GodsExchange.com

a good use for time travel

Also in film form!:

although with a slightly different take…

God Loves Atheists because they don't bug him

[cite]

During a 2 player ranting session with a god fearing Christian the subject of miracles came up, and being the good little troll that I am, I decided that definitions were required. I asked the repository of all human knowledge

Magic

1. any art that invokes supernatural powers
2. magic trick: an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers
3. charming: possessing or using or characteristic of or appropriate to supernatural powers; “charming incantations”; “magic signs that protect …

Miracle

1. any amazing or wonderful occurrence
2. a marvellous event manifesting a supernatural act of a divine agent

NB: not a really good argument for anything, just interesting, I suppose

It is difficult to falsify claims about the existence of God, because very few people are willing or able to provide a complete definition of what God is, of the nature of God or of any kinds of tests or measurements how’s results can’t be explained through more simple naturalistic means.

Most definitions are simply re-labeling of other ideas or incomplete comparisons…

“god is bigger than you” – An elephant is bigger than me.

“god is love” – no, love is love… we already have a word for that.

“god knows all” – I can’t ask him, and receive an unambiguous answer.

All these statements have their own problems… and few of them can be falsified…

“God” tends to change between people, ranges from a personal god that knows you an listens to prayers, all the way back go a pantheist god who is more or less a representation of mystery and the unknown in the universe.

Who is your god and more over, what makes you sure of that?

The full strip is massive, view it here:

[cite]

The site Why Won’t God Heal Amputees? discusses, in it’s title article presents a discussion of manifestations of god’s power through miracles…

Through several interesting thought experiments, as you’d expect, comes to the conclusion that god doesn’t really answer prayer, and that it all comes down to either confirmation bias or a coincidence…

There are several Rationalisations listed, explaining some theories as to why people don’t see legs growing back … and more over, why there is generally very little physical evidence… after all, there should be medical documentation of the procedure to remove a limb or similar, and even the situation surrounding it. This information would be very easy to follow this back to the hospital, discuss the operation with the doctor, and even ask him to verify the identity of the patient.

There is a also the question as to how you use to justify the jump from an event to a cause, especially as correlation doesn’t imply causation, in every case but might

The idea of breaching physical laws for your own good is an interesting topic for discussion and I’d be glad to hear of anyone who has encountered either side of the story.

We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy which is one of billions of other galaxies which make up a universe which may be one of a very large number, perhaps an infinite number, of other universes. That is a perspective on human life and our culture that is well worth pondering.
– Carl Sagan

Hlights

I thought it’d be worth pointing out The Skeptics Annotated Bible…

It simply lists the bible verbatum, with comments and context for verses… It lists things that conflict with known truths, make comparisons between verses and generally makes the bible more accessable.

Also, Bible.cc

There always will be the argument that you can’t expect the bible to be taken literally, or that coming to negative conclusions based on the texts is “taking the bible out of context” or “cherry picking the bible”…

Direct link(new)

It’s interesting stuff… What do people think? If you have reasons to call these justifications anything besides excuses, I’d really love to know…

After all, All I’m waiting for is unambiguous falsifiable evidence, and you’ll have won me over

This argument is often posted to people as “what if you’re wrong?”…

Discuss.