http://www.tccsa.tc/fair.html

Oh my... I really wish I could go to this.  Anybody in that area?  Somebody really should go there with some real science and video tape some conversations with these folks.

As one US Airways flight 1549 survivor put it, "God was certainly looking out for all of us." So I guess what this fortunate fellow means is, God, the old man with the beard who lives up in the clouds, decided that all the people on US Airways flight 1549 were so special, that he decided to frighten the crap out of all of them by faking a fatal plane crash, systematically making them think that they were going to die, then at the very last minute, God said, "HA-HA! Just kidding! I'm not going to kill you! I just wanted to scare the shit out of you, and then save your asses, since you're all so special, and I really want you to know that I care for you and love you, so I'm going to save you now, so that you believe in me. The passengers on Flight 800, and other catastrophic fatal crashes were generally not good people, and so I disposed of them... After all, I'm God, damn it, and I exterminate bad people. The Sudanese victims of genocide are generally bad people, which is why I don't let them live. 9-11 rescue workers, trapped and crushed on 9-11... Obviously bad people... Jewish victims of the Holocaust? Well certainly I had to kill them since they didn't believe in the divinity of my son Jesus. I mean, no brainer there." 

I'm a little concerned about the language used in this freethinkers' forum. It says, "All theist posts will be destroyed". That's rather un-freethinking, isn't it?

The reason I'm a bit concerned, is that it can be too easy to leap to conclusions about what someone means, just because of the language they use. Censoring people because of the words they use sounds to me like totalitarianism - which is just what religions are good at.

A case in point is Soren Kierkegaard. Would he be classified as a theist, given that he wrote so extensively and profoundly on ---- "God".... ?

But wait - what did he mean by God?

He wrote extensively about God, religion, being a Christian, and faith. Yet none of the meanings for these words he used, had anything to do with the established Christianity of his time. He actually wrote "An Attack on Christendom". He referred to God as the Infinite. He referred to religion as one's striving to live truthfully in relation to the Infinite.

Soren Kierkegaard is often mistaken as a Christian who believes in a personal God, because he wrote with extraordinary depth on one's personal relationship to God. The thing is, by God, Kierkegaard wasn't referring to a personal God, or to any finite type of God, or to a supernatural God, but to the Infinite. God, for Kierkegaard, meant literally that which is everything.

This discussion with a muslim began in the comments section of the following video

 It proceeded to PM, and I invited him to continue here.  I've reproduced the PM history with his permission:

 According to a recent Guardian article, over 30% of British students believe in either Intelligent Design or Young Earth Creationism.  What's worse, nearly 20% said they were taught some form of Creationism as fact in school.  We're not talking about specifically Christian schools either.

I suppose now I'm going to go back in all my writing and retract my statements that America is the only civilized country backward enough to even consider teaching anything other than evolution.

And here I thought maybe we were making progress.  So much for that.

This question is not badgering or mockery; this is an honest thought from somone who is looking for answers.  I would like to know what your opinions on visions and prophecy are.  I'm referring to people who claim they have received specific visions and the visions turn out to be correct.  I know that prophecy in general tends to be broad and too hard to pin-point, but some of it seems to be scary when it is so precise.  Does anyone have an explanation for visions or prophetic happenings?  How can one receive insights like this without some kind of divine or supernatural inspiration?  Any input would be appreciated.

 

Example:

http://touchheaven.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=58

Also scroll to the bottom.

Here is a classic example of the irrationality of atheistic materialism.

awwwwwright peeps, in this tread post your fav arguements for or against god.

my fav is one against god.

disproving all seeing, all knowing, all powerful god is possible with logic:

if god is all seeing, all knowing, and all powerful, can he see what he will do?

if so, can he change it?

if he can, he is not all seeing. sure, he could see all possible paths he could take, but if he cannot see exactly what he is going to do, he is not all seeing.

if he can see what he will do, and cannot change it, then he has no will power, and is therefore not all powerful, but stuck on a track, predestined by something else. this begs the question; what made this track? apply the piece of logic already stated to see why there can be no track, nor any all powerful, all seeing being on it.

just some food for thought. eat it up! omnomnomnomnomnomnom.

Hello, long time lurker, first time poster.  I'm doing my doctorate in economics.  Yes, I know what the hell I'm talking about.

If you don't know what game theory is: THE MOAR YOU KNOW.

Consider the following payoff matrix:

                        MAN

_____________/ Believe / Do not believe /

GOD    Reveal   |  3,4     |     1,1            |
                       -------------------------------

          Hide      |  4,2     |     2,3            |

There seems to be a great deal of misinformation about Christianity going on around here, so I thought I'd address a few of the more prevalent myths that seem to abound:

- Sinners/unbelievers will experience unending torment in hell.

First of all, we have to define what is meant by 'sinners' or 'unbelievers'.  There are different schools of thought.  However, original Christianity's thought on this matter is that we are all fallible beings who, to some extent or another, have been unfaithful to God and have, unwittingly or no, cut off connection to him.  There is a sense in which this is accidental, and this is relegated more to the level of consciousness.  For instance, it is perfectly understandable that many do not believe in God according to Christianity, but there is another sense at a deeper subconscious level in which this there is intentional conflict.  This should clear up some of the confusion that might occur from reading Romans 1.