I Know That God Does Not Exist

"Evidence" is believers favorite word. The word is in the title of tons of Christian books: Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Evidence for the Historical Jesus, The Evidence of God, Evidence for Christianity, Jesus: The Evidence, and on and on. You know who's saved and that critical thinkers get short shrift? Wow!Do you perhaps mean born again?--Percy

No, "born again" and "saved" are not the "same basic thing." One is an early step on the path to the other. Why is it always non-Christians who have to explain their own religion to them?
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--Percy

You're not going to make an argument? You're just going to point Theodoric at a webpage that you only browsed but figured it was "satisfactory evidence for my claim"? Seriously?--Percy

You cannot use ignorance as an excuse for ignoring Forum Guidelines:

5. Bare links with no supporting discussion should be avoided. Make the argument in your own words and use links as supporting references.

That rule is there to prevent debate via link. You have to put arguments in your own words to demonstrate that you do understand the topic, and that you're not just sending people off to view links or videos that you yourself don't understand and that might not even make sense.So please stop violating this guideline. I keep having to quote Witgenstein, whom I'll paraphrase this time: "If you don't know the subject, don't say anything."Or at least confine yourself to asking questions. You *should* be able to do this, but clearly you can't. Again, Witgenstein. It's disappointing seeing you constantly mischaracterizing the views of those you're debating with. Many people have taken a great deal of time with you understanding what you believe and then explaining to you why it doesn't align with your book. Just because you cannot articulate why your beliefs actually do reconcile with your book doesn't mean you can cast unsupported allegations against others. I think if you gave it some examination you'd agree that it's unChristian anyway. Whatever it takes to intelligently discuss something then that's what you'll have to do. Otherwise, Witgenstein.You're much more amenable to emotion than knowledge. That's why you've become so enamored of YouTube videos full of emotional appeals. That they're full of emotion rather than information is why you can't explain their positions. You've clearly embraced assertions like, "Fiat money is bad and will destroy us," but you can't explain why, and the reason you can't explain why is because the people you're listening to can't explain why, either. They can say a lot of things that are emotionally appealing, and that's about it. Financial topics are not your strong point, yet you make emphatic pronouncements about them anyway, then fail to understand any of the explanations why what you just said was wrong.Note that I'm not saying we're always right. I'm saying that whether our explanations are right or wrong, you simply don't understand them and can't engage in a discussion about them. You quickly devolve into citing YouTube videos. Or in this case, a link, which is just as bad.It doesn't matter what you refer someone to, whether it's a webpage or a PDF or a magazine article or a research paper or a video. If you can't put it in your own words then you shouldn't argue it. Putting it in your own words demonstrates to people that you understand it. When you can't put it in your own words it usually means you don't understand it but merely found it emotionally appealing. This makes you believe that if others would just watch it they'd find it appealing, too, but your links or vidoes are just employing the strategies of used car salesmen, and by middle adulthood most people find them transparently obvious and fallacious. I think many here understand belief very well because we see its contradictions and debilitating effects displayed here by yourself, Dredge, Greatest I am, marc9000, ICANT, mike the wiz, etc. Common threads among you are unfamiliarity with science, an inability to connect evidence to conclusions, and an insistence on repeatedly going over the same ground. For an example of this last one, this isn't the first time I've had to respond to you about this.There's an interesting correlation that's important here. Confidence and intelligence/knowledge are inversely proportional. Stated simply, the less one knows, the greater one's confidence. That you are confident enough to discuss so many things you don't understand should give you pause.--Percy

This thread was begun in 2012. You should read some of your older posts to see how different they are from what you're posting these days. Click on the Phat Posts Only link and poke around.--Percy

If they are due to your diabetic blood sugar issues then there is likely nothing you can do, at least nothing that a layperson could suggest. If you visit any of the many diabetic websites they all say that blood sugar issues can cause mood swings resulting in brain fog, irritability, impulsivity, aggression, and irrationality, among a host of other mental symptoms. Talk to your doctor.--Percy

You go wrong in two ways here. First, the Declaration of Independence is a reflection of the writing styles and beliefs of men of that time period. It is not an authoritative document on the existence of God. You can find tons of documents of the period making reference to God and Creator.Second, the part you comment on is mere prelude and you ignore the significant portion that follows where it says that governments exist to secure certain unalienable rights to the governed from whom governments derive their powers. It's referring to representative government, lack of which was one of the colonists central complaints, "No taxation without representation."If you're looking for evidence of the existence of God you won't find it in the Declaration of Independence. At best it can be said to assume the existence of God, reflecting the beliefs of the men who wrote it.God isn't mentioned in the Constitution, our governing document.While I don't subscribe to this thread's title, I will say that I've never encountered any evidence of God.--Percy

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here, but if feels like you're trying to assign a value to human beings. That seems like an impossible exercise. You're also still claiming the Declaration of Independence is authoritative on matters of religion. It isn't, no more than many other documents of the time written in the same style.But the rest of what you say is true, that there is no agreement on our worth as human beings. Some love us and others blow us away.--Percy