Atheist vs. Theist
BOB SPENCE ESQ; WHERE was the meteor Prophesy that exploded over Virginia Beach Virginia last Night...???
Submitted by ElijahTruth on May 13, 2011 - 4:13pm.As many of you here have seen, on the many posts of ElijahTruth He posts sounding letters in which he calls out too men such as Bob Spence and others here at Rational response, on several of the Letters posted near the bottoms of each are signs prophesy for our Gathering, as the Japan Earthquake with small tidal wave Alaska was prophesy/pre-written and posted here, so is the METEOR WHICH exploded over 700 COMPANY/Virginia beach virginia last night being the second meteor to hit since Gods word fell upon pat robertson again since 2009 and was pre-written in the end of 2008 for these gathering signs, now prepare for Sudan Africa Meteors, and Earthquakes Washington.D.C. AND VIRGINIA BEACH VIRGINIA, AND Hurricane Virginia Beach Virginia moving on into Washington.D.C. AS Continued meteor reports, some falling directly through pat robertsons 700 Company there in Virginia Beach...go to the site listed on the sounding letters and on the prophecy and the signs page are the listed signs which have come and are now coming, and many others sent out in the sounding letters, like the Now exploding volcanoes which were prophesy as the now COMING EARTHQUAKE CUBA, THEN MEXICO...IT HAS BEGUN...E-mail availble for questions or sending us proofs, or being sent proofs..and for declaring ones waking and gathering...
Having no evidence against something, isn't evidence....
Submitted by skeptiform5 on May 9, 2011 - 10:28am.I am an atheist and one of the few around where I am. I'm not an outspoken atheist or anything but if asked about my beliefs I state them so this has attracted a lot of attention. I am bombarded with questions concerning my beliefs, the most common being "why don't you believe in god', i mostly respond with the "there's no evidence" approach which is instantly countered with, 'but there's no evidence that he doesn't exist'. Firstly, that's not true but I'll save that rant for another day. Having no evidence against it isn't a defense! I could say that you can't disprove the midget who loves inside Ashton Kutcher's head who's best friends with the martian who lives in a teapot orbiting Saturn. Okay rant over.
GOD is NOT Religion
Submitted by BADWAY on May 8, 2011 - 4:42pm.God is not Religion by John Kevin Badway Sept 12th 2010
This may offend someone who doesn’t quite understand my point of view, but, all I ask is that you the reader, no matter your proclivity to certain beliefs or ideologies that you examine the facts before stating your own opinions contrary to the authors dissertation. Thank You!
And now for something completely different….to borrow a line from Monty Python…Indulge me for a moment as I go against the grain of current popular thought regarding God and religion.
What is Religion?
Is it God?
Is God religion?
Well, first of all let me say that GOD is not religion!
WHAT! You say….How dare ye! I protest thee! And so on etc, etc.
As I mentioned this to an Atheist/agnostic, he argued that indeed God is religion and that’s what all these denominations are all about, however, I contend that GOD and religion are separate.
How?
A discussion with a Christian Philosopheer about Morality
Submitted by TGBaker on May 7, 2011 - 10:39pm.Divine command theory is the meta-ethical view about the semantics or meaning of ethical sentences, which claims that ethical sentences express propositions, some of which are true, about the attitudes of God. That is, it claims that sentences such as "charity is good" mean the same thing as sentences such as "God commands charity".
Tommy Baker I'd adopt a working model of Sam Harris and adapt it as I go .
James Sennett Tommy -- let me guess; you gathered all your valuables together and threw them in the fire, and a statue of Sam Harris emerged!
Tommy Baker
Well I did not get a statue of Sam Harris though that would have been nice. I think that expressing the good as well-being and comparing it to physical health gives you many good reasons for "good'. Any movement away from a world of the worst possible suffering with the longest duration of that suffering gives us good reasons why the movement would be considered good. And that puts your reasons on an empirical and scientifically testable basis without recourse to some transcendent.
James Sennett
Consideration of stupidity
Submitted by robj101 on May 7, 2011 - 9:31pm.When we talk of getting rid of religion it has occured to me that many people are quite optimistic about the possibility of making most people see the truth or at least the chance of.
I think this is unrealistic and I believe most people don't quite fathom the stupidity, the terribly low iq of so many people in this country and probably around the world.
If I had to hazard a guess I would be willing to bet that at least 45% of the population here in the US is literally too stupid to understand evolution and to gain any real grasp on ..reality.
Caposkia and TGBaker discussion
Submitted by TGBaker on May 3, 2011 - 10:03am.Does God exist? IS Christianity valid? Is the New Testament inerrant and a proof of God? There are several ways to begin this discussion. Having been a Christian before "falling from grace"1.* I would suggest that the evangelical approach would be to share the good news or try to give an explanation that would cause me to consider acceptance of Christ as my savior.
1.*) Galatians 5:4 (NASB) You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. I know depending on your denominational background that even the meaning of this text will be debated.
Again I will share that the loss of my faith came from actual scholarly studies of the scripture. I see philosophically no way one would arrive at a theism through a natural theology without a presupposition of a god and it being derived from holy scripture. To me Christians defend their believe in their faith based upon cultural bonds with their context. It is hard for them to develop a temporary skeptical approach to their faith claims that they may see if those claims hold up from an objective prospective. Most Christian presentation seems apologetic with secondary arguments that support the primary unproven premises. Hey but that is just me.
...So, I guess we decided to call al-Qaeda's bluff?
Submitted by Kevin R Brown on May 2, 2011 - 2:37am.So, here's something you probably won't hear elsewhere tonight: assassinating Bin Laden was a stupid fucking move. We have recently leaked confessions from Kalid Sheikh Mohammed explicitly stating that al-Qaeda had the intention of detonating a warhead somewhere if anything happened to Bin Laden.
We fucking called a bluff when one party has a pretty credible claim to atomize a few thousand Europeans???
Well, let's hope it really was just a bluff, I guess.
EDIT: I also love the flagrant insistence by the mainstream media that the viewer should dismiss their analytical faculties. 'Spontaneous gatherings' my ass. Nobody on the fucking planet would hear the news of Bin Laden's murder and think, "Gee whiz, good opportunity to stand in the cold & dark outside of the White House and wave a few Jignoistic flags around!"
Obvious PR stunt is obvious.
Christianity as a culture is not primarily a belief but a belief's generator
Submitted by TGBaker on May 1, 2011 - 11:41pm.Below is a posting from my Facebook. The last few responses show the nature of Christianity. It is not something that can necessarily be reasoned or confronted rationally. It appears to be a true enculturalization of the individual in which culture is not the glasses whereby to understand the world and can be easily replaced. Culture appears to be the eyes themselves which can not be removed. To get a theist to a point of rational and critical thinking about his/her belief system requires a process of slowly creating doubt as to the world view as a whole, showing skepticism to be a more useful tool than belief and demonstrating group acceptance in a secular system. There is an excellent article by David Eller in Loftus's the Christian Delusion. The article, the Cultures of Christianities, points out that there are multiple types of Christianities all functioning as particular cultures. He shows how missionaries that are successful enter a culture and slowly erode its meaning as they replace it with a Christian Culture. The book, the Christian Delusion has many good articles worth reading if you can find it. The editor, John W.
Arguing
Submitted by Cpt_pineapple on April 27, 2011 - 1:59pm.Hamby made a recent blog entry about the nature of arguing and convincing others and how this applies to the atheist movement.
With all the topics about militancy lately, I thought I'd throw it in.
http://livinglifewithoutanet.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/why-doesnt-arguing-scientifically-work/