If what you believed turned out to be false, why would you believe in what you do?

Before I elaborate on my question, allow me to introduce myself. If you take a look at my profile, you can get a glimpse of what I am about. I am probably one of the few dissenting points of view on this website. I am an atheist, skeptic, and overall critic of any claims of the "supernatural" or "spiritual". As stated on my profile, my reason for being here is that it is part of an ongoing project of mine to explore different different faiths and different belief systems. I am active on many other forum websites. Much like the evolutionary tree of life that branches out in all different directions which produces all of the extant as well as extinct species on our planet, human irrationality and mental dysfunction produce delusional thought patterns that do the same. The delusions that humans invent branch out into different factions. By studying different view points, I hope to get a better understanding of what the environmental pressures are that drive people into different competing irrationalities and to learn more about the common threads that drive them.

It needs to be said that when I refer to "delusional thought patterns" and "mental dysfunction" I am referring to ANYONE who believes in life after death scenarios, a "higher power" that created the universe, or anything that people commonly refer to as "spiritual" or "supernatural". If anyone reading my post get offended, don't feel bad, because by no means did I come on this website to pick on you guys only as the vast majority of humanity is no different from you.

Ok, now with the intro out of the way, let's get down to the question. Like many new age philosophies, the beliefs of this website tend to be vague and not as well defined as a religion like say, Christianity or Islam. But from reading on this site and other new age sites and also watching some of the videos from this Ben Arion fellow who it looks like runs this site, I can suppose that most of you people share these beliefs in common, not only amongst yourselves but with many other faiths.

1. You believe in a supreme being of some kind, a "god" that created the universe and all life.

2. You believe that life continues for each organism after it dies and that it takes on the form of a "spirit" or "ghost".

3. You believe in a punishment or reward that is administered by a "god" for doing "good" or "bad" deeds in life.

4. You believe in the infallibility and supremacy of the human species. From what I have read about "ascension" and the so called "galactic federation" ( which isn't a lot, but I get the gist of what they mean ) humans must have a very special on planet earth since they are the only ones intelligent enough to accomplish such feats.

5. You believe that UFO sightings are evidence of advanced extraterrestrial beings visiting planet earth.

6. Last, and anything but least, you, like almost every other faith, believe that YOU are the "enlightened" ones who possess the "truth".

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I think I am pretty accurate in assessing your world views. Now I am not going to spend time on this post deconstructing each delusion. I will probably save those for future posts if I decide to post actively on this website. But I have a challenge for you the reader. Try to imagine a world in which everything else is the same, but your beliefs turned out to be nothing but delusions that are the product of your minds. My question is, why do you think you would believe such things if it turned out they were not true?

Theists ask me all the time what if there is a god, why would you reject him/her? Well the answer to that question is very simple. I simply wasn't given enough evidence to accept claims of the supernatural. Given the track record of supernatural beliefs and how they are debunked more and more by the scientific method when things thought to be supernatural in the past, such as thunder being the wrath of the gods and rainbows being produced by "supernatural"means, I simply had no good reason to accept claims of the supernatural and also no reason to think that claims of the supernatural would ever be true. So I would not feel stupid for having rejected supernatural claims even if I was shown solid evidence that it was true because I simply responded to the claims in the best way that I thought to at the time considering what I had to work with. Regardless of whether supernatural claims are true or not, atheism is the correct stance to take, at least until there is solid evidence to support the existence of the supernatural ( which I am very confident I will never see ).

The answer for why someone does not accept something as true is a pretty easy one to answer. However, the answer for why someone would believe something is true when it is not is far more complex and most people who hold something as true generally don't like to entertain, what is in their minds, a hypothetical that threatens their world view. I have asked the same question in real life to many Christians that I know and I almost never get a straight answer. I suspect they don't want to entertain the idea that there is no god or afterlife scenario because then they would have to admit to certain things that expose their belief system as being motivated by ideology and meaningless happenstances and not evidence. EG that belief in life after death is simply a coping mechanism for the fate that awaits every living thing after it dies, the experience of nothingness for all the rest of eternity (just the same state you were in before you were conceived of in you mother's womb) that Christian beliefs are arbitrarily passed down to you from the environment that you just happen to grow up in, etc.

I posed this same question on a Christian forum website more than 2 days ago and so far have received no response. If there are any brave souls out there who want to take my challenge, I would love to hear from you.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Avior on July 19, 2012 at 9:30am

When I first read the topic of your post, I couldn't help to realize how the question was formed. For myself, if what I believed turned out to be false, I simply wouldn't believe it anymore. In fact, I've had to do this a few times in my experience and it wasn't a problem. Were you aware that atheism is a philosophy?

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Permalink Reply by GoldCoinCollector on July 20, 2012 at 7:10am

"For myself, if what I believed turned out to be false, I simply wouldn't believe it anymore. In fact, I've had to do this a few times in my experience and it wasn't a problem."

Here you either show your lack of ability to entertain the idea that your beliefs are false, or you didn't understand my question. Ok, so you claim that you wouldn't believe what you do anymore if you found out that it was a lie. What about BEFORE you renounced your beliefs? THAT is the central question of my post. Why did you believe what you did BEFORE you renounced your beliefs in this hypothetical world of you finding out your beliefs were false?

"Were you aware that atheism is a philosophy?"

Here we go, the theist ploy to try to make atheism seem like it is just another faith. Atheism is both a lack of belief in supernatural phenomenon and a rejection of claims of the supernatural. Nothing more nothing less.

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Permalink Reply by Avior on July 20, 2012 at 5:42pm

Think your missing the point of what belief is, but I also think you have been talking to too many Christians. What I believe is not dogma, it's rather a path which is really quite simple. People come to new conclusions all the time. I think some people are wanting, early on, for someone to show them a package deal that they can completely accept and believe. If you were to tell me that your beliefs have not changed your entire life, I'd have a hard time accepting that, because it seems dependent on science and philosophy. These things change all the time, and people are always coming out with new philosophies, and science is constantly accepting new possibilites.

I think you might actually be somewhat sincere in trying to understand the supernatural. My advice would be to do your research. There's a ton of information and factual evidence out there. As far as UFOs and such, many military officials, doctors, lawyers and credible people all over the world are coming out with their stories and what they believe. If what your looking for is debunking information, that is exactly what you'll find, and indeed there are many natural explanations for UFO sightings.

Here is just one recent example of an ex-CIA agent coming forward about the 1947 incident that happened in Roswell, NM. In another recent story, a European scientist believes that alien life looks like jellyfish floating in the air. For me, it's just a story to help soften up the public for what's to come. The universe is huge and to say that we are the only planet with life is actually a little arrogant.

You may want to calculate into your human experience, that what you look for and accept as a possibility, will actually show itself to you when the time is right. If your looking for spirituality you might look into Buddism, since it does not require the idea of a personal god.

Here's also a great documentary about the Phoenix Lights incident that happened in 1997 in Arizona. It's not a scientific piece but the testimonies of so many people are there, one of which is a doctor and main character of the film, as well as the governor who later acknowledged that he thought they were extraterrestrial.

UFO TV documentary 2008 - The Phoenix Lights

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Phoenix Lights was an alien spacecraft, former AZ Gov. says

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Permalink Reply by KellyB13 on July 24, 2012 at 12:21pm

No wonder many people don't reply to your posts, since your tone is very patronizing.

You presume to know what everyone on AC believes & try to lump us all together in the crazy box!

Good luck with your lonely theories of eternal nothingness, they obviously mean more to you than love & friendship.

Love, Peace & Joy To All...(regardless of their beliefs!)

~XOX~

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Permalink Reply by 3smn7ct05z5dx on July 24, 2012 at 1:15pm

This isnt a popularity contest of who can get the most responses. That is called facebook.

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Permalink Reply by KellyB13 on July 24, 2012 at 11:48pm

Are you sure about that One?

You seem to be trying to break the record for the most annoying comments : )

~XOX~

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Permalink Reply by Feather Winger on July 19, 2012 at 9:59am

Hi,,,,first, I would say I disagree with all six of your points the way they are stated. Secondly, I would say that to understand spirituality, or any religion you need to do the practices and have personal experiences for just reading about it will never make you understand. Just like that reading about love is not the same as being in love.
I constantly check the truth of what I believe and if something is not OK then I kick it out and move forward.

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Permalink Reply by Two Feather on July 19, 2012 at 9:56pm

I completely agree with you there Feather. It's like the chemtrails, those that disagree and call you an idiot for believing have done zero research on the matter. They belittle those who have done their homework. Just plain idiocy.

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Permalink Reply by GoldCoinCollector on July 20, 2012 at 7:14am

"Hi,,,,first, I would say I disagree with all six of your points the way they are stated."

It does not matter how they are stated. As long as my points are coherent and you understand what I mean, that is all that matters. You are just trying to dodge the subject.

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Permalink Reply by Feather Winger on July 20, 2012 at 7:52am

Yes it does matter how they are stated if you ask what I believe....and I said no...I do not agree with what you said....no I do not believe that...!!!!....
If you want to understand spirituality or anything.....you must learn to use both sides of your brain.....not just the intellectual, ego, left side.

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Permalink Reply by Yuki-Tsubasa on July 20, 2012 at 2:25pm

nothing left for me to say xD you said all that needs to be said.

Love & light to you dear ones <3

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Permalink Reply by Valientelover on July 19, 2012 at 9:43pm

True and without love for example what point life? if the love of any aware sentient being is a true love where does that love come from?? A God or source of some kind, no??