Why should you try and change their mind? Because they are wrong, dead wrong.
I bet this strategy works with all your girl friends.
And it is these wrong people that turn up to the polls and vote. If religion was a non-issue, gays would not have been stripped of their basic human rights with the passing of prop 8.
Religion isn't a non-issue, but it's not the source of problems either. Either way, there's a difference between religion and faith. and the original post isn't questioning religious institutions. It's questioning faith in a benevolent God, who by all indications does some pretty terrible things. Like someone else said, it's a modified form of the problem of evil argument and it would be answered by religious people the exact same way.
how exactly is religion not a source of problems? you can say muslims would be angry with or without the qur'an to gode them on, but the fact remains that it is there and it does inspire them and we dont seem to see the same actions in other people who arent promised 72 virgins in return for martrydom
On March 19 2009 20:56 IdrA wrote: removing people's delusions does not seem cruel to me at all.
That's why you're an emotional stub.
I have much more pity for you than for most religious people.
"mommy when timmy prayed for his daddy's cancer to go away it worked but when i tried it didnt and now daddy's dead and its all my fault"
people can not wish away tumors. telling them they can is cruel in itself, it gives false hope and misplaces trust. how many people have died because they tried some homeopathic bullshit instead of going to a doctor?
Why should you try and change their mind? Because they are wrong, dead wrong.
I bet this strategy works with all your girl friends.
And it is these wrong people that turn up to the polls and vote. If religion was a non-issue, gays would not have been stripped of their basic human rights with the passing of prop 8.
Religion isn't a non-issue, but it's not the source of problems either. Either way, there's a difference between religion and faith. and the original post isn't questioning religious institutions. It's questioning faith in a benevolent God, who by all indications does some pretty terrible things. Like someone else said, it's a modified form of the problem of evil argument and it would be answered by religious people the exact same way.
how exactly is religion not a source of problems? you can say muslims would be angry with or without the qur'an to gode them on, but the fact remains that it is there and it does inspire them and we dont seem to see the same actions in other people who arent promised 72 virgins in return for martrydom
On March 19 2009 17:02 Elite00fm wrote: if you don't feel like reading there is a youtube video that is virtually that article word for word with pretty pictures also:
I'm atheist and I find christian religion to be absolutely absurd but that video was very stupid.
It just kept rambling basically telling you "if you're smart your college education will tell you your religion is stupid"
Sorry but that's not going to convince any of my christian friends... please come up with something better.
On March 19 2009 20:01 HamerD wrote: Actually from a practical standpoint, God (if he existed and could intervene with the world, which I very much doubt) would not be wise to heal the legs of all amputees.
It would encourage people to just go around throwing themselves off buildings and in front of trains, knowing they would be restored by the all mighty. Think about it, if God cured all diseases, how could humanity's population be restrained? If he revived all casualties of war? If he prevented all childhood and childbirth deaths?
then why does he 'miraculously cure' cancer and rabies and whatnot?
That doesn't contradict what I said. God might, for example, feel like showing his presence from time to time to his most devoted followers, through miracles or apparitions; or to huge circles of people who aren't necessarily *expecting* anything other than their lord to make a judgement.
There is a difference between healing once in awhile and being a medipack on tap.
heals once in a while, but never ever eeeeeever in a way that would leave indisputable proof? thats a neat trick.
Yeah, because in my speculation he'd only be doing it to reward his devotees, not to prove himself to anyone or anything like that.
And seeing as we're speculating on God's motivations, why is it inconceivable that he could want to make it feel unsafe to worship him? As opposed to only jumping when you know your parachute works, he could just want you to jump off and hope. Perhaps he feels that faith is one of humanity's saving graces. Who knows? The point is that it is conceivable that he wouldn't want to a) dispense miracles on tap to everyone and b) prevent every single person from knowing of his existence.
If you try to put God 'on trial' and sit there with your arms crossed waiting for a miracle, I'm not particularly surprised you don't get very far.
On March 19 2009 20:08 IdrA wrote:
Essentially you would never want a god that just bends to the will of all of his followers, or he is just a help dispenser, a tool.
the verses from the bible quoted in the op do kind of script him as that. "ask and ye shall receive" and whatnot.
The bible is a ridiculous source in my opinion. AFAIK it's been ripped apart, adulterated and amended to high hell. It was supposed to be something like 3 times the length, and it was a pretty shoddy translation through the centuries from the original texts, apparently. Picking individual arguments against a text which is full of confusion and mistranslation is as pointless as believing everything in the bible is the unadulterated word of God.
Extremism is present in both religion AND atheism.
then, by all means, lets throw out the bible. that would do us a world of good.
please enlighten me as to the evils of modern day extremist atheism? i was unaware such a thing existed.
That's just a straw man. I didn't say 'the evils of religious extremism and atheistic extremism are equal in weight'.
Actually, think about it, religion becomes dangerous when deeply flawed people become involved. It's not impossible that in the future we will have gigantic pogroms of people who have misinterpreted Dawkins running up and down the country burning people carrying crosses at the stake. You'd be surprised how staggeringly stupid a large portion of our countries is.
And in the case of throwing out the bible, it's not going to happen any time soon; but if everyone takes it less literally, it will help us all. Same goes for trying to read it in a belligerent light. Unfortunately, it's one of the basic facts of life that you need to relate things to people to get them to get on board with you. Like Hitler trying to relate his issues with the Jews to the German peoples' weak economic position.
If you want to get violent, aggressive, stupid people to join your sect, you will have to preach to them a very different gospel than the one you will have to preach to calm, friendly people. The bible basically covers all the bases, so it will be frightening to some, inspiring to others, violent for others etc. It's a big personality smear to get everyone it can to convert to its religion. The same goes for all the religions. It's really like teenage mutant ninja turtles. You have 4 different personalities so 4 times as many people can relate to it.
So basically, you need to stop people from using confirmation bias when they read the bible, atheist and religious...and looking for violent passages in the Koran etc.
One more addition. Getting rid of religion in the world would do about as much as getting rid of the Jewish race. People look for problems. That's the sad fact.
If you think the Arab Israeli conflict is about religion, for example, you are sadly mistaken.
On March 19 2009 20:56 IdrA wrote: removing people's delusions does not seem cruel to me at all.
That's why you're an emotional stub.
I have much more pity for you than for most religious people.
"mommy when timmy prayed for his daddy's cancer to go away it worked but when i tried it didnt and now daddy's dead and its all my fault"
people can not wish away tumors. telling them they can is cruel in itself, it gives false hope and misplaces trust. how many people have died because they tried some homeopathic bullshit instead of going to a doctor?
I disagree with you in that people who pray to God for good health are retarded. I agree with you in that they are retarded in praying for health without seeking actual medical advice.
I am a Muslim, and my point of view on those people who only pray instead of taking the sick to a doctor: If you do not bother to try to help yourself, why will God bother to help you?
On March 19 2009 20:56 IdrA wrote: removing people's delusions does not seem cruel to me at all.
That's why you're an emotional stub.
I have much more pity for you than for most religious people.
"mommy when timmy prayed for his daddy's cancer to go away it worked but when i tried it didnt and now daddy's dead and its all my fault"
people can not wish away tumors. telling them they can is cruel in itself, it gives false hope and misplaces trust. how many people have died because they tried some homeopathic bullshit instead of going to a doctor?
If you do not bother to try to help yourself, why will God bother to help you?
Yeah that's a cool little phrase . Not that I am religious at all
On March 19 2009 20:56 IdrA wrote: removing people's delusions does not seem cruel to me at all.
That's why you're an emotional stub.
I have much more pity for you than for most religious people.
"mommy when timmy prayed for his daddy's cancer to go away it worked but when i tried it didnt and now daddy's dead and its all my fault"
people can not wish away tumors. telling them they can is cruel in itself, it gives false hope and misplaces trust. how many people have died because they tried some homeopathic bullshit instead of going to a doctor?
I disagree with you in that people who pray to God for good health are retarded. I agree with you in that they are retarded in praying for health without seeking actual medical advice.
I am a Muslim, and my point of view on those people who only pray instead of taking the sick to a doctor: If you do not bother to try to help yourself, why will God bother to help you?
well i hold that god wouldnt help you in the first place as he doesnt exist, and so asking him to help you only generates false hope.
obviously if you believe something can actually come of praying to god then you'd have a different perspective on it. do you believe that god can heal the sick?
On March 19 2009 20:01 HamerD wrote: Actually from a practical standpoint, God (if he existed and could intervene with the world, which I very much doubt) would not be wise to heal the legs of all amputees.
It would encourage people to just go around throwing themselves off buildings and in front of trains, knowing they would be restored by the all mighty. Think about it, if God cured all diseases, how could humanity's population be restrained? If he revived all casualties of war? If he prevented all childhood and childbirth deaths?
then why does he 'miraculously cure' cancer and rabies and whatnot?
That doesn't contradict what I said. God might, for example, feel like showing his presence from time to time to his most devoted followers, through miracles or apparitions; or to huge circles of people who aren't necessarily *expecting* anything other than their lord to make a judgement.
There is a difference between healing once in awhile and being a medipack on tap.
heals once in a while, but never ever eeeeeever in a way that would leave indisputable proof? thats a neat trick.
Yeah, because in my speculation he'd only be doing it to reward his devotees, not to prove himself to anyone or anything like that.
And seeing as we're speculating on God's motivations, why is it inconceivable that he could want to make it feel unsafe to worship him? As opposed to only jumping when you know your parachute works, he could just want you to jump off and hope. Perhaps he feels that faith is one of humanity's saving graces. Who knows? The point is that it is conceivable that he wouldn't want to a) dispense miracles on tap to everyone and b) prevent every single person from knowing of his existence.
If you try to put God 'on trial' and sit there with your arms crossed waiting for a miracle, I'm not particularly surprised you don't get very far.
On March 19 2009 20:08 IdrA wrote:
Essentially you would never want a god that just bends to the will of all of his followers, or he is just a help dispenser, a tool.
the verses from the bible quoted in the op do kind of script him as that. "ask and ye shall receive" and whatnot.
The bible is a ridiculous source in my opinion. AFAIK it's been ripped apart, adulterated and amended to high hell. It was supposed to be something like 3 times the length, and it was a pretty shoddy translation through the centuries from the original texts, apparently. Picking individual arguments against a text which is full of confusion and mistranslation is as pointless as believing everything in the bible is the unadulterated word of God.
Extremism is present in both religion AND atheism.
then, by all means, lets throw out the bible. that would do us a world of good.
please enlighten me as to the evils of modern day extremist atheism? i was unaware such a thing existed.
That's just a straw man. I didn't say 'the evils of religious extremism and atheistic extremism are equal in weight'.
Actually, think about it, religion becomes dangerous when deeply flawed people become involved. It's not impossible that in the future we will have gigantic pogroms of people who have misinterpreted Dawkins running up and down the country burning people carrying crosses at the stake. You'd be surprised how staggeringly stupid a large portion of our countries is.
And in the case of throwing out the bible, it's not going to happen any time soon; but if everyone takes it less literally, it will help us all. Same goes for trying to read it in a belligerent light. Unfortunately, it's one of the basic facts of life that you need to relate things to people to get them to get on board with you. Like Hitler trying to relate his issues with the Jews to the German peoples' weak economic position.
If you want to get violent, aggressive, stupid people to join your sect, you will have to preach to them a very different gospel than the one you will have to preach to calm, friendly people. The bible basically covers all the bases, so it will be frightening to some, inspiring to others, violent for others etc. It's a big personality smear to get everyone it can to convert to its religion. The same goes for all the religions. It's really like teenage mutant ninja turtles. You have 4 different personalities so 4 times as many people can relate to it.
So basically, you need to stop people from using confirmation bias when they read the bible, atheist and religious...and looking for violent passages in the Koran etc.
any idea that can cause people to rally around it is inherently dangerous, however you cannot compare religion and atheism. "fight to the death for god" and "fight to the death for the fact that there is no god" dont carry the same weight. by their very natures there is a massive imbalance there in the potential for inspiring extremism.
not really sure what you're talking about for the rest of your post. at first you say that i shouldnt be referencing the bible and then you talk about how theres no way we're letting go of the bible anytime soon? i agree that the bible is a poor reference at best, but as you say its not going anywhere and there are alot of people with alot vested in it, so i see no problem with me referencing quotes from it when we're talking about the behavior of those people.
On March 19 2009 21:25 HamerD wrote: One more addition. Getting rid of religion in the world would do about as much as getting rid of the Jewish race. People look for problems. That's the sad fact.
If you think the Arab Israeli conflict is about religion, for example, you are sadly mistaken.
religion is undeniably a problem. the fact that other problems may take its place is not a reason to ignore the existing problem.
im sorry but i have to say the author of that site is full of logical fallacy and if anything proves God exists more than not...
first off the cae w/ Jeanna Giese was an actual example u can't counter prove that by stating something hypothetical... what if God HAS healed an amputee? there are many manyy miracles of God that happen (i've seen some with my own eyes) but they nvr get pressed or go to the media most of the time... nobody bothers i guess
and i guess that is partially our fault for not spreading the good news but seriously if u r intelligent, even if you don't believe in God, u cannot possibly believe his logical reason to be bulletproof.
even if he gave an actually life example for the amputee counterpoint it would still be on shaky grounds because anyone could still say oh the amputee and the people who prayed for him did not even have faith the size of a mustard seed...
im not trying to prove to you God exists because that would possibly be the dumbest thing ever
if i could prove God exists then there would be no need for faith and there certain will be no need to be bickering like this all im trying to say is this guy is full of holes and full of himself...
On March 19 2009 20:56 IdrA wrote: removing people's delusions does not seem cruel to me at all.
That's why you're an emotional stub.
I have much more pity for you than for most religious people.
"mommy when timmy prayed for his daddy's cancer to go away it worked but when i tried it didnt and now daddy's dead and its all my fault"
people can not wish away tumors. telling them they can is cruel in itself, it gives false hope and misplaces trust. how many people have died because they tried some homeopathic bullshit instead of going to a doctor?
I disagree with you in that people who pray to God for good health are retarded. I agree with you in that they are retarded in praying for health without seeking actual medical advice.
I am a Muslim, and my point of view on those people who only pray instead of taking the sick to a doctor: If you do not bother to try to help yourself, why will God bother to help you?
well i hold that god wouldnt help you in the first place as he doesnt exist, and so asking him to help you only generates false hope.
obviously if you believe something can actually come of praying to god then you'd have a different perspective on it. do you believe that god can heal the sick?
I am a Muslim but not an Islamic scholar or high priest or anything like that so I cannot say 100% for sure.
But from what I was taught: God can heal the sick. He just chooses whether or not he does. And who do you think God, if he exists, would rather help: a person who prays for their health while being taken care by a doctor, a person who prays without consulting a doctor, or a person who goes to the doctor but does not pray to God?
Of course there are cases when the 3rd type of person i mentioned gets healed. The only explanation for that I have is that God works in mysterious ways. I'll admit I don't know everything about God so I can't explain everything unfortunately