CAROLINAGIRL
None taken!
I am, and always will be an athiest.
True, I can't disprove there is no God, but by the same token, you cannot prove that there is. I base my belief on rational thought and scientific proof and I see little point in refering to a book of tall stories (some of which may well be based on actual historic events) to tell me how to think. Your analogy about China is flawed, as I have seen and can touch gold, and can present it to you as proof that it exists; so I can say that it is most likeley that China has gold. I could argue that china has no 'flying traffle beasts', because I just made them up, they are imaginary - just as I believe your God to be.
You ask about the consequences of when we die - That's the one of the main reasons the Human race clings on to their superstitions and belief in God, because they find death too hard to bear, so parents tell their kids 'granny's gone to heaven' to ease the pain (fair enough, it is probably nicer than saying 'granny's worm-food' but the kids carry on believing this and the cycle continues), and what if (for sake of argument) that this is actually heaven and we've been somewhere even worse before, this could be the top rung of the ladder!
As for 'parting the seas and raising the dead' - Exaggerated stories, it's in our nature to make things sound more dramatic than they are.
Anyway, I hope you take no offence either - I just wan't you to know that there are many people who believe that there is no God, heaven or hell (to put it in simple terms) just as strongly as you believe that there is. We tend not to get together every sunday or go door-to-door to spread the logical word!