Cloudgoddess's Posts
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damocool:It was a serious question, and nowhere within it did I state my personal opinion, so the snideness isn't necessary. Asking again: What in particular makes pornography inherently evil, not simply potentially habit-forming or distracting, but evil as in deserving of punishment or hatred, if it is merely a depiction of other humans engaging in sex? Explain as if you were speaking to an objective individual with no opinion on the matter. |
UyiIredia:So the definition of ignorance has now changed to "refusal to accept unproven invisible beings"? Because to me, the word would more accurately describe people who tend to believe in highly questionable supernatural ideas based on circular arguments and logical fallacies, and then insist others are in the wrong for not buying it. |
Fadman4real:The world is extremely complex and to think that such a complex creation was done by luck and without an external force is follishness of the highest order. How are natural laws of physics & chemistry "luck"? Surely in the relatively short time humans have been doing science, we've seen that things like the formation of planets and other celestial bodies, the growth of planets and animals, and the molding of mountains and earth, all follow rather predictably from natural laws. We don't know everything, of course, but we know enough to conclude that virtually all of what we see around us happens naturally - NOT with magic. No one ever waves a wand and creates a tree, or prays to someone's stomach and POOF a baby. It would not be surprising, then, if the "original cause", the beginning of the universe, or whatever one would like to call it, was also of natural causes. Perhaps natural causes we do not yet fully understand, but natural causes nontheless. Why would the external force have to be an emotional Jewish God and not the infinite number of other possible external forces that could have possibly lead to the universe? How is it not a huge misstep to jump to the conclusion that the answer must be a human-like supernatural entity of middle-eastern origin who was introduced to Africans by white missionaries? Check out how complex the DNA structure is, Antony Flew a prominent atheist converted after reading about the DNA and how complex the structure is. This is silly. Hundreds of thousands of scientists work on DNA every day and are not religious, party because they know how DNA works. It does not defy any laws of chemistry or physics. Just because it's mindblowing, complex, and difficult to understand, doesn't mean it's magic. Yet you would still choose to believe a lie that all this was created by a random body. This is creating a false dichotomy. The only two options are not either "Jewish humanoid supernatural entity called Yahweh" or "a completely random jumbling of chemicals (which btw is not even what the big bang claims, if that's what you were referring to)". There is an entire spectrum of possible answers for that question (in no particular order): - any of the 4,000+ gods that have been created and worshipped throughout human history (including but by no means limited to yahweh) - a different god which no human has named yet - natural laws that have always been in existence in some form, changing gradually as eons pass (most of what we know scientifically points to this answer) - unicorns - goblins - aliens The list goes on. The amount of possible answers is vast, and the only reason you particularly accept Yahweh is because it's what you were raised to accept, or at the very least, it's one of the very few options your society has lead you to accept (Yahweh or Allah, in terms of most of Nigeria). |
Joeblis:And god could not prevent these shambles because....? |
Serenity008:So then in that case prayer doesn't work. If this bible verse reflects your position then you just admitted that Jesus/Yahweh will do what he wants regardless of what anyone prays to him. Which is what we've been saying all along. If Jesus/God is real, he is as useless as having no God at all. |
frank317: |
Joshthefirst:What does this even mean? |
asalimpo:Zoophilia and pedophilia are wrong because one party did not consent to the sexual act. This is also why rape is wrong. The two individuals involved in a mutually consenting homosexual relationship are not violating the rights of anyone. Secular governments arising from Christian principles is a load of bull. Why do you think the United States declared seperation of church and state in the constitution? Because even the writers of the constitution knew that biblical laws were insufficient for the type of society they wanted to create - one in which every person would have individual freedoms and no religion would be able to invoke their notions over other unwilling participants. The writers themselves were deists according to most historical accounts and their writings. They did not even believe in a biblical, intervening God. Also, Japan, China and South Korea are examples of countries who were not even touched by Christianity for the most part until very recently in their history. Why are they doing better than us in Nigeria? Why are their crime rates, child mortality rates & poverty rates so low in comparison to ours? Your threats of judgment mean absolutely nothing. They are the equivalent of me telling you, "listen to what I say otherwise a large spaghetti noodle will wrap you up and teleport you to a dimension of endless suffering". Yahweh is your noodle. I am not threatened by these ridiculous notions. A life without supernatural deities does not make life meaningless. If that's what you think then that just shows how abusive and manipulative religion is, to make people believe that their existence does not have value if they are not worshipping some imaginary being. Personally I HIGHLY value my existence. Given everything that had to happen for me to exist, cosmologically and evolutionarily, I am filled with wonder and awe. This knowledge also makes me inclined to make the absolute most of the life I live now. To pursue endeavors I find fulfilling, to make friendships and relationships with other incredible human beings, and to experience my humanhood as deeply as I can before my time comes. I can't imagine wasting another minute of this precious life whispering to imaginary friends instead of living to my fullest. Religion is a psychological trap which I am ecstatic to be free from. |
plaetton: |
Serenity008:1. Where is your proof of this assertion? As an atheist I personally stopped praying years ago and my life has only gotten better ever since, despite some setbacks which everyone experiences. When things get bad I might cry for a while, then gather myself and figure out how to help my situation. When my situation improves, I pat myself on the back and thank everyone who helped me in the process (this thanks is always extended to my fellow humans, never deities). 2. If nonreligious people do indeed pray to "something else", and according to you that is the reason for their success, then doesn't that discredit the notion that your God is the only source of answered prayers? Surely if people can pray to anything and get results then Yahweh is not required? |
iamexcelblog:Fantastic and insightful post. |
damocool:What makes porn evil? Is it not just a video depicting people having sex? If you can have sex and be okay, what is the huge wrongdoing in watching other people do it? |
thesicilian:What makes books & videos about sex demonic? Isn't it just watching other people do what you yourself already do? |
PastorAIO:I genuinely don't think he's capable of processing ideas that deviate from his preconceived notions - which he's set on defending regardless of how ridiculous he makes himself out to be in the process. I've personally given up on engaging him, it's a dead end. |
PastorAIO:I enjoyed your entire post but especially this part. We already exist as morally-inclined beings innately; if some semblance of "rightness", cooperation, & concern for the collective wellbeing of our groups was not indeed inherent, our species would have died out long ago. We as humans are, and have always been dependent on eachother to survive. Thus it is clear that some form of morality would need to exist biologically. And of course, we do see this played out in light of the brain. Individuals with a damaged pre-frontal cortex in the areas known to contribute to self-restraint and compassion, display a markedly decreased capacity for sympathy or regret in harming others. Invoking any deity in the question of morality is superfluous and not useful. It is clear just by reading the bible (which indeed justifies slavery and murder among other atrocities) that Yahweh did not grant us anything close to a perfect understanding of good and evil, if there were one. We can already see that the secular governments of today are light years ahead of the laws that were followed in biblical times (like paying the equivalent of a few bucks to the father of the girl you raped, or stoning a women that was found not to be a virgin on her wedding night). The onus is, and has always been on humans & their societies to determine what is morally ideal for their collective wellbeing - with our innate moral compasses as a starting point. Not to mention, the writers of the bible did not come up with anything revolutionary by any stretch. If there WERE some ideal objective moral code, I would quicker look to Buddhist texts which promote unconditional compassion and liberation from anger, impulsivity, and wrath (and ironically preceded the bible by over 1,000 years). Yahweh could probably learn a little something from the Buddha. But I digress, lol. |
Purerealist:I second everything here. OP it's a great thing that your life improved. But for every story like yours, there are 100 more of people who's prayers did NOT get answered - people with much more trying situations than yours. People die by the droves daily from various unfair causes, but God specifically chose to help your financial issues and not them? Also there are many nonbelievers, past & present, who are living fantastic, prosperous, peaceful lives and do not rely on prayer to do so. |
Nope. As far as we know he was at most a normal man, deified by his followers - if he even existed at all. |
Joshthefirst:Wow. You truly do not know what you are talking about. Every single point of yours is a strange perversion of what's actually true in science, and I can't tell if you're doing it intentionally or if you were truly this miseducated. Your ideas are simply incorrect, I don't know what else to tell you on that. You don't understand what microevolution entails, you don't truly understand genetics because if you did, none of what you just posted would make any sense to you. I genuinely pity you, because from the looks of it, you have been incredibly misled and miseducated. Not only that, but you are projecting the strangest religious qualities onto evolution where there are none. You know that evolution and the means by which it was discovered & is still being researched, are the direct opposite of faith and dogma, yet you try to project it as that because you know that faith and dogma are weak means of knowing things. Yet ironically, those are the PRECISE MEANS by which religion thrives! Religion would not exist without faith OR forcefully imposed dogma. You are literally discrediting the basis for your own beliefs. And let's be clear, EVEN IF evolution was wrong, THERE WOULD STILL BE NO PROOF FOR YAHWEH, let alone ANY humanoid magician creating planets & life forms by "speaking them into existence". Your standpoint would still be void of any support whatsoever other than the bronze-age myths from which it originated. I'll just leave this here from an earlier post in this thread. Wikipedia:You are simply wrong. Whether you choose to accept it or not is no longer my issue since you seem intent on sticking to your own religiously-motivated perversions of "science". |
asalimpo:The so called reputable universities and developed countries you mentioned are researching under a false premise. And none of them is the custodian of truth. Go tell them that then. Bring your evidence and show them that their ideas are all wrong and their billions of dollars spent on evolutionary biology are a waste. If you don't have any (which is obvious), then sit down. Countries that condone homosexuality, and similar perversions, all because they are "developed" are those the yard stick for correctness. With all their so called "education" they are clueless and blind as primitive cave men on many issues. What such issues? Please name a few of these "primitive cave men ideas" that the developed world promotes (its very disturbing that you can say this, when the bible literally condones stoning of non-virgin women, killing of disobedient children, chopping off peoples' hands for stealing, and owning & raising slaves. the secular governments of today are clearly light years ahead of that and if you can't see that then you must be truly blind and ignorant). Also, what makes homosexuality wrong? You realize that all homosexuality involves, is two human beings of the same sex being engaged in romantic relations. I want to know how that harms anyone. And "the bible says it's wrong" does not count for anything. The reason developed countries are accepting it is because they don't base their morals on 2,000 year old barbaric BS that claims snakes can talk and that wearing clothes of different fabrics is offensive. They value human happiness over the happiness of made up deities. As for you, you have a slave mentallity, a white man comes up with a degrading incoherent theory of how a mistake created life and so on and because he's white and has some credentials, you swallow without thinking! Why do you keep projecting confused falsehoods? Slavery is precisely the means by which white men brought Christianity to Africa, and robbed us of our native beliefs. Whereas evolution was proposed long after the abolition of slavery, and mostly amongst white scientists who had almost no involvement with blacks or Africans, let alone the slave trade. You literally just made that up. Besides, many qualified scientists have contested the so called evolution theory - evolution is a shardy belief with the scientific community being marketed as science - objective fact. No, not objective fact. Just more BS you just pulled out of your butt. Wikipedia: "An overwhelming majority of the scientific community accepts evolution as the dominant scientific theory of biological diversity.[1][2] Nearly every scientific society, representing hundreds of thousands of scientists, has issued statements rejecting intelligent design[2] and a petition supporting the teaching of evolutionary biology was endorsed by 72 US Nobel Prize winners.[3] Additionally, US courts have ruled in favor of teaching evolution in science classrooms, and against teaching creationism, in numerous cases such as Edwards v. Aguillard, Hendren v. Campbell, McLean v. Arkansas and Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District." And here's a list of just some of the organizations that oppose the teaching of ID & creationism as truth, and completely support evolution. https://www.aclu.org/what-scientific-community-says-about-evolution-and-intelligent-design "National Academy of Sciences Those who oppose the teaching of evolution in public schools sometimes ask that teachers present evidence against evolution. However, there is no debate within the scientific community over whether evolution occurred, and there is no evidence that evolution has not occurred. Some of the details of how evolution occurs are still being investigated. But scientists continue to debate only the particular mechanisms that result in evolution, not the overall accuracy of evolution as the explanation of life's history. The American Chemical Society Evolution cannot be dismissed or diminished by characterizing it as mere conjecture or speculation.The inclusion of non-scientific explanations in science curricula misrepresents the nature and processes of science and compromises a central purpose of public educationthe preparation of a scientifically literate workforce. American Association of University Professors "The theory of evolution is all but universally accepted in the community of scholars and has contributed immeasurably to our understanding of the natural world. [...] The American Association of University Professors deplores efforts in local communities and by some state legislators to require teachers in public schools to treat evolution as merely a hypothesis or speculation, untested and unsubstantiated by the methods of science, and to require them to make students aware of an "intelligent-design hypothesis" to account for the origins of life. These initiatives not only violate the academic freedom of public school teachers, but can deny students an understanding of the overwhelming scientific consensus regarding evolution." American Astronomical Society Science is not based on faith, nor does it preclude faith. Whatever personal beliefs teachers, students, parents or administrators may hold, the teaching of important scientific concepts, such as the formation and aging of planets, stars, galaxies and the Universe, should not be altered or constrained in response to demands external to the scientific disciplines." |
UyiIredia:I looked them up; they don't seem much different from the folks at the Creation Museum. Their goal is to pick some select scientific truths, and then twist them to fit the ID framework, all while providing nothing new or useful, and misleading people who are scientifically illiterate & highly invested in ID/creationism for religious reasons. Where is their research now? What discoveries did they make that are changing the world & advancing our understanding of biology? Where are the NON-religiously motivated papers backing their "findings"? I couldn't find any. Peer review is a bullsh** detector. If a biologist publishes a paper, his ideas are under intense scrutiny by thousands of other researchers across the globe. This is even more true now in the age of the internet. The peer-review process invites corrections, criticisms, and further research. This is how we get closer to truth. Not by believing in supernatural ideas because we want them to be true, and then trying to prove them by manipulating already-established science. And you are incorrect, Darwin's theory was peer-reviewed. Not only was his work rigorously tested for over 150 years after the publishing of his book (& still is today), but before he even released Origin of Species, ANOTHER biologist Alfred Wallace had made precisely the same discoveries as he did (natural selection as the means of evolution). Darwin is the one who gets the credit because he had more funding and resources and thus was able to popularize his discoveries with more success. Through peer-review, the Theory of Evolution as we know it now has been greatly refined. Darwin's main premises were kept, but many improvements were made as we learned more. For example, Darwin had no idea what the mechanisms of inheritence were - DNA wasn't yet discovered, so like most scientists of his age, he thought organisms inherited traits by a "blending" of their parents' traits. When mendelian inheritence came along and DNA was discovered, it was clear that he was wrong in this aspect. But he was still right about natural selection & common descent. Science isn't like religion, it doesn't operate via authority bias or dogmatic belief. Any idea can be revised for the better. Science keeps what works, and trashes what doesn't. This is how progress happens. Religion clings to what it wants to be true, and ignores/denies all else (unless it can find a way to manipulate the "else" to fit what it wants to be true; aka how ID was born). Also, just for your information, Darwin did not come up with the first theory of evolution. A French biologist named Jean Lamarck proposed the first cohesive version of the theory in the late 1700's, and prior to that several biologists had already advocated the idea of common ancestry & speciation. The only difference is that Darwin was the first to discover the true mechanism behind it - natural selection. Lamarck thought species evolved via acquired traits (ie. a giraffe would stretch it's neck to reach higher plants, and that extended neck would pass on to progeny) and he was wrong in that respect. |
Hagm0nd summed it up. Your post displays a jumbled, confused, and highly bereft understanding of history, psychology & human nature, biology, the societal & biological basis for morality, and most of all, what atheism actually means. The definition is as simple as the poster above put it: Lack of belief in any of the thousands of supernatural entities that have been fabricated, discussed, & written down throughout history. All of the odd (and clearly fear-inspired) attributions you make to atheists in this post are only a reflection of your own ignorant, bigoted, & fear-fueled hatred towards us. Which by the way is completely baseless, since nonreligious-majority countries across the board are doing better by far in terms of crime, economy, and overall health compared to religious-majority countries, and the exceeding majority of convicted criminals in the US, for example, self-report as Christian. |
UyiIredia:You are the one arguing for a failed theory. Failed... according to whom? If evolution is a failed theory then you need to quickly contact the thousands of evolutionary biology labs across the developed world (New Zealand and Japan have been doing some great research in the field lately), the pharmaceutical companies that are using their understanding of evolution to creat new medicines, the evolutionary biology departments at Harvard, Cambridge, Duke (ad infinitum for virtually every reputable university that exists), every natural science museum with an evolution exhibit, all the publishers of peer-reviewed evolutionary research journals and the researchers that publish to them, etc., etc. If you are serious, contact them now and alert them that what they're studying is actually bunk and you have the answers instead. This is not evidence. Microbial fossils are just that, they do not show that organisms evolved from simpler precursors. Sigh. If there is sufficient evidence that at one very ancient point in earth's history, the ONLY living things in existence were microbes, then at what point following that history, and by what means, could multicellular organisms have originated? I probably shouldn't get my hopes up here. You're going to hit me with, "ID doesn't tell us the mechanisms but I still know its right and evolution is wrong", correct? There is no known natural process by which one adds genetic information to a species genetic code. Um... what? That is one of the most common types of mutations that happen. "Gene duplication occurs when an error in DNA replication leads to the duplication of a region of DNA containing a (generally functional) gene. [http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-definition/...]" This kind of comment is precisely what makes it clear that you have no idea about the subject you are trying to refute. You don't know how DNA works, you don't know what genetic inheritence even entails, you likely don't know the basic premises behind evolution (I would not be surprised at all if you think it claims that humans came from monkeys, and that non-monophyletic species like birds and insects can give birth to one another). You don't know about mutations -- what they actually are or the different ways they can happen (and that they are NOT all bad -- that is only what biology illiterate people think because the public is so used to hearing the word "mutation" solely used in a pathological context). And this explains perfectly why you continue to hold such unsupported and superstitious notions. It's because you're not actually aware of what the alternative contains. You are ignorant. And I genuinely mean this in the least intentionally insulting way possible. It is completely understandable why someone with near zero understanding of a topic, yet YEARS of powerful religious indoctrination, would fight to support the only thing they do have experience with, as well as a great amount of emotional investment in. Empty talk bereft of evidence. https://s9.postimg.org/zawxtlnwf/macro_vs_micro.png Again, basic biological principles here. Again, empty talk without evidence. No, just more concepts that you do not understand because you have been robbed of rudimentary biology education as a 21st century adult human being, and have instead been indoctrinated with slightly modified bronze-age superstition which is unfortunately still ruling your worldview (and in addition, strongly discouraging you from seeking out said education). https://tle.westone.wa.gov.au/content/file/ea6e15c5-fe5e-78a3-fd79-83474fe5d808/1/hum_bio_Science_3a.zip/content/007_evidence_evolution/images/pic004.jpg |
asalimpo:Do you know what the difference between inorganic and organic is? As in, do you know the scientific definition for each of those words? |
ElCount:Yes it is. |
Buddhist meditation acheives all those things. |
UyiIredia:This reply sucks so much. ID is very useless. It doesn't tell us anything about anything. Everything we know about genetics, reproduction, biological mechanisms, fits neatly into an evolutionary model. We DO know how reproduction works, how genetic codes are altered and read, what gives rise to certain phenotypic features, what types of mutations are possible, and which ones can lead to disease. The ID hypothesis, to even grant it that, has not played any role in discovering any of this, and it doesn't even help explain some of the simplest established biological theories (like the germ theory of disease & cell theory) talk less of the unifying theory of all biology. It's a very sad case of projection when you can sit there and say this: "we are not evolutionists, we don't paint up fanciful imaginary scenarios" when ID and all forms of creationism are nothing but human imagination, inspired by equally useless religious ideas - no evidence or effort necessary. While evolution has nearly 200 years worth of exponentially growing evidence backing it up (which does indeed exist, whether or not you choose to ignore it). At least evolution gets us something. Like medicines, and better food. At least it gives us something tangible, applicable, and useful. At the very least, evolution has something to show for, whether or not you accept all of it's premises. Intelligent design, however, is absolutely devoid of any productive impact. It does nothing at all, except give the religious something to cling to that doesn't look as foolish as regular old creationism, but still comes pretty close. Classifying ID as science would be like classifying bushmeat as a gourmet dish. |
UyiIredia:Declaring your beliefs as true does not make them true. Show me the peer-reviewed journal. Hell, show me a single peer-reviewed research paper. Show me a science textbook still in use that even mentions ID as anything other than a fancy creation myth. |
ElCount:You are exceedingly ignorant, and your ignorance is a huge insult to paleontologists across the globe. Fossils are not bones, they are rock. Mineral that settled into the bones of dead organisms, and then hardened, preserving the shape of the original bone, which, since it is living tissue, would have perished long before the fossil was formed. The fossil record tells us extremely valuable information about not only WHAT existed, but WHEN. See, the earth's crust was formed in a way such that older rocks are found in lower strata, and more recently formed rock is found in higher strata. This means that the lower we go, the older the rock we're coming in contact with, and thus, the older the fossils we find will be. All fossils that have yet been found, support the exact type of organization predicted by evolution. Ancestral species are found in lower strata, newly evolved species are found in higher strata. Despite the fact that fossils for every single species that has ever existed have not been found (which is impossible anyway because not every organism fossilizes, in fact most do not given the specific conditions necessary for it to occur), all the ones that HAVE (hundreds of thousands) were found in the expected strata, and on the expected continents (confirming the expected genetic isolation of certain species & their past lineages as well). |
ElCount:Or with a microscope, or with scientific tools, or with any means that we use to detect what exists in reality. So my question for you is, how do you personally know that a soul exists? |
Joshthefirst:Unfortunately your post is a brilliant rebuttal of itself. Not even remotely. Your understanding of what you're trying to argue against is so poor though, that it's easy to see why you'd be confused. According to the evolution theory after long periods of time radical changes to the genome bring about development of more complex species. There is no evidence for this YES there is. See the graded fossil record and geological information on early earth - the vast majority of present day organisms, especially the more complex ones, WOULD NOT be able to survive in the environment in which life first arose. Only microbes could exist in such harsh environments, and as the fossil record shows us, ONLY microbial fossils are found in rock dated ~4 billion years old. This is exactly what we would expect to see if the common ancestor prediction were correct. And if more complex species are essentially species with more genetic material, and more specialized features as a result of that genetic material, then simpler genetic codes, subject to processes like gene duplication, mutation, and other means of alteration, can certainly give rise to more complex DNA, & thus more complex species. This is not a difficult concept to grasp. Pre-existing genetic information cannot lead to the massive systemic macro-changes defined by Darwinian macro-evolution. YES it can when given sufficient time. Macro-evolution is literally just microevolution, on much larger time scales. Between year 1 and 1,000 you might not see more than a few handfuls of changes made to the genome. This is microevolution. But between year 1 and 1 million, you will see massive changes. That is macroevolution. Insects will still be insects after millions of years. Reptiles will not become aves, and reptiles will not become mammals. No, not necessarily. Under the correct conditions, species will speciate, PERIOD. Your uninformed and close-minded view of what an animal can and cannot become after millions of years of genetic modification is irrelevant to the facts. Labels like "horse" and "dog" are arbitrary, these names do not create boundaries for within which evolution must operate. There is no mechanism that halts evolution past a certain point. If the pre-existing genetic information and the environments under which this information is selected allows it, and sufficient time is allowed, a species will speciate. Traits will be gained and lost, morphologies will change, reproductive methods may be altered. That is all speciation is. |
asalimpo:But those organism's didnt come out of nowhere and from nothing. No one is claiming it did. Mold spores are present in the air we breath, just like bacteria. When a spore meets a food source, it physically lands on the food source, begins to break it down chemically, and the raw materials are used to fuel the spore's growth into mature mold. How is that anything other than chemical reactions? Besides, putting rice in an aneorobic, sterilized container will see no organism forming,except those that can thrive anaerobically. isnt that how canned food is marketed . Yes, most science literate people are aware of this and why it is so. If the container is sterilized and blocked, no spores or bacteria can enter and carry out the chemical reactions necessary for their reproduction. I don't see how this bit supported your point in any way. |
truthman2012:You're talking as if the bible is not just as chock-full of contradictions. You and OP need to carefully read your own book before you start criticizing the Qu'ran, they are both far more similar than they are different. Exodus 21:20 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money. Deuteronomy 21:15 "If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved," |
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