[Stargazer]

Egor wrote

Ah, so you want God to rape you. Or at least rape your mind. You want him to directly prove Himself to you so you have no choice but to know He’s your master and you are his creature.

Aside from the rape metaphor intended to put me in my place as a female, this statement is an avoidance of the fact that no evidence of God's existence has yet been presented. With the evidence we have now, God is no more than a fictional character or an imaginary friend.

Egor wrote

When I was nine, right about the age in which you say you became an atheist ironically, I was walking alone in a field in Escondido, California, and I looked to the sky for some reason, and I had this overwhelming sense of God. I don’t know how to explain it, but I understand now that it would have been called a religious ecstasy. And I had a miserable life at that time, but the glory and the desire I felt. It was so good; nothing has ever compared to it. Nothing at all. It’s funny, I can still remember it so clearly.

Vague presentation of the Argument From Design referred to previously multiple times.

Egor wrote

Because of that, I have followed God and sought Him and it has worked. I talk to God all the time, and He talks to me. But he never forced me to believe in him. That experience is evidence of nothing. If we were forced to know He exists, then we would become his automatons. And that is not what He’s looking for. Once you know God exists, you can’t unknow it. It’s like seeing your naked grandmother; you just can’t escape the knowledge. Maybe it’s God’s sense of humor: Because we believe first and then we get the proof. I realize Moses got a burning bush, and the Apostles got the miracles of Jesus, but they all believed in God already. God could rape our minds. But a rapist never gets a lover does he? He only gets an object.

All this talk of rape makes me concerned about your wife.

Egor wrote

So, even miracles won’t convince you? Tim Tebow, if he’s winning, and if he’s praying to win, isn’t that the proof you all are seeking? Of course not. Miracles prove nothing. They never have. That’s why the miracles of Jesus also have symbolic meaning, because they only work for those who physically see them, and then not for most of them either. Miracles are very weak proof. Every psychotic patient I have (sorry, but patient is the appropriate term) believes in magic. Every one of them sees things that aren’t there. Miracles are useless proof. I could tell you about the miracles in my life, but why bother?

Thanks for sparing us that.

Egor wrote

So, miracles won’t convince you; pictures won’t convince you.

You mean pictures of my dog and books? Sorry, no.

Egor wrote

All your religious studies have not convinced you.

True. Obviously.

Egor wrote

Another nurse at work said she was praying about something and she asked for a sign. Then she described a sign that came almost immediately after. Unfortunately I tend to dump everything from work when I get home so I don’t remember the particulars, but I remember saying, OMG that’s amazing! And she was like, “But I’m not quite sure…”

It was all in her mind. Really.

Egor wrote

That ain’t ever going to happen. But don’t act so indignant. You don’t have concrete proof of anything, not really. We believe everything we think we know.

Yes, but it all depends very much what the belief is based upon.

Egor wrote

And not that you need it, but may I offer one little bit of advice? Stop identifying with other atheists. You said, “Just give us proof…” There’s nothing to be had by being part of a “group.” Not when it comes to whether or not God exists.

I am part of a group of people who express ideas on this forum. Many of them are atheists, and all are people worth knowing. I do not stand alone on the issue discussed here in this thread, and I welcome everyone's input. I am not in any mental anguish over whether God exists. I simply do not believe. However, I will ask anyone who asserts the existence of God to offer proof (of the type above) of that assertion before passing judgement upon me or other atheists for not believing.