stormwatcher59 Isn't it "Decline And Fall of The Roman Empire"??? Do u know who wrote it, by chance?? I've heard it 📖 quoted all my life, (or so it seems), but have never read it - Yet. 📖
Rosela B Deists believe in God and often the Bible, but generally reject organized religion. Ben Franklin & Thomas Jefferson were two Deists of several amongst America's Founding Fathers. I'll leave THEIST for another time so as not to answer erroneously tonight.
That is a very common transition actually... Theism : believe in god + miracles that keep a close management over everything. Deist : God , - miracles and don't keep a close attention to things Atheism - No god ( atleast the religious version of ) , no miracles therefore no sin , no reward nor punishment holds valid. My transition are : Apatheism ->theism ( out of fear ) -> Deism -> Apatheism ( again) -> Atheism ( caused very similar to all the mythologies I've read in a book named : World mythology and the fact of noticing that organized religions are hypocritical in nature e.g killing .) then introduction to Carlin , Maher , DM2525 , Dawkins , Hitchens , Harris etc...strengthen my atheism.
eeeh Jesus is *okay* as a role model. Hercules though, that was a guy we can look up to. Saving people, killing multiheaded serpents, etc. He wasn't afraid to stand up to a god or two either. What a guy!
Futrix Yeah, but Jesus can raise the dead and walk on water. Also revived after being killed. That's pretty badass if you ask me :) I would have to meet them to find out who i would rather make out with.
Futrix I actualy think jesus is not a really good role model. He condoned slavery... and if jesus really is yahwee in disguise like most christians believe then he committed or ordered a multitude of genocides... How about Siegfried from the Nibelungenlied (sry, i don´t really know how it is called in english) as a role model? He was kind, strong, fearless and always cared for the well-being of his friends.
I was raised a Christian, but I'm not one anymore. I'm actually kind of glad, to be honest. It's nice to be more informed, but it also kind of sucks because my whole family's Christian/Catholic/Lutheran and I can't tell my mom that I'm not a Christian anymore... Honestly, she told me that I could be lesbian, bi, trans or whatever, but she wouldn't tolerate it if I wasn't Christian. So, needless to say, I just act like I still believe for her sake. But oh yes, Bill Maher is freakin awesome
Sometimes you have to be a good actor in life to avoid trouble. I began to doubt at age 11 and by 12, I decided it is normal for ancient people to be superstitious. So I dumped christianity. That was over 30 years ago. My family knows I am an atheist. Science is the key to understanding the universe better. We are just biological machines.
+FunPheonix97 I know what you mean. I was baptised as a baby, went to a catholic school etc but as you get older you start to see through all that crap. I'd call myself an agnostic now but I wouldn't dare tell my family that, especially my mum.
+FunPheonix97 I can't go with you on pretending to be a Christian. I can understand avoiding the topic, just not faking who you are. Life is too short. Your mother won't die by the knowledge that you aren't a Christian.
+sonny sköld have you don't that??? were you that tough with your parents. I disliked my parent very much, I was raised a jehovahs witness, took so many years to get that cult / religion out of my head. now i'm a non-believer.
+Dave Gr and we have to stop thinking that being a non believer or atheist is a horrible thing!!! its ironic. I totally believe this life is our only life, I was lucky enough to not be involved in a war. I wish our president was an atheist, he would understand how precious this one life is. but our American presidents have to be Christians-people that have such a giant ego, that they cant believe that they can actually cease to exist. THEY ARE JUST TOO IMPORTANT!
Took me 20 years. I started doubting at the age of 10. At 30 I came to a conclusion. I was never religious but there was a degree of doubt. Not anymore, if people think about it this does not make any sense. Let me add I attended catholic school for 9 years.
+LukeKing Usually that's how it works, people typically open their eyes in the same second they start questioning, it's all it takes really, just question what the fuck is going on around you and somehow the answers will come to you.
I asked my mom two similar questions on the same day. Is Santa Real? My mom said "no." Is God real? Of course she said yes. That got me to start really questioning it then. I just kinda went a long period of time without giving a single shit. If you asked me during that time if I was religious, I'd shrug it off, and say "meh." That started when I was about 10 or 11. Even earlier than that when I was first being taught this bullshit, I specifically remember hearing, or reading (we had this thing called "The Children's Bible," still do) the flood story, and other stories from Genesis, and thinking "This is bullshit." That's probably not how I worded it, but it was something along those lines. Finally after all those years of basically just forgetting religion exists (my mom hasn't gone to church in years) it entered my consciousness again, and it was practically a snap decision. That is how I became an atheist.
+gumbeet You dont believe in the theory of evolution backed by incomplete but strong evidence yet you fully believe on everything you just said just because your local pastor and an ancient book said so? makes sense bruh, totally makes sense
I think he was a deist at this point. He later became atheist upon realization that a deist is an atheist that has trouble letting go of the concept of a god.
Spirit Alight I missed you reply sorry. Tuam was run by a religious catholic order that loved jesus but hated unmarried mothers and their kids. And thought the best place for the babies was the septic tank. This was condoned and financed both by the state and the holy catholic church. We will never know the stories of the mothers and what they went through in these concentration camps of jesus. and the bodies were fucked into a mass grave. So more denial and lies and silence for our savoir jesus. He is one cool guy. These convent concentration camps were all over ireland and one was near where I live. But holy catholic do not want that mentioned.
Bill said what I just realized 3 days ago. There is no friggin way Jesus would have been a Republican. Besides being Pro Life, there is nothing about the Republican Party that resembles Jesus's teachings
Well Yahweh definitely wasn't pro-life... Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure-or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure- 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah[c] of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder-offering to draw attention to wrongdoing. 16 “‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”- 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse-“may the Lord cause you to become a curse[d] among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.” “‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.” 23 “‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering will enter her. 25 The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial[e] offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. 27 If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse. 28 If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children. 29 “‘This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and makes herself impure while married to her husband, 30 or when feelings of jealousycome over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the Lord and is to apply this entire law to her. 31 The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.’” -Numbers 5: 11-31
I've never seen anyone point out the fact that the word "bible" comes from the Greek word βιβλιον (biblion), which means book. Everyone has been raving about "the Book" for a little too long IMO.
Back then, he did. You know. People can change their minds. Only morons never change their minds. Don't be afraid to change your mind and don't be suprised if others do either. The worst thing about politics is this: If someone changes his mind, he's regarded as a flip flopper. Well, that's actually a GOOD thing.
I won't lie, that sent alarm bells ringing for me too. I'm glad he finally shook off the brainwashing of his youth and made his own decisions, but it's very surprising to me somebody this intelligent, articulate and cynical took so long to come to a conclusion.
Snuffsaid2007 One important thing here is that many people who believ in god doesnt really believe in the god of the bible or the koran. They believe in a god they created themselfs in search of the meaning of life and why we are here. So people like bill here in this stage of his life was a believer but really not a religious person.
I went through a period of life after I left home and Catholic schools and went to college studying science where I thought all this God stuff was nonsense but then in my early 30s, with a better look at life under my belt, it was easier to see through the layers of crud that misunderstanding painted on God and Christianity and it's never seemed like nonsense to me since then. And I found that to be a very beautiful and interesting revolution for me.
Down deep, people know that the Bible is too fanciful and flawed with holes and cracks in logic of all sorts. But what else do they have? When you want hope and peace and happiness and solace so badly, you take it in whatever form they come from, even false ones.
False hope does not give peace or happiness. It gives asinine uncertainty and stupidity. REAL information, on the other hand, even if it's bad news, at least gives you REALITY. Human beings are able to face reality--if they don't fill their heads with asininity, false hope, and stupidity.
Alex Kilgour -- And sixteen years ago, I was a questioning agnostic. But I was also 18 years old. I had always imagined he was atheist since at least the 80s.
Depending on how you look at it, the bible can either be a comedy, or an instruction booklet on how to torcher someone through manipulation. For intellectual people, it can't be interpreted any other way.
@@anitamann9217 _torcher_ is a cooler spelling imo. I wouldn't r/boneappletea it. And it's flexible as it can also be applied to medieval Christians. 😋
I think Eddie Izzard, (or Ricky Gervais) was the one that said: Imagine that all religious texts dissapeared today, all religions. And everything started again from scratch; No religion would be the same as before. Imagine that all scientific literature would dissapear; no matter when all scientific investigation would produce again litterature; it would all remain exactly the same. It's the proof that religion is the product of the human being.
Jesus wasn't that good. *Matthew 15:4* “He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.” *Matthew **10:34** - 37* “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law- a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. *Revelation **2:22**-23* Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.
Welcome to the real world Mary,not so scary is it? Bet all your morals are still intact,happy,friendly,kind right? It was you,not some ancient superstitious book.I just cant imagine a Heaven full of religious people could ever be peaceful,they were never peaceful here,thats for sure lol Mary you have truly seen the light,congrats!!!
Two 17-18 year old Mormons came to my door yesterday. It was great fun. Of course, they had never even heard of Dawkins, Harris, Hitchen, or Dennett. This one kid keep telling me he had evidence of God, pointing to his book of Momon. I told him I had a degree in Philosophy, had taught high school social studies, and had been an atheist for over 50 years; and did he really think he could change my mind. I asked him if he believed in Thor, Baal, etc. and that when he understood why he didn't ....
I had that kind of a long way since childhood with religion\god issue, I just kept thinking "if this is (this), but (this) doesn't appear in any shape or form.. and whatever I do I dont just see or hear anything.. how is (this) anyhow affecting me?"
To put the "God created the Solar system in 5 days and made the rest of the universe as an afterthought" in perspective, it's like if you were writing a story about creating the Earth and spent 5 days on a single atom in a the brain of an ant and then on day 6 quickly built the Earth around it.
I'll try breaking this down again. A) People are people. At the end of the day our brains are wired the same way to the same set of impulses, reactions, and desires. Stalin extended to the people of Russia the offer of an ideal world for simple obedience and death for defiance. B) The free market does not result in utopia for EVERYONE. That's the point of communism, the free market believes the rich will succeed. Which is life today C) EARTH DAY IS ABOUT STOPPING CLIMATE CHANGE
Cynicism doesn't make people less stupid. It just weighs you down with the problems of the world and keeps you unhappy and unconstructive. Negative thinking doesn't make the world a better place any more than prayer does; both are a way to occupy your mind whilst keeping you busy from doing good.
It's great to see pre-atheist Bill. Still just as rational and intelligent. He finally took the step and decided that 'God', even in the Deist sense, is no more than a delusion of grandeur.
All I can say about the whole ark thing and how it wouldn't even be possible to do that today with all the cars, trucks, planes, ships, etc we have available to us... It would be impossible just to get two of every type of spider in one place...
I really don't think it is any more complicated than looking up what the world was like before you were born, or imagining what is going on in Japan right now (assuming you are not in Japan). You die, you're gone, your influence lives on in others too some degree, and when their gone their influence lives on in still others, and so forth, but as for your individual consciousness you think of as "YOU", that's over. And really, that's how it should be. It's no more scary than before being born.
every one goes from religion to agnostik and then totlly atheism, is like natural change. is a intersting revolution for a person, very beautiful, i dont know if you have ever try it. same thing may have happen to bill
@7strawman7 I agree with you on everything leading up to ultimate consequence. No one can legitimately prove that. The part of the brain that deciphers cause and effect is simply doing it for the well being of life. Not for judgment.
