[Chefelf]

That's what comes from having two UU history experts in the next room.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Your parents are in the next dorm?

[Laura]

I'm at home, silly!

[Chefelf]

Why did I think it said dorm? Why am I so dumb?

When I read it now I am CONVINCED you edited your post. But that's not the case.

I'm just dumb.

Carry on.

[Jordan]

I got a good laugh out of the last 3 post at chef's expense

[kdogg]

Why did I think it said dorm?  Why am I so dumb?

When I read it now I am CONVINCED you edited your post.  But that's not the case.

I'm just dumb.

Carry on. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think God wanted you to see "dorm". As for being dumb, that's just evolution.

[kdogg]

Ok, here's my take on the God existence thing. When a was a wee lad, I didn't believe in God. I thought it was strange that people would believe in something that they had no convincing evidence to back up. How could people just rely on blind faith like this? As I grew a little older, I realized that there was no evidence of God NOT existing either; in fact, it was impossible to prove such a statement true. How could I have just relied on blind faith like this? Now my belief is that I simply don't know the answer yet. For those of you non-God believers criticizing the God believers of relying on blind faith, I'm afraid that you are also guilty -- doh!!!

[Laura]

Et tu, ad ignorantium?

[kdogg]

Et tu, ad ignorantium?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Please clarify. I never stated that lack of evidence for God's non-existence proved God's existence or vice-versa. I am neutral in the matter.

[barend]

okay movie goer if your still listening...

i wasn't saying evolution is wrong...

i was saying it wasn't accurate... we have not been recording events long enough to make such outlandish guesses...

i'm not going into fine scientific detail on a message board because it's boaring and i'm over it...

but there's alot of guess work there... and as i said what information is extrapolated from their findings tend to be based on theory, rather than theory based on findings...

i have discussed this matter with scientists who study evolution for a living... one of which had devoted his whole life to it... i wasn't attacking it, i was suggesting the current generation of scientists and followers treat evolution like a religion... they get just as offended as a religious nut when you question it... even though you're only questioning some of the methodes... do we really know the effectivness of carbon dating over a million years? who's around to help us with that one...
(and he agreed with me, or at least was able to conduct one of the best conversations i have ever had in my life)

wheather it be religion/creation, evolution, or alien colony or whatever...
the fact of the matter reamians... were just poking around in the dark here, and the sooner everyone realises that, the sooner people can stop being so gaddamn pompus about the importance of existance...

i do believe that everything evolves... i already said that, i just think things evolves faster than what has been suggested...

i don't claim to have the answeres... but it is my right as an inquisitive being to find holes in all theories to make sure we don't blindly follow anything...

speculation is not the basis for acceptance, only a window with a panoramic view of maybes...

i just think people need take a breath and say, fuck it we're here... lets just be nice to each other...

as for the barend as god thing...
violence is something inside all of us, man will always find it...
television, music, video games, satan, whatever...
it's always been there and it always will...

it's up to humans to find what is right inside us...

oh, and if i saw, as a human as i am now, some little girl being attacked by any adult, i would do violent things to that person... horribly violent things...
and that's probably why the god job hasn't come up yet

[J m HofMarN]

Do you guys think there's a correlation between pessimism and atheism, and between optimism and deism?

What I seem to find is that a lot of people say "bad things happen, so god dosnt exist"

and others say "good things happen, so god exists" I think this might be the core of the argument.

[Just your average movie goer]

Maybe. Although I never said the fact that bad things happen means that God doesn't exist. To me, it really rules out the possibility of a loving God.

The main reason why I don't believe in God is that I have been given absolutely no evidence that he could exist. I think if he really wants people to follow him, then he should make an appearance.

In the meantime, I agree with Barend that we should all just say "Fuck it, we're here so let's make the most of it and do the best we can by each other."

Sorry about jumping at you, Barend.

Although, I'm still perplexed by the notion that an all-powerful loving God wouldn't intervene in matters of the world.

I don't think he should come down when two guys are arguing over a parking space but in extreme cases of innocents suffering terribly, I think any loving God worth his weight in faith wouldn't allow that.

I've said this before but if there is a God up there, then I'd like to have a word with him.

[jariten]

How about the possibility of multiple universes? its a theory to explain the reason why the laws of nature in our own universe have such incredibly precise measurments (like if gravity was 1% different either way, the universe couldn't have formed). Some of these measurments are so incredibly precise in fact that they cant be explained away as a factor of pure chance as theoretical physicians wanted to do originally. Theyre so presice, they almost look created. Well they werent having any truck with the existance of a God as a solution so they came up with this tasty notion of an infinate number of universes and the laws of nature in each universe are slightly different, and it just so happens that we got the universe with these particular laws.

and what if, in one of these universes there existed something of 'super intelligence' that was capable of creating a computor 'big bang' simulation, but instead of it being on a screen, it was able to actually produce it. It hits 'return', and hey presto, our universe is born (ok not quite like that but you get the general idea).

[SimeSublime]

Although atheism may be derived from pessimistic views as outlined by Movie Goer, Deism isn't necessarily from an opposit point of view. The reasoning varies from person to person.

[Vwing]

I'm atheist, and I'm one of the most upbeat, optimistic people I know (when it comes to anything but Bush ). And I know many others who are the same way. I think it's a common stereotype for the typical atheist as being someone who had a family member die/something bad happen and became atheist for only that reason, and that is true some of the time. But I know many people who are just smart, reasoning people, who are very upbeat and just don't believe in God because they think the whole religion thing is a load of crap.

Also, this gets my definition of atheism again. I believe that there may be some force up there that created us, so in the true sense of the word, I'm not an atheist. But my feelings are much too strong against the general conception of God and especially religion for me to consider myself merely agnostic. I'm basically just against religion and do not believe in their forms of God, though I certainly recognize the possibility, however strong, that there could be a God like that. Is there a word for that?

[civilian_number_two]

Civilian- This book was written 2000 years ago man, the fact that they even had the right idea was a bleedin myracle.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The stuff in Genesis is older than 2000 years, and I'd say if we're allowing the creation-in-six-days story to be the equivalent of a botched theory of evolution, then we can pretty much allow anything. Of course, even that story is at odds with itself, since right after the one creation myth there's another, from another source, where God makes the whole world, and then Man, and then makes animals to keep Man happy. When Man confesses that these animals aren't keeping his interest, God invents Woman, as an afterthought, specifically for the purpose of making Man happy.

This is as much an evolution story as the story of Noah is an accurate geological history.