The purpose of this post is to sum up, as discussed in my previous post, my main reasons for being an atheist.
First: God.
There is no proof. The end.
No, seriously, there is no credible evidence to suggest that he exists. FEELING him inside you is not proof of his existence. Some people feel bugs crawling all over their bodies that are not actually there...but we don't believe in invisible bugs...we tell them to see a doctor (or psychiatrist). The Bible is not a credible source either. If I wrote a book making claims about the greatness of my own existence, would you worship me? Which brings me to:
Second: The Bible.
Man wrote it. The end.
Again, I'm not joking...it's that simple. Why would an all-powerful God let his fallible creations write His book and mess it up? And why would he include details that would become irrelevant over time, in a book that is supposed to be perfect and timeless? Also, the fact that there are no other sources, beyond the Bible, that speak of the historical existence of Jesus kinda makes me go "hmmmmm"....
Third: Prayer
It doesn't work. It's never worked. It's been proven not to work (with the exception of the positive psychological effect of KNOWING that you are being prayed for, which is not proof of prayer working in and of itself).
Test #1: 2 groups of sick people, one group gets prayed for, the other doesn't, neither group knows of the prayers. No significant difference between the 2 groups in the end.
Test #2: 2 groups of sick people, both being prayed for, but only one group knows of the prayers. The knowing group shows slightly more improvement over the unknowing group.
Test #3: 2 groups of sick people, one prayed for, one not prayed for, both groups BELIEVE they are being prayed for. No significant difference between the groups.
Test #4: 2 groups of sick people, neither being prayed for, one group BELIEVES they are being prayed for. The group believing they are being prayed for show some improvement over the "unprayed for" group.
(I can look up the source and details of this study for anyone interested beyond my paraphrasing).
What does it mean? Prayer wastes valuable time that could be spent actually DOING something to help the situation that you are praying for.
And those are my 3 basic reasons for being an atheist....simplified.
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Hello again Sarah, I just read through this posting and I would like to discuss some of your viewpoints. I guess we will start with the first. God. Definitely life's greatest question. I understand you used to hold the Christian faith, rather, the belief in Jesus Christ. But to make it more simple, simply having the belief or faith that God exists is a question that should be asked by everyone.
ReplyDeleteSarah I am going to have to disagree with you. God does and has to exist and there is a lot of evidence that He does. This evidence is definitely not a "feeling". As we all know, feelings are real but they are not always accurate.
I guess I will start with a rather basic argument that I like to use. The Bible says that we are made in His image. But how should we translate that. Obviously we have a body that can be used to describe you. Something that is physical and something that can be observed. We also have a mind, something that thinks, wills, and makes decisions. We also have a spirit. I am sure you have heard this once or twice in your lifetime but I think it is a basic reflection of the very characteristics of God. As far as what the Bible describes. But what is the spirit? Do you think it exists? What is the difference between a dead body and a live one?
I personally believe the human spirit, or the difference between life and death, is evidence for something that is unobservable and does technically does not "exist" and yet.....it does.
What are your thoughts? Atheists do not believe in God because He is unobservable, but would that also be applied to what distinctly defines the difference between your thoughts, memories, decisions, likes and dislikes.....and.......death.
What exactly is the human spirit? I'm seriously thinking that I might have to add this to the list of reasons. Everyone talks about it, but no one seems to be able to tell me what it is. Telling me that the human spirit (for which there is no proof of it's existence), is not a valuable argument for the existence of God (another entity with no proof of it's existence). Your argument is circular, and has so many holes, that I will from here on in call it the sieve.
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