- The brain is where thought takes place.
- The brain is where memories are located.
- The brain is capable of storing more information than the world's largest computer, is faster than the world's largest computer and more capable of drawing from different sources to reach conclusions.
- The brain is the most powerful computer that has ever existed, and likely will ever exist.
Christians attribute this powerful brain of ours to God. They say that God created Adam and Eve and endowed them with this amazing organ so they could control the world, dominate it and make decisions on their own.
Christians also say that God is omniscient, which means that he is all-knowing. This also means that God knows everything before it happens, remembers everything from the past, knows what we are going to think, experience, do, succeed at, fail and learn. This also means that God understands that belief is not a choice. One can not simply will themselves into believing something. Belief is involuntary and comes from experience and learning.
I find it hard to imagine a "loving" God who is offended that I used His gift, my brain, to the fullest of its ability to learn about the physical world and about Him, only to realize that He does not exist. If God knows all, then He knew, well in advance, that I would try very hard to accept him, but ultimately would reject him due to the power of the brain he created.
If I am wrong, and I find myself standing before God on judgement day, I will tell him frankly, "Sorry - but there was just not enough evidence to support my believing that you even existed. Why? Because the brain you created worked as hard as it could to dismiss evidence that you did not exist, but ultimately failed to believe and instead began to believe reality."
If God is offended that I used my brain, instead of dismissing it like Christians have to do in order to achieve a high level of faith, then so be it.
How do you know that you have used your brain to the fullest of its ability? That is your belief or opinion right? That wasn't validated in some way was it? Or is it a belief you have as you compare your thinking abilities and conclusions to those you have met, and deemed to have not exercised their brains sufficiently?
ReplyDeleteHow do you believe life started by the way? Do you believe there was some organic material in a pond that was struck by lightning and formed into amino acids and eventually dna and then organized in a cell? Has a scientist ever duplicated this in a lab? If not, and I remember it was tried multiple times and failed every time, then why do you put faith in the theory that there was no creator?
The evidence is in the creation of the world itself. It just seems obvious to me.
Are you a biologist? There is more belief necessary to presume no Creator, and that carbon and hydrogen and oxygen somehow organized into amino acids, protein, and complex cell structures and later simple and more and more complex organisms than there is to believe in God.
When I see quotes around loving it makes me wonder. I really don't understand, having felt God within my soul, and known his love for me personally both from his presence within me, and through others, and felt God's love surge in my own heart in the form of compassion for others, and my love as a mother for my children, how someone would not believe in God, especially in a loving God.
The comment you left on my blog was repackaged lies. How did you come to believe those about the living God that created the universe, you, your family, and gave you everything that is truly good, including your soul.
How much have you read the Bible yourself, other than the repackaged problematic quotes that are found on the atheist media materials? Do you really not feel your soul stir in you when you read the Gospels?
Do you not believe you have a soul?
If you want to send me an email rather than respond, that is fine too. I don't want to brag but I have an IQ over 140, a graduate degree, and earn in top 2% per year in the country, so I'm not mentally challenged, nor particularly gullible. Have you really never encountered a believer with critical, independent thinking that you would describe as smart? I've met quite a few that are far smarter than me.
Are you blogging to convert others to atheism? To get them to think, because you believe it is a natural progression to use one's brain to its fullest potential and arrive at your intellectual higher ground of non-belief?
That's what is sounds like reading the comment you left me, and this post.
Did you happen to see the movie Expelled? Did you see at the end that Richard Dawkins, who uses similar quote to you---"God, if you wanted me to believe in you, why weren't you more straight-forward with the evidence", by the end of his conversation with Ben Stein was following the design argument and was ready to concede designers from other planets, other galaxies; e.g. alien intelligent life came and seeded life here, but not the God of the Jewish and Christian faiths. That seemed pretty whacked to me. Does it make sense to you though? How did life start on their planet then? Completely a circular argument. Doesn't work in Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, and doesn't justify non-belief.
There's a lot of questions in your post. An email might work better. As a blanket response I will say this:
ReplyDeleteI believe what I believe because I have been presented with evidence which has swayed my opinion over the line of skepticism into belief.
Belief, at least for me, isn't something that I can choose to do as an act of will. I could put my hand on a stack of Bibles, pray day and night, go to church whenever the doors are open, but none of that would make me believe.
The Bible is an obvious work of fiction, and I'm trying to point that out to the world.
God is imaginary.
I doubt very much that most Christians believe in the God of the Old Testament. I believe they are walking the walk and talking the talk in hopes of fooling God into thinking that they truly believe. Thank goodness God has proven himself to not be "all-knowing", otherwise he would see through the ruse.