Dear Matt,
After waxing on about Feticide and other related issues of the Bible could you enlighten us with your position on gay marriage?
You see, every time I read about "Gods Law on marriage" I get very angry. God's Law, really. Which God? The one who still manages to turn a blind eye to the children dieing every day and droughts or flooding or other miseries that cause strife to various humans on this planet?
Seems there are about approx 3000 different Gods - so which one is making this "Law" on marriage?
Didn't we already sort out that Man made God (not the other way around)?
Isn't the issue equality. I would like to see the same rights afforded to any couple in the country I live in. Marriage is a state enforced contract. If it had been a religious construct then it has moved on from there, in other words, religion does not have a place (unless you chose it) in the contract of marriage.
Equality - remember that's what this is about.
SCA
31 July 2012
27 July 2012
William Lane Craig
Dear Matt,
You recently argued that (and I will paraphrase as to repeat your dissertation would put most reasonable people to sleep) Richard Dawkins refusal to debate William Lane Craig in the UK was a form of mis-information/cowardly act on Dawkins part. Yes - your over 1570 words boiled down to that...
Craig, in the face of many statements of fact, has (to my knowledge) never changed his mind and said - "OK on this point I am mistaken and I need to develop a new position". Yes - statements of fact.
Dawkins deals in facts. You preface your article with the words "Contra Mundum" really!! "Against the world" - how arrogant.
Dawkins is a scientist. Debating Craig who does not practice science or should I say does not use the Science Methodology would be a waste of time. Dawkins can do what I do - and watch Craig on Youtube. Dawkins probably concluded the same thing I did - Craig is an Unreasonable man.
Unreasonable: "When the facts change, I change my mind"
Science continues to erode the the boundary of knowledge of our species and adding more facts about our existence. Religion feels threatened by this and it is becoming obvious to me that we need to start treating thoughts of God in the same way we think about Santa Claus: Great for children but not appropriate for adults.
So Matt, I hope your pursuit of "adultness" deals to the childish notions of an omnipetent diety
Cheers
SCA
You recently argued that (and I will paraphrase as to repeat your dissertation would put most reasonable people to sleep) Richard Dawkins refusal to debate William Lane Craig in the UK was a form of mis-information/cowardly act on Dawkins part. Yes - your over 1570 words boiled down to that...
Craig, in the face of many statements of fact, has (to my knowledge) never changed his mind and said - "OK on this point I am mistaken and I need to develop a new position". Yes - statements of fact.
Dawkins deals in facts. You preface your article with the words "Contra Mundum" really!! "Against the world" - how arrogant.
Dawkins is a scientist. Debating Craig who does not practice science or should I say does not use the Science Methodology would be a waste of time. Dawkins can do what I do - and watch Craig on Youtube. Dawkins probably concluded the same thing I did - Craig is an Unreasonable man.
Unreasonable: "When the facts change, I change my mind"
Science continues to erode the the boundary of knowledge of our species and adding more facts about our existence. Religion feels threatened by this and it is becoming obvious to me that we need to start treating thoughts of God in the same way we think about Santa Claus: Great for children but not appropriate for adults.
So Matt, I hope your pursuit of "adultness" deals to the childish notions of an omnipetent diety
Cheers
SCA
23 July 2012
Does evil exist?
Interesting question - Let us presume that evil does not exist - "A hypothesis"
So, evil does not exist.
Then you (yes you can play the other side) suggest that the Nazis/Hitler were evil.
I say: Really? "Yes" The stuff the nazis got up was because of evil? "Yes" An evil spirit made them do those crazy things? So they weren't responsible? Something else called "evil" was responsible. "Well yes..."
You know I'm thinking there are shades of evil, but we should be thinking about how many people view evil. Evil is the result of the "Devil". The Devil has enticed you towards an evil act. The dark side....
Interesting. So if I was to do something bad to another person (say hit them with a bat) would I be responsible or would the "evil" thing be responsible.
The religious amongst us contend that evil is all around us and that it needs to be turned away from, and that if the evil has caused you to do a bad thing then you can be reconciled from it by another third party - "God" A forgiveness that will take on your burden of responsibility.
Wow - that last statement is huge. So you can be absolved of the responsibility. In other words, the consequence for the bad thing you did is gone - no consequence.
What if we were to re-label "Evil" and called "Acts of Wrong" People doing wrongs against others/things. This definition would still be considered evil, but its not seen as coming from another third-party source like the Satan etc.
Who is responsible for Acts of Wrong? Well the people themselves. No "passing the buck" with this, these people own it.
I like this definition because it can also include Acts of Wrong perpetuated by people thinking they were doing Gods Work. Nope - they were just wrong and they in flicked bad stuff on other people or things.
Does evil exist? No. They are Acts of Wrong that people should be responsible for.
So, evil does not exist.
Then you (yes you can play the other side) suggest that the Nazis/Hitler were evil.
I say: Really? "Yes" The stuff the nazis got up was because of evil? "Yes" An evil spirit made them do those crazy things? So they weren't responsible? Something else called "evil" was responsible. "Well yes..."
You know I'm thinking there are shades of evil, but we should be thinking about how many people view evil. Evil is the result of the "Devil". The Devil has enticed you towards an evil act. The dark side....
Interesting. So if I was to do something bad to another person (say hit them with a bat) would I be responsible or would the "evil" thing be responsible.
The religious amongst us contend that evil is all around us and that it needs to be turned away from, and that if the evil has caused you to do a bad thing then you can be reconciled from it by another third party - "God" A forgiveness that will take on your burden of responsibility.
Wow - that last statement is huge. So you can be absolved of the responsibility. In other words, the consequence for the bad thing you did is gone - no consequence.
What if we were to re-label "Evil" and called "Acts of Wrong" People doing wrongs against others/things. This definition would still be considered evil, but its not seen as coming from another third-party source like the Satan etc.
Who is responsible for Acts of Wrong? Well the people themselves. No "passing the buck" with this, these people own it.
I like this definition because it can also include Acts of Wrong perpetuated by people thinking they were doing Gods Work. Nope - they were just wrong and they in flicked bad stuff on other people or things.
Does evil exist? No. They are Acts of Wrong that people should be responsible for.
13 July 2012
A difficult challenge
Dear Matt,
This quote from Penn Jillette offers a huge challenge. Have you done this? If you said Yes, then I wonder if you really have, properly and critically read it.
Yours SCA
This quote from Penn Jillette offers a huge challenge. Have you done this? If you said Yes, then I wonder if you really have, properly and critically read it.
Yours SCA
12 July 2012
annoying statements...
From "ten-cliches-christians-should-never-use/"
“If you died today, do you know where you’d spend the rest of eternity?”
No, I don’t, and neither do you. So stop asking such a presumptuous question as this that implies you have some insider knowledge that the rest of us don’t. And seriously, if your faith is entirely founded upon the notion of eternal fire insurance, you’re not sharing testimony; you’re peddling propaganda.
Well there another 19 on top of the ten referred to - here is a good one
God is in control.
This raises a very fundamental problem of Theodicy, which most Christians I’ve met who say this are not necessarily prepared to address. Theodicy is the dilemma between belief in an all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful God with the existence of evil and/or suffering in the world. And the other problem is that, if you believe that human beings have free will (a central tenet of most Christian thought), it needs to be recognized that that, in itself, is a concession of control by God. And like other phrases I’ve mentioned about God’s role in daily life, be careful in tossing this one around. Telling someone who was raped, abused, tortured, neglected, etc. that God was in control during that experience likely is enough to incent that person to turn from the concept of God forever.
“If you died today, do you know where you’d spend the rest of eternity?”
No, I don’t, and neither do you. So stop asking such a presumptuous question as this that implies you have some insider knowledge that the rest of us don’t. And seriously, if your faith is entirely founded upon the notion of eternal fire insurance, you’re not sharing testimony; you’re peddling propaganda.
Well there another 19 on top of the ten referred to - here is a good one
God is in control.
This raises a very fundamental problem of Theodicy, which most Christians I’ve met who say this are not necessarily prepared to address. Theodicy is the dilemma between belief in an all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful God with the existence of evil and/or suffering in the world. And the other problem is that, if you believe that human beings have free will (a central tenet of most Christian thought), it needs to be recognized that that, in itself, is a concession of control by God. And like other phrases I’ve mentioned about God’s role in daily life, be careful in tossing this one around. Telling someone who was raped, abused, tortured, neglected, etc. that God was in control during that experience likely is enough to incent that person to turn from the concept of God forever.
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