zapatos

The moon is tidally locked to the earth, not the sun. We always see the same side of the moon. The moon does not have a side that is in permanent darkness. It rotates once for each revolution around the earth. Eventually the earth will be tidally locked to the moon, always showing the moon the same face, and at that time there will no longer be tides.

Sorry but I am not clear on your position regarding the following questions: Are you saying that tidal locking between the earth and moon will not occur? Are you suggesting that in the absence of the sun it will keep raining on earth and rivers will keep flowing? Are you suggesting that stars will 'burn' indefinitely? And a new question: Are you suggesting that the earth will never cool due to its own gravity?

But the earth and moon will eventually experience tidal lock. Every time we have a tide, some of the rotation energy is transferred to the tides from which you propose to generate energy. Unless you add energy, eventually you will no longer have tides an you will not be able to harness them. Unless you are saying that tidal locking does not occur... I don't understand your point. Different environments respond differently to sunlight. Why is that significant? Are you suggesting that in the absence of the sun it will keep raining on earth and rivers will keep flowing? Are you suggesting that stars will 'burn' indefinitely? I'm not sure what you mean by that. But to be pedantic, orbiting stars are orbiting the system's center of mass. The stars in the Milky Way are orbiting the center of mass of the galaxy and the sub-system they are a part of.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding, but how do you utilize gravity for generating energy without adding energy to the system? For example, it takes energy to raise water, a rock, whatever, so that thing can then be pulled down by gravity. Without ever adding energy to raise something, how do you get to utilize gravity to harness energy? It sounds like you are not reducing the force of gravity, but gravity cannot be used to generate energy (say, via a dam), unless the energy from the sun is put into the system. Cut off the sun and water will quickly stop running downhill. This really sounds no different than my Honda generator. It can generate electricity, but only if a source of energy (fuel) enters the system (gas tank). I wouldn't say my generator is a source of new energy. It is just the tool used to convert energy from one form to another.

I assume you were taught that stealing is wrong. Is it safe to assume then that you only believe stealing is wrong because someone else told you that was so?

Right, but you pointed out the type of evidence you required. I was just indicating that type of evidence was not possible for a supernatural being. Of course. Same thing for the NSA satellites. Although I admit God talking to us seems equally absurd.

Well sure, but that is science. You cannot expect to get scientific evidence when the question is about God. Similarly I will not get scientific evidence to my belief that vanilla is the finest of the flavors. Either he made it clear, or I found out by speaking to the holy men who know those things. For all you know it is not an aneurism. The CIA could be surreptitiously messing with your medical records.

But we also believe things that we have come up with on our own. The best ice cream flavor. Human rights. Murder is wrong. There is someone out there for everybody. If I believe God has spoken to me, it is not really that difficult to independently verify that God does speak to people. All I have to do is ask around. And if I'm just your run of the mill believer and not a priest, I would have to rely on theologians to know their stuff. And if I choose I can ask another, and another, and another. If they all start telling me the same thing, I find that lends credence to the claim. Faith of course is not the only reason to believe. Being 'touched' by God, experiencing a miracle, etc., don't require faith. I agree completely.

But they don't decide to actively believe in self-evidently ludicrous things. They believe in things that are self-evidently true, or at least self-evidently possible. None of them are basing their beliefs on what is self-evident to you, they are basing their beliefs on what is self-evident to them. If a theist were to evaluate you based on what is self-evident to them, I imagine they would conclude you were broken.

And how did you come to know that they believe it only because someone else told them so?

So is John a barnacle, or a blue whale? From my favorite science journal: http://www.maxim.com/funny/the-10-biggest-dicks-the-animal-kingdom

No, but the same can be said for every single thread that is started on this site. People have their say because they enjoy it, not because they are changing the world.

So how far away does the 'surface onto which the shadow is cast' have to be from the object blocking the light? Is it a shadow if it is cast on the moon? How about if it is cast on the ISS? What if it is cast onto my face? It seems to me that anything above the surface of the earth is cast in shadow.

There may be nothing at the center of gravity. For example, the center of gravity of a sitting person is in front of that person. Weightless relative to that mass, yes. No, there is plenty of gravity, but at that point gravity pulling from all directions is equal.

Are you trying to make a point about the topic at hand? If so I missed it.

I don't recall my parents being particularly afraid of snakes. My sister used to own a couple of snakes when she was living with my parents but I had moved out by then. I don't recall being as fearful of them when I was younger as I am now, but I never liked them. Much to the surprise of anyone who knows me I let both my kids keep snakes in aquariums in their rooms. I mean, why not? One was a baby corn snake and the other was some type of boa. And on occasion when they were handling them I would ask to hold them too. I was a little nervous taking them but it would wrap around my wrist and just look around. THEN, it would aim its little head at me and slowly move toward my face. HOLY CRAP! I really had to hold back my impulse to throw it on the ground to get it away from me. One of the kids would jump up and take it from me and I'd be really shook up for about 10 minutes. It gives me the heebie jeebies just typing it now. I have no other irrational fears. I took on two pit bulls once that were attacking a puppy and while my adrenaline was up I wasn't terribly frightened. I'll squish spiders, and I watched the doctor do a c section on my wife. It seems really weird to me that snakes cause such a reaction in me. I can logically tell m self there is nothing to fear, and I can get myself to hold one on occasion (even though I'm ill at ease), but if it does ANYTHING that seems 'snake like' while I'm holding it, I just about lose it.

Really? You've decided to go down that road?

But of course your thread is titled "People who believe in God are "NOT" broken". I thought that was the assertion we were trying to settle. Are we also trying to settle whether or not ALL people are broken? Because if so, I think that is far from settled.

So it's settled. People who believe in God are broken But that is not really the question. The question is, is a belief in God indicative of a break in one's ability to reason and understand the world. Whether or not people are broken in other ways was not what the original thread was addressing.

Yes, I'm sure. I was using normal as in: adjective 1. conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural. ...and uncommon as in: adjective. unusual - rare - extraordinary - exceptional - infrequent

Well, it may be uncommon, but that doesn't make it any less normal. Yeah, I wasn't defending those statements, only the statement that deliberate self deception does happen. I'm not quite sure what he meant by 'a sign of humanity'. If he meant it was 'normal', I agree. If he meant it was 'found in a majority of the population', I have my doubts.

Well I can only speculate, but let's look at someone who finds himself in a dire predicament such as being on death row, dealing with the death of a child, in abject poverty, or maybe with some god awful disability or disease. I suspect that just as in the above examples, people can get themselves to believe in something because of the peace of mind it brings with it. If you are searching for something to relieve that mental anguish and belief in god brings that relief, I imagine it is something that can be done. It is probably even self fulfilling. If you start believing and you find strength and peace, you will be more likely to believe even more. I seem to remember a previous thread talking about the number of theists in prison. I'm curious how many 'found god' after they went to prison. Since (if I remember correctly) a higher proportion of the poor population are theists, there seems to at least be a correlation. And the anecdotal statement that 'there are no atheists in foxholes' was probably based on some kernel of truth.

Not that I ever remember getting a lesson to be afraid of snakes, but even if I did, why doesn't my very clear understanding and strong belief in the fact that black snakes are in no way harmful to me, reduce the intensity of my response?

I remember reading about a study where people were offered a club membership at a set price, with the price ranging from very high to very low for the exact same membership. Consistently, the higher the price, the more the purchaser perceived value. The lower the price paid, the less value that was perceived. I've seen people dumped by a girlfriend/boyfriend and explain how that person was basically a jerk and a waste of time. If they got back together all they could think of was how great they were. To me these seem like deliberate acts of self deception in order for the person to justify their circumstances and decisions, and gain some peace of mind. Just because I cannot choose to believe you are a butterfly does not mean I cannot convince myself of something else.

I suspect that an abused woman who claims her husband is a good man, didn't mean it, did it because she provoked him, etc., is another example of choosing to believe something they know to be false. Another example might be some of the climate change deniers, or maybe racists.