The existence of God

[kingbuxton]

Wouldn't the Aboriginal people (like a lot of ancient civs) likley have been tripping their heads off when they did those paintings?

The pic from link1 looks like a modern day night club more than Aliens.

Why all the hurt and pain now but not at the end?

What if the descriptions of "Hell" are nothing more than a metaphore for a life of crap, and that is exactly what we are living right now? Maybe we are all dead, this is Hell, and we actually just live/die reincarnate - do it all over again. Maybe God doesn't put an end to suffering cos it's no longer any of his business.

It's more 4*4 sitting at Green lights as opposed to a pitchfork up your backside.

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Yes

Link

Interesting. they should have took a kangaroo and filmed it

Originally Posted by Gary L

Interesting. they should have took a kangaroo and filmed it

I don't believe you've thought that concept through fully.

[papa smurf]

after participating in this and other religious debates i find myself drawn to the possibility

Religion is a Mental Illness


[ disclaimer i did not pen this i found it @ home.earthlink.net]




What could possibly be more damaging to a child than telling him over and over from the time he's an infant that there exists an invisible person who is unwilling to prove he exists watching him every second of every day and reading his thoughts and if he doesn't believe in the invisible person he will be tortured for eternity? Yet we tell that same child that monsters don't exist so it's silly to be scared of monsters.

Religion is one of the most serious mental illnesses of today. It is the inablity to face the reality of life and the finality of death. It affects as high as 85% of the American Society. Approximately 75% of the American victims of this mental illness are Christians. The more pathetic and desperate a persons life, the more likely they are to believe in a god. Typically, people with otherwise empty lives, are the stongest believers. It gives them the false hope that there is a higher meaning to their sad and pathetic lives. The strongest of believers would admittedly be suicidal without religion and/or a god in their lives providing a mental safety valve.

Christians would have you believe atheists do not have as high as morals as Christians. They want you to believe they are somehow better people than atheists. Yet, the Federal Bureau of Prisons 1997 statistics show that a Christian is 50 times more likely to end up in prison than an atheist.

Many Christians have made statements like, "Doctor Smith is a good man, he is a Christian". If a doctor believed in the Easter Bunny, would you allow this doctor to operate on you? The belief in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is no more than the adult version of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. The next time you go to a doctor, you may want to consider if you want to put your health in the hands of a delusional person.

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy disorder has been linked to extreme religious experiences. Patients who have TLE may have sudden and dramatic spiritual changes. There are many instances of these patients converting from agnostic or atheist beliefs to strongly active religious faiths. TLE causes abnormal electrical activity in their temporal regions and has been directly linked to these radical changes in religious belief and personality changes. Curiously, religious chanting and meditation reduce the activity of frontal lobe activity, which heightens Temporal Lobe activity. Further research in this area has uncovered that electrical stimulation of areas in the Temporal Lobe also produce these spiritual experiences. The electrical stimulation caused the control group to report feelings of "well being" euphoria and a feeling of a "presence".

Being a formal military pilot, it is amusing to hear people attribute seeing a light in a tunnel to a god when experiencing near death experiences. This is often accompanied by feelings of euphoria. Coincidently, military pilots experience the same feelings when taking oxygen deprivation training. When the brain is deprived of oxygen, the first thing that happens is all colors fade to gray. Soon after, experiences of euphoria and well being are felt. Finally, all light closes in to a pinpoint, like a light in a tunnel just before the loss of consciousness.

It is a statistical fact that the higher your education, income, and intelligence, the more likely you are not to believe in a god. For every college student that converts to a religious belief system, 17 college students convert to secular or atheist beliefs. "Secular Humanists" have an average intelligence of 25 I.Q. points above their Christian conterparts. Studies have shown the average atheist to have an I.Q. of 19 points higher than the typical Christian.

A religion by definition is a superstition. A religion is the belief in a supernatural being or beings. A superstition is the belief in magic or phenomena beyond or outside of nature. A religious belief then is a superstitious belief.

Religions seem to usually require a God, Prophets and Profits. God is usually very powerful. Not too powerful because that messes up convenient concepts like free will. Too much God power makes bad things hard to explain. The optimum amount of power can be vague and variable but usually permits granting of certain perks, like an after life. This provides a useful motivational tool. God supposedly talks through Prophets. Prophets are like schizophrenics but since most lived before psychiatrists diagnosed schizophrenia they were believed to be really talking to God. Nowadays they would be sent for treatment.

A common symptom of religion is delusion. Often including notions of resurrection. But face it, you are not coming back. Well, no one has yet, with any convincing evidence, and an awful lot of people have died.

Religious people are dangerous. They can not think for themselves, but instead cling to every word the bible says. Religious fanatics can somehow throw out all scientific evidence and replace it with the word of one book that has no credibility. They want to spread their illness to the rest of the world and contaminate the remaining 10% to 15% of the sane population. Atheists usually know and understand what is written in the bible better than those who claim to follow its word. Religious fanatics want to convert your children and will stop at nothing. They want the right to force you to follow their ideas and beliefs and restrain any conflicting beliefs or activities.

Recognizing religion as a class of mental illness would be a start in curing this disease. We should develop support groups, maybe along the lines of Alcoholics Anonymous - “My name’s Mike and I’m a recovering Christian ..

Be a "free thinker". Read and question what is written. Blind faith is for people who can not think for themselves.



well that's it what do you think is it a mental illness

[DRZ400]

Would you like to join me in my bunker?

No, I don't - and I think that was written by someone trying to provoke a reaction, rather than have a serious discussion.

As the author posts on another page
"I have a website titled; "Religion is a Mental Illness". http://home.earthlink.net/~dlsurman/ It is a little risque, but has some good links and arguments about religion. If you are easily offended by religious sarcasm, this site is not for you. "

[papa smurf]

In my Future of an Illusion (1927) I was concerned much less with the deepest sources of religious feeling than with what the common man understands by his religion- with the system of doctrines and promises which on the one hand explains to him the riddles of the world with enviable completeness, and, on the other, assures him that a careful Providence will watch over his life and will compensate him in a future existence for any frustrations he suffers here. The common man cannot imagine this Providence otherwise than in the figure of an enormously exalted father. Only such a being can understand the needs of the children of men and be softened by their prayers and placated by the signs of their remorse. The whole thing is so patently infantile, so foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life. It is still more humiliating to discover how large a number of people living today, who cannot but see that this religion is not tenable, nevertheless try to defend it piece by piece in a series of pitiful rearguard actions. (Sigmund Freud, Society and its Discontents 1930)

I don't know who you're trying to convince.

But, from Wiki

"Freud was an early user and proponent of cocaine as a stimulant as well as analgesic. He wrote several articles on the antidepressant qualities of the drug and he was influenced by his friend and confidant Wilhelm Fliess, who recommended cocaine for the treatment of the "nasal reflex neurosis." Fliess operated on Freud and a number of Freud's patients whom he believed to be suffering from the disorder, including Emma Eckstein, whose surgery proved disastrous.[31].
Freud felt that cocaine would work as a panacea for many disorders and wrote a well-received paper, "On Coca," explaining its virtues. He prescribed it to his friend Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow to help him overcome a morphine addiction he had acquired while treating a disease of the nervous system.[32] Freud also recommended it to many of his close family and friends. He narrowly missed out on obtaining scientific priority for discovering cocaine's anesthetic properties (of which Freud was aware but on which he had not written extensively), after Karl Koller, a colleague of Freud's in Vienna, presented a report to a medical society in 1884 outlining the ways in which cocaine could be used for delicate eye surgery. Freud was bruised by this, especially because this would turn out to be one of the few safe uses of cocaine, as reports of addiction and overdose began to filter in from many places in the world. Freud's medical reputation became somewhat tarnished because of this early ambition. Furthermore, Freud's friend Fleischl-Marxow developed an acute case of "cocaine psychosis" as a result of Freud's prescriptions and died a few years later. Freud felt great regret over these events, which later biographers have dubbed "The Cocaine Incident."[citation needed] However, he managed to move on, and even continued to use cocaine. Jurgen von Scheidt speculated that most of Freud's psychoanalytical theory was a byproduct of his cocaine use.[33"

---------- Post added at 16:57 ---------- Previous post was at 16:01 ----------

Originally Posted by papa smurf

after participating in this and other religious debates i find myself drawn to the possibility

Religion is a Mental Illness

....snippety snip snip snip....

well that's it what do you think is it a mental illness

After participating in this and other debates, I find myself drawn to the possibility

Love is a mental illness

Love is one of the most serious mental illnesses of today. It is the inablity to face the reality of life and the finality of loneliness. It affects as high as 85% of the American Society. Approximately 75% of the American victims of this mental illness are romantics. The more pathetic and desperate a persons life, the more likely they are to believe in love. Typically, people with otherwise empty lives, are the stongest believers. It gives them the false hope that there is a higher meaning to their sad and pathetic lives. The strongest of believers would admittedly be suicidal without love and/or a relationship in their lives providing a mental safety valve.

Romantics would have you believe lonely people do not have as high as morals as romantics. They want you to believe they are somehow better people than lonely people. Yet, the Federal Bureau of Prisons 1997 statistics show that a romantic is 50 times more likely to end up in prison than a lonely person.

Many romantics have made statements like, "Doctor Smith is a good man, he is in love". If a doctor believed in the Easter Bunny, would you allow this doctor to operate on you? The belief in romance, love and relationships is no more than the adult version of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. The next time you go to a doctor, you may want to consider if you want to put your health in the hands of a delusional person.

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy disorder has been linked to extreme romantic experiences. Patients who have TLE may have sudden and dramatic emotional changes. There are many instances of these patients converting from loner or anti-romantic beliefs to strongly active romantic beliefs. TLE causes abnormal electrical activity in their temporal regions and has been directly linked to these radical changes in romantic belief and personality changes. Curiously, humming love songs and cuddling reduce the activity of frontal lobe activity, which heightens Temporal Lobe activity. Further research in this area has uncovered that electrical stimulation of areas in the Temporal Lobe also produce these romantic experiences. The electrical stimulation caused the control group to report feelings of "well being" euphoria and a feeling of “togetherness".

Being a formal military pilot, it is amusing to hear people attribute seeing a light around a person when experiencing romantic experiences. This is often accompanied by feelings of euphoria. Coincidently, military pilots experience the same feelings when taking oxygen deprivation training. When the brain is deprived of oxygen, the first thing that happens is all colors fade to gray. Soon after, experiences of euphoria and well being are felt. Finally, all light closes in to a pinpoint, like a light in a tunnel just before the loss of consciousness.

It is a statistical fact that the higher your education, income, and intelligence, the more likely you are not to believe in love. For every college student that enters a relationship, 17 college students convert are sad lonely geeks. "Loner Geeks" have an average intelligence of 25 I.Q. points above their romantic counterparts. Studies have shown the average loner to have an I.Q. of 19 points higher than the typical lover.

Love by definition is a superstition. A love is the belief in a superb emotion between you and another. A superstition is the belief in magic or phenomena beyond or outside of nature. A romantic belief then is a superstitious belief.

Love seem to usually require a girl, a car and house. Love is usually very powerful. Not too powerful because that messes up convenient concepts like free will. Too much love power makes bad things hard to explain. The optimum amount of power can be vague and variable but usually permits granting of certain perks, like a sex life. This provides a useful motivational tool. Love supposedly talks through friends. Friends are like schizophrenics but since most lived before psychiatrists diagnosed schizophrenia they were believed to be really talking about love. Nowadays they would be sent for treatment.

A common symptom of love is delusion. Often including notions of getting back together. But face it, you are not getting back. Well, no one has yet, with any convincing evidence, and an awful lot of people have tried.

Romantic people are dangerous. They can not think for themselves, but instead cling to every word the love poets say. Romantic fanatics can somehow throw out all scientific evidence and replace it with the word of one emotion that has no credibility. They want to spread their illness to the rest of the world and contaminate the remaining 10% to 15% of the sane population. Loners usually know and understand what is written in the love poetry better than those who claim to follow its word. Romantic fanatics want to convert your children and will stop at nothing. They want the right to force you to follow their ideas and beliefs and restrain any conflicting beliefs or activities.

Recognizing love as a class of mental illness would be a start in curing this disease. We should develop support groups, maybe along the lines of Alcoholics Anonymous - “My name’s Mike and I’m a recovering romantic ..

Be a "free thinker". Read and question what is written. Romance is for people who can not think for themselves.


Well that's it - what do you think? Is it a mental illness?

[Russ]

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Well that's it - what do you think? Is it a mental illness?

This is my final warning - please stop using common sense and reasonable debate against some of the atheist. It is totally unfair and a form of bullying.

[papa smurf]

so much for adult debate - i put forth a theory and what happens no real answers just jump to default mode
i wonder what freud would make of these replies .

[Russ]

I think foreverwar has answered you perfectly

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Russ B

I think foreverwar has answered you perfectly

you stick to that story then ahhh all's well again

[Russ]

Unless of course you object to your arguments being countered? I guess I can see how that's annoying...

[lucy7]

Originally Posted by papa smurf

after participating in this and other religious debates i find myself drawn to the possibility

Religion is a Mental Illness


[ disclaimer i did not pen this i found it @ home.earthlink.net]




What could possibly be more damaging to a child than telling him over and over from the time he's an infant that there exists an invisible person who is unwilling to prove he exists watching him every second of every day and reading his thoughts and if he doesn't believe in the invisible person he will be tortured for eternity? Yet we tell that same child that monsters don't exist so it's silly to be scared of monsters.

Religion is one of the most serious mental illnesses of today. It is the inablity to face the reality of life and the finality of death. It affects as high as 85% of the American Society. Approximately 75% of the American victims of this mental illness are Christians. The more pathetic and desperate a persons life, the more likely they are to believe in a god. Typically, people with otherwise empty lives, are the stongest believers. It gives them the false hope that there is a higher meaning to their sad and pathetic lives. The strongest of believers would admittedly be suicidal without religion and/or a god in their lives providing a mental safety valve.

Christians would have you believe atheists do not have as high as morals as Christians. They want you to believe they are somehow better people than atheists. Yet, the Federal Bureau of Prisons 1997 statistics show that a Christian is 50 times more likely to end up in prison than an atheist.

Many Christians have made statements like, "Doctor Smith is a good man, he is a Christian". If a doctor believed in the Easter Bunny, would you allow this doctor to operate on you? The belief in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is no more than the adult version of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. The next time you go to a doctor, you may want to consider if you want to put your health in the hands of a delusional person.

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy disorder has been linked to extreme religious experiences. Patients who have TLE may have sudden and dramatic spiritual changes. There are many instances of these patients converting from agnostic or atheist beliefs to strongly active religious faiths. TLE causes abnormal electrical activity in their temporal regions and has been directly linked to these radical changes in religious belief and personality changes. Curiously, religious chanting and meditation reduce the activity of frontal lobe activity, which heightens Temporal Lobe activity. Further research in this area has uncovered that electrical stimulation of areas in the Temporal Lobe also produce these spiritual experiences. The electrical stimulation caused the control group to report feelings of "well being" euphoria and a feeling of a "presence".

Being a formal military pilot, it is amusing to hear people attribute seeing a light in a tunnel to a god when experiencing near death experiences. This is often accompanied by feelings of euphoria. Coincidently, military pilots experience the same feelings when taking oxygen deprivation training. When the brain is deprived of oxygen, the first thing that happens is all colors fade to gray. Soon after, experiences of euphoria and well being are felt. Finally, all light closes in to a pinpoint, like a light in a tunnel just before the loss of consciousness.

It is a statistical fact that the higher your education, income, and intelligence, the more likely you are not to believe in a god. For every college student that converts to a religious belief system, 17 college students convert to secular or atheist beliefs. "Secular Humanists" have an average intelligence of 25 I.Q. points above their Christian conterparts. Studies have shown the average atheist to have an I.Q. of 19 points higher than the typical Christian.

A religion by definition is a superstition. A religion is the belief in a supernatural being or beings. A superstition is the belief in magic or phenomena beyond or outside of nature. A religious belief then is a superstitious belief.

Religions seem to usually require a God, Prophets and Profits. God is usually very powerful. Not too powerful because that messes up convenient concepts like free will. Too much God power makes bad things hard to explain. The optimum amount of power can be vague and variable but usually permits granting of certain perks, like an after life. This provides a useful motivational tool. God supposedly talks through Prophets. Prophets are like schizophrenics but since most lived before psychiatrists diagnosed schizophrenia they were believed to be really talking to God. Nowadays they would be sent for treatment.

A common symptom of religion is delusion. Often including notions of resurrection. But face it, you are not coming back. Well, no one has yet, with any convincing evidence, and an awful lot of people have died.

Religious people are dangerous. They can not think for themselves, but instead cling to every word the bible says. Religious fanatics can somehow throw out all scientific evidence and replace it with the word of one book that has no credibility. They want to spread their illness to the rest of the world and contaminate the remaining 10% to 15% of the sane population. Atheists usually know and understand what is written in the bible better than those who claim to follow its word. Religious fanatics want to convert your children and will stop at nothing. They want the right to force you to follow their ideas and beliefs and restrain any conflicting beliefs or activities.

Recognizing religion as a class of mental illness would be a start in curing this disease. We should develop support groups, maybe along the lines of Alcoholics Anonymous - “My name’s Mike and I’m a recovering Christian ..

Be a "free thinker". Read and question what is written. Blind faith is for people who can not think for themselves.



well that's it what do you think is it a mental illness

No papa, it is not a mental illness.

I think I may be going slightly mental though, checking this thread and chipping in on it at times though!!




It is only an offence if you take it as an offence surely, these guys are just playing with us believers!!!!!

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by lucy7

No papa, it is not a mental illness.

I think I may be going slightly mental though, checking this thread and chipping in on it at times though!!

i'm sure your mental faculties are intact keep chipping in