Tuesday, October 1, 2013

What about the other gods?

Christianity wasn't the first religion to exist and it certainly won't be the last.  This was the basis one of the first truly skeptical thoughts I had as a child.  I learned about ancient Greek/Roman mythology and it sparked my skepticism.  Surely those ancient Greeks held the same conviction about their god as Christians do theirs.  Trying to tell an ancient Greek that Zeus did not exist would have been a laughable ordeal back then.  There was no doubt in any of their minds, then, that Zeus was the "master of the universe".  My question is, "what makes them wrong and Christians right?"
You see, throughout the human existence there have been multiple religions worshipping multiple gods.  In fact, there have been over 150 gods that we know of.  That, of course, doesn't even include a complete list, not to mention whatever gods might have been worshipped that we may never know about.  You're telling me that the millions, possibly even billions, of people who worshipped these other gods we wrong?  Not to bring up Pascal's wager but, the odds that Christians are right in their beliefs is at least 1 in 151.  These other gods, whom some were thought to be omnipotent themselves, have all faded away and died out.  What makes the Christian God any different?  I see no difference.  I see yet another omnipotent being thought up by people to offer answers to unknown questions and provide solace when it is needed.  Nothing else.  The same faith that Christians have in their god all these people from our past had in theirs.  What makes the Christian faith any better?  I hate to sound cliché with this, but now seems like the perfect time for one of my favorite quotes:
"I contend we are both Atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
Such a quote couldn’t be more fitting to one of the very first arguments I had for why I was an Atheist.  How a theist could hear such an argument and still not see the light is beyond me.  This is just one of many flaws found in the Christian religion.  I could go on and on about the other as well but since I have others things to do at the moment I will digress.  I only ask you to think about those other "all powerful" gods and remember their fate.

4 comments:

  1. Nice post. I am surprised this was the first thing that got you started on the path to atheism, it shows your mind was sceptical from day one. exactly the mind the church does not want :)

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    1. Yeah, that's the beauty of never being indoctrinated. I was free to figure out things for myself and because of that I was able to see all the fallacies of religion. The first sceptical thought I can remember was asking my dad, "If God made the universe, then who made God?" He told that God always was and God always will be and I thought that was complete BS. I am so thankful for not having to grow up in a religious home.

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  2. I also like the quote, whoever said it, "One period's religion is the next's literary entertainment." As a comic book reader, I can say that mythological gods come up a lot.

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    1. That is very true. I'm just surprised people ignore this fact. I'm so perplexed by how Christians (among others) assume their religion is an exception to the rule.

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