Common Nonsensical Responses to Atheists/Atheism

[Dragonfly]

I can't remember

:lol:

 

[Dragonfly]

4.pascals wager
7.pascals wager

How dumb do you think your god is?

 

[rocket88]

What about Hindu's and Buddhists...?
American Indians and other tribal beliefs?

All the same god?

Is Zeus or Ra basically the same as the Christian God?

Their ideas of who God is differed from the Abrahamic faiths.

All religions share the belief in God but see Him in different manifestations. There is no "Christian" God or non-Christiam God. It's all one divine energy with different explanations.

 

[rocket88]

And does god enjoy all the holy wars?

God does not concern himself with stupid human concerns.

 

[NWO_Spook]

Gee...how convenient.

God is responsible for everything good.
The Devil is responsible for everything bad.

Ain't that nice.

Now provide some proof that the Devil killed that girl.

So much for the oft touted omnipotence...


...but it is a loving god. :giggling:

 

[soylentgreen]

You can only comfort grieving people by making up stories about an afterlife that not one single person can ever prove exists???

Surely you're not suggesting that's a good reason to accept a religious belief?

Probably one of the most common reasons. Religion is by any other name a death cult.

 

[soylentgreen]

I have no doubt. But how have you found comfort in times of loss knowing that your existence and those of everyone you love is totally ephemeral? That the only place your loved ones will dwell upon their passing is in your memory but that the record of the lived experiences of their existence will disappear the moment you pass away...or suffer from some neurodegenerative disorder that causes you to lose your memories?

Do you not understand the concept of oblivion?

You can comfort yourself with the thought that you will not be aware of any of that.

 

[soylentgreen]

False comfort as opposed to what? Because let us look at reality as it is: Humanity is doomed. We have perhaps, if we are lucky, another few thousand years on Planet Earth before we go extinct and our fossilized bones are perhaps found by another interstellar civilization that muses over our ashes. Or, more likely, the empty skies look down upon as as the stars wink out one by one as the heat death of the universe approaches, and our sun expands and atomizes this planet.

There is false comfort. And then there is no comfort.

Honestly! Who the **** ever gets really concerned about the death of the universe.

 

[soylentgreen]

. Some start looking for hope in Dialectical Materialism,

That needs explaining.

 

[devildavid]

These are common questions, indeed. Almost all are based on emotion, specifically the emotions of comfort and fear. But there are more uncomfortable questions beyond these simplicities.

Such as: "How as an atheist do you comfort someone who has lost a child? Do you just place your hand on their shoulder and say 'There is no Heaven where your child awaits you. Your son/daughter has been erased from existence and there is no ultimate justice that will undo it or make you whole. The universe does not care about your baby any more than it cares about you. And when you die all memory of your child will be lost along with you. Sorry for your loss.'"

As an atheist, I still do not have a good answer. Because I certainly cannot say "They are in a better place right now." Nonexistence is not a better place.

You comfort people by your presence. Nonexistence is better than suffering and pain. It is not a worse place.

 

[soylentgreen]

I have seen some very devout people question their faith upon the death of a loved one ~ especially if the death was violent or protracted. One lady I know personally never went back to her church and told the priest to go forth and multiply upon her death bed, but in a more colloquial fashion.

Mother theresa comes to mind as she rejected god just before she died.

 

[soylentgreen]

“You just haven’t opened your heart/mind enough to god.”


“You obviously haven’t studied the Bible enough.”


“How do you explain why we’re here?”


“Aren’t you afraid of going to Hell?”


“So everything in the Universe just happened by random chance?”


“Well if God isn’t responsible, what/who is?”


“What’s the point of living if there’s no God?”


“Why bother being a good person if there’s no eternal consequences?”


There’s the people who want to think they can set a trap for you.
They’ll start down road of the famous arguments we’ve all seen posted here. Cosmological, Teleological, Ontological….


There’s the fine folks who’ll try to insinuate you’re just flat-out uneducated. :roll:
Some will say you’re just too lazy to do the work required.
I’ve seen at least one suggest you’re actually lying to yourself and others about where you stand on the whole “god” thing.


Some will try to redefine words.


The funniest are those who insist they have definitive “proof”.
As if the word “faith” is no longer needed.


What other silly responses come to mind for some of you?

One of the more amusing ones i have heard is that after telling a theist i am an atheist i either get a stern, "your going to hell" or a "I will pray for you"

Not quite sure how the balance stands at the moment but if in the end it all turns out to be true then st peter is going to have a difficult time deciding which side of the gate i belong on.

 

[Felis Leo]

Do you not understand the concept of oblivion?

You can comfort yourself with the thought that you will not be aware of any of that.

I am not discomforted by the thought. But try using that line to comfort someone who lost a child.

 

[Felis Leo]

Honestly! Who the **** ever gets really concerned about the death of the universe.

Many grapple with the question of whether life has any meaning in a universe where not just our individual existence but the existence of our entire species along with all life is going to be inevitably erased. It is called "existential dread."

That is not to say religion is somehow a cure for this, especially if the promises of religion are ultimately untrue.

 

[Felis Leo]

That needs explaining.

It is the basis of Marxist philosophy, to be put at its simplest: that all historical events can be boiled down to conflicts between classes over material needs and the subsequent resolutions of those conflicts.

 

[nota bene]

Gee...how convenient.

God is responsible for everything good.
The Devil is responsible for everything bad.

Ain't that nice.

Now provide some proof that the Devil killed that girl.

Just a reminder, bible quotes and links to any JW websites are not "proof".

You asked her a question, and she replied. But in this post in response, you demonstrate why others shouldn't bother to answer your questions: You don't actually want to hear their answers.

 

[nota bene]

From my point of view, as one who has lost many friends and family, there is no comfort, and as I stated earlier, words are useless, for mere words are empty and they mean nothing to one who is grieving.

This may be your uniquely personal experience, but it isn't mine.

 

[NWO_Spook]

Mother theresa comes to mind as she rejected god just before she died.

Terrible things can happen to good people (religious or not) and they are indiscriminate, so it is easy to understand that many would question their belief system when dealing with such events.

 

[Noodlegawd]

God's existence cannot be proved. I believe because I feel that I have been in His presence. I can't prove it, but I know it's so.

I ran into a [really smelly] guy on Hollywood Boulevard who "knew" that Darth Vader was his best friend. What you think you know without evidence is not a good reason to believe anything.

 

[HIP56948]

I have no doubt. But how have you found comfort in times of loss knowing that your existence and those of everyone you love is totally ephemeral? That the only place your loved ones will dwell upon their passing is in your memory but that the record of the lived experiences of their existence will disappear the moment you pass away...or suffer from some neurodegenerative disorder that causes you to lose your memories?

Personally, I think it takes a little practice to realize that when the switch is turned off, the only ones who will care are the people you know that care. I'm certainly not overly fond of the idea but knowing that (mostly) everybody else has gone through the same life-stuff, it's a little comforting. What's also a little disconcerting for me is the weird fact that even the entire human race will be forgotten, simply because even other life-forms in this galaxy probably don't exist. (Has to do with the very short time that this region of the universe has come into being plus the almost disgusting, insane time length that it takes to form planets, life etc....plus the fact that we're out in "The safe zone" and from death stars and other nasty things.) A good answer for the question "Are there Aliens from space" is: Earth people go to a party, arrive at 9:00. The host comes out to greet you and the Earth people ask "Where's everybody at? The Host says..ah...sorry to tell you this but they're not here yet and won't be for a long time" My point being: Talk about being forgotten. Everything and everybody will be forgotten by the time that even Aliens/other life forms could have remembered us. We are truly alone. Excuse my rambling.

 

[Lethargic Aptitude]

I have no doubt. But how have you found comfort in times of loss knowing that your existence and those of everyone you love is totally ephemeral? That the only place your loved ones will dwell upon their passing is in your memory but that the record of the lived experiences of their existence will disappear the moment you pass away...or suffer from some neurodegenerative disorder that causes you to lose your memories?

Why does one need to try to give false hope to someones loss? It certainly is of no help to lie to someone.

 

[Dragonfly]

You asked her a question, and she replied. But in this post in response, you demonstrate why others shouldn't bother to answer your questions: You don't actually want to hear their answers.

She did not respond. She cut-n-pasted a bible verse. No effort to actually respond at all.

If you have zero to add to a discussion, other than to berate the person who started it, you really should just bugger off.

 

[Dragonfly]

"I will pray for you"

Wow. How'd I forget that one?

 

[Dragonfly]

But try using that line to comfort someone who lost a child.

Why are you so fixated on this one specific line of thought?


It's just as valid a reason for somebody to immediately deny their faith isn't it?

 

[Dragonfly]

Honestly! Who the **** ever gets really concerned about the death of the universe.

One guess would be people who are so extremely arrogant that they believe we're far more important to the grand scheme of things than we actually are.