How to become an atheist in ten easy lessons
- Thread starter dialm
- Start date
badp
New member
I don't need to. Anyone who has kids or who has been around them any length of time knows they intuitively understand these concepts, even if they don't have a word for them.
1 Timothy 4:1-5 KJV - Psalm 14:1 KJV -
You bad mouth your wife and then make an assumption and accuse me of being a troll.
My irony meter blew....
PureX
Well-known member
Right, and your dog understands every word you say! (Lots of foolish people believe this.) Your kids simply accept what you tell them, and regurgitate it back at you. They don't yet realize that you could be lying to them. So they don't doubt what you say.
But if they were never introduced to the concept of "God" by you or others adults, they would not conceive of it for themselves until they became young adults. Because children have no need of gods and superstitions. They simply accept things as they find them. It's only as we grow older that we begin to question the way things are, and begin to conceive of possible reasons and alternatives.
exminister
Well-known member
Thank you!
GuySmiley
Well-known member
God Is Nature, nature is not God. God is all in all.
Become an atheist in one easy step or two.
1. Stop believing in God
2. Doubt and question God
1. Stop believing in God
2. Doubt and question God
badp
New member
You misunderstand what I said. Kids intuitively understand right and wrong, justice and morality. When one kid steals from another, the kid who was stolen from protests and runs to the nearest authority to report it. That behavior isn't taught. It's innate. Adults don't have to say, "Okay, it's wrong for someone to kick you, so if it happens, you tell me." Kids already know what's wrong.
Then you have to explain why young adults conceive of God. Because their minds are more mature? You're arguing against yourself. Kids are more superstitious than adults and can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality as easily. If you're right, then kids would be more likely to conceive of God than adults would.
I innately knew God existed as early as 3. :think:
The general revelation that is given to all mankind (Romans 1) would confirm what you say. However this revelation, of the existence of The Creator, is not salvation it simply leaves all men without excuse. This revelation is the root of all religions, idolatry and denominations.
It is a bit silly to bring in Christian theology and Bible "proofs" in a discussion like this. It is completely irrelevant to atheists.
False Prophet
New member
Grosnick told me that there is another OTHER; how disappointing!
Bluecheese
New member
I was born into a religious family who force fed me the 'born again' dogma. I even converted as a child,
but fortunately realised by the time I left home at nineteen that I didn't believe any of it to have credibility. I lost my faith and all these years later have not missed it.
but fortunately realised by the time I left home at nineteen that I didn't believe any of it to have credibility. I lost my faith and all these years later have not missed it.
PureX
Well-known member
Keep in mind, though, that the idea of God that they attempted to force on you is not the only idea of God one can have. There are other ways of conceiving of God, and they can make far more sense to a reasonable person. They can also be far more effective, in a positive way, in a person's life. I'm just saying that if, down the road, you find yourself in need of something more than godless materialism, there are other choices that are far superior to the religion you were handed as a child.I was born into a religious family who force fed me the 'born again' dogma. I even converted as a child,
I was born into a religious family who force fed me the 'born again' dogma. I even converted as a child,
You weren't converted and what you call faith was not that gift through which a man is saved.
I'm pleased to hear you made an escape, but what you are doing on here is beyond my comprehension.....go fly fishing for trout.
PureX
Well-known member
Everyone recognizes what is good for them, and what is bad for them; even newborns. Which is the basis for what you are calling morality. And we humans probably do have some capacity for empathy programmed into us, genetically, as we are a social species. But this is not a religious or ideological phenomena, in children. It is a biological phenomena. It only becomes a religious/ideological paradigm as humans become adults, and begin to conceptualize their experience of existence in more complex and abstract ways.
Young adults can think in more abstract terms than children. They are capable of more complex ideation. And as they reach their 20s, they begin creating ideological paradigms through which they understand themselves and their place in the world. But children are not capable of these. And if you think they are, you are simply projecting your own paradigms onto them.
Children's fantasies are not superstitious unless adults fill their heads with adult superstitions.
PureX
Well-known member
I had a direct personal experience of "God" when I was about 6 years old. But the way I understood what was happening to me came from the way the idea of God had been presented to me by adults. If they had told me something different, I would have perceived/understood what was happening to me, differently.