An atheist concedes God
I concede God. Make me a Christian.
For the record, this is not my actual position, although I know people who do have this position. Basically, the belief is that of deism or that there is a god but perhaps an impersonal one. Or an abstract one. Anyways, I’ll say that there is a god. Now, my dear Christian, convince me it’s yours.
This is fun line to pull with the person of Christian faith. It eliminates so many of their vague arguments about abstract being and life.
“Oh, well what STARTED the Universe?”
I can answer God, just to mess with them a little. I’m not cheating; this is a legitimate position in philosophy.
“Yeah… well… umm.. where do you go after you die?”
I think the answer is best provided by Penn Jillette. He will ask the person what year they were born. In my case, that year is 1991. Then, he asks how the person felt about the year 1990. Or sometimes he asks about the year 1891. Often, the interviewer gives them a confused look. Well, they were not alive and aware of existence at that point.
Yes, you were not alive and aware of your existence. I’m done here.
Anyways, back to deism. This, personally, is the strongest argument against religious thought. The idea that there is a God that answers all of your silly larger-than-life questions, but is no the God of the Bible kinda tickles me. Usually the Christian will assert that of course they are NOT sure that the God of the Bible is real. That is what the idea of faith is. You believe something, and if you’ve chosen the right set of tales and absurdities to believe in you are rewarded. If you’ve chosen the wrong set of tales (as is statistically likely given the breadth of religious philosophies at odds) then you are punished. That punishment varies based upon the religion. Sometimes, it is eternal hellfire. Other times, you start life over and have to do it again. Either way, the premises of most religions are the same. Join us, dude. Otherwise, bad things will happen.
That’s shitty, right?
I think it is. And you should too. It’s time for people to realize that thoughts based upon faith are not thoughts at all. Faith is a cop-out. God is a cop-out. The ideas perpetuated by men 2,000 years ago have no place in modern society.
There might be a God, I truly don’t know. But don’t use the gaps of human knowledge as filler for your moral and social agenda. You should be embarrassed to use the Bible as a source for moral guides. Likewise, a scientist would be embarrassed to use some “knowledge” from 2,000 years ago. Things change, people change, and morals change and evolve. Don’t you think it is time that you do the same?
