To any Atheists, I Have a Few Scenarios for you to Look At.

[BucephalusBB]

Obviously you are a little girl in a past life in the scenario.

Can't she be a girl in my dreams? I dream about girls a lot, so that could be possible..

 

[gnomon]

Imagine these scenarios:

1 - You're a native American living freely in Europe. One night, you have a dream about white men coming to your land in big ships. The dream turns bleak. You dream of sickness, of disease, of death, of pain all because of the white men. When you wake up, you were so sure that the dream was real - but when you tell your elders they automatically console you... and tell you that such a thing will never happen, and that it was all a figment of your imagination. You keep believing what you saw to be true, and eventually everyone around you gives up on you as being deluded. Prove that the girl's dream was wrong.

2 - You're living in England in the 1750s. You have a firm view in mind that all swans are white. Someone then travels to Australia fifty years later and sends you back a letter telling you that they saw a black swan. But this can't be true. Swans are white. Your friend is obviously lying because black swans clearly don't exist, as you've never seen one yourself before. Prove that the man was lying.

3 - You're walking passed a church one day. The year is 2010 and your life is going pretty darn well. Suddenly, a small child strolls out and asks you why you're not inside. Not believing in a God of any kind, you smile to the boy and say you don't belong there. The boy frowns and walks back inside. You sigh. That poor child is being brainwashed. He's deluded and his parents are feeding lies to him. Prove this to be true.

Here's a scenario for you.

Imagine that you actually begin to think things through.

 

[dogsgod]

You sure about that?

The Atheist Life:

Fight Christians,
Fight Religion,
Enjoy life,
Nothing is a sin, you can do whatever you want,
Eat have sex 24/7 it doesn't matter,


Really the atheist's way of living sounds like The Church of Satan's way of living and since some of them claim to be Atheists...it sounds like Atheists do have rules.

Atheism is the belief of no Gods

Belief= System of beliefs= Religion.

Just face it...Religion will never die.

So what if eat and have sex 24/7 is our religion, what of it? Are you the eat and have sex 24/7 police?

 

[Kerr]

So what if eat and have sex 24/7 is our religion, what of it? Are you the eat and have sex 24/7 police?

Now that I think of it (I am slow, lol) it is not even possible to do that... at last not very long, since we would die or fall into madness.

 

[MSizer]

And you can't disprove that some theists might be onto something. So everyone's on equal ground, really.

No, we're not on equal grounds at all. Theist make extraordinary claims yet provide not even ordinary evidence. That's not rational. The very fact that we can't disprove a claim is only one more reason to believe the claim to be false. Indisprovability combined with non-provability is strong opposition to the claim.

 

[Alceste]

Imagine these scenarios:

1 - You're a native American living freely in Europe. One night, you have a dream about white men coming to your land in big ships. The dream turns bleak. You dream of sickness, of disease, of death, of pain all because of the white men. When you wake up, you were so sure that the dream was real - but when you tell your elders they automatically console you... and tell you that such a thing will never happen, and that it was all a figment of your imagination. You keep believing what you saw to be true, and eventually everyone around you gives up on you as being deluded. Prove that the girl's dream was wrong.

Ardeaa and Willamena dealt with this to my satisfaction - it WAS "just" a dream, but native elders would have taken it seriously anyway, so it's a moot point.

2 - You're living in England in the 1750s. You have a firm view in mind that all swans are white. Someone then travels to Australia fifty years later and sends you back a letter telling you that they saw a black swan. But this can't be true. Swans are white. Your friend is obviously lying because black swans clearly don't exist, as you've never seen one yourself before. Prove that the man was lying.

That's a silly thing to disbelieve, considering the vast diversity of species I would already be familiar with - and considering I'd be learning about more every day due to the trophies brought back to England by colonialists. Is my friend a notorious liar or something? Why would I have decided swans have to be white? That smacks of irrational dogma. Hardly my thing.

3 - You're walking passed a church one day. The year is 2010 and your life is going pretty darn well. Suddenly, a small child strolls out and asks you why you're not inside. Not believing in a God of any kind, you smile to the boy and say you don't belong there. The boy frowns and walks back inside. You sigh. That poor child is being brainwashed. He's deluded and his parents are feeding lies to him. Prove this to be true.

This is an easy one. Picture you're walking down a block with a mosque, a synagogue, a Mormon temple, a Baptist church and a Catholic church, as well as places of worship for a dozen other "one true path" religions. All of a sudden, one child comes out of each of them, approaches you, and in unison they all ask "Why aren't you inside my church learning the truth"? It is possible that only one child is NOT deluded and brainwashed and the rest are. But since there is no way to determine which of the children that might be, and because the "truth" they are all being taught has a host of characteristics in common - none stand out as being any more plausible than the rest - the only rational (not to mention fair) conclusion to draw is that they are all deluded and being indoctrinated with falsehoods.

 

[dorsk188]

1 - You're a native American...

Why was it real, exactly? It just felt real? No more than a month ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw red-haired woman pinned to my ceiling across the room, screaming at me. It was a strange, very real, sleep-paralysis hallucination. Why would anyone believe that she was real? The human mind is a screwed up thing.

2 - You're living in England in...

Ask your friend to shoot one and have it mounted and sent back, if you can't make the trip yourself. I'll remain skeptical until I see evidence, (though the claim is believable enough that I may soften my position based on hearsay).

3 - You're walking passed a church...

For one, I was raised in a church that lied to me. For two, ministers rarely even teach the realities of the book itself (history of the early church, contemporary context, etc). You can learn more about the Bible by watching the Life of Brian than going to 90% of churches for a lifetime.

For three, any time any minister or pastor says "Jesus said", he or she is lying, because no one really knows what Jesus said. Any time a pastor says any factual statement about the Bible or God without due qualification, it is a lie. And preacher's who begin every sentence with "we believe, but we can't be certain..." tend not to keep their jobs. For four, the studying the origins of any religion is usually enough to demonstrate how looney it is. That's why most churches read from the Bible in little drips and drops. Rarely enough to actually understand how flawed and inconsistent the thing is. Any pastor worth his wife in salt should know the history of the religion, and any pastor that's still teaching it to his parishoners is either dishonest or not too bright.

More to the point...

I can't. And you can't disprove that some theists might be onto something. So everyone's on equal ground, really.

And I'm the Second Coming of Jesus. You can't disprove it, and I might be on to something. We're on equal ground, really.

How would someone prove a negative? Well you can't, can you? And it just so happens that in this case, the "positive" also can't be proven.

The hell it can't. If you believe in the God of the Bible, then tell that to Job or Abraham or Noah. They got face-to-face sit-downs. In those days, people got killed by she-bears for making fun of a bald guy. If you're saying that this character actually exists, then where is he? Where's the infidel smoting? Why do scientific double-blind studies show that prayer is ineffective when it was clearly promised to be effective in the Bible?

Why is it that he's gotten shy just as people have started to ask for evidence? He used to commit religion-specific plagues in Egypt just for kicks.

 

[Smoke]

Not remotely what I was getting at, but nice strawman.

You don't appear to have a clue what a strawman is.

 

[Kerr]

What? Go down to Australia just to disprove something I know is wrong? What lunacy is this?

People know things are wrong all the time, it does not prevent them from being wrong . So, in my opinion you could go down there, take a look at that supposedly black thing and then spend a week or two at a beach somewhere. Or something.

 

[Humanistheart]

[
1) What free native american lived in europe before the genocide of the americas?

2) A letter is not evidence that he actually found one. One does not have to call the man a lier as the fact hasn't been proved.

3) Psychology already proved that.

 

[Autodidact]

Imagine these scenarios:

1 - You're a native American living freely in Europe. One night, you have a dream about white men coming to your land in big ships. The dream turns bleak. You dream of sickness, of disease, of death, of pain all because of the white men. When you wake up, you were so sure that the dream was real - but when you tell your elders they automatically console you... and tell you that such a thing will never happen, and that it was all a figment of your imagination. You keep believing what you saw to be true, and eventually everyone around you gives up on you as being deluded. Prove that the girl's dream was wrong.

What girl? Maybe you should formulate these posts more carefully.

If you think your dreams are reality; you're deluded.

Something you dream may, or may not, ever happen. That has nothing to do with whether you dreamed it.

2 - You're living in England in the 1750s. You have a firm view in mind that all swans are white. Someone then travels to Australia fifty years later and sends you back a letter telling you that they saw a black swan. But this can't be true.

Of course it can; why not? Is there something about swanness and makes it impossible for one to be black?

Swans are white. Your friend is obviously lying because black swans clearly don't exist, as you've never seen one yourself before. Prove that the man was lying.

He wasn't.

3 - You're walking passed a church one day. The year is 2010 and your life is going pretty darn well. Suddenly, a small child strolls out and asks you why you're not inside. Not believing in a God of any kind, you smile to the boy and say you don't belong there. The boy frowns and walks back inside. You sigh. That poor child is being brainwashed. He's deluded and his parents are feeding lies to him. Prove this to be true.

Now this is easy. Just set foot inside the church and watch all the child-brainwashing going on.

Did you have a point?

 

[Smoke]

The Atheist Life:

Fight Christians,
Fight Religion,
Enjoy life,
Nothing is a sin, you can do whatever you want,
Eat have sex 24/7 it doesn't matter,

That's right. I'm fighting Christians, enjoying life, eating, and having sex at this very moment.

Atheists are the ultimate multi-taskers.

 

[Autodidact]

I can't. And you can't disprove that some theists might be onto something. So everyone's on equal ground, really.

They might. And they equally well might not. What on earth is your point?

Some Scientologists might be on to something. Also some alien conspiracy theoriests. I just prefer to base my life on the highly probably, not the remotely possible.

How would someone prove a negative? Well you can't, can you? And it just so happens that in this case, the "positive" also can't be proven. So unless someone actually provides some scientific evidence one way or the other, both theists and atheists are equally justified in their views.

Yes. Also the Tooth Fairyists and a-Tooth Fairy-ists, the unicornists and a-unicornists, and anybody who asserts anything imaginary, apparently, according to you. However, until someone comes forth with evidence of Tooth Fairies, unicorns, and Gods, I think I'll continue to carry on on the fairly safe assumption there's no such thing.

What? Go down to Australia just to disprove something I know is wrong? What lunacy is this?

Is your name eselam? This is his approach to any evidence for evolution. He won't look at it, because he already knows it's impossible.

 

[Autodidact]

That's right. I'm fighting Christians, enjoying life, eating, and having sex at this very moment.

Atheists are the ultimate multi-taskers.

And we never sleep! Too busy eating and having sex 24/7.

 

[YmirGF]

I'm a bit shocked, DarkSun, your posts are usually of much better quality. Having an off day, are we?

1 - You're a native American living freely in Europe. One night, you have a dream about white men coming to your land in big ships. The dream turns bleak. You dream of sickness, of disease, of death, of pain all because of the white men. When you wake up, you were so sure that the dream was real - but when you tell your elders they automatically console you... and tell you that such a thing will never happen, and that it was all a figment of your imagination. You keep believing what you saw to be true, and eventually everyone around you gives up on you as being deluded. Prove that the girl's dream was wrong.

You haven't told us when the dream takes place. Is it in Europe prior to 1492? If she is living in Europe, then those ships would be arriving on European shores. No wonder her elders treated her as being delusional. If the dream happened last night then clearly the child has issues that need to be dealt with... and soon.

2 - You're living in England in the 1750s. You have a firm view in mind that all swans are white. Someone then travels to Australia fifty years later and sends you back a letter telling you that they saw a black swan. But this can't be true. Swans are white. Your friend is obviously lying because black swans clearly don't exist, as you've never seen one yourself before. Prove that the man was lying.

Actually, no. It would depend entirely how much I respected my friend's opinion. If I felt they were truthful and trustworthy, being a reasonable person, I would exclaim disbelief, but would probably say, "Wow, you learn something new everyday! I'll take your word for it as I know you well enough and that you wouldn't lie to me." In my view, only an utter moron would react differently.

3 - You're walking passed a church one day. The year is 2010 and your life is going pretty darn well. Suddenly, a small child strolls out and asks you why you're not inside. Not believing in a God of any kind, you smile to the boy and say you don't belong there. The boy frowns and walks back inside. You sigh. That poor child is being brainwashed. He's deluded and his parents are feeding lies to him. Prove this to be true.

Actually, I would be far more likely to ask the little bugger why he was talking to strangers when his parents weren't around, but hey, that's just me.

So much for your amusing scenarios. Back to the drawing board.

 

[Smoke]

[
1) What free native american lived in europe before the genocide of the americas?

The only one I can think of is Pocahontas, though the genocide in Mexico and elsewhere had been underway for about a hundred years by the time she died, under the name Rebecca Wolfe, in England.

 

[Commoner]

Imagine these scenarios:

1. Prove that the girl's dream was wrong

Can't, but I can demonstrate that there is no relevant correlation between dreams and reality that would imply any such predictive power of dreams.

2 - You're living in England in the 1750s. You have a firm view in mind that all swans are white. Someone then travels to Australia fifty years later and sends you back a letter telling you that they saw a black swan. But this can't be true. Swans are white. Your friend is obviously lying because black swans clearly don't exist, as you've never seen one yourself before. Prove that the man was lying.

Semantics. Prove that there's no red green, that there's no round square. This is more a problem of rigidly sticking to definitions without understanding the concepts in context.

3 - You're walking passed a church one day. The year is 2010 and your life is going pretty darn well. Suddenly, a small child strolls out and asks you why you're not inside. Not believing in a God of any kind, you smile to the boy and say you don't belong there. The boy frowns and walks back inside. You sigh. That poor child is being brainwashed. He's deluded and his parents are feeding lies to him. Prove this to be true.

Why? I don't know anything about the boy. He might be the evil genious doing the brainwashing.

What are you getting at anyway?

 

[Tiapan]

You mean white swans actually exist? BS! they are all black.

You must have seen and albino swan.

Cheers

 

[DarkSun]

I will respond to each of you after my anatomy exam at the wet labs. Just one thing in advance, though. I'm not an idiot. Kthxbye.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Just one thing in advance, though. I'm not an idiot. Kthxbye.

Indeed - being ignorant doesn't necessarily make you an idiot. Of course, it doesn't help your case either.