Their sisters? What sisters?
*************spidergoat said:Their sisters? What sisters?
*************spidergoat said:No! If they aren't mentioned, they don't exist! Don't you take the bible literally?
You mean that which has not been shown to exist through the scientific method? Perhaps, maybe not.(Q) said:Perhaps its not rational to believe in that which has never been shown to exist. Further, it may not be rational to lead ones life based on those beliefs.
So they consider it rational and you consider it irrational? In the end "rational" is based on a majority vote I assume.It may further be shown that it is irrational for some to control others based on those beliefs, although those in that power role may consider it completely rational, based on their own desires.
What doesn't appear to be the case?Agreed, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. If you mean flat earth and geocentrism were "theistic ideals" I would disagree: they were due to common perception. What science has revealed is that what may appear to be an obvious case may work in an absolutely different way.Proclaimed and protected ideals from a theistic thinking and decision making process. Please note the use of the scientific method coupled with critical thinking have dispelled those ideals.
Perhaps, perhaps not.A 'masterful' understanding of reality does not exist, but perhaps one day may, if science is allowed to pursue that understanding and not be hindered by religious ignorance.
Clear communication cannot be dependent on the sender (in this case God) alone - the aptitude of the receiver must be taken into account.God, I presume, should have a masterful understanding of reality, especially since he created it, and should therefore be quite able to convey that understanding to all.
Yet in both cases there is a clear move towards communication. I'm almost certain that within Christianity man is also compelled to seek God. Maybe some Christian reader can confirm, if they're interested."In the Bible God "draws near", "comes down" and seeks after us in order to enter into an intimate relationship with us. The whole Bible is the story of God seeking man.
In contrast, the Qur'an portrays God as one who is "far", who is transcendent only. As a Muslim theologian has said, "God reveals only his will, not himself. He remains forever hidden". Islam is about man trying to please God by obeying his will.
The Bible reveals God as taking the initiative and coming down to seek after us. The movement is in the opposite direction."
http://answering-islam.org.uk/lovesus.html
What are we to perceive? Reality. The answer in your second question may be in your third and fourth. Imagination? What within human society isn't a product of the human mind?What exactly are we to perceive, and how are we to assume it is there if it is invisible and undetectable in any way? And how is it such that many have already made their own interpretations of the invisible and undetectable? Imaginations perhaps?
Ask a religionist, I'm sure they'll have an answer.What has religion provided?
Certainly not within science my friend. That would be the ideal but there is inference, then observation and observation then inference in a continuous cycle of reinforcement and ellimination.(Q) said:Observation comes first, not theory or hypothesis, which is what the religious method advocates. They make claims and then go looking for evidence to back them up.
Sorry for what, exactly? I made no mention of Eddington's "work"; I'm sorry for the misunderstanding though.Sorry, but Eddingtons work was based on observations, not beliefs.
Science World said:Eddington was one of the first to appreciate the importance of Einstein's theories of special and general relativity, and published a treatise on the subject. He led an expedition to observed the total solar eclipse of 1919, in which the bending of light rays predicted by general relativity was observed (although it was later shown that the uncertainties were too large to make any definitive statement). See Science World
How so?With religion, intellectual responsibility falls to the wayside.
Thus, in fact, they weren't ideals at all, just common perception.They certainly weren't atheist ideals.
No, you're inferring that from your construction of my statement, obviously.Are you saying god is faulty because he failed to create that which he could not effectively communicate with?
Sure there is: the tangible vs the intangible. The point is, however, that it is all from the mind, and there needs to be some sort of input for there to be an output.True, but there is a huge difference between imagining a product and imagining gods.
Who did you ask?Unfortunately, they don't.
An observation of the cycle of life known and observed by man since man was able to think.Jesus said; “"All nature, all formed things, all creatures exist in and with one another and will again be resolved into their own roots, because the nature of matter is dissolved into the roots of its nature alone.” Quite radical for the time!
Sin has no meaning outside of a theist construct. If we are to consider morality then either an absolute or relative yardstick needs to be agreed first.And "There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which we call 'sin' “
This is not true. Mankind is a part of nature and he is capable of taking pleasure at causing pain and suffering, i.e. actions that can be considered evil.In nature, there is no good and no evil, just survival.
But none of those contribute to long term survival and if allowed to continue uncontrolled will result in long term extinction. Our intelligence is a part of nature and we can use reason to determine that these activities are not in our best interests. While survival of the fittest still operates that does not imply the physically strongest is the fittest. Our intelligence can easily outwit the strongest moron.Murder is exeptable, rape is, infanticide, theft, adultery – anything goes if it means your genes will survive.
There really is nothing to support that idea or anything to indicate why it would be necessary to have a god involved.God created nature,
OK.we invented humane morality
OK in as much as we invented religion and the concept of gods.and sin.
The definition of sin means to disobey a god. By definition one cannot sin against humanity since humanity isn’t classed as a god. If you mean by percolating that an immoral act has an impact on future generations then it entirely depends on the actions. If a father murders his only son then there will no descendents or further generations in that tree. If you mean it is a genetic aberration causing a murderous nature for example then perhaps that could be inherited by future offspring.When you sin, you sin against humanity and that sin perculates throughout the generations.
You would need to define “perfect” but by most meaningful standards it most definitely is not perfect. It is largely an undirected random process and is indifferent to pleasure, pain or suffering.Nature is perfect.
Only if you consider random processes to be perfect which is something of a stretch.If we look out into the universe, there is nothing we can see as remarkable and as perfect as nature.
Why rare? The entire planet is covered in one large biological mass; clearly it is not rare for this world. Beautiful? Sometimes, but it is also incredibly ugly, e.g. vultures ripping dead carcasses to pieces, people being burnt alive by volcanic eruptions, etc, etc.From the respect our world, life is a rare and beautiful thing.
I don’t see that – we are most certainly biological organisms that apparently originated as part of nature as it evolved on this planet.The story of the fruit from the tree of knowledge is a story of our journey and our evolution, out of nature.
Quite the contrary – we are on the very precipice of the most major changes in our evolutionary history. Technology, medical sciences, and genetic engineering sciences, are developing at exponential rates. We are on the very verge of being able to directly control the next stages in our evolution; with the ability to alter our genes, to control disease, to control the aging process, to add bio-mechanical neural implants, and onto the development of artificial intelligence. All these active research programs will have a dramatic and permanent change to our lives and our future.Now we are up a dead end branch of the tree of evolution, like the dodo.
Of course we will.We will never resolve the fact that we are still animals,
Instead we will go far beyond the current limitations of human understanding and thinking as we radically improve ourselves for the millennia to come.with our idea of what it is to be human.
I'm saying science is not based on observation as opposed to inference. Each appears before the other at times.(Q) said:So, you're saying science is based first on inference?
My passing reference to Eddington appeared to get in the way of the discourse. If you're interested, refer back to the progenitor and consider it a minor observation.I still don't know what it is you're getting at here. Are you saying science is based on beliefs?
Ah, relativity - remember you only speak for yourself.We've covered that already.
Yes, Greeks [blanket statement] held the spherical view and they were also theist. Clearly you are mistaken regarding a flat earth as a "theist ideal" - you have presented no justifiable reason.Greeks already knew the earth was spherical, it was Christians who held the flat earth concept. Yes, they were theist ideals.
That has been covered.Exactly. Why can't god do it?
All input must be from reality - as I put forward before - if there's God, God is in reality.And the input for gods is... ?
Theists.
Yes, Greeks [blanket statement] held the spherical view and they were also theist. Clearly you are mistaken regarding a flat earth as a "theist ideal" - you have presented no justifiable reason.
Click Ref.This article is not advocating flat-earth theory, nor is it attempting to show that most or even many creationists believe in a flat Earth. It simply illustrates that there are still real people who interpret the Bible so literally that they think Earth is flat. The TalkOrigins Archive does not support or endorse the views of the International Flat Earth Society.
Wow, 'tis strange that some seem to eQuate Theism with Christianity... ... then... this little quote seems to want to imply that Christianity is something... else?Godless said:Theist but not Christians...
I really wouldn't use the belief in a flat earth to identify an idiot back then. Well, maybe now, sure... but I think "misguided in American" is a better term.There are till this day idiots who still believe the earth to be FLAT!
But that isn't true. Science could perhaps be described as a collection of observations, deductions and processes that explain the observations, but whether people choose to believe the conclusions is seperate to science. I.e. science isn't a belief system like religion....science is a system of beliefs based on ....
Looking at The Flat Earth Society and Creationists who attempt to undermine the scientific method - surely.Cris said:Science could perhaps be described as a collection of observations, deductions and processes that explain the observations, but whether people choose to believe the conclusions is seperate to science.
Never stated that. Science is objective, testable, repeatable - in the ideal instance. Religion is personal.science isn't a belief system like religion.
I think that's how most people perceive science which is still not the most healthy view. I view science much like a tool, it works well when used properly, and can be a disaster otherwise, but by itself it has no position. And there are many qualifications one of which is that science doesn't claim to present truth.... science promises a knowledge of truth, so does religion ...