bennychico11

any of these: http://www.druglibra...yths/myths4.htm ??? I found this funny:

Haven't we all decided that the 'proof' ultimatum is futile? I think that was just you that decided that because you have none. For me...the evidence is my disbelief in magic. We have absolutely no evidence of magic ever happening outside of fairy tales. Belief in the supernatural is at odds with the natural world we live in. Just because we can't explain everything in the universe, does not mean magic is the fallback answer. Period.

No, I'm sorry. It's not faith in something that can't be proven...it's about accepting something based on available evidence. Faith is about not having any evidence. I do not have faith in anything. Give me an example of something I have faith in and I'll stop believing it. Scientists create a hypothesis and say, "if evolution were true, this is the kind of evidence we'd see." Then they look for that evidence. And they have found it with regards to evolution. It's kind of like a murder scene. When the police enter the crime scene they can tell a murder happened. They can piece together each part of the puzzle, infer what happened in the room, where people were standing, what kind of weapon was used...even obtain DNA or fingerprint evidence that links everything to a murder. But just because they can't find the weapon...or even the murderer himself....doesn't mean that it wasn't a murder. Just because we can't find whatever specific transitional sequence your looking for after millions of years, does not mean evolution is not true. Science can infer many details about evolution without having to find the smoking gun. Every transitional fossil found, is your missing link. Creationists are just, for some reason, wanting to find some half man-half ape creature which does not exist.

First of all, my moderation duties have nothing to do with my viewpoints. Just because I don't agree with someone else's opinion, doesn't mean I'm allowed to delete, ban, etc. anything they post. All us moderators do around here is just to make sure the board rules are followed. You are allowed to discuss and express any opinion you may have...as long as it falls within the rules of the board. Second of all, I have no issues with Christian "thoughts"...and so won't put you on ignore. I may disagree with you, but that's the whole point of this forum...to hold a discussion. Back to the original convo (since you seemed to jump topics purely because I disagreed with you); I wasn't saying in my post above that everything is "perfect" in this country. I was just saying that every decade...every generation....has always had something to complain about. Every generation has always thought this country was headed in the wrong direction and that more religion was the answer. I'm tired of hearing how the USA is god's chosen country. That America is the most kick ass country in the world. Like this is some sort of contest. I also disagree that the "removal of prayer," or whatever, is at fault for the the issues in our country. We create our own problems by direct means. I disagree that this country is being systematically destroyed purely because the secularist viewpoint expresses a desire to remove any religious influence from our public school system. That also means I don't agree that your child should be exposed to any religious teachings that disagree with YOUR family's personal beliefs.

Who's god was removed? Your god? The Islamic god? The Greek god? Oh no, it's always the Christian god. That's the only god that seems to have a god-crush on this country. Satan must only be attacking this country because he knows it's god's favorite. If a move were made to put Sharia law into order and have children worship Allah instead...would you be okay with that? No, I don't think you, or the rest of the Christian population would. You only prefer your god, which is exactly the reason why the secular population pushes for no religious influence in our schools. Because it doesn't belong there. No one's religious beliefs should hold merit over another persons. The religious right of our country tends to spout off that there is a war against religion and insists that our country has been in a decline ever since "god was removed from out schools!" A decline to what? What exactly are you wanting to go back to? Tell me a time when everyone was happy with the way out government and society was "perfect". If you flashed back to the 1950's, you'd probably hear people of that generation complain about the same sh#t. Everyone has always complained about the same sh#t. "Blah, the government is terrible....screw this guy in office...our economy sucks....this war is over nothing....these young kids these days don't act the way we used to...blah!" The decision to not allow our educational system to publicize or promote a certain religious belief has had nothing to do with anything in our society. Give me one example that is in direct correlation to the "removal of prayer" or the teachings of a certain religious sect. And I'll give you an opposite but equal...and just as plausible...explanation.

proof is the wrong word for everyone to be using. They should be saying "evidence". There has been no evidence presented of a god. I don't need to see Jesus walking on water, I need testable, verifiable, repeatable, evidence...and then I'll believe a god exists. But even then, that doesn't mean I'll worship him. ESPECIALLY if it's the god of the Bible. I'm sorry you had to go through a rough time with your cousin and then later your girlfriend during those times. But what I don't understand is why everyone just chalks it up to "god has a plan." How do you know? When someone dies of natural causes it's "god decided it was their time." When a tornado hits Joplin and kills a bunch of people it's "well, god didn't create the tornado, it's just nature running it's course." So many of you speak of knowledge of how god works...but can't even give evidence of why you think that's the way god works!! Somehow you have this extra knowledge that the rest of us don't! Your cousin may have gotten leukemia from a genetic predisposition, HTLV-1 virus, or other scientifically explained conditions. Your girlfriend may have broken up with you over something you said or with the way she saw the relationship going...and decided that she wanted to go a different direction. It's a cause and effect. Not an ultimate plan by someone else. You say god gives us the ultimate gift of free will...but then when it comes down to something like death or sickness, you just say it was god's plan!?

You pick the myth that is most comfortable to you. Why is it that Christianity is real and the stories of the Greek gods are just myths? Just because a story tells you that a god sent his son to earth in order to do those things...doesn't make it true! Don't accept things just because someone says they are true!!!! Use reason and a rational mind to find truth! I'll start going through the article you mentioned (don't know if I'll finish it all tonight): First- "It is like if someone refuses to believe that people have walked on the moon, then no amount of information is going to change their thinking. Photographs of astronauts walking on the moon, interviews with the astronauts, moon rocks...all the evidence would be worthless, because the person has already concluded that people cannot go to the moon." The select few who do refuse to believe in the moon landing the rest of us (99%) find insane. Still, we have collaborative evidence over years and years...where independent researchers and scientists can all say "yep, the moon is real and the possibility that we landed on it is real." Unfortunately, no one can even provide evidence that your god is real...let alone that specific people "know him", have stories about him, that the Christian god is the one true god, etc. But even STILL, those people who deny the moon can be physically flown to the moon and step foot on it themselves if they wanted to. THAT is natural evidence. Second, regarding the first question, which is basically the "watch maker" argument: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmaker_analogy http://wiki.ironchariots.org/index.php?title=Argument_from_design Unfortunately all of these can be refuted. "ie. the eye really isn't that amazing. Consider why so many people need glasses/contacts...or can't see color. Not a very well designed piece. Even still, regarding the perfect conditions of the earth....yes, they are perfect for life as we know it. That doesn't mean it's the only life in the universe. It also doesn't mean that a "creator" created it. Life is only proof of life. Not that we have an all powerful being who used magic being (which, btw, you have no evidence for magic either...and IMO would need to prove before you even provided evidence of a god to me). Big Bang: Wasn't an explosion. It was an explansion. Which, the writer never really goes on to refute. Just asks "what caused this." So I don't know what else to say except do some research on Big Bang cosmology. But they are right on one thing...we don't have a consensus on what happened before it, and we may never know. But that doesn't mean we can just "insert god here" "Why is the universe so orderly, so reliable?" If the universe was any different...would you recognize it as different, or only assume that's the way it works? Let me give an example. Say you win the lottery this Saturday with the numbers 5 14 27 29 32 & 11. That's amazing isn't it? It's amazing how you picked the exact numbers in the exact order that would win you 200 Million dollars!!! What are the odds? Well...we know actually they are 1 in 175,223,510.00 Now, what if on a second ticket you picked the numbers 4 12 19 32 36 & 27 Even though those numbers didn't win...what are the odds that those MAY have been the winning numbers? It's the EXACT same odds! We as humans perceive order because we're just wired that way to see it. We see order in the world and say "this is the only way it's got to be" We have no basis for comparison. More reading: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/carroll09/carroll09_index.html (btw, this kind of answers the next line of questions in the article) Skipping further down to #6) Those religions still have a god...one that is not your god. So why is your god the right god? Only because he had the Jesus tale? Although the debate of whether or not your Jesus existsed, let alone was god, is up to debate. Many Christians aren't sure among themselves either. The rest kind of gets into preaching...claiming the Bible is full of facts and that because it claims that Jesus is the son of god...then it's the only way it can be. Period. Reading some other articles by this same writer, it's clear how biased they are. Specifically how they ignore every other major religion purely because it makes them feel better to believe the tales they've heard in Bible. There's a whole articles explaining because Christianity is the only religion that promises a true relationship with the one god now in this world...then that's obviously the one true belief you should follow!

Daily Show nailed it again last night: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-13-2012/the-vagina-ideologues http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-13-2012/the-vagina-ideologues---sean-hannity-s-holy-sausage-fest

Exactly, 30-50% are lost...sometimes so early that the woman doesn't even know it's happened. Then you've got the gastrulation phase which occurs around 16 days after fertilization. That's when the father's genetic code is fully implanted. People are going argue forever, though...about when "life" actually begins.

If the USPS does go by the wayside, I'm curious who will pick up the slack. It's still way too expensive to ship a letter (or Netflix envelope for most of us) via UPS/FedEx. Especially when they don't just come to your house everyday to pick up mail. UPS and FedEx out profit USPS only because they don't have the government to report to and because they don't utilize the basic business model of traveling everywhere, 6 days a week.

It may very well not be about religion depending on who is included under "Catholic affiliated employers". But, if they were to attempt to force the Catholic church, i9n whatever capacity, to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees, then I feel it would be about religion. I'm not that shook about it other than that principle. The part that has me curious is the bolded. When did that necessarily become a "right"? Is that "right" in the constitution somewhere? I want my Insurance to cover Lipitor medication. Apparently I do not have that right as they recently decided they would no longer cover it because a lower priced generic is now available. But the lower priced generic is still covered by your insurance, correct? So what's the issue. You're still getting the same active ingredient. This isn't about what "brand" of medication you are offered. It's being offered medication...period. If instead, your insurance said they weren't going to cover ANY cholesterol medication, would you have an issue with that?

There's Hulu too. But yes, the BTN is the tough one. No legit way currently to get it via internet.

One good thing with web based mail is that you shouldn't have to back it up. Yahoo's servers should have automatic backups in case they ever crash. So you shouldn't need to backup anything on your personal computer. Maybe some of these options might help you: http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6638_102-3256597.html

hahah, was that a Simpson's episode? I remember that one from something.

Dang, I really need to start reading the rest of the thread before I respond Extremely tolerable...and supportive. It's important to her and it makes her feel good to go to church each week. So why wouldn't I want her to be happy? Personal beliefs are important to everyone, no matter what my opinion on each of them. Most atheists I know are the same. It's just when it comes to actually affecting how we live that we have a problem with it. And unfortunately, atheists are the minority and a lot of laws in this country are pushed through my the religious (see "Christian") groups. That's our issue. When it comes to defining who can get married, how science should be taught, etc....that's when we have issues.

I find this interesting with most people. If you disagree with your particular religious organization on important issues...why continue to go? I know, I know, because the worship of Christ is the most important part. But who said you have to choose a church in order to correctly believe? ummm, you're going to have to do a little bit more "scientific research" in order to convince anyone that such a thing as a soul exists again, please don't use a scientific claim on this. No real scientist claims a verifiable existence of what you call a soul. Tax dollars don't go towards abortions Pascal's wager. Unfortunately it fails on all accounts.

What up Po! Married and livin' the good life. Well...although losing my job a few months back, as good as I can. But I've got a great, supportive wife. Regarding her trying to convert me....she really never has tried to. We were married in the Catholic church just because it was important to her. But since then, we know where each other stand on the issue of religion and just live with it. I go to mass with her from time to time when she asks. I'm interested to see what happens when we have kids. Although, (this might surprise you), I'm wanting my kids to experience religion for themselves and let them make they're own decisions when they are older. I just hope they inherit my rational thinking skills Hope you're doing well!

You're right...the strong belief in the good of the PEOPLE...not the good of what is written in a book. Do we stop at your god? Is it just the Christian teachings we make into laws? How about Sharia law? How many people would throw a fit if Sharia laws were pushed into our government? What about if I create a religion, write a religious text, and say that "because my religious teachings say this....we should make it into law." The government should never make laws based off of a religious ideology. I agree with this the way you worded it. Within our system it is virtually impossible to make law based solely on religious ideology. Our laws come from the ideology of our people and their representatives. Surely you don't propose that we the people ignore our ideology, be it religious or otherwise? What kind of laws would we have if those laws were not rooted in our ideology? I shudder to think how it would even be possible. Yes, yes I am proposing that. By "ideology" I am meaning the doctrine myth/belief of a religion. Understand that we should get the basis of our laws from an understanding of reality and not an assertion of authority from a book. We can live definitely in a society governed without beliefs rooted in rules from a deity.

You're right...the strong belief in the good of the PEOPLE...not the good of what is written in a book. Do we stop at your god? Is it just the Christian teachings we make into laws? How about Sharia law? How many people would throw a fit if Sharia laws were pushed into our government? What about if I create a religion, write a religious text, and say that "because my religious teachings say this....we should make it into law." The government should never make laws based off of a religious ideology.

Instead of saying "I believe there is a verse...", find the verse and post it. Bible gateway is just a couple clicks away. I'm gonna throw a hypothetical. If a woman asks God for an abortion and she miscarries, did he grant her prayer? You are right, sorry, I got lazy. http://bible.cc/jeremiah/1-5.htm First verse. Here is a blog post talking about the second topic with verses. http://sharingjesus....dren-go-to.html To answer your hypothetical, a simple no will do, unless you are guilty of trying to translate the meanings in the bible to fit your own wants much like those who actually believe in the bible tend to do as well. Actually that pretty much sums up how this thread got started in the first place. And we can find the opposite: Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. -- Hosea 9:14 Yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb. -- Hosea 9:16 Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. -- Hosea 13:16 etc. etc.

....as a mod, I'm going to have to warn you against personal attacks against other people. that being said, there are both pro-abortion and anti-abortion stories/rules in the Bible. It's a huge book of contradictions. When it comes to passing laws in our country, I ask everyone to look at the reasons for their point of view. If they're religious based...if you have to say "god tells us (fill in the blank)"... I think you have no right to push those views into laws. Whether it be abortion, same-sex marriage, etc.

mucho like!

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or....don't start a fight with him at all.

Definitely do. And it's just called "Sherlock"...don't confuse it with the movie. It's kind of a modern day Sherlock Holmes It's only been around for 3 or 4 shows. They're supposed to be continuing the series soon...but the first few got me hooked.