Pope-a-Dope

[Rev Dark]

You cannot prove god exists, but you can determine the probability of such an improbable being existing; it is not a 50% yes/no answer. Likewise you cannot prove fairies, the celestial teapot, Zeus, Odin, etc dont exist; but you can determine the probability of such (so close to zero as to approach it).

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And before you start quoting how wrong the bible is, it was
written by man, not god. So it could be wrong but I choose
to believe anyway because it is MY choice. Besides, if I
disbelieve in god then all it taught is suspect as well,
including compassion, mercy, kindness, helping your fellow
man? Without my faith then I should just become another
self absorbed, money grubbing drone of society. Science doesn't have these beliefs and a world where science rules
would make Nazi germany look like paradise...

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So the only reason you are not an utter bastard is that you fear the disapproval of your personal god. That is a pretty piss poor reason to be moral; fear of the celestial security guard. This is one of the great fallacies; that the absence of a higher power is the absence of morality. We are social creatures and within the society determine the rules by which we live together. Interesting choice in belief in the bible written by man as you are essentially cherry picking the parts you like, and throwing away the bits you do not, or the ones that are no longer sanguine to the world you live in. A rational process dictating to an irrational belief.

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Yeah the good old days of enforced religion.. before mustard gas, nerve agents, bombers, machine guns and the A bomb.
See? I can play the 'evils of fill in the blank' game too.

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And which holy book do these come from? Armaments? Alongside the holy hand grenade? These are tools, no different than the axe, the sword, the bow, the catapult and the weasel thrower. You are confusing tools with the instructions laid out by scripture for the use of those tools, who you can, and should, use them on, and how you are righteous for doing so. No machine gun ever said blessed be the perforated, for my light shall shine through them. It was some dickhead holding the gun and pulling the trigger for whatever reason he or she chose to real or imagined.

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And the spread of STD in africa? I've never heard of virgins getting STDs and rubbers are not 100% effective. imagine that, waiting til you are married to havesex. *GASP* The scandal!

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Virgins get STDs all the time; passed from the parent while in utero. Likewise they can get them from non-sexual transfer; sharing needles; and other common disease vectors.
Biology is just something that happened to other people? One of the dominant survival mechanisms built into the human animal is the willingness and aggressive drive to reproduce. Unlike most animals that breed seasonally, we are in heat pretty much all the time. That is an integral part of our biological makeup. Denial of that mechanism is inherently unnatural, but we have technology that allows us to indulge in that biological drive. I should note that it is a biological drive that has no sense of the future we are programmed at a very low level to want to fuck regardless of social, economic and environmental conditions. As rational creatures we can choose to control this through multiple means, as the ability to think rationally allows us to transcend our biological programming and look to the future. Abstinence is a terrible method, it just does not work in practice, and given the repressive nature of most current American abstinence education programs it leads to the further spread of STDs and unwanted pregnancy, as it does not educate on birth control methods other than keep your legs crossed and your pecker parked. On the other hand we have a variety of technologies, and while no technology is 100%, they provide a far more effective means of preventing pregnancy and transfer of STDs.

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As for other religions I can't say. I don't understand them
so why should I dump on them though I do object to their
treatment of others and when has the bride selling legally
happened in the USA? not for a long time.

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Thats right, it hasnt happened legally (it happens illegally, and unfortunately enforcement in Utah is pretty piss poor on the matter). Why, because society as a whole has agreed to it. You should challenge faith as you would any other act within society and not give it a pass because it is faith rather than just something the individual has chosen to do. Now you will notice that I do not dump on religions haphazardly I dump on religions in a tightly focused, educated fashion; I daresay I could hold my own quite handily on most matters of pre and early Christian history as well as later sects and schisms and the previous myths and legends that were used as the basis for the Judeo-Christian faith. I am pretty handy in the Muslim faith to, and can make my way around Hinduism, Buddhism and Shinto. If I object to a particular religious meme it is because of a societal issue, not just because I am feeling like picking a fight.

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And the lawsuits? I know and I consider them idiots
one and all. I live in the US where we have so
many different views it isn't funny but I'm in the minority
here. I believe that as long as you are not hurting anyone
you have the right to believe what you want. It makes the
country what it is for good or ill.

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Ah, a telling statement. As long as you are not hurting anyone. Is that physically? Mentally? Educationally? Is telling the truth as you see it harmful to others the Mormons and Jehovahs Witnesses who show up unannounced at my door find it harmful, to them. The thing that makes America great as a country is that it deliberately removed religion from the process of government. So you can have whatever beliefs you want, but it is the rule of law, not the rule of the church. Too bad that this separation is steadily eroding.

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The 'bottom line' is why should you even care what I
believe? I'm not hurting anyone and I'm not alone in
that. those that offer their beliefs to others have that
right just like you have the right to offer your own beliefs
to them so they can decide. Ripping into anothers belief
because you don't agree with it is a sign of insecurity IMO.

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You also believe in an imaginary friend, ergo your opinion is suspect. Okay, that was just slightly unfair, but only slightly. So by your logic, objecting to someone striking their wife because their faith dictates that it is okay to do so is a sign of insecurity? Or objecting to a religious leader spreading an outright lie about the state of scientific research is a sign of insecurity? No. That theory does not hold water. You should object to belief that you object to; engage in educated debate of the subject; no matter what the subject. What you should not do is ignore it just because it is a matter of faith to someone.

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You may see it as not making any sense, I see it as faith.
When you disprove god, let me know and we'll see how
it goes.

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Actually it works the other way around. You have posited a hypothesis god exists it is up to you to provide the evidence that your god exists, including observable data, and repeatable experimentation and peer review. I could claim that I have created the flux-bypass-defenestrator it is not up to you to prove the existence of such an unlikely construction; it is up to me to back up my claim that the odd thing does actually exist and is not just a figment of my imagination.
Shayne