Priorities

Originally posted by SwissGambit
A lot of Christians [at least in America] are happily doing just that.

Yes. Unfortunately, they aren't the ones preaching about how loving their god is or how great their faith is or telling us it's okay to not believe now because their god will forgive us anyway! Funny how that works, huh?

Another point. The bible also says that god will hold true the laws that men set on earth, in heaven. If that's the case, then lets have laws that say we don't have to go to church and tithe every week. let's have laws that say we are here for a such a short time, compared to eternity, that we should not waste it by repenting and worshipping.

Originally posted by brobluto
.. The bible also says that god will hold true the laws that men set on earth, in heaven. ....

Where?
Quote the verse.

Originally posted by brobluto
Yes. Unfortunately, they aren't the ones preaching about how loving their god is or how great their faith is or telling us it's okay to not believe now because their god will forgive us anyway! Funny how that works, huh?

Another point. The bible also says that god will hold true the laws that men set on earth, in heaven. If that's the case, then lets ha ...[text shortened]... short time, compared to eternity, that we should not waste it by repenting and worshipping.

They do tell you how loving their God is and how great their faith is. They call their many material possessions "God's blessings".

That's the great thing about the Bible. There's something in it for everyone. It can support nearly any philosophy. The warmonger focuses on the stories of Israeli conquest in the OT. The materialist focuses on the promises of prosperity for the faithful. The charitable focus on the verses about giving to the poor. The NRA member/gun owner focuses on the stories involving self-defense. The male chauvinist focuses on verses which give the man authority as head of the household; the liberated woman focuses on the stories like the book of Esther, the Queen who defied a tyrannical leader.

And everyone just ignores the parts that do not sound so favorable to their cause.

It seems as if atheists have this presumption that theists can do whatever they please, ask for forgiveness later, and go on with their life. That is not correct, and, while many theists unfortunately do it, what makes any of them, or atheists for that matter, think that a deity will forgive them if they did something on purpose and are ONLY SAYING their tales of remorse? It is up to this deity to decide whether or not these lying morons are truly sorry or not.

I can play the URL game:
http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/bloggers/dinesh-dsouza

Additionally, the argument of God's existence will never be resolved for two simple reasons: 1. theists can never put forward any evidence without compromising the free will of the human race. (in other words, a deity wouldn't allow it) and 2. atheists can never provide any hard evidence since they would have to explain the creation/origin of the BIG BANG. We all know they'll never be able to do it.

With that said, here's a bit of an equation. The chances of atheists proving they're correct = the chances theists can prove they're right before the end of time: a big, fat, zero.

If atheism no longer has a deathgrip on the theoris of the Big Bang and evolution, what does atheism have but this: astronomically low odds of being right?

If the arguement will last until the consumation of the world, and we know it'll happen sometime, what do theists have to lose? Nothing. Atheists pose little logical threat when you realize that the chances of the universe being created exactly the way it is, by a totally "random" occurence, = infinite probability-1. THAT IS THE STUPIDIST GAMBLE IN THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE. WHAT DOES IT MATTER IF YOUR WRONG?

Originally posted by legochessmaniac
It seems as if atheists have this presumption that theists can do whatever they please, ask for forgiveness later, and go on with their life. That is not correct, and, while many theists unfortunately do it, what makes any of them, or atheists for that matter, think that a deity will forgive them if they did something on purpose and are ONLY SAYING t ...[text shortened]... E STUPIDIST GAMBLE IN THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE. WHAT DOES IT MATTER IF YOUR WRONG?

Fine. Go on using Pascal's Wager, even though it has been known to be flawed for a long time. It will be a good indicator for others not to take your posts too seriously.

If an intellectual deity truly wanted our best spiritual interest, as many of us theists believe, He would trust us to hold to our highest aspirations for intelectual capacity and logic.

"Paschal's wager" seems to presume that God would want us to play dumb.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
Fine. Go on using Pascal's Wager, even though it has been known to be flawed for a long time. It will be a good indicator for others not to take your posts too seriously.

I'm not using the "Paschal's Wager" theory. The "brilliant" atheists who've written previously in this thread have. I agree, "Paschal's Wager" no longer holds any water, and the logical atheistic continuation is that aliens created life, which takes more faith to believe than believing a god does exist. Still, one would have to argue how these intellegent ETs evolved. If you followed the URL you would have known my stance on this. Again:

http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/bloggers/dinesh-dsouza

All science centers around laws, natural laws. The closer we analyze something, the more laws we have to find to explain these laws and their exceptions. It's like an upside-down piramid, we start by noticing one thing, and in a few years, science has developed many smaller laws to explain the larger ones and answer the question of God's existence. The only way to stop this unending repetition, is to simply accept that God exists at every finite level, and that all matter abides by His simple energetic binary law. Einstein said, in refutation of Quantum Theory, that "God doesn't play dice." On the contrary, it simply apears to us that He plays dice. The beauty is that he knows the outcome of whatever He throws, and the only logical way that's possible, is if He is in fact beyond every magnification level, and is the "Alpha and the Omega," the "Beginning and the End" of every virtual spectrum of analysis, as well as everything else.

Originally posted by legochessmaniac
I'm not using the "Paschal's Wager" theory. The "brilliant" atheists who've written previously in this thread have. I agree, "Paschal's Wager" no longer holds any water, and the logical atheistic continuation is that aliens created life, which takes more faith to believe than believing a god does exist. Still, one would have to argue how these intell the End" of every virtual spectrum of analysis, as well as everything else.

Oh, so I just imagined that you said this:

Originally posted by legochessmaniac
If atheists are right, they will NEVER get any satisfaction for being correct, simply because the answer will not come until the destruction of the world. Theists will not be a laughing stalk since there will be no one there to laugh at them, and they will have been commendable at best for their feeble attempt to bring peace.

If theists are right, They WILL have satisfaction in eternity if they lived accordingly. Hardcore atheists will be dead in the eternal flame of hell for their refutation of God to the last, and mourned because they attempted to grasp at peace but failed.

Aren't athiests making a BIG gamble with their own eternal lives, especially when theists have nothing to lose?

That's Pascal's Wager.

If you are not even aware of what your own words mean, how can you mock the logic of others?

Originally posted by legochessmaniac
WHAT DOES IT MATTER IF YOUR WRONG?

It matters a lot. That is one of the many many reasons why Pascals Wager is such a ridiculously flawed argument.

Originally posted by legochessmaniac
Additionally, the argument of God's existence will never be resolved for two simple reasons: 1. theists can never put forward any evidence without compromising the free will of the human race. (in other words, a deity wouldn't allow it)

In other words you admit that you have no rational reason for believing in God - as such reasons would constitute evidence. Therefore you know for a fact that you believe in God for either selfish or arbitrary reasons - not because you think he exists.

and 2. atheists can never provide any hard evidence since they would have to explain the creation/origin of the BIG BANG. We all know they'll never be able to do it.
That is nonsense. I can quite easily provide hard evidence that your God does not exist and I do not need to explain the creation/origin of the BIG BANG in order to do so. And I for one do not know that we will never be able to explain the creation/origin of the BIG BANG so your claim that 'we' know that is an outright lie.

Originally posted by twhitehead
... I can quite easily provide hard evidence that your God does not exist ....

Lets have it.

Originally posted by Rajk999
Lets have it.

First tell me more about his God.

Originally posted by twhitehead
First tell me more about his God.

You already claimed that you can "... quite easily provide hard evidence that your God does not exist . Obviously you must know enough about his God to make such a claim. So lets have the hard evidence.

How very ironic. Really, I had absolutely no idea that the theory I put forward was "Pascal's Wager." I've honestly never heard of it before, so, technically, I wasn't using it. A simple mistake. An easy one to make. Mistakes are part of what make us human, our weaknesses.

This isn't the first time I've thought of a theory already existing. When I was about nine, I told my parents a theory I had about the universe's creation. They said the idea already existed and was called the Big Bang theory. Serious. No joke.

As far as refutation of Pascal's Wager goes, every logical argument states that God wouldn't want us to be dumb, and that this Wager is attempting to dumb down the population. On the contrary, doesn't it seem as if atheists are afraid of having less logical power than a six-year-old, a "mustard seed," and that this argument is so SIMPLE that atheists are afraid of being laughed at if they admitt their blindness?

If atheists would look closer than they'd like to at religion, they'd see that there is practically NO denomination on the planet that wouldn't sympathize with their mistake. There is NO denomination that SHOULDN'T sympathize, and they can't, without compromising their statement of an all forgiving God.

Pascal's Wager is so simple, a reference to the US TV show "Are you smarter than a fifth grader" could easily be made. I am in no way trying to offend anyone, merely warning that they have been mislead by a society they KNOW is corrupt.