more convincing is a purely modern art. Surely the only explanation of this passage is that the thing really happened? The author put it in simply because he had seen it.”
-C.S. Lewis, “What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ?“

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

One the reasons CS became a catholic was being a literary historian he couldn’t see how the gospels could have been made up.

“Another point is that on that view you would have to regard the accounts of the Man as being legends. Now, as a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of thing. They are not artistic enough to be legends. From an imaginative point of view they are clumsy, they don’t work up to things properly. Most of the life of Jesus is totally unknown to us, as is the life of anyone else who lived at that time, and no people building up a legend would allow that to be so. Apart from bits of the Platonic dialogues, there are no conversations that I know of in ancient literature like the Fourth Gospel. There is nothing, even in modern literature, until about a hundred years ago when the realistic novel came into existence. In the story of the woman taken in adultery we are told Christ bent down and scribbled in the dust with His finger. Nothing comes of this. No one has ever based any doctrine on it. And the art of inventing little irrelevant details to make an imaginary scene more convincing is a purely modern art. Surely the only explanation of this passage is that the thing really happened? The author put it in simply because he had seen it.”
-C.S. Lewis, “What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ?“

Sure. Good point.

Doesn’t address the question of whether, for instance, those scribes were mistaken in interpreting what they believe they saw.

Doesn’t even begin to address the possibility that regardless of what this historical figure Jesus said, there simply is no god.

It’s perfectly possible that even if every account of Jesus’ life is 100% true and accurate, Jesus himself was wrong.

 

[carltonchelsea]

How about this from AJ Cronin?
Above all am I convinced of the need, irrevocable and inescapable, of every human heart, for God. No matter how we try to escape, to lose ourselves in restless seeking, we cannot separate ourselves from our divine source. There is no substitute for God.

And this from CS Lewis? From Mere Christianity.
is it not frightfully unfair that this new life should be confined to people who have heard of Christ and been able to believe in him. But the truth is, God has not told us what his arrangements about the other people are. We do know that no man can be saved except through Christ. We do not know that only those who know him can be saved through him. And in the meantime, if you are worried about the people outside, the most unreasonable thing you can do is to remain outside yourself.

Paedophillia is an expensive business ain’t it?!

L.A. Catholic Church payouts for clergy abuse top $1.5 billion with new record settlement

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse in the largest settlement involving the Catholic Church.

www.latimes.com

 

[evolved2]

One the reasons CS became a catholic was being a literary historian he couldn’t see how the gospels could have been made up.

“Another point is that on that view you would have to regard the accounts of the Man as being legends. Now, as a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of thing. They are not artistic enough to be legends. From an imaginative point of view they are clumsy, they don’t work up to things properly. Most of the life of Jesus is totally unknown to us, as is the life of anyone else who lived at that time, and no people building up a legend would allow that to be so. Apart from bits of the Platonic dialogues, there are no conversations that I know of in ancient literature like the Fourth Gospel. There is nothing, even in modern literature, until about a hundred years ago when the realistic novel came into existence. In the story of the woman taken in adultery we are told Christ bent down and scribbled in the dust with His finger. Nothing comes of this. No one has ever based any doctrine on it. And the art of inventing little irrelevant details to make an imaginary scene more convincing is a purely modern art. Surely the only explanation of this passage is that the thing really happened? The author put it in simply because he had seen it.”
-C.S. Lewis, “What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ?“

CS Lewis is a great fiction writer, but his apologetics aren't convincing.

Christians spend their lives trying to erase doubt from their consciousness. They think that if someone of the caliber of CS Lewis believes, it adds credence to their faith - "it must be true if he believes".

I am firmly convinced that believers struggle internally with the many contradictions that exist within their faith. It's an unwinnable battle.

That is a battle I don't struggle with at all. Given there's no objective evidence for the existence of a god and I don't operate under the threat of punishment for non-belief, I have the freedom to explore ideas, concepts, and a search for truth without trying to push out doubt or disbelief.

Disbelief isn't the enemy of truth, it's the source of truth.

It doesn't matter to me whether the people and places in the bible existed or not, nor does it matter if Jesus scribbled in the dirt. The point that matters is whether the magic is real or not - and there's simply zero evidence of it.

 

[Boston tiger]

CS Lewis is a great fiction writer, but his apologetics aren't convincing.

Christians spend their lives trying to erase doubt from their consciousness. They think that if someone of the caliber of CS Lewis believes, it adds credence to their faith - "it must be true if he believes".

I am firmly convinced that believers struggle internally with the many contradictions that exist within their faith. It's an unwinnable battle.

That is a battle I don't struggle with at all. Given there's no objective evidence for the existence of a god and I don't operate under the threat of punishment for non-belief, I have the freedom to explore ideas, concepts, and a search for truth without trying to push out doubt or disbelief.

Disbelief isn't the enemy of truth, it's the source of truth.

It doesn't matter to me whether the people and places in the bible existed or not, nor does it matter if Jesus scribbled in the dirt. The point that matters is whether the magic is real or not - and there's simply zero evidence of it.

Firmly convinced.. love it. I’m firmly convinced that atheists are just a weird little genetic sub set of humanity that can’t see a big picture

 

[carltonchelsea]

Firmly convinced.. love it. I’m firmly convinced that atheists are just a weird little genetic sub set of humanity that can’t see a big picture

You’re projecting again sweetie!