toldailytopic: Which requires the greater faith, atheism or theism?

Nathon Detroit

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The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for April 9th, 2013 05:00 AM


toldailytopic: Which requires the greater faith, atheism or theism?






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Quincy

New member
I think it's about the same if you just take atheism and theism to mean either there isn't a creator or there is. Keeping all things simple. When you move on to complicate things and introduce religion or various scientific theories that point to a lack of design, then the amount of faith varies. I'd say religion as an extension of theism requires the most faith.
 

bybee

New member
I agree with Quincy, it requires more than people think to maintain a lack of faith.

It is part of a human being's makeup to have faith, to be faithful so of course, being human, we also weigh evidence, seek knowledge, make comparisons, change our minds, evolve and grow.
Then there is inertia and also the suffering of slings and arrows of outrageous fortune which must be met with "I believe" or "So what?" or "This is more than I can grasp at present!" or any number of variations on a theme of disbelief.
Belief is simple.
 

Krsto

Well-known member
Interesting question. I've always thought evolutionism takes more faith than the faith it takes to get saved through Christ.
 

bybee

New member
I think it's about the same if you just take atheism and theism to mean either there isn't a creator or there is. Keeping all things simple. When you move on to complicate things and introduce religion or various scientific theories that point to a lack of design, then the amount of faith varies. I'd say religion as an extension of theism requires the most faith.

I think of religion as a uniform. There are many kinds of uniform out there.
Faith is a core component. It's there and often, I am surprised by it's comfort.
 

sky.

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I don't know because I have never experienced atheism. Remember that kid who first said to you "I don't believe in God" and then it kind of freaked you out and gave you nightmares. I do.
 

PureX

Well-known member
I agree with Quincy, it requires more than people think to maintain a lack of faith.
I didn't see Quincy saying that at all. And I don't believe we have to, "maintain" a lack of faith. We simply choose not to engage our faith in ... whatever.

But I agree with Quincy that all human beings must live by faith, atheists and theists alike, because we lack so much relevant information. The differences, then, are in what ideas and concepts each are placing their faith in. The atheist is placing their faith in a non-theistic way of understanding the world around them. Which I think is what you were probably referring to. While the theist places their faith in a God-oriented way of understanding the world around them.

Is one more difficult than the other? I doubt it.
 

annabenedetti

like marbles on glass
It is part of a human being's makeup to have faith, to be faithful so of course, being human, we also weigh evidence, seek knowledge, make comparisons, change our minds, evolve and grow.
Then there is inertia and also the suffering of slings and arrows of outrageous fortune which must be met with "I believe" or "So what?" or "This is more than I can grasp at present!" or any number of variations on a theme of disbelief.
Belief is simple.

I think there's something built into us - it's a cliché, I know, but that idea of a God-shaped hole that keeps us always searching for Him.

Belief can be simple - and yet, doubt can really complicate it. There are times when I've thought, "what if this is all nothing, just a human construct to make sense of the world?" and it's a scary thought. It's faith that carries me through those times. Reason can only take us so far. I think sometimes the reasoning is where all the work is at, and we work so hard at it - while faith is a gift.
 

bybee

New member
I think there's something built into us - it's a cliché, I know, but that idea of a God-shaped hole that keeps us always searching for Him.

Belief can be simple - and yet, doubt can really complicate it. There are times when I've thought, "what if this is all nothing, just a human construct to make sense of the world?" and it's a scary thought. It's faith that carries me through those times. Reason can only take us so far. I think sometimes the reasoning is where all the work is at, and we work so hard at it - while faith is a gift.

Yup!
One of my mantra's is "When we say yes to one thing we are saying no to the other possibilities". It is the only way to move forward and accomplish something. The lack of a decision is truly a faithless position. Better to make a decision and act on it. If the results are not satisfactory then you can rule out that behavior and try something else.
Faith is just keeping on in the face of whatever comes our way. I believe that God cares about me. That is the foundation of my ability to function in this life.
 

Ps82

Active member
I think humanity (especially since God allowed us to have freewill) has a natural inclination to reject God rather than to accept him; therefore, I think it takes less faith to be an atheist, because all they have to do is just be themselves and think in human ways.

In order to perceive God, LORD, and savior it takes divine enlightenment to take us beyond human contemplations into enlightenment, and then we must trust in the revelation. That's what faith is.
 

bybee

New member
I think humanity (especially since God allowed us to have freewill) has a natural inclination to reject God rather than to accept him; therefore, I think it takes less faith to be an atheist, because all they have to do is just be themselves and think in human ways.

In order to perceive God, LORD, and savior it takes divine enlightenment to take us beyond human contemplations into enlightenment, and then we must trust in the revelation. That's what faith is.

I see it differently.
 

oatmeal

Well-known member
Believing in something is believing.

Thinking positively about something takes no more work than thinking negatively.

It is simply a decision to decide what you will choose to think.

Sometimes it may seem like swimming upstream sometimes not.
 

PureX

Well-known member
I think there's something built into us - it's a cliché, I know, but that idea of a God-shaped hole that keeps us always searching for Him.
I think that "God-shaped hole" is our endless quest to know the unknown. We humans survive and thrive by our ability to understand and control our environment, rather than by our speed, or power, or stealth, etc., so that the unknown presents a big threat to us. And we fear it deeply. That fear of the unknown looms so large for us that it becomes an "all-powerful entity": one which we cannot understand and control.

Religions are at their most base level a method of imagining that we have a way of controlling that "entity". It's the 'virgins in the volcano' phenomena. Having 'personified' that all-powerful unknown into an 'entity', we imagine that if we can somehow appease it, maybe it will not cause us harm.

This is the root of human superstition, and is where most religions begin. From that, however, it can be advanced to a much more sophisticated conceptual level that is no longer based in fear and superstition, but on our real relationship with ourselves, each other, and the world around us.
Belief can be simple - and yet, doubt can really complicate it. There are times when I've thought, "what if this is all nothing, just a human construct to make sense of the world?" and it's a scary thought. It's faith that carries me through those times. Reason can only take us so far. I think sometimes the reasoning is where all the work is at, and we work so hard at it - while faith is a gift.
It is both "just a human construct" and something far more. Because human constructs are themselves much more than we realize.

Consider this: the universe 'thinks' through us. It becomes aware of itself, through us. It loves, through us. This is how amazing, wonderful, and powerful those "human constructs" are. Through us, the universe contemplates it's own creation, and it's own Creator. Wow! :jawdrop:
 

alwight

New member
As an atheist, as the cliché goes, I only disbelieve in one more god than most theists here do, no faith is required for any of them. I simply live this life as though there are no gods, even if I'm wrong which I could be. However I think that Darwinian evolution has probably arranged things so that a tendency to have a godly faith more often than not exists in humans. Theistic faith is probably nothing more than an evolutionary naturally selected device.

I think humanity (especially since God allowed us to have freewill) has a natural inclination to reject God rather than to accept him; therefore, I think it takes less faith to be an atheist, because all they have to do is just be themselves and think in human ways.

In order to perceive God, LORD, and savior it takes divine enlightenment to take us beyond human contemplations into enlightenment, and then we must trust in the revelation. That's what faith is.
And do all the enlightened ones then receive the very same message?
Or instead do they not perceive their very own individual and often conflicting "enlightenment", with each other, each with their own differing version of faith and/or religion?
 

Eeset

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LIFETIME MEMBER
I have never regarded my relationship with God to be a matter of faith. I was born this way.
 

Rusha

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I have never regarded my relationship with God to be a matter of faith. I was born this way.

So what age did you realize your God existed? Three mos. old? Six months old? One/three/five/ten/fifteen years old?
 
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