Athiests and non-believers?

Question

Okay, so it is a known fact that you do not believe in God. Why do you ask questions of Christians that are based on the Bible which is something that you do not believe in. Is it that you are really trying to seek God in your own way? Or that you are looking for someone to shed light on you to make you believe? Are you trying to get Christians to waver in their beliefs? Why put so much time and attention into something that you do not believe in, quit simply?

Answer 1

as someone who enjoys asking biblical questions, i can say it's fun to see how different people interpret things. as other people have said, you don't have to believe in something to take interest in it. religion is the most interesting thing in the world, maybe the only interesting thing. and people don't seem to put the thought into it that it deserves.
it's definitely not trying to get someone to shed light on me though. if people could answer my questions in a satisfying way, then i'm always open to new things, but it rarely happens.

Answer 2

We have come to the conclusion that there is no god and Christianity is an untenable position through critical thought. Those of us that ask questions like the ones you describe are simply putting these ideas out there so that others can critically examine the things they normally take for granted.

Religion can be a destructive force, we see examples every day. The world can be a better place for everyone if we can shed our ancient superstitions and use reason based decision making to guide our lives. It's silly in this day and age to allow a bronze age book to dictate our morality (and other things).

Answer 3

I question the Bible with Christians because I know the Bible pretty well and find that many Christians do not. I cannot make someone's beliefs waver, only they can do that within themselves.

I would like to see more Christians think about their book and what it says... and also to see them not be so afraid to question it.

Why put so much time into something I don't believe? Because there are 2 billion people that do believe it, and it is dangerous. Not just Christianity - Islam, Judaism, etc... too.

Wars, death, rape, legislating morality, the stem cell research issue, the abortion issue, crime rates, the infringements on the separation of church and state, blue laws, discrimination against atheists, and on and on and on. There's waaayyy more than enough reason for me to be concerned.

Answer 4

Most atheists WERE Christians, and when they started to doubt "the Lord" they were told to read the Bible-and they DID.

I am not an atheist, and I've never followed the god of Abraham, but I grew up in a Christian majority culture. There is a current billboard campaign for biblical literacy which states "an educated person knows the bible," and it is dead on accurate- if you want to understand Western European culture you need to understand the mythology it has possessed for the past 1600 years or so. Especially if you want to understand literature!

(I am constantly shocked how little the Christians know of their Bible, BTW! It's not a very hard book to learn.)

In addition, I, for one, did intensive study of Ancient Mediterranean cultures in college and before hand, so I'm pretty damn literate in the Bible, but more so in other forms of Ancient Mediterranean mythology.

When people ask questions about what it says in the Iliad, or misquote *that* book, I correct them, too.

I think you need to open your eyes. Many here tell atheists, again and again, that if they read the Bible they'd believe in god, and many atheists do, indeed, try long and hard to believe before they decide there is no god- is it any surprise they know the bible?

Much less of a surprise that Christians do not!

Answer 5

Just trying to give you a set of context by which to begin thinking on your own...

You see, when our government tries to take time away from education to put "fairy tale time" in science classes... we get angry. We know full well why we believe what we believe, most of us were religious before aquiring our own minds (so we are not looking to believe, understand that now). It is somewhat sickening to have someone tell you that all the combined experience and work of millions of the worlds most intelligent people is wrong because a 1600 year old book says so (especially since it holds no more bearing than any other text).

Answer 6

Why do literature specialists sit down and argue the mythology of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and subsequent writings? They certainly don't believe in these things, but by the nature of debating and discussing, they dig for deeper truths, either truths about the text or truths about the nature of truth itself.

Theology is an academic field. It starts with axioms -- Jews could start with 'Shema Yisrael, ---- Eloheinu, ---- Echad' (Hear, O Israel, The LORD is G-D, The LORD is One), Christians with 'Jesus is Messiah', muslims with 'There is no God but God, and Muhammed is his Prophet', wiccans with 'The Lord and The Lady are the duality and unity seen all around us', etc.

From those axioms, logic is applied to come to conclusions.

I needn't believe that "If it is raining, the sun is pink with purple polka dots," to know that under that axiom, the fact it's raining means the sun is definately pink with purple polka dots.

The power of the hypothetical is the most important tool for knowledge humans have.

"If your religion was proven to be wrong, beyond a shadow of a doubt, which would you likely believe in?" Over 80% of people in the USA, when asked this, will argue that their religion cannot be proven wrong, and totally ignore the hypothetical.

Answer 7

Every question an atheist asks you will be pacifically designed to make you think and not just give back the pre programed answer that the man reading from the big old book told you. It rarely works most of the time you just give the answer you where told even if it makes no sense at all and is obviously incorrect but it's all designed for your benefit to make you think as a world without theists is a much better world. Say no to jesus.

Answer 8

It's called debate. Christians have lots of faith in the bible, and it's infallibility. Non-christians do not think it is infallible, so it is a reasonable topic for debate.

I am not trying to "convert" people to atheism, unlike many of the christians on this site. I just find christianity an interesting topic to talk about.

Answer 9

Although I do not believe in God, I am very interested in why others do believe. I think that how people answer big existential questions, such as "does god exists" or "what is the meaning of life", says a great deal about human nature and individual differences.

Answer 10

I think the goal is to debate in common terms. It's about finding a common language and getting believers to explain their faith with more than just repetitions of "I believe." And the strongest believers probably take up the challenge instead of being angry about it.