A question for Athiests

by EndofMysteries 125 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • rather be in hades
    rather be in hades

    i should put a disclaimer, i haven't taken a physics class in forever and my field of study is engineering, not theoretical physics lmao. for all i know, they might be thinking gravity is some sort of ooze, the very same ooze that shredder was looking for, but the teenage mutant ninja turtles kept him from getting.

    last i heard it was all about the graviton or whatever the particle is called

  • NewChapter
    NewChapter

    The response from his "fellow atheists verged on hysteria".

    I doubt that.

  • MC RubberMallet
    MC RubberMallet

    poopsiecakes & phizzy said: Live a good life and do everything possible to help others live a good life, too. That's what it's all about.

    I agree.

    If you believe in God, then you'll get your reward.

    If you don't, then making life better for yourself and others because this is all we have is a good choice too.

    Jus my opinion.

  • still thinking
    still thinking

    Fernando...I have read Anthony Flews book 'There is a god', I have also read works by his co author and some would argue 'real author' Roy Varghese. Although Flew confirmed that he agreed with what was written in the book it has a distinct Varghese flavour to it. It would appear that there was some manipulation of an old man of 85 to write such a book. And he most certainly did not believe in a life after death. Religionist love to tout this book as if it proves something. All it proves is the emotional decline of a dying man, and the manipulative behaviour of a believer in his life.

    From the article linked below:

    Some reviewers found Mr. Flew’s reasoning less than impressive. “Far from strengthening the case for the existence of God,” Anthony Gottlieb wrote in The New York Times Book Review, the book “rather weakens the case for the existence of Antony Flew.”

    A long article in The New York Times Magazine by Mark Oppenheimer suggested that Mr. Flew, his mental faculties in decline, had been manipulated by his co-author and other Christian proselytizers. Mr. Flew, in a statement issued through his publisher, reaffirmed the views expressed in the book, which did not include belief in an afterlife.

    “I want to be dead when I’m dead and that’s an end to it,” he told The Sunday Times of London. “I don’t want an unending life. I don’t want anything without end.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/arts/17flew.html

  • Cold Steel
    Cold Steel

    They just make things up as they go along, they die, then the next one of your gods comes around and says 'oh, that last god had it wrong. I have it right', just to be found out to be wrong by the following god who takes his place.

    And this doesn’t happen in science? In the last fifty years of my life, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen articles where scientific theories were debunked by new discoveries. I remember Stephen Hawking writing a book in which he stated that although the theory of black holes was valid, he doubted that they’d ever find any. The ink wasn’t even dry before they began finding black holes. And within a year they were finding black holes everywhere! In fact you can’t look at any part of the nighttime sky without there being hundreds if not thousands of black holes. Not only that, there have been countless articles over the years about how various discoveries would re-write everything we knew about various fields. Interestingly, it happens quite often, especially since the Hubble telescope was launched.

    There’s two ways of looking at all this. First, that we made fabulous new discoveries. And second, that what we previously thought was right was all wrong! This has happened in all scientific fields and endeavors, but I have no problems with that. I do, however, see problems when people treat science as a religion. Those of us who believe in the scriptural accounts don’t necessarily see science and religion as mutually exclusive—unless interpretations are narrow on one or both sides.

    There were many proto-planets. And the moon was formed from a collision with the earth. It didn't just wander by and gently park itself in orbit around the earth.

    Yes, but I have no time to go into the various ramifications of that. Suffice it to say that the moon did wander into our solar system and collide with a planet in the general vicinity. And it is significantly larger in proportion than other moons orbiting other planets. Unlike some others, I don’t believe that God “spoke” the Earth into existence ex nihilo. The word for “create” in the Hebrew scriptures means to “organize,” implying that the Earth was made from existing materials. And I have no problem believing that our moon was created through a cataclysmic collision between two existing worlds. Or that the Earth could be formed in the aftermath. The important thing is not to be wed to a specific theory to the extent that if it were proved untrue, that it would destroy one’s faith.

    I also stand behind my other observations in that the intricacies of life not only imply intelligent design; they pretty much require it. The complexities in human DNA are so incredible that to think it happened by chance is inconceivable. It requires that one believe that life began simply and become progressively more complex to the point it made an Adobe Photoshop program look like a child’s doodling.

    You need to do some reading on how and when Daniel was composed. It ain't what you think....

    In the caves at Qumran, eight copies of Daniel were discovered, and all of them matched the copies in the Masoretic texts. (The longer versions which added apocryphal elements were not found.) Also, Jesus quotes from the book of Daniel three times in the New Testament, which adds a great deal of credibility to the book. Daniel, in chapter 9, gives an exact timeline to the Lord’s ministry. And in chapter 2 he makes an incredible interpretation of a dream that lays out all the major empires that would come to pass. I don’t give much credence to those who argue that those parts are indicative of later authorship.

    Even if we dismiss Daniel, the rest of the Bible adds many more impressive prophecies, especially Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Revelation. Also, as mentioned, Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. As a result, all the Christians had left Jerusalem and gathered in places such as Pella before the legions arrived, thereby escaping the wrath of Rome.

  • still thinking
    still thinking

    And this doesn’t happen in science?...cold steel

    Science does not claim to be god...and readilly admits that we know hardly anything about the universe. Trying to compare science to god is a waste of time. Science is self correcting. God?...well...he is whatever you want him to be.

    I also stand behind my other observations in that the intricacies of life not only imply intelligent design; they pretty much require it. The complexities in human DNA are so incredible that to think it happened by chance is inconceivable. It requires that one believe that life began simply and become progressively more complex to the point it made an Adobe Photoshop program look like a child’s doodling....cold steel.

    I'm glad scientists don't think this way...otherwise there would be no scientific discovery, no cures for disease, NOTHING. We would be in the dark ages just writing everything off into the TOO HARD basket.

    Medical discoveries work 'because' they are based on evolutionary theory.

    Study about space works because it is based on evolutionary theory.

    DNA did not happen by chance..it evolved within it's environment...it can become more complex OR less complex. Not everything becomes more complex. That is an unfounded assumption.

    The evolution of biological complexity is an important outcome of the process of evolution. Evolution has produced some remarkably complex organisms - although the actual level of complexity is very hard to define or measure accurately in biology, with properties such as gene content, the number of cell types or morphology all being used to assess an organism's complexity. [1] [2] This observation that complex organisms can be produced from simpler ones has led to the common misperception of evolution being progressive and having a direction that leads towards what are viewed as "higher organisms". [3]

    Nowadays, this idea of "progression" in evolution is regarded as misleading, with natural selection having no intrinsic direction and organisms selected for either increased or decreased complexity in response to local environmental conditions. [4] Although there has been an increase in the maximum level of complexity over the history of life, there has always been a large majority of small and simple organisms and the most common level of complexity (the mode) appears to have remained relatively constant

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_biological_complexity

  • Berengaria
    Berengaria

    Exactly StillThinking

    We don't generally change up our entire daily lives and cut off family members on the basis of the current science.

  • still thinking
    still thinking

    Shall I blow out my candles to science Berengaria? And dismantle the shrine...LOL

  • EntirelyPossible
    EntirelyPossible

    In the caves at Qumran, eight copies of Daniel were discovered, and all of them matched the copies in the Masoretic texts. (The longer versions which added apocryphal elements were not found.) Also, Jesus quotes from the book of Daniel three times in the New Testament, which adds a great deal of credibility to the book.

    In what way does that add credibility to the book?

    Even if we dismiss Daniel, the rest of the Bible adds many more impressive prophecies, especially Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Revelation. Also, as mentioned, Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple

    All the gospels were written down anonymously AFTER the destruction of Jerusalem. Try again. I mean, seriously, name ONE prophecy in the Bible that has come true where we can prove the prophecy was written BEFORE the event. Just one.

    As a result, all the Christians had left Jerusalem and gathered in places such as Pella before the legions arrived, thereby escaping the wrath of Rome.

    Do you have any actual evidence of this?

  • smiddy
    smiddy

    Ok `ll bite ,

    I assume you beleive in God and your post is asking why don`t we beleive in your God , or something similar . And posting on this board I suppose it would be reasonable to say you accept the christian God based on the bible . If that is the case then may I say your God is very discriminatory regarding the human race , which he is supposedly responsible for .Christianity is a flow on from Judaism , which was very exclusive , to the rest of the ancient world , God only dealing with the natural jews primarily . ( Stuff the rest of the population , I`ll only deal with these people I have chosen ,{ the rest can eat cake } ) Then with christianity supplanting judaism God is still seen as being discriminating against the majority of earths inhabitants ,focusing first of all on jews who converted to christianity and then whatever gentiles became christians . This dealing from God with humans was confined to a small body of people compared to the rest of humanity that lived on the earth . Discrimination ? I think so . Then putting the onus on imperfect humans to make disciples of people in all the earth ? which history has shown to be a complete failure in 2012 . Then again if your trying to include all other faiths that beleive in God as well , where is their any common thread ? Their is none . I am happy that JW`s lead me to accept atheism .

    smiddy

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