Posts by jamesmahon

37

Hope my American friends won't hate me for this.. LOL

by tornapart in

to the citizens of the united states of america from her sovereign majesty queen elizabeth ii.

in light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for president of the usa and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give ...notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.. .

(you should look up 'revocation' in the oxford english dictionary.).

jamesmahon

As a Brit who has lived in the States, here is my take on some of these.

1-3. American spellings make more sense as they are more phonetic. Z is a great letter and we should use it more - especially when the sound is, well, z. I would rejig all daft spellings in English and start again.

4-5. Makes sense in the UK, but not in the US. In the UK I am pro as many laws as possible to keep guns out of everyone's hands. Living in the US and knowing any muppet can be armed I would probably want to own a gun myself (although I never bought one while over there).

6. Roundabouts are great and ensure that people who genuinely cannot drive cannot pass their test. Don't care what system of measurement is used so long as we use one. In Britain because of old people unable to count and divide by 10 we have to operate both.

7. Remember my car being filled up for the first time in America. $5. I thought there was something wrong and kept asking the attendant to put more in. This was a while ago mind. Having said that, why in America people have to fill up your car for you (as well as pack your groceries which I never let them do) was always a mystery to me.

8.Pff. Real chips come from Yorkshire. From anywhere else in the world they are terrible.

9. All beer tastes like vomit. British beer tastes like warm vomit.

10. Agree

11. Lived in New England when Bledsoe was playing. Fell in love with the game. Played rugby at school. Have to admit unless it is England playing would watch American Football over rugby. Just find the tactics really fascinating. Football I can take or leave. Typical game is 89 minutes of boredom with one minute of excitement.

12. Don't mind baseball but cricket (especially test cricket) is the single greatest game on the planet.

13. Maybe he killed himself. Or maybe his wife took out a contract on him.

14. ho hum

15. Don't drink tea. But hobknobs should be compulsory.

Would sacrifice all that is good to be British though to be able to elect my own head of state - even if it ended up being someone I did not like.

172

The impossible delusion of evolution

by brotherdan in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1icjkwzeee.

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azmgkrkj5la.

jamesmahon

Dan

If you are going to put in quotes from obscure people please look in detail the context from which they are drawn. The quotes you are looking at are debating punctuated equilibrium - evolution occuring through rapid phases of change with prolonged periods of stability. Not sure where the punctuated equilibrium lobby sits at the moment but always made some sense to me. I think the evidence does not support it well. But it is not a theory that disagrees with evolution but tries to explain how it may happen

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/quotes/mine/part1-2.html#quote26

172

The impossible delusion of evolution

by brotherdan in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1icjkwzeee.

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azmgkrkj5la.

jamesmahon

I have read the bible. What books that explain the evidence on evolution have you read?

172

The impossible delusion of evolution

by brotherdan in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1icjkwzeee.

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azmgkrkj5la.

jamesmahon

Why, if species have descended from other species by fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms? Why is not all nature in confusion, instead of the species being, as we see them, well defined? But, as by this theory innumerable transitional forms must have existed, why do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth? But in the intermediate region, having intermediate conditions of life, why do we not now find closely-linking intermediate varieties? This difficulty for a long time quite confounded me.

The last part of this quote sort of makes your point a bit silly. It did confound him but not at the point he wrote that statement. The understanding of how evolution works now we understand genetics and the mechanism through which advantageous genes are propogated through a population was not known by Darwin or anyone in the 19th century so quoting their views on evolutionary evidence is a waste of time.

Are you aware of what the evidence on evolution actually is? You might debate the scale of evolution, you might debate how it happens but to deny it happens is like still believing the earth is flat. To rephrase my original quesiton, what evidence do you need to actually believe that evolution has happened and is happening?

172

The impossible delusion of evolution

by brotherdan in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1icjkwzeee.

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azmgkrkj5la.

jamesmahon

Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

It does not make any sense that this universe could come into existance without an intelligent designer. Atheists have a problem with the beginning because the believe in an effect without a cause. The Big Bang, if the theory is correct, could not have randomly happened on its own without a cause. So your question is nonsense. You might as well say "What evidence could ever be presented that could change your mind about your belief in gravity". It's a nonsense question

Guess the answer is no then. How sad. I think you need to read a few good biology books to understand just what a mess 'creation' is from a biological perspective and how it could be 'designed' so much better.

Randomness is at the heart of the universe. Read a good book on quantum theory. Bugger to understand but that is fine. It works because if it didn't I couldn't use my mobile phone. Theists tend to confuse their inability to understand complex evidence with an absence of evidence. So despite the enormous weight of evidence that evolution occurs, you either ignore it or don't understand it.

You might as well say "What evidence could ever be presented that could change your mind about your belief in gravity". It's a nonsense

question.

Apples floating upwards back onto the trees. Before gravitational theory (note the word theory even though it is an accepted fact) people believed that it was god that kept the moon in the sky. God now exists as the causer of the big bang. We may never understand how or why the big bang happened. Doesn't mean that god made it happen. I will never understand how my TV works but do not attribute the fact I am now watching it to god.

172

The impossible delusion of evolution

by brotherdan in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1icjkwzeee.

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azmgkrkj5la.

jamesmahon

Not been around for a while and thought I would have a look at what is going on here.

I have been around the block so many times on the athesim/theism debate (as has this site) that it sort of makes my stomach sink when it rears its head again. Brotherdan - you get something out of believing in a god. Good for you. Never did anything for me but then I did not really ever believe I suppose. What I am really curious about (and don't want to hijack your thread) is what evidence could ever be presented that could change your (or other theists) mind and stop your belief in a god? Presumably there are many gods you do not believe in so it might be worth thinking about why you do not believe in them?

64

Ok Hearing Voices..... Terry I might need your help LOL

by Darth plaugeis in

ok. so your a christian.... you love the bible.. damn you live your life by this book right?

serpent or satan????.

the serpent was cursed and many believe the snake had legs at the garden of eden.... and part of the curse was to crawl on it's belly.. so again .....what did the snake do wrong???.

jamesmahon

Outlaw - you have a PM

64

Ok Hearing Voices..... Terry I might need your help LOL

by Darth plaugeis in

ok. so your a christian.... you love the bible.. damn you live your life by this book right?

serpent or satan????.

the serpent was cursed and many believe the snake had legs at the garden of eden.... and part of the curse was to crawl on it's belly.. so again .....what did the snake do wrong???.

jamesmahon

Shelby

I had a relative who was schizophrenic. Your comments are too much like what she used to say when she was having an episode so hope you appreciate me not responding to any of your threads anymore. Either

You have mental health problems

You are deluding yourself

You are deliberately deluding others

You are just mocking people

Which ever of these it is I feel really sorry for you and think it innappropriate to even gently tease you about what you say. As someone who has known someone closely with similar delusions to Shelby, unless someone knows her personally and knows she does not have mental health problems engaging with their delusion in no way helps them.

64

Ok Hearing Voices..... Terry I might need your help LOL

by Darth plaugeis in

ok. so your a christian.... you love the bible.. damn you live your life by this book right?

serpent or satan????.

the serpent was cursed and many believe the snake had legs at the garden of eden.... and part of the curse was to crawl on it's belly.. so again .....what did the snake do wrong???.

jamesmahon

Hi Shelby

At least we share in common the need to not hide behind an Avatar - so just James works fine for me.

The person who I was referring to who cannot understand myth and symbolism is me.

Two reasons: one, it wasn't a terrapin, and two, because a "saraph/seraph" is a flying, fiery SERPENT. So, "serpent" was/is accurate. That "certain" men didn't know what a seraph was... and so assumed it was a snake... isn't God's fault. All they needed to do... was ask.

So you mean there are not any little terrapins swimming about in heaven biting the toes of angels? Shame. How do you know what a Seraph is? Oh right, it says in the bible, this book that you said:

Man, how didn't understand that "style"... altered to reflect what HE understood... or THOUGHT he understood... when he copied, translated, printed, and otherwise reissued it.

So how do you know that when Seraphs are described in the bible they did not get this wrong as well?

You only know good and OF bad, thus far. To know bad... you would have to die. I assume you haven't, yet.

Well that is an assumption isn't it? I believe that I have died many times before so therefore it is true. On one of the times I was dead I got to know Bad quite well - she was an ok kind of lady. Bit heavy on the make up and so down on herself all the time but there you go. Now Wicked and Evil, there are a pair you just have to meet.

Why do I not know OF good as well by the way?

"Do NOT put your trust in earthling MAN."

or WOMAN. Thanks Shelby, I won't.

64

Ok Hearing Voices..... Terry I might need your help LOL

by Darth plaugeis in

ok. so your a christian.... you love the bible.. damn you live your life by this book right?

serpent or satan????.

the serpent was cursed and many believe the snake had legs at the garden of eden.... and part of the curse was to crawl on it's belly.. so again .....what did the snake do wrong???.

jamesmahon

Good thread.

I was always rubbish at myth and symbolism in books. Just too logical and I lack anything approaching an imagination. Lord of the Flies? I thought the conch was just a shell, but no - it is a symbol of power (or was it pigs, or the loss of childhood innocence, or the luddites, or being constipated, or of a greater shell in the sky that had punished all shells to be hard and well, shell like?)

Why did god create someone who had no hope of seeing anything in the bible but a collection of daft stories? Why could he have just not written things in a nice factual style in plain bloody english? If the serpent was really a terrapin why did he not just say so? Everyone knows those little bleeders can bite your finger off given half a chance so I would have fully understood then.

Having read AGuests (why 'shelby' btw?) posts I think I get the israelite snake biting story now. The snakes biting the people were really the men impregnating the women. The copper snake was really a symbol for a copper coil. God was trying to tell the israelites to stop procreating in the hope that their barmy beliefs could be stopped before infecting the rest of the world. Bugger, he failed again. Come on God - make those symbols clearer or just bring the bible up to date. But then I suppose Adam and Eve would have just got the knowledge of good and bad from the internet then. I know I do on a regular basis.