If you disbelieve in God as an Atheist?

Question

and you are putting all your trust in science, math, and physical evidence, Then are'nt you putting all you trust in the brains of other men? So whatever these mortal men tell you, that will be your belief? Knowing the conditions of the world and man's many negative qualities, is'nt it foolish to put all you trust in mortal knowledge? Is it possible that there are just other dimensions in which mortal man have not discovered yet? Is it possible that a disbeliever is a disbeliever because that is the path God has chosen for you? Please, this is not an attack on anyones beliefs, I just want answer to the questions, your honesty. Please don't ask me questions or attack me

Answer 1

And how are you any different from us? Do you have access to information that did not come from mortal men? And what might that information be?

Try this hypothesis on for size: the Bible is just a book, written by mortal men, who lived at a time when written language was only recently acquired. Their culture was still based in oral tradition. The books they wrote that became the books of the Bible were just those oral traditions. The God of Abraham is just a very successful camp fire story. The Bible is a collection of myths.

Now consider your theistic hypothesis. The God of the Hebrew Bible is the real God who created the universe, as described in Genesis. Every word of the Bible is his word.

Finally, consider the evidence you have directly available to you, aided by all knowledge that mankind has been able to accumulate by working together, making observations about the natural world, creating hypotheses to explain those observations, creating experiments to test those hypotheses, and publishing their results so that other people can independently verify their results.

Your task is to take the two hypotheses above (the Bible is myth vs. the Bible is the true word of a real God) and see which hypothesis makes more sense.

I was raised Christian. I've studied religion, and I've studied many branches of science. To me, the Bible is myth hypothesis is much more consistent with the evidence.

Answer 2

I am putting my trust in my own mind as well as the minds of those more educated then me, yes. Don't you ever go to the doctor? Then you trust that man's brain, and all his evil scientific method stuff.

Whatever mortal men tell me? Well, all men are mortal, of course. I don't believe whatever I'm told, but I do know enough to accept physical proof for things. I also know enough to not accept biased, unproven opinions as fact.

Other dimensions - of course that's possible, and there are scientists researching the possibility.

As for some "god" choosing disbelief as a path for me - seems illogical, doesn't it? Could you prove it? No, you couldn't.

You seem to take issue with any human being accepting physical proof as valid; you see it as putting all trust in men's knowledge. Well, at this point that's all there is. And that's better than putting all faith in fairy tales any day of the week.

Answer 3

Science is not 'manmade'. Science is three simple concepts:

1. Math and logic are valid. If they were not, we could never know anything, nothing could be proven or established or represented.

2. Our observations, unaided or aided are valid; if added, the tool must meet the requirement of unaided observation and logic [ie: optics is founded on observation and logic; we know lenses work. A crystal ball does not]. If they were not, we could never receive reliable information from the universe, and we could never know anything.

3. If there is a supernatural, it does not interfere in ANY way with the material, visible universe. If it did meddle, nothing would stop it from changing its mind from observation to observation, so we could never know anything.

In short, asking me to believe in any deity short of the deistic blind watchmaker is to ask me to believe we can know absolutely nothing. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Further, the more and more we study of the universe, the more and more we realize that while the visible portion of the universe has a beginning, the WHOLE universe does not, therefore, there's no need for a creator.

Occam's razor cuts the creator out as an unnecessary causal agent.

Answer 4

Basing our ideas on evidence and logic is the best we can do. It's not perfect, but there is no better way. I have never heard an atheist claim to believe anything simply because someone told them it was true. Your hypothetical questions about what might be possible are worthless. I don't mean that as an insult. It's just a fact. I could ask you, "Isn't it possible that magic elves created the universe?" and based on your reasoning you would have no reason not to believe it other than the fact that you wouldn't want to. You either have good reasons for believing things or you don't.

Answer 5

I wouldn't dream of "attacking" anyone for what they believe. I do, however, find your question impossible to answer, because it's made on a false premise. I've no idea why you "assume" that atheists "...put all [their] trust" --& "trust" is the operative word here--in the things on which you comment. My "path"--as you put it--was chosen by me, & by me alone. & what you've described is NOT my path. I doubt you'd even understand it. No insult intended--you seem not to have given anything but subjective "opinions" to this question, so I do wonder how "open" you really are. I feel I must add one more thing: I see no reason why anyone should put their "trust" in any THING or any ONE. Yet I'd never be critical, truly, of someone who finds "comfort" in doing so. Just don't stereotype them? Think about this, please.

Answer 6

"Then are'nt you putting all you trust in the brains of other men? So whatever these mortal men tell you, that will be your belief?"

You have just described the source of your own belief system, except that the men you believe were far less knowledgeable than the scientists and mathematicians of today.

Answer 7

No, not exactly. Because men will think what they wish to think, they will follow their own personal beliefs. So really, there's no following anybody. There are those who group together because they have similar beliefs, and there are those who strive independently with their idea of creation. Every single human being upon this planet thinks in a different way, but even so, that does not mean we should ignore the life around us because one person or another thinks it should be ignored.
I'm not saying you're ignoring it, I'm just saying it because I can.

Answer 8

Occasionly, I do come upon such question which leads me to wonder numberless hours on such philosophical question. Regardless, I am a man of reason and I shall abide by it, but I also do believe in realms apart from our own. Many trust reason because they see it, and through mathematical calculations, most are proven correct. The notion of another realm leads to abstract imagination and since it cannot be proven, many disregard such ideas as mumbo jumbo. I believe what I see and if it is scientifically proven, I will assume it is correct.

Answer 9

I do not put my trust in ALL men. I put my trust in those men who have earned my trust through years of honest practice and work. Granted that the world has many negative qualities. But it also has really wonderful people, too. Those are the ones I'm trusting.

Answer 10

I once beleived the world was flat, that the sun and planets revolved around the Earth, and that if you step on a crack you'll break mothers back. Leeches and bleeding are good medical cures. you can test for a witch with fire or water. The Inquisition wasn't completely evil. and that if you say a blaspheme, lightning will strike you down.
I wonder what happened?