₦airaland Forum

frank317:
Why do I have a feeling that the poster will go to hell?

Maybe because he lied that Hitler was an atheist.

ilynem:
So you are just a bunch if confused lads trying to find closure? Oh Good. And oh! The church is not the building. The church is the people in the building. Just so you know.

I shouldn't have wasted my time engaging you.

ilynem:
So you are just a bunch if confused lads trying to find closure? Oh Good. And oh! The church is not the building. The church is the people in the building. Just so you know.

I shouldn't have wasted my time engaging you.

ilynem:
I get your point. Not all associations are religious. But reading through that list, that is something I should be doing as a Christian. As for the association part, we have out own. We call it a church. So my question is, what makes atheism different?

The fact that we don't have a set beliefs that we all accept as true. Churches are for worship. An association is solely for networking.

I unfortunately have no profound answer to this mystery. The Universe as we know it started with the Big Bang. I personally cannot fathom an event from 'before' the birth space-time.

It may be possible that the Universe may be cyclical in nature. There's a hypothesis of one the possible fates of the universe known as the Big Crunch. In this hypothesis, the Universe would slowly stop expanding until the expansion process starts to reverse, eventually causing a collapse. This is unprovable with our current scientific knowledge.

The Multiverse hypothesis also seems interesting, there's evidence to show that the end result of a black hole is eerily similar to what the Universe may have looked like right at the moment of the Big Bang. This hypothesis is again unprovable with our current scientific knowledge.

At the end of it all I am comfortable enough to admit that I do not have a definitive answer to this question.

MrMystrO:
Nice, Although I am a deist, I See sense in your post. But don't you think you would then Run the risk of converting this To a religion, You might find your self building exactly the same thing you've been advocating against.

ilynem:
The irony of your post is that Christianity encourages all these. Except the "joining atheist groups" thingy which is equivalent to joining a church!

Okay, to everyone who thinks that every form of association with like-minded individuals is the same thing as forming a religion. You are mistaken.

The FFRF is an American organization that represent the religiously unaffiliated in legal cases of abuse of religious privilege. We do not have a strong institution like this in Nigeria...yet.

So, what is wrong in a grassroots social club of religiously unaffiliated people like you and me that would help us network, interact, and exchange advice with one another? Even more importantly, what's religious about developing a network to help persecuted freethinkers who are in need? Not every social group has to be religious and I highly doubt that online networking would devolve us into some sort of dogmatic cult.

whitebeard:
can u feel, see, taste, that love..no u can only sense it that love is what bonds u to your partner it takes faith (u can't see it, feel it, see it) to bond with GOD it pretty simple...!!

We know that the hormone oxytocin is released when we bond with family, friends and romantic partners. That chemical is a major contributing factor to the emotion known as love.

frank317:
I am Frank

I see what you did there.

Billyonaire:
I am a global citizen.

I am the Saiyan prince.

HenryDion:
Will your mind be able to grasp the empirical evidence? Will you be able to keep an open mind, letting go of these blockades that comes with atheism? The truth of it all is that life is a puzzle.. A mind game. There are a lot of possibilities. Stop limiting yourself with this atheist shit. . You're MORE!

Maybe you should start by providing the 'empirical evidence' first.

Billyonaire:
Being an atheist is a great step which MUST lead to knowing the facts and science about God.

But for the dysfunctional atheists, there is nothing you can do to convince a dysfunctional atheist to believe in the existence of God. It is beyond their capacity to understand. It is not because they are ignorant, it is because their brain is not equipped to understand anything outside of logic. With a functional left brain hemisphere and an under-developed right brain, where impulsive, intuitive vibes from sub-conscious mind is modulated, what can a man do ? Nothing, it is their nature and until they pay attention to it, it is sorry for them.

By the way, I was an atheist for 10yrs and it helped me evolved.

Do you have any evidence for this diagnosis of millions of atheists worldwide?

onyenze123:
Theism is different from deism

Ok.

I'm more interested in knowing your level of conviction, though.

onyenze123:
8. Deist

Doesn't that make you a 1, 2, or 3?

I'm a 6.

KingEbukasBlog:
Isn't it possible that you may have read a summary of the book online or read excerpts from the book which were used to substantiate a claim ?

You're not making any sense.

KingEbukasBlog:
But how I'm I sure this is your device ? It could be a random pic gotten from anywhere on the internet . Its surprising you guys yap about evidence yet do not know how to present an evidence to support your claims .

The same way I've asked JackBizzle numerous times to produce just 1 evidence to prove Facebook CEO had 'atheist' on his Facebook profile . And though he had failed numerous times to produce proof , he kept on insisting that Mark's profile on Facebook once bore that label .

You can check the contents of the book and see if I misrepresented the writer's opinions.

KingEbukasBlog:
Photo evidence ?

Epub file.

KingEbukasBlog:
Have you read the book ?

Twice, actually.

KingEbukasBlog:
Catfishbilly is one of those atheists who have been cozened to be believe that the different names of God in the bible are different separate gods . He does not know that Christ said "Eloi Eloi ... " referring to El or Elohim . Israel does not worship a pantheon of gods as it is clearly proscribed in their laws and that was made them special and different from other nations that surrounded them.

Before you jump down this guy's throat, I'll suggest you read "Evolution of God" by Robert Wright - a deist, mind you with a very similar theory with CatfishBilly.

KingEbukasBlog:
Lack of evidence ? Because science cannot explain a particular phenomenon means there is no evidence for it ?

CoolUsername ladies and gentlemen

You were asked to provide empirical evidence. You're the one who failed to do that.

KingEbukasBlog:
Well till then . But while we wait , let's take a look other documented causes that suggest that spirits (immaterial minds and bodies ) exists . Shall we ?

So, we are agreeing that astral protection cannot be claimed as a fact for lack of evidence, right?

KingEbukasBlog:
In persons suffering MPD , two or more identities can coexist are the same time sharing the same level of consciousness as other identities . One can choose to see the spirit as a separate identity that takes a colossal level of consciousness while leaving the material mind with a lower level of consciousness . The point is : there could be brain activity showing a somewhat level of consciousness when someone astral projects . I mean astral projection is not some kind of activity that would put the brain in abeyance like you presumed . Precis : you could be wrong about your perception of astral projection and brain activity .

The most important result of the experiment is for astral projection to pass a double blind test. We can then go into the nitty-gritty details later.

KingEbukasBlog:
Do you know about multiple personality disorders ?

Yes, although I thought we were talking about astral projection.

KingEbukasBlog:
How can we say for sure that the brain images prove astral projection to be true ? What if experience is the only means for verification ?

Remember that astral projection is supposed to prove that consciousness can exist without the brain, hence, we should be expecting to see no extra brain activity while the person 'travels' in this double blind experiment.

The goal of this is that the person should be able to tell the contents of a board in another room that not even the tester knows about in order to to prove that astral projection is actually true.

KingEbukasBlog:
That's your opinion bro . Its like saying atheism is bullshit for the insane and violent . Would you agree with me ? If course , you'd think I'm wrong . That's how I see your opinion

It's not really an opinion, there's evidence that the earth wasn't magicked into existence ready-made. Do you understand? Creeping beasts and flying birds didn't come into existence at the same time. Plant life did not exist before the sun. Bacteria and other microbes existed far before any other animal. There is proof today that shows these things didn't happen, Oduduwa did not use a chicken to spread land over the earth neither did Yahweh create the universe then wait for about 13.79 billion years before creating man.

KingEbukasBlog:
There are so many interpretations to the Genesis creation story .

1. Its an allegory : Did God really create everything in just 6 24-hour days ? . Theologians as early as the first century such as Jewish scholar Philo of Alexandria and Augustine of Hippo suggested that the creation story shouldn't be taken literally . There are so many allegorical views of the creation story . Theistic evolutionists (Christian evolutionists in this case) - people who believe God orchestrated evolution - also subscribe to this perspective .

2. It wasn't actually 24 hour days : Historians and scholars have revealed that "morning" and "evening" are used by the Hebrews to describe the beginning and end of long periods of time . Progressive creationists subscribe to this view : God created life and diversified it over eons - millions of years as science has revealed .

3. Earth was created again , for the second time : There is what is called the Gap Theory - there seems to be a some sort of gap between Genesis 1: 1 and Genesis 1:2 and creationists who subscribe to this view believe that earth(first earth) was created and then destroyed by "Lucifer's flood" . It tends to explain Satan's fall and then his involvement in the origin of sin . Gap Theorists believe that "man" for (Pre-Adamites) and other life forms were created in the first earth but were destroyed before life was created and diversified again in just 6 days.

4. The earth is not actually 4.5 billion years but God made it seem like it : I really don't understand this perspective because I haven't gone deep into it for (I've forgotten the name it was labelled) . But the gist is : God created the earth not too long ago but gave it the appearance of a really old earth .

There are so many others .

5. The story is a truckload of l bull

KingEbukasBlog:
Define evidence and what kind of evidence should I bring bro

A peer reviewed paper detailing events that could only have occurred using astral projection and not hallucination. An MRI image brain activity during astral projection so we can ascertain that the brain has nothing to do with consciousness.

KingEbukasBlog:
The empirical nature of evidence is that it is well documented . You can experience these things by yourself to make your deductions .

Can you provide such evidence then?

KingEbukasBlog:
There have been thorough investigations to prove that these cases are real especially of haunted houses . For astral projection , there are methods one can use to actually experience it . You can astral project if you want to . Your experience can compel you to abjure your beliefs . Even people who were once skeptical about astral projection have now recanted their opinions about it .



This certainly does not seem like who wasn't arguing for all atheists .

CoolUsername : Furthermore, there is no empirical evidence of disembodied minds existing and since God is one, it is very very unlikely that God exists.




How did this elude you ? You are the one claiming that it does invalidate claims that God exists while there are those who accept unembodied minds exist yet reject the existence of God . It is expedient that you make that inquiry not me .



Theism is not dogmatic either . There are a thousand and one concepts theists don't agree on .



Your argument bespeaks irrationality ; argument from personal incredulity : I don't see how intelligence , consciousness or cognitive activities can exist outside the brain therefore such do not exist . I mean like you said , you are arguing for your atheism not everyone else .

It's simple, if you believe that unembodied minds exist, then show empirical, repeatable evidence. If you can't, then your argument is completely baseless and so is that if atheists who believe in all that nonsense.

Horlufemi:
All we are saying give us YOUR ANSWER

Are you scared?

This would be my last response to you until you read that thread.

I've debated people on this site countless times, you can check my post history. I have encountered all those questions before. I can categorically tell you that I'm not scared. So read the argument.

If you can't do that, then you were never serious about having a debate.

KingEbukasBlog:
It is apparent your reasoning is poor

-_________________-

KingEbukasBlog:
There are well documented cases of astral projection , ghost visitations , haunted houses etc . Science has limitations . These things can only be experienced . Atheists themselves have experienced these things yet they don't accept the existence of God . Your argument is tenuous and untenable . I believe you think your argument is reasonable because you are oblivious of how these things can be experienced .

These 'well documented' are anecdotes until they are substantiated by the method. There are anecdotes of bigfoot sightings and such but these aren't enough to make any conclusion.

KingEbukasBlog:
The point is : since there are atheists who accept that unembodied minds exist yet reject the existence of God , then your argument is weak . Here is the real contentious issue : why do these atheists acknowledge this type of minds exist yet reject the existence of God ? A reasonable response please ?

How does this make my argument weak when I never claimed to be arguing for all atheists?

Why don't you ask them why they are atheists, then?

This is exactly why I said that atheism is not dogmatic; beliefs have nothing to do with mine.

Better still, they should provide empirical evidence of the brain violating the laws of thermodynamics, they should explain why brain damage causes personality changes, if not, their belief is unfounded. The fact that a person is an atheist doesn't make them immune to irrationality.