Jonathan Drake

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Posts by Jonathan Drake

• 
  233

  What is BELIEF ?

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  stemming from the 'absentheism' thread, an old question came to my mind.

  what exactly is "belief"?.

  is it the same to ask: "do you believe in god?

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  Jonathan Drake

  I'm also playing devils advocate I guess. I want to believe in spanx but you can't produce the book!
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  233

  What is BELIEF ?

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  stemming from the 'absentheism' thread, an old question came to my mind.

  what exactly is "belief"?.

  is it the same to ask: "do you believe in god?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jonathan Drake

  Jonathan Drake:

  
  

  really?

  Eden

  What? What am I missing!? Tell me!
• 
  233

  What is BELIEF ?

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  stemming from the 'absentheism' thread, an old question came to my mind.

  what exactly is "belief"?.

  is it the same to ask: "do you believe in god?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jonathan Drake

  I'm still waiting for a link to where I can by Spanx holy book. I think you're making all this up.
• 
  233

  What is BELIEF ?

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  stemming from the 'absentheism' thread, an old question came to my mind.

  what exactly is "belief"?.

  is it the same to ask: "do you believe in god?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jonathan Drake

  The only "evidence" about Spanx The Almighty is in his Holy Book;
  

  Where is the book? Id like to read it. I wanna read the evidence.
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  233

  What is BELIEF ?

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  stemming from the 'absentheism' thread, an old question came to my mind.

  what exactly is "belief"?.

  is it the same to ask: "do you believe in god?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jonathan Drake

  Removed by poster: updated post from Eden made
• 
  233

  What is BELIEF ?

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  stemming from the 'absentheism' thread, an old question came to my mind.

  what exactly is "belief"?.

  is it the same to ask: "do you believe in god?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jonathan Drake

  You know. This may not be everyone's reason for responding to Eden, but for me it was about trying to reason with him/her. That clearly isn't possible.

  we could try just ignoring these posts. One day whatever God or gods they believe in will allow something heinous enough to happen that wakes them up.
• 
  233

  What is BELIEF ?

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  stemming from the 'absentheism' thread, an old question came to my mind.

  what exactly is "belief"?.

  is it the same to ask: "do you believe in god?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jonathan Drake

  Why not throw into the possibilities henotheism also? And still, why do I have to define?
  

  Because by their very nature only one or the other can be true. Both polytheism and monotheism can't be true at the same time.
• 
  233

  What is BELIEF ?

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  stemming from the 'absentheism' thread, an old question came to my mind.

  what exactly is "belief"?.

  is it the same to ask: "do you believe in god?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jonathan Drake

  Okay Eden, but your definition of God doesn't even have to be complex.

  Are you talking monotheism or polytheism?

  jusr answering this one question will allow a real discussion. I'm not sure if anyone asked you this yet.
• 
  233

  What is BELIEF ?

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  stemming from the 'absentheism' thread, an old question came to my mind.

  what exactly is "belief"?.

  is it the same to ask: "do you believe in god?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jonathan Drake

  How am I supposed to define a deity which I don't believe in?
  

  What in the actual feck lol. are you just trying to rationalize a way for God to be possible for some reason?

  to me, as of this last post, you officially make no sense at all.
• 
  4

  Theory of god

  by azor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have noticed that theists have an aversion to the word theory.

  as it is mostly attached to evolution, and they have a deep misunderstanding of what the word means.. i'm probably botching the following statement but the general idea is as follows.

  it has been said that whoever sets the parameters of the battle or frames the argument wins.

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  Jonathan Drake

  My favorite explanation so far of theory is below. I use it when talking to believers now.

  taken from:

  
  Original Article

  To truly understand evolution, you must first understand science. Unfortunately, one of the most misused words today is also one of the most important to science: theory. Many incorrectly see theory as the opposite of fact. The National Academy of Sciences provides concise definitions of these critical words: A fact is a scientific explanation that has been tested and confirmed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing it; a theory is a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence generating testable and falsifiable predictions.

  In science, something can be both theory and fact. We know the existence of pathogens is a fact; germ theory provides testable explanations concerning the nature of disease. We know the existence of cells is a fact and that cell theory provides testable explanations of how cells function. Similarly, we know evolution is a fact and that evolutionary theories explain biological patterns and mechanisms. The late Stephen Jay Gould said it best: “Evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world’s data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts.”