The problems Bible believers have with Atheists is the burden of proof is on the Believer and we just do not have enough proof.

by booker-t 68 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Focus
    Focus

    @Focus.. I'm an atheist myself, as you would know if you had bothered to read even the last page of that thread.

    That you are an atheist was evident to me from the way you set out your stall. What made you think I didn't think this?

    Never mind. We - you, me, the Great Crowd Class - write not for each other, but for the non-participating Lurker Class, who, over time, will outnumber us by 100:1 as the read counters eventually show.

    It's incredible how many people take one look at my moniker and lump me in with believers.

    I didn't. Why would I associate "truth" with "religion", lol? (OK, I know, delusions of truth...)

    The question of animal suffering is what led me to atheism.

    I understand. But perhaps there was an Adam Pig, and he ate an apple from a magic tree that he shouldn't have, thereby condemning his descendant pigs... you get it.

    __

    Focus

    ("Blasphemer" Class)

  • Focus
    Focus

    cofty: If you know of one single thing that requires intelligent design, and if you can explain it in your own words witout copy-paste, I would love to hear it. Same goes for you Villagegirl.

    Villagegirl's argument that evolution fails because no definitive "Missing Link" has yet been discovered itself fails - and for the following delicious reason...

    She herself has provided the counter-example.

    __

    Focus

    ("Venom" Class)

  • MadGiant
    MadGiant

    "I watch the nature channel and I literally start getting teary-eyed watching the lions and tigers shred a deer in a matter of minutes. I just have to wonder does Jehovah really care about those animals getting torn to pieces?" -

    Keep researching. I am glad you bring this example. Deer belong to a group of animals called ruminants, which have a special organ called a rumen for digesting tough plants. Yet given the opportunity, herbivores will eat meat. As a matter of fact most herbivores are "opportunistic carnivores". Herbivores don't eat grass all the time because they like it. They have evolved lacking the tools to be hunters (read fangs, camouflage, teeth etc).

    So don't feel to bad, given the opportunity, Bambi will have Kamba for lunch any day of the week.

    Prying Mantis (insect) eat Hummingbirds (bird) and Millipedes (insect) eat some spices of Bats (mammal).

    Survival of the fitted.

    Take care,

    Ismael

  • defender of truth
    defender of truth

    Focus, sorry I misunderstood you, my misake.

    @Ablebodiedman
    Here are some examples of God's intelligient design..
    "The Komodo Dragon of Komodo Island. It has the most basic venom system available. It has cultures of bacteria that live in its mouth that are completely poisonous to mammalian blood. It survives by ambushing a herbivore as it minds its own business and goes about its day eating plants. The animal survives the bite and usually walks away. Within three or four days though it falls over dead from blood poisoning. The Komodo Dragon will follow it until it falls over, and then it begins to eat it alive."
    http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/111762/2/Animals-didnt-sin-so-why-do-they-kill-each-other#.U7CYLl2t-o8

    .....
    "..the caterpillar of the geometer moth. Against its will, it is recruited to defend the developing young of a parasitic wasp, and the only ‘reward’ it gets for its trouble is to be eaten inside out by the larvae of its attacker.
    The vast majority of wasps are “ parasitoids“, animals that practice the grisly art of body-snatching. They lay their eggs in the bodies of other living animals to provide their newly hatched grubs with a fresh supply of meat. Like HR Giger’s alien, the full-grown larvae then burst through their host’s skin, usually killing it in the process.
    But the fate of one type of caterpillar Thyrinteina leucocerae doesn’t end there. It is targeted by a Glyptapanteles wasp that, on a single pass, can lay as many as 80 eggs onto the hapless host. Two weeks later, the larvae burst through their host’s skin. But despite its injuries, the caterpillar remains alive and stays near the hatched grubs as they spin their pupae and turn into adults. It never moves and it never feeds. All it does it violently swing its head in response to nearby movement. After the adult wasps fly off, it eventually dies.
    Amir Grosman from the University of Amsterdam has found that the caterpillar’s strange behaviour is all part of the manipulations of the wasp. Its last act is to defend the very grubs that spent the last two weeks killing it, playing the role of bodyguard as well as incubator...
    In natural conditions, the caterpillar’s vigil ensures that more wasp pupae survive. When Grosman removed these unwitting guardians, the death rate among the pupae doubled. Some were eaten and a few, in an ironic twist, became hosts themselves to other wasp grubs – a case of so-called “hyperparasitism”. Clearly, the young wasps benefit from their warden’s actions but the caterpillars themselves get nothing. Every last one of them was dead within a week after the pupae opened and the adult wasps emerged."
    http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2008/06/03/parasitic-wasp-turns-caterpillars-into-headbanging-bodyguard/
    ....

    "Screw-worm fly
    An insect parasite of warm-blooded animals. The fly has red eyes and a shiny blue-green body and looks similar to Australian blowflies. Flies lay eggs on the edge of open wounds from scratches, injury, branding, dehorning or castration. Larvae hatch and feed on the underlying flesh causing extensive tissue damage. Left untreated, animals can die from infection and loss of tissue fluid. Its known for the larvae to eat their host from the inside out!"

    "Naegleria
    brain-eating amoeba
    Infection with Naegleria causes the disease primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a brain inflammation, which leads to the destruction of brain tissue. Initial signs and symptoms of PAM start 1 to 14 days after infection. These symptoms include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, and stiff neck. As the amoeba cause more extensive destruction of brain tissue this leads to confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures, and hallucinations. After the onset of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly and usually results in death within 3 to 7 days."

    http://listverse.com/2010/01/13/top-10-most-horrific-parasite-infections/

    ....
    "The head-splitting fungus
    Cordyceps fungi
    Imagine something infiltrating your body, controlling your behaviour and, when it’s done with you, bursting out of your head. That’s exactly what Cordyceps fungi do. Infected ants become disoriented and are often expelled by their colonies. The outcasts climb to the top of the nearest plant, clutch to the stem, and die. When the fungus matures, its fruiting body blooms out of the ant’s head, spreading spores on the wind to infect other hosts."

    "The zombie wasp
    Ampulex compressa
    This resourceful wasp preys on cockroaches, turning them into zombies to feed its young. The female wasp aims a sting directly into the roach’s brain, disabling its escape reflex. She then leads the zombie roach back to her underground nest, lays an egg on its belly and seals it in. A larva hatches from the egg and burrows into the roach, where it devours the insect from the inside to form a cocoon from which it will later emerge as a new adult."

    http://m.sciencefocus.com/feature/health/10-deadly-parasites

  • race andros
    race andros

    is not atheism also a belief system. why are you compelled to force your shit now like you did then. only those who recieve everlasting life will know any difference. stfu either way fools.

  • defender of truth
    defender of truth

    Race andros said:"why are you compelled to force your shit now like you did then. only those who recieve everlasting life will know any difference."
    ..This is a topic about atheists and believers. Nobody is forcing you to read it, and my post was not off-topic, so far as I am aware. I was merely responding to this provocative statement on page 1.

    ablebodiedmanposted~ 9 hours ago(6/29/2014)
    ' I do not know how men come to the idea there is no "evidence" of intelligent design and purpose in this universe. '
    Me neither.
    The amount of evidence is overwhelming!
    It can only be denied through ignorance or ridicule. "

    .. You can only deny intelligient design through ignorance. Sounded like a challenge to me, and an insult to all atheists. Also, any lurkers may be helped to think by the information I researched and provided. But thank you for telling me to 'stfu', it was very helpful and productive.

  • defender of truth
    defender of truth

    Race andros said:"is not atheism also a belief system."

    This may enlighten you, andros..
    "Atheism is usually defined incorrectly as a belief system. Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

    Older dictionaries define atheism as "a belief that there is no God." Some dictionaries even go so far as to define Atheism as "wickedness," "sinfulness," and other derogatory adjectives. Clearly, theistic influence taints dictionaries. People cannot trust these dictionaries to define atheism. The fact that dictionaries define Atheism as "there is no God" betrays the (mono)theistic influence. Without the (mono)theistic influence, the definition would at least read "there are no gods."

    Why should atheists allow theists to define who atheists are? Do other minorities allow the majority to define their character, views, and opinions? No, they do not. So why does everyone expect atheists to lie down and accept the definition placed upon them by the world’s theists? Atheists will define themselves.

    Atheism is not a belief system nor is it a religion.While there are some religions that are atheistic (certain sects of Buddhism, for example), that does not mean that atheism is a religion. Two commonly used retorts to the nonsense that atheism is a religion are: 1) If atheism is a religion then bald is a hair color, and 2) If atheism is a religion then health is a disease.
    A new one introduced in 2012 by Bill Maher is, "If atheism is a religion, then abstinence is a sexual position."
    The only common thread that ties all atheists together is a lack of belief in gods and supernatural beings."

    http://www.atheists.org/activism/resources/what-is-atheism

  • cofty
    cofty

    why are you compelled to force your shit now like you did then - race andros

    Why do believers get agitated by rational challenges to their superstitions?

  • Heaven
    Heaven

    booker-t, I am glad you are willing to be open enough to listen to questions and accept that the 'answers' and the claims that the Bible and religion have supplied don't exactly measure up. Keep digging.

    Just because you want something to be true, does not mean that it actually is true.

  • galaxie
    galaxie

    I believe I'm an athiest;;...I have studied the ancient and revered atheistic texts, my faith in the non inspired god of non existence has strengthened my belief, so much so I am compelled to evangelise to others.

    I look forward to meeting and worshipping my loving god of non existence with my fellow brothers.

    We hope to publish the good news of the kingdom of the non existant god very soon and distribute world wide.

    We want everyone on earth to share the joy of this non existant promise of the non existant reward for being faithful non believers.

    See you all in church.

    May our nongod bless us all Amen.

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