Why Atheists don't believe

I know this has been covered before, but this has a little more to it.I would appreciate if the atheists in this forum would take the time to answer these questions.1. Why don't you believe in the divine?
2. Do you believe in anything without evidence?Thanks.*edit* corrected spelling as per request.This message has been edited by riVeRraT, 05-11-2006 05:16 PM

chuckle

If there was a God, and it was the Christian one, wouldn't you want to know Him? Wouldn't you want some kind of evidence?I guess I will put down my testimony again, so that you can understand why I believe, because I didn't know what to believe for so many years.I was raised catholic, but I quite believing when I was 8. The nun was teaching us how to pray, showed us the our Father, and the hail Mary... I read the bible before the our Father, and it says this is how Jesus said we should pray. Fine Jesus is the Son of God, this is the good book, makes sense.I raised my hand and asked where in the bible is the Hail Mary? I got yelled at, and threatened by the nun. We aren't supposed to worship idols, so what gives? I got very frustrated, and could never sit in a church without getting angry, I always thought, what a bunch of BS.But then ff 18 years later, I had my first child. I don't know, it's all explainable through science, but there was something that resounded in me that just was amazed at it all. It was one of those moments when you start thinking, why heck are we all here? Why do we feel such feelings, and why can we even ask ourselves these questions.So I casually started reading the bible. Just informing myself, and then comparing what it said to real life. A lot of it started making sense. But a lot of it, I still didn't understand.People in catholic church will pray, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. But ask them, what is the Holy Spirit? I bet you 9 out of 10 will not really know.About 8 years after my child was born, I stood up in a church, and said I accept Jesus by faith, and I asked Him to come into my heart. But nothing changed, I didn't really feel anything, or if I did, I wasn't aware, because I still had too much of the world in me.About another 6 years go by, and while in a trip to Puerto Rico, I had 3 different complete strangers all pray for me to be a spiritual leader of the family. I came back from the trip, and a someone I know asked me if I was Christian, and if I had a church. She invited me to her church. The church is 10 mins from my house, and I drove past it for 10 years,and I never knew it was a church, because there is no sign that says church, just child care.So I went. They were playing different music, and everyone seemed free there. It wasn't all stuffy like a catholic church, but people weren't falling on the ground like some other churches I went to. But anyway, at that moment, I felt something. It was like electricity going through my body. It was an incredible feeling of love. They prayed for me there, said I should be a spiritual leader of my family.Well, I thought I was just manifesting some kind of feelings on my own, but I did like the music, and I went and bought some cd's of it, and started listening to it. Well the feeling never went away, and a lot of thoughts started coming into my head, as though God was talking to me, for the next two weeks.There was a change in me. A mental change, and everyone I knew reported a physical change. Mind you, I was a fairly happy person before, it's my nature to be happy all the time. Every single person I meet, who knew me before, said I looked ten years younger.I stopped drinking ( I didn't drink that much anyway) and smoking pot (I smoked about twice a month) without even realizing it. A whole month had gone by, and I realized I had no urge.I felt the Lord speak to me, and He told me that He created me, and that the spirit of truth would reside in me, and that no-one would be able to lie to me any more. It has been true so far, as long as I focus on God, and not myself, I am not as gullible anymore. I was gullible because I was a nice person, too nice to people.I also started playing keyboards for the church, something I thought would always be a way for me to get to know God, to play music for Him. When I was jamming in my quiet time my whole life, I would talk to Him "if He was there" or I was talking to myself.All the other churches I went to, when I told them that I played keyboards, I always got the same response "that's nice". But within weeks, I was on the worship team, and now I am the leader.There are way too many "coincidences" for me to list here, and explain with enough detail so you could understand. There was way too much revelation and wisdom that comes with it. I know it's all subjective, but when you start to calculate odds, and you question yourself, and check yourself to see that your not going crazy, it all starts to add up to something. Couple that with what I felt, which was a real feeling, it was overwhelming.I still feel that to this day, and I believe it to be the Holy Spirit. I am constantly testing it, and all the goes with it. I really want to make sure it's not just in my head. I have explained experiences in these forums where the experiences of people around me have paralleled my own, so it's not just me.So the day I felt this, is either the day I went crazy, or the day I got a little taste of God. That's why I believe.It's funny, the atheist's here don't believe because of lack of evidence. They want a sign first, then they will believe. But that's not the way it works. If you seriously want to know God, then you have to ask Him into your heart, and mean it. It might take years before you get a viable sign, so be patient. But you'll know it's Him when it happens, just like you know that 2+2=4. It's truth and love, feelings you are very familiar with, you can't miss it.The good thing, is that everyone here I come into contact with, is smart. That gives you the ability to weed out what isn't Him.If you guys can believe in love, then you can believe in God.

Oh, but He does. We are different from every other religion in that we are saved by faith. That's what believing is all about. OH, it's not an insult, and it was my mindset for a long time too. I don't know about that one. Then neither is disbelief a default state. Everyone is born with a curiousity. It is what drives both scientists, and religious people to search for a truth. I don't think anyone has ever disagreed with me, that we are all born seeking the truth.So when you are lying on the bed staring at the light bulb in the ceiling and wondering is something more to this life than just what I see around me, that's when you are wondering about God, and truth.

Like what, and why?

Maybe you should say that when you get married, instead of I love you.But I could love a person that I do not wish to propagate with.I am starting to have a problem with the word subjective. It would seem that all logical thinkers, and the scientific method seem to disregard anything that is subjective. But I feel there is a paradox. A subjective thought is objective, since it exists.

What is the Holy Spirit?
What does it mean to be born again?

I have "heard" of people in Africa with no knowledge of Christianity being called by God to do His work, there was no belief first.And before you ask, why doesn't that happen here, it might be because we are already blessed with much. We are amoung the top 5% wealthiest in the world. I am well aware of post-hoc reasoning. In the Christian community, I see it all the time, and I am usually the one who spoils the party, when I introduce reality. Yea, I used to be sorry that there are so many wrong paths to go down, but now I see the necessity of it all. What kind of "wonderous explanation" defines hate? Hate without reason? (Just a thought)

We believe it dwells inside us too.Jesus sent it to be a guide in our lives. It's not an interest.Perhaps study a bit more about it? There may be some misconceptions about it that you have. I don't see it as a ritual. It is something that actual happens once you are blessed with the Holy spirit. I don't believe anyone can truely have a set of rules that can lead to judge if someone is born again or not.For years, I called myself born again, because I thought that because I accepted Christ I was born again. God showed me different. It wasn't until He called me that I became born again, so I was kidding myself all those years.I only asked you those question because you said you explored Christianinty. But I say there is still more to explore for you. I just want to encourage you to educate yourself more on it. It couldn't hurt you, you are impervious to being tricked.

Might?, lol.They do, and they wouldn't know. We can guess, and judge people by their actions. A good tree only bears good fruit, etc.Shouldn't matter either way, since we are supposed to treat everyone with love. I don't like the idea of it being some kind of exclusive club. Because I don't know who will go to heaven or not.

You may not believe this, but from a very young age I was questioning stuff.I was in my mothers arms, and she was pointing at several cars lined up in rows. She said, see your dad, he's there drag racing. I said to myself, a drag race is between 2 people, why do I see more cars than I can count?I was 1.5 years old.It took me 25 years before I found out the answer to that question, when I came full circle, and brought my car to the track, and saw the staging lanes, and it all came back to me. My dad was in the staging lanes. What a trip.I never believed in anything, unless I had objective evidence. Now I find myself in an odd place of believing something without objective evidence. Somewhere along the way, somebody had to make this stuff up.

Without opening up a can of worms as to why Christianity IS different from every other religion, who cares what religion claims?

That's because all the pages with the word atheist on it, are actually theist's pages talking about atheism.Call back when you have read them all.

You get a star!I was joking with him.

I understand that. I had to drop objectiveness to accept it. I still struggle with doubt, on different levels. It's part of who I am and how I think. When I do, I try to just remain faithful.The Op stemmed from another thread where I made a joking claim that atheists do not believe in anything. Which is not true by definition.So I tested myself, by asking the atheists. It would seem that the mindset of an atheist is one that requires objective proof before believing in something. Pretty much what I expected, and was once how I thought myself.But everyone lies on the bed, and wonders what's out there. What is beyond the event horizon, the edges of our known universe, and how unfair it is that we do not get to hop in a space ship, and go and see. IS there life on another planet somewhere? Are they wondering about us? Are the females cute? Are there sexes? Do they have 2 eyes?
So much beauty confined to a little blue ball floating in space, why so much emptyness? Why can't we even go to Mars yet? Why can't we feed the hungry children of the world? What's in the center of the earth? The Sun?When I die, I want my own planet. It will be exit 24 off the intergalactic highway, and your invited to stop by for a drink of the some blue koolaid stuff that makes you laugh for hours without a hang over, or you can just sit by a stream and fish, and enjoy a world without pollution and politics, and religion. I'll love you, and you'll love me right back, because we'll know each others spirits, and the answer to the question why.