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How to argue against this claim
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(October 19, 2014 at 6:03 pm)Lek Wrote:(October 19, 2014 at 5:55 pm)Beccs Wrote: And cancer going into remission for unknown reasons has been recorded and the reason for it is not known in all cases. This doesn't mean (see paragraph one, above). For many it might. But not for all. And, honestly, I'd rather look for a natural explanation first. Playing Cluedo with my mum while I was at Uni: "You did WHAT? With WHO? WHERE???" RE: How to argue against this claim
October 19, 2014 at 6:10 pm
(This post was last modified: October 19, 2014 at 6:11 pm by Chas.)
(October 19, 2014 at 6:03 pm)Lek Wrote:(October 19, 2014 at 5:55 pm)Beccs Wrote: And cancer going into remission for unknown reasons has been recorded and the reason for it is not known in all cases. This doesn't mean (see paragraph one, above). Which stops thinking in its tracks. "Supernatural explanation" is an oxymoron. If we look for natural explanation, we will likely learn more about cancer and bring benefit to people.
Skepticism is not a position; it is an approach to claims.
Science is not a subject, but a method. (October 18, 2014 at 1:41 pm)Chuck Wrote:(October 18, 2014 at 10:47 am)sipurtov Wrote: Hi All, This made me lol so bad. RE: How to argue against this claim
October 19, 2014 at 10:22 pm
(This post was last modified: October 19, 2014 at 10:24 pm by Brian37.)
(October 19, 2014 at 5:07 pm)Lek Wrote:(October 19, 2014 at 1:29 pm)Aoi Magi Wrote: nd your source for the claim is...? Every religion claims kind motifs and has stories of acts of compassion they all point to. That does not make any god real. What that should say to you that it is not a religion or a book doing good, it is our natural sense of empathy and compassion that leads us to cooperate. If we did not evolve to cooperate we would not have evolved. The downside is that cooperation is limited to tribes and our species ignorance of its own natural group survival combined with gap filling and selection bias is why you argue for a non existent god. It is why Muslims argue for a non existent god. It is why Hindus pray to their non existent gods. Our ability as a species to be cruel or compassionate is in our evolution, not the myth clubs or comic books humans invent and falsely center their lives around. The ancient Egyptians falsely believed for 3,000 years in their polytheistic gods and those gods were not real. If religion brought worldwide peace to the world as all religions claim, we should have expected to see it by now. (October 19, 2014 at 10:22 pm)Brian37 Wrote: If religion brought worldwide peace to the world as all religions claim, we should have expected to see it by now. Christianity doesn't claim that it will bring worldwide peace until after the final judgement when God will create the "new Jerusalem", the new earth. We strive for peace, but as long as evil exists on the earth, there won't be peace. RE: How to argue against this claim
October 19, 2014 at 11:40 pm
(This post was last modified: October 19, 2014 at 11:54 pm by Brian37.)
(October 19, 2014 at 10:47 pm)Lek Wrote:(October 19, 2014 at 10:22 pm)Brian37 Wrote: If religion brought worldwide peace to the world as all religions claim, we should have expected to see it by now. Dude every religion claims they are the shit. Every religion claims details make them unique and thus the inventor of the universe and human morality.And you like every other religion with other god claims are fooling yourself. Christianity was not around 200,000 years ago, much less 4 billion years ago and much less 14 billion years ago. No religion was. And billions of years from now our species will go extinct and the planet's core will die and our sun to will eventually die and the universe will go on with no record of our existence. Your religion is like every other religion, a product of human imagination do to gap filling and selection bias. Christianity is not special, nor it is the center of the planet or the universe. It is merely something you swallowed and like believing. Quote:Christianity doesn't claim that it will bring worldwide peace until after the final judgement when God will create the "new Jerusalem", the new earth. We strive for peace, but as long as evil exists on the earth, there won't be peace. No, there is no afterlife, that is simply a claim in a book of myth you swallowed. While there is no heaven, the good part is that there is also no hell either. No, it is not a license to be lawless or cruel, just an acceptance of reality. For the same reason you live your life fine without belief in Allah or fearing the threats of their hell. FYI the "Judment" motif is found in ancient Egypt long before Christians and even Hebrews existed. The reason humans do not have peace is because we compete for resources and use religion, politics and nationalism as excuses to claim moral superiority. We will never live in a perfect world, but our species could have more peace if we would see ourselves as the same species instead pretending the religions we belong to are hot shit. Instead humans need to see them as personal likes. But not you or anyone gets to be free from scrutiny. (October 19, 2014 at 6:03 pm)Lek Wrote:(October 19, 2014 at 5:55 pm)Beccs Wrote: And cancer going into remission for unknown reasons has been recorded and the reason for it is not known in all cases. This doesn't mean (see paragraph one, above). The lack of a natural explanation should never (if you are doing science right) lead to considering a supernatural explanation. It has never been the correct explanation for unknowns in the past, not likely to be the correct one now. An unknown is an unknown. It is not an opening to insert 'cancer remission fairies' as an explanation. But here's the thing. When medical scientists are researching cancer with rats, they will cause cancer in them. It is a well known phenomena that a certain small percentage of rats will have remissions, also for unknown reasons. It does not happen as often as it does in humans, but that probably has to do with the virulence of the cancers that they give to rats. So here's the question. Who is supernaturally causing lab rats to go into remission, and why? Is it the rat god? You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence. (October 18, 2014 at 10:47 am)sipurtov Wrote: Hi All, The truth is, you don't need to argue against this at all, because this isn't an argument. It's an assertion. Analyze what's actually being said: It's essentially "pfft, you don't know!" but if I was going to be generous I'd phrase it as "god must have sufficient reasons for it, that we don't know about." So first of all, if we don't know about it, how can you possibly know that god has sufficient reasons? The first premise is a knowledge claim that the second premise cheerfully states does not exist. It's self refuting, which makes it an assertion; the person making this claim doesn't know that god has a good reason, can't demonstrate that he does, and actually features that ignorance as a key part of the whole thing: why should any of us take it seriously?
"YOU take the hard look in the mirror. You are everything that is wrong with this world. The only thing important to you, is you." - ronedee
Want to see more of my writing? Check out my (safe for work!) site, Unprotected Sects! (October 18, 2014 at 10:47 am)sipurtov Wrote: Yeah but think of a child that sees a doctor cutting a man legs to save his life. Here's a quick and dirty rule to apply to any God->human analogy someone uses. Humans have limitations God supposedly does not, and God has powers that humans do not. In every one of these analogies, the human is put in a situation which would be used to excuse God's actions, but God would not be forced to act in the same way. So, in the above analogy, if you make that doctor God, it could be reworded: Think of a child that sees a doctor unnecessarily cutting off a man's legs when he could have instead used magic to save him. It falls apart pretty quickly when you realize that doctors don't have all the options in their utility belt that God does. In short: ask them whether or not their god is great. If he is, tell them to stop comparing him to humans when making excuses for him. Their god is always big and powerful when it comes to what he can do, but when it comes time for accountability, he's small and weak, and he didn't have any other options. Really! |
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