Posted on 01/26/2005 9:46:21 AM PST by 7thson
When I pulled into the parking lot this morning, I saw a car covered with sacrilegious bumper stickers. It seemed obvious to me that the owner was craving attention. I’m sure he was also seeking to elicit anger from people of faith. The anger helps the atheist to justify his atheism. And, all too often, the atheist gets exactly what he is looking for.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
"I would contend that you didn't actually die -- that your soul never actually left your body.
Have you considered that?
(I realize that you may not even believe you have a soul. I will just assert that a "blank" experience is a rather shaky prop for your beliefs.)
"
First, I'd have to posit the existence of a "soul," by which I take you to mean some force that exists apart from the body. Sorry, but that falls into the realm of things I don't believe exist, along with all other supernatural entities.
Did I actually die? Of course not. If I had, I would not be writing this. But, then, neither did the others who had these NDEs. If they're here, they didn't actually die.
Experiences identical to NDEs can be easily induced with medication. The buzzing and white light thingie is a common symptom of anoxia, and the rest can be observed by using ketamine as a sort of anesthesia. People have visions all the time.
I once had an "out of body experience" following the ingestion of a sizable dose of mescaline. I saw myself driving down the road and pulling into the garage of my house, as if I were about 100 feet above the car. The human mind is capable of all sorts of strange stuff.
No, I didn't die. Neither did the rest who have NDEs. They ALMOST died. That's why I used the term clinical death to describe what happened to me.
Nope. You don't get to invoke facts that cannot be known until after the decision has been taken and acted upon to explain the motivations for the decision. The former cannot influence the latter, unless you have some way to cause information to flow backward in time.
So In your opinion I guess spenind eternity as "Dirt" is not a choice for you it just is... And you know what I to beleive that you will end us just as dirt for eternity not that I would wish that upon you, but you have Free Will and you will reap what you sow.
SO I guess you could say both me and you beleive what will happen to you at your death..You will be Dust in the Wind FOREVER>>>
Er, genocide isn't neutral by Divine morality:
And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.
And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.
And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.
And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?
Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
--Numbers 31:12-18
How do I know GOD gave the Ten Commandments to Moses?
How do I know GOD created the earth and Adam and Eve?
How do I know NOah built an ark?
How do I know I am truly living on earth? Evidence from the Book of Life...
> To anyone but an atheist, these are not "dangerous questions."
Nor are they "dangerous" to atheists.
Consider:
Q1: " there was a beginning, an uncaused cause, i.e. God!"
A1: i.e.... somethign entirely else. "I don't know" does not equal God.
Q2: "i.e. a life force"
A2: Scientists ahve made living things (polio virii) from non-living molecular components. No "life force" was injected.
Q3: "Why does the organism have a will to live?"
A3: Because if it didn't, it wouldn't live, and thus wouldn't reproduce.
Q4: "the incredibly delicate physical constants, physical laws ..."
A4: Change the laws, and we become impossible. But change the laws and something *else* becomes possible.
Q5: "why our vision and mind are tuned to a particular selection of four coordinates"
A5: These are the ones that are useful for perception of our environment.
Q6: "He'd have to explain how biological semiosis arose through natural means."
A6: Look up the experiments of Urey, and the follow-on experiments of Fox.
Q7: "i.e. cardiovascular without the lungs, nervous system without the brain"
A7: Lungs and Brains aren't needed for life; note your nearest amoeba.
Q8-a: "explain how eyes developed concurrently across phyla – i.e. vertebrates and invertebrates "
A8-a: Vertebrates evolved from invertebrates after the development of eyes. Look up Pikaia.
Q8-b: "virtually no new body plans since the Cambrian Explosion"
A8-b: Because optimums can be reached. There's a reason why really fast submersibles tend to look like fish, and why subsonic aircraft look like birds or insects (helicopters). Natural forces mean that certain forms function better than others. How effective would a fish shaped like, say, a mastodon be?
Q9: "He’d have to have a natural explanation for qualia "
A9: Without them you die and don't reproduce.
Not a one of these means either that God exists or doesn't exist. The ability to answer does not negate God, the inability to answer does nto make God inevitable.
> I often wonder about the psychology of atheism, what motivates it, and what atheists hope to achieve/obtain from it.
What do you hope to achieve by believing that the world is round, or that the Earh goes round the sun? It makes no difference to the lives of the vast majority of people. You believe things because they are, to your judgement based on the evidence at hand, so.
A better thign to wonder about is the psychology of those who demand that anyone who believes very differently about the supernatural is somehow sick or evil.
Yes I guess there will be many people like you and Mineral Man that will be DUST IN THE WIND. Forgotten about forever if that's ok with you then that's okay with me...
And for many of us we will be in Paradise with the Lord, Our Loved Ones living a Glorious exsistence, I am happy with that...
"SO I guess you could say both me and you beleive what will happen to you at your death..You will be Dust in the Wind FOREVER"
OK, so we don't need to bother with this discussion any further. Thanks!
Blackadder: (grabs Baldrick by the lapels) *We* are going to go to Mrs. Miggins', we're going to find out where Dr. Johnson keeps a copy of that Dictionary, and then *you* are going to steal it.
Baldrick: Me?
Blackadder: Yes, you!
Baldrick: Why me?
Blackadder: Because you burnt it, Baldrick.
Baldrick: But then I'll go to Hell forever for stealing.
Blackadder: Baldrick, believe me: eternity in the company of Beezlebub and all his hellish instruments of death will be a picnic compared to five minutes with me -- and this pencil -- if we can't replace this Dictionary.
Not so, obb -- my understanding is this marvel was accomplished by using a living molecular base for some super-added components. [Voila!!! Polio!] So far as I am aware, there have been no successful experiments in manufacturing a living system entirely from non-living matter.
I'd love to continue with the rest of your responses; but my lunch hour is about over, and I must get back to work.
Maybe later. Thanks for your reply!
If you ever make a comment that indicates you have figured it out, I'll be happy to respond. Until then, you are posting to yourself. Have a ball.
Those of us who do not want to rape, murder and plunder have co-operated to create a society where murderers, rapists and thieves get squashed. Rather than setting up a society where the law of the jungle rules and its every man for himself, we have co-operated to increase the safety of all.
And your label of sociopaths may make you feel superior to them, but it doesn't fool me. They don't agree with your version of society? You don't agree with theirs. Why are they the sociopaths and not you?
Because the majority backs my view of society over theirs'.
The strong survive and the strong should survive.
Explain Stephen Hawking then, or Bill Gates. Being a mindless thug, no matter how strong, is not a particularly effective way to survive in our society. Similarly, if we're talking about nations, being an aggressor is usually a very good way to make all other nations gang up on you.
Some atheists say that. Others say that there is not enough proof to conclude that God exists.
And I'm not an atheist. I just don't buy into any man-made religion, such as Christianity.
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