Cycel said:An atheist. I am a 7 on Dawkin's scale.
Sorry, but I may have made my answer too short, for I am not sure that you understood. Dawkins is not ‘my scale’, in fact that doesn't really mean anything.If dawkins is your scale,then i have nothing to reason with you.Thanks for making it short.
Sorry, I don’t understand this comment.ji said:Praying for you even if you don't care or pretend you read morse code now.
I can see how you might think that if you have never taken the time to read the scientific explanations.The human eye is more than enough for any honest intelligent person to conclude there is a God.
How many trillions billions cajillions of years does it take to make one? The thought alone is rediculous.
Yes, and so your point is?Yes. I believe there is an opposite to everything, Believing=disbelieving. Atheistism=Belief.
Cycel said:I would argue that until you understand how God did it you cannot truly claim the process could not come about through natural means.
But you have not provided me with evidence that you can deduce anything from your analogies. Can you prove, for example, that a star cannot form from a gaseous nebula? No analogy you make can speak to this. Analogies certainly have their uses, but they don't disprove scientific theories.We know something long before we know everything and should use what we know....
Buildings have designers and builders. Paintings have painters. Books have authors. Inventions have inventors. Nature has a Creator.
Scientific theories have a basis. In recorded history of mankind, which spans thousands of years, not one natural (as opposed to supernatural) event has ever produced life where there was none. That is very conclusive.............. Analogies certainly have their uses, but they don't disprove scientific theories.
Hi Homeward, I think the hand was withered. It was not missing.In the Bible it says he did heal and grow back an arm, hand or whatever it was...
Which would be my position as well. I am guessing, however, neither of us would likely accept the claims made in the Koran, despite the promise that there were many witnesses. You have no trouble discerning with a critical eye claims of other holy writs, but I think lose the objectivity when it comes to biblical scripture. Or am I wrong?homwardbound said:But since you have chosen not to believe the witnesses of the word (Christ) you don't see this as truth...
Can you demonstrate that? It is easy to say, but not so easy to prove. In fact I have no idea how you would go about arguing this. Let's be honest, the type of life that biochemists are arguing first arose on Earth you would need a powerful microscope to see. So if something did arise we would never know it.Scientific theories have a basis. In recorded history of mankind, which spans thousands of years, not one natural (as opposed to supernatural) event has ever produced life where there was none. That is very conclusive.
Sorry NL, I just spotted this post. It's quite long so I can't respond to it this evening, but its interesting and I do want to discus it with you -- hopefully this weekend.I may have said too much too soon but here is an update with help from private correspondence from my author-contact:
Oh my goodness! Missufan, look up the definition of atheist and you will see it precludes belief in a god. Anyone you find who believes in God is by definition a theist.I've run into a growing population of 1. Atheists who believe there is a God, but not necessarily Jesus.
Just to clarify, while atheists may believe in the existence of an historical Jesus they do not likely believe much scripture says about him.mlssufan said:2. Atheists who believe in Jesus, but not God.
A 3 on Dawkins' scale of religiosity.mlssufan said:3. Agnostic Atheists who believe there is a God, but no specific God...
I sorely miss Hitchens. I also encourage everyone to watch his debates.mlssufan said:I would encourage watching some debates of William Lane Craig vs. Christopher Hitchens, as they exemplify the reason atheistic reasoning is flawed. Atheists use logical reasoning fallacies to sometimes try to debunk Christianity, but forget that they are presupposing many non-evidential theories, and still requiring evidence for believers on things we cannot provide evidence for. For example, atheists presuppose math, logic, and science, even though none of these theories have evidence other than self-evidence, which is usually the same evidence for believers. Craig has a few evidences to support the Bible, but the problem with needing evidence for Jesus as God is that you can't prove something like that until we get to heaven, and if we found Jesus's body, then the Bible wouldn't be true, since he ascended back to heaven. You will find atheists will shoot down all your theories with reasoning, but when confronted with the same reasoning against atheism, it's not fallacious all of a sudden. I try to point out to atheists that the very word "A"-theist means without theism, as in without God, but they have redefined and made so many different groups now that it is hard to define what atheists particularly believe anymore.
I seem to have missed the science book explaining the human eye and how it just happened.I can see how you might think that if you have never taken the time to read the scientific explanations.
Oh my goodness! Missufan, look up the definition of atheist and you will see it precludes belief in a god. Anyone you find who believes in God is by definition a theist. As an atheist I reject belief in a god. .
What is that song? "You in your small corner and I in mine."
A friend of mine and his son were in a meeting and when it came to the healing time they were standing next to a teenage boy with only one hand. Whilst prayer was being made for healing over the people that had come forward, they watched the boy grow a second hand.
This happened in a Christian meeting not a hospital.
See how it is proof. However, I should add that sceptics and cynics never believe anything they don't understand and don't want to admit to especially when it blows their pet little theories out of the water.
The human eye is more than enough for any honest intelligent person to conclude there is a God.
How many trillions billions cajillions of years does it take to make one? The thought alone is rediculous.
The human eye is a complex, highly efficient organ with multiple coordinated parts. Iris, retina, photoreceptors, cornea, lens, muscle all coordinate together. The complexity of the retina alone is many times greater than any silicon semiconductor in a computer.
The human eye is also expressive of human thought without a word. Card players get an indication of the value of cards that other players are holding by observing their eyes.
Coordinated development of the human eye could not happen by accident all at once. Development over multiple generations would require an intelligent purpose to be sustained across multiple generations. The chance of accidental formation of the human eye is not one in "trillions of billions of cajillions", the chance is: impossible.
The gender differences between men and women also required intelligent, coordinated design. All those feminine and masculine attributes had an intelligent designer.
Watches have watchmakers.
The faces of four US Presidents on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota USA were shaped in granite by intelligent designers and artists. Likewise and beyond in achievement, human faces in real life were shaped by an Intelligent Designer and Artist.
Sorry NL, I just spotted this post. It's quite long so I can't respond to it this evening, but its interesting and I do want to discus it with you -- hopefully this weekend.
And I bet this didn't even make the local newspaper. Let alone he national press or world news.
There would have been medical records of a missing hand. And then evidence of him Having A hand later. This one ain't difficult to prove if it's right but I'll wager all we'll get is hearsay and anecdotes.
Again let's have a look at this poor design. A universe where 99.9 percent of it is fatally uninhabitable and a planet so volatile that 99 percent of all species that have ever lived on it are now extinct.
I challenge you to choose any square block of the universe (except one that contains earth) and find evidence of 'intelligent design' and/or a divine creator. It won't be there.
In answer to the question, are you an agnostic or an atheist, I replied:
Sorry, but I may have made my answer too short, for I am not sure that you understood. Dawkins is not ‘my scale’, in fact that doesn't really mean anything.
He designed a scale displaying different types of religiosity and I am a 7 on that scale. You are on his scale as well, in fact everyone is. The scale is as follows:
1. Strong theist. 100 per cent probability of God. In the words of C.G. Jung, ‘I do not believe, I know.’
2. Very high probability but short of 100 per cent. De facto theist. ‘I cannot know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there.’
3. Higher than 50 per cent but not very high. Technically agnostic but leaning towards theism. ‘I am very uncertain, but I am inclined to believe in God.’
4. Exactly 50 per cent. Completely impartial agnostic. ‘God’s existence and non-existence are exactly equiprobable.’
5. Lower than 50 per cent but not very low. Technically agnostic but leaning towards atheism. ‘I don’t know whether God exists but I’m inclined to be sceptical.’
6. Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. ‘I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there.’
7. Strong atheist. ‘I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung “knows” there is one.’
Where would you place yourself? Are you a one, a two? Most atheists I’ve chatted with would put themselves down as a six, as in fact Dawkins himself does. If you read the scale through I think you would agree that there is nothing unreasonable about it.
Sorry, I don’t understand this comment.