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God and the immune system
May 6, 2014 at 11:56 am
So, as we all know, God in all his wisdom created humans in the image of himself (well not exactly, given Theists claim him to not be physical and invisible to everyone, but we'll ignore that for now). Actually thinking about it we are nothing like the God they describe, but that's another thread.
Anyway, God created a set of rules whereby if humans failed some test involving a snake and an apple, all sorts of nasty diseases would suddenly appear. Or for the non-literalist, he created a universe knowing these diseases would appear.
Knowing that either humans would fail/evolution would produce diseases, he also gave humans an immune system to somewhat counteract this. It's not great as we still die in large numbers without modern medicine, but it is a lot better than nothing.
Why not skip all this, not bother creating an array of horrible ways to die, and then there is no need for an immune system either? Or if you really want to inflict disease on humans, don't bother giving them an immune system. This stuff made a lot more sense back when they thought demons were responsible for illness, and that praying to the correct god was the cure.
Now, I know as much as the next Atheist that if any Theists do join this thread, they will be able to defend this to their own satisfaction, but not to ours. I am genuinely intrigued though as to what nonsense they will spout.
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RE: God and the immune system
May 6, 2014 at 12:06 pm
My guess is that the lunatic fringe will come with something like: "Who are you to question god?" They got away with that shit for so many centuries that the habit is hard to break.
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RE: God and the immune system
May 6, 2014 at 12:16 pm
(May 6, 2014 at 12:06 pm)Minimalist Wrote: My guess is that the lunatic fringe will come with something like: "Who are you to question god?" They got away with that shit for so many centuries that the habit is hard to break.
I hope not, it's a pretty boring one. I'm hoping for some hilariously uninformed biology.
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RE: God and the immune system
May 6, 2014 at 12:42 pm
This question, as well as "why the hell do we have a digestive system if we were designed to be immortal" was one of the huge mind-fucks that led to my "de-conversion".
I wonder what kind of replies we'll see...
I'm a bitch, I'm a lover
I'm a goddess, I'm a mother
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint
I do not feel ashamed
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RE: God and the immune system
May 6, 2014 at 12:59 pm
OK, I'm gonna jump in here with one of the few things I remember from my JW days....
The idea behind this, at least according to the JWs, is that 'perfection' on earth is not how we normally think of it.
When a perfect earth is spoken of, it doesn't mean that diseases or pain wouldn't exist. They used those medical papers that go on about people who are born without pain receptors being in a very bad place. They have to spend a good chunk of their lives examining themselves for serious damage they may have unknowingly been subjected to, and use those as evidence that pain, in itself, is good and serves a purpose.
What 'perfection' means is that we would never succumb to anything or suffer permanent damage. IE, if you caught the Ebola virus, you'd likely suffer nothing more than minor flu like symptoms, and would be guaranteed a recovery from it. Or, if you slipped and broke your leg in two places, it would still hurt, you'd still be laid up for awhile, but you again would be guaranteed a full recover with no permanent structural damage to your bones.
So, according to them, our immune system didn't develop because of "the fall", we always had it. But now it's imperfect and can't function as fully as it could under a perfect earth.
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RE: God and the immune system
May 6, 2014 at 1:21 pm
Yeah, L/L. Whenever a word is inconvenient they simply re-define it. We have a couple of shitheads around here who specialize in that one.
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RE: God and the immune system
May 6, 2014 at 1:21 pm
Cheers for that. I like the combination of bullshit, with a tiny bit of real science used in completely the wrong way. Classic stuff.
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RE: God and the immune system
May 6, 2014 at 1:24 pm
(May 6, 2014 at 11:56 am)FreeTony Wrote: Now, I know as much as the next Atheist that if any Theists do join this thread, they will be able to defend this to their own satisfaction, but not to ours. I am genuinely intrigued though as to what nonsense they will spout.
Some sort of post hoc justification for why we get the world we observably live in juxtaposed with a bunch of nonfalsifiable mythology.
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RE: God and the immune system
May 6, 2014 at 1:40 pm
If God didn't give me an immune system, why am I allergic to God?
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RE: God and the immune system
May 7, 2014 at 3:40 am
Why are you questioning god's incompetence? God doesn't even know the earth revolves around the sun, and he created the universe. God contradicted himself even in his own word. He is a forgiving God who will kill millions if he feels jealous. Do you expect god to know what he's doing when he designs a human body? Can we explain why god made the female black widow? What the heck did the male of the species do to god to deserve that? God just does sick, crazy, stupid shit nobody can explain. He's a retard.
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