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Author Topic:   I Know That God Does Not Exist
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1332 of 3207 (858311)
07-19-2019 12:57 PM
Reply to: Message 1331 by ringo
07-19-2019 12:54 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
So the ancient Greeks believed in a handsome naked man on the top of Mount Olympus with . . . a rocket-propelled grenade?
I'm still detecting irrationality.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1331 by ringo, posted 07-19-2019 12:54 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1335 by ringo, posted 07-19-2019 1:08 PM Sarah Bellum has replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1337 of 3207 (858317)
07-19-2019 1:11 PM
Reply to: Message 1335 by ringo
07-19-2019 1:08 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
At the time, perhaps, Greeks didn't know any better, so maybe, at the time, it might have been considered a rational explanation.
But two and a half millennia later?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1335 by ringo, posted 07-19-2019 1:08 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1339 by ringo, posted 07-19-2019 1:13 PM Sarah Bellum has replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1343 of 3207 (858331)
07-19-2019 2:22 PM
Reply to: Message 1339 by ringo
07-19-2019 1:13 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
What's irrational about the notion of a man holding a bit of plasma with an enormous electrical current running through it? Well, for starters, it would fry him pretty good, wouldn't it?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1339 by ringo, posted 07-19-2019 1:13 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1345 by Faith, posted 07-19-2019 5:04 PM Sarah Bellum has replied
 Message 1347 by ringo, posted 07-19-2019 5:14 PM Sarah Bellum has replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1346 of 3207 (858354)
07-19-2019 5:07 PM
Reply to: Message 1345 by Faith
07-19-2019 5:04 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
But then, Zeus or Thor belong to the past, when it may (though, who knows) have been rational then, but certainly isn't now.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1345 by Faith, posted 07-19-2019 5:04 PM Faith has not replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1348 of 3207 (858361)
07-19-2019 5:54 PM
Reply to: Message 1347 by ringo
07-19-2019 5:14 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
You want to stretch things so painfully that the ancients and their notions of gods throwing thunderbolts from mountaintops, inhabiting trees or rivers, firing their furnaces in volcanoes you might be able to call rational by the standards of the ancients?
Perhaps. But I started out saying that might be the case. Are you insisting that we judge the rationality of the idea of gods by those same standards today?
If so, sure, it's "rational" by those standards.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1347 by ringo, posted 07-19-2019 5:14 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1349 by ringo, posted 07-19-2019 6:05 PM Sarah Bellum has replied
 Message 1351 by Phat, posted 07-20-2019 7:58 AM Sarah Bellum has seen this message but not replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1350 of 3207 (858373)
07-19-2019 7:39 PM
Reply to: Message 1349 by ringo
07-19-2019 6:05 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
quote:
Europeans in the MiddleAges believed that lice were a sign of good health
Europeans actually believed that having lice is good for your health. The reason behind their beliefs was the fact that sick people rarely or never had lice.
Back in the Middle Ages people made a rational deduction. Coming to that same conclusion now would not be considered rational.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1349 by ringo, posted 07-19-2019 6:05 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1353 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 11:39 AM Sarah Bellum has replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1355 of 3207 (858440)
07-20-2019 12:42 PM
Reply to: Message 1353 by ringo
07-20-2019 11:39 AM


Re: No evidence = irrational
Consider the phrase, "It was a good idea at the time, but knowing what we know now..."

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1353 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 11:39 AM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1356 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 12:46 PM Sarah Bellum has replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1357 of 3207 (858442)
07-20-2019 12:59 PM
Reply to: Message 1356 by ringo
07-20-2019 12:46 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
That is correct. But I wasn't commenting on whether or not is was "wrong" or "right" or "correct" or "incorrect" for people in ancient times to believe in gods, or for people nowadays to believe.
For earlier people it may have been rational, as their knowledge was less extensive than ours. As you implied, one may make the wrong decision rationally.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1356 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 12:46 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1358 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 1:03 PM Sarah Bellum has replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1359 of 3207 (858449)
07-20-2019 2:36 PM
Reply to: Message 1358 by ringo
07-20-2019 1:03 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
So, to follow your analogy to math class, two plus three is always five, whether I'm asking you, now, or asking Alcibiades in Classical times, or Og back in times the Creationists say didn't exist?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1358 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 1:03 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1360 by Phat, posted 07-20-2019 3:50 PM Sarah Bellum has replied
 Message 1362 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 4:19 PM Sarah Bellum has replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


(1)
Message 1361 of 3207 (858460)
07-20-2019 4:07 PM
Reply to: Message 1360 by Phat
07-20-2019 3:50 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
Our knowledge is always imperfect, but still we try to find out the truth as best we can.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1360 by Phat, posted 07-20-2019 3:50 PM Phat has not replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1364 of 3207 (858466)
07-20-2019 4:25 PM
Reply to: Message 1362 by ringo
07-20-2019 4:19 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
quote:
In another example, Peter Gordon spent many years living among the Pirah tribe of Brazil learning their language and culture. He noted that the Pirah have only three words for numbers: one, two, and many. He also observed that they found it difficult to remember quantities and numbers beyond three even after learning the Portuguese words for such numbers.
Chapter 1 – The Culture Concept | Selected Perspectives: an Open Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1362 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 4:19 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1365 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 4:26 PM Sarah Bellum has replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1366 of 3207 (858469)
07-20-2019 4:37 PM
Reply to: Message 1365 by ringo
07-20-2019 4:26 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
If I asked you to add two and three and you said "many" one might conclude that you were not giving a rational answer to the question.
But if we were living sometime in the Paleolithic, that might very well be considered a rational answer.
Remember, I'm not talking about "right" and "wrong" or "correct" and "incorrect" but about rational and irrational.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1365 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 4:26 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1367 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 4:56 PM Sarah Bellum has replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1368 of 3207 (858474)
07-20-2019 5:05 PM
Reply to: Message 1367 by ringo
07-20-2019 4:56 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
So if I ask you to add two and three and you answered "many" is that a rational answer?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1367 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 4:56 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1369 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 5:16 PM Sarah Bellum has replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1370 of 3207 (858476)
07-20-2019 5:20 PM
Reply to: Message 1369 by ringo
07-20-2019 5:16 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
If. Other. Numbers. Are. Available. It. Is. Not. Rational.
Yes?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1369 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 5:16 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1371 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 5:26 PM Sarah Bellum has replied

  
Sarah Bellum
Member (Idle past 627 days)
Posts: 826
Joined: 05-04-2019


Message 1372 of 3207 (858479)
07-20-2019 5:40 PM
Reply to: Message 1371 by ringo
07-20-2019 5:26 PM


Re: No evidence = irrational
I wasn't asking about what they did.
I'm asking about you. You have more numbers available.
Would it be irrational for you to answer "many"?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1371 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 5:26 PM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 1373 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 5:45 PM Sarah Bellum has replied
 Message 1374 by ringo, posted 07-20-2019 5:46 PM Sarah Bellum has seen this message but not replied

  
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