...In summary:

 - Someone else in the distant past committed a crime

 - Because that person committed a crime, I'm somehow 'guilty' by default

 - As punishment for my guilt, I'm to be thrown in a Lake of Fire forever

 - The agency responsible for meting-out the punishment has created a loophole where I can claim innocence so long as I acknowledge that yet another person in the (less) distant past was brutalized in my stead, that this was just and good, and that the agency whom metes-out these punishments is loving.

...How, again, is this a system of ethics that is absolutely unreachable via science?

It seems there are two fatal flaws to Xianity.

first, though, let me say why I was thinking about this.  Often in debates the Spuernaturalist will claim that the internal contradiction of materialism is that it can't go from impersonal Matter to consicousness.  There are others that are brought up, but this one seems to be the hardest to answer.  Mostly, because it asks that the Naturalist come up with an answer to the question "why are we here" - but this, to a naturalist - is a non-question. (Like "what is North of the North pole?&quot

So, here are two glaring internal errors to Xianity that I believe make it unteneble.

A. Possible Worlds.  The general philosophical gist: If God is All-Good, All-Loving, All-Powerful, All-Knowing (or, even maximally so), in all possible worlds he would have made the best possible world.

The standard response from the Xian is that this IS the best possible world, even with all the evil and suffering.

Then, they will mention Heaven.

 long time no post.

I know i haven't been here in a long while my fledgling computer buisiness is hard.

here is the deal i am soo pissed at biblical law right now the truth is the bible/koran is a rotten book 

 Christmas time is here, and I thought it would be a good time to think about what Christians say that Jesus did for us. First, let's talk about it the way they say it in church:

From Bible-Knowledge.com (The best hit I got on a google search for "God's Plan of Salvation.":

The Bible specifically says, without any other possible interpretation, that there is only one God, one faith, one baptism and one way to God the Father - and that is only through His Son Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross. Jesus says that He, and only He, is the way, the truth and the life leading to God the Father and that no one comes to the Father except through Him!

Many people, including some Christians, believe that God the Father honors all other religions as long as people try to live a good and godly life and try to stay out of trouble.

As you will see in the Scripture verses I will list below, this is not the way God the Father has everything set up. God will not honor any other religion, and He makes it very clear that it is only through His Son and His sacrificial death on the cross that will give people eternal salvation and thus eternal life with Him in heaven.

It's exam time.  I should be studying about rules of Evidence or Corporate Law.. but I'm not.

Instead, I have come to radically lay some wisdom:

Hearsay is not admissible in court, unless it falls within one of 32+ exceptions.

...that is all.

-RtG

p.s. On another note.  I just finished a final on Legal Ethics, and it got me thinking about one of the first class.  In it, we discussed some of different theories of "morality"--all of which left me somewhat unsatisfied.  So... two questions:

(1) The State of Responsia has created a device which determines ones true beliefs with regard to God. Following the creation, it institutes a law: "All non-believers will be shot into space without a parachute."

You.. being awesome.. can stop it with just one thought.

Do you stop Responsia? Why or why not?

(2) You.. being awesome still.. are presented with an opportunity to eat some sort of food which is the most amazing thing ever.  I mean, it's not a matter of taste, it's just amazing.  Yet.. it doesn't belong to you.

Do you eat it? Why or why not?

(3) The tables have turned, someone has come along that is not awesome but rather stupendous.  He can force you, with just one thought, to become the legal executor of the law that was passed in Responsia not too long ago--and this is definitely something he wants to do.

Should he do it? Why or why not?

...

There is a profusion of evidence for the Bible’s view of a young earth. However, the Old-Earth perspective has held a monopoly in the public schools, in the major academic centers, and in the popular media for generations. It is no wonder then that most scientists share the Old-Earth perspective. It’s all they were taught growing up in school. It’s all they learned at the universities where they got their degrees. It’s what most of their colleagues profess. But there are dissenters among the scientific community and their numbers are growing. Why? Because more and more scientists are confronting a growing body of evidence which challenges the Old-Earth paradigm.

This is not to say that everyone who examines these evidences will reject the Old-Earth perspective. Some who have pondered these evidences regard them as anomalous yet-to-be-explained phenomena. Some believe they don’t stand up under close scrutiny. Some view them as deliberate misrepresentations of the facts by religious zealots.

A few friends came back to highschool this week after going to TEC. (TEC excuses them from Monday). (Teens Encounter Christ). Wearing their new TEC necklaces and shirts and stuff.

I used to be a VERY active member after i made a TEC. I worked on the TEC team 3 times out of the next 4 TEC's. I stopped about a year ago.

Rather than a debate on whether God is real or not, I'd like to instead bring up some ethical questions about the methods of TEC.

I understand that many Christians are against TEC. Some call it a cult, but none i know do anything about it.

TEC is a weekend + monday retreat.

Before you make a TEC, all you know about it is.

It is a Christian retreat.
No cell phones allowed.
You will be there for 3 days.
You are allowed to leave at any time, you just have to contact parents.
There are secrets that they wont tell you about.
Every month or so a few people come back to High School, in love with God.

Lets say you went to TEC (where i live) this is how it would happen.

*SPOILER ALERT for any theist planning on going to TEC*
...lol

There is a TEC team, the members who you interact with
There is a "Wheat" team, the members who you don't meet.

There's a couple of new theists on the boards. Some are mostly just trolling, and some are a little more sincere, though no less arrogant. During debates with these new theists, though, I've noticed a common theme: an appeal to God as the ultimate generic answer to all unanswered questions. In fact, in one thread, God was essentially defined as the ultimate answer to every unanswered question.

So, I would like to address why an infinite, omniscient, omnipotent God is a philosophically bankrupt concept.

It's simple, really, and can be summed up in a single sentence: This God presents an unworkable epistemology.

 I've been wondering this for a long time, and I've never gotten a good answer from my atheist friends. 

My attempt with this post is to provoke thought.  I’m just trying to get people to maintain and opened and an unbiased view in some since, which I know is virtually impossible but just try to bare with me here.  I try to disassociate myself from religion or any thing that encompasses  its rituals, behaviors or ideologies! I do however believe that there are a lot of good moralities and possible inspirations that can be attained from some of the literature. I don’t agree with it but there can be some good taken from it.  

Let me first start off by saying that its my opinion religion is nothing more then a system of social control. Its bigotry and constant realms of hypocrisy are endless. Being religious automatically sets up separation between people.  Religious segregation has lead to millions of murders ,deaths, injustices and unmoral behavior for 100‘s of years.  All of these actions and inhumane acts are justified how?
 “ God told me to do it.”