Converting

[Ranjr]

If I remember the video of Einstein's brain in a jar correctly, Albert had a larger than normal corpus callosum, which allowed him to have highly coordinated hemispherosity. His second child had one surviving son who had 5 children surviving to this day. His daughter died young and youngest son suffered schizophrenia.

I enjoyed Paleophytes remarks about processors and copper. If you're a Visual Basic thinker running on Vista, it doesn't matter how big your brain is.

[The Grand Nudger]

Anatomic modernity stretches back at least twice as far as behavioral modernity - what we call full modernity. We were lugging around our big brains not thinking about gods for at least 50k years.....then, once we started thinking about gods, no one noticed kloros moongod for another 48k, give or take a few thousand here and there.

With regards to the size of a brain...we're not sure it matters a whole hell of alot as a rule. There have been cases in which up to 90% of a human brain is either missing or damaged..and those people still manage to live normal lives. If any amount of brain tissue mattered, it would probably be the surface area...hence the wrinkles - and just like any piece of kaldness media, it doesn't have to be huge to have alot of surface area. Because of this, differences in overall brain volume will not ensure a significant (or any) difference in surface area.

A very smart person can have a brain that is smaller than a very dumb person. Just ask short people.

[Drich]

Fabricating gods as a means to alleviate the fears of the unknown does not lend any credence to their existence.

what in this day and age do you think 'we' fear?

[The Grand Nudger]

You fear your death, and hell, as you've gone to hilarious lengths to explain to us.

[cleansed]

It's just struck me that choosing a religion to convert to must be really difficult.

Think about it for a moment.

We have Christians and Muslims, in particular, through here all the time showing us the merits of their beliefs.

- The Qu'ran is 100% credible and has no contradictions.  Neither does the Bible.

- The Qu'ran is scientifically correct and infallible.  So is the Bible.

- The Qu'ran made predictions about events that are happening now.  So did the Bible.

And their believers are so willing, in some cases, to do whatever is necessary to prove their religion to be true.  Why would they do that if the beliefs aren't true?

And we KNOW the above is all accurate because who, with God watching over them, would lie to promote their beliefs?  That would be a sin and potentially worthy of a hot trip southwards...

So we know they're telling the truth.

And then we get to the difficulty of choosing which sub group of the religion to belong to.  Should we become Shia or Sunni?  Catholic or Baptist?

With all of this, it's no surprise that atheists seem so stubborn.

We just don't know which of these True Religions to choose from.

This was my problem when I first started looking for God.  I had no idea which claim if any were true.  I spent around 8 years researching and going through quite a bit before I was able to come to a conclusion.  I can definitely relate to your frustration.

[Mr Greene]

So we go to archaeology and find that it's all lies.

[GUBU]

It's just struck me that choosing a religion to convert to must be really difficult.

Think about it for a moment.

We have Christians and Muslims, in particular, through here all the time showing us the merits of their beliefs.

- The Qu'ran is 100% credible and has no contradictions.  Neither does the Bible.

- The Qu'ran is scientifically correct and infallible.  So is the Bible.

- The Qu'ran made predictions about events that are happening now.  So did the Bible.

And their believers are so willing, in some cases, to do whatever is necessary to prove their religion to be true.  Why would they do that if the beliefs aren't true?

And we KNOW the above is all accurate because who, with God watching over them, would lie to promote their beliefs?  That would be a sin and potentially worthy of a hot trip southwards...

So we know they're telling the truth.

And then we get to the difficulty of choosing which sub group of the religion to belong to.  Should we become Shia or Sunni?  Catholic or Baptist?

With all of this, it's no surprise that atheists seem so stubborn.

We just don't know which of these True Religions to choose from.

This was my problem when I first started looking for God.  I had no idea which claim if any were true.  I spent around 8 years researching and going through quite a bit before I was able to come to a conclusion.  I can definitely relate to your frustration.

I thought you said you were "born again". You do realise that the born again sects demand that you throw away all the evìdence without so much as glancing at it, right?

[onlinebiker]

Fabricating gods as a means to alleviate the fears of the unknown does not lend any credence to their existence.

what in this day and age do you think 'we' fear?

A universe without your presence?

...

[The Grand Nudger]

Having been born again is an expression that can refer to a profound experience which maps to the content of christian thematic elements. A moment when they go from one thing, to something else. I suspect that this state of affairs is far more rare than the percentage of christians who would describe themselves as such. In this sense, most born again christians are supplicants of the cult - performing necessary ritual in the hope of achieving an altered state of conscious.

The moment in which, and after which, one simply and sincerely trusts in christ.

Laying aside the factual accuracy of christian elements, that is the deliverable good. Either by serendipity or through a process of systematically emulating enlightened lives, magic book claims that such a state is attainable - and that it will be made evident in the changed behaviors of the subject. Magic book also claims that any subject who achieves this state will become a very compelling recruiter. I see no reason to be skeptical of either claim. Altered states of consciousness can be achieved in a variety of ways, ritual observation and enactment among them. That a person who's achieved this state could offer genuine comments on that experience seems like a rather mundane addendum to the claim.

This is the underlying pitch. If you are unsatisfied with your current state of consciousness, or simply wish to explore altered states - there is a credible expectation that christian practice, sincerely and in earnest, is capable of producing one.

A skeptical observer might say "aha, but how is that different from nirvana or zen, or smoking weed?" - exactly.

[WinterHold]

And their believers are so willing, in some cases, to do whatever is necessary to prove their religion to be true. Why would they do that if the beliefs aren't true?

In Islam, if you fight for God and make others believe in his cause; you gain a high rank.

And we KNOW the above is all accurate because who, with God watching over them, would lie to promote their beliefs? That would be a sin and potentially worthy of a hot trip southwards...

Many lie, because sometimes it turns into a complex; a psychological sickness about the person wanting others to obey what they say.

And then we get to the difficulty of choosing which sub group of the religion to belong to. Should we become Shia or Sunni? Catholic or Baptist?

Hear what the God of every religion has to say and decide. And listen to the source -like the Quran- not side books -like the Hadith-.