HellVictorinho: And every human being that lives tries to last on Earth for as long as possible by competing with other humans for the things nature provides(The characteristic of living things also shared by humans that is called COMPETITION).
This observation is not the answer to the question of existence. So, what is the purpose of the existence of MAN (since you did't like how I previously phrased it)?
HellVictorinho: Don't be critically stupid!!!!!!! And you shouldn't ask me for the "meaning/purpose"of my existence.(stupid question) I only stated what CAUSED my existence!!! And every human being that lives tries to last on Earth for as long as possible by competing with other humans for the things nature provides(The characteristic of living things also shared by humans that is called COMPETITION). Once again, the correct/logical question should be "What is the purpose of the existence of the most complex specie known as MAN who has demonstrated a high level of intellect but hasn't shown to be completely different from other animals considering the similarity in their characteristics as living things which also involves DEATH due to the aging process.?
HellVictorinho: The question should be why do humans exist?
joseph1013: "In premodern times religions were responsible for solving a wide range of technical problems in mundane fields such as agriculture. Divine calendars determined when to plant and when to harvest, while temple rituals secured rainfall and protected against pests.
When an agricultural crisis loomed as a result of drought or a plague of locusts, farmers turned to the priests to intercede with the gods. Medicine too fell within the religious domain. Almost every prophet, guru and shaman doubled as a healer.
Thus Jesus spent much of his time making the sick well, the blind see, the mute talk, and the mad sane. Whether you lived in ancient Egypt or in medieval Europe, if you were ill you were likely to go to the witch doctor rather than to the doctor, and to make a pilgrimage to a renowned temple rather than to a hospital.
In recent times the biologists and the surgeons have taken over from the priests and the miracle workers. If Egypt is now struck by a plague of locusts, Egyptians may well ask Allah for help – why not? – but they will not forget to call upon chemists, entomologists and geneticists to develop stronger pesticides and insect-resisting wheat strains.
If the child of a devout Hindu suffers from a severe case of measles, the father would say a prayer to Dhanvantari and offer flowers and sweets at the local temple – but only after he has rushed the toddler to the nearest hospital and entrusted him to the care of the doctors there. Even mental illness – the last bastion of religious healers – is gradually passing into the hand of the scientists, as neurology replaces demonology and Prozac supplants exorcism.
The victory of science has been so complete that our very idea of religion has changed. We no longer associate religion with farming and medicine. Even many zealots now suffer from collective amnesia, and prefer to forget that traditional religions ever laid claim to these domains. ‘So what if we turn to engineers and doctors?’ say the zealots. ‘That proves nothing. What has religion got to do with agriculture or medicine in the first place?’
Traditional religions have lost so much turf because, frankly, they just weren’t very good in farming or healthcare. The true expertise of priests and gurus has never really been rainmaking, healing, prophecy or magic. Rather, it has always been interpretation. A priest is not somebody who knows how to perform the rain dance and end the drought. A priest is somebody who knows how to justify why the rain dance failed, and why we must keep believing in our god even though he seems deaf to all our prayers.
Yet it is precisely their genius for interpretation that puts religious leaders at a disadvantage when they compete against scientists. Scientists too know how to cut corners and twist the evidence, but in the end, the mark of science is the willingness to admit failure and try a different tack. That’s why scientists gradually learn how to grow better crops and make better medicines, whereas priests and gurus learn only how to make better excuses.
Over the centuries, even the true believers have noticed the difference, which is why religious authority has been dwindling in more and more technical fields. This is also why the entire world has increasingly become a single civilisation.
When things really work, everybody adopts them."
~Yuval Noah Harari's "21 Lessons for the 21st Century"
Your signature says you don't believe truth is absolute. Is that really how you live your life?
MhizAngel99: How do u knw that there is someone controlling reality? This is the one question you christians have failed to answer for centuries, WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?
Really? Prefacing your question with a lie is not a good way to start. You simply could've said you don't accept the answers (assuming you have truly searched for one). Then you could give reasons why you don't accept them or why they don't make sense to you.
Why not start with an ordinary Google search and see how much you could get... then you could ask questions because for sure a lot of the responses you will get will not be the whole truth.
Requirement: 1. Courage to dig for the truth. 2. Humility to accept it when you see it.
What type of evidence do you need? Intellectual knowledge generally is the union between the intellect and an intelligible object. But a TRUTH is intelligible to us only in so far as it is evident to us, and evidence is of different kinds. Hence, according to the varying character of the evidence, we shall have varying kinds of knowledge.
A. A truth may be self-evident e.g. the whole is greater than its part.... in which case we are said to have intuitive knowledge of it; or B. a truth may not be self-evident, but deducible from premises in which it is contained. Such knowledge is termed reasoned knowledge; or C. a truth may be neither self-evident nor deducible from premises in which it is contained, yet the intellect may be obliged to assent to it because It would else have to reject some other universally accepted truth; D. a truth may rest on grave authority, even though it might not be evident in itself. Here, the intellect may be induced to assent to a truth for none of the reasons in A, B and C. For example, we accept the statement that the sun is 90,000,000 miles distant from the earth because competent, veracious authorities vouch for the fact.
This last kind of knowledge (D) is termed faith, and is clearly necessary in daily life. If the authority upon which we base our assent is human and therefore fallible, we have human and fallible faith; if the authority is Divine, we have Divine and infallible faith.
That's how you should start approaching evidences so you don't limit yourself to only the truths you could see or perceive.
HellVictorinho: My life is not a word in the dictionary. And I exist simply because someone gave birth to me.The question should be why do humans exist?
Listen to your answer. The purpose and meaning of your existence is because someone gave birth to you?
It's high time the "right to bear arms" is instituted in Nigeria. There's no other way, it seems, to push back against these evil sons of the devil ravaging towns in the North. The Nigerian military has shown they are incapable of dealing with these daredevils.
To Nigerian politicians (esp. lawmakers): GIVE BACK POWER TO THE PEOPLE, LET THERE BE ARMS FOR THE PEOPLE TO PROTECT THEIR FAMILIES!
Right to Life is meaningless unless there is Right to protect life. Give us back our arms!
24hoursreporter: Christmas is the most popular Christian celebrations in the world today. Christian faithful celebrate this festival to mark the bird of Jesus Christ.
budaatum: Simple logic should make you see the error in this sort of thinking Tatime, for I am certainly sure that in your opinion, you submitting to me does not, in yours or anyone else's opinion, make my view the truth and your's, false! If truth was as simple as you imply, there would be no need to reason! We would all just submit to the opinion of some "title crazy religious leaders" and accept that what we submit to is the truth. That may satisfy you religious people, but God forbid that we atheists refuse to use our God given minds and submit as you appear to do!
And neither does mutual understanding imply submission. Or are you suggesting that one cannot understand you and remain independent of you!?
We atheists also desire positive accomplishments, Tatime. We just do not agree that your stick your head in one book and condemn everyone else's way and require that we all submit to you is the best way to achieve it!
I had a discussion with a random person offline who preached to me about my soul and the need for it to be reborn.
The discussion went something like this (paraphrased):
T: God exists A: Define what you mean by God.
T: Humans cannot define God. You seek the impossible! A: Then what is it that exists?
T: The Alpha and Omega. The supreme being. A: So an undefined supreme being exists. How do you know?
T: Yes a supreme being. I know because we exist. God is the necessary being and everything else is contingent. A: What is a necessary being?
T: The being without which nothing else could exist. A: I see. But why is the necessary thing a being and not something else? For example, why isn't it something simple like a field or a force or a form of energy or a quantum process?
T: Because there had to be a decision to create something and only an intelligent being can make a decision. A: So do you think an intelligent being makes the decision to create every drop of rainfall?
T: No, not a drop of rainfall, that's just physics--no decision is required. A: So, if the necessary thing was a field or a force or a form of energy or a quantum process then the creation of everything would just be physics. And no decision would be required.
T: You think you're smart but you won't be laughing in hell. A: Okay.
Too often, I find that asking questions rather than trying to pointblank refute theists' assertions is the way to avoid headaches.
I think this is the argument the person was trying to make. Skip to 5:49 mins
CAPSLOCKED: OKAY CATHOLIC IS THE TRUTH AND THE ONLY TRUE SECT OF CHRISTIANITY, THE OTHER CHURCHES ARE FAKES AND MAY END UP IN HELL LIKE OTHER RELIGIONS FOR NOT BELIEVING IN THE CATHOLIC VERSION OF GOD AND JESUS CHRIST. YOU WIN.
What a straw man! I don't know who you have been listening to but you're painfully wrong, thankfully.
LordReed: I listened to her story the only people offering up anything she cared for were Catholics. Are you of the opinion no other set of religious people had good arguments too? Well that would be all well and good cos it would show indeed arguments for religion are generally poor then.
LordReed: The only arguments she considered worth her time were the ones coming from Catholics, the very people in her social circle. Lazy? More like obvious.
Duh.. The only argument that made sense to her, after being a debater and having encountered many other folks at Yale, was that of the Catholics. You could deduce that just like you (I assume), she had never heard any coherent and logical argument about religion, truth, morality or God that made such sense to her.
joseph1013: It's interesting that two people of (assuming) two different sects of christianity are telling me I'm a potential convert in back to back posts. Thank you, Jesus.
I also thank you sir for your concern.
But I don't think I am a potential catholic convert, but then, I may be wrong.
I saw the two videos. The second one caught my attention. The damsel said she believed morality must be objective, then she found out that Catholicism gave her the best explanation. That's interesting.
You know, it's like someone saying that Buhari must be Jibrin, and then encounters the IPOB crowd who provides him with their own (subjective) evidence. He thereafter thanks his stars and becomes a Biafra warlord.
There is a term for what the two of them did in Cognitive Psychology; Confirmation Bias.
I would think there is a logical reason for her conversion. Something like an actual evidence of the existence of the Catholic God, since some sects in Christianity do not belief Catholics are Christians anyway.
Would you be kind enough to tell me why you are a Catholic?
I'm a Catholic because I believe it's the truth, and coherent. I was raised Catholic but I wouldn't have remained a Catholic if I don't think it's in line with what the early Christians taught. Testimonies (or whatever one may call it) often sound bland coming off cradle Catholics like myself, so I think hearing other convert/revert stories makes more sense because they could relate to your experience more than I probably ever could.
joseph1013: Of course as I grew up, I had questions. One of the earliest I remember was asking how Cain had a wife if there were only three people on earth (Abel having died). The answer my mum gave to that and many of the innocent questions of mine at a tender age was that I should make sure I get to heaven so I can ask God myself. It didn't prove sufficient but what was a child to do otherwise?
I have been on this journey for a while now and I can say that I have come to a stage where I can sufficiently say that I am longer a Christian or a religionist. I do not conclusively deny the existence of God, but I can totally say that nobody has given me a convincing evidence for the existence of the Abrahamic God.
From the first paragraph of your original post, it was already evident to me that you are a potential Catholic Church convert! You already have what I think it takes - the smarts, the inquisitiveness, the perspicaciousness, sound logic, genuineness and humility. Having read through your original post (and subsequent ones as well), I am even more convinced.
Now, your issue is not any different from millions of Christians (and non christians) worldwide. The whole point is: YOU HAD QUESTIONS THAT DEMAND ANSWERS AND NO ONE HAS OFFERED YOU ANYTHING THAT MADE SENSE ENOUGH TO ASSUAGE YOUR HUNGER FOR TRUTH! I also figured (I might be wrong though) you are mostly self-taught (autodidacticism).
Have you tried to learn Christianity the Catholic way?
There's a saying that goes "Weak Catholics become protestants, strong protestants become Catholics."
Abbeybailey: The worst of human supporting a Nazi that will hang him on a cross.
You need a shrink. What you have is a severe case of anxiety. Calm down, no one is going to hang you. Your paranoia is impeding your ability to think critically. My heart goes out to your kids who are going to inherit this impairment.
Abbeybailey: Heil Hitler, Heil Trump being yelled by a Nazi guy in a Theater in Maryland during a show. The White Nationalist and Klans are showing their face in the open courtesy of the Racist Pig in Chief. This is sad for America and ultimately the forces of Good will triumph over the forces of Evil permeating the Fruited Plains.
Why shouldn't they show their faces in the open in their own country? Vile fascists like you would rather have them not show faces in public. Meanwhile, you are out in the streets spewing your hate-filled gut.
Supreme Court in Branzburg ruling (1972): journalists have no right to insist on greater access than the general public. Infact, it is perfectly legal for the White House to revoke any journalist's press pass, not for what was said but for the manner it was said.
budaatum: There's one problem. It's that you can dress things up anyhow you like but you can't deny historical and shared meanings and context, especially when used or understood by some in that context!
Nationalism is further oriented towards developing and maintaining a single national identity based on shared, social characteristics, such as culture and language, religion and politics, and a belief in a shared and singular common ancestry (i.e., outdated concepts of race and nationality).
"A single national identity based on shared, social characteristics, such as culture and language, religion and politics, and a belief in a shared and singular common ancestry" means, not everyone. Unless he takes the time to include those who might feel they aren't included, which some claim he's done the exact opposite of.
Here's [url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rally_%28France%29?wprov=sfla1]info[/url] about France's nationalist party. And you'd find here a list of active nationalist parties in Europe. Please click on the links in the links to educate yourself on what Nationalism implies. You might understand why some people worry when they hear the word. But if you knew this already, please state your race, for the record. I'd understand if you were part of Trumps in-group.
It should however be noted that Americans tend to have definition of words that vary to meanings in Europe, so Trump might not mean 'Nationalist' in the classical European sense where the word is synonymous with racism, Hitler and far rightism. I'm open to being educated on this.
All the mental gymnastics just to impugn Trump's Nationalism remark, which he even clarified here:
I have an amazing p*nis. Would you like to see? Hey, good to know you're still here. Has your Trump-induced anxiety and paranoia gotten better or worse?
yahoodotcom: He has the senate and the supreme court . Very soon the lower courts. What will the dem do?
You think the minion could think rationally? You're wasting your time trying to explain reality to him. Those leftist echo chambers are quite comfy. Their brains have been programmed to filter out any information that might contradict whatever they have been fed by their slave masters especially in the media. That's why we call them NPCs.
The left will soon see real shellacking when the SCOTUS decisions start rolling. They will be on the streets, as usual, screaming at the skies.
Abbeybailey: Give it to him good. Most of the guys crying over the mid term elections have never step inside an aircraft in their life. You will think they will focus on the inept and corrupt leaders bankrupting Nigeria. What a misplaced priorities. Hopefully, when the minimum wage goes to N30.000 , they will be happy.
^ This deluded mind is still here? I thought he/it might have committed suicide owing to the fact that while he/it kept on reacting out of Trump anxiety, the President keeps on WINNING!
Where's Mindfulness? Her's seems to be a milder case of Trump Derangement Syndrome than Abbeybailey's. Is she still alive though?
Christianity Etc › Re: My Thoughts And Questions About Religion by 9inches(m): 11:42am On Jan 04, 2019*. Modified: 12:23pm On Jan 04, 2019
