Motivations for the non-belief in God

And what I'm telling you is that this sort of speculation about ulterior motives for either belief or unbelief is common on both sides. So I don't why you would take it personally.

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"Headpiece filled with straw, Alas!"--T. S. Eliot

I'm sorry but no one is automatically saved.Also where did you find that everyone is saved Jew Muslim etc....?
To be saved well i dont want to get off topic in any way but if you want to know just ask. Once you are saved your permenantly saved. You cant be lost again.Satanist people saved and loving God who they hate the most? I dont think so!

But don't worry about MY salvation. If you want to discuss salvation though, first read Message 1 and if after reading that, you still have questions, feel free to start another thread.And don't worry, I'll pray for you to learn what the Christian Message really is.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

You might like to take a look at An amazing story.

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start a thread to ask evangelical Christians (and other like minded theists) if they truly believe that Rawel has accurately described

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I think Rawel's quote was just an abstract for discussion. But from what little details I read, it makes perfect sense to me, nonetheless. To me, its about an undue stance on pride. Take for instance someone who feels they are highly intelligent. Should that actually instill any sort of pride? I say, no. The reason being, the recipient of such intelligence had no choice in whether or not they would become intelligent. That was all there in the DNA before they were a gleam in their parents eye. The same goes for racial pride, gay pride, sexist pride, or any other squalid form of pride. We were simply born. All of the credit goes to what formed us. And our parents formed us, but they were formed by their parents, and their parents, and so on. So the true credit goes to what instituted such policy to begin with. Therefore, all the credit goes to God. If you don't believe in God, then you shouldn't believe in pride either, because its completely illogical to be prideful over anything you had no control over.

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Take for instance someone who feels they are highly intelligent.

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Okay -- I feel that I am highly intelligent, so I can be an example.-

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Should that actually instill any sort of pride? I say, no.

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I agree. And for the very reason that you state (except that I would add that my intelligence, if it is indeed high, is also due to my upbringing and education as a child, which I had little control over).Now, what does this have to do with why I don't believe there is a god?

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"Religion is the best business to be in. It's the only one where the customers blame themselves for product failure."
-- Ellis Weiner (quoted on the NAiG message board)

And also very modest, one might add.

Just going by what other people have told me.

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"Religion is the best business to be in. It's the only one where the customers blame themselves for product failure."
-- Ellis Weiner (quoted on the NAiG message board)

You probably have an exemplary moral character too.

I try to help out and not make trouble for people.

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"Religion is the best business to be in. It's the only one where the customers blame themselves for product failure."
-- Ellis Weiner (quoted on the NAiG message board)

That's wonderful. Now all you need is good looks, and you'll be perfect.

I'll work on it.

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"Religion is the best business to be in. It's the only one where the customers blame themselves for product failure."
-- Ellis Weiner (quoted on the NAiG message board)

You can't work on good looks. Either you have it or you don't.I have it.

You are a riot.

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Okay -- I feel that I am highly intelligent, so I can be an example.

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For starters, who among us feels as though they are an idiot? Only the self-depricating type. But the point is, being prideful over your actual or percieved intelligence is pretty asinine, only because you had no control over how smart you were going to be. That means, if God exists, then He gets all the glory..... Amen. But even supposing that He doesn't is irrespective because you still had no control over it. What purpose does pride serve, other than setting up partitions against one another? Pride is vanity, fleeting, and ultimately dead weight. Dying to the self is living in Christ.

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I agree. And for the very reason that you state (except that I would add that my intelligence, if it is indeed high, is also due to my upbringing and education as a child, which I had little control over).

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I would say, don't confuse knowledge or wisdom with intelligence. I see them as three separate entities. Intelligence cannot be changed because you were born with it already. That's what makes intelligence quotients important, because it is designed to examine your reasoning ability, not what you've already learned. Knowledge is attainable by everyone. Being knowledgeable doesn't make any one of us smart. Wisdom, in my opinion is the greatest of these because it combines these two and adds in experience as well. But even this falls short when we are speaking about God.“What seems to man’s finite mind to be intricate and confused is clear to the spiritual one, who sees God behind all His works and ways... When God calls a man to act for Him in some particular capacity, He fits him for service he is to undertake. Augustine well said, ”God’s commandings are God’s enablings.’ The flesh may shrink from the great task, but he who counts on God will be able to say, ”I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord’ (Micah 3:8). God never sends anyone at his own charges or to act in his own strength, much less to be guided by his own wisdom.” -H.A. Ironside

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Now, what does this have to do with why I don't believe there is a god?

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Maybe you do believe in God and you just aren't willing to admit it. Maybe. Its like the man who maligns the Word of God based on unfounded scrutiny or the man who spends inordinate amounts of time trying debunk Him. Why such effort on something they allege doesn't even exist? There is a fine line between faith and reason. At some point, we all cross over.“Faith in antagonism to common sense is fanaticism, and common sense in antagonism to faith is rationalism. The life of faith brings the two into right relation. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense; they stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual; of impulse and inspiration. Nothing Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, it is revelation sense, and it reaches the shores where common sense fails. Faith must be tried before the reality of faith is actual.’We know all things work together for good,’ then no matter what happens, the alchemy of God’s providence transfigures the ideal faith into actual reality. Faith always works on the personal line, the whole purpose of God being to see that the ideal faith is made real in His children.” -Oswald Chambers