[YouTube] A Theists Challenges Atheists
Offline Bleh, hope I'm posting this in the right place :/
I found a video on YouTube not too long ago titled "Atheists Offer Nothing." In it, a Christian asked why Atheists' truth should be valued over happiness, among other things. I would have made a video response if my iMac weren't in the shop... ._. So this was my written response, posted to my LiveJournal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU5RmaamnRM
That's the beauty of it. You don't have to pick one over the other. You can be happy and know the truth.
You are not believing in the truth that there is no "God." There never has been and there never will be. And despite that, it's all right. Because we don't need a god.
Science is SOLELY about the truth and finding the truth. Science does not concern itself with the happiness or lack of it thereof that it brings. This in itself is proof enough that science, at least, values the truth over happiness.
You say Atheists have nothing to offer. This is untrue. But first, let us look at what the opposing side has to "offer."
Christianity offers supposed answers to such classic questions as:
How did I get here?
Why am I here?
What will happen to me when I die?
According to Christianity, we came into existence when "God" magically created the Earth and the founders of the human race, Adam and Eve. Fairy tale, much? The fact of the matter is that how we got here...doesn't matter AT ALL. It does not affect our day to day lives. We are here, somehow, and that is what matters.
According to Christianity, we are here to live our lives as pious, "God"-fearing people, to follow the teachings of the Bible and fulfill "God's" will. As far as I'm concerned, we're just here to live our lives to the best of our ability, to learn and to grow, with or without a "God."
According to Christianity, when we die we will go to either Heaven or Hell depending on how we've carried out our lives. But they can't honestly say that because there's no proof. It's just an opinion, or worse, a tool of control.
Christianity also claims to offer "salvation." Salvation from WHAT? Taxes? Violent crimes? Recession? Corrupt officials? WAR? Because those are the REAL issues facing our world today. You can go to church and pray till you're blue in the face, Christianity will NOT save you from the bank come to take away everything you own or from the psychopath holding a gun to your head.
Ultimately, all Christianity offers is lies, lies and a false sense of hope. If you are happy to live with lies then your are simply ignorant.
So now, what do Atheists offer? It is simple. We offer freedom. Freedom from lies. Freedom from the self-imposed tyranny of living in fear of a dark-humored being that can reward or punish at its sick whim. Freedom from the hindrance of depending on the unstable security of a lie.
There is satisfaction and happiness in this freedom. Because at the end of the day, it feels good to know that you have not been deceived. Therefore, this freedom is the sole and best thing we can offer.
You say that Christians are happy living with their beliefs. Now here's something that may surprise you. Atheists are equally happy, if not moreso, with the absence of those same beliefs. Don't you think that says something - something very important?
So what are your thoughts on his video?
Tickling Sakura's Funnybone
David wrote:Actually, thousands of people witnessed his existence on earth, and many testified to his existence in the pages of the Bible.
That's true, just as there's thousands of people who witnessed Harry Potter's existence on earth in the Harry Potter series of books.
I will drink to the Flying Spaghetti Monster and hope his appendages touch you in the most pleasurable of ways
Keep it in Your pants, saviour boy.
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Thanks.
I liked your response and will write my own as soon as I get a chance.
I would like him to think about, pinpoint and explain the how/why he thinks his beliefs make him happy.
I'm tempted but will probably resist quoting the bible at him. THe bible isn't much about happiness
as far as I can tell and I'm betting this guy's happiness comes from the social aspect of membership
and feeling superior and like he's on the winning team that can't lose.
I could always be wrong though
I think he doesn't understand what he is talking about... I don't know how to elaborate on that.
Sakura.
I LOVE YOU ....
Thor's Beard! Not another one.
The argument used in his video illustrates how you as an atheist have no objective scientific platform to validate your position one way or the other. In his video he said that he did have happiness and the truth. To say the nonexistence of God is a truth you hold places you in the position of no longer lacking a belief but asserting one.
You say concerning atheism, 'We offer freedom.' Atheism offers no such thing. Freedom is a concept that an atheist can value or not value. I assume that for you atheism has brought about freedom from lies as you say but this is entirely subjective as freedom from the concept of God is not a scientific fact rather it's just an experiential opinion.
"Freedom from the self-imposed tyranny of living in fear of a dark-humored being that can reward or punish at its sick whim. Freedom from the hindrance of depending on the unstable security of a lie."
All these things are based upon subjective human experience and nothing more. Your claim to knowledge of truth as it relates to your feelings of freedom is no more justified than the Christians.
Whatever an atheist brings to atheism is only theirs and is in no way mandatory for any other atheist to adopt. The irony is you have adopted a system of belief that is just as unjustified as the one you claim doesn't have the truth that 'there is no God.'
I don't recall him ever saying 'Christians are happy' rather he said that he was happy and had the truth. You may be happy as an atheist but that is not an intrinsic value or virtue of atheism.