What is atheism?

[rstrats]

MorningGlory,

re:

[OneLight]

Every decision we make requires a thought process.

[Shiloh62]

Every decision we make requires a thought process.

Thank you OneLight-I agree

[Believer1997]

Every decision we make requires a thought process.

Thank You VOICE OF REASON!!!! Yeah... it absolutely does - how do you make an "unconscious" decision.... I'm uh... outta ideas here with this conundrum...

[OneLight]

Every decision we make requires a thought process.

Thank You VOICE OF REASON!!!! Yeah... it absolutely does - how do you make an "unconscious" decision.... I'm uh... outta ideas here with this conundrum...

Some would argue that blinking your eye in response to something coming at it is an unconscious decision, but it is a reaction of survival that is built into us from God. We don't have to think about it consciously, we just do it.

[rstrats]

Based on your responses it

[OneLight]

You have been told. You just don't like what you hear or accept it as an answer. One must think in order to decide. If you decide there is no god or gods, you first had to think about it before making the decision.

[Shiloh62]

Having A belief in something almost rules out the posssibility that a person has not conscienceously thought about the subject,doesn't it?

Shiloh, you have jumped on Believers' bandwagon, but you haven't given it enough thought. Very young children who are taught to believe things by their families don't weigh the pros and cons of a proposition before deciding whether to believe, as you might upon hearing the claim that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is not extinct after all. Very young children accept unflinchingly what they are told. They don't have the mental capacity to do otherwise. If one of those beliefs was a belief in God then it is quite possible such a person will move into adulthood still believing. It cannot be said that such a person has chosen to believe in God. Such a person simply never stopped believing what they were taught as children. So clearly, some things we believe never require a conscious choice.

This isn't rocket science, so it really doesn't require a great deal of thought to be understood. Children may have been forced to accept what their parents told them, but that doesn't mean its one of their beliefs. Either way, they have to consciuosly decide whether they want to agree with or reject what there parents taught them.

[OneLight]

You have been told [rstrats]. You just don't like what you hear or accept it as an answer. One must think in order to decide. If you decide there is no god or gods, you first had to think about it before making the decision.

That is a mistake in reasoning, OneLight. I for one did not wake up one morning and say to myself, "Hmm, I don't think I am going to believe in God anymore." That never happened. True, I was having doubts about a lot of things but there was no conscious decision on my part to stop believing. It just happened. I was in my teens and at home at the time. I was listening in to a conversation someone was having about God (I don't recall what was said or who was talking -- it was just a general discussion) when suddenly (and I mean suddenly) I was stunned with the realization that I no longer believed in God. No, actually it was more than that. I suddenly knew God didn't exist. Don't tell me I was making a conscious decision not to believe (the religious always falsely make that assertion as if they know my mind), but that wasn't the case. If you say that I made a conscious decision not to believe in God then you are just demonstrating that you are constrained by your preconceived judgements. When I realized I no longer believed it was as if the thought slammed physically into me out of nowhere. I didn't see it coming and it was not concocted out of a long drawn-out process of reasoning as you would like to imagine. Obviously, never having experienced this you can't imagine what I am talking about. Please, just stop claiming you know how myself and other came to our realization and start taking us at our word.

I don't rule out that some come to the discovery that there is no God through a long thought out process and finally make a decision. I am sure that happens. However, if someone assures you, it wasn't that way for them, then trust that they know what they are talking about. Don't try to impose your own personal assumptions about how the process worked for them, because you can't know what goes on in another person's mind.

Sorry OneLight, I didn't me to land on you like that, but I repeatedly hear the same refrain from Christians who think I made a conscious choice not to believe in God. They never take me at my word and it is very frustrating.

Are you saying that you did not think about this at all, but that it just happened without the use of your thought process? If that is what you are saying, then you are only trying to resolve yourself of any responsibility for your beliefs. choices and actions. Yes, having no belief in God is a belief in itself. You believe God does not exist.

Romans 1:20-21 states clearly "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened." If your eyes are blind, ask Him for salve. If your heart is hardened, ask Him for a new one of flesh. If you have no faith in Him, ask Him for the faith you need. When you ask these things, believe for an answer. Look around you and open your eyes to His creation, seeing Him is all that He has made. Everything is held together in perfectness.

I came back to edit this as I thought about your words more. Consider this. A man looks at the horizon and considers that there is an end to it somewhere and if he travels far enough, he will fall off the face of the earth. For many years, this was how man viewed our planet. It was not until someone had the courage to venture beyond what they thought was the obvious to discover that what has been their belief for many years was false. Maybe you should start using your time to venture beyond the flesh nature and seek the spirituality of God Himself to discover He is real and that He is not a fable and that the bible is not just a set of rules placed here by man in order to have a "nice life".

[Shiloh62]

You have been told [rstrats]. You just don't like what you hear or accept it as an answer. One must think in order to decide. If you decide there is no god or gods, you first had to think about it before making the decision.

That is a mistake in reasoning, OneLight. I for one did not wake up one morning and say to myself, "Hmm, I don't think I am going to believe in God anymore." That never happened. True, I was having doubts about a lot of things but there was no conscious decision on my part to stop believing. It just happened. I was in my teens and at home at the time. I was listening in to a conversation someone was having about God (I don't recall what was said or who was talking -- it was just a general discussion) when suddenly (and I mean suddenly) I was stunned with the realization that I no longer believed in God. No, actually it was more than that. I suddenly knew God didn't exist. Don't tell me I was making a conscious decision not to believe (the religious always falsely make that assertion as if they know my mind), but that wasn't the case. If you say that I made a conscious decision not to believe in God then you are just demonstrating that you are constrained by your preconceived judgements. When I realized I no longer believed it was as if the thought slammed physically into me out of nowhere. I didn't see it coming and it was not concocted out of a long drawn-out process of reasoning as you would like to imagine. Obviously, never having experienced this you can't imagine what I am talking about. Please, just stop claiming you know how myself and other came to our realization and start taking us at our word.

I don't rule out that some come to the discovery that there is no God through a long thought out process and finally make a decision. I am sure that happens. However, if someone assures you, it wasn't that way for them, then trust that they know what they are talking about. Don't try to impose your own personal assumptions about how the process worked for them, because you can't know what goes on in another person's mind.

Sorry OneLight, I didn't me to land on you like that, but I repeatedly hear the same refrain from Christians who think I made a conscious choice not to believe in God. They never take me at my word and it is very frustrating.

Are you saying that you did not think about this at all, but that it just happened without the use of your thought process? If that is what you are saying, then you are only trying to resolve yourself of any responsibility for your beliefs. choices and actions. Yes, having no belief in God is a belief in itself. You believe God does not exist.

Romans 1:20-21 states clearly "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened." If your eyes are blind, ask Him for salve. If your heart is hardened, ask Him for a new one of flesh. If you have no faith in Him, ask Him for the faith you need. When you ask these things, believe for an answer. Look around you and open your eyes to His creation, seeing Him is all that He has made. Everything is held together in perfectness.

No, forming beliefs unconsciuosly was your argument ,not mine. I was the one that said that we MUST consciuosly form our beliefs. Have you forgotten that already, or are you really that confused?