I used to worry about am I good enough for God on judgment day. Now I've decided to let that go and just go Atheist.
To me as an Atheist the bible is used like the Quran. There are pretty verses but the verses that are just too strict to follow that people throw out.
It says in Exodus 22:18 you are to kill anyone who practices Witchcraft. Then in Exodus 20:13 it says do not kill at all.
Something that made me upset as a Christian long before I declared myself an Atheist on October 5, 2018. Proverbs 18:22 says he who finds a wife finds a good thing. Even as a Christian I thought that line was bullshit. If that's the truth than why did prophet Jeremiah have a desire for a wife and he didn't receive one.
I saw in the church people using Proverbs 18:22 to convince everyone who is straight and has a desire to get married that they will get married.
Honestly if there was a God he would follow through with this promise in Proverbs and not let Jeremiah die alone. Proverbs was written before Jeremiah by the way.
So since there is no God I'll either get married in the future or I won't. I've finally learned no one deserves a mate. Cause if there truly was a God to me he would have everyone who gets lonely and wants a mate to have a mate. I just can't fathom that a loving God who created everyone would create someone with the desire to have a mate and not provide one for them. Regardless of religion, lack of religion, or sexuality.
As Atheist Hemant Mehta says "When it comes to things you're not supposed to do the list is scattered everywhere. A more helpful book would just include a list of things you're supposed to do and things you're not supposed to do"
My name's Maggie and I'm 23 years old.
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Welcome to AR Maggie!
Just remember that your free of the guilt of sin and fear of Hell.
Welcome Maggie, dive in. We are a friendly bunch and apart from a couple of die hard weirdos none of us take the Goat Herders Guide to Life, Death and Other Stuff seriously at all.
Love that re-titling. I must steal it.
Have an 'agree', Old Man.
Ahoy there, Maggie! Welcome aboard the good ship AR. Feel free to grab a paddle and start rowing. Please row on the port side, though. Lately it seems like everybody has been churning the water on just the starboard side with a couple of our regular theists, and going 'round and 'round in circles has made me a little sea sick.... *turning green*.... It's okay, though. I have my Donald Duck arm floaties on in case I fall overboard.
Anyway, we have a pretty good crew here. One more person to help swab the decks is always welcomed. Nice having you with us.
Welcome Maggie:
I agree with you about Proverbs 18:22. A wife isn't a thing to be found and claimed like a piece of property. And I don't think bronze age goat herds have much useful advice about relationships for people in the 21st century.
Welcome Maggie. I am an ex-christian and used to revere the bible, working hard on supplied bible study courses, then I went off on my own research to improve my knowledge of god and Jesus and now I find it an unbearably depressing collection of mythological nonsense and mostly because so many people unquestioningly believe it.
Enjoy your stay. I do.
@ "A more helpful book would just include a list of things you're supposed to do and things you're not supposed to do"
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ...... do you realize that you have just endorsed the Satanic Bible. The God of the bible is the God of "Don't do this and don't do that." "Satan is the god of "Do it all, that's why you are here."
So I guess I have to disagree with you. The book that tells you everything you can do is actually no better than the book that tells you what you can not do. They are both based on magic beings dictating how live should be. Lucky for us there is a third option.
The scientific method. Science removes the mystical and magical from observation to the degree that they can be proved. If you can prove a ghost. spirit. God, demon, whatever, actually exists, then science must accept it as real. In the mean time, we have the null hypothesis for all those magical assertions with no evidence supporting them. The time to believe something is after it has been demonstrated and not before. That which is asserted without evidence can be rejected without evidence (Hitchen's Razor).
Welcome to the third option.
Christian couples that marry will axiomatically raise children to believe what they believe, all religions use this to increase their numbers. Like Catholic doctrine that insists abortions and contraception are evil, or Muslims and Mormons who indulge in polygamy in strict patriarchal societies, in a lot of Islamic countries only boys attend schools and these are religious schools that perpetuate the same beliefs.
It's a cycle that is designed to protect absurd beliefs that underpin religions from direct criticism, and any critical scrutiny.
I often like to remind Christians who throw around the idea that there were "witnesses" to all of these events of two things.
They're saying the Bible is true because the Bible says it is and that the Quran also says there were "witnesses" and they'll need to be picking up a prayer rug shortly if "but it says there were witnesses in the book proving that the book is true" is a good standard.
Or more recently I was asked why some of Jesus original followers were willing to die for what they believed if they didn't really witness it, ie, 'why would they die for a lie?' and when I explained that people being willing to die for what they really believe in is hardly a new thing nor unique to Christianity by any stretch they grew indignant about it.
But of course they just kept trying to turn that back around to 'why would they die for a lie?' since being honest has never been a strong point of theists.
Welcome Maggie!
Yes, you're right of course, I should also have welcomed Maggie.
Hi Maggie, and welcome.