Religion: What it means to you

Absence of evidence is invitation to crackpot conspiracy theories, more like.

Originally Posted by koifox

Absence of evidence is invitation to crackpot conspiracy theories, more like.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by Smelnick

The whole F**ing thing you douche. RainMan, I've read through most of your comments, and it seems to me like you aren't even debating anymore. Your just trying to get shits and giggles about playing the devil's advocate to anything anyone says. It's to the point where you're coming off as a complete idiot. How about just shutting up for awhile until you have something intelligent to say.

Really? No need to be bitter when I bring up a decent point. Contrary to your OPINION, I am debating. You just don't like an argument which challenges you.
Before you go off assuming that I haven't examined the aspect of God from multiple angles, I tried to believe in God for a number of years and I am apparently still fairly angry at being deceived by the church after coming to the conclusion that IT simply doesn't exist.

In any event, you shouldn't feel that my opinions cancel yours out. It seems like you feel threatened...

If something I say seems biting towards the idea of faith substantiating a claim over reasonable cause, well I won't feel the need to apologize.

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There is as much evidence proving that there is a god as there is evidence proving that there is NO god. Neither sets of evidence are 100% concrete. So why continue arguing?

because thats the point of debate. If you don't like thinking about this discussion, and wish to only converse with like minded fellows that substantiate your own beliefs, then get the hell out of this thread.

I am not going to stop talking about these things simply because you threaten to soil yourself.

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Whatever argument you think your partaking in isn't winnable.

Then why are you so angry?

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No amount of stupidity uttered from your mouth will make anyone go "Hey RainMan, you know what?! You're absolutely right. You win!"

I realize that. However, it seems your taking all of my 'stupid comments' dreadfully serious. Quit being so defensive.

I have a feeling that you are getting dangerously close to questioning yourself because of some previous comments...god forbid that I should bring up a point which turns your world upside down. :roll:

Its one thing if you are annoyed. You could simply leave it at that, but you have revealed your immaturity in the fear of having your own principles turned on their head and now you feel that you need to defend yourself by going on the offensive. I don't know what to say to you other than, "Sorry. I do not care."

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So just stop being such a douche. We understand, you don't believe in God, you find him to be a waste of time and a cop out.

Uh, what? I suggest you take your own advice. Quit making it look as if your side of the debate is without flaw because your shit DOES in fact stink.
If your argument for God is so good, why does it fail everytime in lieu of common sense? That is why you're really upset, isn't it?

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Well, thats enough of my rant. Also RainMan, God could kick the tooth fairy's ass any day.

Bullshit!

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More and more scientists, although they still reject intelligent design, are leaning away from the theory of evolution as well.

WHA? Why the hell would they need to do that? Because evolution interferes with the fragile teachings of the bible? LOL. Some scientists don't need such distractions.

Do you actually think intelligent design is going to gain wider prominence as time unravels?

I am sorry dude, you aren't looking real smart.

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Really? No need to be bitter when I bring up a decent point. Contrary to your OPINION, I am debating. You just don't like an argument which challenges you.

Hey, Rainman! This isn't a place to debate about your religious beliefs. Shut up or get out. This thread was meant for people to state their beliefs and be done with it, not for some moron to come in and start trouble by saying they're wrong.

Why don't you listen when Devo and Smelnick and others tell you to just drop it?

Common sense tells me that the theory of evolution is bullshit. You're gonna sit there and tell me that something as complex as the human eyeball became perfected through random mutations. Common sense should tell you that ain't gonna happen. If you took apart a watch, and dropped the handful of pieces onto the ground over and over again. What are the chances of it landing in such an orientation as to work perfectly? Or even at all? Common sense will tell me that it's not going to happen. It's this level of common sense that is making scientists lean away from the theory of evolution.

To suggest that I'm worried about anything you have to say changing my beliefs is to suggest that I'm an idiot. Only a fool would take anything you say seriously.

Smelnick, you need to drop it as well.
This is not a thread in which to debate your beliefs.

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My prayer to God for you is to be blessed with something that is over and above what you are able to accomplish. Something so hard that it shakes your notion of what the world is about.

When that day comes then you will see what the poor folk through the ages have been talking about.

This argument's arrogance is only overshadowed by its ignorance. You don't know a damn thing about what my life has been like, yet you presume to. Also, I've seen many people conquer many problems much more tragic in nature than my own without needing a god.

I have a friend who just finished with 9 months of Chemotherapy for lymphatic cancer, he did this without a religion. What's amazing about this guy is not just his recovery from cancer, but the fact that he was raised by the state foster care system, he was taken away from his mom when he was 9, she later died from the hole in her heat when he was 11. Grew up on the streets here, after he was ejected from the system after about 9 years of abuse in foster homes. He ended up on crack, due in large part to the exposure to sexual predators (this is actually a huge problem in this city, pedos and such getting kids hooked on this like meth and crack to get them to perform sexual acts), overcame the 4 year addiction and then the cancer hit him. Myself and a few other mutual friends have helped him back on his feet, we found him a place to live and got him enrolled into college. At 23 he's a little on the late bloomer side, but with no family other than, basically, us he's done pretty damn well. He maintains no religious affiliations.

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Yes, but only because "the power of greyskull" has demonstrated its self as an entertainment vehicle, not a method of solving problems.

It's still metaphor, just like the Bible. Whether or not it retains meaning to YOU as entertainment or not is beside the point. Christianity never ceases to demonstrate itself as a source of entertainment-- albeit akin to the kind of entertainment one derives from a TRAINWRECK, but entertainment nonetheless.

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human eyeball became perfected

It is?

Originally Posted by The_Melomane

Hey, Rainman! This isn't a place to debate about your religious beliefs.

Then why is the name of the thread Religion: 'what it means to you'? I feel that I've made this quite clear. I understand where you are coming from but kindly lay off of me, or don't. I simply don't care.

I didn't aim for this last page and a half to become so full of rage, but its an easy thing to have happen when it comes to religion.

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To suggest that I'm worried about anything you have to say changing my beliefs is to suggest that I'm an idiot.

No, you were already an idiot to begin with. Speaking of Darwin...

(Darwin Awards 2006)

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(August 2006, Libreville, Gabon) In August, a congregation's 35-year old pastor insisted one could literally walk on water, if one only had enough faith. Big and bold was his speech. He extolled the heavenly power possessed by a faithful man with such force that he may well have convinced himself. Whether or not he believed in his heart, his sermons left room for only shame should he leave his own faith untested. Thus, the pastor set out to walk across a major estuary, the path of a 20-minute ferry ride. But the man could not swim.

Trust your faith if you will.

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Then why is the name of the thread Religion: 'what it means to you'? I feel that I've made this quite clear. I understand where you are coming from but kindly lay off of me, or don't. I simply don't care.

It's exactly that, what it means to you. However that does not give you the right to go around saying that someone else's beliefs are false, that's not the point of this thread. You can defend your beliefs, but you may not tell someone else they're wrong simply because you disagree religiously.

Debating religion is as futile as debating musical tastes. Everyone has a different opinion and you need to respect that and there's no way to empirically measure which is better.

On another note, science has in no way disproven or proven the existence of a God. God is not of the natural, observable world. He(or She) is not something you can hypothesize and then make a repeatable experiment about. At this point, science has neither the means nor the will to prove or disprove a God. If you don't believe me, ask any science professor.

Originally Posted by Sassafrass

Good for you. I'm glad you found what fills your hole of emptiness and loneliness.

Some of us don't have that hole, see.

You're admitting that Jesus is just a hole-filler. That's awesome in so many ways, it hurts.

This is true from a biblical point of view. You tell me to think, and I do. I have confirmed what the bible says in my lifes efforts, I know for a fact that the promises in the book are verifiabel truths. I just dont read the texts I test them out. This is the reason why I pray for folks so I can see my God at work.

Originally Posted by LordsSword

This is the reason why I pray for folks so I can see my God at work.

No, see what you're doing is preaching to US, the one's you're supposedly "praying for." You're shoving your ideals down our throats, and comparing us to the poor folk of ages past.

I said it before and I'll say it again - Fuck you buddy.

Some of us don't need blind faith to get through the day. Some of us have, what's it called... Ah yes, a soul. Our own free will. Try it out sometime.

Originally Posted by Smelnick

Common sense tells me that the theory of evolution is bullshit. You're gonna sit there and tell me that something as complex as the human eyeball became perfected through random mutations. Common sense should tell you that ain't gonna happen. If you took apart a watch, and dropped the handful of pieces onto the ground over and over again. What are the chances of it landing in such an orientation as to work perfectly? Or even at all? Common sense will tell me that it's not going to happen. It's this level of common sense that is making scientists lean away from the theory of evolution.

I couldn't find the webpage that actually did a design review of the human eye in a humorous way, but this one does it in a pretty good fashion.

Evolution and the human eye

Not really sure what evolution has to do with God, but whatever.

Originally Posted by LordsSword

This is true from a biblical point of view. You tell me to think, and I do. I have confirmed what the bible says in my lifes efforts, I know for a fact that the promises in the book are verifiabel truths.

I wonder if prayer can fix your horrific spelling. I think you ought to try that theory out.

KEEP PRAYIN'! I betcha God will FIX YOUR POOR SPELLING FOR YOU!

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I just dont read the texts I test them out. This is the reason why I pray for folks so I can see my God at work.

If you want to pray for people you know privately, that's cool. No one has the right to tell you what to do there - pray to whatever for whatever. I actually encourage this shit, if it helps you.

HOWEVER. If you want to pray for them IN THEIR FACE, you're being intentionally provocative and deserve to be punched in the neck.

Originally Posted by sprouticus

No, see what you're doing is preaching to US,

No, i'm sharing the different aspects of what my religion means to me. If its preachy I am sorry.

Originally Posted by sprouticus

If you want to pray for people you know privately, that's cool. No one has the right to tell you what to do there - pray to whatever for whatever. I actually encourage this shit, if it helps you.

HOWEVER. If you want to pray for them IN THEIR FACE, you're being intentionally provocative and deserve to be punched in the neck.

But I am just showing what my religion means to me. Often people just say what they believe, i'm showing it, whats the harm?

Originally Posted by Smelnick

Common sense tells me that the theory of evolution is bullshit. You're gonna sit there and tell me that something as complex as the human eyeball became perfected through random mutations. Common sense should tell you that ain't gonna happen. If you took apart a watch, and dropped the handful of pieces onto the ground over and over again. What are the chances of it landing in such an orientation as to work perfectly? Or even at all? Common sense will tell me that it's not going to happen. It's this level of common sense that is making scientists lean away from the theory of evolution.

I think you're confusing evolution with entropy. And even then, evolution does not violate the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. Complexity is relative. For example, let's use number of chromosomes as a measure of complexity for living things . . . humans have 46 pairs, yet a potato has 48. Do those 2 extra pairs make them any more "advanced" than humans? Common sense says that it should since it has more DNA to deal with, so is this really true?

Originally Posted by LordsSword

No, i'm sharing the different aspects of what my religion means to me. If its preachy I am sorry.

Originally Posted by LordSword

Try some volunteer work to get a different perspective. Visit a nursing home or a homeless shelter and clock in some time. I did, it helps.

Originally Posted by LordSword

My prayer to God for you is to be blessed with something that is over and above what you are able to accomplish. Something so hard that it shakes your notion of what the world is about.

Originally Posted by LordSword

When that day comes then you will see what the poor folk through the ages have been talking about.

Just to name a few. There are plenty more, if you want me to go into it. You're not talking about what it means to you. You're PREACHING. No one likes to be preached to about their beliefs. People usually take the time to think about their choices in belief - RESPECT their choices. Don't tell them they are wrong, don't tell them you'll pray for them to find what you have found, don't think you are holier than any one else.

Like Capo said quite nicely: religion is a personal choice. What works for YOU isn't necessarily what works for others. You may think your god is the one and only, but I assure you, many many many other people think THEIR god (or lack thereof) is the ONLY way it is.

You need to take a step back and understand religion is not just Jesus and God. That system may work for you, but you can NOT tell others that it is the ONLY way.

You're on a high-horse. You have no more answers than anyone else on this entire planet. You offend people by stomping on what they believe. You went as far as to doubt that atheists have any compassion or have never been through a period of hard times. How presumptuous of you.

If you'd take a moment and think (as I often recommend), you'd start to see that people don't need religion to be good people - you can stop telling them that they do.

If it works for you, that's awesome, and I am happy for you. Honestly. But you have NO RIGHT to tell others that they're not believing in the right thing.

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But I am just showing what my religion means to me. Often people just say what they believe, i'm showing it, whats the harm?

Yea, see above. You're not talking about what it means to you. You're condescending to others.