13 Questions

[Cinjin]

---

I'll definitely participate in pointless threads ---- if they're fun. Hell, I've made several pointless threads for some lighthearted amusement, but this seems like it has an agenda. Most of these queries feel more like loaded questions, and knowing who they came from ... I think I'll pass.

It's kind of humorous you find a thread outlining some of the biggest questions in life to be "pointless".

Really?! You actually think that THESE questions outline the biggest questions in life?!

Who’s life? Yours? Cause if you think that YOUR questions outline the biggest questions in all our lives – Well than, someone thinks awful highly of himself.

This is why everybody hates you man. You live on another fucking planet. You see what you want to see and you think that these cryptic questions with multiple answers say some profound thing that we’re all missing. You’re a wannabe prophet with nothing to offer and none of the style. You should keep this greasy existential sophistry in your church and leave legitimate conjecture to those more qualified to discuss it.

---

Does God exist? What would prove his existence? Are there moral laws we should adhere to? Where does logic come from? Where did our minds come from? How did life begin on earth? Who makes the rules?

You are absolutely right! The fact that philosophers have been debating these questions for centuries upon centuries certainly means they are not some of the biggest questions in life! You're still small time. If you don't like me and think this thread is pointless, don't post on my thread and save both of us the trouble.

LMAO ... yeah, I was referring to the ENTIRE list you cherry-picking christian ... nothing new there huh?

You see the words, “I love you” written in the sand at the beach. Is this man-made? If so, how do you know?
If the God of the Bible were real, would He set the rules or would man set the rules?
Do moral laws exist? If so, do they exist independent of humans? How do you know what they are?
If everyone on earth believed that rape were morally right, would it still be morally wrong?
What is the most dangerous religion on Earth?
How did non-rational events and processes lead to a rational human mind?
Why do some atheists such as Carl Wieland and Alister McGrath become Christians?
How do beliefs and thoughts differ?

LMAO ... yeah those are "the biggest questions" in life maybe to you. Most of us don't give two shits about them - well, at least not the way you phrased them.

And by the way, I AM small time, as you say. I'm nobody, and until someone on this site wins the Nobel prize or makes some kind of contribution to humanity - we all are small time .... and you being the smallest. Blowhard.

[Anomalocaris]

This is why everybody hates you man. You live on another fucking planet. You see what you want to see and you think that these cryptic questions with multiple answers say some profound thing that we’re all missing. You’re a wannabe prophet with nothing to offer and none of the style. You should keep this greasy existential sophistry in your church and leave legitimate conjecture to those more qualified to discuss it.

He is not living on another planet. He is living under the outhouse of a bronze age beduin emcampment.

[Angrboda]

You are absolutely right! The fact that philosophers have been debating these questions for centuries upon centuries certainly means they are not some of the biggest questions in life! You're still small time. If you don't like me and think this thread is pointless, don't post on my thread and save both of us the trouble.

There's a famous problem in computer theory known as the dining philosophers problem. In the problem, you have a number of philosophers sitting at a round table. In front of each philosopher, there is a plate of spaghetti, and to the side, between each is a fork. The philosophers do two things: eat, and think. When they want to eat, they pick up a fork and dig in. To think, they put down the fork and ponder. The problem is, if they all decide to eat at the same time, there aren't enough forks, so there will be a deadlock over the last fork.

Now I bring this up simply to point out that what philosophers do is not esteemed to be the sine qua non of existence. Indeed, they're poked fun at. Now don't get me wrong, I'm an amateur philosopher myself, and have undertaken to correct an ignorance of the subject -- but philosophers doing something, specifically failing to do something isn't exactly hot shit.

Now Cinjin Cain points out something you should pay attention to here. You come across to many here as an arrogant prick. You seem more interested in pummeling anyone who disagrees with you than sharing your worldview. You this very evening mouthed off to me in private message simply because I chose not to talk to you. Dude, if you want to bring glory to God, you're doing something wrong. A little humility, and some mutual respect would go a long way toward getting people to listen to you. But whatever; it's your funeral.

Re: Carl Wieland. I must have been thinking of another Carl or maybe I just didn't know who you were talking about. The only ex-atheists with any name recognition to me are Antony Flew and Lee Strobel. Regardless, my offer still stands. If you can make good on explaining why I am an atheist Taoist, I will make time to learn the story and reasons for the re-conversion of a theist of your choice. That you chose not to take up the gauntlet and focused instead on trying to paint me as ignorant and foolish is yet another example of your butt munchery. Nobody likes you Statler -- that's not helping God display his glory.

[Anomalocaris]

Why are you still talking to this turnip? Aside from the imbecility of his position that ensures he can not persuade, his fanaticism ensures he will not be convinced, and can not change the subject. What use is there in holding a conversation with someone like him? I will beg to disagree with the claim that he defends his position ably. He did not. Mindless tenacity is not the same as ability. Repetition is not the same as merit.

[Wombosi]

1. The world stinks. That is how I know he exists.

Also, there are too many questions.

[Mong]

1. What evidence would convince you of God’s existence?
I'm not sure, I think I would blame any vision or miracle as hallucinations. There would have to be some kind of long term relationship with them although I can imagine that I would just blame that on going insane. So if it were to be anything to convince me it would be: God appearing to the whole world, performs a few miracles, keeps in touch with everyone on earth individually for a sustained period of time and the whole conversion of every person on earth.

2. You see the words, “I love you” written in the sand at the beach. Is this man-made? If so, how do you know?
Man-made, I don't believe in god and the chances of it forming on its own are too low.

3. If the God of the Bible were real, would He set the rules or would man set the rules?
Well if the God from the bible was real then that means that the bible is the true word of god which means that when moses brought down the ten commandments they were directly given to him from god. God set the rules.

4. Do moral laws exist? If so, do they exist independent of humans? How do you know what they are?
I believe humans are naturally moral, treating people how they would want to be treated (with exceptions of course). You don't wanna get killed, don't kill, you don't wanna get stolen from, don't steal.

5. If everyone on earth believed that rape were morally right, would it still be morally wrong?
That's a hard question. If you believed rape was morally ok and you were rape, would you have a problem with it? would you still feel like a victim? If no then there's no problem and it would be morally right. If on the other hand, victims of rape didn't like being raped then of course it would be morally wrong.

6. What is the most dangerous religion on Earth?
I'm not sure, I would have to say Islam as during this time it seems they have the most dangerous followers although I haven't done enough research to from a completely educated opinion.

7. Where did the laws of logic come from?
Not sure, they just naturally formed as the human race evolved I guess.

8. How did non-rational events and processes lead to a rational human mind?
Err dunno.

9. Why do some atheists such as Carl Wieland and Alister McGrath become Christians?
I can't imagine why, there are always exceptions in all trends. Maybe they're too scared of the possibility of spending eternity in relentless pain?

10. How do beliefs and thoughts differ?
You can believe something is true which means you are 100% certain without proof. Thinking something to be true could mean that you are not sure for something to be true but are making an educated guess? Not too sure.

11. Do you believe that God does not exist?
God does not exist

12. Do you think that God does not exist?
No. God does not exist

13. How do you think life began on Earth?
By chance? I know it's pretty far fetched but there was all of the time in the world for it to happen. If you have a 4 billion character long password, and a random string of characters generator, even if it takes a while, the correct combination will be generated in a finite amount of time. I guess you can relate this to bonding atoms in a primordial ooze.

[Zen Badger]

Crappy pointless questions.

To be expected really.

Actually they are some of the basic questions in life; I knew you wouldn't be able to answer them given your worldview though.

They're pointless because you are not going to get anyone here to change their minds because of them(which I'm assuming is your intent)

Since I've answered these questions to my own satifaction a long time ago I see no point in answering them again.

[Arcturus]

1. What evidence would convince you of God’s existence?
Alot. Anything that shows evidence that the universe was designed, or simply god appearing to us.

2. You see the words, “I love you” written in the sand at the beach. Is this man-made? If so, how do you know?
The fact that it is statistically improbable for random depressions on sand to organise into a shapes that correspond to human language. Either that or paraedolia.

3. If the God of the Bible were real, would He set the rules or would man set the rules?
He would set the rules. However, it would be entirely pointless to create a universe for any purpose because he could have simply used his omnipotent capabilities to reach the end result.

4. Do moral laws exist? If so, do they exist independent of humans? How do you know what they are?
No they do not. Morality is the byproduct of evolution, which increases the likelihood of a species to survive if they display a right balance of 'altruism' and self-centeredness. Moral laws in religion are created by societies, which include slavery, killing of homosexuals etc. Morals exist, but they are not absolute as implicit in the question.

5. If everyone on earth believed that rape were morally right, would it still be morally wrong?
No, it would not. However, it would drastically reduce the likelihood of our species survival because if rape were to be widespread, sexual selection would not proceed in a manner that promotes the survival of beneficial genes, but rather one that would lead to overpopulation, straining resources as a result.

6. What is the most dangerous religion on Earth?
In my opinion, that would be islam. Christianity and the other religions aren't too far behind either.

7. Where did the laws of logic come from?
From the fact that we evolved a brain in a world where the laws of physics applies. Logic works because we evolved in a world where logic works.

8. How did non-rational events and processes lead to a rational human mind?
Events are neither rational nor non-rational. I would presume you meant 'intelligent'. In which case, I would then ask, why not? After all, the laws of physics permit it. Complexity can arise from simplicity. Evolution occurs because of low entropy energy input from the sun.

9. Why do some atheists such as Carl Wieland and Alister McGrath become Christians?
Don't ask me, ask them! But it must be noted that religion is on the decline worldwide, as human intellect increases.

10. How do beliefs and thoughts differ?
A belief is simply a premise that a person holds, which is often not supported by evidence. Thoughts are simply the result of mental processes. I don't see how the two could be compared on any scale.

11. Do you believe that God does not exist?
No. I do not believe that god exists, but I do not believe that god, along with leprechauns and unicorns, does not exist. There is no evidence for god, and I will remain a nonbeliever until proven otherwise.

12. Do you think that God does not exist?
Yes, but that's simply an opinion formed by the fact that there is no evidence for god.

13. How do you think life began on Earth?
Through an abiogenesis event. I do not know exactly what happened, and neither do you. This means that the answer isn't god, either.

[downbeatplumb]

I cant think of anything that would convince me of the existance of god.

How would be able to differentiate between a 'real' god and a powerful trickster alien.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1VpYIoCHok

[Cinjin]

I cant think of anything that would convince me of the existance of god.

How would be able to differentiate between a 'real' god and a powerful trickster alien.

Q Video

I actually remember reading an article years ago about the parallels between Q and god.

Supposedly, the writers of that Star Trek series, being primarily atheists, did indeed mean to pose that exact question to the TV audience.

However, I can't seem to find that article anywhere online so I do not have anything to back up my statement.