Hello all,

I was once a very ardent atheist - I frequented these boards like these many years ago. I

used to be of the same mind as many of you, and even more so.

Like many of you, the concept of "sin" was empty and of no concern to me and the Christ of

the cross nothing more than a fairytale.

As my descent into nihilism progressed -- as I went deeper and deeper into the toilet bowl

of rebellion -- something happened. I became aware of my sin, my seperateness from God and

my utter lostness. I began to lose my faith in my "no such thing as sin" and "I'm not evil"

doctrine.

When I put my trust in Jesus Christ and repented of my godlessness - the weight of my guilt

was removed... and I was born again; I experienced a "newness of life". All this that these

Christians keep talking about is "the Absolute" truth.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life... without Him we will all perish.

I know you probably think I'm some deluded heckler who's slipped off into a culturally

induced religious psychoses - but I probably wouldn't have posted anything on this site

unless I had read most everything written on athiesm many times. I used to be virulently

anti-christian... I saw Christianity as the plague of humanity and there was no way I was

going to assent to it. I was like Fredrick Nietzsche on steroids.

So what changed me? Jesus Christ. I'm sure there are others on this board who can attest to

what I'm talking about...

Regards,
aaron

An Atheist Doesn't have to be An Nihilist, or have a belief of that, It's all about choices in life.

The decision was made by you alone. You have been consumed by guilt, and the doctrine of the Christ.

No doubt Christ was a good orator, but none the less, that is all he was.

With or with out JEEESUS we all perish anyway.

So, go on praise your meek and mild JEEESUS, and enjoy your new found life. 

I don't accept the fact that he died for my sin's, I had no part in his crucifixion,

I wouldn't have choose that for him, had or if he even existed at all.

So, because you didn't accept jesus as your savior, you progressed down this road of "sin"? 

Sin is a term used mainly in a religious context to describe an act that violates a moral rule, or the state of having committed such a violation. Commonly, the moral code of conduct is decreed by a divine entity (such as the god in the Abrahamic religions).

This same god who created and called out the moral rules broke them himself.

This same god committed infanticide.

This same god committed genocide. 

This same god committed murder. 

This same god says it is okay for you to have a slave.

How many has god killed?

http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-many-has-god-killed.html 

If Jesus asked Judas to betray him, as this new Judas gospel indicates, doesn’t that mean Jesus basically committed suicide?

My take on this is sociological. One cannot deny the impact of Christianity on world history, and on our current political climate. I’d argue that Christianity has been perverted by the Taliban wing of the religion; every faith has such a wing, and lately, it seems those wings have come to enjoy frightening prominence. Again, however, this is a debate for another time.

But consider this: according to this newly revealed gospel, Jesus asked Judas to betray him so Jesus could leave the physical realm and return to the spiritual realm. This turns on its head the old convention that Judas was a scumbag betrayer, and that Jesus was murdered. Jesus wanted to die, it seems, and went to a trusted friend to help him find that desired death.

Isn’t that suicide by any definition?

Or even worse:

If Jesus, the father and the HS are three gods in one and the father killed Jesus, then in a sense he killed himself as the three are one.

He thus killed himself as well as commit a murder.

Source: http://www.thejesusmyth.com/category/jesus Posted by Luci 

People from other worlds, should they exist, and I propose they do, will only see earthlings religions as cults.

People walk around wearing the murder/suicide weapon (the cross) as jewelry, prominently displayed on churches, in yards, along highways. 

again,

Just because I'm an Atheist, that does not make me a  Nihilist, I would have to choose to do so.

Just because I'm an Atheist, does not mean I don't have a set of morals to live by.

Just because I'm an Atheist, does not mean that I am unethical. 

Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination? -George Bernard Shaw

-Bamaginian 

And as far as you reading everything written on Atheist's sites I think you are wrong.

More data comes almost daily in Science that will dispute, and disprove the existence of the "God of Abraham".

-Bamaginian

Bam, I have a few questions:

Do you think it is possible, god or no god, that awful events in history are tied directly to human foolishness, bad choices, lust for power and control etc? I have noticed several references to god or gods being the driving force behind wars etc.

What is a free-thinker in your estimation? I am a firm supporter of free will. The ablility to choose whatever I want to choose.

Is it your opinion that all people of "faith" are puppets, brainwashed into an irrational belief system?

The reason I ask these questions in particular is that, finding this site today and browsing through some I have seen a few glaring conflicts in logic such as:

"Possibly so, but so does piling all of my faults, sins, mistakes, errors, broken commandments (if you wish) on a human scapegoat and crucifying him for remission of them" - I would suggest that you have completely missed the logical point that a scapegoat is unwilling. Is it possible that this "scapegoat" actually chose to die in which case he no longer becomes a scapegoat.

"Because if god made man in his own image, and man is corruptable, then I propose that god is corruptable." - To add another perspective, the creation of an incorruptable race (humans) made in the image of god and being given free will then chose to corrupt themselves is equally as logical as a corruptable god creating a corruptable race.

"God didn't make Man, Man made god, and that's the only way I'll ever see it." - Frankly, appears no less dogmatic, having heard this before, than any person of "faith" I have heard. Also difficult to establish as "Free Thought", seems like you are locked into this and unwilling to freely consider other options.

It could be argued successfully that there is some deep seated anger and or bitterness in your posts. Plainly, this strong emotional charge negatively affects ration and logic. As humans there is so much more to us that ration and logic, like emotion. I respect the amount of time you obviously spend in reading and research. I am concerned however that as opposed to free thought, which would encompass and consider openly all possible options, interpretations, meanings, conclusions and so on, you might find yourself only being capable (or willing) to see but one part of the whole. The part where there is no god and if there is he is an evil, mean killjoy.

Consider embracing free thought and letting go of the anger and bitterness.

Free thought and Free will is a deep subject.

Free thought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that beliefs should be formed on the basis of science and logic and not be compromised by emotion, authority, tradition, or any dogma, especially religion. The cognitive application of free thought is known as freethinking, and practitioners of free thought are known as free thinkers.

Free will, the ability to choose I support also, but depending on where you live could make a big difference. Go to some countries and proclaim "Allah does not exist!" and see how long it will take to be hanging from the end of a noose or placed in prison for blasphemy.

I am a compassionate person. I do not believe that wars were started or the main cause was religion for the start of any major war, simply greed and power in one form or fashion. I do believe however religion has had it's influence, if you look on my BLOG most of the anger and hostility come from direct quotes (some in humor) from the most common known man made gods. Christianity and Islam. Not by me. If you want to see the anger and hatred, read the Old Testament or the Koran. Both of these so called gods deeply profess anger and jealousy, and eternal punishment for NOT believing in them, and the blasphemy of non-belief.

Scapegoat is used as a metaphor, referring to someone who is blamed for misfortunes, generally as a way of distracting attention from the real causes. I'm not the only one who has used the term for the "divine-scapegoat theory". So, a scapegoat can have no fore knowledge of his death? Mr. Jesus, according to the gospels, clearly knew of his impending death, so, that would have him committing or breaking gods own commandments, well I suppose he can do that he is god right? Do as I say not as I do. 

I suppose there is some irrational thought and contradictions to "Because if god made man in his own image, and man is corruptable, then I propose that god is corruptable." because then this now conflicts with the existence of a god, so okay so either way with your addage, "To add another perspective, the creation of an incorruptable race (humans) made in the image of god and being given free will then chose to corrupt themselves is equally as logical as a corruptable god creating a corruptable race.", it really becomes a mute point.

"God didn't make Man, Man made god, and that's the only way I'll ever see it." - Frankly, appears no less dogmatic, having heard this before, than any person of "faith" I have heard. Also difficult to establish as "Free Thought", seems like you are locked into this and unwilling to freely consider other options.

I Laugh when I re-read that it is just as if I reversed it back around I gave no justification for my reasoning:

You also have gentle Mr. Jesus, meek and mild, who was claimed (by scripture) to be of nazareth which actually has been historically proven not to have come into existence until well after Mr. Jesus supposed existence. The gospels were clearly written well after Mr. Jesus's supposed time. 70 years or so and the 4 gospels contradict each other also. Just how accurate can a biography be written 70 years after a mans death?  The old testament and the new testament both have glaring contradictions and non-truths, the Quran is just as bad. 

Cruelty and punishment: 

Quran Women 4:56 Lo! Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them to the Fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment. Lo! Allah is ever Mighty, Wise.

And More...

http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com/2006/10/for-disbelievers-painful-doom.html

For disbelievers a painful doom

For those of you who've never read the Quran, let me summarize it for you: Allah has prepared a painful doom for those who disbelieve what he revealed in the Quran to his prophet Muhammad (peanut butter and jelly be upon him).

This idea is so important that Allah (or his prophet) repeats more than 200 times in the Quran. Here are just a few variants.

For disbelievers is a painful doom. 2:104

Those who disbelieve the revelations of Allah ... promise them a painful doom. 3:21

Give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom to those who disbelieve. 9:3

Those who vex the messenger of Allah, for them there is a painful doom. 9:61

Theirs will be a boiling drink and painful doom because they disbelieved. 10:4

        And that's just a sample of the 60 verses in the Quran that describe the "painful doom" that unbelevers will endure.    There are also 25 "awful doom" verses, 10 "shameful dooms", 4 "dreadful dooms", 4 "dooms of fire", and another 40 or so differently named dooms. Plus 65 verses that mention just a plain old "doom" -- and a couple hundred or so that describe Hell, the Fire, etc.

But my favorite doom verse is this one (If you don't believe in hell, guess where you'll be going):

Those who believe not in the Hereafter, for them We have prepared a painful doom. 17:10

 

 

 And Finally, I'm not angry or bitter at gods who I do not believe exists.

 

http://atheism.about.com/od/atheismasrebellion/a/AngryGod.htm

 

Myth:
Atheists are angry at God because they think He should have done something for them in their pasts.

Response:
The idea that atheists are angry in general is itself already quite popular, but the myth that atheists are angry specifically at God for not having done what they want may be more popular. This combines the idea that atheists are angry, that they are prideful enough to think that they know better than God, and that they are rebelling against what God wants for the world. Atheists are thus attacked from a variety of convenient directions, except for the fact that the claim is all wrong.

 

The most obvious reason why everyone should recognize that this myth is false is the simple fact that you can't be angry at God unless you believe that God exists. This means that anyone who is angry at God must be a theist, not an atheist — an atheist is a person who doesn't believe in any gods at all. Atheists therefore cannot be angry at any gods.

 

The only way an atheist could experience anger in the context of a god would be like how someone might be angry at a character in a novel — but in such a case a person isn't really angry at the character, but experiencing anger in a more diffuse and undirected manner. You can't really be angry at a fictional character any more than you can love or hate a fictional character. The experience of such emotions in the context of fiction certainly doesn't cause a mentally balanced adult to start believing that the characters actually exist.

This means that it's logically impossible for atheists to be angry at god for any reason, but it's not the only basis for refuting this myth. We can also point to the empirical fact that atheists don't report, discuss, or experience this alleged anger. Unless religious theists who believe this myth also believe that atheists are engaged in a massive, coordinated conspiracy to cover up the truth, we must assume that if atheists as a whole were angry at God then there would be significant and clear evidence for this fact. We'd see atheists discussing it amongst themselves, for example, in the innumerable forums and groups where atheists spend their time.

 

Not only does no such evidence exist, but when asked directly atheists deny that they experience such anger at God. At most, some atheists may report that they first started down the road to atheism when they experienced some contradiction between what the expected from God and what actually happened. It might have been a trivial matter, like getting something for Christmas, or it might be something major like people suffering around the world. It might have induced anger in this person or it might have simply induced disappointment.

 

Whatever the case may be, it's unusual for atheists to keep experiencing these emotions or to still regard the experience as a foundational to their current atheism. It may have inspired them to start questioning their religious beliefs and being exercising greater skepticism towards everything they had previously taken for granted, but by now their atheism is based on more substantive arguments and ideas than whatever might have gotten the ball rolling years ago.

 

If this myth that atheists are angry at God after not getting something they wanted is both logically impossible and not at all supported by any available evidence, why on earth do people not only believe it but regularly assert with such conviction? They can't arrive at this as a logically necessary conclusion from the nature of atheism and they certainly didn't conduct any surveys that demonstrated common attitudes among atheists, either in their community or in the world generally.

 

The only source of such a myth must be prejudice: prejudiced assumptions about the character and rationality of atheists generally lead people to believe the worst things about atheists. Some religious theists hold atheists in such low regard that they are willing to believe anything about them, but that still doesn't quite explain how this particular myth would take hold. It may be that some people are projecting: perhaps they have experienced anger at God in the past and considered atheism, but never made that step and now assume that this must be the case for all atheists.

I suppose the anger and bitterness you see in my post are quotes from the invisible angry gods, I'm just relaying their angryness and bitterness...

-Bamaginian