The non-believer and God's relationship in hard times

If I remember right, “love” realises some kind of impulses or chemicals(I don’t realy remember which one it was) in your brain, which has pretty much the same effect as drugs.

And god is simply your imagination.

By the way, Kitty, no offense, but you realy should not make statements that you yourself have no knowledge of. You would sound even more ridiculous if you would compare god to air. Just an advice, not trying to offend anyone. I do that sometimes, too, I agree, but to a reasonable extent, and I try to think about what I’m saying ;)

“You can not really touch see smell or taste love its just something you have to believe Same with God “

Nonsense. I can prove love exists. I can put you in an MRI scanner while you’re experiencing love and observe the specific patterns of brain activity. I can do this repeatedly with different people and show that there’s a definite neurological pattern that humans call ‘love’.

Okay I really dont see how im stupid <—The RIGHT WAY TO SPELL IT!!! Yea and plzz tell me how im stupid if your so smart Gezz

girls…come on. this was going so well. please just calm down :) Its ok we all have our opinions and beliefs, and thats ok :) so lets try not to get upset

God lets the people who do not believe that he die on the cross for our sin suffer

WRONG.

God your probalby going to hell because isn’t a sin to have sex and have a baby before marring

WRONG.

No, god is not real. No, god does not forgive. And this statement is as valid as yours, being “god is real, god forgives”.

“ God hears our plead but he just doesnt awser them because he whats you to know you can be strong without him “

Most of the christians said the oposite.

As long as you have breath it’s not too late - consider the thief on the cross when He realized who the Lord was, ‘Remember Me’…’TODAY, you will be with me in Paradise’.

There is no “relationship between a non-believer and God” any more than you can have a relationship with fairies at the bottom of your garden, because god doesn’t exist.

“God is the greatest thing that can be thought of by a human, in this space and time.”

I disagree. I can think of the entire universe, or a multiverse consisting of many universes. I can consider an entire pantheon of gods, or the prospect of an even-more-immensely-powerful being capable of creating and destroying gods and universes at a whim.

if people dont belive in god, they dont no natural disasters or anything are going to make them change there beleifs they beleive there is no gods, including the one you beleive in so anything you say about god to them goes in one ear and out ther other becasue they simply couldnt care less as could I, because I am an athiest and damn proud you know, how can you expect anyone to respect you for what you beleive in when you dont respect other peoples beleifs? without respect you will get none in returne

yes yes of course

the non believer can still pray for peace..it seems that the religious are the one that seek to fullfill the prophesy of end times…sure the world is falling apart…as it always has..but you gotta keep hope alive..hope in humanity and peace..those involved in war always think that god is on their side…well, one side is wrong…or both sides are wrong..which does god love more the indians or the pakistanis? north or the south? georgians or russians…hindus or jew? or are they all going to hell to make room for only those born again?

The person whom I was QUOTING.

was that bit of enlightenment for me or jax?

God is the greatest thing that can be thought of by a human, in this space and time. The greatest thing that can be conceived by man

So you think God was conceived by man? That makes you sound atheist. Regardless, your opinions of God are nothing more than your opinions, and cannot be verified.

He and can undoubtedly protect you from destruction.

Undoubtedly? How do you KNOW? There are other religions too, you know. And THEIR deities are JUST AS LIKELY/UNLIKELY to exist.

Yes of course God was conceived by man, captainassasin. If man did not have the capability to understand the ideas that God constists of, which are his own, there would not be such a concept of God. Whether someone believes in Him or not, He still represents the greatest idea that the human mind is able to “wrap itself around”. A man cannot conceive of a thing greater or less than the range of that which he is able to conceive.

This goes for the idea that God is undoubtedly able to protect man from destruction. If God is the greatest idea in the range in which man is able to conceive, then he must have the ability to do anything or be anything that He pleases. Including a protector. If one were to think of a being as great as God, that being would be God. Also, I never dismissed any other religion, or an associated diety. I agree 100% that they are just as likely or unlikely to exist. Since God is only an idea, for now at least, it would be the idea of God that man would turn to as he faced destruction. I never claimed that God exists. Niether did I claim that anything I have said is anymore than my opinion.

Religion makes two appeals: convert, and God will be at your side in times of need, and…convert, and you will be spared in the afterlife. Both of these appeals play on ancient human instincts and fears, and that is why they are so powerful.

The natural human response when faced with danger is to seek help from a higher power. And, on top of that, humans have an instinctive fear and uncertainty of death. These are hard-wired into the brain.

When our ancestors faced natural disaster and calamity, they tried to appease nature, and be on nature’s good side. Today, these are the same thought patterns that result in belief in gods, religion, and spirituality. And fear of death is nothing more than the survival instinct, once again, hard-wired from an ancient realization that death is the end, and there is no coming back.

Knowing this, I think it’s entirely possible to resist the “deathbed conversion” temptation. That temptation is an instinct, nothing more.

“”can a person with free will and the ability to make sound conscious decisions, deny God and keep his back to him, even in this situation?””

first you have to realize that we don’t turn our back on him. we don’t believe he exist there for nothing to turn our backs on. For the same reason we don’t think God is the ultimate thing man can wrap their heads around either.

many non believers face disaster as much as believers do. For me its realizing thats life. I just deal with it and move on. I use logic to help me decide what to do next. I relies on friends and family to support me. I don’t pray to some spirit in the sky that I have no proof that exist and sit back and wait for him to do something.

“”If God is the greatest idea in the range in which man is able to conceive, then he must have the ability to do anything or be anything that He pleases.”” but according to this he is only an idea and nothing more. as such this statement as referring to him as an actual being is an oxymoron.

Yes of course God was conceived by man, captainassasin.

Don’t state you ‘opinions’ as if they are factual, unless you think you can prove it. To say mankind conceived God, is an atheist statement, and is completely opposite to what theists believe. And JUST as when the theists state their beliefs as factual, that makes your wrong by default.

He still represents the greatest idea that the human mind is able to “wrap itself around”.

Pondering God’s origins (where he came from, what he was doing before creation) THAT in itself is greater than God, pondering what may be beyond our universe, THAT is also greater than God. All three cannot be proven or disproven, and all three have evidence (depending on your opinions) that support both their existence or nonexistence.

A man cannot conceive of a thing greater or less than the range of that which he is able to conceive.

…to say that God is the LIMIT of man’s conceptual ability, is to limit you’re OWN imagination.

captainasssassin, you are trying to argue me on the existence of God. When I said that the things I were opinion, I meant the non-factual things. You bring me a non-human being whose race has existed longer than human beings and has historic evidence that shows they had a concept of God longer than human beings, and I will have no other choice to believe that man did not conceive of God. But again, that is my opinion :)

Also, whether He exists or not, He can still be in the imagination. Just as I am able to create in my mind a purple dragon witih green dots and a horned tail. does that mean it exists? absolutely not. As for where He came from, I believe that among all else, God is good and the potential for good. Good becomes good when the potential for good becomes kinetic. When God decided to make the universe, which would be considered the energy which turns his potential goodness kinetic, He (being good) created the universe. Which means that God is the stored energy which turns potential goodness into kiinetic goodness, He is the potential goodness and He is the kinetic goodness that is ultimately responsible for the creation of the universe. He is God, therefore he has the ability to be. The potential for good has always existed, I believe. Therefore, so has God. Thats just a thought. Also, God is and has the potential to be omnipresent, so He is beyond our universe and any other universes beyond our own, still making him greater than pondering what is beyond our universe. Also just a thought.

I know that saying that He is the greatest thing man is able to conceive is a limitation to my own imagination. I don’t like it. I really don’t, but thats just how it seems to me right now.

And like you said there is evidence for both sides of the argument (depending on your beliefs) that would prove the exsitence or non-existence of God. Thats what it comes down to. So a person has the right to invest or no invest their lives in something they believe to be in their best interest. If that fact is respected, no one gets hurt :)

I suppose you could, i wouldn’t know how. I think that with people, we all need to believe in something greater than ourselves, to have love that surpasses the horrors of the world, to have unwaving security and peace in the face of adverstiy. I know that all things will come to pass, so if nothing lasts forver, then what is there to hold on to? Where is any stababilty? I guess our legacy would live on, but even that will be forgotten in time and what is not forgotten will be distored until the truth of who you were and what you did is lost forever. If we dont have heaven, then all we have is earth which is decaying. Also, in MY opinion it is better to know that God heard you and said no than to think that there’s nobody out there (at least that’s how it is for me)