Why DON'T you believe in other gods?

Apone

Apone

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A while ago I asked why you believed in your God, which is actually a really easy question to answer.

A little more difficult question to answer is why you don't believe in all of the other deities that have been conceived by all kinds of religions and belief systems all over the world.

I know I'm going to hear 'they're all reflections of the same God', and all of them point in the same direction, but can you honestly say that the Christian god and say, Zeus are exactly the same? Do you think that the Christian God has a proper family, including multiple children, a mother and father, brothers and sisters, and that his dad tried to eat him, but he escaped and then came back and got his revenge by cutting his dad's stomach open?

I also know I'm going to hear 'I just do' AKA: because I have faith, and faith is important... so why don't you have faith in the other Gods that could have just as easily existed?

Do you think that your 'God' is the same one as the 'God' who hates fags, or who created AIDS to punish homosexuals? Why is yours more valid?

What about all of the Gods that you don't even know about? Why don't you believe in them? Why doesn't someone who doesn't know about your God believe in Him/It/Her?

I'm probably asking for trouble with this, but oh well.
 
I think this is a good question.

I do believe in the other gods because I suspect their god is my god and vice versa. I simply don't believe in the ideas other people propagate about who they think their god is or what it means to get close to their god. It all seems so silly and limiting.
 
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I don't believe in the other gods, because I'm not drawn to them. Why do I need to believe in them when I have one who works for me? :smile:

I don't believe my God hates homosexuals. If he hated them, he probably would have gotten rid of them by now. Even if AIDS were primarily a consequence for promiscuous behaviors, it would not demonstrate that my God hates them. Diseases exist, but that does not mean God hates human beings.

There are many people who know my God without necessarily knowing his name or know him to the same extent. However, they may still know the same essential things about him.
 
There is no God... oh wait wrong thread :P This is the cool part about being an atheist, you don't have to scramble up some bogus answer to a very logical question which is practically unanswerable if you beleive in any 1 "true" god... there is no logical or meaningful reason as to why one would believe in Yaweh vs Zeus vs Odin, vs Osiris, vs Baal, vs Hercules, vs Fairies in the well, vs unicorns, vs gnomes, vs Sauron, vs Jesus, vs Pixies, vs werewolves, vs bugbears, vs Malorne, vs C'thulu, vs Satan, vs the spaghetti monster, vs any mythical creature mankind can dream up. The only real answer that seems obvious yet ignored is "this is the god I was raised to believe in". Which... well for some of us is kind of lazy.
 
knight in battle said:
I don't believe in the other gods, because I'm not drawn to them. Why do I need to believe in them when I have one who works for me? :smile:

I don't believe my God hates homosexuals. If he hated them, he probably would have gotten rid of them by now. Even if AIDS were primarily a consequence for promiscuous behaviors, it would not demonstrate that my God hates them. Diseases exist, but that does not mean God hates human beings.

There are many people who know my God without necessarily knowing his name or know him to the same extent. However, they may still know the same essential things about him.
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I'm an atheist, and one of the reasons that I am one is because it seems like nowadays God is whatever you feel comfortable believing it is, and anything that would have otherwise been an unpleasant truth is attributed to ignorance, or politics, or just flat out denied because somehow, you just 'know'. So basically, you think that the people who say that 'God hates fags' don't know God as well as you do? How can you possibly know this? If it's 'just a feeling', how do you know that your 'feeling' is true while other's 'feelings' are not?

I know that atheists tend to compare God to fantasies as a kind of insult, but if the point is just to have 'faith', then really, does it matter what you believe in? Why would you believe in a God who excludes people from paradise for not believing certain things as opposed to one who includes everyone, no matter who they are? Because it comforts some people to think that they have something that other people don't, or because the idea that someone can be a monster and share the same fate as a wonderful, selfless, giving person is somehow offensive?

I'm not trying to be insulting or confrontational, but it always seems like people who have 'faith' are too often opposed to believing in things that make them uncomfortable-- things like meaninglessness, or insignificance, or the idea that maybe the universe doesn't care about people... the really 'hard' concepts that can actually produce things that some people might not want to feel-- like despair and hopelessness.
 
Apone said:
I'm an atheist, and one of the reasons that I am one is because it seems like nowadays God is whatever you feel comfortable believing it is...

I'm not trying to be insulting or confrontational, but it always seems like people who have 'faith' are too often opposed to believing in things that make them uncomfortable-- things like meaninglessness, or insignificance, or the idea that maybe the universe doesn't care about people... the really 'hard' concepts that can actually produce things that some people might not want to feel-- like despair and hopelessness.
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He is not just whoever we want Him to be. He has no problem with His identity. If you seek Him you will find Him.

If you want to cling to meaninglessness, insignificance, feelings of despair and hopelessness, 'hard' concepts etc... you are free to do so.
I wouldn't recommend it though. You might understand these feelings and be comfortable with these concepts and philosophies, but then what?
You might feel despair but that doesn't mean that despair is the only valid response to this existence.

If you insist there can be nothing beyond what you have experienced, you will probably continue on the atheist track.

Atheists refuse to believe because they do not allow themselves to believe.

Seems to be a matter of will.

Some people reject love and choose self destruction.
People get confused/deceived and make poor choices.
Often times the consequences are passed down through generations.

Don't let politics distract you, don't let people persuade you, seek Him for yourself.

It comes down to Love, the One source of Life and Love.
It is a relationship here and now, not just a concept.
 
myself said:
He is not just whoever we want Him to be. He has no problem with His identity. If you seek Him you will find Him.

Some people reject love and choose self destruction.
People get confused/deceived and make poor choices.
Often times the consequences are passed down through generations.

Don't let politics distract you, don't let people persuade you, seek Him for yourself.

It comes down to Love, the One source of Life and Love.
It is a relationship here and now, not just a concept.
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The choice between religion and atheism isn't a choice between either hope and faith or meaninglessness and despair-- you can still choose ALL of them, because all four of those things are a natural part of living life. What's unnatural is when you actively choose to delude yourself in order to prevent yourself from experiencing some of them, or deny that you are, in fact, experiencing them.

And atheism doesn't mean that there can be 'nothing beyond what I experience'… it just means that I don't believe in deities or gods that need to be worshipped or revered as divine.
 
For the same reasons I don't believe in the tooth fairy

And before your hackles raise at me I'm not being patronizing. I mean this literally
 
BOO @Neverwhere didn't like what I had to say!

I'll explain myself:
It's annoying because it seems like if you mention you disbelieve in the presence of most believers, they can't take it.
Maybe it's because they aren't secure in their own beliefs and they feel they need everyone else to believe in something like they do to make it real.

And it's boring because it's not stimulating, trying to convince yourself to believe in things you can't observe, and then pursue them when there is a world of wonderful phenomena and people and ideas to consider right here right now.
I have no interest pursuing other religions. They don't interest me when there is life to be lived right here and right now.
 
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acd said:
BOO @Neverwhere didn't like what I had to say!

It's annoying because it seems like if you mention you disbelieve in the presence of most believers, they can't take it.
Maybe it's because they aren't secure in their own beliefs and they feel they need everyone else to believe in something like they do.
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Oh acd, how did I know you would reply?

Nah, I didn't really like your post...and I'm an atheist. I was going to reply, but I just don't have the time for an indepth response right now. It's nothing against you, I just felt like your response was a little immature? I can understand you feel that way, but it doesn't make religion boring or annoying as a whole. I just would have preferred it if you explained your feelings on the subject better, I actually would be interested to hear.
 
Neverwhere said:
Oh acd, how did I know you would reply?

Nah, I didn't really like your post...and I'm an atheist. I was going to reply, but I just don't have the time for an indepth response right now. It's nothing against you, I just felt like your response was a little immature? I can understand you feel that way, but it doesn't make religion boring or annoying as a whole. I just would have preferred it if you explained your feelings on the subject better, I actually would be interested to hear.
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Maybe I think religiousity is immature and I was responding in turn?
 
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[MENTION=564]acd[/MENTION] calling the religious immature? I rest my case. Sure, there are some who can be very immature...but there are plenty of wise people who have faith. Generalising doesn't exactly answer the question. I'm kind of stumped here.
 
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I don't know why most atheists I meet try to convince me I am stupid an not intelectual if I say I am Catholic while I never do that to them. It actually bothers me because I don't like that. I am rather inteligent and intelectual. Btw. does anyone likes being patronised?
p.s. Discussing on faith is not discussing scientific facts. You either understands or don't.
 
Btw. I've been in discusses like this before. They usually don't change anyone's opinion. Everybody who approach it usually have already made attitudes. :)
Have all of you, no matter where you stand in this question, good day. :)
 
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