funkyderek

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Posts by funkyderek

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  61

  the intellectual laziness in jh, ks & follo...

  by elke in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the words: intellectual laziness.

  recognize this trait?

  ahhh,many who apostasies from the one truth, shall we say ,adopts this trait-and transforms into epitomies of intellectual laziness...they construct the premise there is no true god to mislead others...they proceed to construct arguments to support these prefabricated conclusions with the building blocks of false logic...they convince intellectually lazy individuals the odds of a creators existence are remote...a lie recognizable to any form of honest intelligence.. craig rusbult, ph.d. explains why god refuses to provide irrefutable proof in his existence on the web page http://www.asa3.org/asa/education/views/proof.htm - "although it isn't stated directly in the bible, god seems to prefer a balance of evidence: there is enough reason to believe if we want to believe, but not enough to intellectually force belief against our will.

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  funkyderek

  So this guy who believes in god has a PhD, huh? A "real education at a prestigeous [sic] university?" And you believe his ropey argument because of this?
  You block quote from a source that supports your beliefs and make a very poor attempt at an argument from authority and you have the gall to accuse us (OK, I wasn't named but I'd like to think I'm included as one of the "cohorts" )of intellectual laziness? You seem to be too lazy even to check your spelling or punctuation or to come up with arguments of your own. Here's an idea: when Jan or Kent or their "cohorts" post something you disagree with, post something showing the flaws in their arguments or the invalidity of their facts. For those who want to know more about the amazing Craig Rusbult PhD, here's his website: http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~crusbult/methods/bio.htm

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  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
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  23

  Genesis Error: The Rainbow Covenant

  by JosephAlward in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  after the lord had drowned every living thing on the surface of the earth except noah and his family and the animals brought to the ark, he told noah that from that time forth there would be no more apocalyptic floods, and as a token of his good intentions the lord would create the rainbow:.

  and god...spake unto noah, and to his sons with him, saying...i establish my covenant with you.... neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

  and god said, this is the token of the covenant which i make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: i do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

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  funkyderek

  Pomegranate,

  Are you saying that God knew humans would sin, and created laws based on this, and then tricked them into breaking them, in order that we could later be redeemed? Seems very messy, and decidedly unfair.

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
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  10

  New topic: What's Erich smokin?

  by NameWithheld in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  'cause i want some - it's powerful stuff.

  what's this about don adams opening new scrolls of technology??

  huh?

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  funkyderek

  I think we've got another Yadirf here.

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
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  53

  Atheist you say?

  by Rex B13 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  direct from the files of [email protected].

  how to make an atheist backslide .

  there is no god .

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  funkyderek

  Atheism, agnosticism, rationalism and I'd like to add 'naturalism' to the descriptions of most of your non-beliefs. I got that from C.S. Lewis in his book, 'Miracles'. Now there is a man who can use logic against any one of you, no exceptions. He too sees the value of Pascal's wager with Christianity as the only safe bet in life.

  Pascal's Wager? Are you serious? For those who don't know, Pascal's wager is essentially the idea that believing in a god is better if we're not sure, because if we don't believe we'll die anyway, whether there's a god or not, whereas if we do believe (or essentially, pretend to believe) we will attain salvation if there is a god. It strikes me as an immoral and wholly unsatisfactory way to live life, and it's unlikely to shake any educated person's grip on reality. Rex, I believe you're trolling. Shame on you!

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
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  17

  All questions are beautiful

  by ashitaka in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (i brought this over from rex's thread).

  does god exist-i always think of khalil gibran's couplet from the prophet; "do not say god is in my heart, but i am in the heart of god.

  " i beleive that people use god to keep themselves in check, and they make the bible their moral register.

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  funkyderek

  The 1st 'commandment' should be "Live and let live."

  On that note, here are the 10 commandments of Solon, much better than those of Moses, IMHO

  1. Trust good character more than promises.
  2. Do not speak falsely.
  3. Do good things.
  4. Do not be hasty in making friends, but do not abandon them once made.
  5. Learn to obey before you command.
  6. When giving advice, do not recommend what is most pleasing, but what is most useful.
  7. Make reason your supreme commander.
  8. Do not associate with people who do bad things.
  9. Honor the gods.
  10. Have regard for your parents.

  I mentioned them in another post but it seems to have got buried. Here's more info on Solon and his commandments anyway.
  http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/features/2000/carrier2.html

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
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  17

  All questions are beautiful

  by ashitaka in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (i brought this over from rex's thread).

  does god exist-i always think of khalil gibran's couplet from the prophet; "do not say god is in my heart, but i am in the heart of god.

  " i beleive that people use god to keep themselves in check, and they make the bible their moral register.

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  funkyderek

  Yeah Ash, who can prove anything, but 4 some reason the old saying, "there are no atheists in the foxholes" haz lived on!

  The main one being that the above myth is perpetuated by theists - mainly fundie Christians - who are too small-minded to consider the possibility that someone can genuinely, and for good reason, not believe in their god. Or maybe it's just that atheists are more careful with their lives.

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  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
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  9

  I HATE Monday's!

  by TweetieBird in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here i am sitting with wet hair and no makeup on trying to get motivated for work.

  why can't the weekends be longer?

  i hate monday's.

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  funkyderek

  Hey, I'm a master member now or at least I should be after this post. Only 800 posts to go to the next "promotion"!

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
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  9

  I HATE Monday's!

  by TweetieBird in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here i am sitting with wet hair and no makeup on trying to get motivated for work.

  why can't the weekends be longer?

  i hate monday's.

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  funkyderek

  Agreed, Monday is a horrible way to spend one-seventh of your life!

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
• 
  53

  Atheist you say?

  by Rex B13 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  direct from the files of [email protected].

  how to make an atheist backslide .

  there is no god .

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  funkyderek

  I don’t believe that any sane person would universally condemn faith per se. Faith itself is really not the issue. Where there is a basis for faith, (as in those everyday things you cited) most sane persons are willing to have faith. There is a point, however, where faith starts thinning out.

  Good point Frenchy. Rex's argument was essentially: "You have faith that your cornflakes aren't going to be poisoned, therefore you should have faith in the existence of an invisible, omnipotent being." Clearly, one does not follow from the other. Without getting into semantics too much, I would not consider the first one faith in the religious sense. It's simply pragmatism. The odds of anyone wanting to poison you, or your being poisoned accidentally, are too low to spend hours every day testing your food. You don't need faith to believe that the cornflakes are OK, it's based on trust, experience and reason.
  Faith, in the sense Rex uses it, is more like someone who believes that cornflakes are always poisoned and therefore never eats them. If someone shows him a box of cornflakes that isn't poisoned (or 100 boxes, or a million) he's not going to change his mind. Just because one box (or 100 etc.) is OK, doesn't mean they all are. Similarly, the lack of evidence for a god in areas we understand doesn't mean that god(s) can't be lurking somewhere, but there's really no point in believing without positive evidence.

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
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  53

  Atheist you say?

  by Rex B13 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  direct from the files of [email protected].

  how to make an atheist backslide .

  there is no god .

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  funkyderek

  I think the point Rex is trying to make is that unless we know absolutely everything, we cannot be 100% certain there is no god. And of course he's right. The same goes for the dragon in my garage. There's just no way you can prove it doesn't exist. You can, however, narrow down the types of dragon that can exist there. He must be invisible as you can't see him. He must be immaterial as you can walk right through him. His flames must have no heat and be invisible. Eventually, you get to the stage where you've run all the tests that can be run, and you still haven't proved there isn't a dragon. Then you realise that there's no point worrying if there is a dragon or not, just as there's no point checking every single corn flake for poison. Life's too short to worry about remote possibilites. The same goes for gods. Clearly, gods with certain attributes cannot exist given what we know. (The god of the Young Earth Creationists, for example.) But we can never entirely remove the possibility that there may be something somewhere that qualifies as a god, if you loosen the definition enough.
  That's why I'm an atheist, not because I've disproven the existence of gods, but because it can't be done.

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire