John Dub

When you’re done berating whomever you think you are berating, I have a question. Do you agree that we do exist? Just ignore the problem of how we came to exist for a moment and answer that question. Then we can get back to questions about what came before us or more complex questions like how do you describe cause and effect in a universe that…[Read more]

You could just go to my profile and, oh wait, that won’t work if the whole site is down. My blog is http://www.winter60.blogspot.com. This goes back to Christian days and shows me working through the philosophical arguments. It also has the occasional hiking trip or current events commentary.  I signed up at the Atheist Nexus since it seemed to be the…[Read more]

So is Holmes proposing that because science doesn’t have the tools to adequately describe initial conditions before the Big Bang occurred, to his personal satisfaction – that means we can infer that all of science is no better than religion in understanding the physical world around us?

I thought that’s what he meant, and I said so. He replied in…[Read more]

You still don’t get it do you.

I sure don’t. That is, I don’t get why you would say something like this and expect anyone to take you seriously.

The thing is that I only believe Buddhism because it is Buddhism and that because a Buddhist said something that it is the truth.

This is known as a tautology

LOGIC
a statement that is true by necessity o…

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You relate random facts without making any documented connections.

My guess is they are paid advertisements. That is, the person who posts them gets paid by the click.

Don’t click on them.

Although not a clear and well documented process, there is plenty of scholarship on how the Bible was assembled. Where in all of that do you find mention of these “atheist” “Egyptian” “universities”?

The greatest libraries and museums were also at those universities. The word Knowledge was the science of the time.

Show me any of the methods or principles that we now consider science being taught anywhere. Or proof for anything else you said about Athanasius or whomever.

The church was in many ways responding to the needs of the people.

By…[Read more]

Thanks for the clarification CC. When I said, “eugenics was a perverted act” I meant that eugenics was a perversion of the science of evolution. I don’t remember the names but it came about a generation after Darwin. It’s based on a simple and common misconception about evolution, that you can somehow control it. You can breed or manipulate genes…[Read more]

But part of this might be that because a Buddhist said it then it must be true.

That’s terrible reasoning.

Government is not just “not for” the rich, it’s to protect us from the rich. The concept of government is a recognition that it takes all sorts of people to keep peace and protect each other from evil. This includes differently skilled people and people with different ideologies. The most obvious use of governments is the kind of things that don’t…[Read more]

“Obviously, I’m against child marriage,” the GOP lawmaker told NBC News. “But basically marriage is a contract between people that shouldn’t require government permission.” — from the article

This is one of those bizarre libertarian statements. Contracts are exactly why we have government. To have contracts you need laws and a way to enforce…[Read more]

From Holmes: @lausten

Figures you’d pick out some perverted use of science. How about you don’t do that and I won’t bring up the Crusades? Deal?
This is frankly a disgusting accusation and personal attack Lausten and I feel compelled to report it, how dare you accuse me of posting something perverted, that is a very low blow. My post is here…

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It has? you mean like eugenics perhaps?

I posed a question elsewhere this morning – I’d like your take on this.

Figures you’d pick out some perverted use of science. How about you don’t do that and I won’t bring up the Crusades? Deal?

It’s taken a ton of time to get you to simply agree that you have very little to say. I’m not going to star…[Read more]

Science (the study and understanding of the creation) and religion (the study and understanding of the creator) are not in conflict they have been parallel avenues of intellectual pursuit for centuries.

Holmes, you live in a 13th century world. Science has been disproving myths for centuries. Evolution even gave us a way to explain morality and…[Read more]

3; I think the grey area is people not understanding logic. So when they hear, “logically necessary”, they think logic has just proven something. What that really means is, there is a hole in the logic, something that can’t be proven, yet we exist so we need a starting point, so we’ll put a place holder there. Of course, if physicists come up with…[Read more]

Sherlock, when you said,

We therefore have a very obvious contradiction and therefore have to accept that no scientific theory or explanation can exist.

I took that to mean we can’t have any scientific theories about anything, since they all ultimately rest on some assumption. But you clarified,

I did not say that at all, nowhere did I say that…

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We therefore have a very obvious contradiction and therefore have to accept that no scientific theory or explanation can exist.

This is not logical. Are you saying that because science can’t explain the origin of everything, we can’t use science for anything? Is the reverse true? That only something that can explain the origin of everything should…[Read more]

Isn’t, “Premise 1: Everything has to come from something.”, impossible?

Oh no! You hacked the system! We don’t exist.

These two compliment each other nicely. The premise is one that people have used for centuries, but it’s flawed. We use it be…[Read more]

Listened to this one in the shop last night.   It’s a bit different, Brierly is an excellent moderator, and the science side of the debate explains himself well and just scoffs when Lennox comes up with BS. At one point Lennox tries to say the Bible is scientific because Jesus says you should test him. I don’t care enough to find the passage. I…[Read more]