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#1241 |
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Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy
Posts: 11,180
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I believe your assertion above is just plain wrong. Simply not correct. Implacably, repeatedly, boringly wrong. Many atheists, like theists, have thought well and hard about all the things you're mentioning here. Some have gone through catechism and even divinity school and lost their faith, while others have found faith in a flash. Many have probably studied it in greater depth than you have, including long and tedious study of the scholastic arguments for and against ontological proof, and the anthropological, psychological and philosophical discussion of how some of those ideas came about. You should probably do the same thing before assuming that the issue is as simple as you make it out to be. There are reasons why theists and atheists, as well as everything in between, still exist, and you have not even scratched the surface.
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"Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.(Samuel Johnson) The gods are less for their love of praise....(Wendell Berry) |
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#1242 |
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ETcorngods survivor
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 11,475
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You have repeated that the concept of God in the Christian faith as creator of the heavens and Earth. However, that concept is far from complete. Sure, characterizing something by its deeds and accomplishments is reasonable, but you have limited yourself to just two (creator of heavens, creator of Earth), so your personal concept of God in the Christian faith has little to distinguish it from the concept of God in many, many other faiths.
Is not your God distinguishable from all the rest? Your insistence that God as maker of the heavens and Earth is sufficient for the Christian concept is obviously an irrational attitude. |
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As long as Comparison is sunk in the urine of one's mind, new glasses will not help. --Doronshadmi. A proud member of the Simpson 15+7, named in the suit, Simpson v. Zwinge, et al., and founder of the ET Corn Gods Survivors Group. By the way, the Nominate button is to your |
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#1243 |
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Graduate Poster
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,410
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I, for one, am happy that FZ has been designated as Yyreg's special friend for this go-round. I was worried that FZ had been a bit bored lately and that he might have been engaged in guiltless masterbation.
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#1244 |
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ETcorngods survivor
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 11,475
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I have another question, Yrreg: How many gods are there in the Christian faith?
No, I don't mean whether it is one or three or three-in-one. Besides the creator of heavens and Earth, how many others are there? One of the commands, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," clear admits to the existence of other deities. I'm just curious as to how many there are. |
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As long as Comparison is sunk in the urine of one's mind, new glasses will not help. --Doronshadmi. A proud member of the Simpson 15+7, named in the suit, Simpson v. Zwinge, et al., and founder of the ET Corn Gods Survivors Group. By the way, the Nominate button is to your |
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#1245 |
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Self Employed
Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 1,761
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I've heard it argued that some flavors of Christianity are polytheistic in everything but name, with concept of the Trinity, the Virgin Mary being considered a Goddess by any practical definition, and Saints qualifying as demigods.
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- Opinions require evidence and no before you ask defining something as "Something doesn't require evidence" doesn't count. - In extreme cases continuing to be wrong when you've been repeatedly proven to be wrong is a form of rudeness. - Major in philosophy. That way you can also ask people "why" they would like fries would that. |
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#1246 |
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 8,908
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Originally Posted by yrreg
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GENERATION 8: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. Ein krieg ohne feinde. |
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#1247 |
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Appearance of intelligence
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 3,176
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And I will counter by saying it is the teaching of the Scientology faith that the evil Lord Xenu sent frozen thetans into the volcanoes of the earth, thereby infecting humans with bad thoughts.
In other words, it's an assertion. Is not my imaginary friend, Susie, evident to everybody with a properly working brain? Susie seems to think so. How can you argue against somebody who takes such a childish position as "My boss man is real because he says so!!"
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Yes, dear, of course it is. Women ain't ***, version 1.0.
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Yrreg, can you explain why men are the only important entities in all the religions that have been invented and enforced by men? You seem to be delimiting yourself with this particular concept. Since this was addressed to me, I'd like you to ask whose mind you think I'm using to do my thinking? Or what authority you think I depend on? Certainly not a bunch of misogynistic religious zealots who need an imaginary bully behind them to keep their women in line. Here's the thing, yrreg. I could figure out that all this "god" stuff was a crock of nonsense about the same time I figured out that Santa was all make-believe. I learned about the greek and roman gods before I ever learned anything about Yahweh, and he seemed just as silly and make-believe as the others. Only a lot meaner.
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Do you think that ancient men got it all right when it came to disease prevention, sewage systems, or space exploration? Why in the world do you look to them as an authority when it comes to any type of "ultimate explanation?"
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Last edited by Sun Countess; 4th May 2012 at 09:00 AM. Reason: i really hate silly typos as they may delimit the presentation of my ideas |
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#1248 |
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Illuminator
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 4,517
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Yes universe created itself (without anthropomorphized intention), and you saying that the universe must be God then is untenable. The creator is not his creation.
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"If I actually believed that Jesus was coming to end the world in 2050, I'd be preparing by stocking up on timber and nails" - PZ Myers |
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#1249 |
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 7,968
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On (1): Could you explain why my nose is a testimony to any god, let alone a creator one?
On (2): Not a lot, actually. Is this question related to your concept of a correct god? That's interesting. Where did you find scientists who said that? I'd like to read it for myself. |
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To a conspiracy theorist, having double standards just means that they have twice as many standards. carlitos |
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#1250 |
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Slide Rulez 4 Life
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Launching the army, waiting for Hok to commit her forces (then the moles strike...)
Posts: 4,082
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The problem is that yrreg does not stop there. He defines his god as the "creator of the universe", and then assumes that such a definition clearly indicates the triune Christian god of the Catholic faith. His definition, is so vague as to be almost useless for his purposes. Earlier in this thread he admitted that if the universe were uncaused (or self-caused), then the universe would be god. He intentionally keeps his definition this vague because then he can claim that anything, anything at all, is god. It's part of his ever-lasting "gotcha" attempt, to try and prove that non-believers believe in something he can retroactively define as god. And therefore we're all Catholics. Maybe one day he'll address the many problems with his convoluted argument. But I doubt it. Part 1 Part 2 |
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It is sad that this is necessary: Argumentum Ad Hominem: "You are wrong because you are ugly." Not Ad-Hom: "You are wrong and you are ugly." [X's posts are] ...as good as having 24 hours of Justin Bieber piped into your ears! - kmortis |
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#1251 |
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Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Dublin (the one in Ireland)
Posts: 7,096
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#1252 |
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 5,935
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The common placeholder argument about some thing that is capable of doing whatever I want it to.
What is the difference between saying "the thing that creatred heaven and earth and everything" and "the maker"? You're still just assuming a placeholder. To not recognize the weakness of this argument, you have to have an agenda which is clouding your reasoning. |
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#1253 |
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Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy
Posts: 11,180
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Quite. And that, of course, is the big question, where theists and atheists part.
There are plenty of reasons why people choose one or the other, I'm sure, and I have no interest in attacking any of the reasons others prefer faith, but for my part, the question seems to resolve to this: We start with the realization that the origin and extent of the universe are utterly beyond my ability to grasp or understand. They're unfathomable mysteries. We can verbalize these things and explain some of them using laws and formulas, but there remains something about infinity, singularity and other such ideas that is dark and not intuitive. I now have two choices. I can look at the scientific approach, which digs piece by piece into those mysteries, never quite getting to the end. but chipping away. What science does figure out makes sense, even if it's difficult to understand, stands up to rational inquiry, is self-correcting, and requires no faith in beings or agencies that exist outside the universe itself. Or, I can shunt the mystery to a creator. The creator also surpasses understanding, but also requires a mechanism of operation that cannot be explained and cannot be reconciled with things we know. The unfathomable mystery of the universe is not really solved at all, simply shifted from the physical universe we at least know to exist, to another we can never prove. But assigning the mystery to God gives us permission to pass over the mysteries of the universe. It still doesn't make sense, but that's because God works in mysterious ways which we are not even permitted to understand. The main difference between the two mysteries seems to be that the second acts capriciously, suspiciously like a magnified and multiplied human being, demanding worship and punishing unorthodoxy. God doesn't help us understand anything, but rather gives us an easy excuse for why we can't. |
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"Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.(Samuel Johnson) The gods are less for their love of praise....(Wendell Berry) |
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#1254 |
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 8,908
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Originally Posted by bruto
The honest position to take on this sort of thing is to say "I don't know", and either leave it at that or work to learn it. I've taken the former stance: I don't know what started the universe, or life, and I'm content with that lack of knowledge. My area of interest is megafauna, which you don't get until well after life arose, which doesn't happen until well after the universe starts. Others, like Hawking and Ward, take the later stance: they work to uncover the answers to those questions. What they do not do, however, is to postulate entities prior to having some supporting evidence other than "I dunno". And when they do, science has failsafes to ensure they get called out on it. Basically, it all boils down the question of whether you're willing to accept concepts without supporting evidence, and whether you're willing to admit the limits of your own knowledge. As much as theists rail at atheists for not accepting the limits of our knowledge and the like, it's actually us atheists who are willing to stand naked in the face of the mysteries of the universe and admit "I don't understand that at ALL...." |
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GENERATION 8: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. Ein krieg ohne feinde. |
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#1255 |
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Appearance of intelligence
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 3,176
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#1256 |
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Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Central Illinois
Posts: 34,700
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Hell, dynamiting fish in a barrel is more challenging. - Ladewig I suspect you are a sandwich, metaphorically speaking. -Donn And a shot rang out. Now Space is doing time... -Ben Burch You built the toilet - don't complain when people crap in it. _Kid Eager |
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#1257 |
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Master Poster
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,329
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You mean you don't want to think, you just want to shout spaghetti or penis.
You mean you don't want to think, you just want to shout spaghetti or penis. Well, there is no way to talk with people who don't want to think but to shout spaghetti or penis all the time when you want to stir up their thinking faculty. Thinking is more than reasoning, more than logic, it is the totality of the mind finding an answer to question, which question can be a problem in real life how to survive, or a curiosity in regard to the complete and ultimate explanation for existence. For example, you are put in a maze, you have been caught by a wicked evil hunter who delights in observing how you being a human just like himself but unlucky to have been caught and held captive by him, will find your way out of the maze. He tells you that there is a way out, only one, and if you don't find it you will die of hunger, no food and water intake; so you must think and act to find your way out where you will be given food and water -- before you pass out and die from hunger and thirst. Now, tell me, slingblade, will you get really very busy and resourceful with your mind and body and do some genuine thinking and quick acting, or will you shout shrilly at the evil sadistic hunter, he is a spaghetti and a penis? Now, this thread on The Concept of God with Atheists, though now merged with an older one of mine, it is my idea to find out how atheists think but they don't think, they just want to shout spaghetti, penis, guiltless masturbation. By the way, don't forget to think and find the way out of the maze. And if you do think genuinely think, using your mind, and you have the innate curiosity to occupy your mind with the question about a complete and ultimate explanation for existence, what will you come to as a complete and ultimate explanation for the question of existence? No, no, don't shout spaghetti, penis, guiltless masturbation. I say, THINK! Yrreg |
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#1258 |
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Hostile Nanobacon
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Prosperity, AZ
Posts: 21,832
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yrreG, why are you unable to think about The Flying Spaghetti Monster? Is thinking (about it) so very difficult for you?
Do you have the concept of The Flying Spaghetti Monster in your mind? Good! Now you're thinking! |
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#1259 |
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Hostile Nanobacon
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Prosperity, AZ
Posts: 21,832
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#1260 |
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Master Poster
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,329
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You say nothing, then you think that you came from nothing, that is not thinking.
You say nothing, then you think that you came from nothing, that is not thinking. [The rest of your post is irrelevant.] But at least think by examining your attitude of not wanting to think, insisting instead that nothing is the origin of everything which is of course not thinking. But if you really want to insist that nothing is the origin of everything, then think further on how nothing works to become everything like -- not being irrelevant now, the nose in your face. Now, you have a totally new concept of nothing, it is the origin of everything that you don't want to think genuinely think about as to the origin of. That is what atheist scientists are so hard put up with, they have no intention to think: so they seize on nothing to explain everything, but of course they still have to explain nothing as something, guess what. But read them first then think genuinely about their explanation, and it should dawn upon your conscious mind: how they are into mental but dishonest prestidigitation of facts and concepts and words. Yrreg |
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#1261 |
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Hostile Nanobacon
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Prosperity, AZ
Posts: 21,832
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yrreG, you should think about what created your god(s). Are you able to think about that?
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#1262 |
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Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Dublin (the one in Ireland)
Posts: 7,096
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We tend to leave not thinking and shouting to theists, they have more practice.
There is just as much evidence that the Flying Spaghetti Monster exists as there is that your god exists; in fact the ethos of the FSM is more logical and consistent. Really.............. You you want to abdicate reason because it shows your god probably doesn't exist. Pathetic. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I repeat ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Perhaps you should start thinking about your god and the lack of evidence that it exists? |
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#1263 |
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Guest
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 23,642
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#1264 |
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Appearance of intelligence
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 3,176
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Knowing how to survive is important. It's what helps keep you alive. What exactly does it accomplish to gaze at your navel and wonder about a magic man up in the sky making the sun go up and down?
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Your god has no such power. He's not real, and he has absolutely no impact on my life or on any aspect of this universe. He's a made-up entity, used to fill in the gaps of human knowledge, or to give power to people who would otherwise possess none.
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#1265 |
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Master Poster
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,329
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You are into the fallacy of ignorance, claiming ignorance is not thinking.
You are into the fallacy of ignorance, claiming ignorance is not thinking. However, I suggest you read the atheist scientists socalled who have a nice explanation, namely, nothing is the origin of everything, but read more insight-fully, and see how they understand nothing. You see, your insistence that you don't know the complete and ultimate explanation of existence, is just that, stubbornness to not think; but you forget to mention that you must be humble and not be so presumptuous as to employ your brain to think on for a sensible answer to the question of the complete and ultimate explanation for existence. You have gone into the fallacy of ignorance, but you have forgotten to accompany it with the fallacy of appeal to your humility, that should win you the atheists' Nobel Prize for ignorance and humility. I am having or attempting to engage in a thinking-ful dialog with people here, but if they don't want to think instead of shouting penis, etc., then claim that I am into a monologue, what can I do but continue to explain my ideas and hope to engage someone who will really genuinely relevantly think on my ideas, and engage me with their thoughts. By the way, how do you get out of the maze that I put slingblade in. You say, I don't know. [ You mean, I don't think. ] Shame, you are again into the plea of ignorance but you should say also that you are just a very humble brain. Yrreg |
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#1266 |
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Hostile Nanobacon
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Prosperity, AZ
Posts: 21,832
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#1267 |
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 8,908
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Originally Posted by yrreg
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GENERATION 8: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. Ein krieg ohne feinde. |
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#1268 |
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Illuminator
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Australia
Posts: 3,471
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Congratulations, Yrreg - you have managed to to combine god, spaghetti and penises in a single post.
I pity you. What sort of bizarre thought processes are needed to combine these words in a single content-free post? Sure, you must be frustrated that nobody is agreeing with whatever thought it is that you're trying to convey, but let's be honest here: you are producing nothing new - this 32 page thread is testament to that. This is your very own Well Of Failed Arguments. I await the moment that you come up with something new or logical. Until then, please refer to my previous answers to your previous posts on the same topic within this thread - it will save you and I a lot of time. |
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What do Narwhals, Magnets and Apollo 13 have in common? Think about it.... |
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#1269 |
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Master Poster
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,329
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Correction: I am or call myself a liberal Christian...
Correction: I am or call myself a liberal Christian, but I have a very complete and extensive Catholic education in the best schools at home and abroad. How is your nirvana getting on? You see, Ryokan, that is the big difference between Christianism and Buddhism, Christianism is into rationalism in the most expansive perspectives of existence, but Buddhism is into irrationalism. Take this irrationalism of Buddhism on the non-self: throw a stone at a Buddhist who is looking at you, he will duck even though he insists that he has no self: but of course he will tell you even his ducking to save his head is a delusion or illusion or hallucination. But whose delusion illusion or hallucination, pray tell me. By the way, I don't seem to have seen the inscription at the bottom of your message box indicating that I have saved you from Buddhism, I like that inscription -- or I just imagine that it is no longer there, sorry for the illusion. Yrreg |
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#1270 |
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Hostile Nanobacon
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Prosperity, AZ
Posts: 21,832
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#1271 |
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Master Poster
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,329
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But no atheists are writing against Spiderman.
Well, I have a dialog for you, have you come to the insight that you atheists have not one of you even written anything against Spiderman, but your so-claimed scientists and so-claimed deep-thinking philosophers have written and continue to write to explain that God is not needed, nothing gives origin to everything. Atheists don't think, they just shout penis, spaghetti, and guiltless masturbation, and then rest on their defense of ignorance and yes, humility. Yrreg |
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#1272 |
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Hostile Nanobacon
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Prosperity, AZ
Posts: 21,832
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That will be a change.
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#1273 |
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Master Poster
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,329
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No, don't shout penis, just contemplate how your nose does not fall off your face.
You are asking the question who created God if God created everything. That is what you are into, and I have someone with that non-question in this board earlier, I told him to look up infinite regress and do some genuine thinking. So, I will give you the same instruction. Now, we are into a dialog, I am reacting to you asking you to enlighten yourself on infinite regress: do I see you getting acquainted with infinite regress and coming back to me, so that we can continue to dialog on God Who is the glue that ties everything securely together in the domain of existence? Or you will shout back at me: penis, masturbation without guilt, and of course spaghetti. And I will just ask you to contemplate how your nose does not fall off your face. Yrreg |
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#1274 |
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Master Poster
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,329
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Easy to say I have not answered questions, tell me which ones.
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#1275 |
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Atheist Tergiversator
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 2,840
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Yrreg. I assumed that during the time you were gone you would attempt to study the English language and learn how to understand and use it properly so that you can communicate in a logical and understandable manner. I see I was wrong.
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"One of the hardest parts of being an active skeptic - of anything - is knowing when to cut your losses, and then doing so." -Phil Plait |
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#1276 |
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 7,968
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__________________
To a conspiracy theorist, having double standards just means that they have twice as many standards. carlitos |
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#1277 |
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 8,908
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Originally Posted by yrreg
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GENERATION 8: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. Ein krieg ohne feinde. |
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#1278 |
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Hostile Nanobacon
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Prosperity, AZ
Posts: 21,832
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You'll need to do some genuine thinking first. Iron age goat herders have been telling you what to think.
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#1279 |
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 7,968
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__________________
To a conspiracy theorist, having double standards just means that they have twice as many standards. carlitos |
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#1280 |
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Guest
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 23,642
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Gerry? You don't have the power to put me anywhere.
God doesn't exist. |
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