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Comments by krisking


201. Changing my Mind

Comment #106428 by krisking on January 2, 2008 at 10:54 pm

ASonOfLiberty


I proudly declare that not only am I an atheist, ....

......, it's just that I am now an evangelical theist.

I do love a fight of wits with retards,....... I will shed you (sic)



I love a good contradiction and a cogent argument!

202. A War On Science

Comment #106242 by krisking on January 2, 2008 at 2:38 pm

You're so right: too many people don't understand what the theory of evolution actually is, and then dismiss it as untenable because the distorted version they've got in their heads is - quite literally - incredible.


I think you are absolutely right, certainly from what I have gathered in dialogues here.

Isn't that what RD's job is to communicate science to the public?

The more I read about science, the more complex it seems. You can't expect people to understand everything in one go. After all it takes a lifetime to learn a new language effectively.

203. What have you changed your mind about? Why?

Comment #105700 by krisking on January 1, 2008 at 3:28 pm

55. Comment #105694 by Steve Zara on January 1, 2008 at 3:11 pm

Can you show me a mathematical model that shows that random chance works?


Works at what?

Other Comments by Steve Zara | Rank this comment | Flag as: [troll] [spam] [offensive]
56. Comment #105695 by Mark Smith on January 1, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Random chance *happens* krisking, it's not a question of whether it works.

Do you mean, Is there a mathematical model to show that natural selection working on randomly produced variations produces changes in a species?



see zdravko's post no 48

204. What have you changed your mind about? Why?

Comment #105698 by krisking on January 1, 2008 at 3:26 pm

48. Comment #105686 by zdravko on January 1, 2008 at 2:21 pm
ID is an implausible idea, but if someone
presents a mathematical model that shows it can work,
then we should examine it seriously or else
we would b e dogmatic. Until then we are right
to consider it nonsense.
I do not see at all how "God did it" can be modeled mathematically. There is
no physical interaction that can be simulated
on a computer.



What does all this actually mean? and can you model alternative explanations mathematically?

205. What have you changed your mind about? Why?

Comment #105692 by krisking on January 1, 2008 at 3:06 pm

zdravko

a mathematical model that shows it can work



Can you show me a mathematical model that shows that random chance works?

206. What have you changed your mind about? Why?

Comment #105646 by krisking on January 1, 2008 at 11:54 am

interesting that it appears to be the male of species that is the prettiest!

Wonder how that works with humans!



That'll be why human females wear loads of make up and perfume and spends hours choosing clothes, while men can quite confidently put on a suit or a pair of jeans and feel happy!

207. What have you changed your mind about? Why?

Comment #105645 by krisking on January 1, 2008 at 11:48 am

In my opinion, being dogmatic about certain things is being close minded and egocentric. To have the courage to admit to ones shortcomings by not always having to be right shows maturity, wisdom and a little humility.



Absolutely right.

208. What have you changed your mind about? Why?

Comment #105643 by krisking on January 1, 2008 at 11:47 am

interesting that it appears to be the male of species that is the prettiest!

Wonder how that works with humans!

209. Could there be a Darwinian Account of Human Creativity?

Comment #105408 by krisking on December 31, 2007 at 1:14 pm

http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/main/calamities/


Nice!

210. Could there be a Darwinian Account of Human Creativity?

Comment #105355 by krisking on December 31, 2007 at 10:22 am

However, we can guess, and it is likely to have been pretty early in the history of life, as bacteria reproduce sexually (well, something pretty much like sexual reproduction). They exchange DNA in the form of small loops called plasmids.


Well, I guess that's a start..... but would it have been a tender embrace?

211. Could there be a Darwinian Account of Human Creativity?

Comment #105306 by krisking on December 31, 2007 at 8:16 am

Organisms (viruses, bacteria, wombats, humans) need to replicate, i.e they reproduce, either asexually or sexually



Does anyone have any idea when organisms started reproducing sexually ....and how it happened?

212. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #105224 by krisking on December 30, 2007 at 11:29 pm

The point was that religious beliefs resist change and cannot in some cases (ie genesis) incorporate new information into their belief.


Surely part of what religion does is to think about whether it is right to accept changes as morally acceptable, e.g. euthanasia Science has no automatic moral underpinning. It merely says....we can (or cannot) do this or that.

213. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #105223 by krisking on December 30, 2007 at 11:23 pm

. If they're going to hold such sway, at least they are beginning to get 'back to basics'.


I wonder what you mean by this. Invading foreign countries? Bombing innocent civilians? Ignoring the earth's pollution? Exploiting developing countries resources?

214. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #105221 by krisking on December 30, 2007 at 11:17 pm

There are many who think Genesis is true and what astronomy has discovered is false.


That may be the case in the US. I think that there are few in the UK who hold to those beliefs. Here they are more likely to place their belief in astrology than in Genesis, or even in Science, particularly where science is not meeting their needs.

215. Could there be a Darwinian Account of Human Creativity?

Comment #105068 by krisking on December 30, 2007 at 1:51 pm

But my conclusion is that I agree with you. Assume you have free will. That will always work. If you have free will to choose, then you will be right. If you don't have free will, then you have no choice anyway.



You could do that with the idea of God, too!

216. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104844 by krisking on December 29, 2007 at 4:31 pm

Like the new pic, Steve. Has a certain gravitas.


I think the appropriate term is "age".



....but can we see the real you?

217. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104735 by krisking on December 29, 2007 at 9:39 am

hey either have to work the science facts into their religion or make up a new religion that incorporates the facts.


Hey, clever clogs....and science has to change its understanding as new discoveries are made, too!

218. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104555 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 6:37 pm

debating anyone with enthusiasm given the opportunity.


...and quite right too.

all questions begin with speculation, don't they?



Indeed, and I believe you have hit upon one of the more serious questions relating to the problems in the world.

you'll still have envy and jealousy



Indeed so......



But it's gone half past two in the morning here.....and it's now my birthday...so I'll say goodnight to you all...

219. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104548 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 6:27 pm

Don Quix

I just find it interesting to speculate about what the possibilities would be if a major root cause of the majority of strife in the world (the disparity of wealth and lack of access to basic material needs) were to suddenly not be an issue anymore.



This is too serious a question merely to speculate about...

220. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104546 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 6:20 pm

Radesq

Are you mistaking me for someone else?


Please accept my apologies. I have clearly mistaken you for someone else.

221. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104544 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 6:17 pm

Steve

Thank you for your comments. I do understand what you mean about discussions with other believers. As you know, I have not found it easy and have come up against the crushing hammer of so-called christians and their dogmatic beliefs.

I too have found many parts of the Bible seriously difficult to comprehend or accept, including things that Jesus is recorded as having said and done.

Nevertheless, I believe that unless we are able to learn to respect one another regardless of each others' beliefs, and to show kindness to each other, then we are on a path towards destruction rather than hope for the future.

In spite of many of the comments which I have made where you disagree with me, or have felt exasperated by my apparent bone-headedness, I am genuinely looking for answers and a way forward for myself.

You may feel regret that I am not ready simply to ditch the christian influences on my life, but I am conscious that in many ways they have been good influences. That is not to say, that I am not fuming at the times and situations where I feel I have been held back in my development.

222. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104540 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 6:03 pm

I'm not sure I understand your last post


Was it not you who were advocating the capitalist system which would bring great rewards to whoever found a complete cure for cancer?

223. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104538 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 6:01 pm

I think I would lose a lot of perks that I can currently justify.



For example? ....and if we all had those perks?

224. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104537 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 5:58 pm

quiet suggestion to my parents that perhaps I was not quite suitable for their groups and meetings.



Well, I think that is a shame. It's one of the problems that christian groups often face: that they are a nice club where they have a set of what they imagine to be shared beliefs, (a bit like belonging to model-making club where we all make the same gauge train), but those beliefs are second-hand rather than deeply thought through and experienced. Then when something or someone challenging comes along, they don't cope.

225. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104533 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 5:49 pm

like selfishness -- isn't there?

Why? I think you believe that material, technological and scientific progress are only possible if we are motivated by selfish gain.

226. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104530 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 5:46 pm

Religion has been doing this for centuries and people (even religious people) still continue to lie, cheat, steal, etc.



This is very true, as I have mentioned a few moments ago. I hope that what you say about technology and understanding of the human brain will become a reality, although I wonder what the cost to our freedom will be as a result.

227. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104526 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 5:39 pm

Hows that?


I think that is great and sounds perfectly normal to me. I can remember being 8 too, and as far as I can remember no religion was mentioned in the school I attended at the time. Later on though as a teenager, I recall that being among christians was a lot nicer place than being at home or being school.

228. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104516 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 5:12 pm

brian

No. We need to ditch that stuff and have a 21st century conversation about ethics and morality employing everything we know, but only that



Okay. Fair enough. So where is this conversation taking place?

I think though that it is going to take more than this to transform humankind. Teaching on how to behave in schools, for example, has not eradicated bullying, nor has it stopped people shop-lifting, for example.

229. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104513 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 5:08 pm

Philip

do you really think Atheists are barely moral without religion?


No, I don't believe this at all. I know atheists who are the kindest most moral of people, and I have known Christians who are quite the opposite. I was attempting to answer a previous question.

On the question of your story, I'm afraid I really am the wrong person to ask. I did wonder what difference you were expecting from the people who you considered did believe....although I guess you would say, any difference would have been helpful, which would be fair enough.

230. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104504 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 4:54 pm

As I noted in the post, they can't. Neither pure reason, personal experience or track record give us any clear direction. If they did, the truth would surely have triumphed after 6,000 years of recorded religious history.


You would have thought so. i think you know a few more responses than the ones you quoted.


the human frailties


Don't you think this is the nub of the whole question of human existence?

Theist or atheist, we don't seem to be able to transcend these.

231. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104501 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 4:48 pm

We get to investigate the world, and our role in it without being that investigation being blocked by those whose dogma would be threatened by the answers.

We get to discuss openly and freely how we should interact with each other in societies without that discussion being hijacked by those who cling to prejudices because they confuse their own gut feelings with the voice of God.



Steve, we can rely on you to give reasoned answers. I agree entirely with what you write here, and would hope that these things would become true too.

(by the way, our posts seemed to have overlapped)

232. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104496 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 4:34 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEOkxRLzBf0


Nice song, nice sentiment. Now how are we all going to get there?

233. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104495 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 4:32 pm

Christianity's sick attitude to women and human sexuality and opposition to birth control and abortion



Surely, it is precisely those parts of the world which have the best attitude towards women, exercise the greatest levels of sexual freedom and make the most use of birth control and abortion that are using up disproportionately the most of the world's resources and emitting the greatest levels of pollution.

These two may, of course, not be related in any way.

234. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104491 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 4:22 pm

How will the religious come to recognize that we atheists are not sad



Well, you did ask the question. The reality is that whenever I have asked a question which goes beyond "does God exist?", I get very flimsy answers.

Even when I asked what the world would be like if everybody became an atheist, at best I got answers along the lines of , well there wouldn't be any religions and therefore no religious wars. So what is the positive answer?

No-one seems to have thought that out.

235. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104489 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 4:11 pm

briancoughlanworldcitizen

my life story


Thanks for posting this, Brian. I found it made very interesting reading, and some of what you describe mirrors my own experience of being (or perhaps not being?) and living with Christians of various persuasions. You write about some of the good Christians you had met from other denominations like the pastor in the army, and that it set you wondering, but I wonder how or why their lifestyle (which you appear to admire beyond the details of their doctrinal understanding) thereby pushed you away from remaining a Christian.

236. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104478 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 3:29 pm

How will the religious come to recognize that we atheists are not sad lost, barely moral creatures with a great big God-shaped hole in us?



Perhaps when "(you) atheists" start saying more about than world than just "God doesn't exist, science proves it, and that's all we're saying"

237. The Pagan Christ

Comment #104477 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 3:23 pm

Phil Rimmer


Thank you for the recommendation. I've made a note for myself.

238. The Pagan Christ

Comment #104190 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 4:10 am

I'm afraid we think it's all just heresay and myth.



Of course you do! But you begin from the point of view that atheism is the truth.....and seek to justify it by picking holes in anything anyone says to you! Show me your 100% guaranteed proof that God does not exist. Even Dawkins dare not do that.

239. The Pagan Christ

Comment #104179 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 3:38 am

Downunder

I have specifically noted in my post 240 that we cannot know if there is an afterlife at all.


Jesus's reply to this when challenged by the religious authorities of his day was clear..
"Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures of the power of God. ......But about the resurrection of the dead - have you not read what God said to you, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."

240. The Pagan Christ

Comment #104174 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 3:32 am

TonyA

Where, I wonder, would the bible be different if there was no god...I can't figure it out...It's 100.00% consistent with the possibility that it isn't true.



Why would anyone have made it up? It's not like someone sat down and wrote it on one occasion. If some-one had made it up surely they would have done a better job of ironing out inconsistencies.

241. The Pagan Christ

Comment #104168 by krisking on December 28, 2007 at 3:25 am

Radesq

Again I was always puzzled by the quandary of someone who's spouse dies young and who then remarries


Interesting that you should ask. Jesus was asked the very same question by a religious group of his day who apparently did not believe in life after death. They wanted to know whose wife a woman would be if she had been given in marriage to a set of 7 brothers in turn who had each died one after the other. (The law at the time seems to have been that if your older brother died , you got to marry his wife! Jesus' answer?

Matthew 22v23-32 "......At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage."

242. The Pagan Christ

Comment #104028 by krisking on December 27, 2007 at 3:29 pm

I think our entire universe and reality is taking place inside a very, very highly-advanced game of The Sims


Will you laugh or cry when you find out whether or not this is true?

243. The Pagan Christ

Comment #104025 by krisking on December 27, 2007 at 3:12 pm

So my question over the lack of free will deal is...



...but do you feel you have free will? You can choose.

244. The Pagan Christ

Comment #104024 by krisking on December 27, 2007 at 3:11 pm

Well, of course, eventually my brain figured it out and i felt had


Yes, it does feel like that sometimes. But there is something so annoyingly persistent about it.

245. The Pagan Christ

Comment #104017 by krisking on December 27, 2007 at 2:47 pm

Christian theology is the most bizarre



but that is roughly what the Bible says too!

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

and..

"Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,..."

246. The Pagan Christ

Comment #104004 by krisking on December 27, 2007 at 2:04 pm

Compare the vast writings about Pontius Pilate



Can you give us some references, please? I found the following on the BBC web site..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1273594.stm


...which has the line....."The truth about Pilate is difficult to ascertain since records are few."

247. The Pagan Christ

Comment #103942 by krisking on December 27, 2007 at 11:23 am

The most reliable method is to simply observe them. Watch them living for, say, six, months. The you'll have a pretty good idea about their basic belief structures.




Excellent answer. From now on you atheists should not be trying to refute the existence of God or defeat Christians in logical argument, but to ask them what difference it is making to their lives. There is the real test.

248. The Pagan Christ

Comment #103853 by krisking on December 27, 2007 at 5:45 am

Indeed!

249. The Pagan Christ

Comment #103849 by krisking on December 27, 2007 at 4:15 am

the established Church England


I've emailed Bishops about their religion, and received some decidedly wishy washy answers.

250. The Pagan Christ

Comment #103848 by krisking on December 27, 2007 at 4:13 am

I do have objection to pressure groups that have special privilege


I should anyone who has direct access to the government ministers etc is in that position.

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