From an atheist, that is.
Let me clear something, from the beginning.
I’m perfectly happy with the current scientific explanation of how we arrived here. OK, there still are a few gaps that need to be bridged but, on the whole, the story seems pretty straightforward.
But, on the other hand, me – and a huge number of other, scientifically minded, people – having no need for God as an explanation doesn’t preclude God from existing nor from having caused the ‘Big Bang’ and/or intervening since. In various manners still unknown to us.
And something else.
The God we ‘know’ is a god of our own making.
All sacred texts that guide our religious life have been written by humans, all sermons are officiated by us and, also, all religiously motivated crimes, and religiously fueled heroic acts, have been ‘committed’ by some of us.
My point being that the ‘image’ that we have crafted about what some of us consider to be ‘the ultimate cause’ for everything might be far away from the one “It” has about Itself… if it exists at all, of course.
What Dawkins has to do with any of this?
Well, some 10 or so years ago he came to Bucharest and tried to convince a few of us – about 100 students and some 20 ‘academics’ in two separate conferences, I attended both, that his work is proof enough that God cannot even exist. Period.
Really?
Then what’s the difference between Dawkins and the guys who had set Giordano Bruno on fire? OK, OK, different manners of expression but the very same level of intransigence…
Anyway, I feel a lot better now that I’ve finally figured out the difference between ‘there is no need for a particular something’ and ‘that particular something cannot even exist’.
I had an atheist Trotskyite tell me if I actually read the Bible, I would not believe in God. It spurred me to read the Bible. I first read a 19-book fictional series called Children of the Lion, loosely based alongside biblical events, by Peter Danielson. It encouraged me to read the applicable Bible verses. Then I was gifted with The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn and read more of the Bible. My faith in God became stronger. What is key is that it is FAITH. We BELIEVE. Can I prove it? No. But I truly believe that God exists and plays a part in our lives. Similar to the left’s concept of their “struggle,” one’s relationship with God is a lifetime journey seeking the light and that light is God.
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Belief is indeed very important.
Nobody can ever do anything before becoming convinced that a particular action is ‘good’.
Where that conviction comes from… that’s another story.
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Ironically, I was given the opposite advice. I was born an agnostic. I never believed and was asking questions of doubt from as early as 3.
The advice I was given time and time again was to read the Bible and I would renew my faith. As soon as I was old enough to understand it better, I did. And just like your adviser said, it turned me away from religion.
Ultimately we are all seeking different things in life. Religion fills a hole in some people, but provides an irrational burden for the rest of us.
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[…] I’ve already disclosed that I’m an agnostic.That I have no idea whether a(ny) god had anything to do with what’s happening around/with us.All I know is that all laws, including the Bible – and all other Holy Books, had been written by people.By Humans, that is. […]
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