MaxInDHouse: I'm not interested in such meaningless topics first of all this is about religion not God.
So instead of arguing aimlessly about God's existence i will prefer to debate about what religion supposed to achieve in our society if that has been settled then we can find which religion that meets up the responsibilities?
Then we can now ask how possible could one religion achieve such a remarkable goal without any supernatural force involved?🙂
"A bi-stable illusion is an ambiguous image or pattern that your brain can interpret in two different ways, flipping back and forth between the two perceptions even though the picture never changes." - Culled.
The most famous is the spinning dancer. However there are many.
These illussions tell us something important - namely -
GEMINI Explains -
What Visual Ambiguity Reveals About Perception
Vision is "Top-Down," Not Just "Bottom-Up": We tend to think vision works like a camera feed: light enters, the brain displays the image. In reality, the sensory input we receive is often incomplete, noisy, or ambiguous. To make sense of it quickly, the brain acts as a prediction engine. It takes raw optical data (bottom-up) and combines it with stored knowledge, assumptions, and geometric rules (top-down) to construct a best-guess 3D model.
The Inverse Problem: In physics and geometry, a 3D object projects onto a 2D surface (the retina) in a specific way. However, going backward—taking a 2D retinal image and reconstructing the original 3D object—has infinitely many solutions. Because a 2D image lacks depth information, your brain must invent that depth to form a complete picture.
Subjective Reality over Objective Fact: In bistable illusions (like the Spinning Dancer or Necker Cube), the physical image on the screen never changes—the pixels remain identical. Yet your conscious experience changes completely when the direction flips. This proves that what you "see" is not the objective reality of the screen, but rather your brain's internal hypothesis of what should be there.
Speed Over Absolute Accuracy: From an evolutionary perspective, waiting to gather 100% complete data before making sense of a scene would make an organism dangerously slow to react. The brain favors making rapid, high-probability assumptions—even if it means occasionally falling for optical illusions—because speed in environmental processing was critical for survival. Essentially, you are not directly viewing the outside world in real time; you are viewing a highly sophisticated, predictive simulation generated by your visual cortex based on sparse sensory hints.
I say to you that these illussions are proof that we do not necessarily see what is there and that what we see is mostly an illussion constructed in the brain and this supports the idea that we live in a simulated reality.
As you know bro these are very fascinating to me and I quite agree that our brains are not seeing the entire picture nor can they which is why we have instruments to provide more information. However, I still don't see it as evidence our universe is simulated. So lemme ask why do you think it is evidence that it is?
BTW I couldn't make then spin in the opposite direction. Is there a method to it?
HardMirror: So for some time I have stopped engaging in debates here on nairaland. It just does not make any sense.
I am inviting anyone who is confident enough to join me on whatsapp video call for proper debates. We will arrange when to start and it will be a series.
Lordreed can you help me invite some of the loudest people here that may be interested.
From here we add more details such as rules and what not.
Out of myriads of people in all these nations over forty years, people have been given testimonies online and offline. None have ever claimed to be faked or scammed them. Your own opinion in one insignificant corner can now cancel, discredit a worldwide transversing races, clones, and times, well-known, decades - long testimonies? You are claiming to be more informed than all of us? Right?
That you think I am the only one to call BS on Adeboye's so called testimonies is wild.
Check any of the posts about him that have hit front page and come back to tell me I am the only one.
Of course my view will have limited influence, I never claimed to be a widely known authority.
Just look at our interaction as a microcosm of what we can expect if we try to dig into these so called testimonies. You can't even be honest when pressed a little bit but I am supposed to just believe it.
MightySparrow: Okay. Your opinion on any matter does not change it's veracity. You are a nobody in your own insignificant corner. This man you criticize has evidences all over almost 200 nations of the world.
He may have doesn't mean he always tells the truth. Even you, I doubt the veracity of what you say, your defensiveness is telling.
iamjavadem: There are different kind of atheists, i believe God exists but not with any religion because I dont know what they up to, I and God have a relationship that no religion can match.
jesusjnr2020: It's obvious he meant religiously in the sense of believing in God for a while or pretending to do so, that's why he didn't continue bashing religion while at it, but only did after he didn't get satisfactory results as this guy.
But I know you too well to only have issues with such when it doesn't favor your atheistic beliefs.
I'm damn sure you won't be asking this question if this one turned the same way but that's you being the usual you.
jesusjnr2020: It's funny you read what he typed himself but yet continue arguing blindly.
It's clear from his comment, he either stopped being atheist or pretended believing in God for a while as this guy while yet an atheist, the only difference is how it panned out at the end.
He was bashing religion (belief in God) again, while the other stopped pretending and became a real believer in God (religious) so no longer atheist.
Btw please spare me all this different meanings of religion nonsense, because you know the exact context I'm speaking from, so unless you're only finding fault because the outcome didn't favor your beliefs this time, please kindly direct your question at the atheist who first tried being religious (believing in God) for a while, before you come here and start asking me jamb questions.
Moreover I'm not even the atheist turned believer as a result of pretending to believe in God for 30 Days, so why asking me? You should ask him!
You are the one arguing ignorantly.
You are the one also not understanding the context in which the word was used.
I have attached some of the meanings of the word and as you can clearly see it means to do something consistently primarily.
But why even bicker? Let's ask Hardmirror himself.
Hardmirror sir, when you wrote religiously did you mean you became a believer or you pretended to believe or that you were doing the listening consistently?
jesusjnr2020: Wrong! Religion in this context is not a practice outside belief in God. It's impossible for an atheist to be religious at the same time because atheist are irreligious.
So this has nothing to do with going to church to pray, singing Christian songs, or even listening to a preacher, as you keep erroneously trying to connect them, but about having a belief in God, because doing all that without belief In God equates to being irreligious.
You can even see how he distinguished it himself, because he can listen to "men of God" and still be irreligious, but he said he even got religious (having belief in God) about it to show there's a difference, then started bashing religion (belief in God) after it didn't work out for him as it did other atheist.
But after seeing that you didn't question how he could become religious (having belief in God) while being atheist as you're doing this one, so please tell me the difference between them, because I don't see any except the outcome of their experiment.
Wrong again. There are religious atheists.
Unless you are now claiming that anyone who goes to church believes in the god then you acknowledge that practice of religion is separate from belief.
Hardmirror wasn't saying he became a believer in god. He was saying he listened religiously aka consistently. You are very mistaken to think he was saying he became a believer. Look at a dictionary and see that there is more than one meaning of the word.
MightySparrow: You don't need to believe me. Your belief or lack of it doesn't change anything. It doesn't validate my experience or discredit or validate Adeboye's ministry either. Does the world run by your opinion?
You asked me if it was fabu, how am I supposed to know without verification? If my opinion was unnecessary then why did you ask for it?
jesusjnr2020: I don't know how I could have possibly said so when I don't see any difference.
That's why I'm asking you the question, because when you saw the post of someone you considered atheist here say himself that he became religious for a while, you didn't ask any questions about how possible that, that's why I'm surprised you're now asking how can an atheist to pretend to believe in God with respect to this case.
You know very well an atheist cannot be religious for a while, and remain atheist at the same time, so the only way he can remain atheist at the same time is if he pretends.
The same goes for an atheist who tries to believe in God for a period of time, while remaining an atheist, that's why this guy said at some point he had stopped pretending, because at that moment he had stopped pretending and now truly believed in God.
This is incorrect. Belief and being religious are 2 separate things that are often congruous. I can be religious and still be an atheist. I can be a believer in a god and not practice any religion. Religion is about practice: go to church, pray, sing worship songs, etc. Anybody can do those things without believing in the god. Believing in the god is an internal state of mind and no one except the holder of such a belief can claim to know such a mind state exists within.
Simple test: is everybody who goes to church a believer in god? The obvious answer is no.
So my question still stands how does one pretend to have the mind state of belief in god?
Ishilove: Peter Cullen is gone. I am shocked and saddened 🥺🥺
For those of us who grew up on cartoons in the 80s and 90s, this one hits differently. 😞
Peter Cullen, the legendary voice behind Optimus Prime, has died at 85. And honestly, it is difficult to think of Optimus Prime without hearing that deep, calm voice rumbling, “Autobots, roll out!”
His voice was so deep and distinctive that, once you had heard it enough times, you could recognise Peter Cullen immediately, no matter what character he was voicing. There was just something unmistakable about that voice.
But Cullen wasn't just Optimus Prime. He was also the narrator of Voltron, as well as the voice of Coran and King Alfor. He was Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh and even provided the chilling sounds of the Predator.
The man was everywhere.
I think what makes his death particularly sad for people of our generation is that these voices were part of our childhood. We didn't know the names behind them. We just knew the characters. Optimus Prime was Optimus Prime. Eeyore was Eeyore. Voltron was Voltron. Oh, especially Voltron: Defender of The Universe!! 😩
And now, you find out that the man behind some of those voices is gone.
Peter Cullen died on August 26 in Los Angeles at the age of 85. His cause of death has not been disclosed.
Rest well, Peter Cullen.
You gave a voice to characters that became childhood memories for millions of us.
MightySparrow: He too is a follower of Adeboye. He believe it.
Besides, the doctor is not the one that had the problem and knew when the problem was no longer there. So I don't need a doctor to tell me that my head is no longer aching when I don't feel pain again. Bro. You have argument, I have the experience and the evidence. No matter how clever you are, you cannot remove my experience.
No one is trying to remove your experience. We are trying to confirm your experience. So if we call this professor he will confirm that a patient of his who needed severe eyesight correction now no longer needs it?
jesusjnr2020: Please tell me the difference between being religious and pretending God exists as an atheist, and stop deviating from the point.
Since you think one makes sense and the other doesn't.
You are the one saying you know how to distinguish the 2. The fact is from an outsider perspective there is no way to tell if anybody in a church or listening to pastor preaching is an atheist, a pretender or a believer. It is not written on the any part of your body what you believe on the inside.
You on the other hand have refused to answer my simple question, how do you pretend to believe in a god and what does that entail. I have no idea what it means to pretend to believe. Would that mean just saying I believe in a god even though I don't actually?
Dtruthspeaker: See it. You are the one lying for no where did i claim to know your mind neither could you show where I said so.
You insinuated it by claiming I am actually pretending. You can only say that if you claim the ability to read my mind.
Secondly, the thread shows you saying the word "pretend".
Re: Atheist Pretends God Is Real For 30 Days. See What Happens(Video) by LordReed(m): 4:36pm On Aug 28 How do I pretend a god doesn't exist? How would you distinguish between someone pretending a god doesn't exist and a person who thinks a god doesn't exist?
Yet, here you are lying that you did not.
The word pretend did not appear in the statement you responded to so here you are lying because this is not the statement you responded to. This was your response and my statement:
Dtruthspeaker:
LordReed: Balderdash. I don't see any god when I look at nature. I see nature. Even when it is profound it is still nature. Your claim that you know my own mind better than me is a nonsensical one, not even worth the 1 min it took to respond.
Now you show you are lying and choosing what you see, thereby showing us how you pretend God does not exist, which I told you that you already do grin
So you are the liar.
Thirdly, every reasonable person can see that my statement on Muhammad and islam is part of the point that people read other people's minds and they discern Truth (the 42yr old virgin) from the lies (Mohammed and islam), so no need to pretend like you did not understand the point
There we go you have now made the claim to be able to read minds. QED
Tenrack: damn. I can relate to everything you typed here sir. Plus i don't like crowded places at all. I get anxious and very uncomfortable. Plus I don't like the light on my face at night.
Dtruthspeaker: Now you show you are lying and choosing what you see, thereby showing us how you pretend God does not exist, which I told you that you already do
Which is why we have the word "pretend" and you used it in your statement
Anybody claiming to know my mind better than me is the liar.
You are such a liar that you even lied that I used the word pretend when I didn't. Liar liar pants on fire.
Dtruthspeaker: You already do it for there isn't any one who has lived in this world who did not confess that when they look at this world and see all of nature, that there is no denying that He Who is called God, created them.
Balderdash. I don't see any god when I look at nature. I see nature. Even when it is profound it is still nature. Your claim that you know my own mind better than me is a nonsensical one, not even worth the 1 min it took to respond.
Christianity Etc › Re: Let's Start Proper Intellectual Debates On Religion by LordReed(m): 9:50am On Aug 31
