People are not atheists because thats what makes the most sense for them. They are atheists because they love their sin and insist on remaining in rebellion to God. So they get rid of God.
Rom_1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
This is so far from the truth and just wrong. Atheists understand that propensity of people to believe in faith based religions in general is a matter of genetics. I'll tell you personally that one doesn't need god to understand not to be a jerk let alone not to kill etc. The 10 commandments are there for those that don't inherently understand being a good person and need something to follow. They also believe fully and completely in self-accountability. There is no "satan made me do it" or "ask god for forgiveness" - everything lies on one's own shoulders. We atheists find wonder and amazement in nature - including the pareidolia of a galaxy looking like a human iris. Back to genetics - if a population would benefit from more faith based followers, the genes make this happen over many many years.
And how, do you suppose, random chance gave Man that understanding? We seem to have a built-in standard of good and evil. In Romans 7, the apostle Paul says that there is something in him that agrees with the law of God, that it is good. But he shows we have a glitch in our system, because we tend to not do the good that we know, and do the evil that we know not to do. And when one violates that standard, there is no way out. It is always there condemning you."Out Damn spot" we cry, but there is no washing it out.
Is it "the law of God" or is it merely the best chance of survival for our genes? I'm not saying there is no such thing as good and evil, but I do not believe these exist outside of one's self. I have studied the bible very in-depth and have been deep inside an organized religion in my youth and into my early 20s. Got really into translating the original Hebrew and Greek and taking original meanings of scripture... when done this way what can be seen is much more self-accountability. For just one example, there is no supernatural Satan in the old testament and every single use of it comes from a Hebrew word meaning "adversary" - and taken in that context it greatly changes much in the bible in general. I'm not discounting some life lessons one can learn from the bible, but its divine nature I do not agree with. As an atheist I fully believe someone has it in them to do good and to do fairly to others just as much as they have the ability to do evil and to harm others. I think living one's life as true to yourself as possible can be achieved sans-scripture.
Having studied the original languages you know there are 3 words that are translated "life." There are bios (biological life), psuche (psychological life), and zoe (God's eternal uncreated life). God is life (zoe), Christ came to remove the barrier so that God as life (zoe) can come into us as life (zoe). Otherwise, you live your life (bios & psuche), whether good or evil, and then you die.
Although I don't believe in this, I do completely appreciate the angle... its been 30 years since I dove into scripture that deeply. However, regardless of the old meanings and the new translations they don't really do it for me anymore. I would never seek to deprive anyone of their faith, but at the same time have my own thoughts absent God and it took me half a lifetime to get here.
My example is the single cell. When you look inside, there are several key components that make it work. All of those would not have randomly just happened in the primordial ooze at the same time and be inside a cell wall.
A second one: creatures are born with information. Some more than others. Humans are actually low on that list. It is a built in survival guide.
When you look inside, there are several key components that make it work. All of those would not have randomly just happened in the primordial ooze at the same time and be inside a cell wall.
The phrase for this is IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY
All of these parts function together, and if any piece is missing the whole thing fails. There are many examples of this in nature.
According to evolution/eviloution, everything evolved from the single cell organism. If so, the first step would be a two cell organism which does not exist. Not a three cell or four cell organism so the single cell theory must have jumped to complex organisms in a single bound---ya know, like Superman! Look, it's a bird, no it's a plane, no it's SUPERCELL!!! Kek
This reminds me of the joke where God and an atheist meet, and debate whether God created the earth and man. The atheist says, "God, we can now clone humans, make life, and take care of ourselves and we don't need you anymore."
God laughed and said: "You think? So show me, how you can make humans and life!"
The scientist agreed, reached down, grabbed a full hand of soil to start making his human, when God promptly stops him and says, "Whoa not so fast, use your own dirt."
God's creation constantly screams at us the infinite beauty, wonder, and miraculous workings of everything in the universe, our world, even our bodies, are wonderfully made and interact in ways that we are only just starting to learn the details of. You do not need to be nuclear physicist to see the awesomeness of God's handiwork just sit and look at the sunset for a few days, every one is fantastically beautiful and yet everyday there is a new and unique masterpiece. Watch an eclipse, look at the mountains listen to the ocean as the waves crash in, or look at you eyes up close. It all brings one to one inescapable conclusion. Our God is an awesome God.
Vision systems in some cars involves some very sophisticated software to do pattern recognition, a second camera for stereo vision, and calculations to process depth perception. Its a great deal of complexity and processing power to handle all that, and the performance of these systems is still not even close to what our brain does effortlessly.
34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
How many people will be inspired by his testimony? How many will turn to Christ when they actually analyze what he said. Our testimony of how we came to Jesus is how we turn others into Christians. The only thing we can take with us to Heaven is others. Don't shy away and not tell your own story of conviction. It gives people hope in an ever darkening world fill with hatred.
This sounds like a common argument for God's existence / religion being true, the watchmaker's analogy or teleological argument I believe they're called
While I can kind of see things arising without God's design and the argument has been critiqued by plenty of people, it also does feel persuasive to me as you can also kind of look at something like the eye and realize that it looks like a favorable "jump" in evolution would have had to happen all at once that is unlikely. With some things in life, we see them improve slowly over time, but with evolutionary theory some of these things happen less gradually and it's harder to look at them as developing via evolution over time
I feel like Christians have yet to articulate this in better detail, there appear to be things that are clearly "designed" and it seems hard to think of evolution as having created such "perfect" conditions. Like our ecosystem where one insect feasts on a plant and then an animal feasts on the insect, there's so much give and take that just seems improbably balanced
I would argue that evolution is the only way to explain such "perfect" conditions. If you take a look at a change in a gene via individual mutation (this is what drives evolution after all) and take a simple example... a species of animal that lives on nuts. They have adapted thumbs with sharp strong claws for getting into these nuts. Now via normal gene behavior it mutates and gives an even sharper longer claw for getting into nuts - but there's a downside, this longer claw makes it harder for them to run away from a natural predator. So any animal born with this new sharper claw doesn't live to reproduce and thus that gene mutation ends with them. Now you have the same gene mutate that gives them instead a stronger but shorter claw and they can now escape their natural predator with ease as well as get into their nuts easier - with evolution this new gene becomes the norm. Now take that same concept into hugely more complex things like eyes and expand that out now millions of years and indeed you can see how the human eye, for example, gradually came to be. This is happening to all genes at the same time so many changes are gradually happening all at once - which is also a balance to factor in. The genes propagate out through the ideal "perfect" conditions naturally - no designer needed. This not only makes sense to an atheist like myself but it provides a huge sense of wonder and awe at the natural universe we live in.
People are not atheists because thats what makes the most sense for them. They are atheists because they love their sin and insist on remaining in rebellion to God. So they get rid of God.
Rom_1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Now name those inconvenient things...God isnt messing around.
Anything that is not heterosexual!
This is so far from the truth and just wrong. Atheists understand that propensity of people to believe in faith based religions in general is a matter of genetics. I'll tell you personally that one doesn't need god to understand not to be a jerk let alone not to kill etc. The 10 commandments are there for those that don't inherently understand being a good person and need something to follow. They also believe fully and completely in self-accountability. There is no "satan made me do it" or "ask god for forgiveness" - everything lies on one's own shoulders. We atheists find wonder and amazement in nature - including the pareidolia of a galaxy looking like a human iris. Back to genetics - if a population would benefit from more faith based followers, the genes make this happen over many many years.
And how, do you suppose, random chance gave Man that understanding? We seem to have a built-in standard of good and evil. In Romans 7, the apostle Paul says that there is something in him that agrees with the law of God, that it is good. But he shows we have a glitch in our system, because we tend to not do the good that we know, and do the evil that we know not to do. And when one violates that standard, there is no way out. It is always there condemning you."Out Damn spot" we cry, but there is no washing it out.
Is it "the law of God" or is it merely the best chance of survival for our genes? I'm not saying there is no such thing as good and evil, but I do not believe these exist outside of one's self. I have studied the bible very in-depth and have been deep inside an organized religion in my youth and into my early 20s. Got really into translating the original Hebrew and Greek and taking original meanings of scripture... when done this way what can be seen is much more self-accountability. For just one example, there is no supernatural Satan in the old testament and every single use of it comes from a Hebrew word meaning "adversary" - and taken in that context it greatly changes much in the bible in general. I'm not discounting some life lessons one can learn from the bible, but its divine nature I do not agree with. As an atheist I fully believe someone has it in them to do good and to do fairly to others just as much as they have the ability to do evil and to harm others. I think living one's life as true to yourself as possible can be achieved sans-scripture.
Having studied the original languages you know there are 3 words that are translated "life." There are bios (biological life), psuche (psychological life), and zoe (God's eternal uncreated life). God is life (zoe), Christ came to remove the barrier so that God as life (zoe) can come into us as life (zoe). Otherwise, you live your life (bios & psuche), whether good or evil, and then you die.
Although I don't believe in this, I do completely appreciate the angle... its been 30 years since I dove into scripture that deeply. However, regardless of the old meanings and the new translations they don't really do it for me anymore. I would never seek to deprive anyone of their faith, but at the same time have my own thoughts absent God and it took me half a lifetime to get here.
I understand.
My example is the single cell. When you look inside, there are several key components that make it work. All of those would not have randomly just happened in the primordial ooze at the same time and be inside a cell wall.
A second one: creatures are born with information. Some more than others. Humans are actually low on that list. It is a built in survival guide.
Correct. DNA just didn't happen from some random chemical reaction. It's the programming code for life created by God.
God. Always capital G, please.
On mobile friend and was half awake. Updated.
Thanks!
Exactly!
The phrase for this is IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY
All of these parts function together, and if any piece is missing the whole thing fails. There are many examples of this in nature.
Thank you for that. I will lock that into my vocabulary!!! 🐸🐸
According to evolution/eviloution, everything evolved from the single cell organism. If so, the first step would be a two cell organism which does not exist. Not a three cell or four cell organism so the single cell theory must have jumped to complex organisms in a single bound---ya know, like Superman! Look, it's a bird, no it's a plane, no it's SUPERCELL!!! Kek
This reminds me of the joke where God and an atheist meet, and debate whether God created the earth and man. The atheist says, "God, we can now clone humans, make life, and take care of ourselves and we don't need you anymore."
God laughed and said: "You think? So show me, how you can make humans and life!"
The scientist agreed, reached down, grabbed a full hand of soil to start making his human, when God promptly stops him and says, "Whoa not so fast, use your own dirt."
I love this community! Thanks for that critical piece information!! 🐸🐸
creatures are born with information. Some more than others.
I know about this. It's really amazing.
God's creation constantly screams at us the infinite beauty, wonder, and miraculous workings of everything in the universe, our world, even our bodies, are wonderfully made and interact in ways that we are only just starting to learn the details of. You do not need to be nuclear physicist to see the awesomeness of God's handiwork just sit and look at the sunset for a few days, every one is fantastically beautiful and yet everyday there is a new and unique masterpiece. Watch an eclipse, look at the mountains listen to the ocean as the waves crash in, or look at you eyes up close. It all brings one to one inescapable conclusion. Our God is an awesome God.
Our God is a wondrous God. Amen
Vision systems in some cars involves some very sophisticated software to do pattern recognition, a second camera for stereo vision, and calculations to process depth perception. Its a great deal of complexity and processing power to handle all that, and the performance of these systems is still not even close to what our brain does effortlessly.
A fool says in his heart, "There is no God".
Amen
Luke 11:34-36
34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
Thank you. Whenever someone can quote me from the Bible, I love it. I appreciate.
Thank you. I just showed this to my co-workers. Such a beautiful testament to start my work day!
Amen
How many people will be inspired by his testimony? How many will turn to Christ when they actually analyze what he said. Our testimony of how we came to Jesus is how we turn others into Christians. The only thing we can take with us to Heaven is others. Don't shy away and not tell your own story of conviction. It gives people hope in an ever darkening world fill with hatred.
Amen to that. I have 2 books published and both showed the fingerprints of God. God is great all the time. I do my small part to spread the words.
If your answer to not being able to find an answer is "has to be god", you aren't a scientist.
Gorgeous video.
Thank you for posting!!
AMEN
WC. God is great and I want to show case God every chance I got.
Amen !
This sounds like a common argument for God's existence / religion being true, the watchmaker's analogy or teleological argument I believe they're called
While I can kind of see things arising without God's design and the argument has been critiqued by plenty of people, it also does feel persuasive to me as you can also kind of look at something like the eye and realize that it looks like a favorable "jump" in evolution would have had to happen all at once that is unlikely. With some things in life, we see them improve slowly over time, but with evolutionary theory some of these things happen less gradually and it's harder to look at them as developing via evolution over time
I feel like Christians have yet to articulate this in better detail, there appear to be things that are clearly "designed" and it seems hard to think of evolution as having created such "perfect" conditions. Like our ecosystem where one insect feasts on a plant and then an animal feasts on the insect, there's so much give and take that just seems improbably balanced
I look at nature and I see God's hand and fingerprints everywhere.
I would argue that evolution is the only way to explain such "perfect" conditions. If you take a look at a change in a gene via individual mutation (this is what drives evolution after all) and take a simple example... a species of animal that lives on nuts. They have adapted thumbs with sharp strong claws for getting into these nuts. Now via normal gene behavior it mutates and gives an even sharper longer claw for getting into nuts - but there's a downside, this longer claw makes it harder for them to run away from a natural predator. So any animal born with this new sharper claw doesn't live to reproduce and thus that gene mutation ends with them. Now you have the same gene mutate that gives them instead a stronger but shorter claw and they can now escape their natural predator with ease as well as get into their nuts easier - with evolution this new gene becomes the norm. Now take that same concept into hugely more complex things like eyes and expand that out now millions of years and indeed you can see how the human eye, for example, gradually came to be. This is happening to all genes at the same time so many changes are gradually happening all at once - which is also a balance to factor in. The genes propagate out through the ideal "perfect" conditions naturally - no designer needed. This not only makes sense to an atheist like myself but it provides a huge sense of wonder and awe at the natural universe we live in.