OP still thinks atheism is saying "there is no god."

It's because you lacked understanding. You focused on the negative things and didn't focus on the other things. Why would you even worry about hell as a believer? So we can scratch that false belief out or as you guys like to say delusion.

Jesus christ died for your sins, so why feel guilty about any minor mistakes? Don't you know they are washed away. The bible says those things to warn you, but the bible also says

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Thats what you shouldve focused on.

Yeah, that was actually astronomy.

What do you think the experience would be like and would look like if you were engaged in a collaborative work of God that is on yourself?

Would you be able to see things clearly?

Would you even want to see it clearly?

We liked to be sedated and unconscious for surgery....You don't see any parallels here between spiritual development and life?

I already knew that...astronomy and astrology are related.

Can't believe it took an hour for someone to point this out. I lol'd.

So you stand by your statement that astrology has aided ship navigation?

Yeah, both look at the stars.

The Age of Reason quote was probably put there for you solely.

Most of us don't bother trying to correct her. She'll never admit that she can possibly be mistaken about anything (unless a fellow Christian points it out to her, of course):

I do not have any clue what you mean by "a collaborative work of God that is on myself."

What? We like to be sedated so it does not hurt... what?

Oh another literalist pedant thinking he won through picky word usage.

I already said I know the difference. I knew it before schef ever chimed in. I knew it in the post above his.

My point was the stars have been functionally used.

Science should always be able to control things it doesn't even understand or can't even conceive of, amirite?

I am waiting for the paperback of 'The Grand Design' bec I'm not paying $28 for a thin hardcover. If I understand correctly I expect to read that M-Theory/Gravity are the cause of the multi-verse and something about not needing anybody to light the blue paper.

Fine. Although I'm sure there some sort of caveats which leaves them outs that sounds rather firm to me. And it is just the sort of thing that Atheists use when they claim proofs for their side.

At this point, with these incredible assertions and speculations, I'm not calling BS on cosmology yet but I wouldn't blame anybody who does unlike I would were I to run across an anti-evolutionist.

And I'm sorry if this video has been overused in this forum. I share Dr. Tyson's view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-uZZ7RdL5E

No, you are misunderstanding. I mean I do not understand grammatically what you were trying to say, as in it is indistinguishable from 'ahdajdsfhlj.'

And even if this were true, I already explained the problem with accepting it. If this were true, it would not be a reason to just accept whatever we want. It would be a reason to reject something that is true. If you cannot gain knowledge of a particular thing reliably, then the thing to do is to throw it out as it is indistinguishable from nonsense.

Science does not control anything.

wow this thread is really long. unfortunately no thread is going to help any religious person understand the atheist mind.

most atheist (in my experience) are very positive and enjoy life's challenges.
i guess the benefit of being an atheist is we only have ourselves to blame if we don't succeed.

Yes, there are mass delusions about religious belief. This is an incontrovertible fact. You believe this just as much as I do, since you believe that millions of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews have delusionary religious beliefs.

Explaining this is more difficult. The problem is not that there is no explanation, but that there are too many. For instance, some delusional religious belief might be the result of class oppression (Marx), cognitive biases (Dennett), will to power (Nietzsche), etc. I don't think that science has the means as yet to decide which of these, or other explanations is the correct one.

Okay.

Okay. I didn't claim that Christianity is not fun or that it is close-minded. Rather, I described some of the emotional benefits in my own life of giving up Christianity.

I don't like serving a boss at work either. Anyway, you are beginning to show that you are not interested in an honest answer to your question, but rather wish to make lame rhetorical points.

You don't know me. You don't know what my life as a Christian was like, or what my relationship with god was like. You are just making condescending assumptions about me. Stop.

I did. I rejected my religion out of my own study of the evidence for its truth.

FYP

athiests have more free time

Also the world is much more interesting and beautiful when you dont believe some guy with a beard snapped his fingers and made everything up

If your life sucked as a christian it was not because you were a christian its because you didn't have proper understanding.

All atheists do is nitpick the bible without looking at the whole picture. Without understanding why it says this or that. You won't understand it if you only focus on something that seems negative until you understand the whole situation.

Since you guys like science so much if you are studying for a chemistry exam are you only going to focus on one part without studying the rest to get a complete understanding?

If you don't go for the complete picture you aren't going to understand anything and just remain in that confused state. Atheists are in a very confused state, they don't know whats going on. This mass confusion leads to such great indecision they can't decide what they believe.

we nitpick because the evidence lacks stability. is it that hard to understand?

you can try this one on too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3g6mXLEKk

Even if this were true (and I don’t for a second accept that it is), it says nothing about whether there really is a god or not.

What if reading horoscopes (instead of believing in god) gives some people hope? What if worshiping a totem pole in someone’s basement gives them hope and provides their life with meaning? By your rationale, these things are perfectly acceptable. While in reality, they are a complete waste of time and provide a false sense of security. So that’s just one benefit of my atheism. I don’t live a delusional life.

My life as a christian did not suck. You are still making assumptions. You should stop assuming that you know why atheists and other former Christians reject Christianity. It makes you seem very arrogant.

Really? I'm an atheist. Can you give me an example of where or how I've "nitpicked" the bible? Can you explain to me how I've misunderstood something it says? You assume, falsely, that because I disagree with what the Bible says, or think that some of what it says is false, that I must not understand it. That assumption seems unwarranted to me.

If your life was great as a christian then you wouldn't have abandoned the faith. I can only work with the information you provide me. So excuse me for using my "logical" and "rational" mind.

If you had been deep into the faith then you wouldn't have left it.

"Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time."=You

No its not. Its no different than thinking that intelligent life on Neptune is higly improbable. Once you call it a "philosophy" you give ammunition to theists that they shouldn't have.