dimreepr

He is indeed entitled to be an agnostic, but the very definition means, holding neither of two opposing positions. He clearly argues for a creator, thus making his position that of a theist or deist.

You seem to be arguing quite strongly (vehemently even) in the defence of a creator (of sorts) which, for me, flies in the face of what an agnostic is. Agnostic [ag-nos-tik] noun 1. a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience. Synonyms: disbeliever, nonbeliever, unbeliever; doubter, skeptic, secularist, empiricist; heathen, heretic, infidel, pagan. 2. a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study. 3. a person who holds neither of two opposing positions on a topic: Socrates was an agnostic on the subject of immortality. adjective 4. of or pertaining to agnostics or agnosticism. 5. asserting the uncertainty of all claims to knowledge. 6. holding neither of two opposing positions: If you take an agnostic view of technology, then it becomes clear that your decisions to implement one solution or another should be driven by need.

We can all cherry pick our favourite definitions to bolster our own particular argument this, however, is intellectually dishonest. You also seem to cherry pick the questions you choose to answer.

How is asking questions considered agressive? When have I told anyone what to think? Please try reading the quote properly and by the way my names Dimreepr...

Just one more thing for me to be embarrased about thanks for pointing it out.

No tourrettes is an entirely different condition, it tends to lead the sufferer to blurt out the most inappropriate statement when it isn't a physical tick.

Certain types of autism can manifest this inability and yes it can cause problems, especially when s/he doesn’t appear to have any other social issues. Having been a carer for people with learning difficulties, I have seen firsthand how this can lead to quite difficult social issues, and without my intervention could have easily lead to violence.

I think ants are pretty special as are elephants, dogs etc... As you have gone there please elaborate. How do you know elephants, ants, dogs etc... don't have a similar faith. What absolute truth do you refer to, I haven't read your book, and what eternal presence is it that governs all material things? I do deny this statement. What is it you claim to be perfect?

Expect, this is what happens when you’re pretty sure of what you’re going to get for Christmas let’s say. Disappointment is what happens when you don’t. This seemingly innocent interaction is responsible for your own un/happiness if you don’t expect something you can’t be disappointed. Simple isn’t it? No unfortunately it isn’t that easy life can make things very complicated. Think about your drive into work do you expect anything? At first glance you think you probably don’t expect anything other than to get there, not unreasonably. Let us take a drive. You leave the house and walk to the car “shit forgot my keys bugger it” (You’re expecting to have them a bit miffed) you walk back to the house but of course the bloody doors locked (You’re not expecting the door to be open but still a bit more miffed) you ring the bell. No answer, you ring again “come on come on” (You are expecting the door to be opened you know your partners in, the anger’s starting now). You glance at your watch just a hint of nerves creeping in, you can’t be late not again and you’ve got a meeting with the boss. The door opens and you rush in without ceremony (your partner expects at the very least an acknowledgment so it’s not just you affected now...) and grab the car keys and run back to the car without a word. You try and start the car but it won’t “Oh for fuck sake start you bastard” (once again you expect it to start. It’s a phrase I think we’ve all uttered but your anger’s now half way to an explosion) on the fifth turn of the keys it starts and relief floods over you and you set off. Now imagine the drive in was beset with exactly the same sort of problems and there are thousands of things that could go wrong as we all know. So you arrive to work on time, phew, but now you’re nearly at the explosion point just one more thing. The boss walks over to you with a grin “What are you doing here I sent a txt an hour ago to say don’t worry the meeting’s been cancelled” and laugh’s.... BANG......SACK oops... As you can see we expect all the time. Abolish the word expect and replace it with accept simples. In all the build up we can see the word cropping up only once was your anger affected by anything other than this word and even then it was because of the word. Try using a mantra the next time somebody bugs you because they don’t, for some reason, do what you expect. Say “That’s me in a different skin” and smile, it is you after all.

Interesting reply, I have to ask though, what does give you immortality?

Quite right my apologies Dog (bad hair day). Although, in my defence, at no point in the OP do I ask if heaven or hell exists, this point is further strengthened in my first reply. Thread hijacking is far too strong a term to use in this case, however, Dogs posts are irrelevant and do not add anything to the debate.

This is way off topic. If you want to vent your spleen on the question of evidence here, http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/64226-christian-evidence/page__pid__660878__st__140#entry660878 would be more appropriate, instead of hijacking this thread.

Instead of assuming my ignorance (another example of your arrogance), perhaps you could take time away from your soapbox to actually answer the questions I’ve posed.

In a recent bbc program called “how to grow a planet” the colour perception is a result of evolution coming to distinguish fruit that is ripe and so is uniformly recognised in the human brain, any difference would result, Naturally, in extinction. Our society of course doesn’t allow this, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

How does this augment his OP? The arrogance of theists (and you) in demanding humans are separate from the animal kingdom (special in some way) never ceases to amaze me, how exactly are we so special? There are a myriad of scientific studies that show we are just another example of an evolved species. Also why do theists insist on trying to prove it? As far as I’m aware God insists on faith alone and so any proof that he does exist would automatically mean he doesn’t, if this premise is true, as he would disappear in a puff of logic (paraphrasing Douglas Adams here).

It seems you have trouble making any sense at all...

The edge of physics by Anil Ananthaswamy The black hole war by Leonard Susskind Physics of the impossible by Michio Kaku The day we found the universe by Marcia Bartusiak The grand design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, I’m still reading this one but very good so far.

In what way has this point not been addressed previously in this thread? Of course I don't expect to circumvent the years of knowledge and understanding you have attained through many years of dedication.

An exellent video, a well presented argument, I wonder why njaohnt hasn't responded yet?

Glib maybe, but it's by way of pointing out the arguments infinitely regressive..

Gods Mum and Dad...

A month, or so, ago I was a Heavy user of cannabis, tobacco and alcohol, and would have argued vehemently to legalise the cannabis as all I wanted was to be left alone to essentially self destruct. Happily I had a moment of clarity and realised what I was doing to myself and have since stopped all of it. This does give me an insight into just how easy it is to justify its use. Why shouldn't I get high I'm doing nobody harm? This is true especially when compared to alcohol and that's legal. But it does do harm, it's just much more difficult to spot. As Santalum points out motivation is stripped from the user and so has to have a detrimental effect on society in general. Perhaps more harmful is that its effect on the brain can be associated to happiness in the user, as such is so much more addictive IMHO (and much much more difficult to give up) than other drugs including tobacco and I've used lots of drug types.

Human fallibility is part of life we cannot understand our own incompetence simply because we don’t know why we don’t understand. Knowledge and understanding are entirely different.

As a parent I try to teach my children 2 basic boundaries; 1 How to be safe (i.e. don’t jump of that building or run onto a busy road). 2 How to interact with other humans (i.e. be sociable) This for me will give them the best chance of living a rich and meaningful life. Why do we need to teach a lot of contradictory rules that can only confuse them? You are perfectly entitled to your beliefs but teaching them without understanding, perfectly, what the bible is trying to teach is just blind faith and as such has no value.

IF??? What makes you think you can tell, anybody, what to think? Coerce is perhaps the closest you could get. The arrogance of religions is, amusing at best, and can only lead to rejection. The reaction to this, for you, is to pick up your ball and say I’m not playing. Grow up...