athiest, is it better to live life based on faith and not facts?
931017
I have faith in facts.
155770
Pascal seems to think so.  He set up this argument that it is better to live as a Christian than not to, just in case Christianity is true.  Well, to choose to live according to Christianity on that basis clearly indicates that one is an agnostic in reality.  But Pascal said that actions create belief, so that if you act like a Christian, before you know it, voila, you will believe in it!\n\nOf course, the major difficulty with Pascal's wager as I see it, is that he failed to factor in other religions.  What if Islam is right?  Then you've gambled on the wrong religion.\n\nBut anyhow, I DO believe that you can be an Agnostic Christian, an Agnostic Hindu, an Agnostic almost anything.  Because you are being very honest.  You are admitting that ultimately, no one knows.  And yet you still have your inclinations.  You are justified to follow the religion that you are inclined to most believe in, whether or not you are able to believe 100% in it or not.\n\nMost Christians have doubts, and some admit this.  There is not so much difference between a Christian with doubts and an "agnostic-Christian" perhaps.
1187814
Excellent food for thought!\n\nConsidering the fact that I am more of a spiritual person than religious, I would just go on in life as it is.  My father always questioned the theory of evolution -vs- the teachings of the bible.  We would have long arguments about what was right.  I know what I believe in my heart.  There has never been any real proof of anything, either way, so I don't believe my life would change as I believe that there is a supreme being by which my choice to call is God.  I do believe that I will be rewarded for all the good that I do here on earth and I do have full faith that there is a better place waiting for me.  I also believe that in my heart, I am punished for all my wrong doings as I, like all ppl, am instilled with morals and values, of which for me, are very high. \n\nPerhaps in having morals and values, we have the ability to pass judgement upon ourselves, thereby passing on what we believe to be an acceptable punishment should we choose to do so.  This is through the guilt we feel for wrong doing and the happiness for the positive in life.
190385
As I have heard others say, "I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there wasn't a God, than to live my life as if there is no God, and find out there was a God."  Proof is all around you--if you look for it, and if you believe, you will see.  God does exist.
806361
1. \n\nMost of the time athiest have had a bad situation occur in their lives and turned to God for help, he didn't answer in the way they wanted so they don't believe he exists.\n\nGot proof? News flash... atheists are not mad at a god they do not believe in. \n\n2.\n\nLook it's a waste of time trying to convert athiests and athiests to convert believers.\n\na.) Then take your own advice and keep your sermon to yourself :)\n\nb.) I, for one think that it's never a waste of time to try to understand others and be understood. \n\nc.) If it weren't for people sharing ideas, I would not have changed my worldview.
830634
Faith is the process of building and Atheism is the process of destruction. Empiricism sorts through the mess.
536772
A speaker from the "freedom from religion" foundation spoke at my college a few years ago.  He proposed that, because it is more logical to believe God is fiction, but less heartwarming, maybe God will only reward those who have the courage NOT to believe in Him.
532941
An athiest may tell the person that they have a lot to live for. He might tell him, Look at this big world, all of the friends that you can get, all of the studies and success that you can acchieve, maybe you can be remembered in future history books.\n\n         Truth is none of these things can fill the void inside of anyones soul, not money, not success,not power, not even family. The adverage family member only thinks about you 5 minutes a day. \n\n         "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can man give in exchange for his soul."- Matthew 16:26 NIV. \n\n        "O so you think finding a religion is the answer, right splinterjah ?" No absolutly not. You can attend religious cerimonies until you fall asleep, you can meditate with Budda all day long, you can work yourself to death trying to be good enough. \n\n         However there deep inside your soul,you're screaming for new life. Some people are callous to their own souls cry; they do this by watching TV or thinking about something else. Still some go insane or become depressed, hating themselfs or the world because nothing that they do gives them peace.\n\n         The truth is the only One that can bring you peace is the Prince of Peace- his name is Jesus. He lived the perfect life and died to accept the punishment for everything that we've ever done wrong. The truth is that men have rejected His sacrifice and have tried to pave their own way to heaven. This is imposible because no one, can ever be good and rightious enough to cancel out their own sins.\n \n          " Jesus answered, "I am the Way and the Truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."\n                               -John 14:6\n\n           Not drugs, not alcohol, not giving, no one but Jesus can bring people peace.\n\n           "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him alone."- Psalm 62:1\n\n         But!! no one can work for His salvation from sins and peace; it is only given from God.\n\n          Here is the catch you have to accept Jesus-He is the gift of God. \n         \n         You say "how do we do this splinterjah?"  This is all you have to do, confess your sins to God ; confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and Belive in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. \n\n         "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved."- Romans 10:9\n\n         "He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy."\n                             - Proverbs 28:13\n\n         The Truth is God loves you and everyone else he doesn't want them to go to h-ll. God can't make you love Him, it is by our own choice that we choose. Life or death, heaven or h-ll, Jesus or ourselves. Choose Truth, life heaven- choose Jesus- I did. God will give you a purpose upon the moment of accepting Jesus in your heart you are God's beloved child, and one day I will be with Him forever-will you?\n\n               Jesus is calling will you answer?
167663
I would rather live my life as though there IS a God and maybe find out there isn't one, than to live my life as though there isn't a God, only to find out there IS!!
1156962
I have to agree with you. I have argued with my mother in law on countless occasions about this. Everyone believes in something. I do believe there is a superior existence , I do not, however follow any specific religion. In any religion there is always some kind higher existence. There is no TRUE fact proven (in any religion) on what and or who is right. I find people tend to quote things from the bible but don't actually know what they're talking about. And to those who believe that everyone should have a faith, I do. I believe there is something, or someone who will show us our true religion, everyone, as a whole. I apologize if I have offended anyone. That was not my intention.
732889
Faith is our beliefs and our beliefs define our reality. Religion is a set of beliefs. Your life is your set of beliefs. Therefore, no, without faith your life can't have meaning. You would have nothing to believe in, no existence.
1031875
Definetely no. When you act as Religion orders you to do and think exactly what religion shows you to think, you'll never progress because you wouldn't wish to discover things, because, for every thing you wanted to know, there would be someone saying "because of God". When you use the Logic you can be both, a good person and a person who knows lots of things
321003
1. I get fullness of life, love, and hope, even as an atheist. People of faith do not have a monopoly on happiness.\n\n2. I believe that you do not get "eternity in heaven," and that your core beliefs are based on misinformation.\n\n3. Assuming you are right, I would rather not go to heaven than to spend one day embracing the intolerance, prejudice, and hatred that goes hand in hand with the modern interpretation of Christianity.
61263
One of the founding fathers of the U.S. said "if there is no God, man would have the need to invent one".  The fact is it does not matter what the religion is you accept God only as a matter of faith. It is faith that makes God so wonderful.  Reading Gods word will help you with many answers, however remember hat you will not understand things from the Bible before it is your time to understand them.  I know that is a strange concept however as you will go through the Bible it will make sense to you.  My faith in God is what tells me that there is a God, however it is something each of us has to learn for themselves.  The Bible gives each of us a blueprint for living life.  Proving there is a God is not a possible thing to do, only by faith will you understand that.  I would rather live my life having faith in God and at the end of my life find out that I am wrong than not believing and finding out there is when it is to late.
683087
Athiests are ignorant? Uninformed on what? People's opinions? You have your right to practice religion, but others have the right to not practice it. Religion is faith, not a fact, understand that. Arrogance is worse than ignorance, don't look down on those that look at the world differently than you.
4379
Being athiest doesn't mean you don't value life, I think if you value life that's enough to base morals off of your conscience.  How much you value life and living is what most laws are based on anyway so in a completely athiest society as long as the majority value life(which most would since the majority of people do) you could base the law off of that value since law isn't based on religious morals it's just based on preserving and respecting life.\n\nI'm athiest and my morals probably do come a bit from my parents, but mostly I just try to do what I feel is right.  The majority of athiests I know wouldn't deny that the morals in most religions are good things to adopt, they just don't want all the other crap that comes with the religion.  I have no problem following the golden rule, but I don't believe that I should have to scare myself into following it because I don't want to go to hell or dissapoint Jesus or whatever.  I believe that morals came before religion and that religion is just one way invented to get people to adopt the morals and to follow laws. If people are made to believe that there are eternal consequences for their actions they'll be more thoughtful before acting.  In the human society there are certain things you have to do to keep alive and to live well and they just happen to be more complicated than in the societies of other animals. The morals most of us have today are a survival instinct, we learned early on in our society that working together would help us thrive and in order to get people on your side you have to treat them a certain way and act a certain way yourself.  I think morals are more of a basis for religion than religion a basis for morals...religion needs morals but morals don't need religion.
1046107
Exactly. When it comes to religion, the word "faith" means believing in something you know isn't true.