My fellow Theists?

Question

Have you ever thought about your faith in this perspective:

Some Theists think Atheists are ignorant of the spiritual forces (God, the God and Goddess, Allah, the gods, whatever you call them) we see so clearly.

But from a logical point of view, most of these things don't make sense. For instance, why would an all good, all powerful God allow so much suffering, why can't we see Allah, how can there be so many views of God if there is only one right one, why do we need a book to show us God, etc.

I know we believe because we have an experience that makes us believe there are these gods (God, Allah, etc) but how can you criticize anyone else for not believing.

Do you see how confusing and illogical our beliefs are?

Complete, I'm not saying Theists are confused or being illogical based on their own experiences. But from an outside perspective, Theism, which embraces many religions, is very confusing. Even if one wanted to believe something, how would they know where to look?

I feel ya Squishy.

Answer 1

Yes. Infact, I flat out say when I do something illogical. What weirds me out is that I used to be one of those Weak Atheists, and eventually I found Paganism as more than just a curiosity....

I refuse to allow divinity to lapse over into an arguement about reality, as I have no proof.

Answer 2

Not going to lie here. I agree with you wholeheartedly, something that has caused me to simply drop religion altogether.
I think that it's true. The idea or a god, goddess, or any sort of deity is an illogical idea because there are far too many contradictions in the idea of a "god."
Gods are all-forgiving. If this is true, then why is there a "Hell?" Why are we punished for something forgiven?

Gods are omnipotent. Quite simply, consider the omnipotence paradox. It's pretty easy to look up on Wikipedia.

Honestly, the idea of a "god" is simply an affirmation that there's something "better" out there. It's just a way to make people feel better about themselves. This doesn't make it a bad thing, just illogical, because not all illogical things are bad.
It's just a justification for some, and they can believe what they like. All that matters in life is to be happy, and through the thought of an all-forgiving god, people can be happy. That is all that matters.
Beliefs are allowed to be illogical because, well... they're beliefs. Not facts.

Personally, my thought of inner well-being is all I need.

Answer 3

Some people think it is illogical to believe that the entire universe could come from nothing. Why is there anything at all? Why are the forces of the universe so perfectly balanced such that the slightest change in any one of them would result in the universe collapsing in on itself? Did it happen by chance? Are we here by chance? If life is meaningless, why go on living at all? If our brains are products of randomness, reason is an illusion and we have no reason to believe logic to have any meaning whatsoever... and there is no point to discussing anything is there?

Atheists have questions to answer as well, you know. They just like to pull the "you are illogical" card a lot more frequently than Theists ; )

Answer 4

I certainly agree that theists most certainly should not criticise atheists for their views (as I've said elsewhere, I believe in rational non-belief).

But I'm not sure that makes all theists confused and illogical. Some certainly are, and many on this site are, but while I readily admit to being confused, I'm not sure I'd claim to be illogical.

Answer 5

Being ignorant is not a criticism. Ignorance is just not having the knowledge of something.
If an atheist has no knowledge of God than that atheist is ignorant of God.
I am personally ignorant of many things only because I don't know everything.
Being considered ignorant about something is not an insult.

Answer 6

I'm not sure how serious you want to take me , you can write me off as a nutcase if you like . but I'm giving you my answers to your question , how you accept them is up to you
(i hope with an open mind )
the bible tells us that in the beginning god created everything & it was good , it also tells us that an angel ( originally named lucifer - after his expulsion - satan ) challenged his authority & was cast to the earth to be given a chance to run his system of government . now picture in the garden of eden - the world's fisrt polling booth - the tree of life ( a vote for god )& the tree of knowledge of good & evil ( a vote for lucifer / satan) adam & eve were conned by satan'spolitical promises concerning the tree of knowledge , therefore satan was ' voted' to be the leader of govt by eve's eating the fruit . this is why god allows suffering
( but not always , sometimes he intervenes , like in the book of job , god told satan he could play with anything but he must leave job alive )
, so satan has the full opertunity to run his system in full view of the rest of the universe . when the universe sees how horrible satan's idea for government is , god will be fully vindicated for the final discipline satan will recieve ( now if god had just destoyed satan when he first started bucking the system , the angels would have been motivated by fear instead of love )
hope this helps

email me if you'd like to know more . if you want to study for your self , i'll include a link to a freeware bible / concordance package called e-sword

Answer 7

I understand what you are saying. More importantly, God knows and explains this to us in the Bible. Those who do not believe have not had their eyes open, so they do not see. They have not had their ears open, so they do not hear. That is why it is our job, as Christians, to put forth good examples and to spread the Gospel in a manner that is pleasing to God. Not in a manner that shows rudeness, hatefulness and sarcasm. How in the world would we expect to help to lead anyone to Christ by setting poor examples of our faith?

Answer 8

I can answer one of those qs for you, on why a God would allow so much suffering in the world, although I am an Atheist.

If you had a child, would you keep him or her confined in a room at all times to ensure his/her safety?
Of course not.
Same applies to God I guess, but on a much larger scale.

Answer 9

If there were only two views of God then how could they both be right? If God has revealed himself to man in a way that man can understand and has given man his word and promised to preserve it then how can there be any disagreement about who he is? The problem must lie within man.

Answer 10

The intellect does not always understand the heart. The heart gets to the soul of the matter of what is. Someone may profess with their intellect a belief, but true belief stems from a deeper wellspring.