I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"DP. You’re treating Dante as if he represents all Christians. Dante was a 14th century Catholic. Many Christians today do not believe in hell. Or they believe God doesn’t punish people who may not accept him but do live a good life."

Most Christians don't believe in hell? That's news to me. So Christianity has suddenly decided that there are no repercussions to not accepting Jesus, as long as you're a good person? So we can just throw out the whole "you have to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior" thing? That's not important anymore to what happens to your soul on Judgment Day?

What happened to salvation by faith? There's no understanding of salvation by works alone, as far as I know.

Salvation is either by faith, or by faith + works.

I said “many,” not “most.”

[Anonymous]

Hi OP. I'm no scholar on Christianity, but maybe it's just not your thing. And maybe thats ok?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:..Who lit the fuse of the big bang, then you have it all figured out

I can't answer that, so the answer might be that God did

Just because you don't know, you shouldn't pretend like you do. This is the problem with religion. Actually there are many problems with religion but this one irritates me a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:..Who lit the fuse of the big bang, then you have it all figured out

I can't answer that, so the answer might be that God did

Just because you don't know, you shouldn't pretend like you do. This is the problem with religion. Actually there are many problems with religion but this one irritates me a lot.

Likewise, you shouldn’t pretend you know for sure there is nothing beyond what we can easily perceive. That’s equally presumptuous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:..Who lit the fuse of the big bang, then you have it all figured out

I can't answer that, so the answer might be that God did

Just because you don't know, you shouldn't pretend like you do. This is the problem with religion. Actually there are many problems with religion but this one irritates me a lot.

Likewise, you shouldn’t pretend you know for sure there is nothing beyond what we can easily perceive. That’s equally presumptuous.

Non-believers don't "pretend to kow for sure..." they just admit that they don't know and that the stories that religions offers seem highly unlikely.

It's religious people who often "pretend to kow for sure..." - based on no proof and a bunch of ancient stories that read like fairy tales.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:..Who lit the fuse of the big bang, then you have it all figured out

I can't answer that, so the answer might be that God did

Just because you don't know, you shouldn't pretend like you do. This is the problem with religion. Actually there are many problems with religion but this one irritates me a lot.

Likewise, you shouldn’t pretend you know for sure there is nothing beyond what we can easily perceive. That’s equally presumptuous.

Non-believers don't "pretend to kow for sure..." they just admit that they don't know and that the stories that religions offers seem highly unlikely.

It's religious people who often "pretend to kow for sure..." - based on no proof and a bunch of ancient stories that read like fairy tales.

Some atheists do actually believe there is nothing out there. Others are essentially agnostic.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"DP. You’re treating Dante as if he represents all Christians. Dante was a 14th century Catholic. Many Christians today do not believe in hell. Or they believe God doesn’t punish people who may not accept him but do live a good life."

Most Christians don't believe in hell? That's news to me. So Christianity has suddenly decided that there are no repercussions to not accepting Jesus, as long as you're a good person? So we can just throw out the whole "you have to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior" thing? That's not important anymore to what happens to your soul on Judgment Day?

What happened to salvation by faith? There's no understanding of salvation by works alone, as far as I know.

Salvation is either by faith, or by faith + works.

I am Catholic. We certainly believe in Hell, but believe that Judas is the only person we know is certainly there.

I am not sure about the rest of it.

Why would Judas be in hell? His actions had to happen for the resurrection to occur. Christianity teaches that Jesus HAD to die for our sins so we could have eternal life so Judas made that happen. I won’t get into how screwed up the idea is that God would think It was necessary to torture his son to death to provide salvation but seems like Judas was preordained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:..Who lit the fuse of the big bang, then you have it all figured out

I can't answer that, so the answer might be that God did

Argument from ignorance, god of the gaps, also why does it have to be a who?

Because in human linguistics, we are better able to discuss a subject if pronouns are involved.

So then it can be a "what' and not a "who". Good, we agree on that point. Use "what" instead and you don't need the argument from ignorance fallacy.

Correct, but it is hard to change tradition and people are used to God instead of Whatsit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"DP. You’re treating Dante as if he represents all Christians. Dante was a 14th century Catholic. Many Christians today do not believe in hell. Or they believe God doesn’t punish people who may not accept him but do live a good life."

Most Christians don't believe in hell? That's news to me. So Christianity has suddenly decided that there are no repercussions to not accepting Jesus, as long as you're a good person? So we can just throw out the whole "you have to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior" thing? That's not important anymore to what happens to your soul on Judgment Day?

What happened to salvation by faith? There's no understanding of salvation by works alone, as far as I know.

Salvation is either by faith, or by faith + works.

I am Catholic. We certainly believe in Hell, but believe that Judas is the only person we know is certainly there.

I am not sure about the rest of it.

Fellow Catholic, you have some reading to do on. Hell isn't a place, it is a separation from God.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Some atheists do actually believe there is nothing out there. Others are essentially agnostic.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

The vast majority of atheists are also agnostic. You will have a hard time finding thoughtful atheists who say there is absolutely no chance of god.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Some atheists do actually believe there is nothing out there. Others are essentially agnostic.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

The vast majority of atheists are also agnostic. You will have a hard time finding thoughtful atheists who say there is absolutely no chance of god.

There are some though and it's an equally irrational view to the one where people say they ABSOLUTELY know there is a God up there somewhere in the sky.

[Anonymous]

This isn't something to struggle with, either you believe there is a higher power or you don't. You can't fake the belief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn't something to struggle with, either you believe there is a higher power or you don't. You can't fake the belief.

Most people don't come to either viewpoint easily -- the struggle is around figuring out what you believe. It's great that it's come easily to you -- for most people (including me) it isn't easy to figure this stuff out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Some atheists do actually believe there is nothing out there. Others are essentially agnostic.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

The vast majority of atheists are also agnostic. You will have a hard time finding thoughtful atheists who say there is absolutely no chance of god.

There are some though and it's an equally irrational view to the one where people say they ABSOLUTELY know there is a God up there somewhere in the sky.

There are some who believe lizard people rule the earth.

There are some who believe you can remove an evil-eye curse by washing your hands with salt water.

There are some who believe black 17 is due and coming up next.

There are some who believe Elvis is still pumping gas somewhere.

And there are fewer atheists who say they absolutely know there are no gods of any kind because nearly all know that would be a ridiculous claim that would have to be supported with proof.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn't something to struggle with, either you believe there is a higher power or you don't. You can't fake the belief.

Most people don't come to either viewpoint easily -- the struggle is around figuring out what you believe. It's great that it's come easily to you -- for most people (including me) it isn't easy to figure this stuff out.

This is true for SOME people. Maybe a majority, maybe not -- I don't know and have never seen a survey on the subject.

I do know, from observations, that some people never believe in gods, even though they may have been indoctrinated as children and never knew anyone who thought like them (sort of like knowing you're homosexual without knowing any other homosexuals). Others think about it later -- maybe study or read about religion and realize that they don't believe what they've been taught.

Other people simply "know" there is a god - in the sense that they strongly feel the presence of the supernatural -- irrespective of whatever they have or haven't learned about God and religion.