I know many of you for only a short amount of time. But please hear me out. Some of you don't know God, don't believe in Him, or come with contempt towards God, and to those who believe in Him.

I want to tell you what I know, from loving God.

When I am alone, I am weaker. Not to say that I am weak. In my mind I am weak, but to others, I am however they judge me. Weak or strong. But without God I am weaker. The same is true with loving God. When I focus on Him, and commit myself my love is stronger then it was before. Both my patience, and understanding, as well as any generosity or kindness. I can be a better person because God's love strengthens me to be better then when I am alone.

There are standards, there are sins. There is obedience and rebellion. But with all of this, even in spite of all this, God can strengthen us. This is what I've seen. It's what I know. The more you love God and are willing to be in His care, the stronger your love for others will be.

I do not mean that your love is weak, that you are not moral, or can not love. But that with God, He will make you stronger in the things that matter. Including our love for one another, and for our neighbors.

I see in these conversations, debates against religion, against believers, and against God as a whole. It is a conversation that seeps into other conversations regularly. It's worth talking about, so why not talk about it here.

God loves you. Otherwise He would not have sent Jesus here for your sake and mine. No, if He did not love you, He would not leave believers here to be mocked, chided, or even killed in the most horrible ways. But He has left those He's called here to be a beacon of light for those who do not know Him.

I hope you find Him if you haven't already. :)

Dear Not_Now.Soon, Many people have the idea that it would be a better world if all people believed what they believed. It's not going to happen. Christianity is one of many religions. Jesus is one of many divine figures. Many gods in the classical period were born of a virgin, were sacrificed for humankind and were resurrected. Frazer and Carpenter have told about it in their books. At this time Jesus has cornered much of the market for that kind of thing - at least in the western world. Gradually another idea has attracted more and more people. That is the idea that one of the criteria of a good society is to learn to live with the fact that other people have different ideas about religion including the idea that all beliefs in a supernatural are in error. I believe in no religion or any form of the supernatural. However, I have the idea that other people will continue to have those beliefs. Other people will continue to have a mindset different from mine. I have to find a way to get along with them peacefully, and they have to find a way to get along with me peacefully if we want to have a good society. I find the ancient philosophies of the stoics, epicureans and cynics make more sense than any religion I know of and regard all belief in any form of a supernatural as superstition. However, I have to get along with people who do not think that way and realise that people who do not think that way can be kind, decent and caring. I regard the missionary mindset that other people have to accept the beliefs of the missionary as a curse on humanity.

How people believe such nonsense in this day and age is really beyond me.

TheAtheist, What positive philosophy gives you strength of character? Remembering that atheism is a negative.

Yes, God loves you - but what does it mean?

Does He love your body? Then why does He let it die?
Does He love your mind? Then why does He allow dementia?
Does He love you assets? Then why does He allow them to be broken and dwindle?
Does He love your personality? Then why does He allow it to change?
Does He love your sins? Then can you ever hope to have them washed?

Whatever THING you can think of, will perish, so how can you say that God loves that thing?

No, there is not a thing which God loves - but fortunately you are not a thing!

By God's love, one day you will be free of sin. One day, nothing will any longer separate you from God, but so long as you think of yourself as some-thing or as a combination of things, that very thought will keep you in sin and separate you from God.

So find who you really are - till then the fact that God loves this unknown *you* would remain a nice theory that is not of much use.

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Dear Atheist,

«How people believe such nonsense in this day and age is really beyond me.»

Have you tried, or has this day and age crushed your ability to believe?

Yes, it is quite difficult to believe against scientific evidence - which is a great loss.

No, belief in God is not strictly necessarily, but it is just so much more difficult to concentrate and focus on God whom you don't believe in.

Belief is not the main point of this discussion, but rather Not_Now.Soon's observation that «When I focus on Him, and commit myself my love is stronger then it was before». Perhaps you would like to relate to that?

THEAtheist. Sounds as if the thinks he is the one and only. Atheists are 10 a penny around here, and they all have their own god, or gods. The most dangerous being the god of self-belief.