Flaw my logic. Please.

College Confidential Community
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<p>

Haha! That's a great outlook. </p>

<p>Mine used to be "If God is this amazing benevolent guy, he's totally not gonna make me burn in Hell just because I don't believe in Him." So I felt pretty safe not believing in Him, lol.</p>

<p>Unlike Pascal, who came up with Pascal's Wager (AKA Pascal's Gambit) (AKA the dumbest and most overused fallacy in theology... no offense, Pascal):

[quote]
Yes; but you must wager. It is not optional. You are embarked. Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see which interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true and the good; and two things to stake, your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun, error and misery. Your reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather than the other, since you must of necessity choose. This is one point settled. But your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.

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<p>Paraphrased:

[quote]
If you don't believe in God: you'll lose nothing if He doesn't exist, but you'll be punished infinitely if He does.<br>
If you believe in God: if He doesn't exist, you'll have lost nothing; but if He does, you'll have gained everything (eternal happiness.)<br>
It's a coin toss, so believe in God to be on the safe side!!!!

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<p>:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:</p>

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<p>Lol, I'm sure a being like God would see right through that.</p>

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<p>Hahaha, hopefully.</p>

<p>Oh, and there's a great Marcus Aurelius quotation that summarizes my former attitude toward the whole thing (until I decided that the chances of a higher power existing were so marginal that it would only be logical to assume that none existed):

[quote]
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.

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<p>A nice thought, I think, no matter where you stand on the spectrum of belief. :)</p>

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<p>"Why do you believe in God?"</p>

<p>Everything has to come from something, right? Including the universe. Either way you slice it, whether you believe in God or don't believe in God, there is no proof. I believe that a superior being (which I believe to be God) created the universe and everything in it. </p>

<p>Another reason is because of the fact that we, as humans, are constantly searching for something more. More knowledge, more love, more beauty, more of everything. And no matter how much of those things we have, we always want more. I believe that the reason for this is that we are wanting something that nothing on this earth can give, and only the one who created this whole universe, God, can give us. We're constantly searching for something. Why would there be nothing to search for?</p>

<p>On topic of this thread: I take evolution as fact. I don't know any religious people who don't, actually.</p>

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<p>Has anyone read a book called, "The God Delusion", don't quote me on the spelling.</p>

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<p>why I gotta have religion if I believe in God
why is bush actin like he tryna get osama
why dont we impeach him, and elect obama
why aint rick james remembered for classic hits
why do we remember rick for smacking a *****</p>

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<p>
[quote]

Everything has to come from something, right? Including the universe. Either way you slice it, whether you believe in God or don't believe in God, there is no proof. I believe that a superior being (which I believe to be God) created the universe and everything in it.

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<p>Where does God come from?</p>

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<p>I've read The God Delusion. It's an incredible read. I'm actually not an atheist though because I believe in Richard Dawkins.</p>

<p>Oh and I love how religious people get so offended by someone disagreeing with your shizit. Come on. I don't think religious individuals should be attacked personally, but any belief is subject to not only investigation, but then dissection, and ultimately, mocking. Seriously, what makes Moses and Jesus so different from Cupid and Thor? Here's the answer (and the great cop-out): It's faith.</p>

<p>Finally, on this spirits crap, that's just the worst. You're not psychic and no one in your family is either. You're hallucinating, offering paranormal explanations while ignoring more realistic ones, or engaging in confirmation bias (all this death prognostication). I love how on these paranormal shows, it's never a ghost just up in your grill, hanging out, talking. No, it's hazy lights or readings on EMF machines (WThe?). And finally, if spirits are incorporeal (non-physical), how can they interact with the physical world? </p>

<p>One more: If we all have a spirit or a soul, where exactly is it? Like where are souls located? Sylvia Browne (one of your heroes I'm sure) believes spirits reside in an alternate dimension 3 ft off the ground (that's actually a quote and she has loads of best selling books, which makes me so sad for this country).</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Sylvia Browne (one of your heroes I'm sure)

[/quote]

I know Sylvia Brown is a fraud (most people do). Most psychics are frauds. </p>

<p>
[quote]
You're not psychic and no one in your family is either.

[/quote]

Do you know me? Do you know my family? Probably not. </p>

<p>Just as a personal note, do not call other people's beliefs crap. It does nothing to help your cause and it merely makes you look ignorant. Make your point without putting others down.</p>

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<p>I think there is something to that psychic stuff. A member of my family has had dreams a few times throughout his life that in one way or another 'predicted' an event, but not so directly as people think. </p>

<p>IMO, has something to do with energy. That's really all I know about it. I don't believe they are some 'magical powers,' but rather some people naturally have a hightened sense, possibly giving the ability to read these 'energies' more efficiently than most. </p>

<p>But that's the only person that I will ever believe without hard evidence. Everyone else is a hoax as far as I'm concerned.</p>

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<p>Horrible argument #1: Evolution is only a theory, not a fact. Therefore, I have the freedom to choose to either believe or not believe in this shaky idea.</p>

<p>Dr. Ken Miller said it best: theories are never going to one day magically be upgraded to facts, because theories are better than facts. Theories explain why facts are the way they are, because facts by themselves are meaningless. Atomic theory will never be one day be "promoted" to atomic fact. </p>

<p>Evolution theory is as solid as they come. It's not just some "what if" scenario bantered around during scientists' happy hour.</p>

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<p>"Where does God come from?"</p>

<p>If God created everything, then He was always there. That is the general belief, with God: that He always existed and always will exist.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Everything has to come from something, right? Including the universe. Either way you slice it, whether you believe in God or don't believe in God, there is no proof. I believe that a superior being (which I believe to be God) created the universe and everything in it.</p>

<p>Another reason is because of the fact that we, as humans, are constantly searching for something more. More knowledge, more love, more beauty, more of everything. And no matter how much of those things we have, we always want more. I believe that the reason for this is that we are wanting something that nothing on this earth can give, and only the one who created this whole universe, God, can give us. We're constantly searching for something. Why would there be nothing to search for?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That's a perfectly fine viewpoint of the world. It's just that some idiots think that that kind of outlook gives them license to threaten abortion doctors, or wage pointless holy/cultural wars in order to give their boring lives some purpose.</p>

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<p>Basically everyone who refutes evolution are christian conservatives, they cannot believe in evolution because it goes against what is said in the bible (man made out of mud...or whatever). </p>

<p>Here is the problem with conservative science: because all of their "facts" come from the Bible, the all powerful and all knowing good book, if people can prove that there is one incorrect piece of information, that basically throws out the entire bible! They only rely on one book, so when science proves that something isn't how the bible says it is (which has been done many times), basically the entire bible is scientifically worthless and christian conservative arguments go out the window.</p>

<p>That is not how it works in "real" science. Things are constantly 'proved' and 'disproved', the difference is that scientists don't rely on a single book, in fact science progresses from the very act of changing data and conflicts of hypothesis. </p>

<p>Now, a lot of people here say that evolution is as much of a fact as "it gets". That certainly isn't true. We do not know everything about evolution, there are pieces of data we cannot explain. this is when christian conservatives harp up and say "Hah! you can't explain everything, therefore you must be wrong!".</p>

<p>The problem is that christians think they can use the same argument against scientists: one thing is wrong or not fully understood: therefore the whole theory has to be completely thrown out. That's not how it works in real science...that is why we don't base our entire hypothesis, theories, data, etc on just one book!</p>

<p>To review: Because Creationist christians use the bible as their sole source of scientific data, proving one piece of that book to be incorrect basically destroys the legitimacy of the whole thing. However, true science thrives on the idea that we in fact don't know everything, and use that to formulate new ideas to understand our universe. Christians think they can use the same argument against scientists as scientists use against christians, that is why they have a fit and cry bloody murder when one piece of evidence doesn't fit!</p>

<p>It doesn't work that way creationists! Pointing out that one piece of evolution doesn't seem to fit doesn't throw out the entire theory! One piece of data against what the bible says does, however, throw out the legitimacy of the Christian beliefs because that is supposedly the WORD OF GOD, so christians can't stand to have even just one piece of that book be contested. </p>

<p>I'm not even gonna respond to the OP's question because it is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard.</p>

<p>...note: i use 'christian' to denote those who belief in creationism and dismiss evolution. Obviously not all christians believe in that, and it was easier than writing "Christians who believe in creationist ideals..." each time.</p>

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<p>
[quote]

If God created everything, then He was always there. That is the general belief, with God: that He always existed and always will exist.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It's just as reasonable to say that the universe always existed. No creator necessary.</p>

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<p>Lima beans.</p>

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<p>Spirits don't exist and descent with modification is a fact. Not accepting that is on par with rejecting that the earth revolves around the sun. Whether you choose to say "evolution is a theory lol" because you haven't taken a sixth-grade science class which explains what a theory is doesn't mean that the facts upon which the theory is based and among which it seeks to establish order aren't incontrovertible and overwhelming.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Spirits don't exist

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</p>

<p>Can you prove that?</p>

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<p>"Can you prove that?"</p>

<p>Sorry, but the burden of proof lies on you. The onus is on YOU to provide evidence for the existence of spirits.</p>

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<p>God, I hate people who dont seem to understand that burden of proof lies with someone to prove that something exists, not that it doesnt exist. </p>

<p>I am coming forth claiming to be the reincarnation of christ. Prove that i'm not! Until then, bow to my will!</p>

<p>it's so stupid.</p>