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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Permalink Reply by Anupriya Srivastava on September 11, 2012 at 12:36pm

This is so much like my journey too... I am reading a book "God is not Dead" - What quantam physics tell you about our origins and how we should live... By amit goswami.

And I realise that without a consciousness, nothing material could have existed at all...

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Permalink Reply by Robert Naysmith on July 19, 2012 at 2:19pm

1. I beleive in a universal intelligent energy,

2.I am an intelligent energy that takes on physical forms you call a physical body which is an illusion for my learning of self.

3.there is only the illusion of right or wrong for the purpose of my growth, and in reality there is no right or wrong ,that too is an illusion.

4.Ascension is nothing more than expansion of consciousness ,The more I learn the more I realize that for every question answered there a hundred,thousand or a million more to take its place,This Kindergarten is only the beggining of knowledge

and in no way do I beleive in supremecy in the light of your thought.All are of the same energy, so there can be no one better or worse.

5.I beleive that ufos are an extension of the hunam race and much more , as there are other life forms that have inteligence beyond that found on earth,but are still part of us in the since that all and everything is energy.

6. I beleive that six has been answered but, not hardley,We are simply learning at a certain level called earth consciousness,or a state of collective consciousnes that is only a small part of the whole for this planet,not to speak of that within this Universe or the vastness of all Universes.

As far as trying to make another see my way of life it will never happen as I have found out that you can lead a horse to water but you can not make it drink, until it is thirsty.There is a diversity of people here and we have our agreements and agruements ,but for the most part we give others the right to beleive as they see fit.Each is at their own place of learning with no need to impose our will on another.

This is my own thoughts and not those of all here ,so you should get a varity of answers,as there are most religions here from all parts of this world and for the most part we all get along beautifully. Love Bob

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Permalink Reply by Lori Scott Kaiser on July 20, 2012 at 5:09pm

Bravo, So clearly stated, and there is nothing that I would disagree with. Nice to meet you Robert. I could have written that myself, though not as eloquently.

Lori

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Permalink Reply by Robert Naysmith on July 20, 2012 at 7:01pm

Thank you Lori,nice to meet you also, I have read some of your responses and feel you may have done even better than I Love Bob

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Permalink Reply by EEVIE on July 19, 2012 at 3:12pm

Your leading question makes no sense. You are stating that future revelations should impact how we believe now. ???

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Permalink Reply by 1uxvjrdkrgvf2 on July 19, 2012 at 4:45pm

I'm going to ignore the vast majority of your message and only answer your question which is a fair question.

If/when it is proven that ETs exist and have been around for eons, I don't see how those who don't believe could possibly deny the obvious and what is right in front of their own eyes. Sadly though, I believe many will still deny their existence. I don't know how the absence of a God could be proven but if it was beyond any doubt whatsoever, I would have to accept it.

Given your attitude and beliefs, I am puzzled as to why your membership to AC was approved. Oh well.

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Permalink Reply by Avior on July 19, 2012 at 6:01pm

This person is God trying to find his way Home! Of course his profile should be approved! :-)

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Permalink Reply by ChaoticDragon16 on July 19, 2012 at 7:52pm

Indeed, I agree with you. Every of us have our own paces of finding out who we truly are. :)

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Permalink Reply by 3smn7ct05z5dx on July 19, 2012 at 6:13pm

be very careful not to get into the same pattern we see lightworkers here attack us with. He should be allowed here and allowed to think and converse and discuss and grow just like everyone else. perhaps we can illuminate his opinion of how many of us see what is happening, rather than push him away with the idea he shouldnt be here.

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Permalink Reply by Lori Scott Kaiser on July 20, 2012 at 5:11pm

Absolutely. Exclude no one.

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Permalink Reply by Truthjunkie on July 19, 2012 at 5:26pm

I believe that we are our own operating system which recieve and transmits information. I am also a Christian who has a very open mind. You may ask why is a Chiristian on a web-site like this. Let me explain. There has been many way-seers in history. Christ showed us a way to live and how to treat others through the manifistation of love. Love is the purest form that there is. From what i gather from this website is that people are trying to connect with love, compassion, understanding and acceptance of one another, so that cant be a bad thing. I try to see others perception with respect and to get a bigger picture of what is going on within the world. Human beings have always had an inquistive nature.

Hope this gives you an insight into my outlook on things and I wish you well on your journey. TJ

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Permalink Reply by ChaoticDragon16 on July 19, 2012 at 7:47pm

I have learned very important lessons through my lives and that is no matter what you believe... It is your belief and perspective shapes your experiences through your life. Everyone have different belief for reasons and it lead them into experiencing their own life where it lead them into learning everything in their own paces. Everyone goes on their own paces and it doesn't matter what we all believe, our belief is what forms and creates our own realities around us. The mind and heart, together, is what creates and attracts everything to us according to our beliefs.

I believe in what I feel right within me because it is what I wish to believe in which shapes my experiences and each time I change my belief and perspective of everything through my experiences, my life experiences changes according to it. And I used to think "What is right or wrong about my belief? I spend through life seeking for answers to it and now I realize that... There is no right or wrong in it, it is all about how we want to believe in what feels right within us. If we all believe in exactly same thing, then we would not learn from each other. I mean look at what is happening right now, this author of this thread writes as he is 'observing' what make people creating their own belief that shapes their experiences unconsciously or consciously. That is how this person is learning in their own paces while the people who replied responses their own beliefs. That is how we evolve, grow, and learn from everything!

I thank you, author of this thread, for allowing me to have a chance to express my learned experiences and my perspective of what "belief" is and what makes us believing in things. And I will tell you one thing, it doesn't matter if something seem illusion to you, everything is illusion because everything is made of energy. Energy is always changing through everywhere around us as universes unfolds itself around us. There is so much more to than just merely "reality" that you are seeing, feeling, touching, smelling, and hearing within this 3-Dimensions reality, especially what creates it. There is energy everywhere that shapes the realities around us and we are connected with one source of energy. There will be the time you realize it in your own paces. And how do I know? I have gone through so much things in my life, especially having specific experiences that was so vivid that it seem 'out of this world' to eye (perspective) of people. And I am very blessed that I had a chance to experience vast things as I have walked through my own journey and I continue to. There is INFINITE journeys for all of us to go on in our infinite paths ahead of us.