Originally Posted by WhippetGrappler

This happened not too long ago in the town I used to live in before moving to Virginia. (Mansfield, OH)

Mansfield company rejects atheist billboards - Canton, OH - CantonRep.com

I do not understand how these Atheists groups think they are going to draw people in when they antagonize people.

Just trying to understand. Spider and ODH, what do you base your ethical system off of?

I feel with the type of billboards these groups put up their true mission (even if it is just subconscious) is really just to antagonize people.

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Personally I wish I still believe in a just and loving God. I have a twinge of jealously toward people who can find comfort in faith and prayers during difficult times, so I would never resent someone's faith or try to turn them away from it.
I also wish that I still believed in Santa Claus, because he was pretty great as well, but unfortunately I don't.

Originally Posted by ODH

I feel with the type of billboards these groups put up their true mission (even if it is just subconscious) is really just to antagonize people.

Personally I wish I still believe in a just and loving God. I have a twinge of jealously toward people who can find comfort in faith and prayers during difficult times, so I would never resent someone's faith or try to turn them away from it.
I also wish that I still believed in Santa Claus, because he was pretty great as well, but unfortunately I don't.

I hate to read this ODH. I wish you could believe in God and find comfort there. I'm not trying to convert you or anything, this post just reads a little pessimistic. I feel for those who are pessimistic. Not sure how to get you there or even if you want to get there, but I do feel that optimism is a huge factor in faith. I truly hope that you already do or can one day find something to believe in.

And honestly, I still believe in Santa Claus. He isn't a fat guy in a red suit, but for whatever reason he somehow shows up at my parents house every single Christmas. If you don't believe me, maybe I'll post some pictures of my nephews faces as they're opening their presents on Christmas day.

Originally Posted by ODH

I feel with the type of billboards these groups put up their true mission (even if it is just subconscious) is really just to antagonize people.

Personally I wish I still believe in a just and loving God. I have a twinge of jealously toward people who can find comfort in faith and prayers during difficult times, so I would never resent someone's faith or try to turn them away from it.
I also wish that I still believed in Santa Claus, because he was pretty great as well, but unfortunately I don't.

I can sympathize with you here b/c I grew up without a religion & feel better b/c of that as I was able to find out things for myself. When I went to visit some relatives once & they brought my brother & I to their church I could NOT wait to get the heck out of there. That was when I was 12. I found their attempts to tell me how their reality was the only reality scary. And for myself years later I discovered that there is a spiritual side of life AND a Spiritual realm BUT not how they defined it.

My point being is that maybe the definitions that some others are providing for you with regards to "God" or "god" don't exist at all OR maybe they are just not true for you. Perhaps you are correct in your rejection of a concept that doesn't make sense but perhaps you just haven't run across a system that correlates to your experience. I would suggest that you keep looking.

After spending several months studying the Bible in Greek & Hebrew I came away with a completely different meaning from the New Testament then I had before. It pretty much disagreed with most conventional wisdom regarding Christianity. B/c of that I kept looking. I ended up in the East studying Hinduism, Buddhism & particularly Tibetan Zen Buddhism. But I still had many spiritual experiences that NO ONE could explain so I kept searching until I found the path that I am on today.

If it is not important to you to discover why you are here or if there is life after death then religion or minimally spirituality will have no place in your life. But if you have a driving purpose for answers, they are out there & more importantly they are within YOU. A good teacher or a good body of knowledge & technology will help you discover & unlock what is within you as believe it or not, you already have all the answers you are looking for in THERE.

My best advice....

Originally Posted by quinn14

I hate to read this ODH. I wish you could believe in God and find comfort there. I'm not trying to convert you or anything, this post just reads a little pessimistic. I feel for those who are pessimistic. Not sure how to get you there or even if you want to get there, but I do feel that optimism is a huge factor in faith. I truly hope that you already do or can one day find something to believe in.

And honestly, I still believe in Santa Claus. He isn't a fat guy in a red suit, but for whatever reason he somehow shows up at my parents house every single Christmas. If you don't believe me, maybe I'll post some pictures of my nephews faces as they're opening their presents on Christmas day.

I wish I could believe in God and heaven as well and in fact I don't try to think to deeply about it because every time I do it just re-enforces my belief that there is no afterlife or supreme being. I really hate the thought of myself and loved ones dying and that being the absolute end, but I find any other type of belief is wishful thinking.
At this point it would literally take an act of God for me to believe.

Originally Posted by FloggingSully

If religious beliefs aren't brought up in your interactions with someone, how do you know if they're an atheist or not? Or do you discuss religion with everyone you interact with?

Much of it has been on online religion/spiritual message boards. Also on other boards discussing Alternative Medicine, Unexplained Phenomena, Philosophy & Painting.

Originally Posted by Spider

I find it very unrealistic to expect someone be able to to change his beliefs simply because he chooses to. When people say that you must accept Jesus as Lord or accept that there is no God, they assume that you have a choice in what to believe. You really don't. Belief is something that happens to you by virtue of your evaluation of the evidence. Real belief isn't something you can just decide to do. You can believe all sorts of things if you choose to accept some observations or interpretations of these observations in a subjective way, but you can't lie to your brain and tell it that even though all the evidence points to A, I'm going to believe B. I would love to believe that there is a heaven and I'm going to meet my deceased loved ones there some day, but I just don't buy it.

That said, I agree with ODH that the billboards in question probably aren't expected to change anyone's mind, but just there to express another point of view.

Spider, if you have experiences that no one can explain then that changes everything. Then you do have a choice to pursue an explanation or not.