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 Christianity Etc › Re: Why Do Atheists Attack Mostly Christians? by cloudgoddess(f): 2:14pm On Feb 24, 2016*. Modified: 2:39pm On Feb 24, 2016 |
opeaceo:But talking about it DOES change things, it has ALREADY been changing things. Do you think that if this was 50 years ago, before internet had taken off as a major medium for communication, you'd be seeing the amount of NIGERIAN atheists that you're seeing on this forum alone? Such a thing would've been unheard of simply because the idea that questioning god is okay, and the reasoning behind it would never have been shared. Even if some few brave individuals came to the realization themselves that god & religion are merely a tool to control people, they'd quickly be drowned out by the hordes of nothing but religious people surrounding them. The internet has given skeptics a way to share their ideas and their realizations, not only with other skeptics but with ANYONE capable of reasonable thought, willing to open their eyes. This internet is an extremely powerful agent for change, and seems to be strongly correlated with the move out of religion & religious thought. Personally, the internet was the main source of the information I needed to solidify my doubts about Christianity. And by allowing me to communicate with like-minded others, it also helped me heal the fear and alienation that came with renouncing the religion of my family, friends, and culture. I agree that there does need to be a little more discourse that focuses solely on dismantling religion itself and exposing it's issues, rather than attacking believers as people, just because I am of the psychological understanding that religion is a VERY strong brain-washing force, and indoctrination can render any potentially intelligent, loving, bright, world-revolutionizing person (which I think we all are, especially as Nigerians) intellectually brain-dead just through the fear it instills and the warped worldview it creates. From my perspective, believers are essentially victims of hundreds of years of misled human thought. Without deeper understanding, they're simply doing what they think is right. But there are better ways to live life and to see the world than through a religious lense; sharing that with more people and getting them to understand that is an absolutely worthwhile goal that could really eliminate a lot of religion-caused suffering in this world. Also, recognize that the one-on-one interaction between a believer and an atheist on a forum isn't just between those two individuals. There are thousands of people who view these forums and don't actively participate, and you can guarantee that they too are being influenced and learning from what they read here. 3 Likes 2 Shares |
| Christianity Etc › Re: Why Do Atheists Attack Mostly Christians? by cloudgoddess(f): 6:59am On Feb 23, 2016 |
Most atheists I'm aware of criticize Christianity and Islam relatively equally. But the reasons to target Christianity directly are pretty obvious - it's leading as the most pervasive, influencial, and powerful religious force in most parts of Nigeria and the western world. It allows for so much delusion (modern day "prophecies" that all contradict eachother), misinformation (especially regarding science), brainwashing (of children and gullible churchgoers ready to give up their hard earned money for "blessings"), and all around inhibition of the potential of the human race. No one is attacking Buddhists or Hindus because for the most part, they aren't dumbing everyone down, denying science, stealing people's money, corrupting governments, and all the other unpleasant things Christianity tends to do. 2 Likes 1 Share |
| Christianity Etc › Re: This Lady Claims She Is Going To Hell Fire And So Proud Of It ( Photos ) by cloudgoddess(f): 1:06am On Feb 21, 2016 |
Ramon92: 1 Like |
| Christianity Etc › Re: A Much Needed Explanation of Evolution by cloudgoddess(op): 1:40pm On Feb 20, 2016 |
unphilaz:Well, there were several. At the top of this phylogenic tree there is a scale showing the millions of years ago each species arose. Each hypothetical "last recorded reproduction" as you said, is where one phylogenic liniege splits into two (called speciation). As you can see, starting from the most recent common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees or bonobos, that has happened several times before getting to us - Homo sapiens (at the very bottom). http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/images/evograms/hominid_evo.jpg [img]http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/images/evograms/hominid_evo.jpg[/img] Evolution is a branch-like process, new branches growing out of pre-existing roots. The writings on the left connected to the pink lines describe the new traits that arose along the way as a result of natural selection, which preceeded each speciation. |
| Christianity Etc › Re: A Much Needed Explanation of Evolution by cloudgoddess(op): 1:11pm On Feb 20, 2016 |
unphilaz:Good question! Because all life forms, no matter how complex, operate via the same basic principles. When you go down to the cellular level, a fruit fly or bacteria cell and a human cell contain the same general mechanisms for: the copying of its genetic material, the succeptability to mutations, the transport of specific nutrients in and out of the cell membrane, the copying of itself during cell division, and more. The ability of man to reason and our means of reproduction are both just highly developed processes of many microscopic cells working together in tandem (for example, thoughts and emotions are a product of many nerve cells communicating with eachother through chemical signals called neurotransmitters). A more organized collection of "bacteria" if you will (disregarding the obvious differences in cell size and specialized cell components). A cell is a cell. Since evolution operates at the cellular level, via mutation, duplication, and inheritance (which then outwardly expresses itself over time on the macroscopic level), and since human cells possess the same mechanisms as a fruit fly's cells or a bacterias cells, or the cell of any other living organism, then it follows that we are subject to the same forces. The beauty of learning biology is that you come to understand how connected all life on earth really is. The fruit fly for example was used to study circadian rhythm, or our natural cycles of sleeping and waking, because they too have a biological clock. E.coli bacteria and fruit flies are called model organisms in the biology world because they allow us to test certain things that can in many useful cases be extrapolated to how our bodies and cells work, and then applied to medicine and other fields. 3 Likes 2 Shares |
| Christianity Etc › Re: Female Pastor Preaching With Bare Boobs: Return O F Devil by cloudgoddess(f): 9:14am On Feb 11, 2016 |
It's troubling how offended you all are by the human body |
| Christianity Etc › Re: Do Atheists Really Exist? by cloudgoddess(f): 1:55am On Feb 08, 2016 |
Lol. That's all I can say to this nonsense 1 Like |
| Christianity Etc › Re: The Difference Between RELIGION And CHRISTIANITY. by cloudgoddess(f): 1:49am On Feb 08, 2016 |
This thread is somewhat laughable.. to any outside observer christianity is definitely a religion (involves gods, worshiping, prayer, and dogma). If amongst yourselves you want to pretend you're not, you can go ahead and do that. But everyone else can see that it is. 1 Like |
| Christianity Etc › Re: A Much Needed Explanation of Evolution by cloudgoddess(op): 3:25am On Feb 06, 2016 |
analice107:Every species currently on earth is a product of the evolutionary processes that have been acting on it for many, many years. The process is ongoing, it will never stop until all life on earth dies out. It is happening right now for every species each generation. It would be impossible to directly observe significant changes in allele frequencies in most non-microbial species (lions, elephants, dogs) because their generation times are way too long - major evolutionary changes typically take hundreds to thousands of generations, before any person could observe that, they would be dead long since. However evolution is directly observed with fruit flies (usually drosophila melanogaster) and bacteria (usually e. coli) in biology labs across the world; since those species have short generation times (20 minutes for e.coli, 7 days for drosophila) and their DNA is easy to sequence (simplier organisms = less DNA). The organisms are allowed to reproduce for many, many generations, then their DNA is examined for the expected changes. 5 Likes |
| Christianity Etc › Re: A Much Needed Explanation of Evolution by cloudgoddess(op): 3:11am On Feb 06, 2016 |
johnydon22:I don't think that the people who need to see this most are going to be reading the science section... I put this here because I only post in the Religion section yet almost every thread involving creationism I'm having to explain evolution and it's getting quite tiring. 8 Likes |
| Christianity Etc › Re: The Difference Between RELIGION And CHRISTIANITY. by cloudgoddess(f): 5:49pm On Feb 05, 2016 |
malvisguy212:That wasn't an opinion, that was from the dictionary. 3 Likes |
| Christianity Etc › Re: The Difference Between RELIGION And CHRISTIANITY. by cloudgoddess(f): 5:29pm On Feb 05, 2016 |
"religion (n) - the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods." Nope, still religion. 5 Likes |
| Christianity Etc › A Much Needed Explanation of Evolution by cloudgoddess(op): 4:18pm On Feb 05, 2016*. Modified: 5:15pm On Feb 05, 2016 |
I have studied this topic on and off for the three years I've been in school, and am now taking an evolutionary biology course at a public university in the US. I wanted to create this thread because from browsing these forums I have seen that there is a lot of ignorance and miseducation surrounding the topic of evolution. Many of it is the same false misconceptions that are passed on by religious leaders to promote belief in religious explanations of nature. In my opinion, these misinformation is hurting our people because it keeps us from understanding what the rest of the advanced societies already understand. I want to address these misconceptions so that we can start to begin our discussions involving religion and science from a common ground of knowledge. One of the most hindering misconceptions to understanding evolution, is that evolution is not valid because we only have a theory and not a law. I want to make these two things clear upfront: Laws are NOT applicable and make no sense in the context of biology - only math/physics. and The word "Theory" in science has a very different meaning than the layman's term. Biology operates based on collections of primarily non-mathematical facts. For example, "Cells are the fundamental units of life" "Cells use nutrients obtained from the environment to make copies of themselves and their DNA" "DNA has a double-helix structure kept together by hydrogen bonds" "Alleles are passed on in different frequencies every generation" "Organisms can possess traits that help or hinder their survival" Scientific theories are the most thorough set of explanations currently existing, that encompass and make sense of all of the facts related to the observed phenomenon at hand. Scientific theories are not the same as GUESSES or HYPOTHESES. The definition of a scientific theory is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than that of the word "theory" in layman's terms. People seem to be very unaware that the word has two definitions, so I will define it here: A "theory" in layman's terms is "a conjecture, an opinion, a speculation or an assumption based on limited information or experience, not necessarily on facts." A SCIENTIFIC THEORY is "a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment." They are almost completely opposite meanings. The Theory of Evolution EXPLAINS the biological FACTS that comprise the natural process of evolution. Here are some of those FACTS: - Cells are the fundamental units of life and all of those cells contain genetic material. - The collection of genetic material each organism posseses changes slightly from generation to generation because of mutations and genetic mixing via sex or other reproductive means. - The genetic traits that contribute to or do not harm an organism's survival in its specific environment get passed on to succeeding generations. Traits that are deleterious to survival eventually eliminated from the gene pool of that population. - Over many, many generations this process slowly creates new species - members of a population become so far removed genetically, that they can no longer reproduce with one another. - This explains why we dig up ancient fossils of organisms that look very different than the ones currently living, yet still share some similarities (indicating common ancestry). https://www.creationmoments.com/sites/creationmoments.com/files/Living%20Fossils.JPG - This explains why we see organisms that are extremely well-matched to their present environments and biological niches - and why the "well-matched" organisms of the past are not the same "well-matched" organisms of the present. https://image.vyperlook.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/katydid-camouflaged-on-a-green-leaf.jpg - This explains why habitat destruction or tampering of any kind can be so harmful to wildlife. - This explains why bacterial populations grown for thousands of generations in a lab became more and more genetically adapted to their environment each generation (experiment done by Dr. Richard E. Lenski, Michigan State University). - This explains why DNA and RNA are the molecular units of genetic material present in every single organism on earth, and why organisms that share similarities in behavior, morphology, reproduction, etc, usually share very similar gene sequences. The definition of evolution is simply the gradual change in traits of populations, through generations, over time. https://epicofevolution.com/_wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/evogeneao.jpg Since Jean Baptiste Lamarck published the first cohesive theory describing evolution in the 1700s, and then Darwin (1800s) added some major changes with his discovery of natural selection as the means of evolution (rather than Lamarck's model of acquired characteristics) we have only been finding MORE and MORE FACTS supporting the theory. This is why the theory still exists and has not lost its validity despite the high scrutiny of today's advanced scientific world. This is why it's still being researched heavily in every developed country (the US, Canada, Sweden, Japan, Germany, UK, just to name a few), why the top universities in the world all have an evolutionary biology department (including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Campbridge, Columbia), this is why every peer-reviewed biological and medical research journal has tens to hundreds of thousands of hits for studies confirming evolution: PLOS Biology PubMed Wiley Online Library It is a confirmed fact (to the extent that humanity is able to confirm anything) that evolution is happening and has happened for all of life, that is not a matter of opinion. The very large amount of evidence we have does not point in any other direction. The Theory of Evolution as it stands today is simply humanity's latest and most refined description of that process and how it operates. Thank you for reading. 18 Likes 9 Shares |
| Christianity Etc › Re: If Man Evolved From Monkeys Why Do Monkeys Still Exist? by cloudgoddess(f): 6:13am On Feb 04, 2016*. Modified: 6:40am On Feb 04, 2016 |
bqlekan:Who lied to you? I honestly can not see how you could believe this unless you have been lied to repeatedly. What even is "Darwinism"? Charles Darwin didn't coin evolution, nor was he the only person responsible for explaining it - far from it. Evidence for evolution was already observed by scholars up to a hundred or more years before him - Darwin only discovered one of the most important mechanisms driving the process - natural selection, or the tendency nature (physical surroundings, availability of nutrients, predation, etc) has to allow only the individuals most adapt to survive in a particular environment to reproduce, eventually leading to genetically distinct species arising from different selective pressures. Discoveries that were made after Darwin's time, like Mendelian genetics and the discovery of DNA, backed evolution even more strongly, and provided more systematic and detailed methods of measuring evolutionary processes. DNA, inheritence, mutation, amongst many other vital aspects of biology, simply would not make sense if evolution were not occuring. Not only are there massive amounts of research supporting evolution (and I do mean MASSIVE. for example, every single one of the top 10 schools in the world - the likes of Princeton, Harvard, Oxford, etc - has an evolutionary biology department that goes through millions of dollars in funding per year), but the numbers are growing almost daily. Any peer-reviewed journal that deals with medicine, ecology, or genetics will have hundreds of thousands of hits for conclusive research done on evolution within the past decade alone (pubmed journal: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=evolution. over 429,000 hits). Understanding evolution is vital to ANY biologist, especially molecular geneticists, pathologists, and people who work in species conservation. Have you ever heard of antibiotic resistence? Hundreds, if not thousands of trials in the lab have shown definitively that bacteria are constantly evolving in rapid rates - which is why new antibiotics have to be produced almost every year to compensate for their new cellular capabilities that allow them to evade the medicines we used to use. In fact, microbial evolution is such a major threat that biologists and physicians agree that it could spell the end of humanity if we aren't able to keep up. 2 Likes 2 Shares |
| Christianity Etc › Re: If Man Evolved From Monkeys Why Do Monkeys Still Exist? by cloudgoddess(f): 5:40am On Feb 04, 2016 |
Johny already said it but I'll elaborate a little. Evolution can occur along different paths, divergent evolution being one of the most common. This is when multiple species arise from a pre-existing species, due to natural selection, genetic drift/migration of some of the population, catastrophic events that change the environment, etc. Modern humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestral species. Phylogenetics is the study of these genetic relationships, and phylogenetic trees allow us to view them clearly. Each point between two branches is where the previous species split into two species due to the factors I mentioned above: https://www.desertbruchid.net/2_EV_Evolution_TaskForce_f/Belk_8_16_HumEvo_tree_72.jpg [img]http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/images/evograms/hominid_evo.jpg[/img] Each species shown on a phylogenetic tree represents the entire population of that species as it existed in the past - not an individual. So there was no point where the primate ancestor morphed into a human during its life span, or gave birth to a modern human. Evolution occurs via small changes in genetically inherited traits, passed on from generation to generation. Hence the large timespans required for these changes to become obvious. 2 Likes 2 Shares |
| Christianity Etc › Re: Beware: Don't Add To The Gospel Or It's Invalid. by cloudgoddess(f): 5:34am On Feb 04, 2016 |
But throughout history the "gospel" has already been added to, deleted from, re-written, translated, and edited in all sorts of ways for political and economic reasons, before it ever even reached your hands.  1 Like |
| Christianity Etc › Re: The Cycle Of The Human Life by cloudgoddess(f): 5:19am On Feb 04, 2016 |
bezimo:But be aware science has never disproved the bible. Yes it has. Multiple times. Have you heard of the drilling expedition in Siberia. An atheist was the person leading the expedition, his discovery made him change his belief about God.I would urge you to find out more about that. That was already debunked years ago. Snopes did an article on it: http://www.snopes.com/religion/wellhell.asp Be aware it is safer to believe that hell and God exist and when you leave this world and discover that the bible was true afterall than to not believe and leave this world and discover that you were wrong. Pascal's Wager. Has also been debunked. Because believing in the Christian god at the expense of all other 4,000+ gods that have existed throughout history is also a risk. How do you know you won't go to Hindu hell for not believing in Krishna? A research was carried out sometimes ago in which 70% of Americans believe that the presence of an evil force in this world motivating people to do evil is real. What exactly does that prove? If you took a survey in the U.S. 100 years ago, most people would tell you they believe that blacks and women don't deserve rights. Donald Trump is leading in the US political polls right now, yet he's clearly a bigot and a racist. Does his popularity make his views valid? Public opinion has never, and will never be equal to facts; regardless of how many people agree on something, their feelings do not make it correct. Objective facts are what allow us to accurately judge what is correct or incorrect. There are no facts supporting the presence of supernatural evil forces driving human behavior. The facts point to evil deeds being a result of abusive childhoods, exposure to violence from a young age, psychological imbalances, maladaptive learned behaviors, misplaced emotions, and surprise - religious conviction. Of course, most Americans are not literate in these topics, so superstition prevails as it does anywhere else where education is lacking. |
| Christianity Etc › Re: The Cycle Of The Human Life by cloudgoddess(f): 3:23pm On Feb 03, 2016 |
Avoidhellfire:Before you start accusing me of strange labels, how do you know that the devil or hell even exist? Just because you read it in a book (written 2000 years ago by men who had less knowledge about the world than an average elementary school kid today), and then your preachers and parents pounded it into your head before you could even come up with thoughts of your own? Are those valid reasons to be certain about something? Where is the evidence proving that either of those things are real? How do you know hell isn't just superstition and a figment of human imagination used to fearmonger people into believing in religion? When the concept of hell was created, it was believed to be deep underground. Now we know (because of science) that the only thing under the earth's crust is liquid magma, and an iron core which gives earth its magnetic properties. No devil to be found. Where is the devil? Where is hell? Give me proof, not bible quotes. 4 Likes |
| Christianity Etc › Re: The Cycle Of The Human Life by cloudgoddess(f): 10:24pm On Feb 02, 2016 |
Avoidhellfire:If life on earth is not about waiting till you go to heaven then why don’t you tell us what life is about. Every human can decide for his or herself what life is about, for themselves. Goals, meaning, value, is all subjective. No two people share the exact same values or meanings. The things you care about matter because they relate to your life and hold value to you. No one has to tell you what you value. Religion preys on the tendency we all have to seek easy answers - it takes less mental energy. We don't want to do the work of figuring out what matters for ourselves, we want someone or something else to figure that out for us. But the truth is your life is about what you make it about, right here, right now, as long as you are alive. you know the truth that life on earth is about seeking heaven. Why do we need to seek heaven? What can we have in heaven that we can't have here on earth? And how do you know that whatever is supposedly waiting in heaven will be more valuable than the experiences (like joy, togetherness, love, learning, and growth) that we have access to here on earth? 3 Likes 1 Share |
| Christianity Etc › Re: The Cycle Of The Human Life by cloudgoddess(f): 10:14pm On Feb 02, 2016*. Modified: 10:32pm On Feb 02, 2016 |
bezimo:God never creates a person with defects.The enemy tampered with Gods creation. Why would God allow the enemy to tamper with his creations? Isn't he stronger than the enemy? Couldn't he reverse the tampering if he wanted to? There are invasive medical procedures that have been discovered over the years via rigorous scientific research, which can repair some birth defects that would otherwise kill the child or make its life much harder. If secular human hands and minds can do that consistently and reliably, then why doesn't God? God still allows that so that when they come into the world, they could be used to demonstrate the glory and power of God to the sons of men. At the expense of the child's pain? God lets a child suffer just to prove something? And why would god have to prove things to people who should already believe in him anyway? For instance a child born blind encounters the creative power of God as ministered to by one of his choice servants or prophets and the child receives his/her sight. But there have been extremely few cases (I wouldn't hesitate to say zero independently validated cases) of spontaneous regeneration of sight. And even if there have been a few, it's still a fact that the vast majority of children born blind remain blind for the rest of their lives. There are many blind and otherwise disabled believers who never get healed no matter how many times they pray. Scientists are still researching ways to aid these sufferers and possibly restore their sight. I have no doubt that in the future many more cures will be developed. But again - these are secular human hands and minds doing the work, using knowledge humanity has accumulated over hundreds of grueling years. 5 Likes 1 Share |
| Christianity Etc › Re: Religious Forgiveness Or Escape Route? by cloudgoddess(f): 2:54am On Jan 31, 2016 |
Nubian113:Reading this was very hilarious, thanks |
| Christianity Etc › Re: The Cycle Of The Human Life by cloudgoddess(f): 2:33am On Jan 31, 2016 |
bezimo:If every person is born with a purpose then what is the purpose of children who die 4 days after they are born due to defects? 1 Like |
| Christianity Etc › Re: No Point Being Judgmental; We All Might Be Going To Hell by cloudgoddess(f): 2:28am On Jan 31, 2016 |
Good thing hell doesn't exist  |
| Christianity Etc › Re: Why Did God Allow The Holocaust by cloudgoddess(f): 11:56pm On Jan 30, 2016 |
BrianIke:You just won life. This post needs to go in the nairaland hall of fame 3 Likes |
| Christianity Etc › Re: What Bible Says About Women In Church by cloudgoddess(f): 11:53pm On Jan 30, 2016 |
The bible is full of archaic and sexist BS because the bible itself is a work of archaic BS (along with a few wise words that Buddha or Confucious probably said first anyway). |
| Christianity Etc › Re: God Is Holy; God Is Love by cloudgoddess(f): 3:15am On Jan 22, 2016 |
Lizabeth25:But God says it is right. |
| Christianity Etc › Re: God Is Holy; God Is Love by cloudgoddess(f): 4:06am On Jan 20, 2016 |
Lizabeth25:But is that a loving command? If your father told you you are not allowed to speak in public unless a man allowed you to, would you consider that a loving instruction? Or would you consider it hurtful to your humanity as a woman? |
| Christianity Etc › Re: Nigerian Churches And The Culture Of Extreme Exploitation by cloudgoddess(f): 11:24pm On Jan 17, 2016 |
hahn: |
| Christianity Etc › Re: Who Created GOD??? by cloudgoddess(f): 11:15pm On Jan 17, 2016 |
David0:"Op, God exist, He's not imagined, He's ur conscience" Human conscience has already been partially explained in terms of evolution & the survival of our species. Treating fellow group members well contributes to the survival of the human race and thus all humans have inherited the capacity for compassion and well-doing onto others. There is also a largely cultural factor that plays in - some cultures see certain things as immoral, others not. For example in some historical cultures a woman having sex before marriage, or with multiple men, is not seen as a bad thing at all. |
| Christianity Etc › Re: God Is Holy; God Is Love by cloudgoddess(f): 11:08pm On Jan 17, 2016 |
'A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.' 1st Timoty 2:12 & 13. Is that loving? |
| Christianity Etc › Re: Have You Ever Just Sat And Thought About How Good God Is? by cloudgoddess(f): 11:02pm On Jan 17, 2016 |
timonski:Interesting. |
| Christianity Etc › Re: Have You Ever Just Sat And Thought About How Good God Is? by cloudgoddess(f): 11:02pm On Jan 17, 2016 |
dalaman:Couldn't have said this any better. |
you're passport is non existant that why fvcks don't fly. Pickle dick behind a keyboard getting a harddon from his like and shares.
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