So I have a question for you. If you were in the time when everyone was saying the world was flat, would you agree with them or would you take a chance on
that oddball Christopher Columbus who says its round? When Gallileo was talking about the earth revolving around the sun instead of the sun revolving around
the earth who would you believe? When Darwin was killed by the Catholics because they thought the theory of evolution disproved the theory of creationism, who
would you side with? (I admit Darwin probably isn't the best example considering you already said you don't believe in God but he was one of those
world changing figures) So why can't I believe another revolutionary figure, Joseph Smith Jr. has come forward to change the world just as drasticly? As
for the evidence for a lost civilization. Do you believe in El Dorado? Atlantis? Or are they myths and legends? Lies told to children like Santa's Worksop
at the North Pole? How were the heads put up on Easter Island and who did it? Why did they do it? There are still mysteries in the world and I refuse to
believe that we already know everything that has ever happened on this planet.
In response to the animals, well species also go extinct, we've proven that pretty well with the carrier pigeon. I once heard that if we stopped caring
for our domestic animals that most would die out, unable to fend for themselves and becoming prey for the wild animals. Could been what happened to their
beasts, don't know, don't care. You may view me as the guy who's saying the world is flat but I see you much the same. If belief without evidence
is crazy then must I only believe what I have seen, heard, felt, tasted, and smelled? I have never been to France. Should I not believe in it? Well other
people have been there, there are pictures? Despite the same evidence existing for U.S. astronauts walking on the moon, some people still don't believe
that happened. There is mountains of evidence that the Holocaust happened but some people don't believe in that either. Some people believe that there
was a second gun man that shot John F. Kennedy. That 9/11 was an inside job. The conspiracy theories go on and on. Some of it causing people to act in
violent ways. Some people believe that socialism will solve all the world's problems. Some people believe that government is the cause of all the
problems the world faces. My belief has led me to commit acts of charity and service to friends and complete strangers. I did good deeds and if my motivation
was selfish does it invalidate the good I did? If I gave twenty dollars to a bum on the on-ramp of the freeway, knowing that nothing would ever come of it,
would that make my actions more noble? If I helped a friend move, knowing that I would never hear from them again, am I more righteous? Maybe, but I'll
leave the verdict up to the judge and maybe I'll do enough good that I'll learn not to think about myself. I'm not perfect yet, got to work
towards something. : ) Still I fail to see how the, as you put it 'bat shit crazy ideas' taught to me from the Book of Mormon and the Bible, are
dangerous to myself or to others and why you must try to disprove them. Why I can't take someone else's word that God exists or that I can't have
had an experience that proves it myself. Belief without evidence may be dangerous but what criteria do you use to validate that evidence? You seem quick
enough to dismiss my evidence. Who do you trust to give you the right information? How do you tell if someone is telling the truth or the truth as they see
it? Since you don't have faith in God, do you have faith in your teachers? Your parents? Your friends?
The comment about not voting because of my race was more of response to Fidooki's statistic about 70% of blacks voting for Prop 8. Didn't have
anything to do with the religion. Much as I like a hijacked thread, I was trying to provide a way for the religion argument to go back into the background and
people to talk more about what the thread's really about.
I'm of the mind that such a statistic like that are inherently useless as it says little while revealing even less about why such a large group of people
would vote a certain way. I tend to consider it the same as statistics about how many people who are left-handed voted. I think polls based on people's
position in life, income and occupation, and what values they hold would be far more telling in why a certain demographic votes a certain way.
that oddball Christopher Columbus who says its round? When Gallileo was talking about the earth revolving around the sun instead of the sun revolving around
the earth who would you believe? When Darwin was killed by the Catholics because they thought the theory of evolution disproved the theory of creationism, who
would you side with? (I admit Darwin probably isn't the best example considering you already said you don't believe in God but he was one of those
world changing figures) So why can't I believe another revolutionary figure, Joseph Smith Jr. has come forward to change the world just as drasticly? As
for the evidence for a lost civilization. Do you believe in El Dorado? Atlantis? Or are they myths and legends? Lies told to children like Santa's Worksop
at the North Pole? How were the heads put up on Easter Island and who did it? Why did they do it? There are still mysteries in the world and I refuse to
believe that we already know everything that has ever happened on this planet.
In response to the animals, well species also go extinct, we've proven that pretty well with the carrier pigeon. I once heard that if we stopped caring
for our domestic animals that most would die out, unable to fend for themselves and becoming prey for the wild animals. Could been what happened to their
beasts, don't know, don't care. You may view me as the guy who's saying the world is flat but I see you much the same. If belief without evidence
is crazy then must I only believe what I have seen, heard, felt, tasted, and smelled? I have never been to France. Should I not believe in it? Well other
people have been there, there are pictures? Despite the same evidence existing for U.S. astronauts walking on the moon, some people still don't believe
that happened. There is mountains of evidence that the Holocaust happened but some people don't believe in that either. Some people believe that there
was a second gun man that shot John F. Kennedy. That 9/11 was an inside job. The conspiracy theories go on and on. Some of it causing people to act in
violent ways. Some people believe that socialism will solve all the world's problems. Some people believe that government is the cause of all the
problems the world faces. My belief has led me to commit acts of charity and service to friends and complete strangers. I did good deeds and if my motivation
was selfish does it invalidate the good I did? If I gave twenty dollars to a bum on the on-ramp of the freeway, knowing that nothing would ever come of it,
would that make my actions more noble? If I helped a friend move, knowing that I would never hear from them again, am I more righteous? Maybe, but I'll
leave the verdict up to the judge and maybe I'll do enough good that I'll learn not to think about myself. I'm not perfect yet, got to work
towards something. : ) Still I fail to see how the, as you put it 'bat shit crazy ideas' taught to me from the Book of Mormon and the Bible, are
dangerous to myself or to others and why you must try to disprove them. Why I can't take someone else's word that God exists or that I can't have
had an experience that proves it myself. Belief without evidence may be dangerous but what criteria do you use to validate that evidence? You seem quick
enough to dismiss my evidence. Who do you trust to give you the right information? How do you tell if someone is telling the truth or the truth as they see
it? Since you don't have faith in God, do you have faith in your teachers? Your parents? Your friends?
The comment about not voting because of my race was more of response to Fidooki's statistic about 70% of blacks voting for Prop 8. Didn't have
anything to do with the religion. Much as I like a hijacked thread, I was trying to provide a way for the religion argument to go back into the background and
people to talk more about what the thread's really about.
I'm of the mind that such a statistic like that are inherently useless as it says little while revealing even less about why such a large group of people
would vote a certain way. I tend to consider it the same as statistics about how many people who are left-handed voted. I think polls based on people's
position in life, income and occupation, and what values they hold would be far more telling in why a certain demographic votes a certain way.