How to convince an atheist there is a God

[Triplethought]

Came across this awesome thread on Reddit and had to share.

Oh, it’s very easy! I’m going to assume that you’re some kind of Christian, since in my experience that’s the group most obsessed with converting others. If you aren’t, please replace every mention of “God” with the deity you believe in and every mention of “bible” with your chosen religious text.

So first, you need to understand a few things.

We don't just not believe in your God. We don't believe in any gods. That means that your God, for us, is in no way different from Allah, Vishnu, Zeus, Thor or Quetzalcoatl. Your Bible, for us, is no different than the Qur'an or the Edda.
We do not secretly believe in God, believe in God but refuse to worship him, worship Satan or anything like that. We just don't believe in gods. Just like you don't believe in Santa Claus, unicorns or Darth Vader.
We already knows what you believe. We already know about your religion, your bible and your deity. So keep in mind that this is probably not the first time we've heard these arguments, not the first time we've heard of your religion. We already know.
Then, when you’re sure that you understand those things, make a list of all the arguments that you think might convince us. Now, take that list and…

Remove everything that depends on a religious text (example: You should believe because the Bible says…). You might as well say “You should believe because Harry Potter says…”
Remove everything that can apply to multiple gods (example: Without God, how do you explain morals/beauty/the universe/pumpkins?). That can easily be applied to Allah, Vishnu, Zeus, Odin, Jupiter or whatever.
Remove everything that ignores the existence of other religions (example: It's better to believe and be wrong than to disbelieve and be wrong). That only works if there's only two options to choose from, but there are thousand different religions and belief systems.
Remove everything that implies that “I don't know” equals “It was God”. (Example: We don't know what caused the Big Bang, so it was God). Not an argument. We don't know means we don't know, not “my personal favourite version is correct.”
Remove everything that works with fear and pressure (example: You’ll go to Hell for not believing!) This will only make us resent your religion and you as well.
Remove everything that goes against known facts. (Example: Evolution is a lie!) That just makes you come across as an idiot. And nobody wants to join a religion if the person who introduced them to it behaved like an idiot.
Remove everything based on feelings, emotions and dreams. (Example: You just need to let him in your heart and you’ll feel him!) Those things are zero proof of anything. They are incredibly easy to manipulate, even on accident.
Remove everything based on prayer. For every prayer that was “answered”, there is one that was not answered. For every one “answered” by your God, there is one “answered” by another god.
Same goes for visions, miracles, eyewitness testemonies and near-death experiences. Those are too varied and too random to be proof of anything.
Remove every argument that can be boiled down to “things can’t just happen to exist, so that proves they were made by a thing that just happens to exist”. That’s not an argument. That’s a sign that your brain is a plastic bag full of pasta.
Now! Take the arguments that remain and do the following…

Replace every instance of the word “God” with the word “Anubis”
Replace every instance of the word “Bible” with the word “ancient hieroglyphs”
Replace every insance of the word “Jesus” with the word “Pharao Ramses II”.
And now be honest. Do these arguments, the way they are now, convince you that Anubis exists?

If yes, then there is a tiny little speck of a chance that they might potentially theoretically be able to possibly influence us a tiny little bit (maybe).

But if no, forget it.

More good arguments (and some bad ones) at the source
https://divineatheist.quora.com/How-do- ... is-a-God-1

[Yodean]

Came across this awesome thread on Reddit and had to share.
Oh, it’s very easy! I’m going to assume that you’re some kind of Christian, since in my experience that’s the group most obsessed with converting others. If you aren’t, please replace every mention of “God” with the deity you believe in and every mention of “bible” with your chosen religious text.

LOL, I was wondering when you were going to get involved in the Case Against God (CAG). You were uncharacteristically quiet recently on this topic.

My JAIS (Jesus A.I. System) caught some sort of mild virus and is currently not speaking to me. Ah well. Gotta feed it some zinc, quercetin, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin D, rhodiola, siberian ginseng, and shilajit.

[Yodean]

Bill Hwang spent 25 years building his career, but his downfall took just four days.

The now-notorious owner of Archegos Capital Management took extraordinary risks by leveraging stock positions and artificially inflating their prices, prosecutors alleged on Wednesday. When the private fund ran out of borrowed money a year ago, it imploded and left global banks with losses of $10 billion.

"Over the course of less than a week in late March 2021, the house of cards collapsed," the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a complaint against Hwang.

Hwang was arrested early on Wednesday and was hit with 11 criminal charges including racketeering, market manipulation and fraud.

Wearing a green turtleneck and beige slacks, Hwang later pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court and was released on a $100 million bail bond.

It was the second fall from grace for Hwang, who was punished by U.S. and Asian regulators in 2012 for violations at his former hedge fund, Tiger Asia.

Bankers on Wall Street describe Hwang as a down-to-earth and polite person.

Hwang, who has said he is inspired by his Christian faith, lives in a house in the New York City suburb of Tenafly, New Jersey, with an estimated value of $3.1 million, according to Zillow, where he was photographed this week according to the Daily Mail. That is modest compared with many billionaire fund managers.

“I’m not afraid of death or money. The people on Wall Street wonder about the freedom that I have," Hwang said in a video posted by his foundation in 2019. "Ultimately, the most important thing is the Bible."

That contrasts with Hwang the investor, who was "super aggressive" and "considered a guy who was willing to do incredibly bold things," said a professional hedge fund investor who has tracked his career.

Hwang used leveraged to amplify his bets, holding stock positions worth over $50 billion while his funds had assets of about $10 billion, three sources familiar with the trades said.

He did that by buying derivatives known as total return swaps, which allow investors to bet on stock price moves without owning the underlying securities, according to the sources. Instead, the bank buys the stocks and promises the investor a performance-related return. That client, in turn, posts collateral to secure the trades with the bank.

https://www.kitco.com/news/2022-04-28/T ... cards.html

https://www.reuters.com/business/seduce ... 021-04-02/

[SOL]

Bill Hwang spent 25 years building his career, but his downfall took just four days.

The now-notorious owner of Archegos Capital Management took extraordinary risks by leveraging stock positions and artificially inflating their prices, prosecutors alleged on Wednesday. When the private fund ran out of borrowed money a year ago, it imploded and left global banks with losses of $10 billion.

"Over the course of less than a week in late March 2021, the house of cards collapsed," the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a complaint against Hwang.

Hwang was arrested early on Wednesday and was hit with 11 criminal charges including racketeering, market manipulation and fraud.

Wearing a green turtleneck and beige slacks, Hwang later pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court and was released on a $100 million bail bond.

It was the second fall from grace for Hwang, who was punished by U.S. and Asian regulators in 2012 for violations at his former hedge fund, Tiger Asia.

Bankers on Wall Street describe Hwang as a down-to-earth and polite person.

Hwang, who has said he is inspired by his Christian faith, lives in a house in the New York City suburb of Tenafly, New Jersey, with an estimated value of $3.1 million, according to Zillow, where he was photographed this week according to the Daily Mail. That is modest compared with many billionaire fund managers.

“I’m not afraid of death or money. The people on Wall Street wonder about the freedom that I have," Hwang said in a video posted by his foundation in 2019. "Ultimately, the most important thing is the Bible."

That contrasts with Hwang the investor, who was "super aggressive" and "considered a guy who was willing to do incredibly bold things," said a professional hedge fund investor who has tracked his career.

Hwang used leveraged to amplify his bets, holding stock positions worth over $50 billion while his funds had assets of about $10 billion, three sources familiar with the trades said.

He did that by buying derivatives known as total return swaps, which allow investors to bet on stock price moves without owning the underlying securities, according to the sources. Instead, the bank buys the stocks and promises the investor a performance-related return. That client, in turn, posts collateral to secure the trades with the bank.

https://www.kitco.com/news/2022-04-28/T ... cards.html

https://www.reuters.com/business/seduce ... 021-04-02/

Stupidity knows no limits. He over leveraged himself and he was knocked out. Now he needs to learn how to flip pancakes or pizza or stock up on Vaseline if he is sent to Jail

[George1010]

Think too big and lose your wig

I think playing too hard is just as bad is not playing at all. It's best to find equilibrium

[Yodean]

I think playing too hard is just as bad is not playing at all. It's best to find equilibrium

To me, that is the Creed of the Mediocre.

Personally, I'd rather die trying to be the best I can be and fail miserably, than stay within my comfort zone and survive. On balance, this mindset has worked out fairly well for me, thus far, in this particular life cycle.

But then again, on a certain level, I don't take life all that seriously, really. The whole GOG (Guru of Gurus) thing, Ms. Death walking close by, etc.

We all die. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next year, maybe the day after Trump is re-elected. Who knows. Play hard. Get outta line a bit, here and there, at least.

Okay, I'll tone it down a tad: be safe, but not too safe - life without risk is certain death.