Moved to Boulder. Like it, but it takes some adjusting. The college students used to make me feel young, now they make me feel old. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

In reply to this comment by chicchorea:
You are quite welcome, my pleasure.

How's everything been going?
In reply to this comment by rougy:
Thanks for the promote, man. :

In reply to this comment by chicchorea:
*promote

I like the music, but I love the dancing.

Thanks for the promote, man.

In reply to this comment by chicchorea:
*promote

GEE WIZZ!

>> ^Crosswords:

How quickly it devolves into a conversation about 'self' and the existence of God. Looks like philosophers just became obsolete.

Actually, I think that sums up about 98% of every journal entry ever written by mankind.

Some works of art, even films such as Star Wars, should be left alone after initial release. What if somebody went back and digitally altered Casa Blanca, or Captain's Courageous? It totally misses the point. Not to mention that it is an obvious "dumbing down" to an evidently dumber tartget audience, which does not bode well.

Pretty heavy stuff.

>> ^shinyblurry:

Perhaps some people use religion as a means of control, but that isn't the goal or interest of christians. It is merely to preach the good news of Jesus Christ our Lord. I can't save anyone, that is Gods work. I would call your anger here misplaced and quite irrational. You seem to have extremely strong opinions on Christianity which are not very well researched. Have you ever actually read the bible? If not, how can you hate something you know nothing about?
“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.” - Buddha
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
>> ^rougy:
God, I hate the Bible. It has to be one of the most evil books ever written. I don't have one in my home, and every time I stay in a motel I'm tempted to toss the one that the Jesus freaks always pack in the nightstand.
The only thing worse than the Bible are the Bible beaters, because 90% of them don't want to help you, they just want to control you; they just want to make you feel bad about being a human being who isn't under their control
God knows how many people's lives were ruined by the Bible beaters foisting their ugly, depraved, mean-spirited and ultimately shallow beliefs on folks who were doing just fine until they came along.
“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.” - Buddha



You don't know about God any better than anybody else. It's your hubris that annoys me. You do much more harm than good. It is your heart that is deceitful, and desperately wicked. You should reconsider laying your hangups and shortcomings on other people.

Why did Dawkin's cross the street?

Because God said he couldn't.

*****

“Where ones treasure is, there also is his heart.” - Jesus Christ

God, I hate the Bible. It has to be one of the most evil books ever written. I don't have one in my home, and every time I stay in a motel I'm tempted to toss the one that the Jesus freaks always pack in the nightstand.

The only thing worse than the Bible are the Bible beaters, because 90% of them don't want to help you, they just want to control you; they just want to make you feel bad about being a human being who isn't under their control

God knows how many people's lives were ruined by the Bible beaters foisting their ugly, depraved, mean-spirited and ultimately shallow beliefs on folks who were doing just fine until they came along.

“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.” - Buddha

>> ^blankfist:

I love me some Dawkins. Was super excited when I saw him crossing the street the other day.


Why did Dawkins cross the street?

Goes to illustrate that the whole thing is a scam.

We "win" the Cold War, so what do they do?

They invented another enemy, terrorism.

Used to be a big bad Ruskie hiding under our beds, hating us for our freedom.

Now it's anybody in the Middle East who isn't Christian or Jewish.

>> ^shinyblurry:


Well, as I said before I believe everyone has a God given conscience which tells them right from wrong, so morality is not determined by concensus but rather Gods standard. Whether humans choose to obey that standard is their personal choice.


Good for you! That's your belief and you deserve it.

Now, there are others who think that their morality is based on something that has nothing to do with God, and they have the right to that belief, too.

Both are equally valid.

>> ^shinyblurry:

I'll ignore all your bait and just ask you this: tell me how in a concensus based morality anything could truly be right and wrong?

But a consensus based "morality" is based on a consensus based "reality", and that's all we have to go on.


Every religion is consensus-based.


Whether or not there is actually a higher power that is divinely judicial is irrelevant if everything we do here on earth, on a collective level, is consensus based.


It may matter on the individual level, but even that is based on a personal belief and not knowledge.


(aside from the Golden Rule - that one is based on knowledge)

>> ^shinyblurry:
What is the greater good and how do you determine it? If someone disagrees, how do you determine who is right? To note, I don't consider someone who doesn't believe in God to be immoral. I believe that everyone has a God given conscience which tells them right from wrong.


Your insistence that everybody believe that there is a God, as you believe, is hinting at a lack of your own faith. You are compelled to force others to agree with your viewpoints because deep inside, you aren't so sure.

Hey, Hitler wasn't the only person manning all of those concentration camps. You're telling me all of those people were atheists?

Let's say you and I know somebody who is an atheist. We both agree he's a great guy, and even if we don't agree with him about everything, he's never said or done anything that would indicate that he was some kind of threat or detriment to our society. He has his belief, you have yours, I have mine.

So why this insistence of yours to convince him that he's wrong and you're right?

Why is it so necessary that his conscience be "God Given?"

Why keep forcing your belief upon him?

(I accidentally posted this on your profile, too. Sorry)

Lots of atheists are spiritual; they simply do not believe in God, or the common concept of a singular, all powerful, all knowing super being.

"Just as to say there is no God is a leap of faith. Only an omniscient being could make such a claim."

No. A person only has to say "show me your god" and if you can't do that, then they can rationally deduce that your god does not exist.

Don't hang the Holocaust on the atheists. That's a real cheap shot. Atheists had nothing to do with the Holocaust. The Holocaust was perpetrated by people who believed in God, and believed that He justified their actions for the "greater good."

Your claim of an "absolute morality" is itself a relative concept in the sense that it is your definition of an absolute morality versus somebody else's.

The Golden Rule is a form of morality that has nothing to do with a belief in God.

Doing the right thing should always take into account "the greater good" for all mankind and our world; that does not require a belief in God.



In reply to this comment by shinyblurry:
In what sense is an atheist spiritual? I must also point out that people have faith in a lot of things. Lacking absolute knowledge, and the ability to completely predict the future, you must step outside the bounds of your understanding and make predictions about reality based on limited information. Although there is no proof that the sun will rise tomorrow, you accept it on faith that it will. Just as to say there is no God is a leap of faith. Only an omniscient being could make such a claim.

There isn't a good theory for relative morality. It is basically just morality by concensus which means that the most reprehensible acts could be ordained as morally good if enough people agreed. IE, the holocaust. So, if your moral system can accomodate the holocaust, I think it is time to throw it away. I've found most people have no idea why they believe what they do about right and wrong, and fail to see the philosophical implications inherent in trying to determine a relative morality. An absolute morality is the only kind of morality which provides a coherent moral framework to determine how human beings should act. By definition, morality must be unchanging for right and wrong to have any real meaning.
>> ^rougy:
Seems a bit contradictory to expect an atheist to have a "leap of faith" since the absence of a faith in God is the primary definition of their spiritual being.
What bothers me more is the people who do believe in God, yet claim that they wouldn't know right from wrong without that belief, without some sort of rulebook for them to follow.