Why aren't you an Atheist? (page 8)

NewChapter

Kassa, think about this. You make the assumption that the sun is the right distance, the tilt of the earth is just perfect, the moon is the right distance, all in expectation of life on earth. In other words, design. Afterall, how could the universe have aligned itself so perfectly for life, without some design?

I ask you to look at it from a different angle for just a moment. Rather than the universe was designed to accomodate life, think about the possibility that life accomodated the universe. In other words, the reason the sun is placed so well, is that the life that evolved accomodted IT.

So, if the median temperature were 70 degrees (I'm just throwing in a number and I'm using Farenheit) then the life that would spring forth would be fit for 70 degrees. But if the temperature were 200 degrees, then the life that would evolve would be fit for 200 degrees. So the temperature wasn't set to be perfect for life, but life evolved to thrive in that temperature.

That's why things look so perfect. Adjustments were made, but by evolution.

If I get up one day, have breakfast, my dog runs away so I'm 2 minutes late for work, work is heavy so I work a half hour overtime, I'm out of dogfood so I stop at a store, then I drive around a corner where another dog runs into the street so I slam on my breaks, and the car behind me bumps my fender, and the driver of the other car is just perfect, and we date, and we get married, and we make it to our 60th anniversary----we could claim that the universe aligned that day just so we could meet!

But that wouldn't be true, no matter how romantic. The fact is, we simply met in accomodation for how events played out that day. The universe had no prior plan. It simply put us where we were, and we made the rest happen.

The universe was there with no plan or expectation of life. It was life that made adjustments, through evolution, to live in the environment at hand.

cofty

Its like a puddle getting all excited that there must be a higher power because the hole in the road is just the perfect shape.

SBF you are engaging in mental masturbation in a public place.

Bloody Hotdogs!

Thank you all for your very interesting responses!

I call myself an atheist because I am unconvinced by the evidence presented that a God exists. I make no claim, however, that a God cannot exist.

I think the most amazing thing I came to understand on my journey out of faith, is that the alternative to "God dun it" is not "pure chance", as so often claimed by JWs.

Cheers!

DATA-DOG

Aposta-Z, what do you believe evolution is? Some people believe there was a big bang, that just happened with no direction. Then at some point some lifeless matter aquired life with no direction and became all that we see in the natural world. Some say evolution and they really mean a slow adaptation over time. You say natural selection is an observable fact. I assume you mean that if you had 2 dogs that escaped from a warm climate to a fridgid climate that given time thier offspring would show characteristics not seen in the original parents. This would happen because they adapted and each subsequent generation was a little tougher and suited for the enviroment. Still they were still dogs, and always will be as far as you and I are concerned because we will be dead soon. There are no dog-birds, You would think with the need to chase cars and catch frisbees that at least some nubby wings would have happened by now. A dog is still a dog. No one alive today has observed what supposedly happened millions of years ago to say it was fact, and the fossil record is not complete. None of us will be alive a billion years from now to see what lives on the earth, if anything. Here is a good example of the religion of science doing their Judge Rutherford type predictions.

http://speculativeevolution.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Future_of_the_Earth_Species_-_From_Future_is_Wild

King Solomon

SBF said:

cofty saying that God is a human construct is not saying very much. All human knowledge is socially constructed.

Are you forgetting that many people on the Planet claim that some human knowledge comes directly from God?

Bloody HD:

I think the most amazing thing I came to understand on my journey out of faith, is that the alternative to "God dun it" is not "pure chance", as so often claimed by JWs.

Yeah, we have participants on JWN who simply REFUSE to give up that meme, no matter how many times it is explained to them that chance plays a role in mutations, but that selection is NOT random but is based on what NC said: how well the organism fits into it's surroundings. That is NOT random chance.

Satanus

Evolutionary theory doesn't deal w where life came from. It's only concerned w explaining how life forms developed, afterward.

S

King Solomon

Data dog said:

You say natural selection is an observable fact.

It is, although you need to look at organisms that reproduce on a rapid time-scale in order to observe it. The appearance of drug-resistant strains of micro-organisms is the most obvious example, where new strains develop that are very different from their ancestors due to the selective pressure of older antibiotics.

We've seen speciation occurring within the past century in mosquitoes:

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

This new species of mosquito appeared within the past 100 years.

In larger mammals, many animals are likely in the process of undergoing speciation (eg Chihuahuas vs Great Danes, Donkeys and Horses produce an infertile mule, suggesting they've become separate species; the process is slow so don't expect fireworks).

OUTLAW

Until you define 'a thing' that statement is bullshit and you know it. I still loves ya though!.....Nicolaou

LOL!!@Nicolaou!!..Smart Ass!!..

What?!!..

Do you live at Bill Clintons house now..LOL!!..

OK I will clarify..

The existence of God can neither be proven nor disproven..

The Irony..

Being an Athiest or a Believer requires you to have Faith..

............................ ...OUTLAW

cedars

Ditto to what OUTLAW said.

Cedars

King Solomon

Outlaw said:

The existence of God can neither be proven nor disproven..

The Irony..

Being an Athiest or a Believer requires you to have Faith..

So, you're a betting man, I assume?

As a guesstimate, what odds would you ascribe to each of the two alternatives on the question of the existence of God (he exists/he doesn't)?

Let me guess: 50/50?

PS and since it's relevant to your statement, how exactly do you define "faith"?

Why aren't you an Atheist?

Share this