Miracle

It also fits perfectly in my butt.

Checkmate, Christians.

Some more than others.

Also, lizards have the ability to re-grow their tails...Not the same thing, but they're useful appendages to lizards.

Back when he had arms, he prayed for his arms to grow back if they were to get cut off

And then he chopped his arms off

Let's shut up,stop progress, and live the way we are now. Progress is stupid anyways right? asking questions, and talking about things in a questionable manner, and then testing it, and discussing the results is how progress occurs. The lack thereof therefore prevents a progressive environment to be sustained. Conservatives, and big business are just the kind of people that LOOOOOOOVE this kind of thinking.

There is no way to prove or disprove a deity, so why waste time questioning it?

or what about early earth creationists, that try and dispute the age of the earth! It makes me want to throw up.

Carbon dating has been proven to be pretty inaccurate at times so I can see why some still dispute the alleged age of the Earth, I couldn't care less how old it is though

NOBODY (except creationists maybe) has EVER tried to date earths age by carbon dating.

Theres a humongous difference between 4,540,000,000 years, and 6,000 wouldn't you agree? and carbon dating is faulty, but guess what. Theres at least half a dozen other dating methods that are more accurate, and work for testing the age of the earth.

Which dating methods are those? I'm only familiar with carbon dating

too long list to copy-paste. try googling: Radiometric dating.

oh and where did this 6,000 number come from? it was from the ever so faulty, readings taken by a early earth creationist who didnt even know what he was doing.

6,000 BC, so 8,000 years old

nvm i get what you were saying regarding the 8000 years old. when i glanced over i thought i saw a bc after the 8k. :P

wait what? why did you jump from 6 to 8? and it doesnt make a difference. the difference between actual scientific data, and creationists faulty data. is HUGEMONGOUSAURUS REX.

ok a exaggerated alittle. but radiometric dating was the one used for dating the earth. and theres huge evidence regarding techtonic shift, and evolutionary biology being closely related as responsible for the variations in species in parts of the planet.

and have you heard that there is a vast majority of people who don't believe in evolution just because the bible says so? how foolish is that! even the pope agreed with the evolution! yet in america people are foolish enough to disbelieve in a time standing theory, which hasn't been debunked. science illiteracy also fuels stupidty, and anti progress. THATs why we should be questioning this.

"even the pope agreed with the evolution"
it's a fallacy, called "appeal to authority". there is no difference, who agreed with what. the pope/president/professor/random nobelist may have been gone just crazy and agree with anything. or his balls are pressed between the pliers and he will easily confess, that he himself IS the evolution.
evidences is the only thing, that counts. and don't worry, nobody has ever found any evidence against evolution.

i was only using the pope as an example of someone who is highly religious and accepts evolution to be the way that people came to be as well as all the variations in species. The fact that the highest order of the catholic church believes in it, and that people out there completely ignore his opinion, and all of the data is simply sad.

i understand you but by the way - i personally think, that pope's agreeing with evolution just shows, that either he has/had no balls...OR...he just renounced his recent beliefs.

I'm still holding the point, that according to the bible evolution is impossible and you cant believe both bible AND evolution. if you do, you just have weak mind or even weaker faith.

Catholicism is the laughing stock of Christianity so I can see why many people don't listen to the pope

yea, exactly. but why put so much effort to make the claim of this existence then spend time in investing in churches, and have religion play a huge role in the decisiveness in our government and how laws are edicted into place. THAT is why we need to spend time asking these questions.

If private investors want to put money into building churches then fine, just don't expect the tax payer to pay for it.

If you're an American, you'd know that religion is not allowed to play a role in politics (according to the constitution), it's only in 3rd world countries that religion plays an active role in government

and in america (well, in most western countries) churches are also tax free for some curious reason :-s
for me this is the clear sign, that then NO religion should be let to politics.

its not allowed to, but guess what? polices regarding gay marriage, stem cell research, and anything regarding basic morality derived from theistic dogma FOR SURE plays a role in the government. THE word GOD is in the pledge of allegiance that children are supposed to recite in the morning. BLeh

They can persuade the government just like any other pressure group, but they're not the ones making the end decisions.

yeah? sure about that?

That was just for TV, he wouldn't be allowed to go to war on a gut instinct, he'd have a legitimate reason

Doesn't believe that the earth is flat. SHUTS THE FUCK UP ABOUT IT. thats the spirit humanity!

We can prove the world isn't flat, that's the difference

lets get all sci-ency up in this b before we assume validity of things before they are valid in terms of the perception of reality.

well lets prove that god does or doesnt exist before making conclusions, K?

We can't prove or disprove that

oh and btw how can one disprove fiction? is fiction disprovable ever? do lack of records of something validate any kind of thing thats possible in this physical world? how can we refrain from believing out of feeling subjectively, rather then looking at the world objectively. *(the way the world actually is).

Technically you can't disprove any fiction, even though there cthulu and the loch ness monster don't exist on this planet, who's to say they don't on other planets in far away galaxies?

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

This is absolutely true. however a lochness monster on another planet is no longer the same "lochness monster" but a creature. we have evidence for life, because we are so we can believe in the plausibility of such creatures. Deities on the other hand have no basis to stem our belief from, no root, no fact that needs the requirement of his infallibility as most theistic dogmas claim.

well then, my point is clear as day, why should we even assume it as a reality then?

It's an extreme example,as in the kid with no arms prays for new ones but his prayers are obviously not answered because that's impossible.Basically prayer doesn't work.

What? So praying for impossible things doesn't work, so, by definition, no prayer works?

Well it's meant as an extreme example,but yeah, prayer doesn't really do anything.It's like sugar pills as a cancer cure, it just makes people feel better.

Yes, that's sort of it. My belief is that you won't be rewarded if you pray for physical things, like, say arms, or, in a less extreme example, to recover from an illness. But, God can grant strength or other mental boons to aid in recovery... He can't make himself or his work to obvious. It reminds me of that episode of Futurama, where Bender becomes the god to a group of people living on him after he gets catapulted into space. There's a quote, something to the effect of "if you do everything right, people won't know you're doing anything at all."

mental boons? thats a psychological recovery, not a miracle. that has to do with things that actually exist.

Look, if you're going to be an asshole about it, fine. I won't stop you.

That's kind of how I thought about back when I was religious.
Whatever you want to believe that's fine, just don't go expecting miracles just because you ask.

I fully respect your beliefs and your opinions, but that's just the thing- I don't expect miracles.

That's cool,sorry if it looks like I'm trying to force my world view on you,I'd just prefer people to think realistically.

Okay. Nice discussing with you!

if you have a cancer and you eat sugar - does it really make you feel better? even if you don't know it's sugar, you eat

thats because people pray with doubts in their hearts. Of course God wont make the little child's arms grow back, because God doesnt interfere with the nature he created. If the kid wa sborn like that then he has a purpose to have been born like that.

"God doesnt interfere with the nature he created"
so....who was the dude, who flooded the earth? if it wasn't god, then i have A LOT of other interference questions in my sleeve.

ok, you seem to have questioned every single comment i've made here. First the Bible isnt meant to explain things scientifically. Second, the people of that time havent yet discovered the new world. The area where they lived wa sbetween two great rivers that flooded the whole area, which was the known world to them. Many of the things that appear in the Bible are to be taken simbolically. for example Adan and Even, they didn't exist, they represent the first group of humans (or homo sapiens sapiens) and how was that sin entered the world.

jesus christ was a interference with the natural way of being accordin to the bible. suck it christianity.

So god is the kind of asshole who would let a kid go armless because he was "meant to be that way?"

no, hes not an "asshole".

God created the universe, created Earth and he created us. If our genes have mutations there are two reasons "either we caused it, or God decided to do it like that". If we caused it then God can't interfer because we have "free will".

But what he CAN do is give support and peace to the kid and his family to be able to live with the difficulties

so...he doesnt heal the amputated arms of a little girl who lost them in a terrible accident despite all the prayers. BUT. he sometimes answers other prayers. like "dear god, please let our team win the superbowl" or "dear god, please lead our army to the victory in this holy war" and things like that?

or do you want to say, that he actually NEVER answers the prayers because "things have to go as they are meant"? so why people still pray? why priests lie to them, that god hears them and helps them if they pray?

and the first place: who are YOU that you know what god does and doesn't?

Well I don't think "Free Will" applies to genetics or accidental occurances.If god truly had the power to regrow the boys arms, he has no excuse not to.

well you are free to believe what you want, as i am to believe what i want too. :)

Unicorns, lollipop land, and banana rainbows allllllllll the way

Okay,I just personally feel the idea of praying for the impossible is silly,but if it comforts you then that's great.

no, not like that either. I didnt meant that we could pray for anything. Personally i think that you shouldn't pray for material things, because sometimes we don't know what is good for us or what we need, but rather I pray for patience and understanding, to be able to comprehend and accept the things that happen.

but then, sometimes, we know, what is good for us. right?
and before answering please find out, what is a "special plea fallacy"

Hey,whatever works for you.

xD ok ok

YEP

and what about people who find this funny?

"This is funnyjunk"
i just stopped right there

I believe reddit would go more like this. " NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER!!!!!!! Oh and one more thing. NIGGER!!!!!"

Is this actually funny? I can't even smirk at it.

Excuse me while I drive on in here and set some bitches straight.

Dawkins, let's start with Dawkins because I genuinely cannot stand how he handles things. He accused the religious of being stupid or ignorant for believing in a god or gods. I believe that people took the logical solution in believing. In the past they were presented with a possible answer and even now we do not have all the answers. They had a right and still do to beleive.

Now on to the religious. Hey guess what. Nobody cares! And the same for above. Everyone on this planet has the right to beleive what they want to beleive and when confronted by atheist twats (and it is primarily the atheists that start arguements I have seen it for myself) Walk away. Religious people are given a bad rep by large publicity organisations such as The Dick Baptists (we all know who I am talking about) but day to day Atheists are the ones who start the most fights in schools etc.

If you really, honest to whatever your preference beleive in what you say you do you will just shut it and stop getting into arguements on Religion X Atheism Y. My group of friends is made up of people from all faiths Hindu, Christian, Atheist, Sikh, Buddhist and I myself an am agnostic. We enjoy each others company because we keep our noses out of each others faith. That is the act of.....you know........decent people!

The rant is done.

Goes exactly the same way for christians.

Read two above

taking the actions of a small percentage of a group
labeling the entire group this way
k

But that's exactly what you do to Christians.
K.

did I ever say that I didn't? no. It doesn't matter what the group is, taking the actions of the minority and labeling the entire group that way is inherently dishonest, which is the point I am making. Therefore that picture and the statement "this is a fact" are deceptive.

I'm like the first pic, but I do tend to get yelled at by people who believe in a god, especially christians, who claim I will drag them down to hell. Right, I'm going to hell. I volunteer, help people, basically all the good parts of the bible without worshiping a nonexistent deity, but they will without knowing me, tell me I am going to hell, deserve to die, should be put in prison, kept away from children, put on some list (the last 2 wtf I'm an atheist not a sex offender o_O ), etc, because I don't believe what they believe. But I don't stoop to their level, I just tell them "I can believe what I want and you can believe what you want, have a nice day!" This is usually followed by the other person by a very enthusiastic "FUCK YOU DEVIL WORSHIPER!!" -__-

Where the fuck do you live? I have literally never heard anything along those lines uttered anywhere. Where I live, anyone saying that would get shat on

Central Florida..

Really? I'm in South Florida, never saw much of that attitude around my area. I'm sorry man

Yeah I used to live in SW florida, wasn't nearly as bad but it still happened.

Out of interest, US?

United States, yes.

In fairness it is where you will find the highest density of religious nutjobs. Your common variety honest to god (or Allah or whoever they follow) religious person who is actually religious and follows the proper teachings tend to be pretty calm with Atheism so long as one steers away from subjects particularly touchy with them i.e. abortion

Yeah. I'm in the unfortunate position of my parents being religious nutjobs, along with half of my family. -__-

My friend Richard has the same problem though his being his Catholicism and his entire families Atheism. They constantly bully him because of it.

I see. It can work both ways but it's not the religion (or lack thereof,) it's the person.

Aye more often than not you will find that people need to feel supirior and thus will use it as a weapon. Most people at the end of the day have thier opinions and decent people won't fight about it.

Also we just had an exchange of ideas and opinions on FJ without downthumbs. The fuck is up with that?