If God were real, you wouldn’t need a book

[ZenMode]

The religionists blindly guess that the probability favors "YES AT LEAST ONE GOD EXISTS."

Based on faith, not evidence.

 

[Ross Dolan]

Based on faith, not evidence.

You base your blind guesses on faith in them.

Stop while you are far behind...or continue. I enjoy our discussions, Zen, and have a mental bet with myself about how long it will take for you to realize how wrong you are that you are not just blindly guessing on the question at hand.

 

[Cypress]

Bart is forgetting the fact that we lost a decade of embryonic stem cell research because stem cells might have souls. Several states have made it nearly impossible, if not impossible, to get an abortion and we have a concerning percentage of the far right that gives the current president a pass on all the embarrassing, childish and generally ridiculous things he says and does, because they believe he was literally put into the presidency by God himself.

I've never seen you say there is any redeeming qualities to Christianity, and you are relentlessly negative about it.

I don't know enough about stem cell research to comment intelligently.

However, I do not recall reading in any reputable science journals that global stem cell research has been thwarted and saotaged by the Methodist or Baptist churches.

You're forgetting that science and universities were direct outgrowths of a ChristianIzed Europe. The universities were a creation of the Catholic church, and all the universities in colonial and post-revolutionary America were founded by Protestants.

Experimental science was never consistently practiced outside of Christian Europe and North America. The world emulated Western science.

America was the most literate society on Earth in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Why? Because we were Protestant, and Protestants are expected to be able to read the Bible.

It makes eminent sense that experimental science was rooted in the Christian West. If you believe in an omniscient monotheistic law-giver, you are going to expect to find lawful behavior in it's creation when you go looking for it. That's what Newton, Galileo, Kepler, Maxwell believed.

 

[ZenMode]

You base your blind guesses on faith in them.

Stop while you are far behind...or continue. I enjoy our discussions, Zen, and have a mental bet with myself about how long it will take for you to realize how wrong you are that you are not just blindly guessing on the question at hand.

I base my beliefs on what i know about the time in history when man came up with these gods, the scientific ignorance and superstitious tendencies that were the cause of creating gods, the improbability of the stories in the Bible and the fact that we don't see true miracles happening today.

People, who believe today, believe because of a 2000+ year old book that taught us the Earth is surrounded by a plexiglass cover with little windows that open to let rain in.

 

[IBDaMann]

We know the masses, electrical charges, and quantum spins of the six different quarks with a high degree of precision.

Too funny! I notice you have toggled back to the Marxist "we".

You do not know the masses of any fictional things. Were you planning on producing these six different quarks so that their masses, electrical charges and quantum spins can be confirmed? We could confirm the mass, electrical charge, and quantum spin of any magical dragon that you might wish to produce as well.

Well?

They have been discovered and reported by the most respected and esteemed high energy particle physics laboratories on the planet.

"Quarks" haven't been discovered; their mere theorization has been published. You are gullible, owing to your scientfic illiteracy.

It hilarious because it shows that obscure anonymous poster IBDumbass claims quarks haven't been discovered,

I'm not sure why you need my post to show that I am aware of common knowledge.

While the prestigious high energy physics laboratories CERN, FermiLab, the Stanford Linear Accelerator, Brookhaven all say quarks have been discovered.

Too funny! @Cypress doesn't understand why people with vested financial interests would speak in support of their vested financial interests.

 

[Ross Dolan]

I base my beliefs on what i know about the time in history when man came up with these gods, the scientific ignorance and superstitious tendencies that were the cause of creating gods, the improbability of the stories in the Bible and the fact that we don't see true miracles happening today.

People, who believe today, believe because of a 2000+ year old book that taught us the Earth is surrounded by a plexiglass cover with little windows that open to let rain in.

You are a blind guesser...who apparently are not yet able to acknowledge it.

No problem. Lots of people make blind guesses about the REALITY of existence and refuse to acknowledge that they are making blind guesses.

Yours are very interesting. Thanks for sharing them. I wonder if they are even close to correct.

 

[Cypress]

You do not know the masses of any fictional things!

I'm confident you didn't even really know what quarks are until you started reading my posts, though the word by itself is widely recognizable.

It looks like you haven't really done any reading or investigation into high energy particle physics. You are free to believe physicists are lying about quarks in expectation that their lies will turn them into multimillionaires.

 

[ZenMode]

I've never seen you say there is any redeeming qualities to Christianity, and you are relentlessly negative about it.

I don't find redeeming qualities in any religions, astrology or superstitions of any kind.

I don't know enough about stem cell research to comment intelligently.

However, I do not recall reading in any reputable science journals that global stem cell research has been thwarted and saotaged by the Methodist or Baptist churches.

You're forgetting that science and universities were direct outgrowths of a ChristianIzed Europe. The universities were a creation of the Catholic church, and all the universities in colonial and post-revolutionary America were founded by Protestants.

Experimental science was never consistently practiced outside of Christian Europe and North America. The world emulated Western science.

America was the most literate society on Earth in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Why? Because we were Protestant, and Protestants are expected to be able to read the Bible.

It makes eminent sense that experimental science was rooted in the Christian West. If you believe in an omniscient monotheistic law-giver, you are going to expect to find lawful behavior in it's creation when you go looking for it. That's what Newton, Galileo, Kepler, Maxwell believed.

There's lots of information about the halting of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and why the resistance is entirely from the religious.

 

[ZenMode]

I'm confident you didn't even really know what quarks are until you started reading my posts, though the word by itself is widely recognizable.

It looks like you haven't really done any reading or investigation into high energy particle physics. You are free to believe physicists are lying about quarks in expectation that their lies will turn them into multimillionaires.

@IBDaMann has his own version of science that fits perfectly into this world view.

 

[gfm7175]

If a god wanted to allow an adult male to walk on top of water, how would that work? Would the god change the atomic structure of the water to make it a solid?

RQAA.
RQAA.
Stop asking the same questions over and over and over again.

 

[gfm7175]

Ambiguous meaning it's only evidence if you already believe in a god.

Ambiguous meaning it's only evidence if you already believe in NO god?

 

[Cypress]

I don't find redeeming qualities in any religions, astrology or superstitions of any kind.

There's lots of information about the halting of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and why the resistance is entirely from the religious.

I haven't read any articles that global stem cell research has been stymied, shutdown, sabotaged, rendered impotent by Christians.

If they had, I think it would be more widely reported in mainstream news media.

For every witch you can point to who was burned, or for every Muslim killed by crusaders, one could point to examples of science, education, literacy, culture, art, music, literature, philosophy, hospitals, universities, social ethics, public charities that are directly and indirectly a result of the Christianization of Europe.

You seem to believe Christianity is relentlessly evil, wholly detrimental, and has no redeeming qualities.

That is indicative of somebody with an agenda, even an axe to grind.

The reason an esteemed atheist like Bart Ehrman is profitable to read is because he takes an impartial and balanced view on the influence of Christianity on Western civilization.

 

[Monad Portal]

Sadly Mad magazine is out of print!

I know, right?

but the message is clear.

let's just not worry.

 

[Monad Portal]

I don't find redeeming qualities in any religions, astrology or superstitions of any kind.

There's lots of information about the halting of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and why the resistance is entirely from the religious.

you straight up suck satan's cock.

 

[gfm7175]

The question of how is a question that should be asked. You can't just assume God's exist and they can do such things without asking how.

If so, then you likewise can't just assume that gods DON'T exist, and that the "heavens and earth" appeared out of (_______?), and that life appeared out of non-life, without asking how.

If you can't come up with a reasonable way to describe how all of these things can be done, that is evidence against the existence of gods.

You still haven't come up with a reasonable way to describe how miracles don't/can't occur.

 

[Monad Portal]

If so, then you likewise can't just assume that gods DON'T exist, and that the "heavens and earth" appeared out of (_______?), and that life appeared out of non-life, without asking how.

You still haven't come up with a reasonable way to describe how miracles don't/can't occur.

religion is not about explaining miracles.

its about morality.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

Now you're just making things up.

Muslims are probably the worst offenders.

You think pie chart is "fake news"? Weird.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

I've never seen you say there is any redeeming qualities to Christianity, and you are relentlessly negative about it.

I don't know enough about stem cell research to comment intelligently.

However, I do not recall reading in any reputable science journals that global stem cell research has been thwarted and saotaged by the Methodist or Baptist churches.

You're forgetting that science and universities were direct outgrowths of a ChristianIzed Europe. The universities were a creation of the Catholic church, and all the universities in colonial and post-revolutionary America were founded by Protestants.

Experimental science was never consistently practiced outside of Christian Europe and North America. The world emulated Western science.

America was the most literate society on Earth in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Why? Because we were Protestant, and Protestants are expected to be able to read the Bible.

It makes eminent sense that experimental science was rooted in the Christian West. If you believe in an omniscient monotheistic law-giver, you are going to expect to find lawful behavior in it's creation when you go looking for it. That's what Newton, Galileo, Kepler, Maxwell believed.

It goes back to the peculiarity of militant atheists only spreading hate against Christianity and no other religions. Weird!

 

[ZenMode]

I haven't read any articles that global stem cell research has been stymied, shutdown, sabotaged, rendered impotent by Christians.

Then you haven't read much.

If they had, I think it would be more widely reported in mainstream news media.

It was.... in 2001 when W banned funding for stem cell research because "life is a gift from our creator".

For every witch you can point to who was burned, or for every Muslim killed by crusaders, one could point to examples of science, education, literacy, culture, art, music, literature, philosophy, hospitals, universities, social ethics, public charities that are directly and indirectly a result of the Christianization of Europe.

You seem to believe Christianity is relentlessly evil, wholly detrimental, and has no redeeming qualities.

That is indicative of somebody with an agenda, even an axe to grind.

The reason an esteemed atheist like Bart Ehrman is profitable to read is because he takes an impartial and balanced view on the influence of Christianity on Western civilization.

I don't think Christians or Christianity is relentlessly evil. I think it's unnecessary and any positives that come from it, could have come from a non-religious source.

 

[Cypress]

If a god wanted to allow an adult male to walk on top of water, how would that work? Would the god change the atomic structure of the water to make it a solid?

The Bible is literature, not science, and for the rational person the first step is to approach the story from the perspective of literary criticism, not molecular chemistry.

In English translations, the Greek word epi is usually translated as 'upon'. But epi can also mean "near" or "by".

The telling of the story in the gospel of John is fairly ambiguous.

So the possibilities are:

1) It was a miracle and Jesus walked upon the water.

2) Jesus was walking near the shore, and perhaps just waded out to the boat.

3) The story is parable. The authors of the gospels weren't historians strictly speaking, and their literature would have been pregnant with midrash and parable, which would be entirely consistent with the Jewish tradition of literature.