I am still attempting to understand why everyone has been entertaining this idiot for so long.

(October 19, 2015 at 1:31 am)Kitan Wrote: I am still attempting to understand why everyone has been entertaining this idiot for so long.

Yet here you are.

For my simple input that took ten seconds to write, unless something more than drivel can be offered.

(October 19, 2015 at 1:31 am)Kitan Wrote: I am still attempting to understand why everyone has been entertaining this idiot for so long.

I'm here to entertain myself. Anyone else is a bonus.

(If you weren't talking about me... you did say "everyone" ).

(October 18, 2015 at 7:28 pm)Evie Wrote: @ Rob

What a fucking awesome 3 point pithy post on the matter with style. Kudos to you Rob! One of my favorite posts on this thread so far.

(I'm speaking of course of post #494 of this thread (if I get ninja'd several times before I post this)).

Thanks very much I appreciate it!

(October 19, 2015 at 1:31 am)Kitan Wrote: I am still attempting to understand why everyone has been entertaining this idiot for so long.

I doubt he finds my posting entertaining.

(October 18, 2015 at 6:52 pm)Blondie Wrote:   Christians reject the Orthodox, Mormons, and Catholic teachings. 

Orthodox and Catholic are Christians too therefore your statement is false.

Orthodox is an adjective (a describing word). Hence Orthodox Christians. Hence Christian. And if you don't admit that Catholics are Christians too then you are saying that your own religion is only a few years / decades / centuries old at most and therefore has no lineage back to Jesus.

That would be like me making up a religion based on the Egyptian god Ra and claiming that it is the true religion.

Religions are totally arbitrary. There are no rules. Anyone can make up anything they like an call it a religion. Quite clearly, it doesn't even have to make sense or have any bearing on reality. The less it has to do with reality the better, in fact, to bolster the argument from ignorance which is the bread and butter of theistic logic.

Just thought I'd remind people of that. If you dare call something else "not a proper religion" you are persecuting them. It's not up to you to decide whether or not someone's religious beliefs are sincere.

Sadly, the American government literally does say what is and isn't a real religion, from a legal standpoint. That appears to be a breach of separation of church and state to me.

(October 18, 2015 at 11:37 pm)Blondie Wrote: Touche on the first.   On the biology, I did pass.  I had to drop out before I could finish because of the circumstances life handed me.  Life sometimes sucks.

Yeah that can suck. My husband dropped out of his degree due to medical reasons and I nearly failed my MSc due to debilitating depression at the time. I'd love to go back and do another MSc to make up for it but it's too expensive.

I think RocketSurgeon is correct in that you have been misinformed by people with an agenda.

I was brought up in a house that believed in reincarnation, ghosts and other bizarre stuff. My grandmother claimed to be a medium, a faith healer and used to hold seances and played with Ouija boards. And I believed it all without question although I rejected Christianity early on even though I went to a Christian school. The first thing I rejected was the concept of the devil.

It actually came to a grinding halt during my MSc when I had to start thinking critically about the nature of life. It was a course in Evolutionary and Adaptive systems. I felt like my crutches had been kicked away from me at a point when I was most vulnerable and I had no reason to live my life any more. It was a particularly bad time for me anyway for other medical reasons I won't go into and I became suicidal. But that year I eventually realised that there is no meaning to life except that which we give it. So I decided on what I wanted to achieve with my life. It was rather liberating.

I never gained that skill to think critically from my first degree in Computer Science. That course was more like engineering. My brother who studied to be a rocket scientist actually became a born again Christian. He believes in evolution by the way.

So yes it is extremely tough to question everything that you have been conditioned to believe from an early age. This conditioning stays with you for life in many ways. For example, childhood fears. This is why religions target children in particular.

Human beings are not rational agents. We're built for a very specific purpose. This is why we have instincts. But unlike other animals our neocortex is well developed and is capable of conscious self reflection. This means that we have the ability to question everything that we assume to be true. But like all abilities it needs to be practised and developed.

(October 19, 2015 at 1:29 am)Parkers Tan Wrote: I'm still trying to get my mind around a biology undergrad who doesn't understand the scientific connotation of theory.

You overestimate how much about philosophy of science one has to understand in order to get a PhD - Let alone a Master's or Bachelor' s degree or so. I myself was taught zilch about all that in the regular classed because the courses and lectures you have to take mostly concentrate on teaching you how to use existing theories. I learned what doing science means in my thesis work. I'd say I only learned how to properly do it by working with brilliant scientists.