You lost me at "you don't really know what you are talking about. You have a right to your opinion," but I'll play the game anyways.
"THAT is not true. Religions aren't replaced... they change. There is a difference in "replacement" and "change". If you studied theology you would find that the Roman gods share MANY similarities with the Greek gods, which in turn share MANY similarities with the Egyptian gods, which in turn share many similarities with the Babylonian, Persian, and Sumerian gods."
First off, you know nothing about me. While I haven't studied "theology," I was a history major and a philosophy minor, and I'm sure my knowledge on the subject is on par with yours. Beside the fact that you are splitting hairs between replacement and change, do you not see the fallacy there? How can something be the ultimate truth in the universe if that truth changes? Do the "gods" get bored and decide to give themselves a makeover? And yes, they all share similarities. One guy sees this religion but wants to change a few things he doesn't agree with, and all of a sudden you have a whole new religion. Go put the torah, koran, and bible together, read them all, and you will see a perfect example of this outside of the polytheistic religions you mentioned.
Also... I think you forget that majority of the planet chooses to have a religion.
I think you forgot that most of the planet is indoctrinated at a young age, I don't know any children that "choose" their religion. They follow what their parents force them to, that is not choice. The amount of people who change religion once they are adults are few and far in between on the scale of almost 7 billion people, unless they are forced by a militant group like we are seeing now in parts of the world. When people do change unforced, most people become agnostic. People are leaving religion more and more, especially in the US. You can thank the internet, if there's one thing religion has always feared, it would be information and the people supplying it. Education of the masses is public enemy number 1 to religion.
You can't PROVE that God doesnt exist........If you want to talk about logic then it is not logical to form beliefs
You are correct, I can't prove god doesn't exist. Absence of evidence is never evidence of absence. Just like aliens. However, your definition of logic is flawed. From Merriam-Webster: "a science that deals with the principles and criteria of validity of inference and demonstration." But you are correct in that it is not logical to form beliefs. Atheism is not a belief, it is a lack of belief in a deity. By your own words Atheism is nothing but logical. Believing in something based on no observable proof and nothing but conjecture is illogical, believing in something that you can observe and can be proven is logical. Again, atheism is nothing but logical. Atheism is not built on faith, it is built upon the idea of "until we have proof we don't believe." That is not faith, it is logic. If Atheism is a belief, then not knowing how to swim is a skill.
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realityinmind
9 years ago
Its not a game. You were simply wrong with what you said. I wasnt splitting hairs... there is a difference in CHANGE and REPLACE. The reason it was worth mentioning to you is because you were spreading bad data. There is not too much difference between Greek and Roman gods, yet you were acting like there is was such a considerable amount of difference that the religions were "replaced" with a new flavor. The truth is... it wasnt.
I don't know your educational achievements. And I don't care. Fact is fact.
Regarding fallacy... here you go --- Geology. Just 50 years ago a completely different idea was BELIEVED to be the geological history of the planet. Based on that BELIEF, much science was ignored that showed a alternate geological history of the planet... which just so happens to be the accepted belief today. The idea that something "changes" doesnt mean that its existence is a fallacy. It just means that there is still much to be learned about it. And over time the new knowledge helps to form a better belief system, whether it be religion or science.
Research religious growth in the US and the world and you will see that religious groups are increasing in size. Islam is growing faster than global population growth and Christianity is still growing. There is an increase in people unaffiliated with any religion, but it isnt outpacing population growth. What this means is that religious affiliation is INCREASING, not decreasing. So the idea that "people are leaving religion more and more..." is simply not true. Check the facts on that... check the logic.
True, children do not have choice. But adults do. Adults have a choice regarding their religious affiliation. While it is true that there are some countries in which religion is enforced on adults by militant groups and whatnot, that is not a majority factor in religious affiliation and growth. You are speaking of a minority aspect regarding religious growth. Fact.
Also... you are very confused on the concept of belief. My guess is that you are an Atheist and don't want to accept that you have a belief system. I'm not going to argue with you as to why you are wrong. I already pointed out many times that you are wrong with your words, and getting into an endless argument with you about Atheism is not on my to-do list. But here is the basis for your confusion: there is a difference in LACKING A BELIEF THAT SOMETHING EXISTS and BELIEVING THAT SOMETHING DOESNT EXIST. The difference is that the lack of belief means that a belief isnt formed, while the belief that something doesnt exist is a belief in and of itself. The tired argument of "not knowing how to swim is a skill if atheism is a belief" isnt even logical because it compares a LEARNED SKILL with a BELIEF BASED ON KNOWLEDGE (OR THE LACK THERE OF). For example, a scientist doesnt choose to believe something just because he cant prove that it does or does not exist. He simply states "cannot be proven with current data" and continues his research. Lumping Atheism into ANY conversation regarding science is simply nonsense... the two have nothing to do with each other. Atheists say "I choose to believe that God doesnt exist because I do not see any evidence that he does", while Christians say "I choose to believe that God exists because I see evidence that he does", but an agnostic says "I choose to believe in neither because neither can be proven".
My guess is that your next statement would falter along the lines of "Atheists are Agnostics". lol.
Regardless, you keep erring with your "logic", or "facts", or whatever you call it. So its pointless to even continue the argument. But at least now people will know that there is not a considerable amount of difference between Roman and Greek gods to warrant the idea that their beliefs were just replaced by new flavors. Their beliefs evolved, just like the theories regarding the geological history of the planet.
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jtvanbr-687-346710
9 years ago
hahahahahaha You should stop going to church and go back to school. I'm done with you.
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johnthedoe
9 years ago
Dude, you just got owned. Many times. Firstly by your own post, then by other people. If you are a man, accept it. Only children and idiots when faced with facts ignore them. Thanks for another addition to my ignore list.
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jtvanbr-687-346710
9 years ago
How did I get owned? Was it the fact that there were more people who agreed with me than disagreed that led you to that conclusion? I quit talking to him because he admits that neither one can prove our point but then proceeds to tell me I'm wrong. Do you not see the issue there? Not to mention his facts are completely wrong. Please go fact check my statements, you will find they are correct. The world is becoming less religious per capita, unlike he says. His information is misinterpreted. If 10 babies are born and 3 become religious and 7 become atheists, by the metric he is using religion would have "grown" when really it would have declined. Check out the Pew Research Center, they release many studies on this and are considered by atheist and religious authorities alike to be the best source of info. In the US alone Christianity has dropped over 7% in 3 years, that's a massive amount of people leaving the religion. That guy was splitting hairs. Feel free to block me and use your confirmation bias to feel that I got "owned" if it helps you sleep at night.
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gantz8596
9 years ago
The number of people supporting you on this thread doesn't make your argument right, it only shows that there is a lot of anti-religion people on internet.
You start by saying that religions comes and goes and it always replaced, the other guy makes solid arguments and you counter with rhetoric.
"How can something be the ultimate truth in the universe if that truth changes? Do the "gods" get bored and decide to give themselves a makeover?"
The fact that you used that kind of argument is what make people here think you don't know much about religion. For an example Islam, people that still practicing Islam now just like how they were practiced early on is called extremist, why? Because the majority of muslim doesn't practice Islam like that anymore, because the condition and the norm back there is different than now, does that mean muslim change their religious core? No, we still use the same Holly Book, what change is our perception, our interpretation, and our understanding of God's intention.
And then you boldly declare that soon religions will be replaced by science and logic. I don't know how you came to this conclusion, because you don't provide any data on this. But what I do know is that science is not something new, science is probably as old (if not older) than religion. Smart and educated men have always been respected since the old time, so no, this science and logic thing is not something that we developed recently. If there is any difference between now and before, is that the amount of information that is provided now is exponentially larger, which doesn't always means good.
And then you strayed even further when you start claiming that religion is anti-science, Galileo huh. Do you even know about Pope's latest encyclical? Religion is religion, what people decide what to do with them wasn't supposed to be reflected on the religion itself (to certain extent). Crusade was not a holly war between religion, it's war between men using religion as political reason.
And one of the most infamous pew research I've read is when one of their study state that the majority of muslim hate America and Israel, of course they conduct their research only on egypt, because hey, muslim is the same everywhere.
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