jmog;1602795 wrote:i would venture to say that if nearly every ancient culture has a global flood story, and most of the key parts of the story are the same, that there would be some credence to it being a historical possibility or fact.

There are literally 20+ flood legends across the ancient world. Greek, Roman, Persia, Hawaii, China, Australia, Egypt, Peru, Mexico, et al, all ancient civilizations with global flood stories. So what is more likely? An event happened that got passed down through generations by word of mouth or writings as people migrated to the farthest parts of the globe? Or somehow, magically, many ancient civilizations dreamed up nearly the same story well before the internet would allow copy/paste?

jmog;1602922 wrote:Can you find the part of the Bible that currently states that there is no life anywhere else and that there was/is no salvation plan (Jesus/etc) for said possible aliens?

I get a kick out of people who think that if aliens ever show up it immediately squashes Christianity when the Bible never excludes the possibility.

OSH;1602880 wrote:That's the "faith" behind the believer. Believers have the faith that their God is the "god." The Christian God is also the same God of Judaism. The Christian God is also (by their beliefs) the same God as Islam. Then, you have all the different denominations in Christianity that worship the same God.

To me, it's not that hard to accept the fact that people believe different things (whether that is pro-religion or anti-religion). While I hope there are more in the pro-Christianity side, I know that won't be the case. I also do not fault people for thinking there needs to be something "proven" in order to believe. I'm not that way -- maybe with ghosts or aliens I am. I enjoy a lot of science, much of it is beyond my grasp. But, I also do believe there are limitations to science. There are always things that change. But, I have faith in my God.

cruiser_96;1602845 wrote:Mohican - I should have typed "disregard that comment". Oh, wait! I did!

It is accepting the fact that EVERYTHING is pointing the way of creation from a creator.

jmog;1600823 wrote:Yup, the internet is REALLY undermining people's belief in creationism...

http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/hold-creationist-view-human-origins.aspx

46% of American's believe that God created humans less than 10,000 years ago, and that number hasn't really changed (slightly higher) since 1982. If you were correct, then one would expect since the internet got "big" around 2000/2001 when over 50% of households started having the internet in there home, that this statistics would fall off the map. In fact, it has not.

I am sorry that facts don't support your opinion once again.

Where the completely cell to human without any supreme being's help numbers have gone up (10% to about 15%) they have just "taken" the numbers from those that already believed in evolution but believed God helped it along. They have NOT taken any believers from the "young earth" crowd...percentage wise.

jmog;1603195 wrote:Sleeper, not exactly...the percentage of those who still believe in a God that created the universe less than 10k years ago has not changed as internet usage has gone up.

Dr Winston O'Boogie;1603227 wrote:Sleeper, please tell us much more about how smart you are for being an atheist and how stupid religious people are. We didn't quite catch it the first 1,567 times.

cruiser_96;1603241 wrote:Now truth is defined by the number of people who believe in it? Aye yi yi...

and yes, sleeper, that's exactly what people of faith are saying...chug it all.

Logic and reason...nothing turning into something. Good luck with that.

cruiser_96;1603259 wrote:My disdain for religion has nothing to do with the fact that we are in a theistic universe.

And I answered the God question. Asiety. He exists outside of the time and space we exist in. And we know this because He is something other than His creation. Time, chance, and space are not causal agents. It takes something more.

My nothing to something line isn't stated to be cute. It is exactly what you believe.

cruiser_96;1603259 wrote:
And I answered the God question. Asiety. He exists outside of the time and space we exist in. And we know this because He is something other than His creation. Time, chance, and space are not causal agents. It takes something more.

Tiernan;1603258 wrote:And yet last year when a number of Atheists outed themselves by appearing on a billboard campaign in Columbus the crazy Christians protested vehemently, claiming the Atheists were trying to "recruit". JEEZUS FKN CHRIST!

Manhattan Buckeye;1603270 wrote:"The less people believe in it, the more we can correctly label what religion is; a cult designed to extract money and influence from the poor and stupid."

That can certainly happen, but it is more rare than what some conventional wisdom indicates. All of the charity work, and hospitals and schools seem to be ignored. I would definitely put our money in the coffers of our local diocese rather than entrust any government with our taxes to help out others. We aren't the most dutiful church going people, but when we do attend usually there isn't even a sermon, but rather a presentation on the charity work in the neighborhood and other places locally and overseas.

SportsAndLady;1603265 wrote:From someone who isn't atheist in any way shape or form, you sound like a lunatic.

cruiser_96;1603272 wrote:Sleeper: one of my lines of evidence has been, all along, throughout this entire thread, has been the fact that nothing into something is impossible. You believe otherwise. I get it. But for you to call that line of reasoning illogical and unreasonable seems a slight bit odd. Science itself has proven that spontaneous generation cannot occur. Yet, and this is the truly baffling part to me, you still champion it as if it happened!

sleeper;1603271 wrote:Charities would exist without the religious label and you have potential to garner even more revenue streams from non-believers who don't want a single dime from their earnings going to fund ignorance in the community. I'd much rather donate to a charity because that group genuinely cares about helping people rather than just using charitable events as more marketing for a hogwash message.

sleeper;1603196 wrote:Ignorance will take a long time to cure.