Is A THEIST really just an ATHEIST without the space?

Question

Does the space in between "A" and "THEIST" just represent the empty space in the craniums of people who believe in God where their brain goes???

Haha. I am pretty clever. I figured it all out. Now if we could only give people like Pat Robertson and all these people on Yahoo Answers a brain.

THEN, THEY CAN THINK FOR THEMSELVES INSTEAD OF DOING WHAT THEY'VE BEEN TOLD TO DO AND WHATEVER EVERYONE ELSE DOES.

Answer 1

Indeed that is clever and I can see why, if you take Pat Robertson and [some] YA answerers you would come to the conclusion that there must be some sort of neurological problem.

However, having said that, I feel I must answer to some of your presumtions - namely that theists are brainless, that theists move through life either doing what they are told to do or what everyone else does.

I guess the underlying premise with which I disagree is that theists must suspend the intellect in order to embrace faith. That is not my experience. I am one who has found that there is a dimension of life that is not proven emperically. The spiritual self exists though it will not be proven (nor disproven incidentally) in philosophy class (no offense intended toword the philosopohers). It is a part of my humanity that was given to me when I searched for it with an open heart and mind. (Intellect and spirit together)

I am not a member of a church denomination. I have tried that on 3 occasions and found the man-made structure to be problematic (No offense intended to the many beautiful brothers and sisters in Christ I have known who remain affiliated and find a means of growth and fellowship there.). However, while there are definite shortcomings, there are also some real benefits and I do regularly attend a small church that is oriented to spiritual growth and outreach to the community for the glory of God. I continue to test everything that comes out of the mouth of our minister against my own intellect and spirit and find that there are significant areas of disagreement. These are matters we discuss frankly and respectfully. Typically we agree to disagree and I think this is healthy.

First and foremost, I read the Bible. I pray that it will be illuminated for me so that the deeper meanings will become clear. But I also read other books...the Quran -to look for areas of agreement with my Muslim brothers and sisters. I read Jurgan Habermas to look for areas of agreement with my atheist brothers and sisters in how peoples of different world views can engage in respectful and fair social discourse in democracies. I read Gandhi because there is much about his ideas on nonviolent ways of impacting societies that move me. I read C.S. Lewis and N. T. Wright because of their spirit-filled, intellectually dense writing on Christianity.

Please, divisiveness is really harmful to what we all need to accomplish together in these dangerous times. Can we suspend the characterizations on all sides? For my part, I will try to remember what it felt like to not know God...how I knew myself to me a morally upright person and how I too, looked down on anyone who did not seem to ever struggle to believe... as though there was no intelligent argument to be made against faith.

In the end, faith cannot be proven or disproven using the intellect alone, though CS Lewis is a very bright (Cambridge Professor in literature, or was it Oxford ?...sorry, can't recall just now.) Christian apologist who makes good rational arguments to atheists, having been one himself for many years.

Faith is a whole other dimension of the human self. It requires additional tools to decifer. That doesn't make one unintelligent. Stay open to possibilities. Sometimes truth comes in the strangest ways from the most unlikely sources!

Peace to you, friend.

Answer 2

Ha ha ha! You think you are clever, but one day, you will bow your knees and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Ask yourself one question:

If you were lying on your death bed right now, and you KNEW beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were going to be dead in 1 minute, could you be absolutely certain that there is no God? Or would you be screaming deep down inside "what if"?

What if those christians are right? Will you go to heaven or hell?

Let's say for instance that you have never seen a million bucks together all in one place where you can touch it, does it exist? How do you know? It is by faith that you believe that one million bucks exists. The same goes for us, we believe by faith we will be saved, not of works (which is religion). Religion says you must do all these things to go to heaven, that your place there must be earned. But a personal relationship with Jesus Christ gives your place in heaven to you as a free gift!

Answer 3

Well, actually ...

a theist has made a space for God. An atheist needs to open up a little. It wouldn't hurt.

There ARE people of faith who don't think, but there are those others who don't leave their brain at the church door. YOU would, however, need to pick up some manners ...

Just as there are thinking/non-thinking believers, I would hope that there are caring atheists out there who balance out the uncaring and hateful ones. It does tend to smack of "methinks she doth protest too much".

Answer 4

House? Is that really you? Running low on pain killers, eh? Do you want to talk about God? I am an agnostic. I believe in God, but you can't know anything more about God, and I don't think it's honest for anyone to say they can know for sure whether God exists or not. So it's belief not fact and it's your own personal business, and that's just fine with me. My stepson used to practice imitating all those awful tel-evangelicals, until I blocked as many of those channels as I could. Did you ever see Duplantis? Very scary empty smile there.

Answer 5

Yea, very clever, I like it. But in defense of the people who believe in God, I have an IQ in the top two percent and I struggled with the brainwashing for a very long time. I still pray just in case and out of habit cuz you never know, and it's worth a shot, I play the lottery sometimes too.

Answer 6

u guys need to go back to school..

A theist like Thomas Jefferson ...is not a atheist.

Jefferson beleived in a god, just not the biblical version or at least the majority of the bible... he believed like many that the bible was full of inaccurancies (both provable and supposed).

Answer 7

It can be the other way too.

Atheist is a theist with a prefix just to say that they are different from the rest.

Answer 8

maybe the atheist is a theist with the a, athiests believe in god, they are that god.

Answer 9

It's just the opposite, my friend. You are the one not thinking for yourself. Why not try reading and STUDYING the Bible? I challenge you to do so.

Answer 10

maybe atheist is plural and a theist means only one?