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Evidence God Is

SkepticThinker

Veteran Member
The prevailing academic opinion today is that the Israelites were a mixture of peoples predominantly indigenous to Canaan, although an Egyptian matrix of peoples may also have played a role in their ethnogenesis, with an ethnic composition similar to that in Ammon, Edom and Moab, and including Hapiru and Šośu. The defining feature which marked them off from the surrounding societies was a staunch egalitarian organisation focused on Yahweh worship, rather than mere kinship.
So this backs up your claim .... how?
 

blü 2

Veteran Member
Premium Member
If your thoughts were real.... If your dreams were real.... If your imagination were real.... etc., etc., etc., I would see them right? I would have no reason to questions whether they were real or not, right?
No, you misunderstand.

The correct expression is, "If things were real because you thought of them, if things you dreamed of were real because you dreamed them, if things that you imagined were real because you imagined them, I could see those things, right?"

And the answer is, things are not real just because you can think, dream, imagine them. But if they were, then they'd be like any real thing ─ they'd have objective existence, and accordingly could be perceived ─ perhaps with the aid of tools like telescopes, microscopes, the LHC &c, but perceived.

So God is not real, God does not have objective existence, just because you think/dream/imagine God. A real God would be, by virtue of being real / having objective existence / not being imaginary, perceivable.

Got it?
These are your interpretations. There are not right. Okay?
Not okay.

First, the quotes say what they say plainly.

Second, you again failed to address the question ─ since the cosmology they express is the cosmology of their time and place, why would you expect them to say anything else?

Your habit of not addressing questions about your position is a great weakness in the way you try to argue.
I answered all your questions.
That is simply untrue.
The one on magic seems to me a joke.
Then you've misunderstood everything I've said from the start.

If you offer any 'explanation' of the origin of species, you offer the bible. And the bible, in the Garden story in Genesis, says that species were created by magic. It was written by people who believed in magic, so that's no surprise. And since you've adopted it, it's up to you to explain how magic works. Yet asked again and again, you still haven't.

Nor have you offered an alternative. The history of helium is not an alternative.
I think the same way you went on the internet to find scriptures to argue on, and came up with a flat earth, you can do the same for magic.
Which brings us back to the question you didn't answer: why would you expect people writing at the times and places the bible was written to describe anything but their own understanding ─ a flat, geocentric earth &c?
However, all your questions were answered.
You know that's untrue, so you'd have done better not to say it.

You know you haven't told me how the first sloth came to be, although I've asked you not just once or twice but repeatedly.

You know you haven't told me how magic works, yet magic is all you're offering as the alternative to evolution.

You know you haven't given me a definition of a real God such that if we found a real candidate we could determine if it were God or not.

You know you haven't answered my question, Is God the designer?

You know you haven't told me what test you use to determine whether a statement is true or not.

And you know you haven't told me why you'd expect the bible to reflect 21st century cosmology instead of the cosmology of the times and places it was written.

Again I invite you to answer those questions.
 
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blü 2

Veteran Member
Premium Member
You are volunteering to answer? Go ahead.
Explaining what spirit is, if you haven't a clue, is pointless, imo.
Goodness me, there you go again, doing anything to avoid answering questions! This time, @SkepticThinker's.

YOU used the word 'spirit'. WHY can't you simply state what you intend to denote by that word?

Don't you know?
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
Then how do you determine that something is "designed"?


We do? By what methodology was that conclusion reached?

BTW, what made you decide to stop ignoring my posts?
Don't send me through this again, please. I've been through several posts of it.
See the OP.
You mean, why I took you off ignore, don't you? Let me think about that one.

In the interest of clarity, about how old do you think the earth is and how long do you think life has existed on it?
I'm not guessing.

In general a new species is one that is unable to produce viable offspring with its parent species (reproductive isolation), and they arise via evolutionary mechanisms, which we've observed, studied, and documented multiple times.
So? However, since you say you have observed, studied, and documented multiple times
Give me one of those please. Thanks.

What do they produce?
Human genetic variation is the genetic differences in and among populations.
No two humans are genetically identical.

Frogs with different genes are still frogs. Horses with different genes are still horses. Humans with different genes are still humans. Can you get hybrids? Sure. Can adaptation occur? Of course. So what Jose?

Ya kinda need to answer the questions in a meaningful way first.
Some people never keep their word, but from my experience with Jose Fly, there is no way that would surprise me.
You said:
$100 says no Jehovah's Witness will ever answer.
I do not see the words, "in a meaningful way", or "how I want it answered".
Oh well. You probably had Monopoly money in mint too.
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
I'm not the one asserting that spirit exists. You are. So you should define it so people know what it is you're talking about.

Please grasp how the burden of proof works.
Yes, but it's tiring when persons drill you with questions after questions, and when you give an answer, they don't understand the simplest of answers, and drill you on the same question and cause you to wonder, "How am I supposed to answer?" Case in point.
Then when you turn around and ask them to explain what they understand, or anything for that matter related to the answer, they go their merry way, and return when they think you probably forgot that they avoided answering the question.
Gee. There is only so much one can take. Stop playing school master, and things just might go differently.
Try @Kelly of the Phoenix approach some time.
 

Jose Fly

Fisker of men
Don't send me through this again, please. I've been through several posts of it.
See the OP.
The OP states: "According to the Bible, Jehovah Designed All Things". It also states: "Complex machines are built, or constructed. Was it designed? The human body - with its most complex object, is one complicated factory."

Yet when I concluded that your position is that "complexity = design" you objected and said "My argument is not that complexity equals design".

So I take it then that your "method" for determining that things are "designed" is "because the Bible says so"?

You mean, why I took you off ignore, don't you? Let me think about that one.
You don't know? Fascinating.

I'm not guessing.
So you have absolutely no idea how old the earth is or how long life has existed on it. It could be 2 days or 4 billion years for all you know. Fascinating.

It means that when we look at the fossil record and see species that don't exist now, it's reasonable to conclude that they arose the same way new species do today....by evolutionary mechanisms.

However, since you say you have observed, studied, and documented multiple times
Give me one of those please. Thanks.
CLICK HERE

What do they produce?
Human genetic variation is the genetic differences in and among populations.
No two humans are genetically identical.

Frogs with different genes are still frogs. Horses with different genes are still horses. Humans with different genes are still humans. Can you get hybrids? Sure. Can adaptation occur? Of course. So what Jose?
Sorry, but you're not making sense.

Some people never keep their word, but from my experience with Jose Fly, there is no way that would surprise me.

I do not see the words, "in a meaningful way", or "how I want it answered".
Oh well. You probably had Monopoly money in mint too.
Well, I suppose you could have just given "peanut butter and jelly" as your "answer" and technically you would have been just as correct that you did "answer" my questions. But I think you kinda missed the point.
 

SkepticThinker

Veteran Member
Did you not say to me that the reason for you not believing in those other parts, is because you don't believe in the supernatural? So how could it be about evidence... could you explain that to me please?

I do not accept the supernatural bits because there is no good evidence demonstrating that the supernatural even exists and/or that the supernatural events claimed in the Bible ever took place. It is about evidence. Do you have some? For instance, do you have evidence that demonstrates that corpses can be re-animated, rise up from their graves and walk around?

Do you accept everything the Qu'ran says? What about the Bhagavad Gita? Why or why not?

You have made up your mind that is is not true, because there is no evidence it is, or you just don't believe it?
I don't accept it as true, but I don't claim it absolutely isn't true.
My stance is, 'So you claim this thing happened ... what reason do we have to believe it happened?" I need reason(s) to believe something exists or happened, don't you?

Can you show why it is not true?

Please explain to me what it is you do not understand about the burden of proof, because you don't seem to be getting it.

You make a claim, you back it up. If you can't, then I can dismiss the claim just as easily as you made it. And why shouldn't I? I mean, if we have to believe everything we hear until someone can show that it's wrong, we'd have to believe anything and everything we've ever heard. That would mean that we have to believe that aliens have abducted human beings, taken them up in their ships and performed weird experiments on them. It would mean that we have to believe in demonic possession. It would mean that we have to believe in the Loch Ness monster. It would mean that we have to believe in all the Gods that everyone on the planet believes in, until they could be proven not to exist.

Much like faith, that's not a great pathway to truth and knowledge.

So why are you avoiding answering me - why don't you explain to me what design is. I already did.

You are the one claiming that the universe is designed. If you believe that, don't you think it helps to know what you mean when you use the word "design?" You need to define your terms so everyone knows what you're talking about.

If you are really following so closely then it would be impossible for you to have missed it, unless you suffer from CVI.

I guess I missed it then. Obviously there is something wrong with me. ;)

Or, you didn’t define it.

You are volunteering to answer? Go ahead.

Explaining what spirit is, if you haven't a clue, is pointless, imo.

Do you need a dictionary?

Did you define “design” the way you defined “spirit” here? Which is to say, not at all?

Why would it be pointless to define a term you are repeatedly using in your arguments?

I don’t need to know how the dictionary is using the term. I want to know how you are using the term.
 

SkepticThinker

Veteran Member
Yes, but it's tiring when persons drill you with questions after questions, and when you give an answer, they don't understand the simplest of answers, and drill you on the same question and cause you to wonder, "How am I supposed to answer?"
I'm asking questions in order to better understand your argument(s). If I don't know what you mean with the terms you are using, how can I possibly understand what you're trying to say?
This is how discussions work.

What you stated there doesn't back up your assertion. Hence the reason I asked how you think it does. What did you expect me to say? Next time, provide an answer that backs up your assertion and I won't have to ask that question.

Then when you turn around and ask them to explain what they understand, or anything for that matter related to the answer, they go their merry way, and return when they think you probably forgot that they avoided answering the question.
Sorry, what?

Gee. There is only so much one can take. Stop playing school master, and things just might go differently.
Try @Kelly of the Phoenix approach some time.
School master? LOL
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
The OP states: "According to the Bible, Jehovah Designed All Things". It also states: "Complex machines are built, or constructed. Was it designed? The human body - with its most complex object, is one complicated factory."

Yet when I concluded that your position is that "complexity = design" you objected and said "My argument is not that complexity equals design".

So I take it then that your "method" for determining that things are "designed" is "because the Bible says so"?
I find it interesting that you ask a question like this...
Then how do you determine that something is "designed"?
Then run through an entire post with a subheading "What is design?" and see everything else but that.

It means that when we look at the fossil record and see species that don't exist now, it's reasonable to conclude that they arose the same way new species do today....by evolutionary mechanisms.


CLICK HERE
I think that one has the freedom to assume that they are being reasonable in their conclusions. :)
After all, I do believe I have reached a reasonable conclusion, in this thread - not by assumptions. :D

However, how do you determine whether these species were original or not, independent or not, existing or not? Remember coelacanths, and others?
What if you found that these species are not extinct?
How do you know that your guess is not wrong, and that these differences are not due to Human genetic variation simply through heredity?

Sorry, but you're not making sense.
I'm not what? Hmph. See above.
Oh, by the way, I read one of the links (don't blame me, since I am sure you didn't expect I would read every one, being that I am not crazy), and speciation seem to lead to hybridization, rather than anything more positive.

Well, I suppose you could have just given "peanut butter and jelly" as your "answer" and technically you would have been just as correct that you did "answer" my questions. But I think you kinda missed the point.
I suppose I could have said the alphabet, which seems more fun, I still would have answered.
However, apparently I did miss the point, since you forgot to sharpen it, but that's history now.
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
I do not accept the supernatural bits because there is no good evidence demonstrating that the supernatural even exists and/or that the supernatural events claimed in the Bible ever took place. It is about evidence. Do you have some? For instance, do you have evidence that demonstrates that corpses can be re-animated, rise up from their graves and walk around?

Do you accept everything the Qu'ran says? What about the Bhagavad Gita? Why or why not?


I don't accept it as true, but I don't claim it absolutely isn't true.
My stance is, 'So you claim this thing happened ... what reason do we have to believe it happened?" I need reason(s) to believe something exists or happened, don't you?
Okay.


Please explain to me what it is you do not understand about the burden of proof, because you don't seem to be getting it.

You make a claim, you back it up. If you can't, then I can dismiss the claim just as easily as you made it. And why shouldn't I? I mean, if we have to believe everything we hear until someone can show that it's wrong, we'd have to believe anything and everything we've ever heard. That would mean that we have to believe that aliens have abducted human beings, taken them up in their ships and performed weird experiments on them. It would mean that we have to believe in demonic possession. It would mean that we have to believe in the Loch Ness monster. It would mean that we have to believe in all the Gods that everyone on the planet believes in, until they could be proven not to exist.

Much like faith, that's not a great pathway to truth and knowledge.


You are the one claiming that the universe is designed. If you believe that, don't you think it helps to know what you mean when you use the word "design?" You need to define your terms so everyone knows what you're talking about.
It would certainly help.to know what I mean when I use the word design. Do you know?
Again, see the OP.

I guess I missed it then. Obviously there is something wrong with me. ;)

Or, you didn’t define it.
Can I answer that?


Did you define “design” the way you defined “spirit” here? Which is to say, not at all?

Why would it be pointless to define a term you are repeatedly using in your arguments?

I don’t need to know how the dictionary is using the term. I want to know how you are using the term.
How can you reason with children who do not understand what you are speaking about? Would it not be wise to first use something they can understand, to make sure they can follow you, and understand what you are speaking about? Not referring to you as a child. Just using an example.

I'm asking questions in order to better understand your argument(s). If I don't know what you mean with the terms you are using, how can I possibly understand what you're trying to say?
This is how discussions work.
Really? I understand discussions to be both persons listening and speaking - not at the same time, of course. If however, one person fails to listen, then the discussion is lost.

What you stated there doesn't back up your assertion. Hence the reason I asked how you think it does. What did you expect me to say? Next time, provide an answer that backs up your assertion and I won't have to ask that question.
I made no assertions. Should I count these?

Sorry, what?
Don't worry about that now. However, if you insist. Okay, why don't you explain to me what design is.
You're welcomed. :D

Sorry SkepticThinker but I can't help it if ones on these forums have temporary blindness. All I can do is feel sorry for you. Does that help at all?

School master? LOL
Glad you got a tickle out of that. Should I have said mistress. I'm sorry. :)
 

Jose Fly

Fisker of men
I find it interesting that you ask a question like this...

Then run through an entire post with a subheading "What is design?" and see everything else but that.
As I noted earlier, the OP gives two justifications for concluding that something is "designed": "it's in the Bible" and "complexity = design". You've since said you're not arguing that "complexity = design" so that only leaves "because the Bible says so".

However, how do you determine whether these species were original or not, independent or not, existing or not?
That's the great thing about the examples I gave; the circumstances involved show conclusively that the newly-evolved species were indeed new.

Um....you do know that "coelacanth" is not a species, right?

What if you found that these species are not extinct?
Irrelevant to the point at hand. The fact remains, new species arise via evolutionary mechanisms. We know this because we've seen it happen several times, with all sorts of taxa.

But I thought Jehovah's Witnesses were okay with the evolution of species? I thought it was only evolution beyond the family level that you objected to?

How do you know that your guess is not wrong, and that these differences are not due to Human genetic variation simply through heredity?
Again, that makes no sense at all.

speciation seem to lead to hybridization, rather than anything more positive.
You have it precisely backwards.
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
That's the great thing about the examples I gave; the circumstances involved show conclusively that the newly-evolved species were indeed new.

Irrelevant to the point at hand. The fact remains, new species arise via evolutionary mechanisms. We know this because we've seen it happen several times, with all sorts of taxa.

But I thought Jehovah's Witnesses were okay with the evolution of species? I thought it was only evolution beyond the family level that you objected to?

You have it precisely backwards.
Those studies were done to show what might happen, not what did happen, and from what I read, hybridization does occur.

We are not talking of new species as was explained before - a new species of fly is nothing more than a fly, It has not become a bat, or bee, or a baboon.

There is nothing that says, or shows, or demonstrates that speciation led to one organism evolving to another, nor it descendants.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
Those studies were done to show what might happen, not what did happen, and from what I read, hybridization does occur.

We are not talking of new species as was explained before - a new species of fly is nothing more than a fly, It has not become a bat, or bee, or a baboon.

There is nothing that says, or shows, or demonstrates that speciation led to one organism evolving to another, nor it descendants.
You have only shown that you have no clue about evolution. "Change of kinds" is a creationist strawman. We do not expect to see that with evolution. Why is this such a hard concept for you to understand?
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
You have only shown that you have no clue about evolution. "Change of kinds" is a creationist strawman. We do not expect to see that with evolution. Why is this such a hard concept for you to understand?
What did I say different to what you have said, apart from your first, second and last statements?
 

Jose Fly

Fisker of men
Those studies were done to show what might happen, not what did happen, and from what I read, hybridization does occur.
No, they are documented cases of the evolution of new species. And if you look closely, you'll see that they continued to study the newly evolved species over the ensuing decades after they arose.

We are not talking of new species as was explained before
Yes we are....that was my entire point, remember? To refresh your memory, the question at hand is....if evolution has been producing new species for millions of years, exactly how do the new species keep track of their taxonomic status relative to their ancient ancestors, so they don't become a new "kind" (which the JWs here have said is equivalent to the family level)?

- a new species of fly is nothing more than a fly, It has not become a bat, or bee, or a baboon.
No one has said otherwise.

There is nothing that says, or shows, or demonstrates that speciation led to one organism evolving to another, nor it descendants.
No idea what you're talking about here.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
What did I say different to what you have said, apart from your first, second and last statements?
This is where you demonstrated your ignorance:

"We are not talking of new species as was explained before - a new species of fly is nothing more than a fly, It has not become a bat, or bee, or a baboon."

If we observed that happening that would refute the theory of evolution.

For example, you share a common ancestor with other apes, you are still an ape. You never evolved out of being an ape. Do you understand that?
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
This is where you demonstrated your ignorance:

"We are not talking of new species as was explained before - a new species of fly is nothing more than a fly, It has not become a bat, or bee, or a baboon."

If we observed that happening that would refute the theory of evolution.

For example, you share a common ancestor with other apes, you are still an ape. You never evolved out of being an ape. Do you understand that?
So tracing that back we are all bacteria, or whatever the universal common ancestor was thought to be, right?
What does saying that have to do with what happened?
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
So tracing that back we are all bacteria, or whatever the universal common ancestor was thought to be, right?
What does saying that have to do with what happened?
Bacteria are modern organisms but yes, the evidence clearly demonstrates that we came from unicellular life. And that only shows that you used a poor argument and cannot admit your error. Since you just complained about someone else not being honest I would suggest that you practice what you preach.
 

Jose Fly

Fisker of men
Bacteria are modern organisms but yes, the evidence clearly demonstrates that we came from unicellular life. And that only shows that you used a poor argument and cannot admit your error. Since you just complained about someone else not being honest I would suggest that you practice what you preach.
I honestly think @nPeace is doing the best he can. Kinda sad, but it does explain a lot.
 
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