Wednesday, October 14, 2009

This I Believe

I believe that the earth is one of 8 (or 9 if you count Pluto) planets in a Solar System which revolves around the sun. I believe that our Solar System is just one small part of a huge galaxy which is only one small part of a vast Universe.

I believe that I was born of the love of two wonderful people I call my parents as they were born of their parents and my children of me and their father.

I believe that the only constant is change and that all life is evolving as it has in the past and will continue in the future. I believe humans like all life, adapt to the situation at hand

I believe that while I am on this earth that it is my responsibility to leave it better than I found it. I believe that my children and their children are my legacy and that it is my task to pass on my beliefs to them.

I believe most people are morally sound and emotionally logical. I believe that religion is dangerous because it provides an excuse for bad behavior (“I am weak and I sin.”) and a crutch when things don’t turn out well (“God please forgive me”). I believe that religion provides a bucket for one’s responsibility. (“It’s God’s will”)

I believe that I am responsible for my life; my decisions and the consequences. I believe that I make mistakes and that I learn from my mistakes. I believe that I have something to offer the world, even when I have no idea what it may be. I believe that I will die and that my body will become dust and rejoin the earth. I believe that I will live on after I die in the memories of those who love me. I believe that death is the end of the body and that the only thing that remains is the footprint I made while I was here.

21 comments:

rick b said...

interested, I think you know what I meant when I asked what you believe, and gave something of a cop out reply.

But in case you really did not know what I meant, I was asking, what exactly do you believe when it comes to how we got here. The Big Bang, Aliens, something totally different?

Then after we got here, give more finer points, Like after lied came by the Big Bang for example, we started out as....

Then we went from.....
to.....
then went from that to....
Etc.

I ask because I have never shied away from what I believe, and you clearly hate what I believe and even attack what I believe. I know you will deny this, but simply to say thats not true does not make it truthful.

Examples, In this post you said you hate religion, Their for I have religion in your eyes, even though real christians do not view our belief as religion, but a relationship. You said before in other posts, People who believe in creation believe in some fallacy.

I said that I really believe that many Atheists are that way because they were believers at one time, and God did not come through for them, at least in their minds, so they get mad at God and walk away. I said thats you, even though you deny it. In a former post You said Our friendship blossomed in spite of the fact that I was religious and she was not. I went to church, taught my children about god and said my prayers.

You simply do not claim to have faith and teach others, IE family, then walk away like you never believed it at all, Something happened and your mad at God.

I say this because this is the case with my brother, he happens to live with me. Before we were both believers, he became a believer, told me about God and the bible.

He read and studied the bible to the point he memorized entire chapters and lead one person to the Lord. He answered all my questions and read books like Lee strobal and Josh Mcdowel. My brother read all his books and even would hitch hick about a 100 miles to go to a church that taught the Bible verse by verse.

He rebuked me for saying someone should go to hell, and he got Tattoos of Jesus all over His body.

One day he comes home and tells me and a very close friend of his that he was no longer a believer. This was after 10 years of being one. He said he was an Atheist and started reading a lot of the books you guys read, like dawkins and others.

When asked why he no longer believes, he simply said he cannot believe a God that allows bad things to happen could exist. He knows as well as I do, He lied to me and he will never tell me or anyone the real reason.

His answer was a complete cop out, because when I was a non believer and brought up that stuff, he would give good, well reasoned answers. So for what ever reason he chooses not to answer. Then he is now looking into removing his Tattoos. So I can say from experience, I believe you are mad and might deny it till your death, but deep down you know thats the truth. Rick b

Interested said...

First of all I did NOT say I HATE religion. I said I believe it is dangerous. I stand on that statement; no need to give examples as I have done so before.

Second, I do not KNOW how we got here but I believe in the evidences of evolution and I will until better evidence is presented. Now before you jump..my evidence does not include anything based on the bible unless it is empirical.

Finally, I am not mad at god I don't believe in any god. Yes I once did all the things christians do but I lived by blind faith based on what I heard at church and not on my own studies. At 12 I started reading the bible and trying to figure our what was true. Like Joseph Smith I tried all 14 churches in my small West Texas town, but unlike or like, Joseph Smith I never got a message from god. As I got older I went to college I leared to read all kinds of material and to ask questions, no matter what the consequences and sometimes they were hard to take. In the end I made up my own mind, based on my own research.

So how do I believe we got here? I don't know but I am 99.9% sure it wasn't by god creation. I leave that much wiggle room.

rick b said...

So you believe with blind faith because you haze ZERO EVIDENCE for what you believe, yet you refuse to admit it's blind faith and you try and say you use evidence, but cannot provide evidence based upon the 5 points you said science uses.

Science cannot prove the Big bang, Science cannot prove Life evolved from non life. Science cannot watch a fish come up on shore and go from water to land and live, science can only watch that fish die.

So the same "Lack" of evidence you claim for denying the bible, is the same lack of evidence you use to say Evolution is real. You are blind arn't you?

Interested said...

I can't argue with you because we have no point of agreement on which to start...not even the definition of evidence or of faith for that matter.

Interested said...

"Science cannot prove the Big bang, Science cannot prove Life evolved from non life. Science cannot watch a fish come up on shore and go from water to land and live, science can only watch that fish die."



you cannot see god either isn't that the

Interested said...

fact?

rick b said...

I cannot see God? So because I cannot see God, thats evidence He does not exist? Thats stupid, I cannot see a brain in your head, but we know it's their. I said before, I cannot feel, touch, taste hear or see gravity, but we know it exists. Just as their is evidence for these things, their is evidence God also exists.

It's more a matter of you choose to believe in evidence that you want to believe, while ignoring evidence to prove God because you so badly dont want to believe.

Once you die and you stand before Him and are told to depart into ever lasting Fire, then your going(I believe) since it is not clearly taught, all the things I said about how you really do hate God and have blind faith are going to be show to you to be true.

Also you know someone is replying to you, you cannot see me, you can only read what I write, so since you cannot see me, does this mean I am not real, and your only imagining that your reading what I write? Rick b

rick b said...

Interested, in your own words, Why is is a fallacy or why is it we Christians are "crazy" to believe in a God we cannot see, but believe their is evidence for Him.

Yet it is not a fallacy for people to believe in the Big Bang or Non-life allowing for complex life to arrive, yet their is zero evidence for that.

How is one blind faith, yet the other is not?

Also, why is it that Scientists who are atheists can admit that the Human body is so complex they cannot fully grasp it all, and are not even close to figuring it out, They also admit even "simple" life forms, like single cell creatures are really very complex.

Despite that, it's ok for them to believe and teach, "Life" just arose and yet when Christians say, you needed intelligent design to create a complex watch, or building, or medical device, thats crazy talk from you guys.

We cannot compare the two, one needed intelligent design to be here, yet we cannot even come close to "creating" something as complex as the human body, but that did not need intelligent design. How crazy is that? Rick b

rick b said...

Interested, I have said before, I am open about what I believe and where I stand.

I just want to share my thoughts on something, and I know you will strongly disagree.

I have said before Atheists are God hates, but you say, (We) dont hate God, we cannot hate something we do not believe in.

So let me say this, I do not believe you guys for one minute, no not even you. Here's why.

1. Some stuff the Atheists post on their blogs or websites is very hateful towards Christians.

2. You said on here before, Believe what you want as long as it does not interfere with what I believe. The problem with that is, what you believe interferes with what I believe.

Many teachers that are atheists will lower grades of students who claim to be Christian.

Many scientist's who are atheist will attack in some way or shape Scientist's who are christian. This stuff was exposed and proven true in the video, Expelled, and the big name atheists that you guys look to, like Dawkins admitted as much.

So thats one point. Atheists claim Religion is dangerous, yet you guys do have an agenda and try and push it any way possible. So your argument about people being loving and moral kind of goes out the window.

Then another point, you try and hammer home, that their is zero evidence for the Bible, but every time I tell you what evidence their is, you never reply to it, or skirt the issue by saying, that not good enough.

You say my evidence is not good enough, but at least I give evidence, you cannot.

I listed the Jews as evidence, I listed the Bible was used to find two Anchors from 2,000 years ago. Hows that possible if the Bible is made up storys?

Secular Science has uncovered cities, artifacts and buildings, and places from over 2000 years ago that were mentioned in the Bible, thats evidence. But you blow it off.

You say, their is no eye witness accounts, Yet their is recorded History with eye witness accounts in it, but when it comes to Jesus and the Bible you refuse to hear it.

But people alive today use these same eye witness accounts and history that was uncovered from 1,000's of years ago, so you believe people existed that you never meet or saw. So this proves you pick and choose your evidence, and shows that despite what you say, you really do hate God, hate Christians and are pushing an agenda. Rick b

Interested said...

Oh but you can see my brain; all you have to do is saw off the top of my skull, which is done in hospitals quite often, and ther it is my brain.

I cannot see hear or taste gravity but I can demonstrate it over and over and over with the exact same result with the exact same variables.

Belief is not a choice. One believes or one doesn't, I don't.

Rick, I tire of this because you are not a reasonable debator. You continue to tell me I will someday know and believe all that you say now, perhaps...but I am unafraid so your threats serve to make you look dense because you cannot frighten me.

Yes, I know someone is replying to me...I see the writing on the wall.

I will not now or ever speak for all atheist but for me, I do not hate christians or any other religious sect, cult or group. However, I do feel that these poor people are being duped into believing myths and grandious stories because they NEED them. Most people have never learned to take responsibility for themselves and need a scapegoat. Religion does now and has always provide and answer for the unanswerable. Thousands, maybe millions of people once believed the earth was flat (some still do) but sscience and experience proved otherwise. The same will happen with other things we therorize now. In science theory is a way of stating what is understood with the caveat that new discoveries are made every day and that today's theory may and probably will be expanded or abandoned as new knowledge unfolds.

I am excited to live at a time when som much knowledge in just beyond the horizion, when so many are striving to find the answers and when more and more humanity has come to rely less and less on the supernatural.

rick b said...

Funny how you slam what I believe, tell me I have blind faith, yet avoid my questions. You give in depth answers to what you want to reply to and avoid the rest. Why is that? Because you know I am correct and God forbid you should admit to any readers, even like minded atheists that a Christian is correct. Rick b

Interested said...

Rick I have never meant to slam what you believe; but I don't believe it.

I have honestly tried to answer, in as much depth as I have, the questions you ask.

I found something that I find interesting and although I can't say I agree with everything or that I have studied it, there seem to be some very good points in the article.

http://nowscape.com/islam/index_Islam_off_site.htm

rick b said...

I went to the site, I cut and am pasting this for you.

1. The belief that something is true, in spite of evidence to the contrary.
2. The proposition that something is true, even if there is no evidence to support it.
3. The idea that something can be made true, merely by wishing it to be so.
~ Harald Illig


1. All religions are based on faith.
2. Opposing religions are based on faith.
3. If faith can lead to false beliefs, what value can there be in faith? Q.E.D.


"Faith is something you believe that nobody in his right mind would believe." ~ Archie Bunker

"Faith is one of the world's great evils." ~ Richard Dawkins Source: THE NEW YORKER, Apr 2, 2006, p. 80.

"Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence.
"Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence." ~ Richard Dawkins

"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."
"Faith: not wanting to know what is true." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

"Faith is believing something you know ain't true." ~ Mark Twain

rick b said...

The blog would not allow me to post this plus the quotes from above in one part, so here is my thoughts after the quotes were posted.


This fits you and all others that believe in the big bang theory and that life arose from non life. This applies because you have ZERO EVIDENCE, Yet you believe. So either you have faith as I do, Or you have Blind faith as you claim I do.

But their is plenty of evidence to prove the Bible true, their is zero evidence to prove the Big Bang.

Also you said I threaten you, I am not threatening you, I am simply telling you what the Bible says, and what is coming.

How is it a threat to say, the Bible says Hell is for real, and your going to it. Yet if you house is on fire and I stand out side yelling, Your house is on fire, leave or die, thats not a threat. I am simply telling you something and what will happen if you choose to deny it.

I know you will most likely end up in hell because you choose to reject the Gospel. But I still point things out, more so for the benefit of lurkers.

At the very least they can see for themselves, I answer questions, you do not. You can say you try and answer, but you really do not.

Sending me to a website is not answering my questions and you cannot send me back to a former topic saying I answered you here on this day. I have read every topic and every reply by every person.

Then like I said, Give me an answer in your OWN WORDS, Not the words of someone else from another website.

If you cannot answer them, I'm fine with the answer of, I honestly do not know. To some thats not an answer, but to me I can live with that.

And then on the off chance you ask me, what questions did you avoid, then here they are again.

IN YOUR OWN WORDS, tell me how it it blind faith to believe the Bible, but not the Big bang or life from non-life?

How is it if the Bible is made up fiction, 2 guys can read it and use it to find ship anchors off the coast of an island in a foreign country?

How can the Bible speak about a people group with their own language that was dispersed for over 2,000 years and has come back together and was given their land back. How is it Science uses history to uncover Cities, coins, people, books etc that prove the Bible is real, yet you and many others reject this evidence.


But this same method used to find People, places and much other history is excepted as brilliant research to prove history of people and places from 1,000's of years ago and it is believed? I could go on, these are many questions you HAVE NOT answered, even though you say you have tried.

These are your choices.
1. Answer them, even with, "I don't know".

2. Ignore them like I never wrote them, but then lurkers will see you not answering them and me pointing this fact out.

3. Tell me you did answer them in your own words, and tell me what post they are under and I will look them up.

I'm not trying to be a jerk pointing this stuff out. I keep pressing the point because you and many other Atheists are very Adamant about needing, using and having evidence and looking into the facts.

But despite that, it seems you guys only look into the facts you want to look into and ignore the rest if they conflict with what you believe or possibly even show what I say is true. Rick b

Interested said...

IN YOUR OWN WORDS, tell me how it it blind faith to believe the Bible, but not the Big bang or life from non-life?

I don't know about the big bang: not enough to believe or not believe. The bible is historical in some places and fictional in others. Some of the places do exist, some of the people did exist. What I do not believe is the divinity of the book itself or the characters within. I don't know why, I just don't. It doesn't make sense to me.

How is it if the Bible is made up fiction, 2 guys can read it and use it to find ship anchors off the coast of an island in a foreign country?

Interesting point. I haven't read about it. But as I said there are real places in the bible just as in most literature.

How can the Bible speak about a people group with their own language that was dispersed for over 2,000 years and has come back together and was given their land back. How is it Science uses history to uncover Cities, coins, people, books etc that prove the Bible is real, yet you and many others reject this evidence.

I DO NOT REJECT THE EVIDENCE OF PLACES MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE. THEY EXIST. WHAT I REJECT IS THE SUPERNATURAL ASPECT OF THE STORIES IN THE BIBLE.

But this same method used to find People, places and much other history is excepted as brilliant research to prove history of people and places from 1,000's of years ago and it is believed? I could go on, these are many questions you HAVE NOT answered, even though you say you have tried.

AS I STATED I ACCEPT THE EVIDENCE OF BIBLICAL PLACES AND SOME EVENTS JUST NOT THE SUPERNATURAL QUALITIES THEREIN.
These are your choices.
1. Answer them, even with, "I don't know".

2. Ignore them like I never wrote them, but then lurkers will see you not answering them and me pointing this fact out.

3. Tell me you did answer them in your own words, and tell me what post they are under and I will look them up.

I'm not trying to be a jerk pointing this stuff out. I keep pressing the point because you and many other Atheists are very Adamant about needing, using and having evidence and looking into the facts.

But despite that, it seems you guys only look into the facts you want to look into and ignore the rest if they conflict with what you believe or possibly even show what I say is true. Rick b


As I have stated many times before I don't have all the answers but I am open to new evidences presented. Let me remind you that evidence, is not something written in a holy book.

I am not trying to dodge your questions and I hope you know that I have answered to the absolute best of my ability.

rick b said...

Interested, thank you for answering the questions.

Here is a thought from me, you said before, your 99.9 percent your correct in your view, but how can you be 99.9 percent correct when you seem to be unsure what you believe?

You just said I don't know about the big bang: not enough to believe or not believe.

I could be wrong here, but from what I understand from Atheists and Scientists, their are only 4 possible ways we got here.

1. the Big bang, which leads into number 2. Life arose from Non-life

3. Aliens planted us here.

4. creation.

Unless their are more options that I am not aware of, and am open to hearing about them, it boils down to those 4.

You reject Creation, you say their is no evidence for it. Yet you are unsure about the other 3 choices. I am guessing you reject the Alien Idea.

But even if you do not, their is zero evidence for the other 3 choices. Yet despite the lack of evidence you can say your 99.9 percent sure you are correct.

In a court of law you cannot win a case with Zero evidence and a hope of only being 99.9 percent correct.

The Bible has evidence, yet you are willing to risk eternal damnation on a false hope of zero evidence. I guess thats your choice.

I am only pointing this out because you say divinity in the bible makes zero sense, yet every thing you believe makes perfect sense, despite the fact you have zero evidence. Non that makes no sense. Plus dont you ever think that maybe the divinity of the Bible could be real since you can prove parts of the Bible, such as People, places, buildings, coins Etc are real.

It seems to me if that stuff is real and has been proven, maybe the rest is real. And what you believe cannot be proven, and then you admit as much that your really not 100 percent sure of what you believe.

Just something to think about. Again you said I don't know about the big bang: not enough to believe or not believe.

When you write more topics I would be careful how you word those topics, you seem to want Christians to provide evidence for what we believe, or you reject us.

You stand on science as being provable, yet I have shown their is a lot science cannot prove and your not sure of what you believe.

So again, be careful of what you write or how you write it, since you expect Christians to give you evidence or information that you yourself or science cannot give us.

In other words, you hold us to higher standards than you hold Atheists or Scientists to, and I believe thats unfair. Rick b

Nicole said...

So at this point INT, would you say that your relationship (or previous one)with God assures you that you will go to heaven when you die?

What would you say that God's requirements are for you to get into heaven?

Interested said...

Nicole I don't think you understand...I not only don't believe in gods or devils, I don't believe in heaven or hell. I don't think you read my post. I stated exactly what I understand and know about my existence and the existence of the world around me.

Nicole said...

I did read it.

I also read that you went to church and read the bible when you were 12. What happened to you INT? You went to college to become a free thinker and didn't need God anymore?

I'd like to get to know the real you, not the computer you.

Interested said...

Strange you would say that Nicole. Those who know me personally, face to face, say that my blog is "you all over", to quote a friend.

Nicole said...

I would like to know how you arrived at your conclusion that there is no God, no Satan, no heaven or hell.

In another post, you mentioned the scientific method. What was your experiment to help you get to your conclusion? A good scientist always tell how they arrive at their conclusion.