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Author Topic:   Great religious falsehoods
jag
Member (Idle past 5779 days)
Posts: 41
Joined: 06-15-2008


Message 76 of 106 (472180)
06-20-2008 9:57 PM
Reply to: Message 75 by Coyote
06-20-2008 9:43 PM


Re: summary question
coyote writes:
Bastinado seems about right. ; - )
That sounds good. And it reminds me, in all the recent turmoil about our government torturing people, I did think of a valid reason for torture.
Every day, someone should take a pair of shoes, enter Richard Reid's cell, and beat the tar out of him. (That's not serious, but I do think it is humerous)

This message is a reply to:
 Message 75 by Coyote, posted 06-20-2008 9:43 PM Coyote has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 78 by New Cat's Eye, posted 06-21-2008 12:58 PM jag has replied

New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


Message 77 of 106 (472255)
06-21-2008 12:53 PM
Reply to: Message 74 by jag
06-20-2008 9:36 PM


Re: summary question
The starting premise was one of the great falsehoods of religion claim: god is not subject to science.
God is subject to science. Example: Prayer can be scientifically tested.
That doesn't necessarily mean that god is subject to science. He could purposely not answer prayers when people are "testing" him.
Also, I'm not convinced by your argument because, yeah prayer can be scientifically tested, but prayer is not god.
Witness: They claim the right to tell me I cannot buy a beer in many counties. When asked why, effectively, because they said so.
You can't buy beer in those counties because it is illegal to sell beer in those counties. The poeple of those counties have the right to make it illegal to sell beer in their county.
How can rational people deal with those of faith that will not and indeed cannot justify their positions yet have an overwhelming desire to force the world to live by their standards?
All you did was avoid my questions and dodge the support for my position.
You're just as bad as the people you're bitching about. Its called hypocracy.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 74 by jag, posted 06-20-2008 9:36 PM jag has not replied

New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


Message 78 of 106 (472257)
06-21-2008 12:58 PM
Reply to: Message 76 by jag
06-20-2008 9:57 PM


Re: summary question
coyote writes:
Bastinado seems about right. ; - )
That sounds good.
So you're going to bitch about all the bad things the Catholics did and then allow torture if it supports your personal opinion on the way things should be.
Wow, you really are a hypocrite.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 76 by jag, posted 06-20-2008 9:57 PM jag has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 79 by jag, posted 06-21-2008 3:46 PM New Cat's Eye has not replied
 Message 80 by jag, posted 06-21-2008 4:10 PM New Cat's Eye has replied

jag
Member (Idle past 5779 days)
Posts: 41
Joined: 06-15-2008


Message 79 of 106 (472283)
06-21-2008 3:46 PM
Reply to: Message 78 by New Cat's Eye
06-21-2008 12:58 PM


Re: summary question
CS writes:
So you're going to bitch about all the bad things the Catholics did and then allow torture if it supports your personal opinion on the way things should be.
That post was in response to:
jag writes:
Every day, someone should take a pair of shoes, enter Richard Reid's cell, and beat the tar out of him. (That's not serious, but I do think it is humerous)
(just on the slight chance, Richard Reid is the "Shoe Bomber" that tried to blow up a jet over the Atlantic with a bomb in his shoe. The result is that we must all take off our shoes at the airport for screening.)
You also need remedial lessons in comprehensive reading. The behavior you have exhibited in this thread is some of what rational people have such difficulties dealing with, and a large part of why our society is having such difficulties. I have seen some of your posts in other threads and the behavior is consistent what the posts here. I’ll not respond to any more of your posts until they demonstrate a reasonable comprehension of reality.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 78 by New Cat's Eye, posted 06-21-2008 12:58 PM New Cat's Eye has not replied

jag
Member (Idle past 5779 days)
Posts: 41
Joined: 06-15-2008


Message 80 of 106 (472286)
06-21-2008 4:10 PM
Reply to: Message 78 by New Cat's Eye
06-21-2008 12:58 PM


Re: summary question
Duplicate post.
Edited by Admin, : Add note at top, hide content.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 78 by New Cat's Eye, posted 06-21-2008 12:58 PM New Cat's Eye has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 82 by New Cat's Eye, posted 06-22-2008 3:38 PM jag has not replied

iano
Member (Idle past 1966 days)
Posts: 6165
From: Co. Wicklow, Ireland.
Joined: 07-27-2005


Message 81 of 106 (472420)
06-22-2008 10:25 AM
Reply to: Message 59 by Straggler
06-20-2008 8:15 AM


Re: Please state your position
Straggler writes:
Why would God go out of his way (i.e. amend his actions) in order to evade empirical evidence of his existence?
I'm not sure that he'd have to go out of his way to do so. He would know which way he was going to go long 'before' anyone got around to figuring to run a prayer experiment.
I don't think there's much point in trying to form a caricature of how God operates based on a time-based existance. If you're missing out on wholesale dimension(s) available to him and inconceivable to you, caricature is all you can assume yourself to be doing.
But as far as your question: why would he 'hide'? goes. The answer is fairly straightforward to my mind. If he made himself empirically available then you would have to believe in his existance. And if he doesn't want that you have to believe in his existance then he must 'hide' his existance from you in that way.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 59 by Straggler, posted 06-20-2008 8:15 AM Straggler has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 87 by Blue Jay, posted 06-26-2008 9:07 PM iano has not replied
 Message 89 by Straggler, posted 06-28-2008 3:45 PM iano has not replied

New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


Message 82 of 106 (472470)
06-22-2008 3:38 PM
Reply to: Message 80 by jag
06-21-2008 4:10 PM


Re: summary question
I’ll not respond to any more of your posts until they demonstrate a reasonable comprehension of reality.
So, you can't refute my arguments.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 80 by jag, posted 06-21-2008 4:10 PM jag has not replied

Admin
Director
Posts: 13030
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.1


Message 83 of 106 (472840)
06-25-2008 7:09 AM


Test post.
Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them.
Thomas Jefferson

--Percy
EvC Forum Director

Replies to this message:
 Message 84 by Admin, posted 06-25-2008 7:15 AM Admin has not replied

Admin
Director
Posts: 13030
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.1


Message 84 of 106 (472841)
06-25-2008 7:15 AM
Reply to: Message 83 by Admin
06-25-2008 7:09 AM


Another test post.

--Percy
EvC Forum Director

This message is a reply to:
 Message 83 by Admin, posted 06-25-2008 7:09 AM Admin has not replied

Admin
Director
Posts: 13030
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.1


Message 85 of 106 (472842)
06-25-2008 7:17 AM


Yet another test post.
Okay, I think this thread is working now.
Edited by Admin, : Test edit function.

Replies to this message:
 Message 86 by jag, posted 06-26-2008 7:55 PM Admin has not replied

jag
Member (Idle past 5779 days)
Posts: 41
Joined: 06-15-2008


Message 86 of 106 (473070)
06-26-2008 7:55 PM
Reply to: Message 85 by Admin
06-25-2008 7:17 AM


working again?
Was this particular thread a problem? I had trouble the other thread I have been posting to.
Thanks for the attention.
Edit: Well, that posted right away. Major improvement.
Thank you.
Edited by jag, : verify operation.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 85 by Admin, posted 06-25-2008 7:17 AM Admin has not replied

Blue Jay
Member (Idle past 2723 days)
Posts: 2843
From: You couldn't pronounce it with your mouthparts
Joined: 02-04-2008


Message 87 of 106 (473077)
06-26-2008 9:07 PM
Reply to: Message 81 by iano
06-22-2008 10:25 AM


Re: Please state your position
iano writes:
If he made himself empirically available then you would have to believe in his existance. And if he doesn't want that you have to believe in his existance then he must 'hide' his existance from you in that way.
The empirical evidence is against the notion that empirical evidence leads to popular acceptance. People's beliefs do not follow empirical evidence, and, here in the USA, at least, a lot of times, quite the reverse is true. I don't see how the existence of empirical evidence makes it so anybody "has to believe in" anything.
Or, were you suggesting that God was selectively targeting us empiricists? Why would He want to target us?

Darwin loves you.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 81 by iano, posted 06-22-2008 10:25 AM iano has not replied

Blue Jay
Member (Idle past 2723 days)
Posts: 2843
From: You couldn't pronounce it with your mouthparts
Joined: 02-04-2008


Message 88 of 106 (473081)
06-26-2008 10:06 PM
Reply to: Message 74 by jag
06-20-2008 9:36 PM


Re: summary question
jag writes:
God is subject to science. Example: Prayer can be scientifically tested. So can many other aspects of religion.
Jag, your entire premise is flawed. It has been pointed out to you many times that prayer is not God. People praying for money, a promotion, or other “worldly” goods, and not getting it, does not prove that there is no God. When people pray for comfort, they often get it (this could be a placebo effect, but you can’t actually prove that). Also, I know people who claim to have been given money, job opportunities, or other physical needs, after praying for it. I don’t see how you could prove that their prayers were not involved in that.
When I broke my arm, my father prayed that it would be healed properly. My arm healed properly. I’m not superstitious enough to say that God was actively mending my arm, but nobody actually examined and tested my body’s repair systems directly, so, technically, scientifically, I can’t say that it was actually my immune system, and not God, that sutured my bones back together. Only parsimony allows me to do this.
Incidentally, I think it was just my body’s normal healing response, but that’s not the point, is it?
You should also acknowledge that your statement, "there is no evidence that any deity has been exerting any effect upon this world" is based upon the unsupportable premise that God's acts will appear as anomalies in an otherwise empirically-testable continuum of “normal” events. Keep in mind that insinuating that God has to act outside the laws of physics indicates that He didn't make the laws good enough in the first place.
Jag writes:
Witness: They claim the right to tell me I cannot buy a beer in many counties. When asked why, effectively, because they said so.
There can be reasons for restricting beer, jag. Don’t thousands of people get killed every year because some people had too much beer? Granted, the beer itself isn’t the problem, but rather, the people who weren’t responsible enough to designate a driver or not play with guns when their blood-alcohol level reached 0.08%. If your county (population: 27,891) had 223 beer-related deaths last year (approximately one death for every 150 people), and you wanted to stop it, what would you do? You could give mandatory “responsibleness” tests that determined how many beers each individual would be allowed to drink. Or, you could post a police officer at each bar to make sure no drunk people were driving or playing with guns. What county has those kind of resources? It’s much easier to just outlaw beer. If you set the bar low, you don’t have to try to tailor the law to individuals*. That will probably cut down on the amount of drunk drivers and drunk gunners, and, consequently, cut down on the number of people killed by drunk people. Isn’t that a good thing? Doesn’t it make sense to try to cut down on the number of people who get killed? This is a matter of priorities: the counties have determined that the right to buy beer does not supercede in importance the 223 lives they could statistically save.
Now, if they were to say you can't buy strawberry-flavored ice cream or hershey bars with almonds in them, I would be a bit suspicious of ulterior, irrational motives in the decision-making process.
*I dislike this concept as much as you probably do, but you can’t seriously argue that it doesn't make sense.

Darwin loves you.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 74 by jag, posted 06-20-2008 9:36 PM jag has not replied

Straggler
Member (Idle past 91 days)
Posts: 10333
From: London England
Joined: 09-30-2006


Message 89 of 106 (473368)
06-28-2008 3:45 PM
Reply to: Message 81 by iano
06-22-2008 10:25 AM


Re: Please state your position
But as far as your question: why would he 'hide'? goes. The answer is fairly straightforward to my mind. If he made himself empirically available then you would have to believe in his existance. And if he doesn't want that you have to believe in his existance then he must 'hide' his existance from you in that way.
Should we consider the bible evidence for the existence of God?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 81 by iano, posted 06-22-2008 10:25 AM iano has not replied

sl33w
Member (Idle past 5758 days)
Posts: 53
Joined: 05-23-2008


Message 90 of 106 (473475)
06-29-2008 8:25 PM
Reply to: Message 12 by Brian
06-18-2008 5:39 AM


Re: Dealing with intentional falsehoods
Rebuke of Brian's Folly:
Quote: "The flood has been disproved."
Rebuke: I (Sidney Williams) saw "the banks of the Flood etched into the Himalayas" on NBC hosted by Tom Brokaw (an Atheist).
An airplane had filmed the "banks of the flood" several thousand feet above sea level.
This was a great discovery and should have been promoted worldwide, but the Atheists suppressed the good news.
The evidence is still there for anyone concerned with truth.
By contacting NBC's news bureau, one may learn where this was, and when.
Now then, "Where is your proof there was no flood"?
sl33w

This message is a reply to:
 Message 12 by Brian, posted 06-18-2008 5:39 AM Brian has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 91 by NosyNed, posted 06-29-2008 11:52 PM sl33w has replied
 Message 96 by Brian, posted 07-01-2008 3:26 AM sl33w has not replied

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