Your alien explanation makes quite a bit of sense. I also agree that atheist does not equal amoral. We all have reputations and codes that we conduct our lives by, whether or not we are believers.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views!

I am the author of a skeptical/atheist blog called Skelliot’s Blog. I enjoyed your blog post but I am confused as to why all these posters are trying to push you back to your old devout christian ways.

I am 20 years old and have at the lucky privilege of not being brought up in a religious family so unfortunately I cannot sympathize with you but I do have some empathy for you. My advice to you is to read as much as you can and look at the facts of life from an UNBIASED mind!

Imagine you are an alien and you know nothing of human culture (god is a man made construction so an alien would look upon these beliefs with no bias.) , or the Earth for that matter. Read as much as you can about biology (look at the theories ,creation not being one of them), physics, theology (not just christian theology, be open minded) and philosophy.

Remember, gods do not instill our morals and ideologies upon us! We have developed these morals and ideologies long before there was word of the christian god. I am an atheist and if people tell me I am amoral I would feel insulted, but at the same time I would know that I am not amoral.

See how you feel and what you take on board as truth then! Instead of listening to people who actively need other people to believe in their god try thinking skeptically and opening your mind to the truth!

I hope I have helped you slightly.

Feel free to check out my blog also. Maybe you will learn a few things as I have from you.

Skelliot.

I don’t think either of you are “preachy” at all. I’m glad that people feel free to share their opinions and insight in this space.

@ opit: I think of that story often. I need to pray much more than I do, but sometimes it feels like no one is listening.

ROFL! That’s a good one!

Brian’s recap: “Oh lawdy, sister Free and brother Jim stopped by today for a visit. We were just drinking tea and all I mentioned is that I am looking at a few books and getting a better feel for what I believe in and all of the sudden sister Free whips out her bible and brother Jim is preaching a sermon!”

[Brian thinks to himself: I wish I would have spiked my tea.]

Thanks for putting up with me Brian. As I said b4 I’ve experienced at least part of what you are experiencing and I have earned/fought for every ounce of faith I have and sometimes I just can’t let it go when someone with your heart is struggling. I hate to watch people in pain and I know for ME, that God is the answer. I hope you find that for you as well and can some day annoy the heck out of someone else about it. LOL

Miss Windmills, girlfriend, I hope you find the same for you. *heart*

when they said he could walk on water
what it sounds like to me
is he could float like a butterfly
and sting like a bee
literal people are scary, man
literal people scare me
out there trying to rid the world
of its poetry
while getting it wrong fundamentally
down at the church of “look,
it sez right here, see!”

“God’s unflinching justice (OT) and God’s unflinching love (NT)”

Those are the two sides that I can’t seem to reconcile. If we are created in God’s image, then it would stand to reason that we love in a similar fashion to God (although probably not as deeply). I could never torture someone for eternity, even if I didn’t love them. Some of the stories from the OT, like where it says that God sent his people in to destroy every living thing really bothers me.

With the risk of monopolizing your blog and wearing out my welcome I just had a couple of more thoughts…

That is an interesting quote at the top of your post. If God exists (and I believe he does), I imagine God feels it’s an insult not to believe Him :).

I also disagree that our intellect inevitably leads objective and honest people to deny the existence of God. Being a person of faith does not automatically make one dishonest and/or ignorant. “Intellectual Christian” is not an oxymoron…(or simply a “moron”, as some would argue:)

As far as the ministers losing their faith, I certainly sympathize with those who feel trapped, or who have a family to feed and loans to pay, but being a minister is not just “a job”.

Doesn’t it seem disingenuous for a minister to continue to serve if he/she no longer believes in God? (I am not speaking about those ministers who struggle with their faith, but those who have abandoned it all together.) That would be like the President of the United States renouncing his citizenship but still wanting to stay in office.

JimT