Posts by cofty

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

I don't understand why ask for my definition of evil - John_Mann

Because you are asking me to account for evil. I don't know what you mean by that. It sounds like you are reifying a tragic accident. If there is a god then it was evil. Since there is no god then the cause of the tsunami was geological. No intelligent agency was involved.

I really don't know what your point is.

when you says things just happen without known reasons you're accepting a mystical (mystery) cause.

No. I know exactly why the tsunami happened. Geologists explained it in detail. There is no mystery.

I'm not sure why you say the tsunami was not down to moving tectonic plates. - Ruby

Ruby & Prologos - Subduction of moving plates don't cause a tsunami. Subduction of moving plates is a good thing.

Plates getting stuck cause a tsunami. Pressure builds up for thousands of years in some cases. Then it suddenly breaks free and kills people. Plates getting stuck is a bad thing.

Why is that causing you any difficulty. It is blindingly simple.

Stop pretending to be obtuse.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

prologos why are you telling me things that I have already described accurately in detail?

The Anatomy of a Tsunami
For hundreds or even thousands of years under the Indian Ocean the Indo-Australian tectonic plate had been sliding below the Eurasian plate, however the slide was not smooth. The lower plate snagged the upper one creating a "locked fault zone". Unimaginable pressure built up as the upper plate was dragged down until at 07:58 local time on 26th December 2004 it broke free lifting up billions of tons of water in a few seconds in a magnitude 9 earthquake.

As the wave rose to the surface it was less than a metre high. As it sped towards the coasts of the Pacific Rim at speeds of 800Km/h the waves grew to over 15 metres. Within hours a quarter of a million people were dead and a further two million were homeless...

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

BTW, "shit happens" to me is an euphemism for secular mystery. So IMHO you can't even use the "shit happens" either.

Yes I can. It's simply an acceptance of the fact that the vicissitudes of life often have no intelligent agency.

Instead you should scientifically demonstrate for us why our minds perceiving evil at all (natural and man-made) is an evolutionary advantage.

You still haven't told me what you mean by "evil". Bad things happen. They cause us physical and emotional harm. I don't understand why you think this poses any sort of challenge to my worldview.

What was exactly the evolutionary pressure that made us the only specie to perceive evil?

Sorry but there are too many unfounded assumptions there.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

If we didn't have moving tectonic plates we wouldn't be here according to a popular hypothesis - Ruby

The tsunami was not a result of tectonics but of plates getting stuck at the subduction zone. Something that would have been trivially easy for the god of Jesus to prevent.

cofty your reply to me has worse implications for yourself than for me

As usual I haven't a clue what you mean.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

The opium of the people. Like an abused wife who begs for her husband's love - Cofty

This is victim blaming cofty - John_Mann

No of course it isn't.

If the god of Jesus exists, the death of a quarter of a million men women and infants, and the suffering of another 6 million is entirely his work.

The victims are in no way to blame. Quite a few theists tried to make it their fault in the Tsunami thread and I argued vociferously against them. See number 3 here...

Just like an abused wife, many of the victims of the tsunami look to the person who caused their suffering for relief.

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people...

8

Biggins the Bigot?

by LoveUniHateExams in

christopher biggins - the harmless, camp, homosexual, panto star - has been in hot water recently.

in addition to making a tasteless/offensive joke to a jewish contestant in the big brother household, further possibly offensive comments about bisexuality have landed him in hot water.

the offensive jewish joke wasn't broadcast but the comments on bisexuality were.

cofty

Among adults who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, bisexuals comprise a slight majority (1.8% compared to 1.7% who identify as lesbian or gay); women are substantially more likely than men to identify as bisexual; estimates of those who report any lifetime same-sex sexual behavior and any same-sex sexual attraction are substantially higher than estimates of those who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. - The Williams Institute.

See more at this link...

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

Could not these seeming setbacks be increments in life's journey to better adaptation? - Prologos

Utter bollocks.

There was no selection pressure influencing which babies drowned.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

I don't think it is a question of blaming one or the other - God or humans

Yes it is. God chose to murder a quarter of a million men, women and children

It was 100% god's fault.

people in the area of the tsunami say that it is their faith that helped and helps them survive

The opium of the people. Like an abused wife who begs for her husband's love.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

Blaming the tsunami victims is like driving a fleet of trucks into a crowd of men women and children and then saying that they only died because they were too stupid to get out the way fast enough.

You are a deist. This is not a debate for you.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

To expect a creator also to be involved now, perhaps have trumpet sounds to clear the beaches, making him omnipotently involved now, negates our observation of reality - Prologos

The god of Jesus created the world complete with moving and sticking tectonic plates. We know that continents have been on the move for millions of years. The omniscient god of Jesus knew about the growing pressures under the Indian Ocean during the centuries prior to the disaster. On the morning of the event he observed the Indo-Australian break free and begin to rebound. The omnipotent god of Jesus could have effortlessly dampened the rebound - he chose not to. He watched the wave of less than a metre rise to the surface. The god of Jesus who calmed the storm on Galilee could have quelled the wave and nobody would have known anything about it. No free will would have been infringed in any way. He failed to do so.

The god of Jesus knew that the wave would kill a quarter of a million people and cause suffering and harm millions more. He did nothing.

The god of Jesus did not permit the suffering of the Asian Tsunami - he caused it. He murdered them wilfully, deliberately and with malice aforethought. He made a world that was perfectly designed to kill its inhabitants and passively observed the consequences.

Beautiful, powerful images emerged from the last two tsunamis

Perhaps the most callous words I have ever read.

Click here if you dare...