Why do Atheists Bother?

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Dan_473

Senior Member
Mar 11, 2014
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Sweet! Now if I understand correctly you are an atheist, correct?
Explain how you have have power of acting without any constraint, in your philosophy?
Well put... and, I invite any other atheists to chime in here... any who say they can act "without the constraint of necessity or fate".
 
Aug 30, 2014
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Sweet! Now if I understand correctly you are an atheist, correct?
Explain how you have have power of acting without any constraint, in your philosophy?
Yes, I am an atheist. I don't know why I wouldn't be able to act without any constraint. I weigh factors, I analyze consequences of wither decisions. I am not just a circuit with an on off switch. Yes, decisions are made by the brain, but people can even choose to influence their brain. That's the whole point of meditation. I think the question would be easier to answer if I knew why you object to free will on a pragmatic level.
 
Aug 30, 2014
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"Me being a pragmatist, I recognize that at a given time, yes, I could decide to go left instead of right without any factor changing."

Thanks for the reply!
So, seriously? Does a light bulb decide if it's going to turn on or off? Or is that determined by other factors... how is your brain different (aside from being a lot more complex)?
Your brain is different in many ways. Can a light switch tell itself to turn on? No, but a person who is feeling down in the dumps can make the decision to find something to cheer themselves up. We have fields of study dedicated to development and how certain things affect the brain. The brain can will itself to change itself more or less. And it all happens on a level more complex than I can honestly say I understand. The further I look into it, the more questions I will have to answer "I don't know." But on the level I can grasp, if a light bulb and its circuit were the only things in the room, I know it is not going to just flip on and off. A human ina room all by itself can go through all kinds of thoughts, make all kinds of decisions, etc. without any outside influence.
 
Jun 30, 2011
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I would say the same reason false religions bother - self justification

They reject the Cornerstone = Jesus Christ
 
Feb 16, 2014
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I see that no one wanted to answer my lucy question, on how far the bones were found from each other :(

Also percepi I provided you with a link from a college of law, saying that it was to be used in the court room in the Scopes trial.
My question is, if it is going to be used in the court room, how could it not be accepted by the science community? Isn't a court of Law supposed to be truth only???
Nowhere in the link provided was Nebraska man mentioned.
 
Dec 6, 2014
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I just scrolled several pages back. I feel a bit awkward... Objectively speaking, the atheists responding to the Christians are actually making really good points. From the evolution topic, to the why talk about something you don't believe in... Then when one point is made, the topic is derailed with something else.

I may disagree with them, but it kind of makes me sad that people aren't really understanding their point of view (even if they too disagree). Even if you disagree with them (in beliefs/faith), is it possible to be objective and know when they do make excellent points? And if it is, why are there still such petty arguments: why bother if you don't believe, man evolved from a apes/tigers (evolutionists don't even believe that... they believe man has a common ancestor)...
 
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T_Laurich

Senior Member
Mar 24, 2013
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Yes, I am an atheist. I don't know why I wouldn't be able to act without any constraint. I weigh factors, I analyze consequences of wither decisions. I am not just a circuit with an on off switch. Yes, decisions are made by the brain, but people can even choose to influence their brain. That's the whole point of meditation. I think the question would be easier to answer if I knew why you object to free will on a pragmatic level.
The problem is, if God didn't create you with free will, and the universe created you out of randomness...

How do you know that you have free will, or are you illusion-ed/ enchanted by the preset characteristics of your personality given to you through natural selection...
How can the universe create freewill, and how can you prove that you have free will?
 
Aug 25, 2013
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I see that no one wanted to answer my lucy question, on how far the bones were found from each other :(
Guess you missed it. I responded in post 544. For your convenience I repost below:

"I don't know off hand. Remains were often torn apart by scavengers before being buried. In any case it is irrelevant. Features pointing to bipedalism are present in different parts of the skeleton, not just the knee.

Other remains of A. afarensis have also been found and they too point to bipedalism. Lucy is not the only example we have of this species."


I suppose your point was that the bones might not belong to the same individual? Such remains are very rare and the odds are that the bones belonged together.
 
Aug 25, 2013
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The problem is, if God didn't create you with free will, and the universe created you out of randomness...

How do you know that you have free will, or are you illusion-ed/ enchanted by the preset characteristics of your personality given to you through natural selection...
How can the universe create freewill, and how can you prove that you have free will?
Ah, that is what this is about.

I have no reason to think we don't have free will. My brain is my own and I make my own decisions and my decision making comes exclusively from my brain. That we have evolved this way makes perfect sense.

Sorry T_Laurich, I don't see that you have a case with any substance.
 

T_Laurich

Senior Member
Mar 24, 2013
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Ah, that is what this is about.

I have no reason to think we don't have free will. My brain is my own and I make my own decisions and my decision making comes exclusively from my brain. That we have evolved this way makes perfect sense.

Sorry T_Laurich, I don't see that you have a case with any substance.
How do you know that you have free will, and it's not an illusion? You have not answered the question...
 

T_Laurich

Senior Member
Mar 24, 2013
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Nowhere in the link provided was Nebraska man mentioned.
not accepted by science... Lies
HESPEROPITHECUS,THE FIRST ANTHROPOID PRIMATE FOUND IN AMERICA




You might find these interesting...
What shall we do with the Nebraska tooth? Shall we destroy it because it jars our long preconceived notion that the family of manlike apes never reached the western world . . . ? Or shall we continue our excavations, difficult and baffling as they are, in the confident hope, inspired by the admonition of Job, that if we keep speaking to the earth we shall in time hear a more audible and distinct reply? Certainly we shall not banish this bit of Truth because it does not fit in with our preconceived notions and because at present it constitutes infinitesimal but irrefutable evidence that the man-apes wandered over from Asia into North America. (Osborn, 1925a, pp. 800-801)
What! is that Osborn talking about getting rid of what they were going to use as evidence... Man you atheists play by the rules...
 
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Aug 25, 2013
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How do you know that you have free will, and it's not an illusion? You have not answered the question...
How do you know you are not hooked-up to the Matrix and the world you think you experience is not simply a sophisticated program? Prove to me that you really do possess free will and that the Matrix does not exist. Now I am asking the same thing of you that you are asking of me. Do you now see how silly this is?

However, let's try a different approach. You believe you have free will. You believe God gave this to you. I believe there is no God, that rather we are all the product of evolution, and if we think we experience free will, as we both apparently do, then it is not really that you doubt I have free will, rather this is your most recent effort to attack evolution. In my mind evolution is a fiat-accompli. You cannot start to convince me that evolution cannot produce the free will that you think God has given us, unless you can first convince me God is real.
 
Aug 25, 2013
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You might find these interesting...

"What shall we do with the Nebraska tooth? Shall we destroy it because it jars our long preconceived notion that the family of manlike apes never reached the western world . . . ? Or shall we continue our excavations, difficult and baffling as they are, in the confident hope, inspired by the admonition of Job, that if we keep speaking to the earth we shall in time hear a more audible and distinct reply? Certainly we shall not banish this bit of Truth because it does not fit in with our preconceived notions and because at present it constitutes infinitesimal but irrefutable evidence that the man-apes wandered over from Asia into North America. (Osborn, 1925a, pp. 800-801) "
T_Laurich, Osborn did continue excavations and discovered that his tooth was a badly worn "fossil of an extinct species of peccary called Prosthennops serus." He issued a retraction in 1927. (Wikipedia: Nebraska Man) As it turned out his many scientific detractor were right.


T_Laurich said:
What! is that Osborn talking about getting rid of what they were going to use as evidence... Man you atheists play by the rules...
You are reading it wrong. He was not talking about the Scopes Trial. The scientific community did not believe hominids had reached the New World, but Osborn thought he’d found evidence to the contrary. So in this exposition he asks, Should he ignore the evidence he believed he’d found to protect the notion that hominids had not reached the New World? Sadly for him within two years of writing the statement you quoted from he had to admit he’d been wrong and issued a retraction. You are barking up the wrong tree.
 

T_Laurich

Senior Member
Mar 24, 2013
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How do you know you are not hooked-up to the Matrix and the world you think you experience is not simply a sophisticated program? Prove to me that you really do possess free will and that the Matrix does not exist. Now I am asking the same thing of you that you are asking of me. Do you now see how silly this is?

However, let's try a different approach. You believe you have free will. You believe God gave this to you. I believe there is no God, that rather we are all the product of evolution, and if we think we experience free will, as we both apparently do, then it is not really that you doubt I have free will, rather this is your most recent effort to attack evolution. In my mind evolution is a fiat-accompli. You cannot start to convince me that evolution cannot produce the free will that you think God has given us, unless you can first convince me God is real.
I am not asking about solipsism, so don't create a straw man.

I am not attacking evolution... Read the conversation that me and Leannaix were having....


To your post, you have not shown any proof that you have free-will and now you play a no-true Scotsman and say I can't either. This is wrong.
 

damombomb

Senior Member
Feb 27, 2011
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7Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being Gen 2:7
 
C

CRC

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God’s Real Gift to Mankind
More than one billion people claim to acknowledge Jesus Christ as mankind’s Savior. The Bible agrees: Jesus was a perfect man. He lived a sinless life, remaining free of any condition that could justify his death. So he had the right to live forever and father a perfect human race of his own.
But he did not claim that right. Instead, he died as “a ransom in exchange for many” of existing mankind, bequeathing human perfection and endless life to them. Therefore, Jesus is God’s gift to mankind.—Matthew 20:28; 1 Peter 2:21, 22; Hebrews 2:9, 10.
Your acceptance of this gift can bring you lasting benefits. The Bible says that “God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) So faith in Christ matters; your future life depends on it. To believe in Christmas or not is inconsequential. But to believe in Christ or not is the most important decision you will ever make in life !!! For that will determine your future.!
 
Aug 25, 2013
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I am not asking about solipsism...
Neither am I.

T_Laurich said:
... so don't create a straw man.
You are asking me to prove the existence of something you already believe I have. I do not feel the need to prove to you something we both agree upon. Your true desire is not to contest my free will but to prove that God alone, not evolution, can provide this.

T_Laurich said:
I am not attacking evolution... Read the conversation that me and Leannaix were having....
I am carrying on the discussion you and I were having. Again, below, you are once more asking for proof that I have free will when both of us already agree we possess this. You believe only God can provide it, not evolution, so of course you are attacking evolution, though you pretend otherwise.

T_Laurich said:
To your post, you have not shown any proof that you have free-will and now you play a no-true Scotsman and say I can't either. This is wrong.
Do you believe you possess free will?
 
Aug 25, 2013
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7Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being Gen 2:7
This image is clearly a representation of Jesus creating Adam. So do you believe that we were made in the actual physical form of Christ? Most Christians do not seem to believe that God created us in his physical form. They think scripture does not mean what it says, but this image you posted implies that you do believe this.
 
K

Kerry

Guest
This image is clearly a representation of Jesus creating Adam. So do you believe that we were made in the actual physical form of Christ? Most Christians do not seem to believe that God created us in his physical form. They think scripture does not mean what it says, but this image you posted implies that you do believe this.
Jesus was not created. He is the Creator. Adam was created perfect by the hand of God called the Holy Spirit. Eve was taken from man and created and she was perfect. They were so unselfish that they were naked and did not know it. They cared not that they were naked just like animals who are innocent.

The problem is sin and has always been the problem and the cross is the cure.

Life is a maybe
Death is certain
the problem is sin
and Jesus is the cure.