>>>Look death in the eye; don't flinch. Look back on EVERY
>>>EXPERIENCE YOU HAD...If it is not in some way shape or form
>>>related to a focal topic then you can say it's a sham. Then
>>>if you feel perfectly comfortable with leaving this world,
>>>then you're can say that its all a sham.
>>
>>Hmm...what exactly are you saying here? (I'm genuinely
>>confused)
>
>Our experiences aren't JUST random occurences based upon the
>decisions of OUR lives or EVEN the decisions of others.
>They all have purpose. Our experiences, they have purpose
>and that is to prove the purpose of our even existing
>together as humanity...IF OUR DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES MAKE UP
>WHO WE ARE INDIVIDUALLY, AND THAT PERSON GOES OUT INTO THE
>WORLD TO DEAL WITH THE NEXT, THEN THAT WOULD MEAN THAT WE
>ARE INTER-REALATED, THROUGH EXPERIENCES THAT WE MAY NOT EVEN
>HAVE EXPERIENCED simply because when we deal with the next
>person we are dealing with whatever piece of an experience
>that they have survived...I.E. I never marched in the civil
>rights struggle or with the Nation of Islam during that time
>period but I have benefitted from their experiences.
>
>What if the things I, AND my ancestors, went through somehow
>rolled into one ball of experience to help me help others,
>like atheists? Hey, waitaminute, are you an atheist?

yeah.

And I do understand about how we are all "connected" at some level...that's the nature of living in a society. Our actions affect one another.

>>>Stop trying to explain shit. Nothing, NOTHING man lays his
>>>hands upon is perfect.
>>
>>Well duh. That's why when people start spouting off about
>>invisible beings that are "beyond human comprehension", one
>>should take it with a fat grain of salt.
>
>Oh, so the only things that exist, are the things we
>"understand" or shall I say think we "understand"...Okay
>So if we didn't understand blood cells, they wouldn't exist
>right?

If no one had any explanation on blood cells, then one would be justified in not assuming they exist. If no one ever "understood" it, then of course they wouldn't exist to us! God could exist, but I haven't heard any definition of it that fits into the world we live in (besides pantheistic notions where God=universe or something), so until then, I'll remain skeptical.

Do you believe every wild story someone comes up with is automatically true until they "prove it" wrong? I would imagine one would ask for some sort of evidence first...

>Well, I guess even though I have SEEN blood, it
>don't exist because if we humans understood them, like we do
>say, automobiles, we would be able to fix them, and HIV and
>herpes still are around to plague us.

Er...if you've seen blood (and blood is a readily available substance to verify one's claims), then of course it exists. Once you've seen blood then you do have some "understanding" of it.

>Chances are you have seen God, acting through the
>experiences of man, or even other things, strange occurences
>which you tried your HARDEST to logic out and explain, YET,
>you didn't have proof to say, without a shadow of a doubt
>that THIS is how

see, that's odd to me...If god is "acting through men", how am I supposed to tell the difference? I see a man doing something, then I simply work off the assumption that a man is doing something. I don't add a bunch of extra "explanations" that only serve to confuse the issue. If you lose your car keys, do you:

A) Go to the last place you found them, or
B) Assume that angels moved your car keys to a different location to test your faith.

I'm sure most people think A makes more sense...so why are we so quick to jump to B-like conclusions whenever certain other things happen?

I honestly think that maybe our brains are just wired differently...you see the "supernatural" when there's something unexplained, I simply think "oh, that was weird, but there's more than likely a good explanation for it since everything else I've experienced had a natural explanation"

*shrug*

>
>>This most DEFINITELY includes ALL
>>>holy text and scientific theory. WHY? We perverse
>>>everything wwe interpret.
>>
>>Although scientific theories do have the important advantage
>>of always being open to questioning and change...
>
>Holy Text isn't open to question? Wow I've been questioning
>the bible for Years and it only made me closer to reading it
>and praying more. Why do people believe that God fearing
>people aren't able to investigate?

lol, god-fearing is a funny phrase...anyways, according to the traditional monotheistic religions, you're not supposed to question it, or at the very least, if you question, you always have to come back to it. (Unless there's some weird clause that says atheists can go to heaven).

"God is love."

"If god is loving, why did he kill all those people in the flood?"

"He's god he can do that..."

"Well I don't think that's very nice of him."

"God's ways are higher than yours...you're just a sinful human"

"Ok..."

>>Which is why I believe man won't
>>>EVER under/overstand the nature of God.
>
>>if one can't ever understand the "nature of God", why bother
>>believing in it?
>Why not believe, everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Tell that to people who spent there whole life dedicated to "the church" only to find out that the whole story just doesn't make any sense to them. And really, if god knows our "hearts and minds" or whatever, I doubt he would respect someone who approaches their spirtuality like a poker game.

I'm amazed at how people say "just believe" as if it's just a switch in my brain to turn on. I can't "just believe" in god anymore than you can just "believe" in Zeus throwing lightning bolts during a thunderstorm.

>This is a cop out excuse for not believing in God.
>Why bother believing in the space, you, nor does any
>scientist understand it's nature?

Er...we've been to outer space a few times, so we have some understanding of it's nature...

Simple evidence for "believing in space": Get a telescope and look through it.

If the scientists and
>mathematicians of the Scientific Revolution felt the way you
>did about science as you do about God, then you wouldn't
>understand why you fall back on the ground when you jump.

Hey, it would be cool if I could "find God"...but that requires some sort of evidence. Not vague personal experiences or "I think god made this, therefore god exists"-type arguments.

>>>Sure. You can SAY you do. But explain it.
>
>>explain what? No one says being an atheist automatically
>>means you must know the answer to every deep question
>>pertaining to the universe. There's a wonderful phrase we
>>like to use in place of "God did it"...we tend to say, "I
>>don't know".
>
>How better then to believe in God because then you could say
>"I don't know but I bet God does."

How can I believe god knows something if I've never gotten any evidence that there's a god in the first place?

hey, God is welcome to come down and talk to me and correct me if I'm wrong about him. Obviously he hasn't did that yet...

>>>Adam lives in Theory.
>>>Trying to turn stone into bread.
>>>Masquerading like he's got it all figured out.

I repeat...I don't claim to have it all figured out. But when someone comes and tells me that there's some invisible being out there somewhere who knows everything that you're thinking, and he "created" us through unknown processes (basically, magic)...I remain skeptical until some actual evidence comes in.

Thanks for the convo...

--


and and shit

"I have to say that even though I have absolutely no faith whatsoever in humanity in any other area, I have the utmost confidence in our ability to kill shit."