This is weaseling. You will get out of it easier by
observing that "the fruit of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil" is pretty obviously an allegorical tree.
If the redactor was a much of a literalist as you are he
would have made a bigger effort to harmonize the
creation stories.
But even if we take it allegorically, the stories are
still somewhat contradictory. In the first story, to
fill the earth and subdue it is a duty and a right. In
the second story, a duty and a punishment.
He said the chapters were divisions and G2 was not inserted.
Therefore the whole thing was written by the same authors.....but he
did not touch on the contradiction, merely brushed it off.
Then when the stupid god created the animals and plants in the tiny
Middle-eastern land, how on earth other animals and plant species were
flourishing else where 10s of thousands of miles away?
If the naive pastor wish to justify his belief, he simply failed
miserably.
And weakness of faith creeps in from unfulfilled promises all the
time, eventually leading to "no faith".
> This is weaseling. You will get out of it easier by
> observing that "the fruit of the tree of knowledge of
> good and evil" is pretty obviously an allegorical tree.
Lots of times I've seen this fruit represented by an apple. But apples are
available in grocery stores all the time. Yet christian morons still go to
grocery stores. And they buy apples.
Go figure...
--
Uncle Vic
aa Atheist #2011
Separator of Church and Reason.
Convicted by Earthquack.
My modern calendar ends on 12/31/09. There are no days after that, so it's
obviously the date of the end of the world!
Hope this helps.
What about "Turn the other cheek" vs. "eye for an eye"?
Basically, you have a fire and brimstone Old Testament, with the New
Testament preaching something entirely different. Vengeful old school
deity vs. nice new age deity (except for those pesky Temple sales
dudes). Nothing subtle or allegorical.
That dichotomy is something Christians understand quite well,
apparently, as an impressive amount are fans of the death penalty even
while they preach peace and love. To put it differently, 80+% of
Americans believe in God, and the death penalty is generally deeply
disliked in less religious Western countries. Yup, bet Jesus would
feel right at home in Texas.
The reason I am not religious is personal lack of belief. Something I
regret, as a belief in afterlife would be nicely comforting. The
reason I wonder about Christians is because few of them seem to have
internalized Christ's teachings and many are all about Hell instead.
I deeply respect "nice" Christians, but the rest amuse me.
On another note, I read an historical analysis of the New Testament
gospels and the author, a historian, did a pretty good job convincing
me they were actually _quite_ coherent with each other, if considered
as historical records of the same events written at different times by
different people. He managed to kind of tease out what seemed to be
little author "embellishments" by comparing the different versions
contents to each other.
I think it may have been "Jesus", by Michael Smith, who usually does
Roman & Ancient history. He never did say if he was a believer or
not, something quite refreshing. Can look it up.
* I understand that if one book says A>B and the other says A<B then
that is a pretty stark technical contradiction. IMHO it misses the
big picture of nice vs. vengeful.
> Opinion: This is why Eve was fooled and not Adam.
> Adam saw God create. Eve didn't.
Not fooled? Adam did eat that fruit, didn't he?
T.
Yeah, but only because she MADE him do it <snigger>
--
Hannele, A.A #2211
So she got punished for his lack of responsibility. That sounds familiar,
somehow.
T.
> On another note, I read an historical analysis of the New Testament
> gospels and the author, a historian, did a pretty good job convincing
> me they were actually _quite_ coherent with each other, if considered
> as historical records of the same events written at different times by
> different people. He managed to kind of tease out what seemed to be
> little author "embellishments" by comparing the different versions
> contents to each other.
>
> I think it may have been "Jesus", by Michael Smith, who usually does
> Roman & Ancient history. He never did say if he was a believer or
> not, something quite refreshing. Can look it up.
Michael *Valentine* Smith? <blink, blink>?
He was in a hurry to blame her: "But... but... but... she made me eat it!".
--
Hannele, A.A #2211
I think I misremembered, she ate some first? Wouldn't the rest of us
be in trouble right then? Assuming it wasn't grounds for divorce and
we'd all be descended from Adam's /next/ wife. Or, I dunno,
chimpanzees.
> One fine day in alt.atheism, James A. Donald <jam...@echeque.com> wrote:
>
>> This is weaseling. You will get out of it easier by
>> observing that "the fruit of the tree of knowledge of
>> good and evil" is pretty obviously an allegorical tree.
>
> Lots of times I've seen this fruit represented by an apple. But apples
> are
> available in grocery stores all the time. Yet christian morons still go
> to
> grocery stores. And they buy apples.
>
> Go figure...
>
Leonardo da Vinci painted Mary as an European noble women.
The Bible never specified what kind of fruit it was.
Wouldn't that be Lilith?
I think she was the previous one, and "only" in Jewish tradition(!)
And I think she's living with a fitness instructor named Gretchen, so
not much hope there.
I've said before, I think the point of the Fall story is to try to
account for a God who supposedly loves us - or at least loves his
chosen people - but somehow neglected to plant worldwide orchards for
us to live in ease, or to pay much attention to the design of
childbirth. Or exclusion of venomous animals. If I was retelling the
story I might say something about weather - I'm British. Some people
believe it never rained before Noah's flood. Anyway, the point is the
story says God /did/ make a nice world for us to be in, and then we
pissed in the pool and it got ugly.
Now, the advantage if we /were/ descended from a woman who hadn't been
cursed by God to have a hideous and often fatal time in childbirth is
obvious. Adam and Eve should have fostered.
So, to you, disregarding a capricious and arbitrary rule, made under false
pretenses, is "pissing in the pool"? *
--
* PV Something like badgers, something like lizards, and something
like corkscrews.
So who cares if apples can be found in grocery stores. This is
another straw man argument about somebody's conjecture about the Bible
as though it were Bible text. Orthodox Jews eat apples, too. You go
figure.
An apple grows on an apple tree, not a "tree of knowledge of good and
evil".
If you want to find something wrong with the Bible, consider that both
the Jewish and Christian definitions of "evil" is disobedience to
God's law and commandments.
Until they ate the fruit, Adam and Eve did not have such knowledge, so
could not in justice be held responsible for obedience to God.
Yet when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were punished and all their
descendants were cursed with mortality for acquiring the knowledge
they would need to obey God.
In essence, Adam and Eve were required to color inside the lines with
their eyes closed. They could only open their eyes if they colored
outside the lines, but then they would also be punished. Is that a
fair test?
The entire meaning of the allegory collapses on the orthodox
definitions of Good and Evil.
TCross
Rubbish. They disobeyed a direct order from God, thus they were
punished. End of story.
The fruit of knowledge meant they instantly learned *everything* about
good and evil, which for some reason God did not want. He wanted them
to follow His commands one step at the time.
The truly interesting questions:
If God didn't want it, why did He place the tree in the middle of the
garden ? (Kind of: if God doesn't want us to sin, why the hell does He
tempt us so hard ?) Makes you wonder if maybe it was Him who sent the
serpent too.
What would have happened if Adam had first eaten from the tree of
immortality (which he had no interdiction to) and then from that of
knowledge ?
Anyway, about the contradiction of Genesis 1 & 2, IMHO (and I'm
definitely no expert so I might be wrong) there is none. The story of
Creation is in Genesis 1. The short reference in Genesis 2 is rather
vague and with no explicit temporal sequence. It says that Adam was in
the garden, then it says that God created all the animals and brought
them to Adam to name them. It doesn't say explicitly that the animals
were created after Adam was put in the garden. Normally one would
infer it from the sequence of narration, but in the context of Genesis
1 (which of course comes first) I don't think it's the case. Rather,
it's probably just a figure of style, to point out that even though
God created the animals, He gave up the right to name them Himself and
empowered man to do this. (And not woman, BTW. ;-) )
In other words, even though God loves us, He still punishes us for our
sins. OK, next obvious questions - why don't people suffer according
to everyone's individual sins ? Why global punishment ?
IMO the point is that humans only learn it the hard way, never the
soft way.
Also, maybe that God doesn't want us to be over-zealous and overdo it.
If we do, things tend to get ugly. (Which might explain the current
state of the world - atomic bombs, 6 billion people and counting,
global warming etc. You think you solve the problem and you just
create more.)
What is the knowledge of good and evil?
> The fruit of knowledge meant they instantly learned *everything* about
> good and evil, which for some reason God did not want. He wanted them
> to follow His commands one step at the time.
The only additional knowledge acquired by Adam and Eve was the depth
of misery through the curse. Supposedly, as a Son of Adam
("Adamite"), you have all Adam's knowledge, and if you claim to have
"all" knowledge of good and evil now, you are ahead of the rest of
us.
> The truly interesting questions:
> If God didn't want it,
What is "it"?
> why did He place the tree in the middle of the
> garden ? (Kind of: if God doesn't want us to sin, why the hell does He
> tempt us so hard ?) Makes you wonder if maybe it was Him who sent the
> serpent too.
I see that as a less compelling question. It leaves open the
possibility that someone will find an explanation that the presence of
the tree was necessary.
> What would have happened if Adam had first eaten from the tree of
> immortality (which he had no interdiction to) and then from that of
> knowledge ?
Adam was already immortal. The tree was "the tree of knowledge of
good and evil," not immorality. Immortality was the fruit of the
"tree of life" mentioned in Genesis 3:22.
And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know
good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of
the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
> Anyway, about the contradiction of Genesis 1 & 2, IMHO (and I'm
> definitely no expert so I might be wrong) there is none. The story of
> Creation is in Genesis 1. The short reference in Genesis 2 is rather
> vague and with no explicit temporal sequence. It says that Adam was in
> the garden, then it says that God created all the animals and brought
> them to Adam to name them. It doesn't say explicitly that the animals
> were created after Adam was put in the garden. Normally one would
> infer it from the sequence of narration, but in the context of Genesis
> 1 (which of course comes first) I don't think it's the case. Rather,
> it's probably just a figure of style, to point out that even though
> God created the animals, He gave up the right to name them Himself and
> empowered man to do this. (And not woman, BTW. ;-) )
TCross
We and all other multicellular organisms have two basic
kinds of cells: germ cells and somatic cells. However,
scientist have known for decades that each of of us
has immortal germ cells within our bodies. These
immortal cells are our germ cells; cells we pass on to our
offspring. This doesn't mean that death cannot happen, to
these germ cells. They can be killed, perhaps we have
no offspring. When this happens, our _ individual_ germ
cells die with our soma cells. The scientific definition
of immortal means that certain cells are _not _programed_
to age and die. Richard Dawking's book "The Selfish
Gene" recognizes the immortal nature of our germ cells
Our earliest ancestors, were single cell organisms, which
by definition were immortal. Unicellular organisms increase
by means of fission, dividing into two separate and distinct
organisms. They are the same structure and size. They
do not age and die. But immortality was forfeited hundreds
of millions of years ago when unicellular organisms evolved
into with multicellular beings. IOW our ancestors traded
immortality for complexity. And we as a result inherited
death.
The German naturalist, August Weismann was the first to
realize that life must have begun as an immortal single cell
organism. It was he who coined the term "immortality" for
these cells, he gave two example: one an organism that is
made up of some 8 or 16 cells that stuck together because
of to some survival benefit. It's called Pandorina morum.
The second example, called Volvox minor, is made up of
cells that are in a cluster which subtly change. Some of
the cells on the outside form a kind of shell. These cells
divide until they reach about 2000 cells, at which point, the
outside cells die and _release_ the original unaltered cells
which in turn make a new Volox minor. The cells which
made up the shell were called "somatic". These cells
were programed to age and die, having been used
merely to obtain food and transportation and to
facilitate reproduction. The original unaltered cells
Weismann called "germ cells".
More to come!
>
I was treating the story on its own terms.
Online I don't seem to find a particular straight quote from _The
Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ - book edition - which I
suppose may mean that Zombie Douglas Adams is hunting them down and
removing them. But I did find a version (so Zombie Adams may come to
visit me, oops) that describes God as "someone who puts bricks under
hats, so that people will stub their toe when they kick them." In
other words - it was secretly meant to happen.
Therefore you have to make up your own religion so you can be saved, eh?
I find it a lot more palatable to accept death for what it is... the end
of life.
--
Uncle Vic
aa Atheist #2011
Christians are like Slinkys. They're boring, but they'll put a smile on
your face when you push them down the stairs.
Job reprises this issue.
In the first version of Genesis, God commands man to
fill the earth and subdue it, and take dominion over it.
In the second version, he commands to dig the soil and
to give birth in sorrow.
(Which would explain an very incompetently designed
birth canal. An alternative explanation is that the
birth canal was designed by a government committee. A
third explanation is that it was adapted from a birth
canal designed for a quadruped with a small head.)
> The truly interesting questions:
> If God didn't want it, why did He place the tree in the middle of the
> garden ? (Kind of: if God doesn't want us to sin, why the hell does He
> tempt us so hard ?) Makes you wonder if maybe it was Him who sent the
> serpent too.
Assuming no argument over the historicity of the story,
it has to do with the challenge of choosing good.
Without it, mankind is not complete.
We're here to meet it, and "prove our mettle".
Unfortunately, it carries with it the possibility of choosing wrong.
> "VSim" <inte...@yahoo.com> ???
> ??????:6ec4f5da-
> e841-41d1-83f...@z34g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...
>> Terry Cross wrote:
>
>> The truly interesting questions:
>> If God didn't want it, why did He place the tree in the middle of the
>> garden ? (Kind of: if God doesn't want us to sin, why the hell does He
>> tempt us so hard ?) Makes you wonder if maybe it was Him who sent the
>> serpent too.
>
> Assuming no argument over the historicity of the story,
ROFL
> it has to do
> with the challenge of choosing good. Without it, mankind is not
> complete.
El Grande Crappo de Bullo.
That is a story invented by alpha liars to explain
away the obvious stupidity of the story.
Wow, good job he didn't find /that/ one, God would be so mad :-)
> Immortality was the fruit of the
> "tree of life" mentioned in Genesis 3:22.
>
> And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know
> good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of
> the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Let's suppose that if you eat tree-of-life every day you'll live
forever. Then death is caused, effectively, by excluding Adam and Eve
from the garden.
Eve says that God told them not to /touch/ the tree, presumably in an
unrecorded conversation of the kind you have with a five year old.
"But can I /lick/ the TV, as long as I don't switch it on?" "No! You
can't draw on it, you can't lick it - look, just don't touch it at
all. Okay?" This also fills the gap that could apply where God did
not tell Eve not to eat from the tree, although you could consider
that while God was telling Adam, Eve was one of Adam's buttcheeks at
the time, so she was included.
I don't really want to defend the story. I do care about people who
took it seriously all their lives.
And why does God not want to have people around who have knowledge of
good and evil? When it was someone who didn't have knowledge of good
and evil who stole his fruit?
It doesn't make sense. It's like one of those superhero stories that
"fixes" one flaw in material written like to a hundred years ago but
itself doesn't work. And probably for the same reason: it isn't, as a
good story is, the point of itself.
>> And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know
>> good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of
>> the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
>
>Let's suppose that if you eat tree-of-life every day you'll live
>forever.
Unless, of course, all of your descendants die. Then, you'll lose
interest in eating and need to invade an unfashionable western
spiral arm of the galaxy.
--
Michael F. Stemper
#include <Standard_Disclaimer>
If it's "tourist season", where do I get my license?
>
> We are programed by our DNA to age and die.
Then by all means, carry on. Quickly.
Stupid fucking spamtards.
--
Terry Austin
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.
Yeah, but some people are just so afraid of dying that such fairy
tales make them feel good.
And feeling good is better then any old facts any day.
PDW
Speaking of which, I got a copy of "And another thing" from the
library. Only peeked at a the opening page, but it is styled
differently from DNA, but the humour seems there. We'll see after I
get finished.
PDW
And they must choose without knowledge of "good and evil" that eating
the fruit would bring. It is a paradox of terrible proportions.
TCross
It is no more ridiculous than Evolution. The prophets needed to
"explain" certain things about human existence, and many here would
tell us the purpose of science is to "explain".
Evolution wanders into endless speculation with the same freedom of
tongue exhibited by the old prophets. Dawkins babbles about the gene
molecules trying to survive and gathering around themselves the flesh
of bodies to make survival possible. Dawkins knows nothing about the
truth of the matter, but he speculates freely and calls it "science".
Just so did the early prophets struggle with the problems of
mortality, human joy and misery, good and evil, sex and death. They
speculated freely -- just as Dawkins does -- and these are their
stories.
TCross
And what are you, Vic? What is thought? What is purpose?
Can you explain all the mysteries of existence by pretending they
don't exist?
TCross
They did find out that they were naked. Besides, if it's the fruit of
knowledge of good and evil, this is what it's supposed to do, isn't
it ? To give you all knowledge of good and evil.
> Supposedly, as a Son of Adam
> ("Adamite"), you have all Adam's knowledge,
Where exactly does the Bible say this ?
> > What would have happened if Adam had first eaten from the tree of
> > immortality (which he had no interdiction to) and then from that of
> > knowledge ?
>
> Adam was already immortal.
Again, where exactly does the Bible say this ?
Anyway, this is just a minor point.
> The tree was "the tree of knowledge of
> good and evil," not immorality.
I said immortality, not immorality.
The story said Adam was kicked out of Eden before he ate the Tree of
Life.
In Judaism, that is "evil." Sigmund Freud psychoanalyzed the
Jewishness from multiple rabbinical ancestors. Where did you think he
got all that garbage?
> Besides, if it's the fruit of
> knowledge of good and evil, this is what it's supposed to do, isn't
> it ? To give you all knowledge of good and evil.
Exactly.
> > Supposedly, as a Son of Adam
> > ("Adamite"), you have all Adam's knowledge,
>
> Where exactly does the Bible say this ?
The curse of Adam is attributed to every man that he shall till the
earth by the seat of his brow, and curse of Eve to every woman that
she shall "bring forth children in pain."
> > > What would have happened if Adam had first eaten from the tree of
> > > immortality (which he had no interdiction to) and then from that of
> > > knowledge ?
>
> > Adam was already immortal.
>
> Again, where exactly does the Bible say this ?
> Anyway, this is just a minor point.
Don't know. Wasn't Randy saying that death did not enter the Garden
until the Fall? Maybe I misunderstood.
> > The tree was "the tree of knowledge of
> > good and evil," not immorality.
>
> I said immortality, not immorality.
Thanks for the correction. ;-)
TCross
I think this thread is stumbling over a typo. Death did not enter the
Garden until Adam/Eve ate of the fruit, but they were not yet immortal
because they had not yet eaten of the Tree of Life, which had not been
previously mentioned. The story is somewhat ambiguous on this point.
They did not eat of the Tree of Microsoft Windows until much later.
And a good thing, too.
TCross
The discussion has gotten somewhat too confusing for my taste.
Coming back to what you said, looks like not having eaten the fruit is
not an excuse for disobeying God. And obviously not all descendants of
Adam inherited his knowledge, more precisely none of them did (except
maybe for the prophets), since Adam, after eating the fruit, knew
everything about good and evil and supposedly never did any other bad
thing afterwards, which is definitely not true also for his
descendants.
The idea is, God could have made Adam perfect (by means of the fruit
or by just wishing it) and did not. Why ? Don't ask me. But since Adam
was not perfect, his wrong deeds deserved punishment. That's just how
it is.
You could argue just as well that since Adam was a creation of God, he
didn't deserve punishment for anything he did but God deserved it. But
that's not how it is. You have to obey God without eating any fruit.
Of good and evil, that is.
Well, it's Catch-22. Wait. I can't figure out precisely how it's
Catch-22. But I'm pretty sure that it is.
Obviously it isn't that the fruit confers moral culpability, because
then the beings that ate the fruit didn't have moral culpability, but
God still throws the book at them.
If it's that the fruit confers a sense of right and wrong, then God
made the mistake in the first place of creating beings without a sense
of right and wrong and then expecting them to follow rules.
As I have said, I think the whole story is just an attempt to provide
an explanation of why God hasn't made the world a nice easy place for
his chosen people to live in (granted all the other planets known to
science are unbelievably worse), other than that he doesn't exist.
Whilst also making God able to do anything he thinks of and having no
needs that humans can fulfil. Well... pleasure. The bible describes
many things that humans can do to please God. None of it gets us off
the hook, though, does it?
Are we basically God's pleasure slaves? Is that what religion says?
No it doesn't.
> I think this thread is stumbling over a typo. Death did not enter the
> Garden until Adam/Eve ate of the fruit, but they were not yet immortal
> because they had not yet eaten of the Tree of Life, which had not been
> previously mentioned. The story is somewhat ambiguous on this point.
Try my version. The Tree of Life makes you immortal for one day.
Adam and Eve ate one every day.
Alternatively, why do we really die? Because the physical mechanisms
of our bodies break down. Mutations in cell DNA build up.
"Housekeeping" functions fail. Pollution accumulates in the brain.
Calcium compounds leach out of bones. Muscles deteriorate, and that
includes the heart. And blood vessels clog with fat. And that's
without accounting for infectious disease, microorganisms that seize
our bodies and abuse them - and of course physical accident.
If we suppose that the Garden of Eden was disease-free and accident-
free, there's still a lot of repair to be done on the human body.
Now... the bible proposes that early generations of humans lived for
many hundreds of years. Really, though, we can't see how that could
be so.
So in fact it's all hokum, isn't it?
Well, I shop at supermarkets. And I don't have children.
Richard Dawkins knows plenty. If a pattern of atoms /accidentally/
occurs that can duplicate itself and multiply, that pattern of atoms
will veery soon be seen all around. A molecule called RNA does this,
I think, in the presence of the right ingredients: a copy of the RNA
molecule naturally forms alongside the first molecule. It isn't firm
science to say that this is definitely how living things came into
existence, but RNA also is used by our bodies as a copy of DNA - or
perhaps DNA is used by RNA as a way to copy itself more faithfully.
Although language of intentions and deliberate acts isn't really
appropriate for molecules.
The general principle is correct - that self replicating
molecules may not necessarily be impossibly hard to
arise by accident under the right conditions, but RNA
cannot occur under natural abiotic conditions of the early
earth.
It is a lot harder for life to originate than you
suggest.
My own wild speculation is that on a large comet or
radically non earthlike planet with an active liquid
vapor solid cycle, conditions did occur, producing non
rna life, which gave rise to rna life, which gave rise
to rna/protein life, which gave rise to dna/rna/protein
life. Meteors or comet fragments then carried
lithotropic bacteria to earth after the hadean period.
Eukaryotes, and eventually tardigrades may have evolved
in situ, or arrived in the same manner. (The original
planet is no longer in our solar system, never was in
our solar system, or it was too small to retain its
atmosphere, thereby conveniently destroying the
evidence.)
Another possibility is that for life to spontaneously
arise is indeed astronomically unlikely, but in an
infinite universe, the astronomically unlikely is in
fact certain, in which case we will find an empty
universe awaiting the touch of life.
That is the paradox. If good/evil equals obedience/disobedience as we
are told, then without knowledge of good.evil as the fruit would give,
we have no knowledge of obedience/disobedience.
TCross
Oh, yes, but not good poetry either.
TCross
It isn't whether you win or lose; it's how you place the blame.
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com
> It isn't whether you win or lose; it's how you place the blame.
"Did we win?"
"No, but if we think fast we might live to lie about it."
-- wds
>
>We are programed by our DNA to age and die. But
>can we be _re-programed_ not to do so
No. Because we aren't programmed. We're hard wired.
Where do you get this stuff from, may I ask?
The fact Cain did /not/ bring an appropriate sacrifice, if I correctly
recall who did what, was the basis of trouble. And Abel brought a
sacrifice that pleased God and then was murdered by his brother.
Pleasing God and finding a dollar gives you the price of a Starbucks
plastic teaspoon, apparently.
Not "Semantics"... beliefs. If he believes he is "hard wired" then he
is and if you believe otherwise then you shall be able to shift from
that faulty belief and change the wiring.
Buddha said, “He is able who thinks he is able. All that we are is
the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an
evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure
thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can
wrong-doing remain?”
Modern science can’t explain it away except to call it the, “Placebo
effect”. Pills, potions and even false surgeries have been conducted
to study the power of belief. Endorphins begin the healing effects
on those who simply believe, that is science fact. All that is needed
or required is already with you and that power resides in your belief.
Why did you assume the following:
1)> That There was a god?
2)> That it created anything?
3)> That Adam and Eve were his creation?
4)> That a tree was created?
5)> That the fruits were anything but forbidden?
Doesn't this illustrate the stupid of your god?
What are these nonsense?
Human was thought of created and left to forbid eating fruits?
A god of no sense to teach and guide, just to command?
Do our present parents do that?
No....it defies all possible logics.
Mankind survived a very long history, without resorting to the mythic
way of ancient stories.
And this world does not belong to the whites and Jews.
Many people of other races, in fact, majority of world population have
nothing to do with your god but prospered, without even heard of JC.
Who had the right to re-write the OT into a NT?
This shows however ridiculous, the theists could not defend this act
in re-writing of the original "god's word".
The changes was necessary in order to rid of the barbaric teaching and
evilness of the word of god.
John 17:17; 19:
17. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."
19. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word."
The latter verse applies to those of us that hear the word after the
time of the early followers of Christ, as well as those that heard the
followers' testimonies in that time.
Then the New Testament goes on to say that the word increased as the
testimony of the followers was spread:
Acts 6:7:
"And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples
multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith."
Suzanne
And what evidence have you for that? None?
TCross
>
> Buddha said, “He is able who thinks he is able..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
William Hyde
No objective evidence god(s) exist.
--
Robyn
Resident Witchypoo
BAAWA Knight
#1557
But of course not. Objects have no knowledge of god and cannot
witness for him.
Does a raindrop speak of a cloud? Does a shadow speak of the sun?
Only to those who have prior knowledge of clouds and suns.
Does a cow-pie speak of a cow? Only to those who have prior knowledge
of cows.
You will find no footprints, no fingernail clippings, no fossilized
eggs, no tooth-marks, no fossilized bones from god.
All will appear "natural." Or if an exception is found, natural laws
will be invented to account, and all will again appear natural.
And "no objective evidence [of] god(s) [will] exist."
TCross
>
>We are programed by our DNA to age and die.
I'm not sure this is true. We're programmed to live long enough to
assist our children. And we're programmed to adapt. Maybe the
only way to live forever is to avoid changing (adapting). Except
we'd die from causes other than old age.
--
"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found,
than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace
to the legislature, and not to the executive department."
- James Madison
So you agree that all the religious claims about gods are completely
unfounded.
Of course not. Religious experiences are not based on objects, what
you call "objective" evidence. But objective evidence is not the only
kind of evidence, as you well know.
TCross
>
> Of course not. Religious experiences are not based on objects, what
> you call "objective" evidence. But objective evidence is not the only
> kind of evidence, as you well know.
It is the only kind that matters in any sort of rational discussion.
So! In your universe, all discussion of art, aesthetics, patriotism,
purpose, emotions, loyalty, and anything else not visible on a
microscope slide -- is not "rational" ??
You must be a graduate of American public school system, with a
graduate degree in military zombie-ism. If it moves, kill it, etc.
And yet, on casual observation, you might be mistaken for a living
human being.
Your kind is a tragedy for all civilization.
TCross
>On Oct 26, 8:35�pm, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
><seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>> Terry Cross wrote:
>>
>> > Of course not. � Religious experiences are not based on objects, what
>> > you call "objective" evidence. �But objective evidence is not the only
>> > kind of evidence, as you well know.
>>
>> � � � � It is the only kind that matters in any sort of rational discussion.
>
>
>So! In your universe, all discussion of art, aesthetics, patriotism,
>purpose, emotions, loyalty, and anything else not visible on a
>microscope slide -- is not "rational" ??
>
What makes you think there is no objective evidence for all those
things?
Ever invited a Creation Scientist into the thread?
--
Member - Liberal International This is doc...@nl2k.ab.ca Ici doc...@nl2k.ab.ca
God, Queen and country! Never Satan President Republic! Beware AntiChrist rising!
http://twitter.com/rootnl2k http://www.myspace.com/502748630
For the latest World News go to http://www.cuttingedge.org/
I have never met one on or off the 'Net.
TCross
> Ever invited a Creation Scientist into the thread?
What is that?
T.
Art is purely a matter of opinion; Aesthetics are a matter of opinion.
"God" is a phenomenon which, if extant, would be a physical reality, not
a matter of opinion.
Patriotism and purpose, emotions and loyalty, can be discussed on
rational grounds -- both their origin and their usefulness or lack
thereof. While emotions cannot necessarily be CONTROLLED rationally --
we are complex combinations of analytical intellect and animal instinct
with a lot of not-well-understood interactions -- they can be understood
and dealt with rationally.
>
> You must be a graduate of American public school system,
I am a SURVIVOR of the American public school system. It never taught
me anything.
with a
> graduate degree in military zombie-ism.
A graduate degree in Information Science, actually. Nobody OFFERED
Military Zombieism as a graduate course back in my day. Or if they did
no one offered scholarships on it.
Compare with these:
Genesis 5:1-2:
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God
created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 2 Male and female
created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the
day when they were created.
>
> But even if we take it allegorically, the stories are
> still somewhat contradictory. In the first story, to
> fill the earth and subdue it is a duty and a right. In
> the second story, a duty and a punishment.
>
It's hard to understand what you mean, but I suppose you are referring
to the fact that Eve would bear children in sorrow. That means that
she would have childbirth pains. It doesn't mean that she will be
sorry to give birth. Children are a blessing.
>
Suzanne
If you mean that it is not objective, you are correct. My message is
leaking in.
> Aesthetics are a matter of opinion.
Again, not objective. Batting 1000 so far.
> "God" is a phenomenon which, if extant, would be a physical reality, not
> a matter of opinion.
God would definitely NOT be physical. You are thinking of the god-
statues in Conan stories, which is possibly where you get your
information.
> Patriotism and purpose, emotions and loyalty, can be discussed on
> rational grounds -- both their origin and their usefulness or lack
> thereof.
"On rational grounds" is a designation too sloppy for application.
You can put Astrology "on rational grounds" with volumes of look-up
charts, computers, telescopes, and graphs, and you still would not
have a "rational" subject.
> While emotions cannot necessarily be CONTROLLED rationally --
What does "not necessarily" mean in a rational discussion? Is that an
affirmation or denial?
> we are complex combinations of analytical intellect and animal instinct
> with a lot of not-well-understood interactions -- they can be understood
> and dealt with rationally.
Waffle-speak does not qualify. So far, you say they are both "no-well-
understood" and "can be understood." One of those may be true, but
not both.
> > You must be a graduate of American public school system,
>
> I am a SURVIVOR of the American public school system. It never taught
> me anything.
>
> > with a
> > graduate degree in military zombie-ism.
>
> A graduate degree in Information Science, actually. Nobody OFFERED
> Military Zombieism as a graduate course back in my day. Or if they did
> no one offered scholarships on it.
Military zombie-ism was always available to anyone, but not as highly
developed as it is now.
TCross
> The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not an
> allegorical tree. It was a real tree, just like all the
> trees in the Garden of Eden were real
> trees. God would not teach with a lie.
> If he says it is a tree, then it is a tree.
> Adam was also a real person because he is listed in the genealogies as
> being a real person.
You have to admit that this is rather funny. Or it would be, if I believed
the poster to be serious. Cute!
T.
>God is not a genie in a bottle.
Of course not - They don't exist either.
You enjoy misleading people.
Anyone, no matter how deluded, is invited to involve themselves in any
thread here. Those who sell the fraudulent doctrine of Creation Science
tend to run away because their doctrines are so obviously false and
there are so many people who can point out the falsehoods that hold the
sham together.
> On Oct 19, 5:59 pm, James A. Donald <jam...@echeque.com> wrote:
>> Pastor Dave <ananias917_@_gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Try this... Break the chapters of Genesis thusly...
>> > Chapter 1 ends with 2:6. Now start chapter 2 (v7).
>> > What you'll find, is that God made man. This is day
>> > 6. He planted him in the Garden of Eden. Then He made
>> > the things listed afterward, IN THE GARDEN. The
>> > trees, etc. and the animals and brought them to Adam,
>> > to see what he would name them. He didn't make all of
>> > the animals, but rather, one more of each, IN THE
>> > GARDEN.
>>
>> This is weaseling. You will get out of it easier by
>> observing that "the fruit of the tree of knowledge of
>> good and evil" is pretty obviously an allegorical tree.
>>
> He was not weaseling.
>>
> The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not an
> allegorical tree. It was a real tree, just like all the
> trees in the Garden of Eden were real
> trees. God would not teach with a lie.
> If he says it is a tree, then it is a tree.
You are posting to an atheist group. Atheists don't believe in any gods,
so they also don't believe in your god. If you want to make us think like
you do, you've got to convince us, and talking about your god as if it
should be real to us won't do it. Do you have any certifiable facts for us?
> Adam was also a real person because he is listed in the genealogies as
> being a real person.
>>
>> If the redactor was a much of a literalist as you are he
>> would have made a bigger effort to harmonize the
>> creation stories.
>>
> Your lack of understanding the harmony of the creation does not make
> it suddenly be not so, though.
> Pastor Dave told you the truth when he said that Gen. 2 is a
> continuation of Gen. 1. Chapter 5 proves it.
> Compare these:
> Genesis 1:26-27:
> 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and
> let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
> the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
> creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
> 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
> him; male and female created he them.
>
> Compare with these:
> Genesis 5:1-2:
> 1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God
> created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 2 Male and female
> created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the
> day when they were created.
Don't quote the bible to atheists like it is a text to be taken seriously,
for us it is of no more worth than any fairytale or just-so story.
>>
>> But even if we take it allegorically, the stories are
>> still somewhat contradictory. In the first story, to
>> fill the earth and subdue it is a duty and a right. In
>> the second story, a duty and a punishment.
>>
> It's hard to understand what you mean, but I suppose you are referring
> to the fact that Eve would bear children in sorrow. That means that
> she would have childbirth pains. It doesn't mean that she will be
> sorry to give birth. Children are a blessing.
I love my children and I'm not sorry I gave birth to them. But blessing
implies god(desse)s, which I don't believe in. Do you want to rephrase
that last sentence?
--
Hannele, A.A #2211
>
> "Suzanne" <leil...@hotmail.com> wrote in
>
>> God is not a genie in a bottle.
>
> Of course not - They don't exist either.
So it is exactly like a genie in a bottle. :-D
--
Hannele, A.A #2211
That would seem to imply that Sherlock Holmes is
exactly like Sam Spade. And that seems pretty unlikely.
That is, unlikely that anybody would mistake the one for the other.
Well... unless Sherlock were disguising himself as Sam.
He's supposed to be very good with disguises, so good he can
fool Watson in face-to-face conversation. Similarly, God
could probably disguise Himself as a burning bush... or a genie.
The burning bush disguise would probably have worked, at least
until he broke character and spoke.
Wayne Throop thr...@sheol.org http://sheol.org/throopw
Do you allege that if another person were standing in your shoes
living your life, that person would make the same decisions you do?
If not, why not?
TCross
> "Suzanne" <leil...@hotmail.com> wrote in
>
>>God is not a genie in a bottle.
>
> Of course not - They don't exist either.
Sure they do.
Tanqueray, Beefeater, Gordon's, Bombay Sapphire ....
So God created man and woman at the same time.
Doesn't that contradict the following?
Eve created alone.
Gen:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made
he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Ah! I stand corrected! :)
>Why look at trivial sequence issues for biblical contradictions? *
>
>What about "Turn the other cheek" vs. "eye for an eye"?
>
>Basically, you have a fire and brimstone Old Testament, with the New
>Testament preaching something entirely different. Vengeful old school
>deity vs. nice new age deity (except for those pesky Temple sales
>dudes). Nothing subtle or allegorical.
>
>That dichotomy is something Christians understand quite well,
>apparently, as an impressive amount are fans of the death penalty even
>while they preach peace and love. To put it differently, 80+% of
>Americans believe in God, and the death penalty is generally deeply
>disliked in less religious Western countries. Yup, bet Jesus would
>feel right at home in Texas.
Yes folks, when faced with the fact that Genesis 1 & 2
do not contradict each other, make sure to snip it all
and attack the faith. That'll prove your honesty!
<chuckle>
> Here, I'll show you:
Why would you not having your own thoughts, except for borrowing
ancient lies?
Doesn't our modern knowledge mean anything to you?
>
> John 17:17; 19:
> 17. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."
> 19. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
> believe on me through their word."
What happen when I told you I am speaking the truth?
If you reject me, why would you believe those irresponsible
fabrications?
>
> The latter verse applies to those of us that hear the word after the
> time of the early followers of Christ, as well as those that heard the
> followers' testimonies in that time.
Testimonies are OK, but claims of supernatural powers and god-like
abilities are white lies !
>
> Then the New Testament goes on to say that the word increased as the
> testimony of the followers was spread:
You have not put forward reasons as to why OT was replaced by NT?
>
> Acts 6:7:
> "And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples
> multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests
> were obedient to the faith."
A faith is a blind following, without the need for reasons and logics.
Human are not the species of animal capable of such.
Those who did, are without brain cells, if you agree with me.
>
> Suzanne