Labour's smoking ban killed the British pub

[darmstadt]

Short version: God knows best so if that's how it happens it must, by definition, be right.

I've concluded since that while we can maybe accept this on an objective, unemotional level - if you believe God is just and perfect you have no logical alternative - we are unable to really grasp it as a practical reality because we're not capable of that. It's perhaps a little akin to soldiers dying in war... objectively it is right to fight sometimes but if you were standing on the battlefield witnessing the atrocities first hand, you probably would struggle very hard to hold that truth in your head at the same time, you'd have to distance yourself from it.

A poor metaphor, NAT's better at this stuff. But in summary I don't understand how one can be happy with this situation, but I trust the person in charge knows better than me.

If God made Man in his image then why aren't we invisible?

[SpontaneousOrder]

Hold on, i missed something. Is Doogie howser in the god squad? If i'd known I would;t have bothered attempting to employ reason.

if you believe God is just and perfect you have no logical alternative

God is a contradiction (and contradictions don't exist) by definition, so how on earth can anyone appeal to logic?!

[d000hg]

God is a contradiction (and contradictions don't exist) by definition, so how on earth can anyone appeal to logic?!

None of those points even begin to make sense.

And writing people off in a generalisation about those with faith not being able to use reason only shows that you are the one who is unreasonable. Even most atheists would agree with that, other than the atheist equivalents of Deep South fundamentalists, who were brought up brainwashed into atheism.

But then you've already shown the die hard "I'm sticking to this argument no matter what you say nah nah nah can't hear you" attitude of the fervently religious

[darmstadt]

Free Your Mind

Your experience of life begins and ends in your mind. Begins, as everything you see, feel, and experience will be colored by your thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Ends, as your interpretation of events will determine your response, your memories, and your enjoyment or displeasure.

How much of this process is truly yours, and how much has been predetermined for you? Do you live life on your own terms, or have you been programmed to follow the herd? Think about how your last twenty-four hours was spent. Then think about the month, the year, and the decade that preceded you reading this paragraph. How much of it was spent thinking and doing that which is truly important to you? How much of it was stolen, or merely frittered away? Ever wondered if there was another way?

There is another way, but you won't find it by entering a church, watching a ball game, reading the newspaper or haunting a shopping mall. Your mind has abilities it has never imagined, and has accepted limitations it would be well served to reject. Myriad influences have taught you to live in submission, often in ways you do not consciously realize. You are free to reject these limitations, but only if you awaken to your predicament.

There is no freedom in submission, no dignity in obedience, no self-respect in servitude. The much-maligned concept of anarchy is not only inherent to individual freedom, true mental freedom is impossible without it. The demand for submission to external authorities which so many take for granted, including the all-too-common belief that external control of our minds and lives is good or even necessary, is one of history's greatest cons. Some have even been deceived into believing that even the anarchist movement has leaders to which anarchists must submit. Nonsense.

Although great value may be gained from their words, a person does not have to read and agree with Kropotkin, Goldman or Bakunin to be an anarchist. The phrase "anarchist leaders" is not only an oxymoron, it is an abomination. Nor are most anarchists bomb throwing arsonists. Most anarchists are simply self-aware humans who have outgrown and abandoned the need for others to tell them what to think and how to live.

[MyUserName]

Hold on, i missed something. Is Doogie howser in the god squad? If i'd known I would;t have bothered attempting to employ reason!

Just a litte :-). He is a homophobic bigot (he feels that people's rights to marriage and adoption should be denied if they are in a non hetrosexual relationship) who also approves of torturing people (even children) indefinitely if they do not share his beliefs - in those ways he is actually just like some of my in-laws.

[d000hg]

Free Your Mind

Um, OK. Source?

[mudskipper]

Um, OK. Source?

Google says:

Mental Anarchy Intro

[SpontaneousOrder]

And writing people off in a generalisation about those with faith not being able to use reason only shows that you are the one who is unreasonable.

Dude... are you serious? or just a trolling genius?

"faith" by definition is the wilful ignorance of reason. The whole point of the catholic (for example - i don't know as much about other christian variations) 'faith' is that there is no evidence; one has to have faith, and not reason, in order to reach the kingdom of dumbass.

Contrast faith with trust - trust is based in reason because one has a reason, based in evidence, to have trust in someone. Faith on the other hand is a belief without reason.

And you say what I say makes no sense

[darmstadt]

Google says:

Mental Anarchy Intro

Correctimundo, and for a bonus point:

We are an incredulity of atheists, living in Berlin and furiously dedicating our days to not believing in god. Ok, that's not true; we barely ever think about god, let alone about being atheists.

I possess something from them as well...

[SpontaneousOrder]

Free Your Mind

Your experience of life begins and ends in your mind. Begins, as everything you see, feel, and experience will be colored by your thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Ends, as your interpretation of events will determine your response, your memories, and your enjoyment or displeasure.

How much of this process is truly yours, and how much has been predetermined for you? Do you live life on your own terms, or have you been programmed to follow the herd? Think about how your last twenty-four hours was spent. Then think about the month, the year, and the decade that preceded you reading this paragraph. How much of it was spent thinking and doing that which is truly important to you? How much of it was stolen, or merely frittered away? Ever wondered if there was another way?

There is another way, but you won't find it by entering a church, watching a ball game, reading the newspaper or haunting a shopping mall. Your mind has abilities it has never imagined, and has accepted limitations it would be well served to reject. Myriad influences have taught you to live in submission, often in ways you do not consciously realize. You are free to reject these limitations, but only if you awaken to your predicament.

There is no freedom in submission, no dignity in obedience, no self-respect in servitude. The much-maligned concept of anarchy is not only inherent to individual freedom, true mental freedom is impossible without it. The demand for submission to external authorities which so many take for granted, including the all-too-common belief that external control of our minds and lives is good or even necessary, is one of history's greatest cons. Some have even been deceived into believing that even the anarchist movement has leaders to which anarchists must submit. Nonsense.

Although great value may be gained from their words, a person does not have to read and agree with Kropotkin, Goldman or Bakunin to be an anarchist. The phrase "anarchist leaders" is not only an oxymoron, it is an abomination. Nor are most anarchists bomb throwing arsonists. Most anarchists are simply self-aware humans who have outgrown and abandoned the need for others to tell them what to think and how to live.

Some slight anti-capitalistic tones in that site (i may be mistaken), but as you brought it up -

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.

- Voltaire