I am an atheist, just to make that perfectly clear. Instead of believing in a god, that I have seen no reason to believe in, I believe in people. I love my girlfriend and my friends and family. I believe in morality without religion or god. Since I am not playing the spiritual lottery hoping everything will be better on the other side I focus more on how I can make my life and the life of those I love better now.
I can not go through a ritual and be forgiven of my sins. I need to get it right the first time and live with my mistakes. That is a good way of looking at the world, a great way.
I believe that reason, logic and science (all variations on a theme) are the best way to understand the world. I want real clear truth (when it can be found). A painful truth is better than the sometimes comfort of delusion.
-Nick
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
I am an atheist
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5 comments:
I have a feeling we could get into some very heated discussions over this topic.
I believe in God, and I think it boils down to 2 main arguements: design and purpose.
If I were walking on the beach and saw a message written in the sand, I would not assume it was some random scratches made by animals and debris that happened to look like letters that spell out a message - I would assume someone wrote it. When I look at this world and all of its intricate details, diversity, balances, it overwhelms me that it is more than a series of random events.
And when I think of life, if everything is chance and evolution and there is no higher power or spiritual being, what is the purpose of living? How does my life change anything? What difference would it make if I die today or in 50 years? How am I any different than the ant I stepped on on the sidewalk? I believe the difference is in my consciousness and I believe that to come from a creator.
I truly believe God has written his Word on our hearts....there is a need in people to worship a God and commune with Him. And as I see it, if I'm wrong, then when I die nothing happens. But if an unbeliever dies and is wrong, what might those consequenses be?
I don't try to change people's minds on this subject - they will hear what they want to and believe what they want to. Just thought I'd share my thoughts after reading yours.
I will dig into the purpose aspect of your argument. The purpose of living or the difference that you being alive makes is me and Paul and all of your friends and family that care about you. Your life impacts ours and the other way around.
The difference between you dying today and fifty years today is all of the experiences we will miss in not having you around. Plus, if you died today we wouldn't get to go to Disney Land with you. Now that would be a shame.
The other main difference is yourself, all of the experiences you will miss out on. Don't you want to go to Disney Land?
You made several big points, but purpose is the one that I want to focus on.
What does it matter if I go to Disney World in my lifetime or not to me once I die? Does it matter if I die happy or sad? Why do I need to be a good person if we all just die in the end? If I change your life and then I die, and you change someone's life and then die and that person dies - does it matter? Does it matter if we try and be environmentally healthy?...that's just part of this planet's evolution and eventual death. Because, in theory, it must die like everything else.
I guess I just like to think there is something more to life than eventual death. That what I do in life matters because I matter and those around me matter. We have value if Someone values us. Gravity gives us a sense of up and down, I think God gives us a sense of good and bad..and He gives us value and purpose and love and life.
So, the add on your blog today is "Are you an atheist?"....I know they tailor the ads to key words in your blog, but I just thought that was funny because your title is "I am an atheist". =)
As a friend of Nick and fellow pedant, I must note that it's "ad" as in "advertisement," not "add" as in "addition."
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