Almost every single thing you’ve spoken about in your articles I have thought in one way or another. Good to see it articulated.

The sad thing is that not a single believer will be converted by your posts - They’re too brainwashed. I’ve met people who are very intelligent and yet blind and accept the existance of a god just like a child accepts the existance of santa claus.

If a child talks to an imaginary friend past the age of say, 14, you would send the child to a psyhchiatrist and yet millions of intelligent and not so intelligent adults participate in this mass cultural delusion of religion.

and as for your last line
“the golden rule”
ok thx i just want to get another opinion

Nice
I laughed my ass off.
It’s that everyone has only the one life.
And everyone’s life is the most valuable thing they have.
And you should listen to tool; his songs are quoted again and again by philosophy universities all over America.
I don’t live in America though I live in New Zealand.
When you have too much of a good thing it numbs you.
For instance we all know when you have sex all time it gets really boring.
But a week without and your dieing for it.

That’s not my reason though.
I simply treat people how I would like to be treated.

it is nice that you are a good person and sure… if what i believe is true when im in heaven… and u supposedly being in hell for a nieve decision i might have thoughts about not converting everyone i meet.

but the true belief of christianity is that god gave us a choice to embrace him i mean if he wanted us to… dont u think hed make us?
it is like this would u want ur son or daughter to love u because they want to… or because u force them to?

and only you can make that choice i will not attempt to make people disrespect my religion by cramming it down the throats of everyone i see
as i believe u wouldnt cram ur beliefs down mine. as such i respect your choice… also i am an american and full-heartedly believe in freedom of religion.

i do have a question though… if there is no afterlife why in the world do u feel like being a nice, good person, i mean wouldnt u rather try to have as much fun as possible cause well i mean u could die tommorow and what then? just curious?

now some people take the bible way to litteraly. which i believe is not the way to look at it. most people will say the bible doesnt say anything about it so its not true. often the only way to argue with such people is to say well “it never said it wasnt true”. which obiously sounds like a childish argument.

what i put my faith in is not blind faith i find logical explanations for things and when something is unexplained i dont automatically say AHAH thats god.

but i do find it interesting that such an elaborate series of mistakes that created life on earth all happend without outside force.
and the term “elaborate series of mistakes” is quoted from a well known astrologist.

i unlike most christians also believe in life on other planets. it is never even talked about in the bible. why do they automatically say “god” wouldnt do such a thing?

im sorry i suppose im getting of point but u get what im saying right?

Oh and about the potato, its just a crazy example that I think is completely impossible.
Which in my mind shares the same possibility of a creator, you could say my mind is closed but I refuse to believe that the big bang was just a hot potato. And our all powerful being who loves all and created everything.
His name isint god, Its Goku.

Lack of proof does not prove the opposite. Therefore, by definition, the existence of God can never be disproved. It could be proved, however, if he simply showed up.

The God of the Gaps is simply saying “we don’t know how this can be” (true) and adding “and we’ll never know it” (how can you tell?), and “therefore, it’s the work of God” (just because it hasn’t been explained yet? What about all those times when you said the same, and it was something natural after all?), and, finally, “which proves God exists” (it might, if the previous two ones were correct…)

I’m not going to, though. If you want to know why, I can tell you.

Anyway, at least we agree that it can’t be proven that God doesn’t exist, and it can’t be proven that He didn’t create the world. But I don’t understand… What sort of logic are you using that tells you that the Potato Hypothesis is bull? I think that whatever created the universe wouldn’t make any sense at all to a being who thinks entirely within the context of the existing universe.

And Gnack: I understand that you don’t feel the need to prove anything about God - His existence or his non-existence. I know you won’t believe me, but I think that your very life hinges on the answers to these questions. Don’t just believe what your eyes see or what the established intellectual majority tells you.

[By the way - I don't know about you, but where I live, a big chunk of the sky turns red every sunset ]

I feel inclined to point out that this stance only applies to those with a preconceived belief in God, thus the point is moot. Someone who doesn’t believe in God would have no reason to “explain” the existence of something they don’t actually believe exists ;o)

That would be like me attempting to prove the sky is red. It’s pointless, I have enough evidence to satisfy my belief that the sky is blue. It’s like trying to prove a belief *I* don’t even believe in the first place, if you will.

1: He created us above all other creatures ( How nice )
2: He created us in his image ( It makes sense human rule )
3: He only works through belief ( How convientient )
4: Humans are smart enough to have made it all up ( Nah just silly aye )
5: He never reveals himself to the most devoted members of all religions ( All of them really, so god is the god of all religion )
6: He lets the church decide some of the rules to acess heaven ( Well they are just and nice to everyone )
7: He decides that some people have to blow themselves up to get there others do the opposite ( each to his own )
8: He just happens to be a male and have a penis ( Just a coincidence for a male macho dominated world )
9: He isint real, please whatever you dont lend support to a church or system. ( i.e. get a van tint the windows and umm “prey” )

on children

(When use our God-given freedom do something, we’re really excercising His power, power that He lent us. That’s why sin is so bad.)

A proof for the existence of God that comes from unexplained natural phenomena really ought to be a proof from the existence of the universe.

As for the term ‘natural’ (meaning, as you say, ‘requiring no divine intervention’), I say that there is no such thing. I would ask you to explain to me how any sort of experiment done by anybody at any time could show that some phenomenon does not require divine intervention. Perhaps you could devise some experiment to demonstrate that a particular phenomenon was not affected by God. I would gladly repeat the experiment and confirm your results.

I would call your attention to the last few chapters of the book of Job, where God Himself addresses the question. Job has been questioning God, and God has appeared to answer him. God names a great many natural phenomenon, and asks Job if he can control them, or even understand them. If Job can master the created world, then he will have the right to question God’s authority. What God is saying is that when human science has filled in all the gaps (including, “How did the universe come to exist?”), then human science can prove things about God, such as His existence or non-existence, justice or injustice.

I don’t expect that argument to turn you suddenly Christian - I only mean to explain the Christian perspective on science. For a better treatment of the topic by a better thinker than me, you should turn to the General Scholium at the end of the third book of Newton’s Principia Mathematica.

Sorry to leave such a long reply.