I’m actually curious.

In order to indoctrinate their followers and secure obedience, religions frequently tear people down, creating an emptiness that must then be filled with Jesus, Allah, Joseph Smith, Vishnu, Odin, Horus, or any other deity. People are told that they are inherently bad or sinful and that the only way to become good is by giving over control of their lives to faith in some unseeable being. Religions also indoctrinate their followers and secure obedience by creating a fear of death or eternal punishment (for finite sins) that can only be assuaged by convincing the believing of an afterlife (but no proof will be provided).

As there is no evidence that any of that is true, religion, in effect, is creating an imaginary problem simply so that it can sell an imaginary solution. The learned helplessness created by religion can open the way for charlatans and con artists to take advantage of gullible, vulnerable people. False ideas about the universe, including promises that good people are rewarded and sinful people punished, can set false expectations among believers and strip them of the tools they need to properly cope with the challenging events of their lives in a healthy way. It’s often better to face reality head-on and attempt to cope with it directly rather than comfort oneself with deception. As Bertrand Russell once said, “No satisfaction based upon self-deception is solid, and, however unpleasant the truth may be, it is better to face it once for all, to get used to it, and to proceed to build your life in accordance with it.”

Much of this impulse in human culture to create a religion is driven by people's own existential angst, their innate and instinctive fear of death, their own death and the death of the people they love. It can seem easier to deal with death by convincing ourselves that it is not real. "My loved one is not dead - they are in heaven and we will see each other again!", we tell ourselves. And ... "Of course I will never 'die!' that's absurd! I'll just go to a 'better' place."

The other impulse in human culture to create a religion is driven by the desire for power and money. An all powerful god wouldn't need your money but his representatives are always crowing about the tithe. Power and wealth. Power over other men. Power over women. Power over culture. Power over society. That's all religion is truly about at its core.

You all need to grow up. And make the most of the time you actually do have. You are mortal. Death is real ...

Death is real ... get over it. I sincerely and earnestly do not believe that god or gods exist because there hasn't been any compelling evidence presented to me. But Christians have each other to go to "worship" with your imaginary god ... and sing songs to him ... and give your money to him (actually you're just supporting a preacher who knows it's all a scam -- see Caught in the Pulpit by Daniel C. Dennett). Perhaps that could bring meaning to your lives as you comfort and console each other when bad things happen, blaming them on sin and the devil, but give credit to your god when the good things happen, all while ignoring the fact that anything that could be called a god would be in control of it all (kinda like Isaiah says in chapter 46:7).

The God of the Bible is not omnipotent. He is incapable of communicating clearly in his book. If he were omnipotent, he could write a book that could be clearly understood, and we wouldn't have Presbyterians and Baptists and Catholics and Jehovah's Witnesses and 30,000 other denominations all disagreeing with each other as well as billions of people in other religions.

Nobody has a valid argument for the existence of God. If somebody did, that argument would come up in every debate about the existence of God. That person would win the Nobel Prize. It would be headline news. Over and over. NO ONE would be able to refute it.

Instead, Tik Tok and YouTube apologists constantly seek ways to find some sort of “gotcha-loophole” and they always get destroyed once someone actually examines their new tack. Playing with apologists is a constant game of whack-a-mole where the moles never win but they keep on popping up with what they think is a new argument. They’re so over the top desperate to be right but all evidence points in a different direction than religion and faith.

whatever. believe what you want.

that's so adorable

sorry, bro. i ain't reading all that.

Because it decimates what your Sunday School teacher drilled into your head.
Are you aware that your God has threatened (four different times, in four different books of the Bible!) to make people cannibalize their own children as a form of punishment? Don't believe me?
(1) Leviticus 26:29;
(2) Deuteronomy 28:53;
(3) Jeremiah 19:9;
(4) Ezekiel 5:10.
And II Kings 6:28-29 tells the story of someone who actually did it (ate her own child)! Would you teach these verses to your children during a home Bible study? Are there other disgusting passages in the Bible (II Kings 9:10, II Kings 18:27) that you believe children should be protected from? What would you think of me if I read these Bible verses to your child? Shouldn't the Bible be removed from the libraries of elementary schools?

What sins or crimes do you believe would justify a sentence of "you must eat your own children?"

There are FIVE references in the Bible to cannibalizing children, yet only ONE commandment to attend church (Hebrews 10:25).

And by the way ... doesn't this punish the (innocent) children also? Where is the justice in making them die (and be eaten!) because somebody else has sinned?

The story of Job illustrates very clearly God's attitude toward children. Job has children; God allows Satan to kill them (as a way of testing Job's faith). At the end of the story (Job 42:12-13), God "restores" Job's children ... by letting him father some new ones. Got that? God allows Satan to take Job's property ... his sheep, camels, oxen, donkeys, and children. Then God restores Job's property ... sheep, camels, oxen, donkeys, and children.

This is great for Job, but what about the innocent human children that God originally allowed to be killed along with the livestock?

Yes, I actually would. It teaches them that one-person sinning affects everyone. Not just yourself, even though that it may seem like that. And who said that Bibles are in elementary schools? Public schools are the most woke thing out there.

As for your question (What sins or crimes do you believe would justify a sentence of "you must eat your own children?"), any sin. In God's eyes, a lie and a murder mean the same. All sins have the punishment of death. But since Jesus died on the cross, we do not have to have that punishment. As long as you accept Him.

It was all a part of God's plan.

That is one sick god and by default, psychotic on your part. Eating children is gods plan? Sick. Demanding eternal punishment for a finite crime. No wonder people are coming to their senses and leaving. I used to be a preacher, a missionary, and a church planter but I came to my senses and was able to escape. Maybe one day, the veil will lift from your eyes too and you'll see religion for what it really is.

II Samuel 24:1 says that the Lord incited David to take a census of Israel; I Chronicles 21:1 says that Satan incited David to take a census of Israel. Which do you believe? And if your explanation is that it was a "scribe's error," explain to me why the Almighty Omnipotent Creator of the Universe is powerless to prevent copiers' errors. Also, explain to me how any scribe could be so inept that he accidentally wrote "Satan" instead of "God" (or vice versa). These are the men responsible for keeping the “word of God” pure? And for that matter, why is counting your people a sin? Why did lil’ Davy choose to have a couple thousand men slaughtered by God as punishment for his own sin? This is the guy “after god’s own heart?” Yeah, sounds like it. All the credit and none of the blame.

1 Samuel 31:4-6 says that King Saul committed suicide by falling on his own sword.
2 Samuel 1:8-10 says that an Amalekite killed him.
2 Samuel 21:12 says that the Philistines killed him.
THREE different stories? Which one is it? Which story is true?
Oh, and 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 implies that God himself killed Saul using the Philistines.

John 7:38 quotes Jesus as saying, "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." Can you PLEASE point to this scripture in the Old Testament?

Genesis 10:5 says that, at that particular point in history, different peoples had different languages; Genesis 11:1, just a few verses down, says that there was only one language in the world. Which do you believe? Apologists try to say it was accents but that’s NOT what their bible says nor does the Hebrew match. It's language despite how apologists try to spin it.

My secular reading of biblical skullduggery is that just as idle hands are tools of the devil, the devil is a tool of the creator. Mysterious ways and all that. Not that you need a proxy for your indefensibly f**ked up actions when you literally define morality. The farce of it is how two-faced God is about it. Any omnipotent diety worthy of his pillars of salt would proclamate and smite accordingly, naysayers be damned. Hiding behind a stooge smacks of duplicity in the extreme. Then again, that tracks too.

Lol, I bet you haven't read the Bible either. Or do you only accept information when it's dictated to you?

They speed read over the passages that embarrass them, that they don't like, that makes no sense, or that defy known laws of physics or medicine in order to get to the sweet, pillowy, mind-rotting drivel that makes them feel good.

i actually have. because that actually has a meaning.

Ah, I didn't realize I was talking to a psychic. Or more likely a troll, since you're happy to post but then "I ain't reading allat 🤣" when someone tries to engage you.

You can call me all the names you want but one day, you will be rotting in hell, wishing that you had listened and that you didn't rebuke him.

You can invoke the fairy tales you choose to fill your head with all you want, but reality gives zero f**ks what goes on in your own imagination, and neither do I.

tf are you talking about? You literally have a swastika profile picture.

Remember the eons of time before you were born? What??? You don't? Yeah, it's something like that.

Fact is, religion sounds illogical to an atheist and atheism sounds illogical to believers. We have a massive difference of opinion in what is “logical” and what isn’t. We atheists do not see any evidence for your God. You believers do not see why you don’t believe in God. I cannot explain to you what happens after you die because I have no solid proof, and you cannot prove to me that your afterlife truly exists. We both have no proof to give to the other.

Ok. Yeah, I see that.

I just reread my own comment i did NOT need to yap that much

Oh. You're good. You got the point out there.

The acids and life forms eat their way out, while local detritivores eat their way in.

what

“HEY ATHEISTS, IF YOU BELIEVE THAT THERE IS NO GOD, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DIE?”

Explain. Please.

Humans contain digestive acids and microscopic lifeforms that dissolve the body from the inside. At the same time bacteria, fungi and other detritivores like worms eat away from the outside.

That happens to your physical body. So yes but actually no.

You don’t think your body will decay after you die? Interesting belief

Did I say that?

then why do you believe it?

I believe that nobody knows because I have seen no compelling evidence that anybody knows. Not sure how to break that down into simpler terms than that.

If you're still struggling to grasp that, grab a dictionary and look up the words "believe" and "know".

Hm. Interesting. So you just believe nothing?

"I believe that nobody knows because I have seen no compelling evidence that anybody knows."

Your reading comprehension is pretty atrocious.

Bro I am just clarifying. Chill out.

im religious but i think u dream

Ok... Then what do you belive?