Post your tough questions for an Atheist/Agnostic.

Um... untrue.

 

Definitely filled with doubts about there being "gods." Especially as described in the holy books which were written by mere mortals. I believe the Bible and other such books to be parables. I believe that man made religion was/is a way of controlling the masses. Back in the day, they didn't have manpower or resources to police large areas, so put the fear of god into them! The idea of a god is just too ridiculous for me to accept as real. If there was/is a god, I think it is an entity similar to "mother nature" or something like that. My 2 cents.

 

The Big Bang set the framework for our reality, but we have free will to move around as we please within that framework, just as office workers can move around within the rigid steel and concrete framework of their building..
Perhaps we do have the ability to influence by "mindpower", "prayer" or "thought-pressure" what goes on in that building, for example perhaps wishing and praying like crazy that the dishy secretary in the accounts office will take a shine to us might just make her come up to us and say "Hi, drop in for a cup of tea at my place next time you're in my neighbourhood"..
But we can't grasp what mechanism in our brains affects reality like that, as the man said-
"You hardly believe me when I tell you earthly things, so how would you believe me if I told you heavenly things?" (Jesus in John 3:12)

 

I mean no disrespect here -- I plan to limit my participation in this topic to the responses from the OP regarding the "hard question" I asked of her.

 

What does this scripture mean or suggest to you, or is supposed to mean/ suggest in your opinion? And how does it fare or stand in the light of atheism?:

Matthew 16:15-20 King James Version (KJV)

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

 

Don't hold your breath mate, this thread has run to 6 pages so far and I'm still waiting for any atheist to answer the questions I've been asking..

 

She started the conversation - lets see if she can finish it.

 

To me it suggests that someone long ago scribed a story meant to convey that Jesus was the son of a God and wanted a church to be built somewhere or wanted an existing church to be special. In my "Atheist" opinion it means nothing of importance and was scribed by someone who never met Jesus, Peter, of knew anything beyond a story was needed.

 

What questions have not been answered?

 

As an Atheist I can accept that I do not know the details of a thing yet accept the general idea as likely....actually simply as a thinking person.

 

Scientist Frank Drake came up with the famous 'Drake Equation'-



which suggests there are literally thousands of alien civilisations out there, so perhaps we should stop thinking of God as a "God" and regard him instead as an alien or an entire alien race? Heck even Jesus said straight out-
"You are of this world; I am not of this world" (John 8:23), and the bible is full of UFO's and aliens (angels) in human form walking among us-
"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels unawares" (Hebrews 13:2)
And then there are the invisible 'guardian angels'-

"If you say, The Lord is my refuge, no harm will overtake you,
for he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways" (Psalm 91:9-11)

 

See post # 50

 

Nope....I feel I am being a good person.

 

I cannot answer a question based on false premise.

 

Well in one I asked if anybody could explain the famous Double Slit Experiment where reality changes, just as Jesus could bend reality to produce his miracles, but an atheist didn't attempt to answer and just called me "pathetic"..

 

You agreed to my premise, that, absent God, everything in the universe was determined at the moment of the big bang, governed by the laws of physics.
For you to have free will, you must have some ability to control the laws of physics to affect your will, rather than follow the predetermined nature of the universe.
So...what mechanism within your brain allows you to do this, and do so at will?

Do you have an answer to my question, or not?

 

I did not call YOU pathetic, I did however explain that attempting to compare quantum physics to religion IS pathetic....because it is a rather silly attempt to justify miracles. That you would expect me to explain what scientists cannot is a dodge away from taking your own claims seriously. The double slit experiment is NOT miraculous and is partially explained by quantum mechanics whereas miracles by definition will never be explained but are easily debunked by physical reality.

 

No I did not agree as I simply do not know, and neither do you. It is entirely possible the "Big Bang" was just the latest and local manifestation of what we term the Universe. The laws of physics do not apply to the mental activities of my mind in anything but a physical way and thus are not relevant to what I do with it.

 

So, you cannot tackle this tough question - you believe you have free will, but you have no idea how said free will manifests itself in the physical world.

Your mind is bound by the laws of physics in any and every possible way, just as everything else is; for you to have free will, you must have the capacity to use the laws of physics to produce the result you want.
You cannot, however, answer the basic questions regarding the nature of that capacity - you presume its existence, but cannot illustrate it.

 

Have A Nice Day

 

And thus, you fail to meaningfully address a "tough question".
Well done.

 

You are asking questions that have absolutely nothing to do with the thread topic, likely as an attempt to use standard Christian pleasantry and inability to come up with useful debate...well done(sic).

 

On the contrary.
"Free will" cannot exist in deterministic setting; you believe there is free will, and so you believe we do not exist in a deterministic setting.
What, then, grants the control over the laws of physics necessary to exercise "free will"? How does "your mind" do it?
You cannot answer because you do not know -- and yet, you believe you have free will.

 

I will answer your question again, even though it is irrelevant to this thread. Your premise is false making any answer rather pointless. It is very clear you intend to disrupt the intended thread discussion with further questions that cannot be definitively answered and I ask you to cease this irritating action. The laws of physics have absolutely no bearing on what humans think other than allowing neural function through electrical impulses.

 

For you to have free will, you must have control over those impulses, and thus, the physical laws that affect them.