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austin
New Member

10 Posts

Posted - 11/21/2006 :  20:34:18   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send austin a Private Message
I also have a sense of humor, but even you will agree that there are times when something simply isn't funny.

Personally, I think my signature below is pretty funny. Maybe you don't. If not, then maybe you can't laugh at stabs at your beliefs either, removing your right to accuse me.

"Nietzsche is dead"
-God
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard

USA
4574 Posts

Posted - 11/21/2006 :  20:39:45   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send H. Humbert a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by austin
God has revealed himself to me, and you won't be able to understand that unless you experience it yourself.
On the contrary. What you fail to understand is that personal experiences are no guide to truth.


"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman

"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard

USA
4574 Posts

Posted - 11/21/2006 :  20:40:58   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send H. Humbert a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by austin
Personally, I think my signature below is pretty funny. Maybe you don't. If not, then maybe you can't laugh at stabs at your beliefs either, removing your right to accuse me.

I think it's funny that you think it's funny.

Does that count?


"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman

"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie
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JohnOAS
SFN Regular

Australia
800 Posts

Posted - 11/21/2006 :  20:42:25   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit JohnOAS's Homepage Send JohnOAS a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by austin
If you want to hear the voice, get your fingers out of your ears, stopl saying "la la la," and just listen. Maybe you'll hear something.


Do you mean that literally? You actually hear voices, or, more specifically, the voice of God?

Hearing voices isn't particularly common, although not unheard of for some forms of schizophrenia and even severe forms of migraine. I'm not suggesting you necessarily have either of these conditions, but it may be worth investigating further. Your profile doesn't say anything about your location, but here's a UK based group that could be a good starting point.

If you mean it figuratively, then I'm afraid that argument can be used for almost any conclusion relying on some form of belief/faith rather than empirical evidence.

"If you just open your heart and search yourself and your environment, you'll see the signs of [insert deity/delusion of choice here]".

While it's possible that your world view is the correct one, you need to provide some compelling argument for why you believe this is so, assuming you beleive your world view is worth spreading. I have no reason to believe that your sincerely felt belief is any more "the Truth" than that of countless others who's beliefs are equally sincere, yet mutually exclusive with respect to yours.

John's just this guy, you know.
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austin
New Member

10 Posts

Posted - 11/21/2006 :  20:42:41   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send austin a Private Message
I know, I know, four in a row. I'll stop after this.

To prove that I do occasionally find jokes involving members of my own faith funny, I will admit that I found R. Wreck's suggestion for the new name of the archaeology team to be hilarious.

Also, I've made quite a few Baptist jokes in my time, even though I belonged to a Baptist church when I made them.

"Nietzsche is dead"
-God
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 11/21/2006 :  21:53:13   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message
I thought your sig was a bit funny. Both directly, and in the ironical sense that it is a human-written gag (like the Bible) that fictitiously quotes a highly unlikely entity. Better to have lived and died, than never to have lived at all.

All that other stuff you write, about how you have the capital-T Truth, only supports my point about True Believers, and suggests what seems to me a very strange mental process. Do you actually hear voices, see extraordinary things? How does your god manifest himself to you?


Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
Edited by - HalfMooner on 11/21/2006 21:54:52
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 11/21/2006 :  22:40:25   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by austin

Personally, I think my signature below is pretty funny.
Yes, 40-plus-year-old graffiti is still funny, even if your sig only contains the punchline. It's like when one, at an opportune time, pops out with "aren't you a little old to believe in witches?" and expects the people one is talking to to know the whole joke and the sordid little details about why that question is funny. When the movie Punchline was released in 1988, there was a televised "Punchline Party" (on HBO, I'm pretty sure) with lots of comedians, one of whom spent five minutes reciting nothing but the punchlines to old jokes. My sides nearly split with laughter.

- 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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R.Wreck
SFN Regular

USA
1191 Posts

Posted - 11/22/2006 :  15:43:25   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send R.Wreck a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by austin

I know, I know, four in a row. I'll stop after this.

To prove that I do occasionally find jokes involving members of my own faith funny, I will admit that I found R. Wreck's suggestion for the new name of the archaeology team to be hilarious.

Also, I've made quite a few Baptist jokes in my time, even though I belonged to a Baptist church when I made them.



Thanks austin. Glad you got a guffaw out of it.

Here's the only baptist joke I remember. Feel free to use it:

Q: Why don't baptists have sex standing up?

A: Someone might think they were dancing!


Seriously, though, I too am curious how you came to the Truth(tm). How did the hand of god touch your life? And how did you know who's hand it was?

The foundation of morality is to . . . give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibliities of knowledge.
T. H. Huxley

The Cattle Prod of Enlightened Compassion
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austin
New Member

10 Posts

Posted - 11/22/2006 :  18:10:47   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send austin a Private Message
Next week (after the busyness of thanksgiving) I will try to put into words how God works and has worked in my life, and how I know it's him. Those are legitimate questions. In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to just ask God to show himself to you if he's real. After all, if he's not, there will be no consequence.

"Nietzsche is dead"
-God
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard

USA
4574 Posts

Posted - 11/22/2006 :  18:30:44   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send H. Humbert a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by austin

Next week (after the busyness of thanksgiving) I will try to put into words how God works and has worked in my life, and how I know it's him.
The bolded part is what I would really be interested in hearing. Most theists I talk to usually bring up feelings and coincidences when talking about evidence for god, which is of course no kind of evidence at all. I'm really curious to know how you've managed to overcome the great uncertainty surrounding the existence of god that keeps most rational people from leaping to unsound conclusions.


"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman

"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie
Edited by - H. Humbert on 11/22/2006 18:35:35
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pleco
SFN Addict

USA
2998 Posts

Posted - 11/22/2006 :  19:51:22   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit pleco's Homepage Send pleco a Private Message
quote:
In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to just ask God to show himself to you if he's real.


Done that too numerous times to count. Maybe he/she/it will do it later in my life. Hopefully, before I die and burn in hell.

by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart.
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austin
New Member

10 Posts

Posted - 11/26/2006 :  09:30:47   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send austin a Private Message
the existence of God? Uh oh, looks like this problem goes deeper than I thought. I was going to explain how God has worked in my life, but it's clear that you must first believe in God. Very well, I'll try my best. I'll be back in a few days or so.

Challenge (that most of you will be too weak to cope with):

Instead of rejecting God completely, why don't you do a little more research?

"Nietzsche is dead"
-God
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McQ
Skeptic Friend

USA
258 Posts

Posted - 11/26/2006 :  10:11:49   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send McQ a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by austin

Next week (after the busyness of thanksgiving) I will try to put into words how God works and has worked in my life, and how I know it's him. Those are legitimate questions. In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to just ask God to show himself to you if he's real. After all, if he's not, there will be no consequence.



Well, austin, you've assumed a whole lot of things about people here. One is that no one here was ever a christian believer before. Or that some here believed at one point in their lives that they, too, were touched by the hand of god. Mistake.

BTW, in the fundamentalist baptists church I belonged to, it was considered sinful to "challenge" god by asking him to prove he is real.

There are plenty of "agile" minds here who have both the formal training and education in theology, and the personal experiences of which you say are required to understand your position. In other words, some of us have been in your shoes already. For many years. Try not to make the mistake of assuming you know those you are challenging before you speak with them.

And I too am curious to know if you are speaking of literal voices and literal manifestations of god in your life. You say they are not psychological, so are we to assume that you see and hear, literally, god?


Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Gillette
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pleco
SFN Addict

USA
2998 Posts

Posted - 11/26/2006 :  10:16:47   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit pleco's Homepage Send pleco a Private Message
quote:
Challenge (that most of you will be too weak to cope with):

Instead of rejecting God completely, why don't you do a little more research?


Logically, we start from the position there isn't any evidence for the existence of a god or gods. Why don't you present your proof that the delusions you suffer from are, in fact, not. Quoting scripture does not constitute proof.

This is a skeptic forum. Perhaps you should read the mission statement, understand our POV, and frame your response appropriately.

I suspect you are yet another wanna-be preacher, with nothing but a lot of hot air; irrational beliefs that have no basis in reality and nothing concrete to back up anyting you say. My advise is that if you are here to pimp your god, you will find unfertile ground to sow your weeds.

by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart.
Edited by - pleco on 11/26/2006 10:17:28
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R.Wreck
SFN Regular

USA
1191 Posts

Posted - 11/26/2006 :  10:22:30   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send R.Wreck a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by austin

the existence of God? Uh oh, looks like this problem goes deeper than I thought. I was going to explain how God has worked in my life, but it's clear that you must first believe in God. Very well, I'll try my best. I'll be back in a few days or so.

Challenge (that most of you will be too weak to cope with):

Instead of rejecting God completely, why don't you do a little more research?



Any suggestions on where to start?

The foundation of morality is to . . . give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibliities of knowledge.
T. H. Huxley

The Cattle Prod of Enlightened Compassion
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