March 2012
31 posts
2 tags
Romangm1: in response to ABC theory of disproof.The simple game of chess can discredit this. you can determine beforehand what will be discarded and what will be saved and you can determine you have made sufficient moves to win he does the same with people placing them with their natural abilities in the right place on the “board” letting them play it out for the good of the win. if...
7 tags
Thank God
This possibly also ties to euphemisms, as many people say it while not actually thinking about what it means. There’s the semi-common phrase, ‘If you can thank God, you can blame him.’ While that’s an oversimplification (and could hardly be otherwise, given its context), it’s nonetheless a suitable point. If you honestly believe God intervened to a degree where...
I decided I wanted to figure out why people choose...
iamnotakangaroo:
I found this website:
http://www.faithfacts.org/world-religions-and-theology/why-christianity
I learned that people basically choose their religion because they’re told to. I also learned that Christians know absolutely nothing about other religions.
I remain an Atheist.
I don’t know how many people agree with the idea put forward in the link, I’d hope...
17 tags
Euphemisms: Think About It
It’s an interesting phenomenon: in life, our language is often composed of many metaphors: happiness is ‘up’, sadness is ‘down’, the past is ‘backwards’, the future ‘forwards’… when there’s little reason to think so. Similarly, euphemisms make up a surprising amount of our life and speech, and that’s what I went to dwell on;...
“If you only believe in God because you would rather believe and find out he’s a...”
– Unknown (via apoordesign)
“I look up at the night sky, and I know that, yes, we are part of this Universe,...”
– Neil deGrasse Tyson (via wesanity)
23 tags
One Fact People Forget: If you could go back in...
Replace ‘Christian’ with whatever’s necessary. Islam perhaps, true for several religions that I’ve seen. Just on Christianity, you’ve gone through the Great Schism and Inquisition and Crusades, Constantine, the idea of the Trinity, the decrease in dependence on Mosaic Law (key to some early Christians)…
14 tags
On the LDS Church
Mormonism is an interesting religion; related to Christianity, and translated plates found about 1800 years after Jesus’ life. However, it takes an odd view of God, which I’ll mention here. [[MORE]]
God appears to be openly sadistic. You’re commanded to obey God: ok. What if those commands contradict each other? Would God ever do that? Short answer: yes, if you’re Mormon....
26 tags
A Better Bible?
This post is intended as a little flippant, but the question still stands: why not? Given the supposed intelligence and prophecies attributed to the Bible, and God’s desires, what would be wrong with this holy book? The same basic point is also applicable to other such holy books, but as the Bible is one of the most ‘popular’, it’s the one I’ve focused on.[[MORE]]
A...
Love Save The Lost: I think the atheists that... →
lovesavethelost:
I think the atheists that constantly fight everyone on religion are really just desperate for someone or something to prove them wrong. That’s really the only thing that makes sense to me.
On this paragraph: yes, exactly. For me at least. It’s called the scientific method. Do everything you can to try and disprove your own view; and when your view stands up…
18 tags
Did Jesus actually exist?
I just want to respond to a comment I read on your blog about the common Liar, Lunatic, Lord argument proposed by many christian appolgists. I think you did a very nice job or working through the argument, however I have one beef. You dismiss the idea that Jesus never existed at all. His existance may not be as certain as you assume. Please see the linked article for a good argument that jesus,...
5 tags
Anonymous asked: God doesn't believe in atheists either.
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The Importance of Perspective
In many debates, perspective is a key consideration. Religion is a notable example, but so are many other issues in the world today.
Perhaps the easiest to demonstrate would be abortion. Those against the procedure focus on the perspective of the foetus; and how they’d feel, should they possess a working brain. Those in support of abortion, however, those pro-choice, focus on the feelings...
7 tags
sungyak-deactivated20130430 asked: I've addressed that in the first post: "Even if theism had 1% chance of being true, given that you still have a chance at winning everything while losing nothing by wagering for the 1%, you ought not wager that non-theism is true for its 99%, because you gain nothing by wagering non-theism, while there is still a 1% chance that you may lose everything for doing so." This'll...
'fulfilled covenant': Pascal's Wager →
sungyak:
The strength of Pascals’ Wager is in what it exposes, not in what it seems to prove. The Wager exposes the truth behind the non-theists’ supposed ‘reasons’ for their refusal to wager on theism — that there is none. The Wager is not a theistic argument in the strictest sense, that wasn’t Pascal’s…
So, Pascal’s Wager is intending to show not that a specific God is real, but...
sungyak-deactivated20130430 asked: Show me why a belief must be evidenced for it to be justified, then I will give you my evidence.
21 tags
A Challenge To Believers →
Do you believe in God? Yes? Ok, fair enough. Is your belief justified? That’s the point of this post.
If you can, please give just one, sound argument which demonstrates the existence of your God. Not a possibility of a Deistic God, but your specific religion, and your denomination. Can you?
I’ll accept faith, if needs be: but only if it can be applied only to your religion and not...
'fulfilled covenant': The 'God Delusion' Myth →
sungyak:
There is a prevailing idea today that the so-called ‘God Delusion’ is really a problem for the theists who claim that God exists. But I’ve always found this sort of argument untenable. In fact, I think the ‘God Delusion’ is more of a problem for non-theists, who either claim that theism is…
Pascal’s Wager, as it’s called. That’s more or less all this is: fine,...
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New Responses →
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Liar, Lunatic or Lord
I believe CS Lewis popularized this argument for Christianity: one of the few that directly addresses a religion rather than a general view of a God. The argument essentially goes: Jesus, as the Bible puts him, could be one of three things. To say he’s the son of God, he could be lying (‘liar’), he could be mad (‘lunatic’) or he could be telling the truth...
14 tags
On The Resurrection
The resurrection is often heralded as proof of Jesus’ divinity. Even assuming that the only possible explanation for a seeming resurrection is divine ancestry, it’s not at all convincing evidence. Why? Because there’s no reason to think it happened.
There are several sources given for the claim. Perhaps the most common is the Bible, which fails with only the slightest critical...
“It is a bit like saying we should shun cancer treatments because it also a form...”
– Irvin Malcolm Contreras, on the declaration by the Pope that using IVF is a form of arrogance (via shitigotbanned) 