Quote:

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Many people beleive in God simply because they expect some help from him.
A sort of big brother
This is opportunism in my opinion
For obvious reasons an atheist can not be accused of opportunism since he does not expect any benefit for "not beleiving "

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Many people also believe in God to give something back to him. I believe in God because he's given me an existence, and I want to use my God-given talents and abilities to help others and create new things. God has also helped me through many tough times before, so in a way, he also helps you prolong your existence and have a more stable life and/or mental state because of it. I'm also going to say that just outright believing in God and nothing else is different than following Christianity, ect. However, this thread is not about that. I just hope everyone understand that spiritual matters aren't as primitive as many would have it("your life is either A)believe in god, or B) don't believe in God... ").

It's funny however, calling people who believe in God and those especially who try and conduct themselves in a good way because of it "opportunistic". I would like to think that doing so is very hard, as you cannot give into your worldly instincts as often. I am not sure how atheists conduct their moral behavior, but if they believe anything goes, and life just runs by luck and chance, then that sounds quite easy to me. If this is true, then hopefully most Atheist don't rest on their "let the world run itself" ideology.

However, JCL has put Atheism in a different light than I've usually seen(by most real life individuals I know whom are Atheist). He's shown it as a way of conviction to oneself, with no rest, no laziness, a feeling of purpose. A purpose to make good the chance that you had life in the first place.

If you look at Atheism this way, it sounds very similar to believing in God. Both want to give back, both want to work hard and use their abilities. The only difference is one accepts the restrictions God provides, and gains wisdom and understanding because of it. The other, has free reign within his mind, makes his own restrictions, and is still forever searching. If there is no perspective but your own, and everything is chance, then how do you know your thoughts and motives are proper?

It's a general belief of mine that everyone knows what's right and are purposely blinding themselves to some degree. I'm sure there are many reasons for this, we all do this at times, it's natural instinct - to want things our way...