List of scientists who became creationists after studying the evidence.

[chesters1]

Simply put theres a 50/50 chance none ,one or both are right

 

See how easy it is ,there is a god (aliens on earth ,life on mars a crocodile in your sewer ..anything) or there is not ,end of story

Cory will bring up odds but thats no better than sooth-saying about some event in the future,my 50/50 is the split second something happens .......or not

 

Lifes journey is crammed with 50/50 ,if i had not gone in a certain cafe 43 years ago (decision to go in vs not go in) my wifes life would be different ,we make decisions to do something or not every few seconds and what follows on is based on it ,,you could be hit by lightening on a golf course lots of odds to calculate for that event but it boils down to the decision to go golfing or not ,go and you got hit ,not you didnt the odds dont make the slightest difference a 50/50 decision did

 

Think of all those decisions you made in life and wonder how if you had done the opposite how your life would have changed ,perhaps you would have died 30 years ago ,you went left at a junction ,had you turned right a steam roller would have killed you

Had you let a lady in front of you in the line to the lottery the numbers would be different and you very rich ,50/50 is a religeoun in its self the religeoun of this or that

 

The lottery winner won because he bought a ticket (buy a ticket or not buy one ) the odds were irrelevant at that time his decision was

 

Is there a god ,could be worth a second to ask for forgiveness on your deathbed but that relies on being able to ,you can or you cant ,there is or there is not it all boils down to one thing or the other

 

There we are my children lord chesters sermon of wisdom ,use it or not its all down to you and a decision you make ,in the 30 seconds you decided to read this 20 years down the line something happens that may not had you not read it ,in the right place at the wrong time happens quite often!

Edited May 24, 2015 by chesters1

[Ken L]

Atheists can no more disprove my faith than they can be assured their car will start in the morning, that they will have a good time fishing next time, that there is a remote possibility they will catch something.

 

Phone

PS: Ken, I have no fear of passing you on these related threads. Not that that matters, I enjoy most of your dogma.

Interesting that the religious so often think that atheists are out to disprove their beliefs or put an end to their faith. The truth is that most of the time, most atheists couldn't care less about anybody else's religious convictions.

Of course, I get ticked off when I'm forced to use annual leave when my office is closed for a religious holiday that I don't celebrate.

I get miffed when I want something from the supermarket at 16:15 on a Sunday but it's closed because the faithful dictate when I can and can't do my shopping.

I get annoyed that I can't guarantee that the meat that I buy hasn't been killed like this - because there are religious exemption clauses in animal welfare legislation.

I seethe when I read of children being mutilated or allowed to die because of their parent's beliefs.

Generally, I manage not to comment.

I will take the occasional side swipe at the religious though and I will point out any unsupported claims that are being made.

 

Of course it's a two way street with those meddling secularists restricting the freedoms of the religious who are no longer permitted to stone their children to death, burn witches, murder gay people or engage in official crusades.

 

BTW. I had dinner with a bunch of friends last night including an evangelical Christian with an encyclopaedic knowledge of church and European history. The conversation ranged far and wide and included all sorts of current topics including the Irish vote on Gay marriage. I managed not to try to deconvert him, he managed not to try to convert me and we both landed a couple of entirely amiable barbs.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Ken L

[The Flying Tench]

I don't have time to get any more involved on this thread, but Phone - out of interest - where are you coming from on all this. Are you a committed 'Bible basher' like me?

Cory,

 

And the big bang?

 

Phone

[chesters1]

it may or may not have been noisy

[Phone]

Tench,

 

Sorry, I haven't revisited this thread so I missed your question. I am a "bible banger" with questions. For example, I believe SOMEONE flipped the switch if there was a big bang (GOD). Equally, I understand the psychological drive that promotes witnessing for both extremes as well as the middle. I suspect most religious believe a bit to strongly in religious faith. No question non-believers of skeptics are far to hung up on "logic" (yet the human condition operates wholly on faith)

 

How many people do you suppose can honestly admit to changing their mind, as an adult, about a strong belief and due to a logical argument? For example: a belief in God or an afterlife, ghosts, or UFOs? Also consider things like environmental issues, social responsibility, war, nuclear power, save the whales, eating spotted owls baked or fried, or any other highly controversial issue of your life.

I can't remember any scripture that says "I can't walk the line on secular issues". I believe in GOD

 

Phone

[Ken L]

How many people do you suppose can honestly admit to changing their mind, as an adult, about a strong belief and due to a logical argument? For example: a belief in God or an afterlife, ghosts, or UFOs? Also consider things like environmental issues, social responsibility, war, nuclear power, save the whales, eating spotted owls baked or fried, or any other highly controversial issue of your life.

I wasn't raised to be religious but I used to be very open to the idea of aliens regularly visiting Earth, all sorts of crypozoological nonsense from Bigfoot to Mokèlé-mbèmbé and various supernatural and psychic phenomena.

I didn't come to structured sceptical thinking until relatively late in life but it's fair to say that having been exposed to sceptical thinking I've gone from a "probably yes" to an "almost certainly no" on all of those things.

Best of all, not believing in stuff that isn't evidenced doesn't make investigating the claims any less fun and you get to do a 180 degree flip of position without consequence if anybody ever comes up with compelling evidence in support of any of those claims.

Edited May 28, 2015 by Ken L

[Vagabond]

In my case Science triumphed over religion at about age six. Before my parents joined a lunatic fringe religious sect they were "C of E" and I was sent weekly to Sunday School clutching a twelve-sided threepenny piece to be donated to the collection. As I received no pocket money I felt this was a waste of resources but nevertheless duly parted with the 3d piece for the first few weeks.

 

About the fourth week I encountered one Dennis Blackford on the way to Sunday School. Dennis showed me a small circular piece of iron with a small hole through the centre (about the dimensions of three pound coins placed on top of each other) This piece of iron was the most powerful magnet I had seen before or since.

 

Precocious little brat that I was, I was already aware of the theory of magnetism. Hence this object was highly desirable for further investigation of the practicalities of the concept. I proffered my 3d piece, and a bit reluctantly, Dennis parted from his magnet.

 

I briefly considered the consequences of denying God his weekly winnings. Already I had formed the suspicion that belief in God and believe in fairies had much in common, so had no worries on that score. I could, however, foresee trouble if the Sunday School teacher, and hence the parson and my parents, became aware of this transaction. So I compounded the felony with a deft sleight-of-hand as the collection pouch passed me.

 

I learned much from that magnet, and also from the (so far) lack of divine retribution. I remain baffled by the phenomenon of "faith" - I can only conclude it is simulated in some cases, and a result of gullibility in others. Certainly, having had the misfortune to be related to religious extremists, I can draw parallels between extreme religious views and mental illness (my mother was eventually sectioned when her medical advisers reached the same conclusion)

Edited May 29, 2015 by Vagabond

[chesters1]

Now you can use that magnet to attract money to repay god ,new 1p 2p 5p and 10p coins are iron cored and unlike predecessors rot away in a year or two underground ,those i have found on a beach only show they were once a coin by being fairly round but many times thicker than new

[Vagabond]

Now you can use that magnet to attract money to repay god ,new 1p 2p 5p and 10p coins are iron cored and unlike predecessors rot away in a year or two underground ,those i have found on a beach only show they were once a coin by being fairly round but many times thicker than new

Interesting. When they stopped putting real silver in "silver" coins (I think it was 1947) the government announced a few years later that they would withdraw pre-1947 coins, obviously to extract the silver. It occurred to me that if it was profitable for HMG it could be profitable for me, so any pre-1947 silver coins that passed through my hands went into a biscuit tin. There they stayed throughout inflation and decimalisation. Last year as a result of a de-cluttering drive I sent them to auction, and got £150-odd after commission - their original total face value was a bit less than a tenner, so probably I did slightly better than bank interest, but less than judicious stock investment.

Edited May 29, 2015 by Vagabond

[chesters1]

Pre 1919 it was silver then until 1946 it became 50% silver after that no silver but the shine

Another interesting thing is those change things that take a percentage for turning your change into a bit of paper except the old fifty pence coins (the old ones are bigger than the new ones) but whether they count as fifty pence is unknown but their not rejected ,very handy machines for metal detector found coins ,especially grotty pound coins to far gone to give to someone as money

Edited May 29, 2015 by chesters1