The "god of the gaps" gets smaller almost every week as the base of scientific knowledge fills in those gaps. Now we find science even has religion beat in the area of morality. Would a "just" god really torture people FOREVER just because he gave them a defective brain in the first place? Have Christians given up on the idea that god is even supposed to be "just"? Or are they just anxious for their imaginary friend to strike down and punish people who disagree with them?
I'd say 'given up the idea that god is just' is probably closer to the mark. Even then, it's inaccurate, as I don't think those who were indoctrinated in childhood actually take a step back to consider the question in the first place. More a problem of not being capable of making the determination (since questioning god is verbotten), and falling back on ill-considered defences. I don't think Christians generally want to see anyone struck down, though there are probably some who have wet dreams about evil atheists being smote by god's big whacky stick.
Every time they cite Pascals wager, talk of how in the end we will see who was right and who goes to hell, that is that they are doing.
Who knows who will go to hell.....certainly not you....but I could see atheists possibly being used as kindling for the fires.
I do not believe there is a jealous old vengeful God in the sky with such a ego problem that he would punish good people just because they did not believe in the Christin religion besides, could one actually be happy in a Heaven when they know their loved ones that did not believe were being used as kindling for eternity by the God they claim Loves everyone .
Such silly cartoon logic just proves you don't understand how the universe works. Try being open minded and see how that goes.
sorry, I think a God would be better then the Christian God which is self-described with God's own words per the bible as a Jealous, vengeful God You do not have to agree with me that God would be better then that, that is just what I believe... .
how DOES the universe work, wise one? we simple folk only understand those cartoonish concepts, reason, logic, and reality. we see everything that way, including this mysterious god-creature we're not qualified to think about. if this god-creature offers us the 'choice' of worship or suffer eternal torture, we tend to view it the same way we would if a rapist forced us into submission at gunpoint. you see the problem? so, in the interests of world-wide enlightenment, please explain, in goodly detail, how the universe REALLY works.
and if you don't mind, could you also explain this open-mindedness you say we suffer a lack of. give us some examples of how you've employed it in your arrival at Christianity, for example. ie, did you give all possibilities (it's all a myth, islam is great, maybe Vishnu is the one true god, etc etc) due and serious consideration, open mindedly, before committing to the middle eastern sky god?
Pascal couldn't have been more wrong. There are actually 3 possibilities: 1) There is NO god 2) There is a god but he is nothing like Christians believe him to be and may actually have created the Jesus story to see who would say horrible things about (god) so he could send them Hell. You don't need a savior unless you have a monster (god) for him to save you from. Or 3) There is a god and he's just as evil the Christians say he is in which case NOBODY is safe from him. Even if you get into Heaven there is nothing to stop him from having another hissy fit and doing horrible unspeakable things for no particular reason.
If you need cartoons to understand something you are out of luck when it comes to anything of substance. You should stick to the cartoons and let us rational folks think about more complicated concepts.
Well said, as crank says. Noted in here is that for a fundy, tho, it is two possibilities. Coins have two sides, and so does everything else.
The modern world of science is a result of the christian world. That's why science is using for example the paradigma "there is only one truth". Concrete example: A theory in chemistry and a theory in biology are not able to exclude each other and to be true the same time. But science is not able to say anything about god. Every theory in science has to live without god. So science is not able to fill any gap of any religion. Only a religion is able to fill the gaps of a religion - but science is not a religion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLSs7iH4l4k
If it really was silly cartoon logic, then I would have thought an "undisputed debating champion" would demolish it with their superior logic and debate skills. Not petulantly dismiss it. Why did you fail so badly to do that?
What "gaps" are you talking about? When the bible says that man was formed from mud and the name of the first man "Adam" means red clay, there is no gap, but there is the best explanation of our origin, because we actually come from mud. What about science? Lol, science claims we come from apes, but fails miserably with lots of gaps from a single cell into an ape. Surely science is the best loser. Science cannot compete with the bible about our origin. The bible never says that people will be tortured forever, such idea is conceived by ignorance, because the penalty of sin is death, and sinners will die in the lake of fire, it is clear that death -no torture forever- is the final punishment. God Himself said it to Adam, that disobedience will cause his death. Let's go to the brain. God didn't give any defective brain, but brain of people is becoming defective from one generation into another by obvious degeneration. Degeneration happens when former ancestors do what is not good. Marihuana smokers won't feel the symptoms, but the descendants will pay the price of the drugs used by their parents. Bad diet, drugs, lack of taking care of your body will cause degenerate offspring... or, what do you expect?
I am the product of billions of years of evolution acting on stardust. If you'd prefer to believe that you were thrown together from a dirt clod in an afternoon that's your problem.
Give me please an example for something what is not a "product of billions of years of evolution acting on stardust" in your view on the world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugV6QGcafEE
Actually....that is not possible. It is known as Supernova nucleosynthesis which is the production of new chemical elements inside supernovae. It occurs primarily due to explosive nucleosynthesis during explosive oxygen burning and silicon burning. Those fusion reactions create the elements silicon, sulfur, chlorine, argon, sodium, potassium, calcium, scandium, titanium and iron peak elements: vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, and nickel. As a result of their ejection from supernovae, their abundances increase within the interstellar medium. Elements heavier than nickel are created primarily by a rapid capture of neutrons in a process called the r-process. However, there are other processes thought to be responsible for some of the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements, notably a proton capture process known as the rp-process and a photodisintegration process known as the gamma (or p) process. The latter synthesizes the lightest, most neutron-poor, isotopes of the heavy elements. So...you see....we are all Stardust. AboveAlpha
A circle for exampel is not a part of evolution. A circle was in the very first moment of the universe the same as it is now. The astonishing continuum is, that we know since some thousands years now something about circles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chU3ZZ67-VI
[MENTION=61829]TheBlackPearl[/MENTION] Still I'm waiting for an answer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=852gverKRPo
I'm glad to know that you are proud of the gaps found from the cell becoming a macro-organism like the ape before becoming -according to you- a man. Such ignorance deserves lots of pride. You better fill up the gaps if you want someone to believe you because so far... you just have mentioned "stardust" but can't prove with certainty (without any doubt) the origin of the star.., lol.... Congratulations...
I dont suppose you ever even took a beginning biology class, or noticed, if you did, that the transition between single cell and multi cell organisms is not exactly mysterious?