Atheists...Here's your chance.?

Question

We Christians believe we are to spread the word and lead people to Christ. Pretend I have come to you and asked you how to be an atheist or more precisely what I should believe if I were an atheist.
Please be specific as possible about what to believe and why to believe it.
If we could keep this on the up and up that would be nice too.

What is it that you base your beliefs on?

Answer 1

I wish I could apologize for the hostility some people are displaying.

I'm not sure what to say to you except that the only atheist position is that there is no God. Atheists vary across the board.

So, you are asking: "Why should I not believe in God?"

Now, I am not going to argue for or against the existence of a general God-concept (I'm agnostic), though I would deny the Christian God because it seems to me that it contradicts itself. However, I will tell you that you must first let all of your beliefs - including everything you feel is certain - go. This can be very difficult for some people, but it IS mostly possible.

Things can be reduced to Descartes's statement: "I think, therefore I am." It is possible that everything is illusion, but I cannot be an illusion myself. Now, from here on out, you must establish your understanding of the universe and of existence based on what you perceive. Living with only the "I am" belief is impractical, so one MUST make use of resources (that which stimulates the senses) in order to live. We do this naturally anyway.

God cannot be perceived by our senses. It is a supernatural being that, by a Christian understanding, may enter the world physically. It no longer does this anymore, at least not to all of us (certainly not me). If you have somehow had a physical experience with God that you can honestly tell yourself IS a physical experience, then I suppose my answer to you would be that you have some kind of foundation for your belief. If you do not, then this belief must be left in the air until you have such a perception. For us atheists/agnostics, there has been no such perception; therefore, we do not believe in God.

That was a lot to say to basically tell you: we believe in what can be directly experienced through our senses. This, when coupled with logic, is the best - the only, to us - kind of certainty one can have.

That is why you should not believe in God. As I said before, I am agnostic, so there is no valid argument against the existence of the supernatural, nor some great being that is supernatural. The problem is just that: all of it is supernatural, i.e. beyond what is natural. We do not perceive it.

You must base your knowledge on what you can sense. If you do not, you open up a realm of infinite possibilities. Anything goes - including the FSM.

I hope this helps you.

Answer 2

Well I am not an Atheist, I just don't believe that Jesus was the
son of any God. I used to be fairly religious. And then our son
joined the JW's and shunned us. Told us we were of the Devil
because we didn't believe his new found religion. As the
consequence, we lost all contact, and couldn't see our grand-
son growing up.
My husband made contacts with many ministers to try to
help us deprogram our son. But no one would get involved.
None wanted to go against another church. Even tho, it's well
known the JW's are a cult. Even well read Christians.
So my husband made it a personal quest to read everything
he could get his hands on to study the origins of religions.
Now we don't believe in structured religions. We learned they
were invented to control the masses thru fear and manipulation. Especially during Roman times.
Due to some things that have been positive in our lives,
we do feel there is a God. It's just that he tends to look the
other way, when it's our turn for a blessing.
Now yesterday, after 15 or more years, we spoke to our JW
son, after someone tracked him down across the US. He
was polite, but just that. He made no apology for being so out
of reach. Now he's tossed his 19 year old son out, because
his son, won't be a JW. And he has no life. He doesn't even
know if we exist, I'm sure. We don't know how to find him.
I am sure this boy only wants to feel loved by someone. And
it breaks our hearts. The JW's destroys families. And there's
too much evidence of that to debate the subject.

Answer 3

First of all, an atheist don't evangelized...it's your job as a Christian to evangelized.

Now let's us play your scenario.

Suppose you come to me and say you want to be an atheist. The first thing I will do is to ask you what does the word atheist mean? You see, if a person come to me and say he wants to be an atheist, I will already doubt his intentions.

An atheist will not look for someone to convert him...well that is if this person knows what atheism really mean. Majority of atheists even taught in the first time that he's alone in his non-belief. Hmmmmm..to think about it, only the Internet have provided atheists the camaraderie of other atheists in the net.

The first thing an atheist will do about his growing non-belief is to ask priests and pastors some questions that might be bothering him. It is something like a road to recovery. Remember that before he became an atheist, he was a believer too just like you. So with the growing skepticism about the existence of god, the best thing to do is to reassure faith first.

If the pastors or priests answered were not satisfactory...he may start to read and study the holy scriptures to seek answers. Now here's where the road will start because for the first time, the skeptic will now read the Bible with an open mind. Here his atheistic inquiries will be re-enforced. Reason will now take over faith. So there...that is the start of a new horizon.

So you see, atheists are alone in their quest and an atheist will just give you words of encouragements if you are also starting to follow the road. He will not try to influence you about atheist...you have your own reasoning ability...you are not a sheep who needs a shephered...you're a human being and as human beingh you also have the right to evolve.

Answer 4

Simply lack belief in a god. Any god. All gods.

Many people are atheists simply because the claims of theists are either unbelievable or unreasonable to them. The total lack of evidence supporting claims about the existence of a deity of any kind is often the deciding factor...but it isn't always the case.

There is no central dogma. No "code of beliefs". No central figurehead. If you want to be an atheist who denies the ToE, fine. Just don't expect to do well in a discussion of Biology. If you want to be an atheist who believes in an afterlife, that's fine too. Other atheists might agree or disagree with you.

The scientifically-minded among us prefer to use science as a tool, and use it often in debate. If you were desiring to enter a debate of the side of atheism, a decent science background would be a very good idea. Critical thinking, logic, and the ability to evaluate and test evidence are generally seen as good thing. None of the above are requirements for being an atheist. Just good ideas.

Answer 5

There is no special way to be an atheist except not believing in any gods or goddesses. You can believe in a soul or afterlife, but many atheists like myself don't. Otherwise, it's up to you define yourself and find your own path in life and make your own beliefs. Atheism doesn't have a rule book. The reason I believe in atheism is because I don't believe any of the religions give me understandable answers to the origins of life or the meaning of life. I'm still waiting for evidence for the claims made by the religions.

Answer 6

We aren't a religion so we don't have specifics to follow by I can say I use everyday modern problems and experiences to help me think for myself. There is no reason for someone to tell me how to become an atheist or be a better one. I do not need a direct source for all beliefs. That's one reason why we are more driven to do things rather than sit around and believe from one man himself will help you out. If I believe something it must have events or some kind of evidence leading up to the event.

Answer 7

I believe that people who are atheists want to be able to verify things with the senses and the use of logic. If they can't then it must not be true.

But, by this logic, nothing outside of what you can hear, taste touch, smell and see exists .... accept in your mind .... because it is only by using the mind that we can conceive things that are not evident in the moment to our senses.

I have never heard an atheist disrespect a person who believes other wise ... though they are good for a great debate!

walking fox,

A good gauge of spiritual health is to write down three things you want most. If they in any way differ, you are in trouble." Rumi

Answer 8

Atheists don't have beliefs. Wee simply do not think that the concept of an invisible, flying creature that talks to people is a particularly rational way to think.

That is it. We have no rules to live by, other than the social ones governing the society we live in. Those are the same for everyone. We just figure it out ourselves rather than invent imaginary friends to tell us how to live.

Answer 9

I'm not an atheist, but the meaning of the word is quite simple. An atheist believes that there do not exist any higher powers, gods, godesses, Overspirits, etc. They believe that there is no valid, believable evidence that any of these things exist, and thus to believe in them would be incorrect. An analogy is, as always in order--my guess is that you are a a-toothfariest. That is to say, based upon all of the evidence you have seen, there is not sufficient, believable, valid, verifiable evidence that The Tooth Fairy exists. Thus, you do not believe in the existence of the tooth Fairy, and thus are an "A (=not) + toothfair (=specified mythical being) +ist (one who believes in)." Similarly, an atheist is "a (=not) + thei (greek root for "god") + ist (one who believes in)" = One who does not believe in the exist of god/gods/etc.

Answer 10

Why don't you read what you want to and come to your own terms. Use your head when choosing authors and try not to find too biased of material. Read more then read more. Then research more, then do that again. At the end of all that you will have come to a conclusion- it could be god no god fsm jesus allah a binding force or even a leprechaun that farts in your face 3 times on your birthday.

In any case come to your own conclusions and see things for yourself. Don't ask someone to tell you what to believe in, thats just stupid.