Suppose God (christian) was proved to exist (imperically)?

[FatAndFaithless]

You really have no idea what goes on here. Are you asserting that ideas should never be challenged and that discussion of anything is useless unless it produces an immediate and material result?
Because if that's how you feel, you really should just stick to those watch forums so you can find a good scrambled egg recipe or torrent for your TV shows.

You're challenging what ideas? And for what reason? I don't get what you're talking about.

Anything that I care about. Your most fundamental ideas are the ones that should be challenged the most.

What do you know for sure?

Just about nothing. Certainty is a red herring and a useless concept, which is precisely why continually re-evaluating and discussing your ideas gives you the best chance of maintaining a truthful position.

[Simon Moon]

Aren't they? What have you accomplished so far?
I'm a member of a watch forum. Someone comes in and says, hey I'm looking for a sporty watch that I can wear to work with a tie. Any suggestions?
Ok. That's a discussion with a real end. Someone gets advice. They go out and get what they need. Discussion ends. Next topic.
Where does this boloney go? God this science that. Blah blah blah.

But there is a real end.

It is a fact, that many theists have given up their irrational beliefs through this site, and others like it, from discussions like those that occur here.

Peoples beliefs don't live in a vacuum. Many of those irrational theistic beliefs lead to real world, negative actions.

Wars are started, pseudoscience is taught in public schools, planes are flown into buildings, minorities are persecuted, children die from treatable illnesses because their parents decide to pray for them instead of taking them to doctors, people blow themselves up in public places, etc, etc, all in the name of some god or another.

The real question is, why don't you believe that trying to convince people to give up their irrational beliefs, and basing their beliefs on evidence and valid/sound logic is worthwhile? Don't you think that living in a world where more and more people were rational would be a better place?

You're challenging what ideas? And for what reason? I don't get what you're talking about.

Irrational beliefs that lead to negative actions and outcomes.

In the attempt to convince people to be rational.

[robvalue]

How many theists have become atheists due to this site, do you think?

[Simon Moon]

How many theists have become atheists due to this site, do you think?

There were at least 2 in the last few months that I can remember. Can't remember their names though.


One guy that was a teacher at a religious school that had to leave his position and find another teaching job at a secular school.

And another guy that was a "liberal Christian" that quite quickly was convinced his beliefs were irrational.

But there is more to it than just getting theists to become atheists. I'm sure that some theists have become less fundamentalist because of sites like this. Probably more that are no longer YEC's.

Not to mention many who sit on the sideline and never post, maybe for fear of discovery by their family. 

[Alex K]

Now I regret not having clicked on this thread earlier. So nicely tedious! A work of art.

[Aroura]

Then why the hell are you even here?

I just answered the OP. I am not talking to any of you but you keep talking to me for some reason. I'm not debating or talking to anyone. I just answered and made a statement. That's it.

You can agree or disagree and you can go ahead and quote my reply to him and comment on it and it'll make 0 difference, because people feel the way they feel and there's nothing you can do about it.

It is what it is. The end.

You're not talking to anyone here, but you are still talking, so are you just talking to see your own posts? I don't think you understand what words mean.
"I'm not talking to any of you.....". "I just answered and made a statement".  <------indicates you are talking to us.
 
Please go mentally masturbate in private.  Thanks.

[Alex K]

Maybe he rejects our claim that one can, in principle, talk to us?

[robvalue]

I see, thanks Simon Yes I know of at least one theist who ditched being a creationist, that's a big thing. Any movement away from fundamentalism is worth the discussions we have.

[Hatshepsut]

You're challenging what ideas? And for what reason? I don't get what you're talking about. What do you know for sure?

     

Captain Kirk, sensors have detected an unidentified online lake bottom dweller on the planet surface.

It is a fact, that many theists have given up their irrational beliefs through this site, and others like it.

This should be a testable statement. Has NORC or Pew Research ever looked into the question that you know of?

As a thought experiment suppose, just for the moment that it was proven that the...Biblical God did, in fact, exist....Would you study the Bible?

It's worth study even minus belief. Egyptology has certainly received assistance from biblical hermeneutics nor have the Egyptologists had to buy the bible-thumping agenda to enjoy the benefits. Philology for Canaanite words borrowed into Egyptian for instance uses Hebrew bible concordances and text criticism, among other sources. Ancient books of any kind aren't too common, and nearly all of them shed light on our collective intellectual development over time.

[dyresand]

I wouldn't be an atheist anymore. I'd probably be a maltheist. He may exist, but if the bible is an accurate representation of who he is, I wouldn't want anything to do with him.

My sentiments exactly.