Ask Lemmy

I believe in God and His judgement because I just do. There's something instead of nothing, and nothing takes considerably less effort than something to exist (no need to argue this, nor any way to do so, hehe), and for me the idea of a Creator makes entire sense and completes the puzzle. I believe in His judgement probably because of that inner morality and desire for truth and justice everyone has but many deny and avoid. Finally, I do because it makes me happy, and helps me tame the animal and just be overall a person I'm proud of being, one that walks his talk and is at peace with himself and others.

Of course, none of this just came to me, or at least not as well defined and convincingly spoken, this is all thanks to the words of the prophets and the word of God as encapsulated in the Qur'an. Jesus always made sense to me even as an atheist kid (I just thought he was a pretty clever and kindhearted dude, not, you know, "God made flesh" or whatever people believe in), Solomon should make sense to any adult with enough working neurons, Muhammad's message is basically just a reiteration and perfection of it all, a little bow that ties all of monotheism up. 👍

I rejected christianity sometime as an early teen.

I don't remember my full reasoning but I did not like the idea of getting up early Sunday morning to do the church stuff.

It never got replaced by anything.

Because I can at least see spaghetti without DMT.

Yeah sorry, there's nothing.

But we should behave towards each other as we'd like to be treated. Otherwise it doesn't work.

Now, there's this unsolved issue of people harming all of us...

Cutting out philosophical arguments, prophecies and "no way this is a coincidence" types of stuff (which, yeah, there's a lot of those), it's a combination of

We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. But is it not sufficient concerning your Lord that He is, over all things, a Witness?

-Quran 41:53

They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah and also the Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary), though they were commanded to worship only One God. There is no god except Him. His Glory is far above any partners they ascribe (to Him).

-9:31

And let not those who [greedily] withhold what Allah has given them of His bounty ever think that it is better for them. Rather, it is worse for them. Their necks will be encircled by what they withheld on the Day of Resurrection. And to Allah belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth. And Allah, with what you do, is [fully] Acquainted.

-3:180

Of course there's a lot more where that came from, but the point is: We here have a religious text that encourages independent thought and pondering of the world and itself, promises harsh punishment for hoarding wealth and unequivocally condemns priestly institutions. Does that sound like an attempt to gain wealth or power? Exactly. Also this

He [Muhammad] looked displeased and turned (his attention) away, because a blind man came to him (interrupting his discourse). What would make you realise? Perhaps he would purify himself (by your attention),

-80:1-3

is not how a cult leader talks about himself. It's admittedly hard to parse from the translation, but this is a somewhat harsh admonition of Muhammad here. The segment continues until verse 10 if anyone wants continue reading, but the gist of it is "you're ignoring the man seeking guidance and trying to convince those who reject it? That is not how that works. Yes, even if it's a random blind guy."

You sacrifice for me, I sustain you. I sacrifice for you, you sustain me.

I believe this because nature is hungry, but expected to sustain life.

I don't. Not Buddhist anymore

What’s the term for not knowing for sure if there’s a god or not and not giving a fuck about it either way?

When I was a little kid, I took what I was told at face value and didn't question it.

Magical thinking is normal for little kids. By about age 7 you're supposed to have grown out of that shit though - like it's normal to still enjoy the concept of magic, but there comes a point when you should have a pretty intuitive understanding that it's fiction.

For some reason we give religion a pass.

Some old dude in a dress raving about how ghosts built the pyramids is instantly recognized as crazy; but some old dude raving about how the chief master ghost shat out our entire universe in a week is... somehow worthy of respect?

So, my religion is no religion: I believe what can be tested and verified.

The most concise test to disprove the notion of God is one of simple logic: the Epicurean paradox, which recognizes the mythology of God being composed of three core pillars: that he is 100% good (complete absence of evil), 100% powerful (his will is our reality), and 100% omniscient (he knows everything about everything)... but despite those three pillars, it takes no time at all to recognize evil behavior all around us, and for evil to be able to exist in our reality, one of those pillars must always fall.

He either doesn't know evil is happening in his universe, is powerless to stop it, or is okay with it.

Every single time a religious person attempts to address the Epicurean paradox, the just shuffle the pillars to fill in the gap left open by the missing third (feel free to take that as a challenge if you think you've got the answer).

Anyway, it became clear that at the very least, my religion wasn't being honest about the nature of its own god, and that realization was the final nail in the coffin for me.

because the book said itself was real