LordReed:


Well, what can I say but I used to believe and now I don't anymore.

LordReed:


Which is exactly what 99.9% of the universe is. The 7 other planets of our solar system cannot sustain life as we know it.

Image123:


You don't really want to know/feel the road of backsliding, it gets very steep. In summary on his behalf, he yielded too many times to the flesh/mind as against the spirit and Spirit.

peggywebbs:
Possibly but I know people have different thresholds for pain. Some people are more resilient but I think most times they find their way back at their time. It might take a long while but they come back. That type of faith doesn't poof in thin air

peggywebbs:
With that type of conviction I read from you on that thread...it takes more than just a simple I don't believe anymore. Anyway I know some things are too personal to share online.

But I'll tell you something, I sense something happened within the space of that three years. You know that there's a thin line between love and hate right?

When you love something so passionately like I felt all that emotion in your defenses. It takes just one single moment to turn all that love around hence your passionate angle on atheism. You defended Christianity passionately with the the same energy you are using on atheism today. It tells me only one thing about you.

I can sense you feel things deeply but I can also tell that in a couple of years you'll experience more in life and your views will change. So I'm not going to tell you to go back, but I'll tell you to heal. As long as it takes you, but make sure that you heal.

LordReed:


I think the passion you speak about is one for accuracy of information which I had even as a Christian. However, as I gradually came to realise, religion doesn't thrive on accuracy of information, it survives by attempting to blur the lines between reality and the stories we tell ourselves. I had to admit to myself that what I believed did not match with reality, only if I wanted to keep telling myself stories to gloss over what is real would it make sense. It also occurred to me that it is much less cumbersome to live without the stories, to take the challenges as they come and engage myself instead of hoping on some ephemeral pie in the sky or an eternal battle with "unseen" enemies.

peggywebbs:
Na.. you don't get that kind of convinction from accuracy. But again I said it's a matter of time with you. I believe you will find a balance eventually. Some people have to go through things in life, make certain decisions but eventually it leads them to the truth. I'm sure in your quest for the truth, you will find enlightenment and you will eventually make your decision. It's all part of the healing process.

I don't believe you have found the truth you're looking for, I don't think anybody can take you to that truth but yourself. Some things will happen naturally not because they are forced but because they are meant to be. Eventually we will all have our stories to tell.. you can call it red pill blue pill...but eventually all leads to one reality and one truth.

LordReed:


I think I have found the balance, I am not eager to believe anything not supported by evidence while not begrudging those who choose faith. For me no truth is greater than the reality we live in.

immaculatesense:

Dear LordReed
I like u so much and u av raised a very crucial question but it's a very simple one and I av read some of the replies u av got and they don't do it for u...but I will do it for u and I trust u will be sincere with me...
I will ask u just a question then after u answer I will now tell u wat will change ur mind if u can be sincere...
The question is
Tell me all that u know about the illness called malaria...wat causes malaria,how it is bn transfer and so on...just anytin u think u know about malaria...
Wen I see ur reply I will den go on with my submission
Thank u

LordReed:


I would rather you open a different thread for that. I would like to keep this thread free of back and forths. I only answered peggywebbs because it bordered on the topic which is evidence.

immaculatesense:

Thank u LordReed...
I keep it to myself then...thank u

LordReed:


Well anytime you are ready, gimme a mention.

immaculatesense:

Dear LordReed,I am ready wen u answer my one simple question...

elated177:


What have you learnt so far?

TheSourcerer:
contact me here Lord
Darnleypedro22@gmail.com


Let me know when you do so to edit off the mail

ayoncox:

I don't have any evidences to present to you just as there are no evidences that proves that other planets exist.
When we pass away from this earth we will all know whether God exists or not, but as for me I have chosen to believe he does and that Jesus is the only way to him, it is my choice of believe no need for explanation.

elated177:



What

LordReed:


While you are welcome to your beliefs, you are quite wrong on the question of evidence for the other planets. You can literally see Venus even in the daytime or any of the others with a good enough telescope also we have visited them via spacecraft. You might as well say we have no evidence for the moon given that we can see the moon and have visited it as well.

MFGCooperative:


How many of you have visited the planets and the moon? Let me see the proof that you've been to those places.

LordReed:


I think I have found the balance, I am not eager to believe anything not supported by evidence while not begrudging those who choose faith. For me no truth is greater than the reality we live in.

LordReed:


Was it my claim that I have been to those planets?

MFGCooperative:


You used the word 'we' in claiming the exploration of the planets. That's a claim. I want evidence.

MFGCooperative:


You already believe in many things without evidence. Many things.

1. You enter a cab believing you'll get home. You even make a call to your wife to tell her what food you'll eat on arrival. What evidence do you have that you'll get home? You just believe!

2. What evidence do you have that the food you ate yesternight was not poisoned? You ate it by faith. You just believe!

3. What evidence do you have that you'll wake up to another morning after sleeping yesternight? You've even planned your schedules for the following day. What evidence have you? You're living by faith!

4. What evidence do you have that Nairaland would still be up and running after creating this thread? No evidence. You created the thread by faith!

5. What evidence do you have that your kids would return home safely in the afternoon from school? You have no evidence. Every morning, you send them to school by faith.

You have no evidence for the many things you do. You just believe. You live in a faith world. And that's the first step you take to explore other worlds.

LordReed:


I don't believe any of these things. I have a reasonable expectation that any of these things will turn out favourable because the better part of my experience has been favourable. So yes I have evidence, no need for believing.

LordReed:


Via what means did I state we did this exploration?

MFGCooperative:


You explicitly stated that "We've visited other planets through spacecrafts."

MFGCooperative:


Past experiences are never reliable for use as evidences. Each time you had your own expectations fulfilled, someone else got his own expectations disappointed. You'll hear it in the news, yet, you'll still eat your food without testing for poison, send your kids to school the following morning, and even at the scene of a fatal accident, you'll still enter the next vehicle to get home. That's faith.

Experiences only produce hope. But, you more than merely hoping when you do the things you do. You're living by faith.

LordReed:


Exactly, which is why I do not believe that the outcomes will be favourable because I know the conditions may change.

Experience typroduces a concrete basis on which to direct future actions. The mechanic apprentice gaining experience is not working based on hope nor is he working by faith.

LordReed:


Great. So you can't ask me to prove I have been to those places when I specifically state that the exploration was done through proxies.

MFGCooperative:


You never made such insinuations. By your statement, you were there in person through spacecrafts. Spacecrafts aren't proxies.

MFGCooperative:


The experience of an apprentice is based on practice that tends towards perfection, producing self confidence. However, events and outcomes are not in the same brackets with apprenticeship. There's no such self confidence There's always a solid expectation based on faith.

LordReed:


They are, that is exactly what they do, produce enough confidence for you to repeat those actions. If every time I stepped out of my house an accident happens I would not have the confidence that the next time would be different. In any of the cases you state those favourable outcomes have given me the confidence to repeat them, has nothing to do with belief.

Besides I am not sure why you are struggling so hard to equate everything with belief. Do you think that belief is bad?