If you don't believe the Bible.

[postroad]

Christians will often insist that certain texts can't be understood to actually mean what is plainly stated. Given enough believers I imagine that most of the Bible would be in dispute. The question is, why should the sceptic believe the Bible if Christianity does not.[/i]

[TheBeardedDude]

What an atheist might NOT have is RELIGIOUS spirituality.
Christians do not OWN the word "spirituality", brother.

You might want to engage actual outsiders to your beliefs.
You MIGHT find yourself quite surprised.

My view on atheism is correct by definition. Your view seems to be oxymoronic. HOw many atheists do you see arguing against God but yet proclaiming spirituality? Very few to none, including on this forum site. If such an atheist exists, he should write a book!

Here's my reasoning...
Spirituality emphasizes non-materialistic and/or internal aspects, like the mind, the heart, God, etc. Atheists tend to emphasize materialism and the external. Going by your heart, mind distinct from body, etc are all meaningless under atheism. This is why many many atheists attack religion.

Quite a few buddhists (western variety) are atheists and quite spiritual. And quite a few of them have written books and have studios where people come to meditate or do yoga with them.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 121 by TheBeardedDude]



[center]

Blastcat's spirituality = not that, not that[/center]

Quite a few buddhists (western variety) are atheists and quite spiritual. And quite a few of them have written books and have studios where people come to meditate or do yoga with them.

Good point.
Perhaps some Christians need a LITTLE bit of reminding about all of the forms of religious beliefs.

My kind of spirituality goes further than the Buddhist kind or, any real religious kind.

Buddhists might not believe in any god or goddesses, but I argue all the time with Buddhist that they actually believe in the supernatural of some kind ( I think they don't do a great job of defining it...) For example, they might believe in karma or reincarnation or "nirvana" and "Godhead" and whatnot.

Even IF those concepts aren't really "supernatural", as an agnostic, I can't believe them. I think that when it comes to ZEN... ( just the meditation parts and the action by non-action parts ) that's more like it.

I've actually adapted my brand of spirituality from pantheism ( without the god, of course ). I'm not sure if there IS a word for my brand of spirituality other than "purely secular spirituality". For fun, I've labeled it :

"Agnostic atheist taoist humanist skeptic"

That was too long, so I made up an acronym.. "AATHS" wasnt it, if that's what you think.


I can go on and on about me, but... even I am getting bored right now.
I can only imagine how horrible it must be for anyone else.

It's a bit sad that some theists believe that when it comes to words, it's "their way or the highway". What a narrow, shallow point of view.

[Tired of the Nonsense]

[Replying to post 5 by bjs]

Are indicating that in the correct context all texts are harmonious? Odd that Christianity has not come to a common understanding. Is the Spirit the author of this confusion?

No, GOD's eternal enemy Satan is responsible...as expressed in this verse: 1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

Since this statement is written in the Bible, and the Bible is apparently little more than Satan's attempt to confuse us, why should we believe it?