Posted on 11/27/2005 6:32:15 AM PST by machman
Morning Edition, November 21, 2005 ·
I believe that there is no God. I'm beyond Atheism. Atheism is not believing in God. Not believing in God is easy -- you can't prove a negative, so there's no work to do. You can't prove that there isn't an elephant inside the trunk of my car. You sure? How about now? Maybe he was just hiding before. Check again. Did I mention that my personal heartfelt definition of the word "elephant" includes mystery, order, goodness, love and a spare tire?
So, anyone with a love for truth outside of herself has to start with no belief in God and then look for evidence of God. She needs to search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power. All the people I write e-mails to often are still stuck at this searching stage. The Atheism part is easy.
But, this "This I Believe" thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith that helps one see life's big picture, some rules to live by. So, I'm saying, "This I believe: I believe there is no God."
Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.
Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.
Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, "How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.
Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.
Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.
There appears to be abundant evidence to disprove the null hypothesis of there is no God.
Nothing in that essay seemed unhappy or miserable. Indeed, he seemed quite upbeat about the whole thing.
Oh, I beg to differ.
I never understand why these people think if there's a god, he must be the one responsible for all the bad things happening in the world.......morons
LOL..thats how confused she is, she is a he. The fat guy with the ponytail magician.
I think Penn Jillette's real basis for believing "There is No God" is that there is an NPR.
Kick this bum off of the Government dole ... Admission of blatant support of an atheistic religion funded by our taxes ... (Separation of Church and State works both ways, Doesn't it?)
Differ all you like, but the man is a Libertarian.
If that means "liberal" around these parts, that's another story.
So, fear of divine consequences is the only thing keeping you from acting uncivily? Lord protect society should you ever have a crisis of faith.
BTW, has Penn Gillette ever "smashed anyone's face?" I mean, he doesn't have that brake on his actions you claim only comes from faith in God, so he should be going on rampages right and left, shouldn't he?
I am far from a regular church goer but I find it hard to believe there is no God. I do not go to church, nor do I follow any organized religion.
However, I know in my life, riding the crest of a 35 foot wave in a 41' boat, I was glad I had God with me. I know I have heard him talk to me while sitting deep in the woods with only the last flicker of the fire still glowing. I know he as given me the gifts of my family.
This chump can think as he wants, but is an idiot.
The Hell you say! The man stands to the left of Lenin.
Anyone "anyone with a love for truth" only needs to open her eyes (metaphorically). That means confronting the intellectual false pride and ignoring the NPR peer pressure to let into her mind what she already knows in her spirit.
She's not really objecting to God, but rather to what she has been told about God. She'll find God's truth in time, whenever she can be honest with herself about what she herself sees, feels and knows, and willing to stand bravely against NPR peer pressure.
It needs to get ALL of it's money from private sources. What's that? You mean they can't make it without being propped up by the DNC via our tax dollars?
I guess you had no problem with Armstrong Williams then, either.
I'd give her a little more time...I'm certain God will.
I suspect many people who've had a religious conversion were, at one time, atheists and/or agnostic. I know I was. If I'd read some of the snide remarks I read when this kind of subject comes up- by "righteous" folks, it would not have encouraged me to seek their way of life or faith.
EEEEEE...AAAAAAWWWWW...EEEEEE...AAAAAAWWW...(FLASHING RED LIGHTS) DING...DING...DING...DIVE DIVE DIVE TO 500 FEET IMMEDIATELY
I have struggled with this very much since my wife died. And yesterday, I read a thread about a young girl who dies because of a kiss.
It can be a very lonely world. And there is no solace in thinking here is no God. If I decide I can't believe in him, it doesn't mean I'm out partying every night.
Ultimately, as I grow older and get into the time of life that my father passed in, it is quite disappointing. No matter how good I am, no matter how charitable, friendly, forgiving or mercifull, I will never know even simple things - things like what's gonna happen in the next hundred years or so.
If you have faith, then hold on to it. And try not to be so harsh on those who struggle.
Who'da thunk something like this would come from Public Radio?
Well, then you're left with the classic paradox that one of the following three must be true:
1) God doesn't exist
2) God is evil
3) God isn't all-powerful
One can sort of dance-around the human-caused evil with the whole free will thing but it doesn't really work for natural disasters; hence the frantic efforts of some to spin them into some sort of specific punishment for a specific sin.
I like that he is able to profess his belief without calling anyone "chump" or "idiot".
Romans 3:3 (King James Version)
For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
2 Corinthians 4:4 (King James Version)
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
1 John 5:13 (King James Version)
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
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