A pseudo-intellectual Q for all atheists/theists?
914897
The only people I would like to switch bodies with would be a person who has no idea of what it is like to be physically disabled and in constant pain even if one does not look disabled.  Can I pick who I switch with?  If it is strictly on a religious basis I know who i would like to switch with so they might know what it is like to be snubbed by people you thought were friends.  Yeah, I am a little bitter, but don't really hold a grudge.  They have to be who they are, just wish they could accept me for who I am.
58719
Be sure you understand the meaning of the term Atheist.  Atheists generally denouonce the existance of any type of superior diety.  I myself am Agnostic, I am comfortable with the idea that I'm not sure what happened, what will happen, why things are.  I tend to follow the current scientific theories (note the term theory).  Science is continually improving upon itself, realizing that very few things can be proven as fact.  Science often corrects previous assumptions of many things, a few hundred years ago, the world was flat, and the Earth was the center of the universe...tell someone that now and youll get looked at like you didnt make it through Kindergarten.  My opinion on the beginning of time, the "first" human and what not tends to follow the theroy of evolution as it can be demonstrated in everday life, however through out my travels toplaces that i would rather not have gone, I have fouond little evidence for an all powerful and caring god as I watched my friend burn alive while his wife, daughter, and future son were waiting his return home in less than one month.  Sorry.....those are some of my thoughts, I am not a violent man, and I live a very moral life, however, I don't believe in God....but on the same hand, I would be open to believe if I had ever seen any evidence of him/her, I firmly accept the fact that I don't know.
724360
I've learned lots of things from Jim_Darwin, although sometimes he says he's Atheist and sometimes he says he's Agnostic. \n\nI guess it's that Atheists can be spiritual. The concept never occurred to me until someone (not Jim_Darwin) explained an experience he had. I would reference it, but the question was deleted for chatting. Had this person not been adamant that he was Atheist, I would have pegged him as a Pagan because of some Norse mythology he talked about. \n\nI've also learned a lot from the different questions I've answered from Atheists. Not all Atheists are belligerent, and a lot of the questions I've answered have caused me to really think, which has caused me to firm up my beliefs. Prior to coming here, I knew what I believed, but had never really put a lot of it into words. Thanks to a lot of the early questions I answered, who I later found out were Atheist/Agnostic or at least not Christian, I was able to put words to my feelings.
634677
<----spiritual atheist.  \n\nI would not pay any heed to such questions. Atheism the philosophy gets its fair share of "attacks" too.  They are just words.  Your emotional/mental well-being is far more important than allowing yourself to get upset at questions that are more than likely asked by teenagers who do not know what atheism really is about but say they are atheist.\n\nI do agree that attacks on ANY religion or ANY philosophy is immature if one is seeking knowledge and wisdom.  I appreciate your not wanting to point out the flaws of atheism and catholicism, but why did you say catholicism is flawed if you did not like being told that christianity is flawed?  Goes both ways.
618225
Yes I have, and I find the idea downright scary! I mean, why does there have to be something instead of not something? This is actually a very old philosophical question and IMO a deeply religious one too.
894453
Dear Francis B:  It is not for me or anyone to press God and His Realm upon others who do not wish to know of it.  If you will bear with me, I would like to say a few things about this:\n\n1.   As one who pursued the Intellect of my human mind most of my life and looked at all things, and felt pride in my Intellect's comprehensive ability to learn and understand , I now present to you what I learned :  The Intellect is but an exercise of mind.   Scientific theories come and go each decade.  The Sciences get up close to God and then, sadly, have no ability to mathematically formulate His Reality and Truth. To prove Him.  I would offer:  Don't rely on just the Intellect to live by.\n\n2.    Later in life, I opened up to Spirit Mind.  Nothing denominational, nothing very traditional, no dogma , and  began receiving "experiences" of Spirit. \n\n "Temporal Lobes of the Brain" is a discussion of the illusionary-type reality we experience here in the physical world.  But, you know, we are much more than just physical.  Made of something much more powerful. . .and, sooner, or later, we all come to Know.  Our Creator is not dependent upon our "belief" in Him.  He exists  - whether we choose to deny Him or recognize Him.  He looks upon what He created and listens while it turns to other creations He created and yells, "There is no God." And, He MUST think to Himself. . .how strange that is; my creation is acting as if it doesn't know me !  Yet, I AM  - and certain of myself !  Even a human father might find it a bit disconcerting -  when a child of his denies him. Same thing, really.\n\nAnyhow, spiritual or religious experiences come not from the human Intellect - but, from the soul/spirit part of Mind.  That "thing" that certainly exists, but is not reflected by the physical matter of "brain."  In thinking upon ourselves, perhaps we need to consider ourselves more in terms of a totality - rather than just one part of us as "real" and that there is nothing MORE to us.  That may be something to contemplate. . .\n\nI would like to submit to you further these truths of spiritual experience (or religious experience), as I have learned of it:\n\n1.   Spiritual or religious experience "reverses physical laws."\n2.   These experiences are often experienced during prayer or study.\n3.   These experiences undo the past in the present and release the future.  They are outside the laws of the physical world.\n4.    Spiritual or religious experiences REFLECT, therefore, the laws of Eternity, not of time.\n5.    Through spiritual or religious experience you feel God's constant Forgiveness upon you and are impelled to extend it to others.\n6.    Spiritual experiences (or religious . . .let's now use the words interchangeably) are part of an interlocking chain of forgiveness and is at work in all the dimensions of Time.\n7.    Spiritual experiences are healing because they deny absolute body-identification and affirm spirit-identification.  This places spirit at the Center of Mind where it can communicate directly.\n8.    Spiritual experiences honor you.  They dispel illusions about yourself.  They help restore your sanity.  They restore the Mind to its fullness. . .. \n9.    Spirit's strength leaves no room for intrusions.  Nothing can take the experience and its effects away from you.\n10.  By perceiving the light IN the experience, darkness automatically disappears.\n11.    Whole-ness is the perceptual content of spiritual experience.  It corrects the faulty perceptions of lack, or being separated.\n\nBest regards, Lana
1072000
......WHAT? \n\nboy you logical athiests really have run out of crap to argue over.
1133302
Why are agnostics so afraid of books that challenge their faith?\n\nJosh McDowell "Evidence that Demands a Verdict"; Lee Strobel "The Case for the Creator"; Michael Behe "Darwin's Black Box";\nFred Heeren "Show Me God; What the Message from Space is Telling Us about God"; William Dembski "Mere Creation" Dr. Henry Morris "The Genesis Flood"\n\nShall I continue?
22100
I know there is a God. I didn't arrive at this conclusion by my intellect, for human intelligence is limited. Give up on trying to figure everything out, for common sense itself should tell you that you can't know or understand everything. This is not a matter of the head, but of the heart. Ask yourself this: "If God is the truth, do I really want to know the truth?" Our sinfulness makes us afraid of a holy and righteous God who we feel must demand an accounting of us His creatures. Atheists say they don't believe in God, but I don't believe in atheists. If they don't believe in God, then who are they so mad at? They claim wisdom and knowledge and call believers simple, but I see atheists as being extremely smallminded and limited. Did atoms and microbes not exist until some human came along who was smart enough to detect them? How small these people's reality must be! How futile and pointless their existence! I commend you for at least being openminded enough to ask? How foolish it is to think that one's ignorance is evidence! Thanks for not being that way, wisdom is not beyond the grasp of one such as yourself. There is a God; He is beyond human comprehension; He is absolutely holy, righteous, and frightfuly just. His awesome majesty and power is terrifying and he is completely unapproachable by vile, prideful humans. Remember I said that it is our innate sense of this reality that drives some to deny His existense out of fear of the truth. They can't face themselves and their guilt, and they can't face a righteously angry, holy, and just God whom they rightly think will demand retribution of them. What they don't understand is that this same God is also infinitely loving, kind, gracious and merciful, and that He paid the penalty for their sins and removed their guilt which was keeping them from Him. How? He gave us His only begotten Son Jesus Christ who took our sins and guilt upon his holy and innocent self and was put to death so that we may go free. Believe this, make claim to it as a FREE GIFT from God, confess it to Him and to others, then walk in peace from now on with Him, always trusting Jesus' sacrifice as your justification in God's eyes, not your own merit. Then keep on learning more of Him and growing spiritually.><>Sir Brian
1122438
Not preaching atheism.  Just cuz ONE atheist is, does not mean all atheists are.    I mainly ask and read questions/answers to get answers.
498539
atheism religion?? What an oxymoron!!   ;)
95264
I looked at the reviews of the books you mentioned on amazon.com. From what I can tell, I am afraid they do not offer much in the way of solid technical arguments or new discussions or reasons that creationism or a young earth hypothesis must be chosen over the current dominant accepted theories. The "experts" in the book "In Six Days" offer little that has not been dismissed before as specious arguments. Unfortunately, although these 50 gentlemen have PhDs, they are offering opinions in areas well outside their areas of expertise, in most cases. Many of arguments violate well-known scientific principles and laws.  \n\nI do applaud the creationists for trying to compile books that state their arguments and reasoning. We definitely need more of these, and we need to approach this subject with more intellectual honesty and integrity than has been evidenced in the past. \n\nI myself feel I could write a far more compelling book supporting faith that would be far more careful, if I was so inclined. I feel more of a general awe of creation, somewhat similar to that of Einstein, or Thomas Jefferson, or Newton. \n\nIt is disappointing and disconcerting that so far, these kinds of products produced by the religious community have hurt more than they have helped, have discredited those of religious faith and cast them in a bad light. They have tended to lend support for the opposite point of view, and have not succeeded as intended I am sorry to say.\n\n- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - \n\nAddendum:\n\nYes I am being honest. I have often been struck by some of the most amazing structures in science when I have been doing scientific investigations or learning about science. Unfortunately, I did not keep notes. I think that this is where religious people should direct their attention if they want to grasp the incredible majesty of creation. And it has the advantage that it is beautiful in structure, and unassailable, and compltely scientifically rigorous. \n\nHowever, I am not sure how many people of faith want to undertake a 15+ year journey into abstruse mathematics and physics, or are willing to approach it with a completely open mind. In fact, what I would ask is, if one is absolutely sure of one's faith, then would it not make sense to allow science to continue to unravel the mysteries of nature? After all, if you are positive what the conclusion will be, let them bolster your arguments with facts. If I am not mistaken, this has been the Vatican's approach for some decades.
824956
Wow, I am amazed at the responses you've gotten so far.\nWe keep hearing about how people who don't believe in God are supposed to be so much more intelligent than those of us who do, and yet, all we here from these educated people is that you should go to school, or read a book...in other words, they can't answer your questions.\nGee, and even when they admit that they can't answer your questions, they throw in an insult, just for good measure....\n\nLooks as if you've hit a nerve, my friend!!
882540
"Clearly hate based" campaign?\n\nLOL.\n\nEvery one - EVERY SINGLE ONE - of Dawkins arguments is intellectual refutation of an IDEA.  Not an attack on a person, not slander.  NOT HATE.   Sorry if intellectually you guys can't cut the mustard, but you can't resort to dismissing Dawkins' ideas as mere hate.
378291
"How did you get to be so knowledgeable?"\n\n\nPS Ricky - are you assuming something else (and tinged with Christianity) about this hypothetical omniscient being?
136484
I'm not, but I do appreciate having people in this section besides all the christians.  they kind of dominate it.  i consider myself a pantheist - god is all of existence, and nothing more - no divine conscious.  "god is the universe"  Additionally I do zen meditation.  neither of these practices do i really consider to be religious.  Christians would probably call me an atheist, because i don't believe in what they call God or really in anything supernatural.
775633
yes\n\nThe Doctor of the Atheist Revolution has Spoken!