I am a Christian. I believe that those individuals that truly read the Bible and make a realistic attempt to understand it (i.e. not find an obscure verse and interperet it to me Jesus was a racist, but rather look at supporting evidence of the true meaning of the verse) will believe in the Bible. Most atheists go in with the attitude to prove it wrong. Although sometimes their hearts are changed (Case for Christ). However, religion is called faith for a reason. While God certainly could show himself to you, it may not be the way an individual wishes it to be. And many people, unfortunately require things their way. So I will continue to focus my main problems with the belief of an existance without God.
1. Any belief without God is a belief that spontaneous generation lead to evolution. The big bang theory is interesting in that all objects have gravity and thus pull themselves together. Why then is our galaxy becoming larger and our galaxy speeding away from the "big bang"? Notwithstanding there is no reason to believe in spontaneous generation. And evolution may have a few small victories (i.e. different species of birds) but there is no long term proof of it working. I.E. most genetic mutations are exceedingly negative. There are no middle ground creatures between say an ape and a man (I know they were supposed to die out but we find dinosaur bones, absolutely no proof unless you say an ape had man babies and the man babies mated and became superior.)
2. Any belief without God is a belief in a world without morals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualism "
Individualism is a term used to describe a moral, political, or social outlook that stresses human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty. Individualists promote the exercise of individual goals and desires. They oppose most external interference with an individual's choices - whether by society, the state, or any other group or institution. Individualism is therefore opposed to holism, collectivism, fascism, communalism, statism, totalitarianism, and communitarianism, which stress that communal, group, societal, racial, or national goals should take priority over individual goals. Individualism is also opposed to the view that tradition, religion, or any other form of external moral standard should be used to limit an individual's choice of actions.
Individualism has a controversial relationship with egoism (selfishness). While some individualists are egoists, they usually do not argue that selfishness is inherently good. Rather, some argue that individuals are not duty-bound to any socially-imposed morality and that individuals should be free to choose to be selfish (or to choose any other lifestyle) if they so desire. Others still, such as Ayn Rand, argue against moral relativism and argue selfishness is a virtue."
If I didn't believe in God, but instead believed that I was the highest authority of myself and that my time was limited, I would be an egoist. People would argue that atheists are really group theorists and want was is best for the group, thus creating their own set of morals slightly different than Christain morals, but that just doesn't make much sense to me. A world w/o religion is a world of chaos to me. If you could convince me that Christianity was not true (good luck), then I wouldn't think twice about stealing, lieing, or doing whatever I could to get ahead. Because without a God that's all I would have to look forward to.
