Are you an atheist? (1 Viewer)

[Alisa]

They just pick and choose what to debate, Sam didn't look further than the end of his nose in his response to me, there was a time when people debated properly on this thread, but not any more. Its hardly worth a visit.

Brian

And yet I can't stay away

 

[Rabbie]

counter to what?? to you telling me what i can or can't think or believe in.. okaayy.

You can believe in whatever you want to. If I am ever tempted to believe in someone/something that I can't prove exists I think I will go for either Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy. They both seem nicer than any of the gods I have heard about.

 

[redneckgeek]

But you can't get beer in the States, only gnats pi**

I believe some european company is buying one of our biggest brewers... so now you can all share our misery!

 

[dan-cat]

So why did he make the floods, tsunami and drought etc.

Brian

It's like a glass half-full, half empty scenario.

You can either focus on the nature's constant success in creating and maintaining a hugely diverse habitat or focus on the occasional examples where the results of which are destroyed.

I was watching a show on the Science channel this weekend. One of the astronauts of the numerous apollo missions to the moon said he'd never complained about the weather since he got back because on the moon there was nothing.

So I guess the question is this. Is the occasional natural disaster a warranted price for a system that provides for us what it does?

 

[Pauldohert]

Are you implying that you give god credit for all the beauty in the world, but absolve him of responsibility of all the ugliness in the world?

Maybe the rest is the work of the devil.?

 

[Alisa]

So I guess the question is this. Is the occasional natural disaster a warranted price for a system that provides for us what it does?

No offence, but that is not the question at all. The question is, is there any merit to the argument that god must exist because the world is beautiful? And the answer to that question is no. You could just as easily say that the spaghetti monster exists because the world is ugly. It is a meaningless argument. Anyone can say any other made up thing exists for any other unrelated reason.

 

[Rich]

I believe some european company is buying one of our biggest brewers... so now you can all share our misery!

I don't consider myself European

 

[Rabbie]

sorry brian, those are simply forces of nature...and greedy developers building on flood plains, when history tells everyone that an area floods yet they still go ahead, build and then sell for big bucks then the people blame the government for not putting enough flood defenses in?? it's not that i'm not sympathetic but it is nature..and if you are gonna build power stations in locations where water levels will rise then expect power outage...

oh and global warming..who thinks that we're out of the last ice age, word is we're not..

This seems to be in contradiction of your other posts where you give the credit to God. Either he exists and takes responsibility for everything or he doesn't and the world is shaped by random events.

 

[Alisa]

This seems to be in contradiction of your other posts where you give the credit to God. Either he exists and takes responsibility for everything or he doesn't and the world is shaped by random events.

You forgot the third possibility: god gets credit for everything that is good, people, free will, the devil, and illegal aliens get the blame for everything that is bad, and no logical consistency is required!

 

[dan-cat]

This seems to be in contradiction of your other posts where you give the credit to God. Either he exists and takes responsibility for everything or he doesn't and the world is shaped by random events.

Do you not see any patterns at all from your perception of the world?

 

[Alisa]

Do you not see any patterns at all from your perception of the world?

Is the existence of patterns somehow related to the existence of god? Does god get the credit for beauty AND patterns?

 

[Rabbie]

You forgot the third possibility: god gets credit for everything that is good, people, free will, the devil, and illegal aliens get the blame for everything that is bad, and no logical consistency is required!

No I eliminate that because an All-powerful God should be able to deal with the Devil and illegal Aliens.

 

[dan-cat]

Is the existence of patterns somehow related to the existence of god? Does god get the credit for beauty AND patterns?

According to Rabbie, yes.

 

[Rabbie]

Do you not see any patterns at all from your perception of the world?

The patterns I see can be explained by the laws of Science. There is beauty but I don't need an imaginary figure to appreciate it.

 

[Rabbie]

According to Rabbie, yes.

DONT misquote me. Patterns have nothing to do with God in my opinion.

 

[Alisa]

No I eliminate that because an All-powerful God should be able to deal with the Devil and illegal Aliens.

Like I said, no logical consistency required

 

[dan-cat]

DONT misquote me. Patterns have nothing to do with God in my opinion.

You said this.

Either he exists and takes responsibility for everything or he doesn't and the world is shaped by random events.

The absence of God, in your opinion, demands the 'shaping' of the world by 'randomness'. The statement itself is a contradiction. As we both know, patterns have a great deal to do with the shaping of the world don't they?

 

[dan-cat]

The patterns I see can be explained by the laws of Science. There is beauty but I don't need an imaginary figure to appreciate it.

Since when has a law, not had an author? Since when did such randomness become so definable?

 

[Brianwarnock]

I

So I guess the question is this. Is the occasional natural disaster a warranted price for a system that provides for us what it does?

Only a person with a decent quality of life can ask that question.
Children orphaned by a natural disaster probably wouldn't.

Brian

 

[dan-cat]

Only a person with a decent quality of life can ask that question.
Children orphaned by a natural disaster probably wouldn't.

Brian

...and yet the popularity of theism within developing countries is very high.

Perhaps it is the luxury of the priviliged to have the belief of atheism and still be comforted by their material possessions?