If Atheists Ruled the World (1 Viewer)

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If we did, in fact, evolve from monkeys, how come babies aren't born monkeys?
 
Several million years for a monkey to turn into a man....? Oh wait thats right, monkeys don't live several million years.
 
VanillaGorilla said:
If we did, in fact, evolve from monkeys, how come babies aren't born monkeys?
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Babies look like monkeys to me.

Hell, even 18 yr olds look like monkeys, if I can judge you by your avatar.

barfo
 
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to barfo again.

LOL!
 
"The thing is people can't think for themselves and they get so confused about reality. that's why people are willing to believe anything scientists tell them" Replace the word scientists with priests?
 
they must have missed all the funny parts.
 
Canadians are always funny.
 
Tony Bennett songs typically have inspiring lyrics and a great slow-paced tune.

[video=youtube;_jNBqPaCY40]
 
Paxil said:
I think science and religion are compatible.
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It seems to for many, but I just don't get it. They recently discovered a star that's 1 million times the size of our own sun. The sheer size of that one object is just mind-blowing. Imagining that some being made that object, but really, really, really cares whether the insignificant little mote of a creature like me worships him is just ludicrous in my mind.
 
mook said:
It seems to for many, but I just don't get it. They recently discovered a star that's 1 million times the size of our own sun. The sheer size of that one object is just mind-blowing. Imagining that some being made that object, but really, really, really cares whether the insignificant little mote of a creature like me worships him is just ludicrous in my mind.
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What? That is crazy talk. It's almost as crazy as the thought that, if some greater being was trying to tell all the people on a planet that if they didn't worship him and adhere to it's laws, they go to hell, would use a burning bush to tell a single individual that important message, and then depend on the fact that it is spread word of mouth world wide, rather then just broadcasting it directly. Are we talking greater being, or are we talking Wizard of Oz, don't look behind the curtain here?
 
hasoos said:
What? That is crazy talk. It's almost as crazy as the thought that, if some greater being was trying to tell all the people on a planet that if they didn't worship him and adhere to it's laws, they go to hell, would use a burning bush to tell a single individual that important message, and then depend on the fact that it is spread word of mouth world wide, rather then just broadcasting it directly. Are we talking greater being, or are we talking Wizard of Oz, don't look behind the curtain here?
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Perhaps He's painfully shy.

barfo
 
I think spirituality and science can go together... but I don't know about religion. It was my understanding that scientists can trace everything back to "the big bang" and they even have photo evidence of the event, but they can't explain what caused it. Is there an old man sitting in a chair up in heaven? I don't know. I personally believe that there is something greater than what we see, but I don't really hold the Bible in much regard as anything more than a guidebook for a decent life.

My only question to atheists: do you believe that Jesus the man existed? I'm just curious if you think that he did, in fact, walk the earth, or do you think the whole thing is a myth?
 
^ To counter your point, somebody might ask if Socrates existed. Evidence of Socrates' life is from Plato's dialogues. There are no written works by Socrates. A lot of what Plato attributes to Socrates changes over time and the later dialogues are thought to be injected with Plato's own opinions. I've heard/read a lot of Christians make this point. Except the teachings of Socrates are palatable even if he was a character Plato invented to get his point across, however unlikely that is. The claims made in the new testament are extraordinary and thus require extraordinary evidence. If someone tells you they routinely examine their life you can take that on faith, so to speak. If they tell you they can walk on water you might ask for a demonstration.
 
speeds said:
^ To counter your point, somebody might ask if Socrates existed. Evidence of Socrates' life is from Plato's dialogues. There are no written works by Socrates. A lot of what Plato attributes to Socrates changes over time and the later dialogues are thought to be injected with Plato's own opinions. I've heard/read a lot of Christians make this point. Except the teachings of Socrates are palatable even if he was a character Plato invented to get his point across, however unlikely that is. The claims made in the new testament are extraordinary and thus require extraordinary evidence. If someone tells you they routinely examine their life you can take that on faith, so to speak. If they tell you they can walk on water you might ask for a demonstration.
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Counter what point? It was a question. Do you think Jesus existed at all? How is that a point?
 
Sure, I think Jesus existed at that time. I watched an interesting History Channel program a while ago about how there were a number of charlatans in that era claiming all sorts of religious knowledge/god-like status. Just because I think they were full of shit doesn't mean I deny they existed.

Jesus' shtick just stuck better than the other guys'. Maybe he had a more optimistic and friendly message, or perhaps he was a better marketer. Who knows.

But I sincerely doubt he was the only son of the same guy who made that ridiculously huge star (along with everything else). It just seems silly and egotistical to think that.
 
Natebishop3 said:
Counter what point? It was a question. Do you think Jesus existed at all? How is that a point?
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I'm not an athiest, I'm agnostic, which is to say speaking definitively isn't my thing. Yeah perhaps a man named Jesus was a prophet up to around 40CE but even if proof of his existence came to light it wouldn't prove his claims or verify his miracles.

I thought you were touching on the historicity of Jesus. It is a debate.
 
mook said:
Sure, I think Jesus existed at that time. I watched an interesting History Channel program a while ago about how there were a number of charlatans in that era claiming all sorts of religious knowledge/god-like status. Just because I think they were full of shit doesn't mean I deny they existed.

Jesus' shtick just stuck better than the other guys'. Maybe he had a more optimistic and friendly message, or perhaps he was a better marketer. Who knows.

But I sincerely doubt he was the only son of the same guy who made that ridiculously huge star (along with everything else). It just seems silly and egotistical to think that.
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I'm not really interested in the subject, but my mom is. She's read a lot of books that said Jesus wasn't going around saying he was the only son of god, but in fact was saying that he was the heir to the throne. I've never read the books myself, but from what she said, they say that he came from bloodlines that would have given him claim to leadership over the Jews. This was why they were threatened by him, and this is why they had him killed. I personally don't know if that theory is any more true than the Bible itself, but it would certainly make more sense. I think one of the books is called, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and was the basis for the fictional book called "The Davinci Code".
 
Natebishop3 said:
I think spirituality and science can go together... but I don't know about religion.
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This is exactly what I think. Spirituality and science are not incompatible, as they are after different things. Science is searching for the best models that allow us to best describe and predict the universe around us. Spirituality is after the "why," at base.

Religion, to me, is a subset of spirituality that depends too greatly on rules and assertions, the latter of which fly directly in the face of empirical evidence and the former of which have no intrinsic logic but, rather, depend on belief in an unproveable superior entity that imposes the arbitrary rules upon us.

I'm not a fan of organized religion, but I am fine with, and even respect, personal spiritual investigations.
 
Minstrel said:
This is exactly what I think. Spirituality and science are not incompatible, as they are after different things. Science is searching for the best models that allow us to best describe and predict the universe around us. Spirituality is after the "why," at base.

Religion, to me, is a subset of spirituality that depends too greatly on rules and assertions, the latter of which fly directly in the face of empirical evidence and the former of which have no intrinsic logic but, rather, depend on belief in an unproveable superior entity that imposes the arbitrary rules upon us.

I'm not a fan of organized religion, but I am fine with, and even respect, personal spiritual investigations.
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I took a geography of religions class last year and it was fascinating. We learned about all the major ones (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism) and also covered Daoism and Confucianism. I personally found myself identifying with Daoism the most, with some aspects of the original Buddhist beliefs ringing home as well. A few of our forefathers were actually daoists. Ben Franklin being one of them, as well as Thomas Jefferson. I actually found a quote in one of my books from Franklin that basically said that he believed that Jesus existed, but not that he was the only son of god. It's all very interesting stuff.
 
mook said:
It seems to for many, but I just don't get it. They recently discovered a star that's 1 million times the size of our own sun. The sheer size of that one object is just mind-blowing. Imagining that some being made that object, but really, really, really cares whether the insignificant little mote of a creature like me worships him is just ludicrous in my mind.
Click to expand...

Not to be picky, but the largest known star is about 2B miles in diameter, which is about 2000x the size of the sun. The most massive star is about 250x the mass of the sun.

I don't mean to minimize just how huge 2B in diameter is. If it were where our sun is, it would engulf all the planets through Saturn (and quite a bit beyond).
 
Natebishop3 said:
I took a geography of religions class last year and it was fascinating. We learned about all the major ones (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism) and also covered Daoism and Confucianism. I personally found myself identifying with Daoism the most, with some aspects of the original Buddhist beliefs ringing home as well. A few of our forefathers were actually daoists. Ben Franklin being one of them, as well as Thomas Jefferson. I actually found a quote in one of my books from Franklin that basically said that he believed that Jesus existed, but not that he was the only son of god. It's all very interesting stuff.
Click to expand...

I quite like the original Buddhism, because there wasn't really any mysticism to it, it was really more of a philosophy about life. Taoism/daoism is also very enriching to read about, IMO.

In fact, I enjoy reading what might be considered the more philosophical aspects of religions. The parts that represent people trying to think through why things are the way they are.
 
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