Posts by slimboyfat

40

Why believe in a god?

by menrov in

if you consider that the god they believe in:.

- cannot be seen or heard and is only known in books written by writers we do not know nor do we have the original writings- does not listen to prayers from believers for security, safety, health, survival, protection, rescue, food etc- promises things that have not come true though had plenty of time to act on the promises- does not provide what you need to live- let's you suffer, struggle, work etc equal to non-believers, treated equally.

........ how does a believer look at his/her parents if they hide themselves, do not provide for you (shelter, food etc), make promises but never live up to these, does not provide what you need to live, treats you like anyone else but not as their child?

slimboyfat

I am coming every stronger to the realisation that there must be a God. To me the fact that we exist is the proof that God caused us to exist. I’d need to hear some pretty strong evidence that it is possible for us to exist without God. How would that even work? We just popped out of nowhere for no reason? I don’t even know what kind of evidence could make that make sense. It would be like trying to provide evidence that I don’t exist. No matter how sophisticated the reasoning or the evidence might be, there is still the fact that I do exist. The same with God. No matter how sophisticated the arguments are against God, the fact remains that something must account for the existence of reality and whatever that something is is what we call God. The best argument against God, the argument from suffering, is not really an argument against God’s existence. It’s a statement of incomprehension about why the world is the way that it is in view of God’s existence. I agree with the incomprehension. There are many things in life that cause incomprehension but they don’t cause me to doubt the existence of reality itself. That’s madness.

[Edit: this post took around 24 hours to appear so might be out of place now]

38

“Lazarus, come out!”

by Fisherman in

many people here have expressed faith in evolution and in other theories—but in all honesty, do you have any hope whatsoever in your heart or in the back of your mind ?

truthfully..

slimboyfat

Physics breaks down before the universe began. But is consciousness reducible to physics, or is it something else? I think it’s something else, because nothing physical accounts for conscious experience. On that basis consciousness may precede the universe and space and time. That ultimate consciousness, or intention we call God. Everything in this world rests on something else, but the what that everything ultimately rests upon is God. Once you see this it is almost impossible to see the world any other way. There is no such thing as “evidence” for God, as such, it is simply obvious that he exists because how else could we exist?

38

What is your favorite EX- JW You Tube site and why???

by Balaamsass2 in

the mrs (third gen) and i have been on this site for a number of years now.

we appreciate simon's efforts to keep this site active and available.

i find a number of pimo jw friends enjoy youtube for some reason.

slimboyfat

Telltale has more patrons

https://www.patreon.com/telltaleatheist

38

What is your favorite EX- JW You Tube site and why???

by Balaamsass2 in

the mrs (third gen) and i have been on this site for a number of years now.

we appreciate simon's efforts to keep this site active and available.

i find a number of pimo jw friends enjoy youtube for some reason.

slimboyfat

Doesn’t Telltale do it full time? It’s a pretty big channel

38

What is your favorite EX- JW You Tube site and why???

by Balaamsass2 in

the mrs (third gen) and i have been on this site for a number of years now.

we appreciate simon's efforts to keep this site active and available.

i find a number of pimo jw friends enjoy youtube for some reason.

slimboyfat

Quite liked this interview

https://youtu.be/eJd8AG1tDIQ

38

“Lazarus, come out!”

by Fisherman in

many people here have expressed faith in evolution and in other theories—but in all honesty, do you have any hope whatsoever in your heart or in the back of your mind ?

truthfully..

slimboyfat

That’s not what I said. I said:

if we had an infinite number of squares then one of them is bound to be a circle. It’s that the statement defies logic.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

slimboyfat

We had Tony Cain, can’t say he did anything remarkable here, or at least I never heard about it. Can you say what reason he gave for removing a whole load of elders?

And Kim you’ll be shocked to hear I never did apologise to LE for my audacity in having a different opinion to him. Maybe he’ll hunt me down yet.

38

“Lazarus, come out!”

by Fisherman in

many people here have expressed faith in evolution and in other theories—but in all honesty, do you have any hope whatsoever in your heart or in the back of your mind ?

truthfully..

slimboyfat

Would it be better if reworded to something like: we didn’t just get here by ourselves, somebody must have put us here. And whoever it was that put us here is beyond our ken?

I wouldn’t call “it just happened” sophistry, but it doesn’t make sense to me, because it’s like throwing hands up in the air, or, ironically, invoking a miracle, rather than an explanation.

38

“Lazarus, come out!”

by Fisherman in

many people here have expressed faith in evolution and in other theories—but in all honesty, do you have any hope whatsoever in your heart or in the back of your mind ?

truthfully..

slimboyfat

Yes, in a sense, because God is, by definition, that which does not require explanation. Unlike everything that exists, he does not have a cause, but is himself the ultimate cause. Because he is not subject to external conditions, we define him by saying what he is not: he is not temporal, spatial, caused, constrained, alterable, or limited. He is a category of his own, or he is outside categories altogether. Conceptually that is a kind of “placeholder”, but that is from our inability to fully conceive and describe God because we are finite beings. This doesn’t impinge on who God is in himself, which is independent of our ability to conceive or describe what it means for God to be God.

38

“Lazarus, come out!”

by Fisherman in

many people here have expressed faith in evolution and in other theories—but in all honesty, do you have any hope whatsoever in your heart or in the back of your mind ?

truthfully..

slimboyfat

I’m not saying it’s improbable that the universe arose by itself. I’m saying it doesn’t make sense. To say that existence arose by itself is, I suspect, a bit like saying that a square can be a circle. It’s not probability that’s the problem with the statement, as if we had an infinite number of squares then one of them is bound to be a circle. It’s that the statement defies logic. It would be a “miracle” of a sort if a square could be a circle, just as it would be a “miracle” if the universe could arise from nothing, not because it’s unlikely but because it doesn’t make sense conceptually.

To me what makes more sense is the view that a ground of all being, outside of time and space, caused our universe to come into existence. We cannot understand the nature of a being outside of the universe and outside the chain of causality, but the fact that we exist is evidence that there must be one. It is the nature of the reality we inhabit that gives evidence that there was intentionality behind the act of creation, and therefore God.

I like Krauthammer’s quip that “atheism is the least plausible of the theologies”. But again, not because atheism has a lower probability - if that could be worked out somehow - but because it doesn’t make sense, whereas belief in God does make sense.