so called atheist - I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION!

[growingjudy]

Back again. i started this all. I didn't know what i was getting into. So far no one refuted God (or I don't think so).
Now the question:
If you were in a desert for a long time and are very thirsty, and along comes someone (even if the person doesn’t seem to be too normal) with water and tells you that there is a slight chance that there is poison in the water, would you drink it?
Now if you are not sure or even if you think there is a slight chance that there is God, should you try to find out what he might want. Maybe you might end up in hell!
Please answer guys and girls.

Let us say there might be a God that created the world. Why did he do it? Anyone that does something does it for a purpose, even more so God. Maybe he wants you to find him. Why not look around? Why give up so fast and say there are thousands of them and only one is right, I have no chance. He is probably a “good guy” and wants you to have a good time. Who has this information? Is he the one that seven false witnesses testify that he really isn’t a bastard? Did he send a prophet in the Sahara desert with a ridiculous dream? Is he some statue that doesn’t do anything? Is he some fat guy on top of a mountain in Tibet? Maybe he just is, whatever that means? Why not spend time looking into your purpose in life

[Mzor203]

Basing your life off of slight chances is not only limiting, it's also stupid. The way I see it, there is a chance that there is good - maybe even a very good chance - but due to the fact that there are thousands of religions, the chance that the Christian God is the right God is next to none.

Maybe you might end up in hell!

Maybe. Or maybe you'll die and that will be it.

[Sage]

If you were in a desert for a long time and are very thirsty, and along comes someone (even if the person doesn’t seem to be too normal) with water and tells you that there is a slight chance that there is poison in the water, would you drink it?

Well, I have two options here. I can deny the water and die, or I can take a chance and only *maybe* die. There are only two options here so logically I would go with the safer one.

Now if you are not sure or even if you think there is a slight chance that there is God, should you try to find out what he might want. Maybe you might end up in hell!

Nooo, because there are many Gods who ask for different things, so you should not waste your time with one unless you seem rather sure of it.

[Oblivion]

Back again. i started this all. I didn't know what i was getting into. So far no one refuted God (or I don't think so).
Now the question:
If you were in a desert for a long time and are very thirsty, and along comes someone (even if the person doesn’t seem to be too normal) with water and tells you that there is a slight chance that there is poison in the water, would you drink it?
Now if you are not sure or even if you think there is a slight chance that there is God, should you try to find out what he might want. Maybe you might end up in hell!
Please answer guys and girls.

But I dont have a need for god... That's like if a guy came to me right now with water and said it might have poison... I wouldn't drink it, because I'm not thirsty and I have other water. I dont want or need a god plus I have something better to drink (believe in), so I wont believe in the minute chance that there is one.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Back again. i started this all. I didn't know what i was getting into. So far no one refuted God (or I don't think so).
Now the question:
If you were in a desert for a long time and are very thirsty, and along comes someone (even if the person doesn’t seem to be too normal) with water and tells you that there is a slight chance that there is poison in the water, would you drink it?
Now if you are not sure or even if you think there is a slight chance that there is God, should you try to find out what he might want. Maybe you might end up in hell!
Please answer guys and girls.

I have the feeling you're trying to make some analogy to Jesus being tempted by Satan in the desert. However, this "hypothetical" question is NOTHING more than a really weird way of saying Pascal's Wager. Guess what? Pascal's Wager fails miserably. This argument considers the god of Christianity to be the "only true god" and doesn't take into account for the thousands of other possible gods, or LACK of gods entirely. It does nothing to prove your point, or "scare" use into worrying about hell.

The whole notion of hell is blatantly immoral and evil in any case. I would never worship a god that sent people to a place of infinite torment simply because they weren't a member of his "jesus club". Infinitely torturing people for things that are totally undeserving of such punishment is EVIL. Thank GOODNESS that god isn't real, and neither is hell.

[growingjudy]

Look what I added on the begining

[Sage]

Why not spend time looking into your purpose in life

People do do that, a lot of people just don't feel the need to include worship of a supernatural being as part of their purpose.

[Oblivion]

People do do that, a lot of people just don't feel the need to include worship of a supernatural being as part of their purpose.

Yep.

I understand that people need God for their losses, or because they don't want to feel useless in the world, but I don't need that. That why I don't try to "convert" people; if you want to believe, sure go ahead. If it helps you, that's great. Just don't try and convince me of something I'll likely never believe in.

Plus, trying to prove that a true Atheist doesn't exist is worthless; either way we'll believe the same thing, regardless of what you call us.

[Death]

growingjudy, there's no connection between taking an invaluable drink of water with a minor chance of becoming poisoned and believing in God because of the minor chance that you will go to hell. This is simply illogical and in fact, I think that this is a way in which to try to intimidate us to follow what seems to be a cult that dooms all those who are not part of it. Well, I'm not succumbing to that so I think that now I've read your post, I'll stay even further away from religion than I did before I read it.

[Sage]

Plus, trying to prove that a true Atheist doesn't exist is worthless; either way we'll believe the same thing, regardless of what you call us.

True that. I call semantics.

[Camazotz]

Back again. i started this all. I didn't know what i was getting into. So far no one refuted God (or I don't think so).

No one has proved God's existence either.

Now the question:If you were in a desert for a long time and are very thirsty, and along comes someone (even if the person doesn’t seem to be too normal) with water and tells you that there is a slight chance that there is poison in the water, would you drink it?
Now if you are not sure or even if you think there is a slight chance that there is God, should you try to find out what he might want. Maybe you might end up in hell!

I would take the water, purify it by boiling the water and trapping the vapor to make clean water. But if that's not the answer you are looking for, here is what it would be otherwise. I would take the water only when I am sure I will die.

Let us say there might be a God that created the world. Why did he do it? Anyone that does something does it for a purpose, even more so God. Maybe he wants you to find him. Why not look around? Why give up so fast and say there are thousands of them and only one is right, I have no chance. He is probably a “good guy” and wants you to have a good time. Who has this information? Is he the one that seven false witnesses testify that he really isn’t a bastard? Did he send a prophet in the Sahara desert with a ridiculous dream? Is he some statue that doesn’t do anything? Is he some fat guy on top of a mountain in Tibet? Maybe he just is, whatever that means? Why not spend time looking into your purpose in life

Because people spend years "searching" for God. I only have one life, and I don't want to waste precious time looking for something that doesn't exist. Like when people are looking for the Loch Ness monster. There are better and more productive things I can be doing, like participating in charity work or researching a cure for cancer.

[rainebg]

Because people spend years "searching" for God. I only have one life, and I don't want to waste precious time looking for something that doesn't exist. Like when people are looking for the Loch Ness monster. There are better and more productive things I can be doing, like participating in charity work or researching a cure for cancer.

Are you comparing god to the Loch Ness Monster?!?! That's actually a very good comparison. People look for it but no one has found it and even though it's almost against all reason that it exists the believers still claim that no one has disproved it.

I also agree. Live your life! Why bother searching for a meaning especially when that meaning comes with so many restrictions and in a lot of cases-hatred. Have fun! Enjoy life-don't put any unnecessary restrictions on it! and as for morals? live by the golden rule and you'll be fine and it'll never be outdated.

[INFERNO]

Your analogy is flawed because water is a necessity whereas god is not. The two are of unequal importance to one's immediate survival, however, for your analogy to work in this way, they'd have to be. So taking water allows me to have a chance at continuing to live, whereas believe in god has no effect. I think you're beating around the bush at Pascal's Wager, which although widely known, has many flaws, however, we can discuss them elsewhere.

About the part of looking into my purpose for life, I can tell you right now that it is not to find a god. Everyone has their own views on their own purpose in life. Does it require finding a divine being? No. Does it require getting a M.D.? No. It's whatever the individual makes it, and if they have no reason to seek a god, then why bother? You're right, the "real" god can be a plethora of things.

[Death]

You can't make people believe in God you know; there's simply no need. If we spend our entire life wasting our time with God and shifting everything good and bad on him, not only will we have no solutions for any of our problems, we will also have to restrict what we do in out life for no reason which seems pointless. An example here is lent. Why the hell do people want to give stuff up for lent? If you like doing something, why stop because it's lent? What do you get out of it? Nothing. Nothing but dissatisfaction from being deprived of what you love most. So as some others have said, enjoy yourself. Stop trying to look for some fancy God or whatever, there really is no need and it will only warp your life.