Doesn't everyone want justice and to have meaning in their life? Why do you think people like joining up to stuff; gangs, teams, communities etc. Humans feel the need to belong.

Atheism gives you nothing and removes all hope. And if you've watched Shawshank Redemption or been on the bones of your arse at some point in your life, hope is a beautiful thing.

I want the truth but with a happy ending. Atheism doesn't give you a happy ending.

Atheism gives something......and that is accountability for ones thoughts and actions......

.....no religion to blame ones actions on....and no unproven deity to absolve ones actions.

Hope can come through hard work...education.....kindness and compassion towards others and the environment....

...you do not need any God or messiah to decide to take this course of action.

Best post I've read on this thread and one of the best posts I've ever read Egner.

Just to let you know I'll use some of that.

Superb.

yep yup moet through a straw...yeeeeesss renge!

I am racing round the decking!!!!  wooohooooo!!!!

constantine put the bible together in 300ad so the fact the 4 are roughly the same story as they were put together not by the authors..you know he had  other prospective "messiahs" all telling the same story....jesus was not unique.........you do know the universe is 13.7 billion years old and the earth over 4 billon.........pray tell where does the talking snake fit in??

Constantine compiled the books of the bible into order yes that is true but he didn't write the script of the books. The earliest transcripsts of the gospels long pre-date Constantine and they're still they've not changed.
Jesus was unique because of the resurrection, you might not believe it happened but the people who were around at the time, who saw him alive, then saw him die, then saw him alive again, they certainly did believe it, or at least that's what the man who can write has reported. none of the other messiah's convinced the people like this, there's no comparible claim.

finally, i appreciate the need for you to understand how the 13b year history of the universe and the creation story fit together. in truth, no christian truely understands this but the reason we believe in spite of this is because as "chistians" our belief is inthe life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, not in the validity of an ancient story of how the universe came to be.
However I know that's not really a satisfactory answer for you so I'll put 2 things to you. Firstly, how can the "days" in the creation story be the same as what we refer to as days now, ie 24x60x60 seconds where a second is the time taken for light to travel however many meters it is..... the sun wasn't made until "day" 4, how can they possibly be the same thing? Secondly, Genesis 1:2 says the Earth was formless and empty, the formless part, together with the fact that in this story, things are happening to the Earth before the Sun exists, suggests to me that to God, the Earth is something other than a lump of iron and nickel that's flying around a star on the outskirts of the milky way! Yes it is that but to him, it's also something else. What? I don't know. This is where my interest ends, ultimately I'm a Christian not a philosopher

if evolution is true a god is a billion to one.......the only chance of there being a god if you could prove the earth is only 10000 years old.......and we know thats not going to happen...........and  i never said constantine wrote the books.....he decided which one to go with... he choose jesus

Population of 1st century Jerusalem from a wikipedia entry.
The population of Jerusalem in the time of Josephus has been estimated to be around 80,000.[4] The total population of Pharisees, the forerunners of modern Rabbinic Judaism, was around 6,000 ("exakischilioi"), according to Josephus.[5]
During the First Jewish–Roman War(66–73 CE), the population of Jerusalem was estimated at 600,000 persons by Roman historian Tacitus, while Josephus, estimated that there were as many as 1,100,000, who were killed in the war.[6] Josephus also wrote that 97,000 were sold as slaves. After the Roman victory over the Jews, as many as 115,880 dead bodies were carried out through one gate between the months of Nisan and Tammuz.[7]
Arguing that the numbers given in historical sources were usually grossly exaggerated, Hillel Geva estimated from the archaeological evidence that the actual population of Jerusalem before its 70 CE destruction was at most 20,000.[8]

I think I would put more trust in the archaeological evidence than the heresay of the early writers. Given that Jesus was crucified by the Romans at the behest of the Pharisees, it's doubtful that the population of an entire city would be flocking to talk about him thus drawing attention to themselves. If you want to believe that then fair enough.

egner, I hope that I;ve shown here that belief in God is not based on a need for anything, neither assb is it out a desire for hope beyond death or anything like that. It's because we believe an old story about a man from the middle east 2k years ago who claimed he was one with the creator of this Earth, because and only because the historical evidence leaves us in no doubt. Seek and ye shall find!

aas.....who made god??........as you said.......everyone must have a creator

that would account for that table aasbff dropped on the floor

aas.....who made god??........as you said.......everyone must have a creator

Diane Abbott; when she farted.

End of thread.

Thank you ovalman...

Looks like were living in a pointless existence then, were all fcuked. May as well just act a **** and be done with it.

Little bit tipsy tonight so apologies if this might sound morbid but if anything happened to my son and wife I would have find out of there was a heaven/afterlife and hope to join them them there.

just because you want an afterlife doesnt make it true.........

just because you want an afterlife doesn't make it true.........

Fair point but at least it's positive thinking. Negative thinking doesn't get you anywhere, it makes your penis shrivel to the size of an acorn and only makes you feel bad. No point being like that all your life is there?

I don't think you should pass on too much wisdom, you have to live and learn yourself. It's a bit like finding God for me, I can't help you find it nor can anyone else, YOU have to find it yourself.

Your body is a mere shell of who you really are imo.

Haha I dunno mate, I'm merely giving you something to talk about. I'm always rooting for the underdog and nowadays, God is the underdog!

Do you reckon horses stand in a field and think about whether there's a God or not? I don't think it's in their life cycle.