Why do atheists think they're smarter than most people?

[SF1900]

again taking shit out of content, who said anything about believing in something because half the world does? You do not classify something strange unless it is not the norm, you missed the point entirely.

 

Well, actually I did not miss the point because it really depends on how you are operationally defining the word "strange."

[OTHstrong]

 

Well, actually I did not miss the point because it really depends on how you are operationally defining the word "strange."

is it strange to believe in Islam, no because there are a billion Muslims, is it strange to believe there is no God, no because a lot of people do not believe in God, is it strange to believe in Godzilla, YES that is strange because it is not the norm.

[Tapeworm]

stranger danger

[Radical Plato]

I agree, I do not know, my belief is based on faith.

As for checking out, it does not work that way, lol, we have duties here and are judged on both are selfishness and selflessness.

It's hard keeping up with you religious types, you said after death God has something better for us, that doesn't sound like someone who claims they don't know what happens after death.  And I don't believe there is such a thing as selflessness, it's self defeating.  Whatever actions people take, it is always based on what they get out of it, even if it's simply praise for being so called selfless.

[OTHstrong]

It's hard keeping up with you religious types, you said after death God has something better for us, that doesn't sound like someone who claims they don't know what happens after death.  And I don't believe there is such a thing as selflessness, it's self defeating.  Whatever actions people take, it is always based on what they get out of it, even if it's simply praise for being so called selfless.

not true at all, I care less or give 2 shits about anything when my son is sick, I am by his side to comfort him unconditionally.

I know it is hard for you to understand the concept of selflessness but there are actions that have no self benefit among a few good people/

[Radical Plato]

not true at all, I care less or give 2 shits about anything when my son is sick, I am by his side to comfort him unconditionally.

I know it is hard for you to understand the concept of selflessness but there are actions that have no self benefit among a few good people/

You fail to understand the concept.  What you described is an incredibly selfish act, you have a vested interest in keeping your genes ongoing.  By caring for your son, you are REWARDED, you benefit from the interaction, there is a biological payoff.  There may also be secondary benefits, that others will consider you a caring SELFLESS person and favor you in their interactions.  Your son may also return the favour at a later date.  In short, your chance of survival is increased by behaving in such a way.  There is no such thing as SELFLESS.  There is a reason you treat your son in this way and are completely indifferent to other peoples suffering, you receive no biological payoff by caring for other peoples children.

[OTHstrong]

You fail to understand the concept.  What you described is an incredibly selfish act, you have a vested interest in keeping your genes ongoing.  By caring for your son, you are REWARDED, you benefit from the interaction, there is a biological payoff.  There may also be secondary benefits, that others will consider you a caring SELFLESS person and favor you in their interactions.  There is no such thing as SELFLESS.  There is a reason you treat your son in this way and are completely indifferent to other peoples suffering, you receive no biological payoff by caring for other peoples children.

wrong, I do not give a shit about keeping my genes going, that is bs, if my son decided not to have kids I would not care/

Everything I do for him benefits me nothing accept satisfying my love and that in itself is what selflessness is, I see your perspective but you are being way to technical here

[Radical Plato]

wrong, I do not give a shit about keeping my genes going, that is bs, if my son decided not to have kids I would not care/

Everything I do for him benefits me nothing accept satisfying my love and that in itself is what selflessness is, I see your perspective but you are being way to technical here

If you do not care about your genes surviving, why did you have children in the first place?  Was that a selfish act?  Did you want something too care for to obtain some psychological reward?  You admit by doing things for your son your need for love is satisfied, in effect your son is used as a proxy to fulfill some need you have for satisfying your love.  Sounds kind of co-dependent.  From what you have stated, it appears you receive plenty of psychological reward from perceiving yourself to be SELFLESS.  You like how it feels when you consider yourself SELFLESS.  If you acknowledged that your actions were selfish you wouldn't benefit as much, even if the benefit to the other was still the same.

And motivations are technical, human relationships deeply complex. I just think you choose to see things simply as that is all you have the capacity for.  There is nothing wrong with that, but I do think it puts limitations on the levels of self awareness that is obtainable.

[OTHstrong]

If you do not care about your genes surviving, why did you have children in the first place?  Was that a selfish act?  Did you want something too care for to obtain some psychological reward?  You admit by doing things for your son your need for love is satisfied, in effect your son is used as a proxy to fulfill some need you have for satisfying your love.  Sounds kind of co-dependent.  From what you have stated, it appears you receive plenty of psychological reward from perceiving yourself to be SELFLESS.  You like how it feels when you consider yourself SELFLESS.  If you acknowledged that your actions were selfish you wouldn't benefit as much, even if the benefit to the other was still the same.

And motivations are technical, human relationships deeply complex. I just think you choose to see things simply as that is all you have the capacity for.  There is nothing wrong with that, but I do think it puts limitations on the levels of self awareness that is obtainable.

This is not what people mean when they use that word, this is to technical and I do not care to discuss semantics.

[Archer77]

Can we at least agree that Jesus is by far a better paragon of moral virtue than the desert rat, Muhammad.

[OTHstrong]

Can we at least agree that Jesus is by far a better paragon of moral virtue than the desert rat, Muhammad.

I do not wish to insult Muslims but yes Jesus is by far better them anyone, including Muhammad

[Archer77]

I do not wish to insult Muslims but yes Jesus is by far better them anyone, including Muhammad

You might be surprised but I do read the bible and Jesus is a vastly superior teacher to Muhammad.  It's not politically correct to say so but it's obvious to anyone.  Islams treatment of Jesus should be insulting and blasphemous to a Christian.

[OTHstrong]

You might be surprised but I do read the bible and Jesus is a vastly superior teacher to Muhammad.  It's not politically correct to say so but it's obvious to anyone.  Islams treatment of Jesus should be insulting and blasphemous to a Christian.

I read the Koran and they refer to Jesus as son of Mary and they do not insult Jesus but from the perspective of a Christian it does come across as mockery.

[Archer77]

I read the Koran and they refer to Jesus as son of Mary and they do not insult Jesus but from the perspective of a Christian it does come across as mockery.

I've read a lot on Islam as well. Islam denies the divinity of Christ and do not believe he died on the cross.  These are two very essential components of the Christian faith.   Muslims believe when Christ returns he will destroy all the crosses because they are false symbols.  Read not only the Quran but the Surah.

[Man of Steel]

I'm sorry, I'm afraid that that can't be what happened. If it were, you would be willing to change your belief(s) regarding Jesus given that the 'willing to give their lives and be happy about it' criterion for the veracity of beliefs is actually much, much more in favor of Al Qaeda's core beliefs -- to say nothing of a huge variety of historical belief systems. Since this won't happen anytime soon, you obviously didn't use that criterion to determine your belief (or at least, you aren't using it to maintain said belief).

It is also apparently the case that you won't change your beliefs for literally any reason whatsoever, whether said reasons be derived from history, science, logic, or everyday experience.* These beliefs are seemingly completely inaccessible to the faculties that typically produce reasoned thought in cognitive systems like ours. And that's an interesting phenomenon that I hope cognitive psychologists can provide insights on some day.

*This is easily confirmed: no matter what any scientist says, you aren't going to say, "Ah, my relationship with God was an illusion this whole time!" and so on for any other reason proffered. Surely you would agree that this is the case?

No offense, but I don't really understand what you're suggesting. 

What I mentioned is just one of the reasons I began to belief....it's just one thing I considered that started me down a path. 

[Primemuscle]

The only reason people believe in an afterlife is because they fear death. Plain and simple.

I agree with this. Not just the fear of death but also the fear that this is all there is. When your done, there's nothing more. That's hard to take for many people.

[Man of Steel]

I agree with this. Not just the fear of death but also the fear that this is all there is. When your done, there's nothing more. That's hard to take for many people.

For me it's always been exactly the opposite.  If this life is all there is it makes it pretty simple to undertake.  Since we're basically cosmic trash we're virtually without genuine purpose and will eventually return to the cloud of expanding stardust that we originated from.  While here we can invent temporary purpose and live according to it, but it serves no greater end...it's barely fleeting.   There's a much greater responsibility in realizing there's far more ahead.  Belief in Christ comes with a price, with ridicule, with responsibility, with committment, with submission, with love, with compassion, with purpose.   This short life can be lived on your terms without God....it can be virtually whatever you choose it to be.    

[Primemuscle]

For me it's always been exactly the opposite.  If this life is all there is it makes it pretty simple to undertake.  Since we're basically cosmic trash we're virtually without genuine purpose and will eventually return to the cloud of expanding cloud stardust that we originated.  While here we can invent temporary purpose and live according to it, but it serves no greater end...it's barely fleeting.   There's a much greater responsibility in realizing there's far more ahead.  Belief in Christ comes with a price, with ridicule, with responsibility, with committment, with submission, with love, with compassion, with purpose.   This short life can be lived on your terms without God....it can be virtually whatever you choose it to be.    

Life is good from my perspective. I hope mine continues for a couple more decades at least. -Not because I am afraid of it ending, but because I enjoy life and try to make it the best life I can every hour of every day that I am alive.

[dr.chimps]

Reasoned skepticism.

/end thread

[Man of Steel]

Life is good from my perspective. I hope mine continues for a couple more decades at least. -Not because I am afraid of it ending, but because I enjoy life and try to make it the best life I can every hour of every day that I am alive.

I hope the same thing for you and for myself! 

In the meantime I pray for the opportunity to share Christ and what he's done in my life with some folks and maybe they too will come to experience him like I have.

[NarcissisticDeity]

For me it's always been exactly the opposite.  If this life is all there is it makes it pretty simple to undertake.  Since we're basically cosmic trash we're virtually without genuine purpose and will eventually return to the cloud of expanding stardust that we originated from.  While here we can invent temporary purpose and live according to it, but it serves no greater end...it's barely fleeting.   There's a much greater responsibility in realizing there's far more ahead.  Belief in Christ comes with a price, with ridicule, with responsibility, with committment, with submission, with love, with compassion, with purpose.   This short life can be lived on your terms without God....it can be virtually whatever you choose it to be.    

I still have never received a clear answer on what the purpose of being here even if there is a God and an afterlife.

I'm going to create and entire universe/multiverse with just one planet with life so you can be born to give yourself to Jesus to go to the afterlife and be happy for ever 

[The Scott]

I still have never received a clear answer on what the purpose of being here even if there is a God and an afterlife.

I'm going to create and entire universe/multiverse with just one planet with life so you can be born to give yourself to Jesus to go to the afterlife and be happy for ever 

I tend to look at it this way.

No parent ever tells their children everything when they are first born or even after a year of two.  Such knowledge comes with the passage of time when they are better equipped to understand it.  This may be how it is for us.  Or, it may not.

All the best.

[galeniko]

The only reason people believe in an afterlife is because they fear death. Plain and simple.

some look forward to death, 70+ virgin waiting for them

very nice sexual promise.

but i wouldnt sign such contract, you never know if those virgons are hot, maybeits the bottom barral virgins who never got fucked for a reason(being ugly).

and when youre dead, you have no body, how to make sex with them?

[Croatch]

Simple answer.  They atheists don't believe in made up men in the sky or little devilish men living underground.  You know, the type of shit you tell kids to keep them from raping and stealing.

[Natural Man]

The only reason people believe in an afterlife is because they fear death. Plain and simple.

No. Its because they cannot imagine life could be pointless, absurd, there has to be something better, or at least simply something else after it. They can fathom the possibility we could just be animals randomly killing each others aimlessly until we get wiped by an asteroid just like the dinosaurs. In the meanwhile we re all struggling to survive just like vegetals and other animal species. You could die at any moment struck by a car, a robber, a solar flash just like an eagle could catch a mouse in the grass. When it happens, there s no meaning, no justice or anything it just happens.

Even in religion we categorize people and even in religion there are dominating individuals and dominated individuals. But that's because it s the same everywhere in nature; it's always the same principles, alphas, and betas. Betas want to become alphas and alphas do their best to keep their place at the top. We are "intelligent" and can protect ourselves form many more dangers than other "dumber" animal species, but in the end the elites would still kill everyone else if needed, just like alpha lions would kill another male's offspring after defeating him if needed.