Excuse the spelling errors, i'm not the best. But I just had to say..I have noticed that a lot of atheisim(spelling again) starts in teenage years. Has anyone else noticed that? ..I mean seriously, why is that? It is supposed to be the rebel thing?

thanks,

-miakia

quote:Originally posted by Me Miakia:

Excuse the spelling errors, i'm not the best. But I just had to say..I have noticed that a lot of atheisim(spelling again) starts in teenage years. Has anyone else noticed that? ..I mean seriously, why is that? It is supposed to be the rebel thing?

thanks,

-miakia

I think it does have to do with being rebellious and rejecting what the general public thinks. I became drawn to freethinking mainly because of this reason. After a while of reading different books like God and the State by Bakunin and others I decided for myself that god is non existent and the belief of god removes the self determination of the individual.

I refer you to this thread::

http://www.totse.com/bbs/Forum15/HTML/001502.html

I posted my opinion about this subject back there

Atheism is a belief like any other. Bebelling happens in the teen years because the teen years is when people really start thinking.

Everybody's an athiest, it's the in thing.

Somehow, they all seem to think that their philosophical opinion makes them more intelligent than one who has a different idea.

I chose Judaism just to piss off all the trendy athiests.

^^^why not become muslim then?

[This message has been edited by Ghawd (edited 08-12-2003).]

A lot of people become Atheists just to piss mommy and daddy off. Personally, I kind of got dragged into it kicking and screaming by the cold fists of logic. To my knowledge, my parents aren't even aware of it.

quote:Originally posted by Me Miakia:

Excuse the spelling errors, i'm not the best. But I just had to say..I have noticed that a lot of atheisim(spelling again) starts in teenage years. Has anyone else noticed that? ..I mean seriously, why is that? It is supposed to be the rebel thing?

thanks,

-miakia

Until the relatively recent invention of the internet, most people were brought up without the benefit of knowledge of atheism. Before the internet, children used to form their opinions based on their parents who, of course, also grew up without ever doubting the existence of god and the afterlife. The beliefs are deeply rooted in their daily lives. Between ritual prayer and church it is to them a simple reality. A fact which never needed proving. Now children get exposed to outside influence and are allowed to form their opinions based on a wide range of ideas. Sometimes, reality wins out.

quote:Originally posted by lady_dw:

Until the relatively recent invention of the internet, most people were brought up without the benefit of knowledge of atheism. Before the internet, children used to form their opinions based on their parents who, of course, also grew up without ever doubting the existence of god and the afterlife. The beliefs are deeply rooted in their daily lives. Between ritual prayer and church it is to them a simple reality. A fact which never needed proving. Now children get exposed to outside influence and are allowed to form their opinions based on a wide range of ideas. Sometimes, reality wins out.

I whole-heartedly agree

When I kind of went through athiestic stages, or stages where I thought it didn't matter, that we'd all go to heaven.

1. It just clicked, at one point to not believe in God, when things were going shitty, I don't know why that helped, I think something that seemed more constant to cling on to. But I figured if you're faithful God is just as constant.

2. I didn't want to believe, I thought it'd be cool to be 'bad'

Screw that

quote:Originally posted by Ghawd:

^^^why not become muslim then?

[This message has been edited by Ghawd (edited 08-12-2003).]



Because Islam is a sham.

Relatively and to me, at least.

quote:Originally posted by Zman:

2. I didn't want to believe, I thought it'd be cool to be 'bad'

Screw that

What made you decide it would be cool to be "good"?

quote:Originally posted by lady_dw:

Until the relatively recent invention of the internet, most people were brought up without the benefit of knowledge of atheism. Before the internet, children used to form their opinions based on their parents who, of course, also grew up without ever doubting the existence of god and the afterlife. The beliefs are deeply rooted in their daily lives. Between ritual prayer and church it is to them a simple reality. A fact which never needed proving. Now children get exposed to outside influence and are allowed to form their opinions based on a wide range of ideas. Sometimes, reality wins out.

Exactly.

It has been known that before the age of 12 most cannot form their own opinion on such complex matters. Only on simple matters like nourishment, colors, hobbies and such. But such huge ideas as religion, love, and others. The young mind cannot rationalize a answer so the mind just accepts the opinion adopted by those who they associate with most. IE parents.

Nah, it's the opposite for me. My parents say they 'support Christian values', but clearly don't actually believe in God. I've always been an atheist, since I can remember at maybe three or four. Never said my prayers, tsk. When my parents took me to church at Christmas, I would go to sleep under the seats. I went through a rebellious phase at eleven and joined a church choir, but then I got bored and I've been an agnostic since. It's a bit sad, really. I would have liked to have been brainwashed by something more culturally significant than the TV.

quote:Originally posted by je*sus fuckup:

Nah, it's the opposite for me. My parents say they 'support Christian values', but clearly don't actually believe in God. I've always been an atheist, since I can remember at maybe three or four. Never said my prayers, tsk. When my parents took me to church at Christmas, I would go to sleep under the seats. I went through a rebellious phase at eleven and joined a church choir, but then I got bored and I've been an agnostic since. It's a bit sad, really. I would have liked to have been brainwashed by something more culturally significant than the TV.

Haha, I've been to church a few times, but never really payed attention. Personally I think that it is rather difficult to believe in the Christian God and what the Bible says. Just doesn't all seem to fit. I've asked many Christians to explain it..but even they have trouble. Now that was amusing...

-miakia

quote:Originally posted by Me Miakia:

Haha, I've been to church a few times, but never really payed attention. Personally I think that it is rather difficult to believe in the Christian God and what the Bible says. Just doesn't all seem to fit. I've asked many Christians to explain it..but even they have trouble. Now that was amusing...

-miakia

I'm not a Christian, but I'll give a shot.

What would you like explained?

quote:Originally posted by Kikey_Kikeowitz:

I'm not a Christian, but I'll give a shot.

What would you like explained?



The creation of life will do for a start....Christians don't believe in evolution no?

im an atheist and started to be one in my teen years, however, i didnt do it to "rebel" or to be "trendy". I became an atheist because a) my parents arent religious,maybe if they were i would be too b)i go by logic.. and in every religion their god is loving and peaceful..well then wouldn't he or she or it help humans? get rid of aids? and cancer? c) i go by science. science can explain how people evolved and other things that the holy religious writings try to explain.

i started to be an atheist because i didnt care about religion before i was about.. 14 . and didnt have knowledge about religion and such.

My brief spurt of atheism came from the cold fists of logic as well.

quote:Originally posted by Me Miakia:

The creation of life will do for a start....Christians don't believe in evolution no?

Wrong. Some Christians don't believe in evolution, while others see it as part of God's plan.

I didn't decide it would be cool to be good, I decided I didn't care if I was cool or not that doing the right thing was enough

quote:Originally posted by Me Miakia:

The creation of life will do for a start....Christians don't believe in evolution no?

Depends.

As A&A said, some do, some don't.

Personally, I don't find it that far-fetched that evolution could be intended. If we are created in God's image, God must be one flawed individual. Perhaps we're all evolving towards being more like God.

However, one must remember that evolution is not a proven fact. EVERYTHING'S a theory. Science, religion, it's all nothing but theories when it comes to the big picture.

idiots alike, theism is the belief in a creator, atheism is the belief in no creator, and Agnosticism is the belief that neither can be proven, which is the truth. so really, no one is atheist, unless they're as stupid as the theists.

there's no god watching over your shoulder, but at the same time whos to say what created us, our universe could be some snow globe on someones shelf, a reaction expanding and collapsing on itself over and over again in a pretty light show.

quote:Originally posted by carbon monoxide:

b)i go by logic.. and in every religion their god is loving and peaceful..well then wouldn't he or she or it help humans? get rid of aids? and cancer?



YHWH's actually quite the bastard.

Look at all the shit the son of a bitch did to Job.

Also, Allah's only peaceful if you submit to him and his 'divine' clergy.

Personally, I think God would rather have us figure it out for ourselves than intervene every time. Besides, AIDS is one of his creations. Maybe he gave AIDS free will also, and it's choosing to kill us off.

hey kikey, read my post about how god doesn't exist then prove me wrong. you seem to have strong religious opinions, try going against the facts of life as know by all of humanity

quote:Originally posted by d4v3:

hey kikey, read my post about how god doesn't exist then prove me wrong. you seem to have strong religious opinions, try going against the facts of life as know by all of humanity



I can't prove you wrong, but...

I say God exists.

Prove ME wrong.

i did, that was the post, god doesn't exist.

did your parents have any kids that lived?

quote:Originally posted by d4v3:

idiots alike, theism is the belief in a creator, atheism is the belief in no creator, and Agnosticism is the belief that neither can be proven, which is the truth.

Yeah? What evidence do you have that it's impossible to say whether God exists or not?

For the logical amongst us, weak atheism ("I don't believe.") is the strongest position.

quote:so really, no one is atheist, unless they're as stupid as the theists.

Bloody agnostics, think they're so much more clever than everyone else.

It would be easier to prove that there is a God than to prove that there isn't. If I showed you God and he demonstrated his powers to their full, you would believe. Whenever you told me there wasn't a God, I could always give you more places to look.

quote:Originally posted by Armed&Angry:

Some Christians don't believe in evolution, while others see it as part of God's plan.

I never really got that. How does one claim random nucleotide variations and mutations part of any predetermined plan?

i don't believe in god, but being agnostic i don't think i'm better than either or, i just think it's silly to believe there IS or there ISN'T a creator when it can't be proved one way or another; most "atheists" are probably of this opinion, they're just ignorant of agnoticism. I don't believe there's a god in the sort of earthly religion sense at all, and i tried to prove so in a different post.

yes kikey, agnostic, not atheist, get it through your thick "chosen" skull.

I became an athiest because i read the book of relevation and it read like the prophet was angry and depressed because he couldnt get any. also, if god is all forgiving then why didnt adam and eve simply ask for forgiveness? and also, would a dude who could create a world in 6 days really let a revolution happen in heaven? if he could do anything then why didn't he kill satan then and there, instead of waiting for him to corrupt humanity? and for the tree of knoledge, why didnt he just put it somewhere that people couldnt get to it? the whole of the bible seems like people trying to enslave others through fear and hope of heaven. also, country musicians pushed me over the edge, in that song where the dude is talking about all the kids starving to death but it all being ok because it is gods will, instead of spending his millions to help them(kinda like useing the bible to justify greed, as i saw it) so in my mind the only people in the church that aren't stupied for following it are the ones that run orphanages and stuff, because they dont rely on a beard in the sky to make the world better.

ill tell ur ass y im athiest and none of ur gay rebel things apply to me... i was already agnostic at 10 and then at 11 realized that nobody can aswer so many billion prayers and shit.. so fuck off u jesus lover

Maybe you're atheist beecuz u kannt spell werth uv shit .

All the people saying "well God CAN'T exist because adam and eve can't be true, and he could have bitch slapped satan into his place, and blah blah blah blah." Ever hear of something called

METAPHORICAL

I'm not a christian in the bible thumper, got my morals my cross and my sinner-beating-stick with me at all times kinda way. I'm not even sure what I am, but I do see that the people who composed the Bible some of them seemed to know what they were talking about you just have to read between the lines. A message within a message within a message within a message, It's just been so misunderstood then misunderstandings branch out from those misunderstandings and so on and so forth.

Sometimes the only way to put something into words is through a story. The story tellers understand, the masses pretend to understand, the few who don't pretend to understand assume it must all be bullshit, a few don't need to understand.

quote:Originally posted by I_Like_Traffic_Lights:

All the people saying "well God CAN'T exist because adam and eve can't be true, and he could have bitch slapped satan into his place, and blah blah blah blah." Ever hear of something called

METAPHORICAL

I'm not a christian in the bible thumper, got my morals my cross and my sinner-beating-stick with me at all times kinda way. I'm not even sure what I am, but I do see that the people who composed the Bible some of them seemed to know what they were talking about you just have to read between the lines. A message within a message within a message within a message, It's just been so misunderstood then misunderstandings branch out from those misunderstandings and so on and so forth.

Sometimes the only way to put something into words is through a story. The story tellers understand, the masses pretend to understand, the few who don't pretend to understand assume it must all be bullshit, a few don't need to understand.

I gotta disagree with this. If god had to resort to metaphor, then that shows that he would rather lie than create smarter people. also, if it is all metaphor, then can you explain it? you got to figure that if no one can understand it then the message is lost, right?

"If god had to resort to metaphor"

you can't make atheistic claims based upon christian folklore.

i believe in god, he's never resorted to metaphor, because to the best of my knowledge he never communicated with anyone, and those that claim he did i question their validity....

and sanity.

Not God's metaphor, the people who wrote the bible are the one with the metaphors.

I don't view God as an all knowing all seeing yada yada being, although I do, just not like you think I do.

Ever hear the saying "God is everything"? Well God is everything. In somewhat scientific terms God is the tendency for all things to seek to fufill their law of being. My brain using every moment of it's existence to be my brain, the grass doing all it can do to be the grass.

I can't find the words right now, I'm actually killing time waiting to go out and get drunk. May I suggest picking up a few books "God's Debris" and "The Disapearance of God". I'll try to explain later.

quote:Originally posted by Krist99:

ill tell ur ass y im athiest and none of ur gay rebel things apply to me... i was already agnostic at 10 and then at 11 realized that nobody can aswer so many billion prayers and shit.. so fuck off u jesus lover

Oh shut the hell up. No one asked why your athiest, and I don't think anyone cares why. I asked if anyone had noticed that a lot of atheism starts in teenage years you moron. FYI: I'm not Christian, but I don't hate them for their beliefs neither.

-miakia

why people become atheist during their teen years...it think that been pretty well answered in one form or another in those above me

but i dont think people go out with the intention of becoming atheist i think it sometimes find you, such as when you have a thought and question something thats supposed as true as the bible and people who believe strongly in it cant even answer it.

Thats one reason why i became atheist, another reason the bible has alot of negative and evil things incorporated within it. Although many those scriptures you wont ever hear in church;go figure huh.

and a simplistic yet seems to be complicated question to ask is if theres is a 'God', which god is it. The Christian, The Muslim, and better yet is it Zues...to even further more ask a simplistic yet complicated question is what seperates mythology from religion because i have plenty of similarities between what is so-called mythology and christainity

quote:Originally posted by zodiac theory:



Thats one reason why i became atheist, another reason the bible has alot of negative and evil things incorporated within it. Although many those scriptures you wont ever hear in church;go figure huh.





Wouldn't that be a testament to the kindness and innocence of the Christian Church(bullshit, mind you, but I'm making a point.)

If the preacher never preaches about it, the congregation never learns about it. You never figured that maybe they were purposely leaving such things out so as to keep their people from following such evil and negative things?

i jus think that if you're gonna believe in something as serious as a religion(not jus christianity) then you should(rather have to) believe in every aspect and angle of the religion. no matter how evil or negative it is, dont omit certain things from it because you think its not right or you're attempting to protect the 'innocence' of it.

^^ Hey, niffty, I'm from Houston, TX too. But yeah, anyways. I agree with you, if your going to follow at least one part of a religion, you might as well be true to it and follow every part of it

-miakia

quote:Originally posted by Kikey_Kikeowitz:



Because Islam is a sham.

Relatively and to me, at least.

and christianity isn't?

quote:Originally posted by Ghawd:

and christianity isn't?



Not as much.

Major religions in general are al shams. Western ones at least.

Religions are generally institutions built on ignorance and human frailty.