Athiest, are you really the ones who are close minded?

Question

I hear a lot of athiest say that christians are close minded. However isn't it a close minded statement to say that there is no God. This is no insult, I just think to say this is to say "I know everything." In that case, what does it take to know everything. Wouldn't that mean exploring not only this earth but the entire universe to come up with the conclusion that there is no God? Science and possibilities go hand in hand. So if knowing everything means to have explored and exhausted everything in the universe which no one on this earth has done, then isn't there a POSSIBILITY that there is a God? I am not saying you have to believe it or not but what I am saying is that maybe you should at least be open enough to say that there is a possibility rather than to say there is not one at all.

Grim, your degree, or studying of theology means nothing to me because my uncle also studied theology and came to the conclusion there is a God. He is a preacher now.

Never assume anything Simon. I will not say I don't believe those things exsist because outside of this world, I don't know. Maybe there are unicorns in heaven. Who am I to say?

I am not saying christians are not close minded. I am saying for an athiest to call a christian close minded as I have seen a number of times on here is to me like the pot calling the kettle black.

Drew, if I lost the use of my hands and asked you to write down what I was saying to you, wouldn't it still be my words? God spoke through those who wrote the Bible. It is Gods words, they wrote it.

Grit in one part of your answer you say athiests are not close minded, then go on to say there are close minded people on all sides of the argument. Which is saying to me, there are close minded athiests!

The wolf, the bible has been supported over and over again. However anytime something in the Bible is verified it is labeled as COINCIDENCE, however if athiests find anything that they think supports what they believe, it becomes FACT.

Fred, if you saw the debate on dateline, there was a point made about how the Bannana fits the shape of a human hand perfectly. This of course must be sheer coincidence by an athiest standard. However the point I am making is that even when the evidence is provided without digging in the Bible, you still would not accept it if it doesn't support what you are trying to prove.

Thanks "The Patrician"! It takes much wisdom to point out gramatical flaws in a sentence. Now can you point out how the holes in evolution can be filled in? I never claimed that my major was in English grammar.

I don't recall using the word "claim" in my text Gandalf but you can double check me on that. I think that saying "There is not a God is "like" saying I know everything.

Heather, Kirk Cameron used to be an athiest and look at the Bible as a riddle too. He probably considered that he was reading it with an open mind as you do. However he discovered that the only way to really understand the Bible is to ask "God" to open your eyes and once he did so he understood what it was saying. You cannot read supernatural with human eyes alone. It is like never having exposure to the German language and then reading a German book. You might need an interpreter. The interpreter of the Bible is the Holy Spirit and in order to be filled with it you must be a believer in God and his son Jesus who died on the cross. So it is a wonder if you don't understand what it is saying, you don't believe to begin with.

Lok, I am asking a logical question. I do understand logic. Logic is that humans are not formed from rocks that were rained on for millions or billions of years. Logic is that if we were once monkeys, monkeys would still be evolving into humans. At least that is what my common sense tells me.

http://falundafa-newengland.org/MA/science/pyramids.htm
Here you are thewolf. This couldn't have any way of relating to the flood in the Bible though, at least I am sure you and others will try to make that arguement because like I said, the evidence is right in front of you but you will still argue with it. P.S. it is a non christian website as you can see as there is the word "science" in the url. I found out about this from a history teacher who is "not" a christian. Now I want my evidence. Find me a crocoduck, lol.

Drew, sorry I missed a part of your question. Christians THINK, we just have something that athiests don't, a filter for all the crap professors try to put in students heads. I am a college student which I guess by most of your standards is educated. In fact I know a lot of well educated people who never ruled out God. Albert Einstein for instance. I wouldn't say he was uneducated. He said he hated that Athiest used his teachings to defend why they don't believe in God.

Sorry Drew, answer not question. I don't want the grammar guy on my case again.

Barbara, I like your answer because you rule nothing out. That is what I like to hear. Someone who just says "I am not saying there is a God, but I am not ruling one out. Now that is using logic. Thanks for your answer.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4136610474021109864&q=rawlings
I think that if you are truly open minded you should go to this website and watch this. You want real evidence from former athiest's that there is a life after death and a God, watch this program displayed online. Only if you are opened minded of course as most of you say you are and are waiting to hear evidence. I am providing you with the links now go and see for yourself.

Of course I believe in Leprecauns Parrot, my husband is 5'4''! Ok now I am just being goofy.

Well, on a final note, I just want to say that christians, true christians, believe in God because of the way that God has worked in their lives. For an alcoholic to call on the name of God and drop their addiction like it never started, or my dad who smoked since he was a teen and gave his life over to God and stopped smoking cold turkey and had no desire to do so says to me that there must be a God. Scientists have not found a way to do this, not even through hypnotists. When someone with cancer goes to the doctors after being prayed for and no longer has the cancer, that says to me there is a God. If you can come to me with a scientific explanation how that would happen, please do so, seein as how we can't even find a cure for cancer and yet it would just cure itself. So it is not hard for me to believe in God. Also when I watch a video about proclaimed athiests like the url I gave you who say they saw hell, they were there, that tells me it is not a fairy tale. However, you judge.

Answer 1

I'm agnostic. I see no empirical evidence supporting the existence of deities nor do I see any evidence denying the existence of deities either. They are an unknown, one that I choose to ignore until more solid proof becomes available.

Yes there is a possibility the christian god may exist but given that there is also the possibility that Odin exists, Zeus exists, Osiris exists or any other number of deities that are currently worshiped in the world.

Answer 2

How are we close minded? What you said and pointed out, I understand where you are coming from but that does not give a rational glimmer of an evident that we are close minded. We are open minded to anything that can be proven and varifiable. God has had plenty of time to prove that he exists and the bible has been around long enough and yet we still havent found any evidence to support what it says. You would think by now we have. Any person who reads that book with an open mind would toss it aside as nonsense and put on the same shelf with the harry potter collection. The only thing that you could accuse us of being close minded about is anything other than proof. If you told me that you can fly like superman of course I would say and believe that you couldnt. It defies laws of science. So unless you took off towards the sky right in front of me and proved otherwise then I'll just say your declaration is moot for the obvious reasons.

make sense?

Answer 3

To dismiss a statement or claim that CAN NOT be supported by any evidence is not close minded. To believe you are 100% correct in accepting a statement that can not be supported by fact or evidence and refusing to listen to evidence to the contrary IS close minded.

I have an invisible, purple dragon in my garage that you can't touch or hear. To dismiss this claim is not close minded but to believe it without proof is to have a mind so open that it has fallen onto the floor. To make this claim and not listen to the arguments against it because you are 100% sure it is true is close minded and kind of scary to other people.

What part of the bible has been proven correct? Please list a link to a NON-religious site that has the proof. The basis for the bible (god) hasn't proven. Yes some of it is semi-historically accurate but the entire premises of it (god) is a fairy tale man. If you care to spend the time and money to get a degree in the fields of study I claim to be true you can re-create the experiments that PROVE it is true.

Answer 4

No. What makes theistic belief potentially close-minded is the use of god to fill in any gaps in knowledge. When an atheist doesn't know the answer to a question, such as "What is the origin of life?" he or she can say, "I don't know. I will try to find out." God belief can cause one to say, "Well, god did it. Case closed." This is the antithesis of science.

Does one need to know everything in the universe to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no god? Possibly (though not necessarily). I am an atheist and I don't know if there is a god or not. However, I do know that there is no god as defined in the judeo-christian bible. That god, Yahve (or Elohim or any of the other names), does not exist. It's a matter of definition. Before we can go any further on the discussion of whether a god exists, we must first agree on who that god is.

Please not that I am not saying all Christians are close-minded, or that being Christian necessarily leads one to being close-minded. However, theistic belief can (and sometimes does) lead to close-mindedness.

Answer 5

But the problem with using that kind of logic is that you can apply it to anything. If I asked you if you believe in unicorns or fairies or leprechauns, you would probably say "no". But why? Have you searched every part of the universe? Do you know everything? Have you been to all existing places? If not, then how do you know for sure that unicorns, fairies or leprechauns don't exist?

If not knowing every single detail about the universe is a legitimate reason to leave open the possiblity for God, then you'd have to leave open the possibility for ANYTHING. But you don't. You haven't been to every corner of the galaxy but you already reject billions of potential creatures and beings that people could potentially believe in. They COULD exist, but you still reject them anyway; why should God be any different?

Also, just curious: Are you willing to consider the possibility that other gods might exist instead? There are thousands of gods that people worship around the world. What about them?

Answer 6

Ask yourself if you are open to the possibility that there is no god? As an atheist I am so sick of Christians telling me that I am not willing to admit that god exist therefore I am denying god. Like if God is a real being that you can interact with. I am polite and don't judge when someone tells me their religion but when I say that I am an atheist it seems like World War III is on and I get inundated with questions, and opinions on how I should act and what I should be thankful for. It is like I cease being a person with a mind and rights, cease being able to talk and have my own opinion. I am just suppose to set there and nod and smile and leave what I believe behind and agree with what they say completely. Close minded to me is someone that can not accept that you want to be the way that you are, and insist on changing you. Closed minded to the fact that you don't want to be like them.

Answer 7

I'm not closed minded at all. I looked, I listened, I decided and I went in another direction. I don't claim to know everything, I know very little in the great scheme of things as a matter of fact. I don't believe in even the hint or possibility of GOD - why is that a continual problem?

But by the same token, given your argument - you should believe in the possibility there is no God at all, do you? Are you open enough to say that? To stand before your friends and family and say "hey! this could all be one grand hoax!"?

Answer 8

atheists become atheist because they do something christians dont
WE THINK
Christians think yes, but they think within the limitations of the bible, the bible is NOT gods word, even a preacher will agree that it was made by the council of nicea.

The Bible was merely a book to identify christianity and make a book to unify all christians to follow one docterine

Thinking withng the limitations of the bible stops your mind from thinking to its full potential.

Atheists however drop that barrier and think on much more levels and try to see life and answer questions from multiple points of views.

In short, christians think the world revolves around their religion, and atheists merely disagree due to common sence

Were not rude, just educated.

Answer 9

I think that this may be the worst question I have ever seen. Atheists don't believe in god, because we know better. You say Christians understand science, when you can not even understand quarks and strings without pulling god into it. Science is anti-religion. You want to know if strings are linked to god. That is no different than asking if a tree, or a car is related to god. Don't pull science into it, because you don't understand it. You are asking basically if anything is related to god, but threw in a few scientific terms you probably barely understand, just to make you question sound like it is rooted in fact. The truth is, that there is no god for anything to be linked to, and if you disagree, then you should take your advice, and get open minded to me.

Answer 10

The comments about Christians being close minded hardly have anything to do with God or no God. It has to do with morals.

An open minded person accepts that people can be different from them, and still have the same right. Gay marriage rings a bell?

An open minded person doesn't deny others their basic freedom, simply because they can't understand the other.