Atheism has absolutely nothing to do with science. Scientists themselves can have all sorts of worldviews in their personal lives - atheist, deist, Christian, whatever - but if their worldview affects how they interpret and analyze their data, then they're crappy scientists. Science itself is totally, utterly neutral on the question of God.
Originally posted by Iron MonkeyI disagree. We make decisions all the time based upon a balance of evidence, and parsimony. Do you believe that fairies may exist? Or the Flying Spaghetti Monster? Are you agnostic with respect to them? Or does the balance of evidence point so heavily against them that active belief in them would be, well, insane? Atheism is actually pretty much the only sensible, truthful position to hold. Agnosticism does not fit into that category for me, since people really, when we get down to it, never sit 50/50 on the fence.
The problem with atheism is that it goes a step too far. it goes from 'there isn't sufficient evidence for the existence of God' - a reasonable assertion - to 'there isn't a God'. But there isn't sufficient evidence for that either. The only really reasonable position is agnosticsm.
Originally posted by The Dude 84Seeing as how Jesus is God, I think not.
The burden of proof is solely on the person who holds the outrageous position of believing a man in the sky created the world in 6 days.
This has been said so many times on this forum and it's so obvious I shoudn't have to say it, but it's true and requires reminding.
Every argument that works for God works for santa claus, a flying spaghetti monst ...[text shortened]... n of evidence is nothing less than pathetic.
Jesus would be an atheist in the year 2007!
Originally posted by whodeyNice to hear from you too.
Never mind proving it, Scotti is back everyone!! You know you had us all worried sick. Where have you been?
Well, it;s been a strange old time for me. The company that I'm working for in Japan went bankrupt (oops, nothing to do with me, honest) so, having lost out on about a million yen in back wages, I've spent the last 3 or 4 months getting myself back up on my feet. It's been tough, and it still is, but we're getting better now..... So, it's been an "interesting" few months, and I've been working on some science too. Will find out about my funding proposal soon, and am pretty nervous about it. Thought it was about time I stuck my head round the door and started abusing all and sundry again!!
Hope you are well mate.
Originally posted by scottishinnzWell its nice to see you can drop us a line in between bankruptcies. See, at least something good came of it.
Nice to hear from you too.
Well, it;s been a strange old time for me. The company that I'm working for in Japan went bankrupt (oops, nothing to do with me, honest) so, having lost out on about a million yen in back wages, I've spent the last 3 or 4 months getting myself back up on my feet. It's been tough, and it still is, but we're getting better ...[text shortened]... ead round the door and started abusing all and sundry again!!
Hope you are well mate.
Perhaps the rest of us just live in a perpetual state of bankruptcy and/or unemployment? It would explain our ability to have time to post here, no?
As for me, I'm doing well thanks. I'm just part of the sundry that sticks around to get abused. I figure its OK to do unless I begin to start to like it. 😛
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Originally posted by scottishinnzAnd here I just thought you needed a vacation from us all. Good to see you back hale and hearty--hope things get better and you don't have to go through anything like that again.
Nice to hear from you too.
Well, it;s been a strange old time for me. The company that I'm working for in Japan went bankrupt (oops, nothing to do with me, honest) so, having lost out on about a million yen in back wages, I've spent the last 3 or 4 months getting myself back up on my feet. It's been tough, and it still is, but we're getting better ead round the door and started abusing all and sundry again!!
Hope you are well mate.
Just good to hear from you...
EDIT: You were gone long enough that I quit giving you attribution each time I used the phrase "the totality that has no edge." So this is a public "update". 😉
Originally posted by vistesdHi Vistesd,
And here I just thought you needed a vacation from us all. Good to see you back hale and hearty--hope things get better and you don't have to go through anything like that again.
Just good to hear from you...
EDIT: You were gone long enough that I quit giving you attribution each time I used the phrase "the totality that has no edge." So this is a public "update". 😉
Great to hear from you! yes, I hope not too many bankruptcies in my future too! Things are getting better, but will still take a wee while to get fully sorted out.
As for the "totality with no edge" - perhaps we need a reference system, maybe (Irving, 2007)!!
Hope all is well with you mate?
Originally posted by twhiteheadAhh. Now we get to the truth. It 'feels good' to believe in the new testament but believing in genesis wont get you to heaven so chuck it out the window. Facts have nothing to do with any of it.----whitey---
Come on. Now you are just making stuff up.
1. The early Church was based on Pauls teachings and as far as I know he didn't believe in the resurrection nor had he ever met Jesus.
2. How do you know that Adam and Eve were not real people who actually existed? The Bible is written as if they were.
3. You do not know who wrote the accounts.
[b]Genesis i ...[text shortened]... wont get you to heaven so chuck it out the window. Facts have nothing to do with any of it.
Since you are obsessed with this theme I will indulge you. You seem to have a problem with distinguishing between context. Some parts of the Bible are clearly inter woven with history and others are songs or hymns , some is poetry , some of it is dreams / visions etc etc. Clearly we need to distinguish between the different contexts. The fact that the accounts of the ressurection are written in a different context from Genesis does not mean that it is proven only that we need to take the context into account. If you want to read the Bible like some kindergarten highway code without considering these issues that's your problem. You will just create a straw man for yourself , which is of course your intention.
Originally posted by Red NightApologies for the tardiness of my reply.
My strongest claim to the existence is to say that, in the least case, he/she exists in an abstract form as created by man.
"If God didn't exist, man would have to create him."
On a second level, one can see an abstract God in the collective consciousness of humanity.
On a third level, one can see an abstract God in the very laws that define and c ...[text shortened]...
On a third level, one can see an abstract God in the collective consciousness of humanity.
Okay, but why the word god? There seems to be a lot of redefinition going on here, which is fine, but it raises more questions. If your notion of god is so divorced from the traditional conception, why use the word god at all? I also have a problem with your notion that an abstract 'god' can be found in the laws that define and control the universe and life itself, for two reasons. Firstly why control? Define, sure, but control implies some sort of plan/intelligence, how so and why so? Secondly, I don't see how an abstract god can be found in the non-abstract laws of physics. Finally, concerning the Judeo/Christian god, I don't see why those two choices exist. 1. Relies on the existence of god and 2. Is too restrictive, there are other versions of a god that we might replace the J/C one with.
Whilst I agree that men tend towards using the concept of god to cover many of the questions of existence with a blanket of apathy/ambiguity, I'm not convinced your version is any more tenable.
Originally posted by scottishinnzGood to hear from you, Louis.
Nice to hear from you too.
Well, it;s been a strange old time for me. The company that I'm working for in Japan went bankrupt (oops, nothing to do with me, honest) so, having lost out on about a million yen in back wages, I've spent the last 3 or 4 months getting myself back up on my feet. It's been tough, and it still is, but we're getting better ...[text shortened]... ead round the door and started abusing all and sundry again!!
Hope you are well mate.