This will be quick. I’ll tell you when I became Atheist…is when I saw Jesus. I was severely dehydrated from an field expedition and was rushed to hospital and while I was in bed, I saw Jesus.

It was the typical iconic image (good looking white guy, wearing white robes with light coming around him) and he approached the end of my bed. In his hands was a glowing cake box (the kind you get at small town bakeries) and he told me Mary was in it.

He then said goodbye and left. After that, I had a second hallucination, that my work colleagues were around my bed trying to bite me.

Neither of this made any sense, and then I realized something a few days afterwards. I wondered if every person who had seen a deity of sorts just imagined it, like I had. These are the reasons I deny it being real;

1. Jesus was black, this Jesus was white.
2. The cake box made absolutely no sense…
3. and neither did my work-mates biting me.

If God was real, I’d like to think he would have corrected me at some point…but of course this doesn’t disprove religion at all…just like seeing Jesus doesn’t prove religion. Just like to know your views on this?

P.S. I’m not a: criminal, drug addict, illiterate, immoral person, before you flat out slander me.

Before we continue – have you ever considered that this was a message from God?

Jesus was trying to speak to you that day my boy. He brought his ‘cake box’ to represent the eternal gift that he came to offer you, which was only made possible by the Holy Mother who was inside and held dearly in the arms by Loving Jesus.

Why the hell else would she have been in the box? Are you trying to say that it was all just a meaningless hallucination?

It would only be considered one if you were smacked off your whiskers on bourbon or cheap crack, but not if you were just feeling a little ‘under the weather’.

Your ‘evil’ workmates signaled your ultimate destiny if you continue on leading a Godless life. God was telling you that you must turn away from them now otherwise they will end up biting you for all eternity in Hell.

It was a vision my boy. A vision.

You’ve obviously been chosen by God to be a messenger and I suggest that you dedicate your life to prayer and devotion in order to receive more messages from God.

And does it really matter what color Jesus was in your hallucination? God loves men of every color and creed.

Thanks for your enlightening post and all the best.

Your friend Don.

The claim that there is an omnipotent god is not falsifiable – she could make the world however she wanted, and so no matter what observations we make, they wouldn’t contradict the theory.

Good scientific explanations, however, are falsifiable. Everything has to fit the data. God could make a creature with genes and characteristics of a plant, and some of a mammal if he wanted to, and that would be consistent with creationism.

However, an evolutionary origin of life requires that the genetic relationship of species is in the form of a hierarchical phylogenetic tree. It allows some traits to evolve independently (bats and birds can both fly – but when genetic analysis is used to find out why birds and bats can fly, the developmental pathways are different).

A good explanation fits the specific data (is not falsified), but would not fit all data (is falsifiable). I could make up any number of unfalsifiable theories – gods, invisible pink unicorns, flying spaghetti monsters, and invisible pixies in my garden – but I wouldn’t accept them and change how I live my life because of them, because evidence is only meaningful if it could falsify the explanation, and so there is no meaningful evidence for them.

However, I will give your god a chance to prove his existence to me, if you agree to do the same. Will you pray to god that we will both get 200 heads in a row from my coin (I promise you, it is two-sided, with a head and tail, with an approximately 50% chance of getting a head or tail each time).

If god wants me to believe, and you to stay believing, presumably it would be no trouble for her to influence the outcome of 200 coin tosses to make them come up heads (if not, obviously your god is not exactly omnipotent and therefore probably not worth worshiping).

If I get 200 heads in a row, I’ll become a Christian. If you get a tail before getting 200 heads, you become an atheist.

Deal?

No deal.

Why do you insist on testing God? He doesn’t want to suck up to your petty little mind games. He’s bigger than you are. He’s more of a man.

It’s obvious to me that you just think that all of this is a joke but we’ll see who is laughing on Judgment Day. I’ll be there with Jesus and we’ll be both howling with laughter as you and your primitive dog of a lover Dawkins are consumed in righteous hell fire.

I won’t be praying for your salvation. I’ll be blowing on my Trumpet, dancing in circles in pure Righteous ecstasy goading Jesus to send you further into the mire for your sins.

I don’t care if my beliefs are falsifiable or not! What does it matter anyway? When it comes down to it I know that Jesus is on my side and the same cannot be said for you.

By the way you’re obviously retarded as if a unicorn is invisible it cannot be ‘pink’.

Did you even go to school at all?

This just goes to prove even more that Atheists are illiterate extremists who are just out to be a menace to Our Christian Nation.

Me convince you?

If I came to you claiming that some supernatural, unseen force was the true source and reason behind everything around us (oh, and gimme some of your tax dollars to subsidize my belief too please), I would rightly bear the burden of proof.

However, as it stands, I don’t feel any burden of proof. You’re the one on the spot with your claims of virgin birth and transmutation of matter and resurrection. Those are some pretty bold statements… Are you sure you can’t show your work?

But theists don’t give arguments which satisfy the non-believers. We’re not asking for a lot: the scientific method is something we expect high school students to learn and put into practice. But as far as I can tell, general theist arguments rely on faith and the personal revelation of God’s grace.

I just read your arguments against Dennis, and you say exactly that: God does not yield to reason; you cannot perceive Him moving in the universe because you are too in love with reason; introspection is the only path to God.

Okay, if you are not going to play by the rules, then lets just call off the game.

Me and my reason-obsessed friends will just go back to applying the scientific method to the world. We’ve been doing OK with it: tripled the average life expentency, cured hundreds of diseases, created machines like the computers we’re all using, developed technology and techniques to feed more than 6 billion people… You’re welcome  by the way.

And you and your buddies can go back to introspection and prayer and feeling the Spirit move. Uhm, thanks for that I guess…

Darryl.

Your ‘reasoned’ friends may have tripled life expentency but is the necessarily a good thing? People are becoming more and more secular as time progresses because of Science and this is leading more away from God. Those who do not accept God into their lives will spend all of eternity in Hell Fire.

What’s the point in hardening these people against God?

You don’t want to see the truth Darryl, which is fine – it’s your choice to remain an uneducated oaf.

You make it seem like you’ve made an effort to understand Life – but you haven’t really. Introspection and prayer have done more for this Earth than science ever will. Science is at a dead end. There is no more to learn. If you knew what you were talking about then this would be self-evident.

People like me see the existence of God and Science (i.e. evolution, the big bang) as companions rather than enemies. Think about it. Now, we have irrefutable proof of the big bang, but we have no idea where the nucleus of matter that exploded INTO the big bang came from. The only possible, current and reasonable explanation is that this matter was designed and brought into the universe by some sort of higher power (or powers.)

To me and many others, this fusion of atheism and creationism makes far more sense than either of them alone, and as such it is what I strongly believe. Call me a non-believer if you will, but I follow both my head and my heart equally.

And one last thing; have you ever realised how much of organised church is just a big power play? Many people who attend church hold God as a tool in their hands, not in their hearts. Even when I was christian I noticed this – it was far better to worship and solitude.

Where you there at the Big Bang my friend? How do you know what happened? You cannot be Christian and reconcile the irreconcible. God created the Earth and we don’t need Science to prove this. We just need instinct and the capacity to analyze the evidence.

You’re a highly confused young man. You need to spend less time on the internet masturbating until your eyes droop and more time praising Christ.

Remember this – Atheists aren’t very good at thinking critically. They spend so much of their time fantasizing about a threesome between themselves, Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens that they don’t have energy to be rational.

This post came from a guy called Dennis who seems to take his Science a little too seriously……

I’ve scanned though your site, and I can only hope that I would be correct to assume this is a parody. You seem to be a walking(or typing) collection of cliches, platitudes, and circular reasoning. But I have a feeling that you are genuine.

I do not believe that even if I came to you with incontrovertible evidence of the non-existence of god it would shake your faith. So I’m going to turn this around on you a bit.

First some caveats. Smugly saying that science doesn’t know everything is no revelation to any legitimate scientist. Science does not need to know everything it does not suffer in any way from lack of perfect knowledge, because science is not a religion. It is a method. the good scientist make observations about a phenomenon say electricity, forms a hypothesis (an educated guess and the scientific word for the idea that most people label as a theory) then designs an experiment to test that hypothesis. he takes the data from the experiment and sees if it supports or refutes this data. given enough time. He then takes all his conclusions and sends it to reviewed by people educated in the same field as he.

Scientists being every bit as human as anyone are prone to protect their own work and so will look for the tiniest flaw in his conclusions. if it stands it is published and becomes probationally true. that probation period last forever. If ever new data comes to light that contradicts the conclusion it is thrown out or revised. over time it build to a theory which is Accepted Fact until proven otherwise. This is why i trust in science. Not because it knows everything or is always right but because over time the method produces a picture of the universe that is ever more accurate. The method has proven itself, exemplified by the computer I type on. The digital camera that took the picture of you that I see below. The fact that I did not die of a burst appendix when I was twelve because the doctors knew what was happening and removed it, and a billion other things.

Everything I have ever read or studied science wise, describes a universe where it is absolutely unnecessary to postulate the existence of a deity. And in fact shows the historical and scientific inaccuracies of every holy book ever written.

And so I must accept one of two conclusions. That there is a god, but he created a universe in which he is undetectable and indistinguishable from a purely mechanistic universe, or there is no god and the universe is exactly as it appears to be. The simplest explanation all else being equal as they say. This is why I am an atheist.

So I ask you now, What further hard evidence can you give me to change my mind? Nothing anecdotal, no arguments from authority as I don’t care what Newton or Einstein had faith in, only what they could prove. and please do not quote the asinine drivel that is Dembski and Behe. I have read them and dismissed them.

As a side note I and I think most atheist do not hate Christians. I can speak only for myself but I feel sad for you. I get angry and rabid at those of you who want to encode your hateful bigoted morality into MY government and tax funded schools. Who want a theocracy. who want to deny me the right to vote. to say I am not a citizen. that I am not an American.

If that is not you, if you want to live your life as you see fit and leave me to live mine as i see, so long as neither of us physically harms or steals from the other. Then you are ultimately my ally and I have no reason to interfere.

I don’t have to give you any evidence Dennis. You have to search within yourself to find the truth. God is waiting on you to invite Him into your life. Until you do that he’s absolutely powerless.

I can’t do anything to convince you Dennis. Your head is effectively jammed up your ass. You love science too much, therefore you cannot realize God.

I feel really sorry for you.

Science doesn’t recognize God because it knows that if they were to truly acknowledge God’s existence then the entire system would collapse. That is the power of the Almighty. The truth of the Almighty. This is why Atheists are so hyper-defensive. They know they are fighting an uphill battle.

Another day and another hate-filled email from a Godless.

How disturbing.

I have been accused of many disgusting acts by a complete stranger. Someone who is obviously malevolent. All these bizarre accusations … horrible things … rape, murder, all of the most terrible things that happen to innocent people every day.

I am extremely insulted.

I would never hurt anyone because I am capable of love. And I hardly need a Bible to tell me what that is. Animals – “violent, ugly monsters”? And you say I lack morality? I love animals and treat them with respect. I suppose you torture them in your spare time? That is awful.

Also, whoever you are (I don’t care), the reason we don’t see chimps reading that sadistic book is because we have evolved from them. Go ahead, turn your back on science. Who cares about the enormous amount of evidence? Yeah. Nice one.

Furthermore, if Jesus were real than I wouldn’t hate him. On the contrary, if all of those wonderful things were true, I would think him a great person. Ah, but I don’t. How arrogant must you be if you think the millions of species on this beautiful Earth were all put here specifically for Humans? Are you so egotistical? Get over yourself.

You and I are no more important than the tiniest microorganism. I do not hate authority figures; I have the mental capacity to question them. I think for myself and I am a slave to no one. By the way, Richard Dawkins is a brilliant man. He knows more about life than any religious person could possibly fathom.

The fact that you want to “punch the TV” every time you see him demonstrates just how violent, dangerous, and hurtful you must be. I do not hate religion because I don’t understand it – I hate religion because it has caused more pain and suffering in every stage of human history than any other single idea.

I hate it because it divides people instead of bringing them together. I hate it because without it, world peace would actually be attainable. I hate it because it is false. “Atheism can’t prove that there is no meaning to life.” Correct. But you know what else? You can’t prove that there is. “I’m a rational human who needs evidence to believe in something.” Really? Let’s see your evidence. Let me tell you something – You do not have all the answers. You and I are not special relative to the universe.

The difference between you and I is that I do not hate. I do not hurt. I do not make excuses. I do not believe that rape, murder, or any other unspeakable act can be justified. I just believe in Love. And that is the most important thing in the world to understand.

You hate God therefore you hate his Creation. This is evident in your preachy diatribe that will sicken any sane minded individual.

Before you post next time, do your research. Religion brings people together. It’s Atheism that divides. Divides us from God. It divides us mentally from His Creation so that we think that we’re alone in an uncaring universe. If you were at all sane (which you’re not by your bizarre ramblings) then you’d know this.

You’re only disturbed because you hate everything good and pure in the world. You’re the sort of sick individual who’d take a hammer to a puppy just because it was born with only three paws.

You don’t understand Creation therefore you try to justify it by accepting everything Richard Dawkins says as fact. You just aren’t very bright, are you? It’s a wonder you can even operate a computer.

Next time have some courtesy for the Christian community before you spout your hate on the Internet. It just makes you look narrow-minded to rational Christians.

I’m sorry I’ve been away so long friends, we’ve had a death in the family which made me question my faith in God momentarily.

I’m currently running through a backlog of ‘Arguments With Atheists’ segments so if you’ve posted one recently I have received it, I just haven’t processed it yet.

Anyway here’s one from an Atheist who doesn’t understand God.

I think you got atheism all wrong.

Firstly I’d like to point out that we aren’t satanist (because believing in the devil requires belief in god)

Secondly I’d like to point out the difference in some atheist.

Some just don’t believe in god, while others believe there is no god. which sound the same but a very different things.

I personally belong to both camps, as I see no reason to believe in god, and I am also fairly convinced there is no god.

Not to be confused that I am convinced without a doubt that god exists, but I don’t live my life based on that premise because it seems to me highly unlike given the nature of the universe, and if I turned out to be wrong, I really don’t think god is anything like the god of the bible.

So anyways, to supply you with an argument that would humor your idea of god, I was born into a christian family, I did at a point believe in god and I was cautious not to sin.
So why did I become an atheist? If god gave me free will, why hide himself from me knowing that the information out there will turn me into an atheist?
So I can go to hell for not being completely obedient which pretty much denies me free will.

I see you often referring to hell as a good argument to believe in god, because as long as I do either way wrong or right I won’t goto hell, but if that’s the price to pay for free will I’ll gladly choose the chance that hell might just exist.

I also think I came across you saying once that atheists have no right to mock Christians, as if it were some sort of hate speech.
Hate speech comes into play when there are conditions completely out of your control attributed to you. (like race or gender)

Religion is a choice, and I respect your right to make that choice, but don’t expect me to take your beliefs seriously.

Hell is not an argument against God. However if you continue to hate God in the way that you do, then it won’t be long before you’re swimming in the lake of fire along with your friend Lucifer who you seem to love so much, especially considering you ‘don’t believe in him’.

Religion is not a choice. We were born to pay respect to Jesus as our one and only Savior. If you can’t understand that, then quite frankly you must be of below average intelligence.

Ok firstly I would like to say that many atheists don’t actually have problems with the possibility of God many believe that there could be a god but just don’t see any hard proof of a super natural being, most atheists have problems with the stubbornness and thick headed beliefs of many religious people the problem they have with them is that they only believe in one set thing and are not open to the idea that they could be wrong almost all atheists that I know change as new ideas come up and old ones are discredited.

If you don’t have a problem with God, why don’t you just give him a chance to do wonders in your life? What have you got to lose?

Besides that Christians in particular have been killing us oppressing us and torturing us for centuries because we would rather be expanding the mind rather then pandering to a book that regardless of what anyone says was written by men over the course of centuries and yes the bible does teach good things but nothing different then what we should be doing anyway regardless of heaven or hell I personally would rather spend my life living well and being a good person then just doing it so I can get into heaven.

OK, have I tried to kill you? I’m a Christian. It’s offensive to say that Christians want to kill Atheists. We just want to educate you about the reality of the universe. Why’s that a crime? We aren’t pandering to a book. We are pandering to God.

Again what’s wrong with ‘pandering’ to something you hold dear?

Good intentions and well being should be personal not biblical. and as a second note about the birth of Christ and all that I do apologize for what I am about to say because I know that it is a bad thing to say regardless of my beliefs or yours but in my honest opinion I believe that the “virgin” Mary was in fact just trying to keep herself from being killed in saying she had an immaculate conception.

This is insane…

I say this because she lived in a place which is to this day well known for killing teenage girls who get pregnant before marriage so if you realized you were a), a woman and b), pregnant without being married and were about to be beaten and stoned to death what would you do sorry if that offended you but it might give you something to think about and on a third note about god in any religion you say god created the universe and us and we say the universe came from a single super dense ball of matter that exploded giving us everything we are and will be but I say these are not so different could it be that the idea of your god and the our theory are almost the same the only real difference is we have a prologue to our story and the dates are different besides that the only difference between you and me is that you believe in a book that’s 2000 years old to live your life and I live my life by how I believe it would be used to better other lives.

Sincerely, Krugle

You were making sense up until the very last bit Krugle.

I’ve just recently read some of the comments from Atheists because my grand daughter is dating such a person and I wanted to understand their thinking.

WOW! What I’ve learned is that They’re all so angry, sarcastic, and venomous in their attacks on religion….particularly Christianity.

There is no sweet spirit to be found in them. I’ve tried to find an anti-atheist t shirt to wear when he wears his anti-God shirts, but did you know you can’t find them on the web. Anti-God, anti Christian stuff is everywhere to be purchased …. and yet the they complain about how the atheist are discriminated against,blah, blah, blah etc.

Well boo hoo. I’ve read enough of their whiny, self centered rants. I will certainly not encourage or accept such a negative force in our family. Doesn’t the scriptures say that the gospel is “foolishness” to those who don’t believe? and that “the FOOL says in his heart that there is no God” so thousands of years ago, the writers of scripture were inspired to prepare believers that the unbelief would be in the world. And isn’t Satan “the prince” of this world anyway? I think atheist are perhaps just part of his army…doing his work.

The reason why Atheists are so pissed off all of the time is because they are jealous of the relationship we have with Jesus Christ.

If these people were complete inside themselves then they’d just accept religion as the positive force for good both you and I know it is.

All we can do is pray for them to understand the Wisdom of God.

How can you be so ignorant to believe in religion. YOU BELIEVE IN A FAIRY TALE. Do you really believe a man lived in a “big fish” for three days? haha, or believing that “god” can hear and comprehend everyone murmur to him at the same time. The ten commandments are ridiculous and childish, excluding the stealing and killing. But we would have figured out that steal other peoples’ stuff is wrong and that killing other people is wrong, without religion.

You’re not educated enough in the science or religion department. Jesus is not my lord, he didn’t die for my sins. Well…think about that…died for our sins…meaning..hey go out and butt-f*** a teen, kill your boss. because your not sinning because technically there are no sins. read the first testament. Wow god was a real dick killing innocent people due to one mans actions.

Yes I believe that Jonah lived in a whale. Just because it might seem ridiculous to you, doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. If you were open-minded enough to look at the real science behind it then you’d think differently.

You only think that the 10 commandments are ridiculous and childish because you don’t want to keep to them. You are a sinner and you need God but you just don’t want to admit this because inside you’re a weak person.

Why do Atheists have to use such coarse language in order to demonstrate their point? Surely if they had truth on their side then they could just calmly state what’s true, instead of trying to abuse Christians with cusses!