Comments on: Oh Jesus

By: Josiah

Josiah — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:40:56 +0000

I can only quote from Sir Richard Burton’s poem The Kasidah:

…
When doctors differ who decides
amid the milliard-beaded throng?
Who save the madman dares to cry:
“‘Tis I am right, you all are wrong?”

“You all are right, you all are wrong,”
we hear the careless Soofi say,
“For each believes his glimm’ering lamp
to be the gorgeous light of day.”

“Thy faith why false, my faith why true?
’tis all the work of Thine and Mine,
“The fond and foolish love of self
that makes the Mine excel the Thine.”
…

By: Angus

Angus — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:30:20 +0000

Oh, you should definitely be here and your comments are appreciated. I tolerate Justin because I understand his mindset rather well—I was in fundamentalist Christian cult for 17 years, and know the thought process from the inside. So I have some sympathy and some hope for Justin, especially since he has shown occasional flashes of humor and intelligence. Also, I asked him at one point to not simply make baseless assertions, or he would be ‘benched’ and, for the most part, he’s respected that. I suppose he’s still on probation.

Thanks for weighing in!

cheers,
Angus

By: Brenda

Brenda — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:09:39 +0000

Why do you put up with that little Justin twit? The only thing he adds to the discussion is tension, and I for one don’t enjoy tension unless it’s in a song or a poem. Just delete him, Angus. PLEASE! Nobody in their right mind wants to read his BS. You might attract the kind of comments you deserve if readers didn’t have to wade through Justin’s tripe. Your writing lifts me up; then I read Justin’s comments and find myself feeling very sad. C’mon, Brilliant One, you owe it to yourself and to your readers to make coming here a more palatable experience. You’re the coach. Bench him! Or explain to me why you put up with him. Maybe it’s just a locker room guy thing and I’ll never get it. If that’s the case, then I shouldn’t be here in the first place and I apologize for intruding.

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:46:01 +0000

Well, no argument about the Christian part.

“Atheist probably doesn’t capture my beleif system.”
Then why claim a “version” of atheism?

“I suppose this is my version of atheism: I believe in the divine, but I believe that as soon as humans start defining it, or approaches to it, they inevitably go astray.”

By: Angus

Angus — Sat, 02 May 2009 00:38:06 +0000

Atheist probably doesn’t capture my beleif system. Christian certainly doesn’t.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:19:23 +0000

for you, it would seem that you do acknowledge some “Higher” being exists. You argue that it cannot possibly be the God of Christianity, and instead opt for a pantheistic god. That makes you a unique atheist.

By: Angus

Angus — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:00:21 +0000

“God has put in you innate, intuitive knowledge that He exists.”

And when I tell you that is not the case, at least for me… what? I’m a liar, because I tell you I don’t feel what you feel?

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:43:03 +0000

Tim wrote: “Justin wrote “Admit that FSM does not really exist but is instead just a poorly conceived debating tactic that is insufficient in disproving the existence of a Higher Power beyond ourselves…”

This is a common tactic used by Believers of Weird Things.”

wrong… I never asked Angus to prove that FSM doesn’t exist, and I told him to either admit it or

“If you truly believe in FSM, then you have to:

(1) recant atheism.
(2) affirm that absolute, objective truth exists.
(3) recant rationalism and/or empiricism
(4) submit to the gospel of FSM as your authority.”

Which he won’t, because he doesn’t.

Your statement: it is “impossible to disprove the existence of an imaginary thing.”

Wrong. God has put in you innate, intuitive knowledge that He exists. Denial of God does not mean that He ceases to exist, anymore than when a child closes his/her eyes and says “I can’t hear you,” means the parent does not exist.

By: Angus

Angus — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:13:45 +0000

I’ve done that before, and you’re right of course, but it doesn’t phase them.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:57:33 +0000

First of all–great website and great posts! I love these kinds of debates.

Now my comment:
Justin wrote “Admit that FSM does not really exist but is instead just a poorly conceived debating tactic that is insufficient in disproving the existence of a Higher Power beyond ourselves…”

This is a common tactic used by Believers of Weird Things. They always ask a skeptic to prove the Weird Thing DOESN’T exist. If you ask them for an example of a single piece of evidence they would accept as proof the Weird Thing doesn’t exist, you get a “deer in the headlights” look. This is because they haven’t stopped to consider it is impossible to disprove the existence of an imaginary thing. So, I think there should be a new rule that whenever a Believer of Weird Things invokes the “prove it doesn’t exist” argument, they follow it up by giving you at least one example of what they might accept as evidence that could make them change their minds. I would be a great way to show they actually were open to real debate and not merely engaging in dogmatic rhetoric.

The other benefit of this rule would be this form of argument will eventually become as extinct as their Weird Things…