Creationism Challenge

[Goatboy]

The problem for how life came about in the first place is not yet proven by science and only good guesses have been made at it.

An educated guess will always beat a fairy tale.

[Defience]

The best thing is that we can all agree to disagree. I, for one, will never be convinced that God doesn't exist and that God didn't create man and the universe. On the other hand are those that may never be convinced that God does exists (but I will continue to pray for you ) and it's certainly your right to believe that a whale became a cow or a monkey became a man or whatever the pattern is, just remember, "If you're living like there is no God, you better be right!"

[faazshift]

An educated guess will always beat a fairy tale.

Intelligent design too is an educated guess. Darwinian evolution is no more proven than intelligent design. Both sides have backing reasons. I just, personally, find intelligent design more persuading than evolution. I have spent lots of time reading and debating on the subject and am personally convinced of intelligent design. As I posted in another topic, a great, in depth article regarding my views can be found here.

[sanddbox]

and it's certainly your right to believe that a whale became a cow or a monkey

Oversimplification like that is the problem. Yes, we may have evolved from whales (and their ancestors). But no, whales didn't spontaneously pop into monkeys.

About your living like no god statement:

Look at it this way.

You're Atheist. You don't believe in God.

A) You die. There's nothing after death. You go to death not believing in God, and you're right.

B) You die. Oh, shit, you were wrong.

You're Christian (or whatever). You believe in god.

A) You die. There's nothing after death. You go to death believing in God, and you're wrong. You'll never learn the truth.

B) You die. There's an afterlife. Woohoo!

On one side of the coin, we're either right or we're wrong but learn the answer.

On the other (christian) side of the coin, you're either wrong and don't know it or you're right.

Now, obviously, if you're Atheist and wrong you're gonna rot in hell.

But are you really willing to waste your time praying for something that has an incredibly slim chance of happening? When you see one of those emails telling you to forward it or die, do you forward it? Just because there's a minuscule chance something could be true and you might rot in hell, doesn't mean you sacrifice anything for it.

And, I know. It's not all about hell. God loves us all (and sends us to hell. That makes sense!). But if you truly choose to blindly follow a religion, there's not much hope for humanity.

So choose: Logic or Fear? I don't know about you, but I'm going with logic.

[faazshift]

sanddbox:

wow...

If there is nothing after this life, you are effectually nullified, and at least you were happy during this life (at least from what I have experienced and seen with others, religion gives a source of hope and happiness). Nextly, (at least in my religious beliefs) being an athiest doesn't mean you will be sent to hell.

Also, the whole "slim chance of happening" is only your view and opinion. I see it much differently. I see belief in a higher being as entirely logical.

[sanddbox]

sanddbox:

wow...

If there is nothing after this life, you are effectually nullified, and at least you were happy during this life (at least from what I have experienced and seen with others, religion gives a source of hope and happiness). Nextly, (at least in my religious beliefs) being an athiest doesn't mean you will be sent to hell.

Also, the whole "slim chance of happening" is only your view and opinion. I see it much differently. I see belief in a higher being as entirely logical.

[ocd] It's next, not nextly. [/ocd]

Honestly, whatever floats your boat. I don't see how you need religion to be happy.

Anyways, in your own words (I don't need a huge essay) - how does god make sense?*


*I am assuming you understand Evolution (I know, it's a stupid assumption).

[faazshift]

Of course I understand evolution. I had to learn about it in school and I have learned plenty about it since.

Conversely, how does macroevolution make sense? To me it makes perfect sense that there is a more intelligent being than myself, who created me for his purposes (bringing about the immortality and eternal life of man). The link I provided a few posts ago is a strong argument in favor of intelligent design (and a very good read, in my opinion).

[tarantulas]

Here's my half-assed fake zen opinion:

Does it make a difference to your behaviour whither everything was created or developed by itself? Go out and have people better off that you are there and stop giving a shit about problems that cannot even be elucidated, let alone solved.

Spreading God's love or displaying exceptional genes, the action is the same.

[Spectre557]

Of course I understand evolution. I had to learn about it in school and I have learned plenty about it since.

Obviously not that much...

Conversely, how does macroevolution make sense?

Macroevolution is just accumulated microevolution. When you add up every single tiny change over billions of years, you end up with a hell of a lot of variation... And the ones with the best variations (tend to) outlive the others.

See? Makes perfect sense.

To me it makes perfect sense that there is a more intelligent being than myself, who created me for his purposes (bringing about the immortality and eternal life of man).

Obviously it does, to you.

Here's something to consider...

Let's suppose you'd never been involved in anything to do with magical deities, fancy rituals or even an invisible dude in the sky, just for a moment. Then on your twentieth birthday, having had no religious influence whatsoever, someone tells you that there IS a magic man in the sky who controls everything. They tell you all these great things about him, about how nice he is and how he loves everyone, etc etc etc.

Being a person of reason, you decide you want some damn evidence before you buy this crap, so you ask how he knows all this, to which he responds "I know this because it's written in a heavily-edited and repeatedly translated book made up of randomly accumulated documents recording fantastical events over the course of hundreds of years, some parts of which describing events that happened many years before the writer was born in places they'd never even seen. Which is all 100% true, because it says it is."

It is at this point you either decide "good enough for me!" and commit intellectual suicide, or politely tell him where he can put his Bible.

What I'm really trying to say is... Would you really decide to belive in that regardless of how many years you've been brainwashed to? Is it really THE most logical conclusion you could come to?

[faazshift]

@Spectre557:

Actually yes, I find my beliefs the most logical conclusion of the two. You seem not to understand religious doctrine much at all, as you claim with me and evolution.