The anthropic principle (Greek: anthropos, "human being" ) states that the universe was fitted from the very first moment of its existence for the emergence of life in general and human life in particular. As agnostic astronomer; Robert Jastrow, noted, the universe is amazingly preadapted to the eventual appearance of humanity (see Jastrow, "A Scientist Caught" ). For if there were even the slightest variation at the moment of the big bang, making conditions different, even to a small degree, no life of any kind would exist. In order for life to be present today an incredibly restrictive set of demands must have been present in the early universe--and they were.
 
Supporting Evidence: Not only does the scientific evidence point to a beginning of the cosmos, but it points to a very sophisticated high tuning of the universe from the very beginning that makes human life possible. For life to be present today, an incredibly restrictive set of demands must have been present in the early universe:
 
1. Oxygen comprises 21 percent of the atmosphere. If it were 25 percent, fires would erupt, it it were 15 percent, human beings would suffocate.
 

OT Deuteronomy 21:18-21 reads:

" If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who dose not obey his father or mother and dosen't listen to them even after they discipline him, his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of the city. ' This son of ours is stubborn and rebelious, he dosen't obey us. He's a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you and all israel will hear and be afraid."

My Thoughts:

CAN YOU READ THIS AND CRITIQUE IT?
i know it has some problems with clarity at points

the question of whether or not God exists is extremely important. It has more ramifications that flow from the answer than any other question. This is a large question and I will not be able to go into much details as I would like; for example, I will not be able to talk much about the internal witness of conscience or the way the Holy Spirit communicates with a person's heart. Not that I think my opponent would find those argument compelling, naturally, but they are still very important.

I want to immediately speak of the fact of dependency. Everything that exists that we know of began to exist at a certain time. Since there was a time when that thing was not, this means its existence is not actually necessary because things existed already before that thing. For example, I didn't have to exist, the Universe could function naturally without me. In fact, my coming into existence was dependent upon my mom and dad and likewise they with their parents and all the way back. So, if everything is dependent upon its existence on something that came before it, how did anything get here at all? Somewhere the mere fact of existence demands an utterly independent being, whose existence is not contingent upon anything else. We call this being God.

As an ex-Christian, I know this sounds a little strange (forgive me: I'm under the influence right now), but I still can't (or won't) pitch my Petra, DeGarmo & Key, Mortification, Michael W. Smith, some of the old hymns, etc.  I know it's an appeal to emotion, but it still holds sentimental value to me.  The "devil" still has the best music imo, but there are some good hymns that are sweet (even still). 

My advice to ex-Christians:  don't sell/pitch your old Christian tunes; just keep 'em & keep in mind that we all CAN fantasize about things (doesn't mean our fantasies can be a reality), but still...  I'm just tryin' to reminisce. 

I keep thinking how much better the world would be without religion in it. Ever see that picture that has the NYC skyline (with the World Trade Center still there) with the caption "Imagine no Religion? "* Think about a world with no religion:

1. Much less terrorism

2. Nobody trying to replace real science with mythology

3. No anti-abortion fucktards killing doctors, intimidating people and bombing clinics

4. Equal rights for women and homosexuals

5. No idiotic cartoon tracts put in public places or divisive phrases on money

6. Nobody dying because of an irrational avoidance of medicine

7. No "Honor Killings" or brutal female circumcisons, no barbaric sentences under Sharia law.

8. No unwanted pregnancies that are the result of not knowing enough because of "abstinence only" education or access to birth control being denied.

I'm sure there would be more benefits, but isn't this enough?

* Note: This was cuntpasted from my Yahoo 360° blog. Obviously almost everyone here has seen it as at least 2 members here use or have used it as their avatar.

First, I apologize if this is in the wrong forum.  From looking around, I took my best guess as to the place so here I am.  I joined a year and a half ago-- had some good posts and then didn't get too involved.  It was nothing personal, I'm a message forum enthusiast, I just, well, I just had my atheist beliefs, came here and found a lot of what I think and that was that.

But I think I've finally come to a point where I need some advice from my atheist brethren (and sisthren).  Cause, Lord knows (I love doing that by the way), I can't find it in my regular circle of friends.  I won't delve into, and ask you not to do the same becuase I was converted before I read the words, the "wrongness" of critisizing anything "religious," but we all know it exists.  I can make fun of Santa Claus all day but the minute I, forget make fun of, question christianity I'm an asshole.  Discussion for another time.

So here's what I need help with.  If you haven't already gotten it-- I'm an atheist.  At best an Einsteinian pantheist.  But bottom line is there's no man (woman) and he's not guiding my life.  However, my wife and I agreed a long time ago that we understood and accepted some of the benefits of religion.  Look, the more I educate myself the more foolish a statement that sounds, but even Dawkins will allow that there are SOME benefits.  Although he'd go on to show that the bad FAR outweighs the good.  But I digress.  Where was I?  Oh, yes, my wife and children.

I just don't understand your point...

Extremism is bad, fundamentalist are bad. I hate when a Christian says that Muslim are retarded or Buddhists are wrong... By the way, i believe that all paths lead to God.

Then, I don't like when Atheist think they own the truth... You see, you try to understand God with human logic, which is very limited...

VERY limited. First of all, because you seem to think that believers are only bible christian readers, sticked to the point, unable to think by themselves.

Well that is wrong. Some people worship God because of the air they breathe, of the love they receive, of their happinest and that is all.

I am not a Christian, but I've read the bible. I am not a Muslim, but I've read the Coran. I'm not a Buddhist, but i'm reading the tibetan book of the dead. And i believe that if God is perfect, he is way better than all the point of view humans have on him.

I use my intelligence, my logic, to fully understand what God means. You see, if the divine fulfilled us with intelligence, why wouldn't he want us to use it?

If you tell me that your "crusade"(irony) is against fundamentalism, I would understand, cause in united states, there's a lot of dumbass who cannot think by themselves.

Let's for the sake of argument assume that God does not exist.

what do I stand to gain by believing this?

There is one thing that I often bring up when posting on these forums, because I often see theists argue that atheism leads to a bleak and pointless existence, and that people will inevitably not be able to sustain an atheistic world view without becoming both nihilistic, and pessimistic at that.

Now, I wrote this response in this ( http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/15459 ) thread, but I would like to hear answers from as many theists as possible, so I will post the question here.

I am from Denmark, and I wrote this:

I was just thinking of a question today. Bare in mind, this question / series of questions may've been asked before. Well, here it goes:

Question(s) for mono-theists:

Was God always omniscient, or did He have to acquire it [some way] over eons of years? If you say He always was/is/always will be omniscient and He knows/empathizes with everything we go through, then how can He empathize with uncertainty, lack of knowledge, or the "doubting Thomas's"?

To my knowledge, God's method of acquisition toward His omniscience is NOT discussed in either the bible or the Koran.

P.S. This is not meant to be a trick question per se; it is only intended to encourage people to think.