God exists because if you take the infinite sum of 2^n you get -1. (2-1)(1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 +...+ 2^n) = -1 WHERES YOUR GOD NOW?
I agree that there is no point in debating someone's faith but that's not the same as saying that that someone should get away with presenting outlandish claims as if they were not outlandish. For example, if I was a child being forced into homeschooling with religious, American material, the pointlessness of debating my parents' faith does not mean they should get away with molesting my intelligence.
That makes absolutely no sense and you should complain about your intelligence being insulted. Parents have a right to homeschool their children. Does the state have a right to mandate their school and their faith for all children?
Actually, I would. After realizing how little sense faith makes, how there are no clear and definite attributes that place Christianity above other faiths, and how they all rely on an untestable imaginary friend, I decided to look else where. Instead of being an atheist, such as yourself, I decided to simply dismiss one more entity.
I see this went right over your head. No problem. Just for the record, though, rights are not even in the vicinity of the point.
You don't. You live a Christian life to the best of your abilities, and let your words and actions speak for themselves.
I am not your fellow human, I want nothing to do with you. I do not wish to associate with foolish people who believe in superstitious nonsense. I personally find it obnoxious for religious people to claim they love me, to pray for me and to claim I work for Satan, will go to hell and denigrate the Christian faith. There is no Satan or hell, and stating the simple fact that Christianity is a primitive superstition is being honest NOT denigrating. I hate no one, but I do despise the bigotry and hypocrisy of most Christians. I also despise a religion that makes people deny fact, reality and science and replace it with myth, superstition and nonsense.
Ahhhhhhhhhh, but, my beliefs are based on reliable fact so that allows me to be a bit obnoxious about them. Yours are based on myth, superstition and nonsense, so you should be careful to be less demonstrative. (LOLOLOLOL)
The single greatest cause of atheism in the world, now or at any other time is the simple fact that no god or gods exist.
LOL, they were kicked out for SEEKING KNOWLEDGE, so seeking knowledge is against gods will. And again, the sin was working together, cooperating in peace to achieve a goal. God found that this peaceful working together and cooperation was a sin. That is how foolish most religions are and that is why so many Christians today refuse to accept facts, knowledge and science.
This is typical meaningless Religious nonsense, or as some would call it, Christian Apologetics or foolish excuses for the nonsense found in the bible.
Finding flaws in prior reasoning *is* a method of reasoning, so there is nothing to prevent you from claiming that you were swayed as a result of your own reasoning. By the way. Capital punishment is a good example of an issue that can actually be debated. One can reason as to why capital punishment should be applied or not. Not so with religion. Debating it is indeed futile. There is no reasoning and no debate, - only instruction.
true. actually - I asked ... just as a matter of interest, what do you think of BFOJ's argument that I am morally and spiritually inferior because I am an atheist? I answered quite reasonably to this statement: people who impose their religious views on others constantly are hardly in a position to talk about respecting others True. and your statement was laden with overtones describing atheists in such a way as if we are missing something. if you go through life presenting this perspective, you alienate people. If you read my posts you would see that it is not belief I have an issue with. Your response on the other hand reveals a perspective where the only certainty is your understanding - which is not based on fact, but on belief. this is not evidence of "grace", but of arrogance... which is not particularly gracious.
I like to give credit where credit is due. I wouldn't have come to that if I hadn't been shown where I erred. I don't fully agree...faith is not just some magical happening, it is something where reason and hope and trust and again...reason work in harmony rather than at odds. There is good in discussion of one's REASON for their hope and trust. Perhaps "debate" in the strictest sense concerning whether a person has faith or not is futile, but there are so many false claims and misinformation and simple bigotry about religion and religious people and their beliefs, that THAT is ripe fodder for debate.
If you choose to see it as "arrogance" rather than confidence in my perspective, I suppose that's just how you are going to see it. Do you want me to be unsure of my faith? I don't see what purpose that would serve. I believe what I believe. I have been a questioner for a very long time in my life, and I am settled. I don't assume I will never again be challenged, but currently, I am quite assured. Why would it make you feel better, or that I am less "arrogant," if I didn't have that confidence in my faith? What would YOU get out of that? And, why do you need that?
Yes indeed. But that's extraneous to faith. Debating misinformation and preconceptions about a religion is not the same as debating faith in that religion. For example, the different accounts in the Gospels concerning Jesus' ressurrection can be debated back and forth, including misinformation and preconception regarding those differences. But faith itself in the resurrection is undebatable. It is based on a priori assumption and as such not subject to discussion.
you can have confidence in your faith - I have no issue with that, but how can you say as if you have some special knowledge about others that they themselves do not have because they do not share your faith? You know nothing about me - about the path I have travelled and why I have come to the conclusion that I have. Like you I have been a questioner for a very long time in my life, possibly for longer, and the conclusions I have come to did not come overnight, nor without going through a number of events that shaped my understanding of what faith means, and what being human means, and a considerable amount of reading on various religious and philosophical traditions. I accept that there are people who have faith - and that is fine. for many people it helps them make sense of the world and I know enough about people to not wish to take that away from them. however regardless of what a person believes, in our world they must also learn to respect that others have the right to not share that belief, and that our beliefs do not give us the right to assume that the morality of others is determined by our own unproven beliefs. perhaps your morality and moral beliefs are based on your faith, but your certainty that you - more than me - know better about the source of my morality and moral beliefs is belittling me, and my understanding of the world.
There is no winning. You believe in Faith so no amount of critical thinking will convince those of faith that The Flood can not be true. It is a matter of belief over rational thought. Neither one of us is right or wrong it's just how we live our lives.
many believers regard genesis as mythical - rather than literal. it is important to understand that. myths have always served an important purpose in human societies, they present layers of meaning.
IT IS MY PERSPECTIVE. What don't you understand about that? How is having an opinion about the nature of the world "arrogant?" I did notice that you didn't bother to respond about YOUR perspective on people of faith...that's okay, I've seen your opinion before, and this prickliness of yours on my having a different opinion is pretty hypocritical. So. Likewise mine have been shaped that way. See? Right there you dismiss faith as a way to "make sense of the world." Is YOUR perspective arrogant? Where have you been "disrespected" by my opinion? You do the same in thinking that you are correct in your world view. Why do you think you should have the privilege of having an opinion and others cannot?
