Prayer & being between a rock and a hard place

@pb1022 said
If God could be disproven, you would have a point.

But He can’t be disproven, so you don’t.

What about those you call "genuine atheists" who don't feel the need to prove or disprove anything to a religionist such as yourself?

@fmf said
To which version of a possible creator entity would an atheist be supposed to pray in order for you to adjudicate that he wasn't placing his own interests above those of a dying life-partner? Some of your comments make you sound like you have never interacted with non-believers before.

The atheist could simply pray to “God,” as in, “God, if you really do exist, please save my loved one and have mercy on us.”

No reason to get complicated as to which God to pray to because there is only one God and if you address your prayer to “God,” you’re addressing it correctly.

@fmf said
What about those you call "genuine atheists" who don't feel the need to prove or disprove anything to a religionist such as yourself?

If you’re claiming you (or anyone else) can disprove God, I think you’re obviously mistaken and trying to change the subject.

@pb1022 said
The atheist could simply pray to “God,” as in, “God, if you really do exist, please save my loved one and have mercy on us.”

What is the point of prayer without faith?

@pb1022 said
If you’re claiming you (or anyone else) can disprove God, I think you’re obviously mistaken and trying to change the subject.

OK, I'll put it another way. How does whether or not the existence of your Christian God can be "disproven" ~ to your satisfaction ~ have any bearing on how "genuine" an atheist's beliefs are?

@pb1022 said
No reason to get complicated as to which God to pray to because there is only one God and if you address your prayer to “God,” you’re addressing it correctly.

It's almost as if today is the first time you have ever interacted with an atheist.

@pb1022 said
Why do you troll so much in here?

I'm just mingling. You?

@fmf said
What is the point of prayer without faith?

Because an atheist watching a loved one potentially die and realizing how helpless he is to help her, yet desperately wanting to help her, would likely (imo) summon the smidgen of faith necessary to realize his lack of belief in God may be incorrect and therefore, based on that smidgen of faith, say a short, heartfelt prayer in a state of desperation and as a means of last resort.

@pb1022 said
would likely (imo)

speculation, imagination, yeah

@fmf said
OK, I'll put it another way. How does whether or not the existence of your Christian God can be "disproven" ~ to your satisfaction ~ have any bearing on how "genuine" an atheist's beliefs are?

You’re changing the subject.

We’re talking about whether an atheist can be 100 percent certain God does not exist. I say the atheist (obviously) can’t. You seem to think he can.

@fmf said
It's almost as if today is the first time you have ever interacted with an atheist.

I interact with them all the time on the Internet,

@kevin-eleven said
speculation, imagination, yeah

Do you seriously have nothing better to do?

@pb1022 said
Because an atheist watching a loved one potentially die and realizing how helpless he is to help her, yet desperately wanting to help her, would likely (imo) summon the smidgen of faith necessary to realize his lack of belief in God may be incorrect and therefore, based on that smidgen of faith, say a short, heartfelt prayer in a state of desperation and as a means of last resort.

"Heartfelt prayer"?

The very point of the OP is that, looking back, even in those dire circumstances, in the foxhole so to speak, my lack of belief in the Christian God was confirmed.

@pb1022 said
We’re talking about whether an atheist can be 100 percent certain God does not exist. I say the atheist (obviously) can’t. You seem to think he can.

"Hard" or "explicit" atheists are certain that God doesn't exist. That you don't feel they have justified their disbelief to you, or convinced you that they are 100% certain, is neither here nor there.

@pb1022 said
You’re changing the subject.

We’re talking about whether an atheist can be 100 percent certain God does not exist. I say the atheist (obviously) can’t. You seem to think he can.

This seems like an arbitrarily binary test:

"Believe exactly as I do, or there will be horrible consequences for you that I (@pb1022) might smugly enjoy."

In addition to the God of Slow Cooking and the God of the Magic Crystal Tank, I also believe in the God of the Mixed Bag.

What say you now, you punitive purity creep?

If you are a troll who only presents himself as a Christian, I would say that your understanding of the value and benefit of Christianity in other people's lives is stunted.