Heaven and Hell

^So you're going to ignore facts because you believe that life is arbitrary if there's not something out there?

Ignore what facts?

Marmaduke Duke:

Ignore what facts?

Facts supporting evolution.

I'm not going to ignore the facts. But just because I believe that they may be a greater power out there does not mean that I am going to completely igore the facts that support evolution.
I believe that it may have been guided.

Dancing Caveman:

Marmaduke Duke:

Ignore what facts?

Facts supporting evolution.

Well, a lot of people do, don't they?

Bloodraine:

Dancing Caveman:

Marmaduke Duke:

Ignore what facts?

Facts supporting evolution.

Well, a lot of people do, don't they?

True...

Dancing Caveman:

Bloodraine:

Well, a lot of people do, don't they?

True...

It's a matter of choice isn't it though? For the whole thing. If you choose to believe or ignore, it's all down to personal opinion. People will ignore facts when they're right infront of them.

Marmaduke Duke:

Dancing Caveman:

Bloodraine:

Well, a lot of people do, don't they?

True...

It's a matter of choice isn't it though? For the whole thing. If you choose to believe or ignore, it's all down to personal opinion. People will ignore facts when they're right infront of them.

Sure, it's all a matter of choice whether or not to believe a well-known fact. Of course, I usually refer to such people as "idiots," and they usually don't understand why.

Yes, but that's your belief. And just because you think they're wrong, doesn't give you the right to criticism them.
Okay, so some people go to extremes, but you can say that about a lot of things.

^So you'd say ignoring well known facts isn't a - for lack of a better word - silly thing to do?

And she has the right to state her opinion, whether that opinion contains criticism or not. She isn't picking on a particular person, so I don't see anything wrong with it.

^ Maybe it's the fact that she called called people who don't believe in evolution idiots?

Either way, you can believe that evolution happened the way it happened and at the same time that the process had a purpose behind it. Genetic mutations are arbitrary. To me, it's not idiotic to believe that someone or something might be influencing/determining an apparently arbitrary event.

kafka.:

^ Maybe it's the fact that she called called people who don't believe in evolution idiots?

Either way, you can believe that evolution happened the way it happened and at the same time that the process had a purpose behind it. Genetic mutations are arbitrary. To me, it's not idiotic to believe that someone or something might be influencing/determining an apparently arbitrary event.

^It's her opinion. As long as she's not directly insulting someone ("___, you're an idiot" ) , I'm pretty sure she's not breaking any rules. And she does have the right to say what she thinks.

Personally, I think people who are so determined in their faith in God/other higher being that they'll try and link everything back to him. The same as people pick and choose which parts of the Bible are "right", and pick and choose which scientific facts/theories they regard as true. I can't wrap my head around people who 100% believe in something that is purely based on faith. It does, quite honestly, sound silly to me.

But that's just my opinion. In your opinion, it's not, and in her opinion, those people are idiots.

skank.:

kafka.:

^ Maybe it's the fact that she called called people who don't believe in evolution idiots?

Either way, you can believe that evolution happened the way it happened and at the same time that the process had a purpose behind it. Genetic mutations are arbitrary. To me, it's not idiotic to believe that someone or something might be influencing/determining an apparently arbitrary event.

^It's her opinion. As long as she's not directly insulting someone ("___, you're an idiot" ) , I'm pretty sure she's not breaking any rules. And she does have the right to say what she thinks.

Personally, I think people who are so determined in their faith in God/other higher being that they'll try and link everything back to him. The same as people pick and choose which parts of the Bible are "right", and pick and choose which scientific facts/theories they regard as true. I can't wrap my head around people who 100% believe in something that is purely based on faith. It does, quite honestly, sound silly to me.

Don't people who are so determined in their faith that God does not exist do the exact same thing?
Not believing in God is 100% based on faith too. Unless you can prove, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that God does not exist.

^Not really.
I don't believe in God because it is illogical, based on the word of man written in a very, very old book that tells of rather impossible things, contadicts scientific evidence, and explains things in a fairytale type way that implies it was invented by man because we're afraid of what we can't explain.

If someone could present to me proof of God's existence, I'd believe in God. I'd question my views if I had reason to question them. But all there is is a book, contradictions, and the faith of other people.

We're already presented with evoloution and whatnot, yet people still wholeheartedly insist there has to be a God, despite the facts/theories that opose it.

We will never be able to prove one side against the other, but I believe what I do because of logic, not faith. After all, why do people believe in God?

skank.:

^Not really.
I don't believe in God because it is illogical, based on the word of man written in a very, very old book that tells of rather impossible things, contadicts scientific evidence, and explains things in a fairytale type way that implies it was invented by man because we're afraid of what we can't explain.

If someone could present to me proof of God's existence, I'd believe in God. I'd question my views if I had reason to question them. But all there is is a book, contradictions, and the faith of other people.

We're already presented with evoloution and whatnot, yet people still wholeheartedly insist there has to be a God, despite the facts/theories that opose it.

We will never be able to prove one side against the other, but I believe what I do because of logic, not faith. After all, why do people believe in God?

I didn't say that you should prove that the Bible is wrong or that a God from the Christian perspective does or does not exist, what makes you think a different God, one that is nothing like what we see in the Bible, does not exist?

Evolution is accepted as valid by both the Catholic and the Orthodox Church. Modern-day dogma doesn't consider Genesis a science book, it's been agreed on that Moses' people could not have understood advanced physics.

kafka.:

I didn't say that you should prove that the Bible is wrong or that a God from the Christian perspective does or does not exist, what makes you think a different God, one that is nothing like what we see in the Bible, does not exist?

Because God is an idea of man. Saying "why can't a god exist?" is like saying "why can't fairies/goblins/wizards/hobbits/etc. exist?"

There's no real way to prove that there isn't an invisible, undetectable fairy dancing in my closet, but it's unrealistic, because it's something thought up by the imagination of man, with no actual fact behind it.

skank.:

kafka.:

I didn't say that you should prove that the Bible is wrong or that a God from the Christian perspective does or does not exist, what makes you think a different God, one that is nothing like what we see in the Bible, does not exist?

Because God is an idea of man. Saying "why can't a god exist?" is like saying "why can't fairies/goblins/wizards/hobbits/etc. exist?"

There's no real way to prove that there isn't an invisible, undetectable fairy dancing in my closet, but it's unrealistic, because it's something thought up by the imagination of man, with no actual fact behind it.

Evolution is also an idea that men had, yet it's true. Beauty, truth, justice are all concepts, ideas, does that mean that they don't exist? Just because I image something it doesn't mean that object does not exist. I can image a purple table, does that mean that such a table does not exist just because I imagined it?
There are missing links in evolution - we don't have physical proof that they existed, yet we deduce that they had too, otherwise the rest of the evolution theory wouldn't make sense. Why couldn't God be a missing linking in the existence of the world?

But that's not really my point, why couldn't a God completely different from everything that humans have ever imagined exist?

^
It could, but why would it need to? It's the same with proving and dissproving the existence of anything like God; for the most part, you can't prove one side or the other.

But in my opinion, it's unrealistic and illogical. There is nothing to suggest there is a god; there's merely missing links we've yet to - and many never - explain. It doesn't mean that because we can't find an explanation for things, there must be some higher being that is the cause for them.

Evolution is more than an idea. It wasn't just a concept that randomly popped into Darwin's head one day. It's a part of biology. There were numerous facts which were already known, and Darwin was able to piece something together.

Religion, on the other hand, was just thought of by primitive people who couldn't explain the way things work.

"How do you suppose that big, bright thing above us got there?"

[Insert religious story].

There's really nothing factual about any religion.

Dancing Caveman:

Religion, on the other hand, was just thought of by primitive people who couldn't explain the way things work.

I disagree with that. Religion isn't all ancient.
New religions are constantly being created. Anton LaVey founded a religion in the 1960s, he surely can't be called a primative being because that's relatively recent. The major world religons, yes, conform to what you're saying, but it's not true to say of all religion.