NationStates

Latin Islands wrote:

Satterthwaite wrote:How do you know that ghosts can't do everything?

Can they eat? Can they make a living being talk to them?
I do not know, but I presume they can't do everything.

The problem with made-up things is they can do whatever you want them to.

If you want your ghost to turn someone into a mutant dog, it can do that. If you want your ghost to summon a river of slime and bring about the Apocalypse, it can do that too.

Neanderthaland wrote:

Latin Islands wrote:Can they eat? Can they make a living being talk to them?
I do not know, but I presume they can't do everything.

The problem with made-up things is they can do whatever you want them to.

If you want your ghost to turn someone into a mutant dog, it can do that. If you want your ghost to summon a river of slime and bring about the Apocalypse, it can do that too.

Oh, I see you what you mean.

New Legland wrote:

Latin Islands wrote:Call me silly, but an actual supernatural experience like seeing a ghost is enough. Or basically any event that science cannot answer.

Otherwise I'll just have to believe.

The unknown, man! It gives me the willies!

There are quite a lot of things science cannot answer. Just a few hundred years ago, you could be considered God just for popping a pill in someone's mouth and curing them of their illness.

Oops. I should've stuck with the supernatural events answer instead.

Neanderthaland wrote:

Twilight Imperium wrote:
I already put in a vote for big tiddy goth gf. There's no way we can lose.

You could get a skinny, flat goth gf with an unusually large donkey and bird.

I don't know what this is referencing but I'm curious.

Splootan wrote:Why are people talking about how religion is make believe, when half of the signatures say bisexual, which is make believe with a much more important matter.

No, I agree with you. Don't worry.

CHUCK NORRlS wrote:I'd be convinced if God can create a stone so heavy that even He can't lift it.

He can, but he won't.

i am an intelligent design and spontaneous order sort of person so all that currently exists is enough.

Latin Islands wrote:

Satterthwaite wrote:How do you know that ghosts can't do everything?

Can they eat? Can they make a living being talk to them?
I do not know, but I presume they can't do everything.

Well I know beyond a doubt thanks to Bo Derrick that Ghosts Cant Do It.

Satterthwaite wrote:

Alterld Sha wrote:For those still joining the priesthood, this may be for security of sustenance and housing, as already mentioned.

As for tranquillity, let's put it this way: would you rather go on a holiday in a noisy polluted overcrowded concrete jungle or go somewhere peaceful? If you were to go on an extended tranquillity holiday of doing no work, you could try to justify it in the eyes of society by claiming to do it for religion.

Except priests get assigned to noisy polluted overcrowded concrete jungles? And, again, there are many who could have chosen to go for more lucrative jobs or even just stayed and bummed around until they came to their inheritance, but instead they chose the rather austere life of the priesthood.

Those priests that get assigned to concrete jungles probably did not join the priesthood for that reason. They may have joined for tranquillity. They may have joined because they wanted security or thought that they could not otherwise compete in a concrete jungle. Perhaps they thought they could not compete for lucrative jobs which require very hard work and a lot of strife competing in a concrete jungle.

Homosexuality used to be illegal in many countries. Those who did not want to marry may have sought to hide their otherwise conspicuous lack of interest in the opposite gender by joining the priesthood. It would explain why so much abuse emerged from religions.

The Rich Port wrote:Yeah, that's not now philosophy works.

Using only logic leads to useless axioms that mean nothing by themselves, and using only evidence leads to aimless data that also means nothing.

It's by combining inductive and deductive reasoning that we come to any sort of reasonable conclusions.

I am not so sure about that. If you can clearly define what is meant by the deity, then logical argument could be used to determine whether it is self-consistent or contradictory, provided there is enough information in the definition. If something is self-consistent, is that enough for it to be real physically? If it is self-contradictory, we conclude that it is false. If something is ineffable, perhaps that means that it does not exist or that nothing is clearly meant by it. Being ineffable may be a ploy to avoid being subjected to logical refutation.

Axioms need not be meaningless from the point of view of determining truth or falsehood of their combination into a system. A set of axioms may have no apparent physical meaning or validity, yet may be internally consistent. Yet, if the set of axioms produces inconsistency, then we concluded that it is not real.

Hammer Britannia wrote:

Alterld Sha wrote:Do you mean to take eternity for granted?

I was saying "Thus, Eternal Summer Begins". Apparently, my google translate Latin skills are rusty.

You'll see what I mean in a week or two

Yesterday, this got me thinking about what it would mean for Summer to be eternal. At first I thought about the axis of the Earth pointing always towards the Sun, but this would mean continuous daylight or daytime rather than Summer, which has night. To move to the equator would also not produce eternal Summer although it may seem to be consistently warmer and sunnier than elsewhere, because Summer requires longer daylight than night.

The term "perpetual Summer time" may be consistent with the concept of removing the change to clocks caused by daylight saving hours in such a way that the clocks never return to the correct winter time where the Sun is at the meridian during noon. The Europeans have recently decided to abolish daylight saving hours, with countries having the option to permanently decide what time zone to choose. This has been in the news for a while, so it is hardly a prophecy, and certainly is under human influence so would not be evidence of divine intervention.

Also, when arguing in philosophy, one should avoid using dead languages whose meanings are less known and more easily changed.

Make a miracle, such as making me a bona-fide programmer that is a master of all the languages past, present, and future.

I mean, I would learn it myself over the years, but... if God can do it for me in 5 seconds, I will be convinced.

He already did, by lifting me out of a massive crisis in my life.

New Aeyariss wrote:He already did, by lifting me out of a massive crisis in my life.

I'm glad for you, my random stranger friend. I really mean that. ^^

All the best with anywhere else that life takes ya!

Literally anything. Literally. Anything. Just show up.

They would have to make their existence known in such a way not explicable by any means other than their existence. They would have to create or do something that demands their presence to exist/happen. A personal religious experience would not do this for me, as many people have had such experiences that are clearly wrong.

A m e n r i a wrote:Nothing. I know for a fact He does. Where do you think all those miracles and punishments came from, aliens?

What miracles and what punishments?

Mestovakia wrote:Jesus said to him, "Again, it is written,
‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’"
Matthew 4:7

Brilliant. God's response to demands of proof is a smug threat. Real smooth.

Hammer Britannia wrote:

Alterld Sha wrote:Do you mean to take eternity for granted?

I was saying "Thus, Eternal Summer Begins". Apparently, my google translate Latin skills are rusty.

You'll see what I mean in a week or two

Perhaps within two weeks you will simply tell me what you meant.

Is it even possible for something eternal to begin? One could say that death begins with the death of a person, but perhaps death is really just the cessation of an impermanent condition or state that is life rather than the beginning of something eternal. Death always exists. Look around you at all the things that are not living, and ponder all the truths that have no life.

Splootan wrote:Why are people talking about how religion is make believe, when half of the signatures say bisexual, which is make believe with a much more important matter.

The Mad Lad just destroyed half the people on this forum.

Totally Not OEP wrote:

Splootan wrote:Why are people talking about how religion is make believe, when half of the signatures say bisexual, which is make believe with a much more important matter.

The Mad Lad just destroyed half the people on this forum.

I mean, if being wrong is destroying people, then yeah, I guess they absolutely demolished them.

As a weak agnostic maybe never really not believe the

Neanderthaland wrote:

Twilight Imperium wrote:
I already put in a vote for big tiddy goth gf. There's no way we can lose.

You could get a skinny, flat goth gf with an unusually large donkey and bird.

Gentlemen, we have found acceptable evidence of Satan.

If God took me on a timetraveltrip to the beginning of time and showed me the act of creation I would be quite impressed.

If he could somehow engineer his image onto a piece of toast I think I'd be convinced.

The Xenopolis Confederation wrote:They would have to make their existence known in such a way not explicable by any means other than their existence. They would have to create or do something that demands their presence to exist/happen. A personal religious experience would not do this for me, as many people have had such experiences that are clearly wrong.

A m e n r i a wrote:Nothing. I know for a fact He does. Where do you think all those miracles and punishments came from, aliens?

What miracles and what punishments?

Mestovakia wrote:Jesus said to him, "Again, it is written,
‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’"
Matthew 4:7

Brilliant. God's response to demands of proof is a smug threat. Real smooth.

That verse refers to forcing God to pull you out of situations that only happen because you aee being dumb. For example, jumping down the Temple and waiting for angels to come around.

Alterld Sha wrote:I find it difficult to believe that anyone actually believes in religion. I think that they are only pretending to believe in order to gain something worldly.

I'm unemployed, and if my current financial situation continues, I'm on the way to poverty. If I am faking it to gain something worldly, then I am doing it wrong. Also, at least here in Australia, anyway, there are so many things to fake if you wish to gain fame/money- fake being an SJW, fake being an environmentalist, fake being anything else supported by the left. Religion, or at the least, Christianity, wouldn't even make the top 100

New Legland wrote:

Blanjiland wrote:God would have to simultaneously whip and nae nae before I even considered his existence.

but that's just a theory

...a maim theory.



getitgyahahahi'msofunnymylifehasnomeaning

God does not need to convince me of anything. Cosmology, science, and physics are enough to show that there is an order underlying the universe in my opinion. It shows how small we are on a cosmic timescale where a million years is a small amount of time, we can barely understand the concept of deep time, or immense size of the universe we live in, or the possibilities that there are many different universes. We are tiny specks in a maelstrom. There is an arrogance where because of our own perceptions we cannot see our place in the larger scheme of things. There is a reason why many people do not name god, it is an assumption that we can understand even the meaning of the name. Even a remote understanding of these concepts on an experiential level is enough for many people to believe in god.