What I meant is that you made some general statements but didn't back them up with reasons for those beliefs. For example, you said, "I'm familiar with Darwin; I think he was a genius but I do not think he had it all figured out and I think that he had a lot of holes in his bag." I ask, how was he a genius? In what way? Why do you think he was a genius? And yet you claim he had holes in his bag. What holes? Can you explain what you mean by these statements and how you came to these conclusions? But, I'm not asking you to answers these questions, btw. I'm just providing an example of what I mean by vacuous statements.
Maybe calling him a "genius" was going a little far but he did set forth a revolutionary concept in science that moved away from atheism into an actual cohesive, structured explanation of how we could have gotten here without some divine hand pulling the strings.
When I say there were holes in his bag I just meant that while I respect him offering an alternative to some mythical "
poof! there were animals" and "
poof! there were people" notion of creation, evolution doesn't really make any sense to me either. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to understand it biologically, or scientifically, I don't know. It just doesn't add up, something about the concept of everything coming from primordial ooze...I don't know, I don't buy it. I don't like the way that every time scientists can't explain something they just keep adding a million years to the Earth's history.
I don't like the way the big bang/evolution thing is presented as
fact; and I'm not saying evolution in general but evolution as the definitive explanation of
everything. As far as I know they haven't really proved anything, they're just grasping at straws and filing in blanks.
I don't, under any circumstances, believe in seven-day Creationism, either. Just letting you know. In case you thought I was going there. Or intelligent design.
This really is the last question. Why is there something rather than nothing? You claim God created the universe. But then what created God? God is something. He is not the nothing...the thing before anything existed. The God theory does not answer this question.
I didn't claim God created the universe. I questioned atheism. Atheists are allowed to question, but no one can question
them without being branded as Christian? Seems unfair.
I don't know what created God, or even if there is one. That's what I'm saying when I say this conversation is ultimately pointless. No matter what you believe, none of it really makes any sense or can be proven. At least, not with the data we have accumulated so far. I just think there is more to the story that has either not been discovered or has been suppressed.
Atheism isn't a theory. It isn't even a philosophy or set of beliefs. It simply means no belief in god or gods. It makes no claims. Christianity is a theology--a teleological philosophy that does make ontological claims--how humans and the universe came to exist.
Atheism
is a theory; in that it is an unproven belief system that is pinned on a refusal to believe in a central divine intelligence. It
does make a claim...that there is no God. I agree with you about the Christianity thing though.
You can't just say, "atheism isn't a belief system because I don't believe in God." A negative belief system, or an anti-belief regimen, is still a belief system.
And yet, you found it a good use of your time to create this thread and argue with a stalker? Would you rather your son talk about philosophy with his friends or spend time complaining about being stalked? Not that talking about being stalked is a misuse of time. But neither is talking about the meaning of life. This is another one of your remarks that you made without giving much of a justification for other than saying it's child's play, a waste of time. Nobody need outgrow wonder and curiosity about our natural world and how it works. Just look how many gray haired folks make up the science labs. This is not a childish pursuit.
I'm not saying I don't have free time or time to bullshit on a web forum. As for what my son talks about with his friends when he's older, well, I'd hope he has both the brains to consider different existential philosophies and well as the looks to attract annoying but beautiful psycho hose-beasts.
Life is pretty big; there's room for a lot of stuff.
But I certainly never said this debate is "child's play"...I said that this discussion -which I'm admitting is very basic as I don not claim to be an intellectual nor particularly authoritative on this subject- is valuable as a discussion, but not as a means to any definitive end. Because NOBODY knows where we come from or what happens when we die. NOBODY.
I find it unfortunate that the atheists you have met are morons. I on the other hand have found atheists to be above average intelligence, live ethical and moral lives, and to care about the environment and its inhabitants.
I think you are just reading what you
want to read in my statements...I have known some
extremely intelligent and kind people who are atheists. And unfortunately I have known some cripplingly stupid and cruel Christians.
That is fine. Sometimes we should think first before posting on a community forum where our words can and are read by anyone--including our family members.
No one in my family reads this site, or even knows about it, LOL, and I have outgrown all of my friends and let them go, so I don't really give a f*** what people read or see here.
This forum exists outside of my actual life...I don't take it as seriously as many people here seem to think I do. I don't mean that as a cop-out; I do genuinely enjoy this "place" and I like posting, and I mean most of what I say, but don't give me the "think before you speak" lecture because -at least on this topic- I haven't said anything I regret.
It struck a nerve because I don't think a supernatural deity selected the genes to create a beautiful human--be it a man, woman, or child. I think nature did the selecting via natural selection. My objection was not that your remark was sexist, if this is what you are inferring. It was that your remark shows an ignorance of science. I love beautiful women. And men.
What is "ignorance" of science? What does that even mean? I'm not claiming to be a scientist or understand every little nuance and factoid. Does that make me ignorant on the whole? Why?
I have nothing but respect for science. Scientists saved my kid's life. I love science. For instance, I'm a huge Mythbusters fan.
I just don't believe every single thing that is presented as "fact."
OK. But I am not out to win a debate. This is not my desire or intention. I just like to discuss... have a conversation about things I find interesting. But as you already stated earlier, metaphysics isn't really your cup of tea. And that is OK.
Yeah but when you say "metaphysics" I just hear "mental masturbation". You speak as though you have some kind of authority; and you don't. You clearly have significant intellectual prowess, but c'mon, I'm not a peasant. I just don't really
care how we got here.
I've heard great arguments from both sides of the table...but it doesn't matter to me. DO I enjoy talking about it? Yes, to a point...but I'd rather listen to
Born In The USA or watch
Jackass or something.
Life is too short to sit around screaming out to a God that might not even be there or, if he is there, doesn't seem to be too invested in the day-to-day of human existence.
But I reiterate my earlier statement that when I encounter something really beautiful...the first Knack album, my girlfriend's tits, whatever...I see
art. And yeah, maybe that's because I'm too dumb to understand how "nature" -speaking now as though Nature is actually an intelligent consciousness, which I don't believe- could produce that on its own. But maybe it does.
I don't know.