tetrapod.sapien

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Posts by tetrapod.sapien

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  104

  Further incite on Dawkin's The God Delusion

  by Abandoned in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i started a thread after i finished the first chapter of this book entitled something like, i'm an atheist.

  i finished chapter three and i have to backtrack a bit, but i also feel the need to explain why since i was so vocal.. first, let me say that i think everyon should read the first two chapters of the god delusion by richard dawkins.

  he brings up some very important points about religion and about science's place in our world.

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  tetrapod.sapien

  hey skyking,

  "Theory is sometimes derived as a speculation of ideas, assumptions, conjecture"

  in a court of law, for example, yes. as per how scientists use the term "theory", no.

  the late stephen j, gould touched on exactly this:

  In the American vernacular, "theory" often means "imperfect fact"--part of a hierarchy of confidence running downhill from fact to theory to hypothesis to guess. Thus the power of the creationist argument: evolution is "only" a theory and intense debate now rages about many aspects of the theory. If evolution is worse than a fact, and scientists can't even make up their minds about the theory, then what confidence can we have in it? Indeed, President Reagan echoed this argument before an evangelical group in Dallas when he said (in what I devoutly hope was campaign rhetoric): "Well, it is a theory. It is a scientific theory only, and it has in recent years been challenged in the world of science--that is, not believed in the scientific community to be as infallible as it once was."

  http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/evolution-fact.html

  peace out,

  tetra
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  104

  Further incite on Dawkin's The God Delusion

  by Abandoned in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i started a thread after i finished the first chapter of this book entitled something like, i'm an atheist.

  i finished chapter three and i have to backtrack a bit, but i also feel the need to explain why since i was so vocal.. first, let me say that i think everyon should read the first two chapters of the god delusion by richard dawkins.

  he brings up some very important points about religion and about science's place in our world.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  you see, for a long time, non-believing academic types remained pretty quiet about religion and god. it was mostly due to the fact that it was politically incorrect to be too critical of religions and the god concept that so many believe in. but it seems like now they are putting their foot down in the face of religious extremism on both sides of the pond, and saying "no. your god doesn't exist. please stop ruining the world because you think he does."

  and it may be right on time. it may be too late. but i don't think it's the academic types that need education on how to be more tolerant. they were for a long time already, and it didn't help the situation much in terms of fundamentalism.

  education is a good idea, but somehow i can't see fundamentalists going to school because some secular people asked them to. and that's why there is a war for air time raging right now. secular people believe that if they can sway the moderate over to their side, then air time will naturally become more educational, and peer pressure might cool the hot heads down a bit. i remain skeptical though.

  tetra
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  18

  God can bring us the peace that America took away.

  by Santisimo in

  1. social
  2. current

  what truth am i talking about?

  freedom?

  if bin laden is killing americans because he 'hates freedom' (as bush and the yellow-media put it), then why aren't we allowed to see his videos full-length with english subtitles?

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  tetrapod.sapien

  HA HA!!! that is categorically hilarious!

  i think bill hicks had a stand up routine on this concept: the laughing trickster God with his shovel planting dinosaur fossils in the ground:

  "heh heh heh, i'm a trickster god! i'll plant these here fossils! no one will believe in me now! ha ha aha!"

  tetra
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  18

  God can bring us the peace that America took away.

  by Santisimo in

  1. social
  2. current

  what truth am i talking about?

  freedom?

  if bin laden is killing americans because he 'hates freedom' (as bush and the yellow-media put it), then why aren't we allowed to see his videos full-length with english subtitles?

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  tetrapod.sapien

  santisimo,

  if you are jewish, then my apologies to you for confusing you with a christian!

  peace,

  tetra
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  24

  must we practice what we believe?

  by tetrapod.sapien in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for example, i often hear atheists say that while they have a "lack of belief" in any gods (negative position), they are going to make the positive step in their lives and live them like there were no gods.

  which is to say that they make their own morals and choices without fear of some god.

  but what if an atheist decided one day that so and so religion, that worships so and so god, makes him feel good emotionally, and gives his ever vigilant left hemisphere a break on sundays.

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  tetrapod.sapien

  must we practice what we believe?

  i think it was Jung who said that he was only comfortable believing what he knew. i sort of feel like that.

  tetra
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  24

  must we practice what we believe?

  by tetrapod.sapien in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for example, i often hear atheists say that while they have a "lack of belief" in any gods (negative position), they are going to make the positive step in their lives and live them like there were no gods.

  which is to say that they make their own morals and choices without fear of some god.

  but what if an atheist decided one day that so and so religion, that worships so and so god, makes him feel good emotionally, and gives his ever vigilant left hemisphere a break on sundays.

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  tetrapod.sapien

  hey everyone! thank you all for your comments and thoughts on this subject. sorry i haven't replied. i went to bed after i made the thread yesterday, heheh.

  but ya, i value what you all had to say on the subject. you guys are a brainy bunch for sure! :)

  i guess in my journey of logic i began to see duality everywhere, but duality to the point where the opposites became so polarized in the logic, that they became the same thing. most spectrums are 180 degrees in design. and yet, when i would go to the far left, or far right (not just political) i saw them remesh again in a 360. this was just in following thoughts to their so called logical conclusions.

  and then i started to wonder about logic itself. and duality.

  and then i had what some people would consider mystical experiences, this last summer.

  and then i realized that there was a genuine part of my psychology as a human that was not being fulfilled with a lack of belief only. and so my journey lately has been to try to hold my skepticism in some sort of balance with mystical experience. and it's funny, because the skeptical part of brain, which i intend to always have, of course is always explaining to me what those mystical experiences were: all in my head. which is fine. but again, in the logic of it, sometimes the skeptical part of my brain goes so far in explaining it, that the explanation itself becomes magical again. the duality disapears. it's insane, i tell you! ha ha!

  anyways, this journey out of that religion, and by extension culture and mind space, has been a super wicked one. and i hope i never know the answers to all the questions i am capable of asking. and thanks to you all for being a part of it with me.

  peace!

  tetra
• 
  104

  Further incite on Dawkin's The God Delusion

  by Abandoned in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i started a thread after i finished the first chapter of this book entitled something like, i'm an atheist.

  i finished chapter three and i have to backtrack a bit, but i also feel the need to explain why since i was so vocal.. first, let me say that i think everyon should read the first two chapters of the god delusion by richard dawkins.

  he brings up some very important points about religion and about science's place in our world.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  tetrapod.sapien, You forget to look into the mirror and see your own reflection.

  huh? okaydokee then.

  tetra
• 
  131

  Say What's On Your Mind

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  go ahead.....speak your mind!

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  tetrapod.sapien

  ha ha! nice one leo! the JHVH-1 is from the church of the sub genius. probably not your style either, hehehe. ;)

  tetra
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  18

  God can bring us the peace that America took away.

  by Santisimo in

  1. social
  2. current

  what truth am i talking about?

  freedom?

  if bin laden is killing americans because he 'hates freedom' (as bush and the yellow-media put it), then why aren't we allowed to see his videos full-length with english subtitles?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  but i wanna also say that i think you did a good job on that write up. this is pretty much what i see going on too. good stuff!

  tetra
• 
  24

  must we practice what we believe?

  by tetrapod.sapien in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for example, i often hear atheists say that while they have a "lack of belief" in any gods (negative position), they are going to make the positive step in their lives and live them like there were no gods.

  which is to say that they make their own morals and choices without fear of some god.

  but what if an atheist decided one day that so and so religion, that worships so and so god, makes him feel good emotionally, and gives his ever vigilant left hemisphere a break on sundays.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  hi 5go,

  i'm a weak atheist too (lack of belief).

  I think someday if we don't find proof of a god or gods then we will create one

  but we have already done this. this is what all the gods up to this point have been. we made them in our image. why would any god in the future be different?

  i think the future will sort of suck if we just keep inventing gods. i say it's time that we woke up and understood the fact that we *are* gods.

  but thanks for answering the question too. and i guess that those are very fair limits to put on how far you would play along.

  peace,

  tetra