sinequanon:
Atheism is not secularism. It is largely a fear-based religion of denial, ironically centered on what a possible god may be able to do.

sinequanon:
God is a subjective place, direction or destination.

For those who believe in a god, it represents what they would like to be if they were let lose and free.

But fear of their god -- what they wish to be -- keeps them in check and imprisoned.

God is fear of their own "demons" -- a glimpse of themselves let lose and running amok.

It is a psychological condition.

Weah96:


So there are people who deny the existence of a personal God out of fear of punishment?

Does that make sense to you?

sinequanon:
Atheism is not secularism. It is largely a fear-based religion of denial, ironically centered on what a possible god may be able to do.

sinequanon:


I suspect that you are confusing two different questions.

1. Is the behaviour sensible? Answer: no.

2. Can you recognize the psychology? Answer: yes.

One weekend, I was at an African festival held at the Southbank Centre in London. This is a very large venue, and at the intermission people were streaming out from the various exhibitions and performances that were being held in the building.

A number of us had gathered at the lifts, and we all crammed on. The doors closed and the lift was bobbing and shaking with the weight of all the people. But something didn't feel right, and after several seconds, I said, "it's not moving!"

There was TOTAL silence. Everyone just froze. It was a weekend, with few staff around. Then somebody said, "of course, it's moving...". Then there was more silence. People waiting, even though the lift obviously wasn't moving.

Then I had an idea. Maybe it hadn't stopped. Maybe it hadn't started to move AT ALL! (And we hadn't noticed in the general commotion). So I pressed the button to opened the doors, and sure enough, we hadn't left our floor. I walked out and took the stairs.

You know what, I looked back, and everyone was so frozen with fear that they remained in the lift and the doors automatically closed again.

That is human psychology. Is it sensible? No.

Can you understand it? Yes, if you are not in denial.

sinequanon:
Atheism is not secularism. It is largely a fear-based religion of denial, ironically centered on what a possible god may be able to do.

Weah96:


Conformity is nothing new. I remember reading about it in Intro Psych. There are all sorts of elevator experiments which show that the opinions of human beings tend to be influenced by groups.

But what has this got to do with the atheists choosing to deny God out of the fear of punishment? God is an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent character, not an elevator. Anyone who KNOWS this to be true, can never deny it. Denial includes general acts of disobedience, not only the refusal to acknowledge his existence.

I know God doesn't exist because everyone ADMITS that he/she disobeys him everyday.

Weah96:


Conformity is nothing new. I remember reading about it in Intro Psych. There are all sorts of elevator experiments which show that the opinions of human beings tend to be influenced by groups.

sinequanon:


I think you are missing the point.

This is not about conformity but the popular fear of being stuck in a lift. That fear was so powerful that they convinced themselves that the lift was moving. In the end, the fear of being stuck in a lift, made them remain in a defective lift.

Fear doesn't lead to rational outcomes. Fear can lead people into greater danger. So, I am saying don't get confused between rationalizing the behaviour and explaining its origin.

Weah96:


Again the elevator business. We're talking about atheists choosing to deny the fact that a personal God exists, not the fear of being stuck in an elevator.

Being roasted forever has a bigger deterrence factor than the fear of being stuck in an elevator.

DeepSight:


Can you elaborate. What really does this mean? If you don't mind, a line-by-line elucidation of the above.
Many thanks.

sinequanon:


ok. If you don't get the point, let's leave it there.

davien:
"god" is a subjective opinion...

Weah96:


You didn't make one. Declarative statements out of the blue don't count as "making points."

No one who KNOWS that hell exists will EVER disobey the person who built it. No one. God is an UNUSUAL dictator in most religions. He knows your THOUGHTS and he sees EVERYTHING.

What could possibly be the reward for even a slight disobedience when every offense brings you closer to the heat?

sinequanon:


You are wrong. Most atheists are deeply irrational and will do all of that.

Does burying your head in the sand make the danger go away?

No. It makes you more vulnerable to the danger. But people still do it.

So asking me why atheists have certain psychosis is not my concern.

Dapo777:


This is the first time I am going to agree with you,I think you are right,we atheists are living in self denial,we just want to feel safe,we are scared of being punished, why didn't I ever think about this.

For example

Take a look at some prostitutes, some of them chose not to believe in the risks of unprotected sex, So that they can fornicate well and feel safe from the consequences(Stds)of their actions.

The armed robbers and assassins and kidnappers, some of them stopped believing in the armed forces(police,swat,fbi etc) So that they can feel safe from being arrested and continue with their crimes.

The pilots,some of them stopped believing in empty fuel tanks, So that they can feel safe and fly their planes without having fuel in their tanks.

A zoo keeper simply stopped believing lions are carnivorous animals, So that he can feel safe and to avoid being eaten by the lions,so he entered the lions cage to feed it and came out safely because he stopped believing lions are carnivorous.

Likewise some people stopped believing in God,So that they can feel safe and avoid consequences(hell fire) and to sin freely as much as they want to.

You Ar right. We just want to avoid the consequences of our sins and continue in it,as the case is also with other examples.

We are just scared of hell That's why we refused to believe God,likewise the way the prostitutes are just scared of STDs So they refused to believe in contacting it through unprotected sex et al.

Wow it makes a lot of sense.

and we refuse to believe in Santa, because we are scared of not getting gifts from him at the end of the year, not because the story doesn't make sense.....I've been enlightened

sinequanon:


People want to be "in control" of their lives.

But they feel they are not in control, so they invent a mechanism, a god, through which they can indirectly be in control.

They attribute to this entity all the excesses of their own controlling behaviour and anger.

They end up being afraid of the entity which represents their own essence.

Psylas:
Hahahaha! People who believe in God are not afraid of hell and God, it's non believers

sinequanon:


You are wrong. Most atheists are deeply irrational and will do all of that.

Does burying your head in the sand make the danger go away?

No. It makes you more vulnerable to the danger. But people still do it.

So asking me why atheists have certain psychosis is not my concern.

sinequanon:




Most atheists are also afraid because they have not found a real and deep way NOT to believe.

All they have is a superficial religion which works on group psychology.

They suffer a cognitive dissonance whereby they believe in god and hell, but bury it deep in their psyche, and entertain a fragile disbelief.

When their thin veneer of disbelief is questioned, they start to scream.

It is very frightening for them, but they have to keep up the pretence in their own confused way.

sinequanon:




Most atheists are also afraid because they have not found a real and deep way NOT to believe. All they have is a superficial religion which works on group psychology. They suffer a cognitive dissonance whereby they believe in god and hell, but bury it deep in their psyche, and entertain a fragile disbelief.

When their thin veneer of disbelief is questioned, they start to scream. It is very frightening for them, but they have to keep up the pretence in their own confused way.

Weah96:


I'm asking how you arrived at your diagnosis, not why they have it.

Weah96:
What could possibly be the reward for even a slight disobedience when every offense brings you closer to the heat?

sinequanon:


Wrong. You asked me what reward could they possibly conceive...



I arrive at my diagnosis by talking to atheists. This forum is chock full of examples of atheist denial, hypocrisy and inability to focus on questions. It is almost as if they are seeing a tiger in the room and all their answers are about what if the cage door came unlocked. They are more concerned with whether your question may somehow unlock their tiger's cage door, than the question, itself.

(The tiger is their fear of god, hell, etc.)

sinequanon:
Atheism is not secularism. It is largely a fear-based religion of denial, ironically centered on what a possible god may be able to do.

Weah96:


Do you believe in HELLFIRE or not? Hell fire means a place where a personal God will roast people forever after watching a DVD of their lives.