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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 03/05/2003 :  21:15:08   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message
You used three examples, two of which are explainable as wear-and-tear caused by friction, to show that an engine follows the 2nd LoT. A hypothetical friction-free engine would still obey the 2nd Law, as your third example showed.

But, this response of yours further illustrates how little you're interested in defending your own assertions, instead trekking off on meaningless tangents. How many times do I need to ask you to defend your definition and assumptions about 'minds' before you will acutally do so?

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
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darwin alogos
SFN Regular

USA
532 Posts

Posted - 03/06/2003 :  11:36:11   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send darwin alogos a Private Message
Dave W.:
quote:
. A hypothetical friction-free engine would still obey the 2nd Law, as your third example showed.


What the hellMore DW:
quote:
But, this response of yours further illustrates how little you're interested in defending your own assertions, instead trekking off on meaningless tangents. How many times do I need to ask you to defend your definition and assumptions about 'minds' before you will acutally do so?
Oh I don't know DW but let us just see how many times I already have but you, in your typical reality denying fashion, choose not to see it.Page 2 of this thread:
quote:
Not true as you state elsewhere:The laws of logic act as the foundation of any serious stab at epistemology, since they are what we use in order to be
rational at all. The very concept of "evidence" and "proof" presuppose them . Because our ability to reasondepends on the ontological existence of such a foundation both logic and our ability cannot be the products of blind impersonal chance, that would be like playin craps with loaded dice.
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you have yet to provide evidence for any form of dualism, contrasted against materialism's success in providing
evidence that our thoughts, consciousness, and learning arise from our physical brain, it quite shows that matter, in the
proper configuration, can lead to thought.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WRONG AGAIN,the inability of your materlistic view to provide the otological foundation for both IS EVIDENCE for the existence of both our dualistic nature and the existence of THE LOGOS from which both derive.Since you have not and ,I believe cannot support you ridiculious position "that matter, in the proper configuration,can lead to thought." (if I'm wrong you really need to check out the "Million Dollar Award" over the ID thread if you can prove that your in for quite a bit of cash,Good Luck).(edited for ref.

http://www.us.net/life/ ) ;

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slater:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And there you have the whole problem with all of your answers. They don't come from looking for actual answers they come straight from your imagination. You have to use faith because, as you admit, you have no proof. But since you have no proof your faith is baseless.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

However we see blind faith in materialism below,
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prominent evolutionist Richard Lewontin wrote:

Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to m

To deny logic you must use it.To deny Jesus Existed you must throw away all your knowledge of the ancient world. To deny ID
you must refute all analogical reasoning. So the question is why deny?
Edited by - darwin alogos on 03/06/2003 11:41:51
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walt fristoe
SFN Regular

USA
505 Posts

Posted - 03/06/2003 :  12:23:00   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send walt fristoe a Private Message

The argument from evil:

1. If God exists, He is all-good, so he wants to prevent evil.

2. If God exists, He is all-wise, so He knows how to prevent evil.

3. If God exists, He is all-powerful, so He is able to prevent evil.

4. Therefor, either there is no evil, or God does not exist.

5. There is evil.

6. Therefore, God does not exist.

The argument as an inference to the best explanation:

1. Among the phenomena of the universe are both goods and evils.

2. Naturalistic explanations of the universe, if available, need no special accounts of good phenomena or of evil phenomena, but explain all things causally.

3. Theistic explanations of the universe, if available, need to be supplemented by special accounts of particular evils. Demonistic explanations, if available, need to be supplemented by special accounts of particular goods.

4. The more good there is in the universe, the less probable demonistic special accounts become; the more evil there is in the universe, the less probable theistic special accounts become.

5. At best, then, demonistic and theistic explanations are more complex and hence somewhat less probable than naturalistic ones; at worst, they are far less probable.

6. Therefore, naturalistic explanations, if available, provide the best way to account for the universe.

"If God chose George Bus of all the people in the world, how good could God be?"
Bill Maher
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 03/06/2003 :  12:41:22   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message
Not at all. I asked for evidence or argument to support your contention that your definition of mind must obey your "no effect can be greater than its cause" nonsense. Instead, you offer up a bunch of quotes from earlier in this thread (no argument, no evidence, just quotes) in which you assert that dualism is correct.

Just for a moment, I will assume that both "effects cannot be larger than their causes" and dualism are correct (but just for a moment). Does it not follow, then, that minds are not required to follow the same physical laws as everything else? And if that's the case, why did you bring up the red herring about effects and causes?!?

Back to reality...

Why, if dualism is correct, is personality-changing brain damage possible?

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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darwin alogos
SFN Regular

USA
532 Posts

Posted - 03/06/2003 :  14:59:26   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send darwin alogos a Private Message
DW:
quote:
Does it not follow, then, that minds are not required to follow the same physical laws as everything else? And if that's the case, why did you bring up the red herring about effects and causes?!?

I'mreally beginning to question your intellectual integrety pal You are the one who continually brings up red herrings and changes the meanings to what you say.I' posted more than enough evidence for my position you answer my question that I asked to you before I give you weasling hide one more response:
quote:
Ahh Dave wrong again I said in several different threads( I'll have to get back to on the ref's) that a mind is capable of self-reflective thought about his/hers existence,the laws of rational thought,able to investigate the universe around them and make rational predications based on those observations and in compliance with the laws of rational thought.You know Dave homo sapein "Man The Thinker".Now the big difference between us Dave is I have REASON for my confidence in reason my source is that our ability to reason was bestowed on us by our VERY RATIONAL CREATOR.Your shakey confidence in reason was already manifest on another thread where you were defending the position that it was unreasonable to claim "That in order to deny logic you must use it".You then tried ,just as you are here,to give some logical reasons as to why we should't believe the above statement,thus proving it,inadvertently.But tell me Dave what your theory as to the origin of our mind?

To deny logic you must use it.To deny Jesus Existed you must throw away all your knowledge of the ancient world. To deny ID
you must refute all analogical reasoning. So the question is why deny?
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darwin alogos
SFN Regular

USA
532 Posts

Posted - 03/06/2003 :  19:08:21   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send darwin alogos a Private Message
walt fristoe:
quote:
The argument from evil:

1. If God exists, He is all-good, so he wants to prevent evil.

2. If God exists, He is all-wise, so He knows how to prevent evil.

3. If God exists, He is all-powerful, so He is able to prevent evil.

4. Therefor, either there is no evil, or God does not exist.

5. There is evil.

6. Therefore, God does not exist.

The argument as an inference to the best explanation:
This argument can be answered from a "theological" perspective,to the best of my knowledge the philosophic answers are found wanting.However,from a purely philosophic veiw we can question the gratuitus assumptions built into the argument;
  • 1.If there is indeed no God,what's the "beef" things just are that way;bad things happen to good people.
  • 2.Also who defines what is "good" or "evil" from a non-theistic universe?
  • 3.From the above 2 points we can see that "the objection" is only relevant if There is indeed a God to which then the question is "Why does God allow this type of situation?"

To deny logic you must use it.To deny Jesus Existed you must throw away all your knowledge of the ancient world. To deny ID
you must refute all analogical reasoning. So the question is why deny?
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 03/06/2003 :  20:07:03   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message
DA wrote:
quote:
I'mreally beginning to question your intellectual integrety pal You are the one who continually brings up red herrings and changes the meanings to what you say.I' posted more than enough evidence for my position...
No, you have not. You've continually left out one very important part: any reason whatsoever that minds, as you define them:
quote:
...a mind is capable of self-reflective thought about his/hers existence,the laws of rational thought,able to investigate the universe around them and make rational predications based on those observations and in compliance with the laws of rational thought.
are, in any way, constrained by physical "laws" like your "effects cannot be larger than their causes" (which you have yet to defend).

Now you make this demand:
quote:
you answer my question that I asked to you before I give you weasling hide one more response
You have yet to demonstrate that I've been weaseling at all. Your own misinterpretations of my statements aren't an effect of me weaseling, they're an effect of your own confusion. Case in point:
quote:
But tell me Dave what your theory as to the origin of our mind?
My 'theory' of the origin of 'mind' is vastly different from yours, since I don't use the same definition you do. Until you're willing to accept that other people use different definitions than yours (and consistently use those different definitions), I have no intention of opening my 'theory' to your consideration.

Your question is just an attempt to change the subject under discussion, which is your theory of the origin of 'mind'. It is your theory that we've been discussing. You proposed a source, which is now under dispute. You refuse to back up your claims with evidence, and instead rely on quotes from others. You refuse to defend your position with anything but attacks on others. You claim we're the ones who are not thinking correctly, yet your refusal to support your position shows just how little you try to think about what you are saying.

All you are doing is making assertions and mining quotes. That's not nearly the same thing as "rational thought."

By way of another example:
quote:
2.Also who defines what is "good" or "evil" from a non-theistic universe?
This is a complex question which assumes that all morals and ethics are handed down from God. That isn't an assumption in the argument from evil. Your point 3 also assumes that morality is necessarily handed down.

You're going to need to provide evidence that morality does, indeed, necessarily come from God before your 2nd and 3rd points will be valid. Until then, they can be ignored.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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chainsaw
Skeptic Friend

USA
63 Posts

Posted - 03/07/2003 :  06:40:59   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send chainsaw a Private Message
DA, I need you to be more specific with your arguments before I can understand what you are trying to prove. Most folks here do not speak or understand those with the “dreamy eyed my sweet lord” affect way of communicating. I do better with the nuts and bolts information.

So, what I've heard from you to date is:

· I think, therefore I am, therefore god exists.
· DNA is soooooooo complicated, therefore god exists
· I don't understand natural selection building upon previous information over billions of years, therefore god exists.
· I don't understand 13.4 billion years, therefore god exists

I need a little more detail here. You need to breakdown your logic into more concrete steps. In my opinion your humongous leap to your conclusion does not correctly compute. And your witnessing to your lord, while interesting to some, is irrelevant to the issue you originally raised.

Please lay out your roadmap in discreet logical steps. You might as well hang this one up if you can't.

You can "believe" what you want, but you do have to get your science right or you'll flunk science.
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darwin alogos
SFN Regular

USA
532 Posts

Posted - 03/07/2003 :  15:58:24   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send darwin alogos a Private Message
chainsaw:
quote:

DA, I need you to be more specific with your arguments before I can understand what you are trying to prove
OK.
quote:
So, what I've heard from you to date is:

· I think, therefore I am,
Correct,now do you doubt this? Assuming you don't in a totally materialistic universe with nothing that in any way trancends the material of it, and I mean nothing! How did you come about this remarkable gift to be able to think about it,categorize it,recognize that you are diffrent than it?
quote:


quote:

My original argument for the Existence of God is based on the futility of a impersonal mindless origin of our reasoning ability:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ELABORATION: INTERACTIVE DUALISM NOT PHYSICALISM

The epistemological argument against Naturalism is also developed in J. P. Moreland's Scaling the Secular
City (chapter three); especially pages 90-96). Moreland's argument is more sophisticated than Sire's and
appeals to the philosophical problems of physicalism (Materialism) in explaining our mental states and their
potential verdicality. He argues that since physicalism reduces to or logically entails determinism, there
would be no reason to think that a materially necessitated brain would know truth--which involves
intellectual assessment and rational deliberation not allowed of determined mechanisms. Thought would be
reduced to a mere reflex action on the order of a muscle twinge. But can glorified muscle twinges weigh
evidence and reach warranted conclusions?

C. S. Lewis argues in a similar, but less developed, fashion in Miracles where he distinguishes between
clauses for phenomena and reasons for holding beliefs. The former are nonrational while the latter demand
an ability to have insight into truth. Consider how we use the world “because.” If we say “X moved
because it was propelled by Y” we are using “because” in a causal fashion. Yet if we say “I believe X on
the basis of Y” we are using “because” not in a causal fashion but with respect to reasons or grounds for
believing X. Lewis argues that if Naturalism is true we could never grant reasons for holding beliefs since
all our brain states would be rigorously determined in a materialistically caused fashion. Both Lewis and
Moreland are arguing not only for a rational God to ensure that knowledge is possible, but that we require a
mind distinct but related to our bodies (interactive dualism) in order to know truth. They also argue that
mind is best explained by the Christian world view. Sire's version of the epistemological argument does not
mention the need for an immaterial mind, but proceeds o

To deny logic you must use it.To deny Jesus Existed you must throw away all your knowledge of the ancient world. To deny ID
you must refute all analogical reasoning. So the question is why deny?
Edited by - darwin alogos on 03/07/2003 16:04:57
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Slater
SFN Regular

USA
1668 Posts

Posted - 03/07/2003 :  16:47:10   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Slater a Private Message
How did you come about this remarkable gift to be able to think about it,categorize it,recognize that you are diffrent than it?

EVOLUTION
Plain and simple, down and dirty evolution. No need for magic sky fairies, no need for "gifts," no need to transcend (whatever that even means) the real world. Evolution worked just fine.

No magic words, no magic piles of dust, or magic spare ribs. No light before the sun and not a talking snake to be found anywhere. No fairy tales, just science. No God, no Goddess, no Santa Claus, no magic. Evolution and time were all we needed.
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darwin alogos
SFN Regular

USA
532 Posts

Posted - 03/07/2003 :  23:17:56   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send darwin alogos a Private Message
Slater:
quote:
EVOLUTION
Plain and simple, down and dirty evolution. No need for magic sky fairies, no need for "gifts," no need to transcend
(whatever that even means) the real world. Evolution worked just fine.
Well that's one solution.Tell me Slater do you think that this blind impersonal process gave us this ability to conceptualize,reason,and reflect on our own existence (not to mention discover that it created us) by law (as when we combine 2 hydrogen atoms with 1 oxygen we get water) so that the cosmos was pregnant with intelligence but just needed to get right ingredients to combine and it was bound to happen? Or do you share Monod's chance view that "Our number just came up" ? Or some combination of the two? Also it would be interesting to hear Koko's speculation on the origin of consciousness.

To deny logic you must use it.To deny Jesus Existed you must throw away all your knowledge of the ancient world. To deny ID
you must refute all analogical reasoning. So the question is why deny?
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 03/07/2003 :  23:44:45   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message
It appears now that DA is resorting to combining complex questions with false dichotomies.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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darwin alogos
SFN Regular

USA
532 Posts

Posted - 03/07/2003 :  23:53:21   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send darwin alogos a Private Message
quote:
Exposition:

A "loaded question", like a loaded gun, is a dangerous thing. A loaded question is a question with a false or
questionable presupposition, and it is "loaded" with that presumption. The question "Have you stopped beating
your wife?" presupposes that you have beaten your wife prior to its asking, as well as that you have a wife. If
you are unmarried, or have never beaten your wife, then the question is loaded.

Since this example is a yes/no question, there are only the following two direct answers:

1."Yes, I have stopped beating my wife", which entails "I was beating my wife."
2."No, I haven't stopped beating my wife", which entails "I am still beating my wife."

Thus, either direct answer entails that you have beaten your wife, which is, therefore, a presupposition of the
question. So, a loaded question is one which you cannot answer directly without implying a falsehood or a
statement that you deny. For this reason, the proper response to such a question is not to answer it directly, but to
either refuse to answer or to reject the question.

Some systems of parliamentary debate provide for "dividing the question", that is, splitting a complex question up
into two or more simple questions. Such a move can be used to split the Example as follows:

1."Have you ever beaten your wife?"
2."If so, are you still doing so?"

In this way, 1 can be answered directly by "no", and then the conditional question 2 does not arise.

To deny logic you must use it.To deny Jesus Existed you must throw away all your knowledge of the ancient world. To deny ID
you must refute all analogical reasoning. So the question is why deny?
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Slater
SFN Regular

USA
1668 Posts

Posted - 03/08/2003 :  00:02:34   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Slater a Private Message
Tell me Slater do you think that this blind impersonal process gave us this ability to conceptualize,reason,and reflect on our own existence
Of course it did. Why, do you think some invisible sky pixie did it by magic?

not to mention discover that it created us
This is how we all know that you are a dirty liar. You've been told again and again and again that evolution deals with evolving not origins.
by law (as when we combine 2 hydrogen atoms with 1 oxygen we get water) so that the cosmos….
What cosmos? Your magic sky pixie story says that there is no cosmos. Are you dropping that part of it? Are you changing who God is?
was pregnant with intelligence but just needed to get right ingredients to combine and it was bound to happen?
So you are admitting that you are a complete idiot then? You admit that you haven't a clue, despite the numerous times we have told you on these boards, of how evolution works. You are indeed pitiful.
Also it would be interesting to hear Koko's speculation on the origin of consciousness
It would be interesting to hear why you think that a soulless animal, a hairy ape, a beast, a brute, has an IQ of 87, can communicate, read, write, THINK, create art. Is God a lowland or a mountain gorilla then? If consciousness is a magic, god given, "spiritual" thing how is it that gorillas, bonobos, chimps and orangutans can think, can communicate and can have their own culture and knowledge of self?
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darwin alogos
SFN Regular

USA
532 Posts

Posted - 03/08/2003 :  02:10:37   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send darwin alogos a Private Message
Slater:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tell me Slater do you think that this blind impersonal process gave us this ability to conceptualize,reason,and reflect on our own existence
Of course it did. Why, do you think some invisible sky pixie did it by magic?

not to mention discover that it created us
This is how we all know that you are a dirty liar. You've been told again and again and again that evolution deals with evolving not origins.
by law (as when we combine 2 hydrogen atoms with 1 oxygen we get water) so that the cosmos….
What cosmos? Your magic sky pixie story says that there is no cosmos. Are you dropping that part of it? Are you changing who God is?
was pregnant with intelligence but just needed to get right ingredients to combine and it was bound to happen?
So you are admitting that you are a complete idiot then? You admit that you haven't a clue, despite the numerous times we have told you on these boards, of how evolution works. You are indeed pitiful.
Also it would be interesting to hear Koko's speculation on the origin of consciousness
It would be interesting to hear why you think that a soulless animal, a hairy ape, a beast, a brute, has an IQ of 87, can communicate, read, write, THINK, create art. Is God a lowland or a mountain gorilla then? If consciousness is a magic, god given, "spiritual" thing how is it that gorillas, bonobos, chimps and orangutans can think, can communicate and can have their own culture and knowledge of self?

I rest my case,if is the best you skeptic's can do there is really no point in trying to have a rational dialogue with such idiocy

To deny logic you must use it.To deny Jesus Existed you must throw away all your knowledge of the ancient world. To deny ID
you must refute all analogical reasoning. So the question is why deny?
Edited by - darwin alogos on 03/08/2003 02:12:14
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