Sagebrush posted:

God is a literal being with omnipotent power and an omniscient view of the universe. He knows exactly how the universe was created and how it operates. A gang of semitic tribesmen in the desert can understand the concept of "a guy much more powerful than us who does magic", but aren't able to comprehend things like nuclear fusion and accretion discs and evolution and continental drift and geological timescales. So God dumbs it down to seven major "steps" (days) and says "I did it with magic".

Problem is, God didn't anticipate that seven thousand years later, when humans have managed to land on other planets and take apart their own genetic code and build structures out of single atoms, there would still be oodles of dumbasses deciding that they should still believe the literal interpretation of what God told a bunch of stupid tribesmen in the desert.

PrBacterio posted:

Not very many I'd wager, seeing how breathing is a reflex (and therefore involuntary).
EDIT: Or maybe a better way to put it is that, unlike eating and drinking, it's literally impossible to be too dumb to breathe.

PrBacterio posted:

Not very many I'd wager, seeing how breathing is a reflex (and therefore involuntary).
EDIT: Or maybe a better way to put it is that, unlike eating and drinking, it's literally impossible to be too dumb to breathe.

Sagebrush posted:

God is a literal being with omnipotent power and an omniscient view of the universe. He knows exactly how the universe was created and how it operates. A gang of semitic tribesmen in the desert can understand the concept of "a guy much more powerful than us who does magic", but aren't able to comprehend things like nuclear fusion and accretion discs and evolution and continental drift and geological timescales. So God dumbs it down to seven major "steps" (days) and says "I did it with magic".

Problem is, God didn't anticipate that seven thousand years later, when humans have managed to land on other planets and take apart their own genetic code and build structures out of single atoms, there would still be oodles of dumbasses deciding that they should still believe the literal interpretation of what God told a bunch of stupid tribesmen in the desert.

OldMemes posted:

I look at the scriptures, find out what they mean, and look at science and rationalty, and I've come to the conclusion that God is real.

The Bible posted:

Science and rationality offer absolutely no evidence of a divine being. You cannot look at it rationally and scientifically and come to that conclusion. There is simply no evidence. The scriptures offer opposing views to science and rationality, being quite inaccurate in many ways, and hurt the case of the God of Abraham, if anything.

jojoinnit posted:

Wasn't there talk about making puns probatable in GBS?

dinozombiesgoRARR posted:

There's limits to what people will do, however. It's not like you could convince people to rub their own urine and semen on themselves, no one would be that stupid.

RennZero posted:

I'm pretty sure there are already people who do that.

The Bible posted:

God drat, Texas is just a loving hole.

Ender.uNF posted:

Ummm if you actually read the whole story you would see that in reality only a couple of people got up and left (Nye said he wasn't heckled). Further he received a standing ovation at the end of his talk, which would indicate to me that the people of Waco enjoyed it very much.

This is just bullshit anti-south confirmation bias. Some terrible fundamentalist idiots do live here and do terrible things so you want to believe Bill Bye was run out of Waco for teaching science, which is a great narrative about a beloved childhood hero bullied by the ignorant south. Except the part where it didn't happen.

Angela Christine posted:

Can we not turn this thread into yet another debate about biblical literalism? Thanks.


If that were true, plastic bags wouldn't come with warning labels.


You can stop breathing, you just need to work at it.

Mister Macys posted:

Where in the world are there people stupid enough to merit these warnings?

I was told by, you know... my parents.

rakovsky maybe posted:

Not everyone has parents, check your privilege.

Amethyst posted:

These idiots call themselves "sun gazers" and it's dumber than you could possibly imagine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM9iDdkKZ7M

JohnSherman posted:

Wow. That quote reminds me of all this pseudo-intellectual poo poo that one of my teachers tried to shove down our throats. I remember that he did a few of those spiritual quests in India, and was on that apple-only diet for a while. I want to see his reaction to this.

jojoinnit posted:

Wasn't there talk about making puns probatable in GBS?

Suntory BOSS posted:

They should genetically modify humans to perform photosynthesis so that we can live in space eating sunshine. Then we can have space stations without having to worry about food shipments and stuff.

Perhaps, in her own way... this woman was a pioneer of the future

nice mattimer posted:

Did he take that whole "apple a day keeps the doctor away" to retarded proportions or is this actually a movement?

Suntory BOSS posted:

They should genetically modify humans to perform photosynthesis so that we can live in space eating sunshine. Then we can have space stations without having to worry about food shipments and stuff.

Perhaps, in her own way... this woman was a pioneer of the future

The Bible posted:

We would still need air and water.

Mister Macys posted:

Where in the world are there people stupid enough to merit these warnings?

I was told by, you know... my parents.

Sagebrush posted:

God is a literal being with omnipotent power and an omniscient view of the universe.

.......


Problem is, God didn't anticipate

nice mattimer posted:

Did he take that whole "apple a day keeps the doctor away" to retarded proportions or is this actually a movement?

spikenigma posted:

Ha ha!, oops!

therattle posted:

I'm going to try this subsisting off sunlight business, but I am going to learn from all the in this thread, and ensure that my feet remain firmly planted in a large tub of moist loamy soil while I soak up the rays.

Philip K. Dick posted:

"Is that true? That you are a plant."
"Yes, in a non-biological sense. I retain the physiology of a human being, of course."
"What do you mean, then, that you're a plant?"
"The reference is to attitudinal response, to Weltanschauung."
"Go on."
"It is possible for a warm-blooded animal, an upper primate, to adopt the psychology of a plant, to some extent."

...

"I was taught to become a plant."
The image of Harris showed surprise and interest. "What do you mean, you were taught to become a plant?"
"They realized my problems and taught me to become a plant. Now I'm free from them, the problems."

Endless Witch posted:

What gets me is how every now and then scientists do a study on some crazy (usually Indian) spiritual person and they discover that yes, the person really can sit meditating without eating/peeing/sleeping! The typical story usually contains some pseudosciencey or just crazy-sounding stuff the scientists supposedly observed, such as cycling bladders which double as perpetual-motion machines.

My question would be: Who's doing it?

The news agencies, the scientists, the crazy guy who shoved a watter bottle up his bum... who's making these stories happen? It's like even big news agencies want to spread bullshit around just to ensure everyone has an imaginary higher power to submit to and feel faithful about.

OldMemes posted:

I look at the scriptures, find out what they mean, and look at science and rationalty, and I've come to the conclusion that God is real.

spikenigma posted:

Ha ha!, oops!

OldMemes posted:

Remember, the Bible isn't one book, but 66, written at different times, by different people, for different audiences, but all of them inspired by God.

Leon Einstein posted:

Your conclusion has nothing to do with science and rationality though. The scriptures "mean" whatever people want them to mean. Meaning is in the eye of the beholder.

Saint Darwin posted:

There must have been a lot of static on the line, because they sure did counter each other. No, you can't cherrypick what you want from the whole collection what was literal and what was not. You have to take the "no shellfish" and the "no tattoos" with the rapists-need-to-marry-their-victims and "kill people who try to build a fire on a Sunday". If it says that the moon is a light source, you have to take the literal translation.

Also, there are a LOT of other scriptures that could be part of the bible, but they're just kept out because theological politics.

The Bible posted:

Well, it doesn't really matter what they actually mean. Science is about collecting evidence and testing, something that God, if he exists, is making very difficult for whatever reason. If you look at religion through the lens of science, it just falls apart. There is literally no evidence holding any of it up, and quite a bit of it tearing it down.

The Bible posted: