God's Opinions And Feelings..

[Incomplete Dude]

Based on logic, science, and my observations of the universe I see nothing to suggest that any gods exist. Therefore I choose to believe that there are none. I base my beliefs on logic and reason rather than blindly following dogma. At one time i sought some sort of spiritual meaning to life. I looked at all the options... I struck each one with my trusty ol' philosopher's hammer and, without exception, heard that quite familiar hollow sound.

I cannot, however, deny the possibility that i may be wrong. I hold none of my beliefs so dear that if faced with irrefutable proof they couldn't change. Prove to me that all of this could not have come about by nature alone and I'll grant you your god... and I'll be it's most devout follower.

You could spend 100 lifetimes arguing whether god exists or not and you'd be no closer to proving anything. There is no experiment that we could perform that would, beyond any doubt, prove or disprove the existence of god. So, in that sense, my choosing to not believe as much a leap of faith as someone choosing to believe.

The debate on the existence of god is purely moot since no practical data can be obtained from it. Better topics would be whether or not it's better to believe in a religion or whether religion has had a positive or negative impact on humanity... but we'll save that for another thread .

Granted, this is true. The only thing i can prove is my own existence and i can only prove that to myself. "I think therefore I am" as cliche as that is it still rings true. We have to, however, operate on the assumption that the things we perceive are indeed true. I guess you could say that we have to have faith that it is true. A certain amount of doublethink is required here as it would be very hard to do something as simple as walk down the street if you had very strong doubts about the existence of the street or your feet or your legs... well, you get the idea. The big difference here it that i can prove, at least to myself, that these things exist through repeated experiment and i have to accept them as true. God, however, I cannot.

Sorry to drag this thread, once again, off topic *curtsies deeply, takes soapbox in hand, and skips happily away*

Well, I understand your position, as I have considered it deeply myself and come to somewhat similar conclusions. However, in the case of physical evidence for God, I would have to disagree. I mean, no absolute proof can be made, but strong circumstantial evidence can be. Consider this: If God can be defined as any omnipotent entity, then it must become instantly aware of all the effects of this universe. That is, God is equivalent to a mechanism that propagates information instantaneously, and by this fact, is omnipotent of the goings on of this reality. This effect can also be constructed by a body of elements that interact at an unbounded rate, and thereby propagate perturbations instantaneously. In any case, if such a mechanism can be observed, then one is observing the "face of God" as it were.

At this time, the vast majority of things we observe are limited by the speed of light, but our knowledge of the universe's physical laws is far from complete. It may be that underlying this is a faster force. Indeed, current evidence indicates that the early universe expanded at a rate more than 10^70 times the speed of light. Now, this doesn't prove that God exists, but does indicate the existence of some God-like mechanism, in the sense that I outlined previously.

[lordmole]

"I think therefore I am"

Actually, it's "Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum." or "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am."

The doubting is very important, as that is the undeniable proof that we think. Why?

We're searching for an absoluut truth. To do this, we need to doubt everything and what we can't doubt, is absolutely true.

We can doubt almost anything. Except the doubt itself, since if we'd doubt doubt, we come to a contradiction. If doubt were not true, how could we doubt it? Hence, we are sure that we can doubt. If we can doubt, we're sure that we at least exist as a thinking entity.

[Morv]

I believe that religion is a creation of man in an attempt to understand the world around him. Early civilizations, of course, had no way of understanding lightning, earthquakes, floods, drought, etc. But a God--and there have been so many--explained it all. Your wife died? It was God's will. There was no rain and your crops died? God's will. A volcano wiped out most of your village? What did you do to make the gods to angry? It was a convenient explanation for everything, and it required no thought--don't try to make sense of it, it was God's will. He works in mysterious ways, you know. We fear the unknown and religion filled that void by providing a focal point; a rationale for the irrational.

[...]

-RMS

We should still wonder why the gods are so angry. It's always either too warm or too hot. Global warming is destroying the environment and a cold wave is closing schools. The president of the United States explained to all of us that he is president because God willed it. I have a magic box in front of me that puts up a picture and lets me make letters for all you people to see, and you can see my letters. There's not a single person on this site who can exhaustively explain every single magic box that allows us to communicate. Oh, sure, you can explain various parts, but sooner or later the knowledge runs out. I spent four years studying computer science and I have as much of a clue as to how this all works as a shaman has to how his medicines heal. God made computers. God made microwaves, dish washers, drive in movies, vibrating dildos, 7.1 surround amplifiers, you name it. The one thing I'm sure god did not make is polka music. That was done by the devil. And while we're at it, can we please go back to the counting system that went "one", "two", "many"?

Don't argue with me or a volcano will wipe out your village. God is listening.

[Red Barchetta]

Well, at least Global Warming, I can say certainly WAS NOT Gods' doing, nor can you blame it on the Devil! - That is 100% humans doing! - Why? - Because of all the "Greenhouse gases" we continue to pollute the atmosphere with, even after we knew exactly what was happening, and what was causing it. Although there are plenty of other fuels that could be used instead that will not have this effect, few have bothered to look at them too deeply as a possible alternative.

So it is actually the fault of humans that we have Global Warming.

[Morv]

Red, I warned you not to argue. You are so fucked. Watch out for that volcano, for God is going to smite you. God heard your blasphemy. He told me so.

[Red Barchetta]

Volcano! - Eak! - LOL

[Morv]

Wait, I think we've figured this out.

Volcanoes destroy diapers. God makes volcanoes to smite things he does not like. Therefore, god must actually not like diapers because he makes volcanoes and volcanoes destroy them.

We've got a definitive answer.

[Red Barchetta]

[Repaid1]

ah Global warming off topic but fun, first everyone who's even slightly knowledgeable of the Earth knows that one Volcanic eruption release's far more "green house gases" than man has been on this earth to produce so I present this:

Why Global Warming Is Bunk

Prof Bob Carter, a geologist doing paleoclimate research at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia, sums up climate change:

"The essence of the issue is this. Climate changes naturally all the time, partly in predictable cycles, and partly in unpredictable shorter rhythms and rapid episodic shifts, some of the causes of which remain unknown. We are fortunate that our modern societies have developed during the last 10,000 years of benignly warm, interglacial climate. But for more than 90 per cent of the last two million years, the climate has been colder, and generally much colder, than today. The reality of the climate record is that a sudden natural cooling is far more to be feared, and will do infinitely more social and economic damage, than the late 20th century phase of gentle warming."

Professor Carter points out the embarassing fact for the global warming alarmist cult that the Earth stopped warming in 1998, contrary to their famous hockey-stick prediction that a global heat wave would melt the ice caps and wash us all away. The temperature graph has gone flat for the last eight years, contrary to the Chicken Little predictions of doom foisted on a gullible public by the liberal media.

In fact, the global temperature trend was erratic in the 20th century. The Earth's temperature rose from 1918 to 1940, then inexplicably fell from 1940 to 1965, kicking off the global cooling scare at the same time humans were doing all that industrialization the current crop of loonies claim heat the planet. The Earth's temperature heated back up from 1970 to 1998, which led the global cooling fruitcases to do an about face and claim global warming was now the threat. Now the temperature is plateaued, perhaps signalling another cooling spell.

If the production of greenhouse gases by humans drove the temperature of the planet, you would expect the temperature to track with increasing industrialization, but it doesn't. What does drive the Earth's temperature is the Sun and its cycles, particulary it's eleven year solar flare cycles. In fact, the Earth's temperature tracks the Sun cycles very closely, as scientists studying the Earth's temperature have found:

"Using ancient tree rings, they show that 17 out of 19 warm spells in the last 10,000 years coincided with peaks in solar activity."

However, it's doubtful that the global warmists will let science get in the way of their political program. After all, global warming is not about the facts, it's about promoting socialism by other means.

Sorry so off topic but next to the Bible, Global Warming is my Favorite topic.

[Morv]

You use too many words, and so does the person you quote.

Volcanoes are hot and so is global warming. Therefore, global warming is just the side effect of some invisible giant volcano that is affecting the whole world, and God is using this volcano to try and destroy all diapers.

[Necros]

*Points to Morv* BLASPHEMY!!! *Gets the wood and ropes for a re-enactment of the inquisition days*

Necros~

Edit: Wow this made my 300th post~ I'm a diaper pro *woot*

[Morv]

"The Inquisition...

(What a show!)

The Inquisition...

(Here we go!)

We know you

[Necros]

XD THEY MADE A SONG OFF OF THE INQUISITION!!! LULZ

CAP LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL BTW!

[Repaid1]

Ahhh Morv thanks for clearing that up for me, but one has to wonder where exactly would this Volcano be located? and if such a Volcano was out there, would it not show up on Thermal scans..the whole thing has me baffled. But better safe than sorry, I just tossed a pack into the fridge to make sure I still have some for tomorrow.