Actually, I take that back. I can see no reason for the world to be puncuated with reports of the supernatural is there was a "creator". This is just typical theistic conflation of "creator" with "God". Try this: Planet earth is covered with reports of the "supernatural" just as you would expect if the earth contained millions of people desperate to believe there is some greater "meaning" or "purpose" to their ultimately meaningless lives and willing to imagine and even lie to do it. Let me ask you, do you believe all the reports of the supernatural that conflict with christianity? I bet you don't, right? Why not?
>Find me a Christain who believes in a Miltonian hell. It is you who is constantly refering to to "Miltonian hell". I have not once referred to it and have purposefully worded my statements to include all manner of interpretations. I refer only to (various versions) of biblical hell and you are twisting (in the wind). JB
>the combination of our eyes and brains >will blow any camera system on planet >earth to shreds I saw Santa Claus land his sleigh on my roof and slide down my chimney and eat cookies and milk and leave gifts under the tree. I guess you won't be needing pictures will you, since my eyes and brains blow them away. JB PS. (oh, and my friend saw it too)
Appealing to authority is not always a fallacy. My appeal is perfectly valid since it points to a proper authority for the right reasons. My claim is that our best scientists are NOT believers. The NAS is a group of our best who have been scientifically polled over the years concerning their beliefs. The results are not disputable. This is a perfectly valid point, and there is nothing fallacious about it. Your appeal, however, to authority is FALLACIOUS because you appeal to a single authority who supports your position, when the VAST MAJORITY of his **co-authorities** DO NOT. You are CHERRY PICKING the one authority you can find to support your position. This is precisely why it's so fallacious. peace axeman
Shoe, We already had this discussion before in another thread and you are blatantly ignoring the results of it here and clinging to your false beliefs like some kind of security blanket. Your entire argument rests on the improbabilities that life could have spawned without all these "perfectly tuned" variables. However, I already proved in another post that you have NO CLUE: 1) How many variables exist 2) What combinations allow for life Your IMPLICATION is that they are all just so perfect, and that is the ONLY reason we exist, therefore there must be a creator. But the fact is... you havent a CLUE how many of the other combinations ALSO would spawn life. From a third person view its quite funny. If I was an entity from another dimension/universe who could watch you, it would strike me as hilarious. Here is this human, who spawned within a universe with a particular combinations of variables, marveling at the fact that THIS PARTICULAR COMBO OF VARIABLES are required to spawn him. LOL! Like nooooo DUH! You argument basically boils down to: I spawned from the universe which spawned me. Yeah... no kidding. peace axeman
Very hard to believe you Shoe. The reason atheists believe this is: WE HAVE PERSONALLY BEEN TOLD THIS BY COUNTLESS NUMBERS OF CHRISTIANS AND WERE SICK OF IT! peace axeman
SHOE:No, actually, they are only unverifiable because you will not accept eye witness accounts of the supernatural. This of course is ridiculous because the combination of our eyes and brains will blow any camera system on planet earth to shreds. But you conveniently throw out every supernatural event that is not filmed in a laboratory setting. Yeah... and David Copperfield really did make the statue of liberty disappear. And Benny Hin really did heal all those followers up on stage. And UFO's are real because there have been eye witnesses. So is the lockess monster, big foot, and santa You really need to learn a method of determining fact from illusion. Try science, it works. peace axeman
I'm not saying there's no references about hell. I'm saying where is your support for "endless torture"? You'll find that you have to go to figurative and apochryphal passages.
Yes, I believe in them. (Not all of course!) As I have stated many times, I was in the occult before I became a Christian and there is a supernatural reality in both. Keep in mind that Christians believe good and evil in both physical and spiritual realms.