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Post by schizophonic on Mar 31, 2009 22:23:55 GMT -5
Sorry if this rambles a little, I'm trying to edit in my head.
I keep getting told that not believing in God is easier than believing in God by people who try and support their theistic beliefs. Now, I'm Agnostic strictly because while I don't believe in a specific God, I don't preclude a higher power. I think it's unlikely, but that's still another story.
As a former Christian, I found myself brow-beat and even berated for daring to announce I didn't believe in God or Jesus. When people tried to get me back in the flock, it was based on the safety of the position and whatnot.
So now I'm being told it's easy to not believe in God. Does this happen to other people? And which is really the easy path? Because I'd think it'd be easy to believe in a divine safety net. In a society where the majority is Christian, it's fairly hard to grow up neutral in the first place, and that's not even considering the Doctrine that belief in Christ will save you, even if you fall off your high horse. I can't buy that as the "hard path."
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Post by Trevelyan on Mar 31, 2009 22:33:21 GMT -5
I'm of the opinion that believing in god is the easy path. It allows you to not have to take responsibility for your actions. You don't have to actually think about morals, just spit out some pre-fab verse to justify whatever it is you want to believe.
Christianity is not the "hard" path as many would like to think. It's merely the path of those that don't want to consider the fact that everything in the universe could simply be the result of quantum indeterminacy.
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Post by antichrist on Mar 31, 2009 22:37:25 GMT -5
I think it comes from the bible quote that says the road to god is narrow and difficult, but the road to destruction is wide and easy.
And that they believe we're immoral heathens who do whatever the hell we want.
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Post by Trevelyan on Mar 31, 2009 22:39:15 GMT -5
And that they believe we're immoral heathens who do whatever the hell we want. Wait, we're not?
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Post by machiavelli on Mar 31, 2009 22:42:18 GMT -5
I'm of the opinion that believing in god is the easy path. It allows you to not have to take responsibility for your actions. You don't have to actually think about morals, just spit out some pre-fab verse to justify whatever it is you want to believe. Christianity is not the "hard" path as many would like to think. It's merely the path of those that don't want to consider the fact that everything in the universe could simply be the result of quantum indeterminacy. I agree, But I would add that when one doesn't believe in a divine plan, one is subjected to a more extensive learning process about him/herself when challenges are encountered in life. Assuming you wish to overcome the sudden obstacle. the learning process deepens your conscience, making you a stronger person than before. Nietzsche used to wish the most vile, agonizing and painful experiences on his loved ones - as he knew this was the key to happiness.
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Post by schizophonic on Mar 31, 2009 23:05:29 GMT -5
I think it comes from the bible quote that says the road to god is narrow and difficult, but the road to destruction is wide and easy. And that they believe we're immoral heathens who do whatever the hell we want. I'M ON THE HIIIIIIGHWAY TO HELL! Sorry, had to.
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Post by Paradox on Mar 31, 2009 23:12:55 GMT -5
I... really don't see how one would be easier than the other. It really depends how you were raised. I think if you were raised as a believer, it would probably be sort of the default, and thus easier. Vice versa for a non-believer.
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Post by devilschaplain2 on Mar 31, 2009 23:30:04 GMT -5
Sorry if this rambles a little, I'm trying to edit in my head. I keep getting told that not believing in God is easier than believing in God by people who try and support their theistic beliefs. Now, I'm Agnostic strictly because while I don't believe in a specific God, I don't preclude a higher power. I think it's unlikely, but that's still another story. As a former Christian, I found myself brow-beat and even berated for daring to announce I didn't believe in God or Jesus. When people tried to get me back in the flock, it was based on the safety of the position and whatnot. So now I'm being told it's easy to not believe in God. Does this happen to other people? And which is really the easy path? Because I'd think it'd be easy to believe in a divine safety net. In a society where the majority is Christian, it's fairly hard to grow up neutral in the first place, and that's not even considering the Doctrine that belief in Christ will save you, even if you fall off your high horse. I can't buy that as the "hard path." I completely disagree with these theists. Having blind faith in anything is a cop-out. Just making shit up as you go along and ignoring evidence is soooo easy to do--it requires the bare minimum of thinking power
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Post by rookie on Apr 1, 2009 10:55:31 GMT -5
Six of one, half dozen of the other. While most of the good people here are trying to find and do right, many true believers are trying to understand and follow "god's will". Having read the bible a few times, I for the life of me can't figure out what the hell god's will is all about.
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Post by Sandafluffoid on Apr 1, 2009 11:39:16 GMT -5
Well believing in god sure isn't hard. But on the other hand, actually obeying him, contradictions and all, is incredibly hard.
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Post by Caitshidhe on Apr 1, 2009 11:53:25 GMT -5
"GODDIDIT!" is the biggest cop-out in the world. It's a catch-all answer for when things go wrong, and when things go right--when people die, it's GOD'S WILL. Tragedies are GOD'S WILL. Answers to the natural world that are too complicated for the knuckle-dragging Christian Brigade to comprehend are automatically commuted to GODDIDITs because it's easier than looking up the information and asking questions and finding out how the world works. Yeah, belief is the easy road.
And then, as Amaranth (note to self: stop typing 'Schizophonic') said, a hardcore Christian community will make people feel like utter shit for NOT believing it. NOT believing in a god requires some knowledge and understanding of natural explanations for the world, and in many cases it requires you to go AGAINST the current and believe something DIFFERENT than your entire community. In the US, it requires you to go against the ideals of 80% of the country. Anybody who says NOT believing in the Big Sky Daddy is delusional.
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Akage
Full Member
Existentialist
Posts: 207
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Post by Akage on Apr 1, 2009 12:30:45 GMT -5
Personally, I don't think any path is 'easy'. Both are the same amount of 'easy' in their own rights, and the same amount of difficult. I can see why a religious person would find their own path difficult-- it's hard to hold 'true' to the expectations they feel religion creates for them. In their eyes, not having to answer to a God is 'easy'.
But, on the other hand, an atheist views the religious path, a path of blind faith and creating reasons for 'God's will out of horrible experiences 'easy'. It's much harder to face the fact that a family member got sick just because it happened, and much easier to attribute it to a higher power's 'plan'.
Personally, I don't think any life path is easy, and it's foolish for us to write off a stranger's life as such.
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Post by Julian on Apr 1, 2009 12:32:55 GMT -5
I think it comes from the bible quote that says the road to god is narrow and difficult, but the road to destruction is wide and easy. And that they believe we're immoral heathens who do whatever the hell we want. This is true to a certain point, but I'm not sure how many Christian denominations focus on this. Is it just the baptists and other judgemental groups? Those that concentrate on being inclusive and the message of slavation [typo uncorrected due to unintentional accuracy] tend not to. Personally I tend to put people who say it, partially down to a superiority complex depending on context, but more often than not, it seems the people that say it, aren't even aware of this verse, and just find it so very hard being good. Some of them are quite scary...
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Post by Old Viking on Apr 1, 2009 13:47:21 GMT -5
Belief in God is just another way of saying, "I never thought about it."
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Post by Sigmaleph on Apr 1, 2009 16:56:19 GMT -5
Well, in a sense, believing in a god would be very hard for me because I'd have to twist and turn my mind around evidence to force it all to make sense. I suppose many theists feel the same way about not believing. In another sense, I sometimes wish I could just give up and say "I don't know, god did it". When trying to fully lay out a comprehensive system of right and wrong and accounting for exceptions and extenuating circumstances and endless etceteras, for example, I want to be able to point to a book and say: "This is morality, now follow it". But I can't. Thinking can be hard. Not finding answers can be hard. At least for me. Then again, if you follow a god you have to feel guilty about all sorts of things I don't have to and obey sometimes nonsensical rules. In that sense, not believing is easier
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