Ok, throw us a bone here. Exactly what proof of the non-existence of God would you like us to provide. What could we show to you that proved there was no God?

 

Counter-productive to mock in his absence, though.

 

Meh, I dont know, thats your problem I guess

 

Anyway, Good morning to all my fellow believers and (mainly) non-believers (its already 7am here in Japan.....OMG he's in a non-catholic country )

Happy Halloween to you all

Just dont go celebrating it with your friends or families though.... because *! SHOCK HORROR!* ... Halloween originally comes from All Saints day

Also back in the day, the Irish would kill their live stock etc and put it into storage before winter... They would also burn the bones of the animals, so that any evil spirits would leave from inside the bones and go away see, even the pagans had strange beliefs...

Also, that russels tea-pot is a load of rubbish, its just an excuse to say they cant be bothered to make a better telescope. And with todays technology, Im sure they could easily make one strong enough to find that tea pot
Its just a way of saying that something cannot be proved, not proof that something doesnt exit

If everyone believed and feared God, this world might be a much better place than it is now.....

Anyway, "whoever" or "whatever" created this world, dont you think the least we could do is show respect to "it" by looking after the world and its occupants? If everyone at least had some kind of belief, people might start respecting the people and things around them....

 

It's not a problem to me, I don't maintain a preposterous belief in an unsubstantiated deity and an almost unbelievable lack of knowledge in the fields of both science and theology. That's a terrible C.V. to take into a discussion about life, the universe and everything, you know.

As regards the teapot, Russel would maintain that the telescope was not powerful enough to see the teapot, regardless of its powers of resolution. That is why it is the perfect analogy to a believer in God.

 

Do you really think the world would be so much better if we all feared or believed in god? I hand on heart agree, that a bit more respect from people towards others would be a good thing, but I'm not sure how much of that is down to beliefs or religion, or just more disrespectful people growing in numbers. I can't put that down to a lack of religion as such, as there are and have been many people over time, who are decent people, and most likely follow a not too dissimilar set of morals than yourself, without any religion. Not to mention, religious folk, in all times have acted 'badly' as well.

I personally don't follow religion, for my own reasons, but I'm not against anyone who chooses that path. What I will say is, despite my lack of subscribing to a religion, I live a decent life. None of us can be perfect, but I love those around me, I appreciate what I do have, I don't hurt others, I don't commit crime, I care about others' feelings, even those I don't know so I behave in a way to respect and not offend.

I respect the right of anyone to believe what they wish, and not be under fire for it, but I can't imagine a world whereby if everyone followed and feared being particularly better than now, because we are people, religion can be twisted or understood to be either a tool for doing good, or equally for doing bad, and while we have a free mind, good and bad will come out of it, as it always has.

What we as people, believer or not, need to concentrate on is respecting others around us, respecting we are all different, and respecting the right to differ on opinion. Accept all that, get on with your own good life, and only worry about those doing harm.

 

FAIL!

Halloween is another old pagan festival, like Christmas and Easter, You really are quite uneducated aren't you?

Bearing in mind religion's history of persecution, torture and intolerance, I don't really see how everyone believing in God would make it a better place?

As for respect, there's plenty I respect, why would I need a religion to do that. Of course, it's quite ironic you menton that, seeing as most religions have utter comtempt for other religions or beliefs .

Anyway, if you live in Japan, why aren't you out watching Rally Japan ?!?! Good grief!

Geezer

 

Lol rally Japan isnt on TV at suitable hours, but dont worry, I often marshall at rally events in my prefecture, so I get my monthly rally fix for real. Was invited to go translating up at Rally Japan, but my current work wouldnt let me take 10 days off... Hopefully get my shot next year

Anyway, in my post, I clearly wrote that pagans celebrate it, but they still had weird beliefs...

The way I see it, is that if people have a little faith, and a little fear, they will live the right way. I mean, tell me honestly, how are you going to persuade bad people to change? Ask them nicely? Or scare them into changing?

The whole thing about religions battling each other is also quite sad, but tbh, I dont think there are many religions out there that promote being bad (apart from the muslims like the 9/11 terrorists...? They all have a goal of trying to lead people in the right direction.... You dont need religion to be a good person, but I dont see anything wrong with religions trying to help people who cant work things out themselves.... the people who "use" religion to get away with things, well they are just sad....

The reason this world is getting worse and worse, is because people are losing faith, and think that they can get away with more....

 

ANYWAY .... I saw God today

I went to the swimming pool today, to which I havent been in ages. I get to the pool, about to go in the main entrance, and realise that I've forgotten my goggles

So I turn around and think, damn that was a waste of time coming here and not being able to swim, and just as I was about to go home, an old man who often swims with me turns up at the entrance and asks me whats wrong....

I tell him I forgot my goggles and am going to go home, and he says, dont worry , I have 2 pairs, you can borrow one

Such a small thing, but the timing, the fact he just happened to have some spare goggles..... And the result was, I could go swimming, didnt have to go home, and had a great evening.

Its small things like this, that make me believe there is a God. Such things in life, I cannot explain. I can't explain "chance", there is no logical or scientific explanation for chance..... Thats why I put such things down to God

 

So you're in a swimming pool, looking dejected, therefore leading somebody to ask what's wrong, and finding he has a spare pair of goggles in a - shock horror - swimming pool. And you don't think that's an entirely feasible sequence of events? Words fail me.

 

And please answer my question; do you believe in Flobbledumplingosauruses now? I assume you do, right?

 

Yeah sure mate, I believe in it, whatever floats your boat I guess....

As for the pool, I was outside the pool building, ready to go home, and just before I leftk, the old man turns up.... I dont ever carry 2 pairs of goggles, even though I swim quite a lot.... The shop selling goggles was already closed cos it was past 8pm....... Also, I wasnt looking dejected, I was heading home, the guy asks me if iv already finished... I told him no, and about the goggles.....

Normal people who swim alone dont usually carry 2 pairs of goggles......

 

Well exactly, they certainly float my boat


Is there ANYTHING you wouldn't believe existed if i told you it did? There can't be if you're going to be logically consistent, right?

 

He hasn't really come out with a decent answer to anything yet. I wouldn't hold your breath mate
This thread hasn't stopped being entertaining but I've totally given up trying to have any sort of logical argument/debate considering some of the answers that have been returned!!

I have to and just believe he's on the wind up tbh

 

No i'm getting fed up asking too, i don't think he understands the concepts he's signed up to. And to be brutally honest i think a lot of people following a religion fall into that category. But fair play to him, he's stood up to be counted, obviously a decent enough bloke, but like so many on this planet, blindly following "faith", without any real idea why. There ya go.

 

Yep, I also have respect for persons who stand up for their beliefs and I'm sure he's a nice enough chap but I certainly don't wanna be told that I'm missing out on things in my life because I don't want to jump onto the religious bandwagon I get enough of that from my uber-Catholic Glaswegian gran, I'm gonna burn in Hell apparently

 

The thread isn't even worthy of a reply any more, it reads like educated adults talking to a primary school child.

Funny to read though so keep it up djmisio85, even though you don't understand why rocks have not evolved and you would 'most likely' thrust a sword through the heart of any 'mentally ill' homosexual etc etc

 

Actually, shock horror, it's a pagan festival, as are christmas and easter.

 

As atheists are in a significant minority, resulting in the bulk of the world having a belief of some kind, I'd say the world's current mess is largely down to the believers

No belief required for that, and indeed some religious beliefs can run contrary to that.

 

Which would suggest that your beliefs are equally weird to those of us that do not share them, correct?

If they don't believe, you can't force them to start, and generally it would be easier to explain to them why being bad is not a good thing than it would be to get them starting to believe in a god, especially when the only reason you're trying to do that is to get them to be scared of it.

The Christians have a far worse track record than the muslims. Islam is a relatively new religion and still has a lot of making up to do to match the attrocities of christian domination.

And of course you can show the statistics to prove that. An nice example would be to show how atheists make a significantly larger proportion of the prison population than they do in the outside world. Do you want to have a bet on whether you'll be able to show that or whether in reality, the atheists make up a smaller proportion of the prison population?

Of course catholics don't really fear god anyway, they can go out and commit all crimes they want, ask for forgiveness and they'll still get their place in heaven, so may as well make the most of it while you're on earth huh?

 

You're

 

I'm amazed that's the only one you found

 

No no no, don't try to wiggle out of it. You said, and I quote......

You clearly are saying that Halloween comes from All Saints Day, which is a Christian festival. There is no ambiguity in your statement.

It is firstly a pagan festival, so why do YOU celebrate it?

Geezer

 

Well, if Halloween was seen by everyone as a Religious Holiday, things like this https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...-treaters.html

might not happen to us.... You dont see people knocking others mirrors off when they go Carol Singing do you???

 

Of course, crime didn't happen when 99% of the population believed in God

Can you provide statistics please that show the percentage of vandals (past and present, to make it useful) who are atheists?

I seem to remember the Taleban vandalising ancient Babylonian artefacts in the name of Islam. Christianity has commited intellectual vandalism over the ages against anything that might threaten their power.

Halloween's significance as a pagan or religious holiday has nothing to do with the vandalism.

Geezer

 

Whilst searching for something totally unrelated, I came across this, which is an interesting insight from a person who used to believe.

Their answer was in relation to a question which was asked, which was

"
Stop claiming that believers in Allah have to prove he exists. How about the Christians disprove it?

Wouldn't it be nice if someone actually took the challenge? Instead they ignore it completely. Not even an acknowledgement of having been given any challenge. "

OK, Allah is eseentially the same as Jehovah, but you get the idea.

This was the reply..............

It would be interesting to hear a believer's perspective on this.

Geezer

 

But that's the crux of it, Geezer, that's all the believers can ever retort with, because they know it's impossible to disprove the existence of a God. The guy above is one of very few who have come to realise how logically inconsistent that stance is. He's a rarity.

I also noted the extent to which Hamilton thanked God for becoming World Champion. Just seems so alien to me...

 

Yes, the same God which cruelly robbed him of the championship last year......

Geezer

 

Is it the same one who inflicted a disability on his brother? Guess so.