If you know you would not go to hell for the things you think are sins and you would not go to heaven for the things you think God wants you to do... would you still make the same decisions?
2007-02-01 05:13:00 · 20 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I bet there will be the disrespectful religious nut that will answer my question with God exist bla bla bla or something along those lines.
Then they wonder why we don't respect them.
Don't answer the freaking question if you don't like the question.
2007-02-01 05:14:41 · update #1
prairiecrow,
So if you where as good a human as an Atheist as you are now in your current belief system that being a Theist...
Would it be fair to suggest that becoming a Theist did nothing for improving you as a human?
2007-02-01 05:19:50 · update #2
Shellee and mamma mia read what Tulia a Christian had to say about it!
2007-02-01 05:22:18 · update #3
The point was I was asking a question and I am expecting an answer. That is common sense to everyone on Yahoo questions right?
I am however not expecting comments and snide remarks. I would tolerate comments, snide remarks, joke and other junk if you would at least have the respect to still answer the question.
2007-02-01 05:24:31 · update #4
For the record, I am not expecting anyone to completely agree with me or even partially agree with me on any philisophical thoughts raised by this question.
But expect everyone to agree that it is a question and the primary purpose of Yahoo questions is for people to ask questions and others to answer the question.
2007-02-01 05:29:03 · update #5
I am not afraid of being insulted so keep your inaccurate evaluations to yourself buddy.
I feel that I have asked a legitimate question and I wanted to state ahead of time the obvious. That there will be religious nuts who won't even attempt to answer the questions and yet they will still chime in their 2 cents.
I may have been flagrant in my expression of frustration with what I knew would be a response from some of the religious nuts but I was accurate in my prediction.
And then they expect others to RESPECT their opinions? There was your opportunity and you blew it.
Then their are the decent Christians such as Julia. Thank you Julia, you have my respect!
2007-02-01 05:37:03 · update #6
correction: I was speaking of jess l. as far as any respectful Christian goes...
2007-02-01 05:39:39 · update #7
Berzirk,
There are terrorist who use their religion to enforce their moral code as well.
Only their moral code allows for the destruction of those the believe to sinners against their god who they refer to as Allah.
2007-02-01 06:37:57 · update #8
I don't like the question. I will never know for a FACT that God does not exist and would ask you the same...what if you knew for a FACT he does EXIST. Don't make rules for answering questions, its wrong. When you do, it means you only want answers that agree with YOUR position.
2007-02-01 05:19:21 · answer #1 · answered by Shellee 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Although I believe in God, I do not believe He is an angry or vengeful God; I don't believe in Hell or the devil. So, my actions now are not fear-based. But I have found that I am a much happier person since I have started trying to be a positive force in the world instead of a negative one. My life has changed so much since I stopped blaming everyone and everything else for my problems, as most have been of my own making, and are just the natural consequences of my own actions. So, yes, I would continue to live as I do now, working each day to try to improve myself, and to trying to help others do the same.
2007-02-08 05:54:20 · answer #2 · answered by Susan H 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd like to say yes because I have no desire to hurt anyone even when I didn't believe in God. However there are things I refrain from doing BECAUSE I believe in God which if I didn't might lead me to be a bad person. For example, last week I ran out of paper for my printer at home and thought to take a pack from work. I rationalized... this is a multi billion dollar company, they'd never even notice a pack of printer paper gone...which is likely true, but, my spirit was convicted that regardless of if it would be missed or not, it doesnt belong to me so I shouldnt take it. I don't think this convinction would kick in for me (and many others probably) if I didn't believe in God. So, Id probably take the paper with no feeling of guilty... and then what next? If my printer broke, would they notice one printer missing? Or maybe a few thousand $$? I really COULD cover my tracks well so I dont get caught.
I think I could possibly be convinced many things are OK so long as you dont get caught if I didn't believe in God.
2007-02-01 05:25:55 · answer #3 · answered by impossble_dream 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
There could be a counter question that if you are sure that 2 plus 2 is four but not 5, still you will like everybody to mend his mathematics?Virtuosity is ingrained in human beings by Almighty God right from the creation. People were and are good human beings because they designed by God like this.May be they are not aware of God, but ultimately they discover Him through their own sense of judgement and intelligence.This is the reason why people can recognise the messengers of God;otherwise those messageners have no bigger arguments with them that they are from God and it is only the good human who join them in spreading goodness and brave all the torments at the hands of bad humans.
2007-02-09 01:44:17 · answer #4 · answered by shahinsaifullah2006 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely not! If it was proven without a shadow of a doubt that God does not exist, I wouldn't be religious. I'm pretty analytical in my approaches. In my belief set there is logical proof of God's existence, and my religion promotes intelligent thought and appreciates logic. Win-win for me.
I would probably have done a few things I chose against if I weren't a religious person, which of course is one of the benefits of religion. It helps reinforce a moral code.
EDIT: I didn't say it bans all from comitting evil acts, it's a deterrant and a reminder of a moral code.
2007-02-01 06:14:00 · answer #5 · answered by Berzirk 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I, for one would choose to be a good human regardless. That's my nature. But I am a Christian. Our country was built on the belief in God and it flows through every choice we make. I can't understand a culture where it's ok to kill someone if they don't have the same beliefs.To me Allah stands for destruction of innocent lives to build himself up. I hate it that people have to die because of their religious beliefs. My son has fought in the last 2 wars and just came home. He said there are people there with beautiful spirits and wants peace.
2007-02-09 04:24:05 · answer #6 · answered by gabeymac♥ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all, if you are afraid of being insulted, you should not ask any questions here...this is a public forum with people of different opinions.
You question is a Good one.
Some people only do good deeds to get rewards from God.
Some people will do Good because it's in their nature.
Some people will not kill because they are scared of the law.
Personally, if I didn't believe in a Good God, I wouldn't care who I hurt..then again, I will fear the law of the land so I won't kill or steal. However, there are people who don't believe in God who live very good lives.
2007-02-01 05:27:56 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes. I was as good a person when I was an atheist as I am now that I'm a theist (which I hope is fairly good... I try to hold myself to high standards). Becoming a theist didn't change my basic moral code or sense of ethics.
2007-02-01 05:16:53 · answer #8 · answered by prairiecrow 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes i would. i want to be a good person and hope that others will treat me the same. i get a good feeling inside when i do good deeds. just the way i am.......
and yes i am a christian and no i won't preach to you. preaching to the ones who want it the least pushes them farther away. people like that should get the chance to experience God for themselves. i think your question is a very good one! if a christian were to criticize the question, it would tell me they are refusing to contemplate the thought of being kind without reward. that really makes me wonder how religious they really are.....
2007-02-01 05:19:18 · answer #9 · answered by jess l 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
That is a really good question. I am curious to see the responses. This is a thought - Maybe some people need the threat of hell to be good people and the reason why they beleive so strongly is because they know they will hurt others if they don't believe in eternal damnation.
2007-02-01 05:17:55 · answer #10 · answered by Militant Agnostic 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It all boils down to one thing which we were all created with - CONSCIENCE. This makes us know the power in good deeds, this makes us put ourselves in the shoes of those who hurt, imagining that it could happen to us, EVEN THE MOST HARDENED CRIMINAL HAS IT and cringes when he sees a man suffering dearly in deadly disease (example).
BUT i tell you - Some religions have certainly maimed this thing called conscience by justifying evil deeds (in the name of G..)
An atheist has more conscience than certain people who believe that G.. has commanded and approves of certain ills (it is a belief that creates an easy escape from that gee called conscience = FANACISM).
There are some evils that those who proclaim to know and serve G... do that an atheist, because he is guided by his conscience and the good nature that God gave him - will not do.
its all in your chest. cheers
2007-02-01 05:38:37 · answer #11 · answered by mail2chik 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋