Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Even if you ignore that and pretend the cosmological argument did prove a creator, it still wouldn't prove that it's the specific God people claim exists. It wouldn't even prove that a creator is conscious.
Neither category errors or any other foolishness will ever convince me that a reality that contains consciousness EVER was NOT conscious. Since our reality is our Creator in every sense of the word . . . if it is conscious what else could it be BUT God???
Look at addictiveness and use from another angle. Is there doses in religion? Is there tolerance levels? What is withdrawal like?
To me, beliefs don't fit into the mold of addiction. It's not like extra hard believing in Noah's ark will alter your brain chemistry.
However, some of the fundamental Christian activities, mainly just living life actively seeking the "presence of God" could fall under the case of addiction. They start out at low doses, talking in tongues initially... But the advanced users, so to speak, constantly think and crave gods presence. They'll just like interject a conversation with a bout of speaking in tongues and their mood will improve, its kinda weird. If they don't pray X amount of hours a day, they feel genuinely depressed. It's funny, going to a Pentecostal church, people will pray for an hour before the service pleading for god's presence, they'll wait until someone "feels the spirit" in a song or a message, then they'll all just take off and go crazy. It really is like they just took a hit of coke.
I am so confused. Prior to reading this thread I did not believe in a God or Goddess. But since the universe exists therefore there is a god I now believe in all the gods but I do not even know the names of most of them.
Look at addictiveness and use from another angle. Is there doses in religion? Is there tolerance levels? What is withdrawal like?
To me, beliefs don't fit into the mold of addiction. It's not like extra hard believing in Noah's ark will alter your brain chemistry.
However, some of the fundamental Christian activities, mainly just living life actively seeking the "presence of God" could fall under the case of addiction. They start out at low doses, talking in tongues initially... But the advanced users, so to speak, constantly think and crave gods presence. They'll just like interject a conversation with a bout of speaking in tongues and their mood will improve, its kinda weird. If they don't pray X amount of hours a day, they feel genuinely depressed. It's funny, going to a Pentecostal church, people will pray for an hour before the service pleading for god's presence, they'll wait until someone "feels the spirit" in a song or a message, then they'll all just take off and go crazy. It really is like they just took a hit of coke.
There are different kinds of addictions or habits. One can affect the mind with some chemical or compound and it can take some time for the mind to repair itself if you damage it. You can also 'educate' the mind into a particular patter of behaviour. It takes on inclination and repetition, and that can sometimes be as hard an 'addiction' to change.
Religion might be a poor term, but in an attempt to be polite let's
go with that and I say yes religion can become and addiction,
a preoccupation that dilutes relationships, like cell phones becomes a rude distraction, may produce a non biblically based
religousity that can lead to s box of idiology that is counter spiritual with an uncompromising dogma lock in.
No Viz, it means nothing of the sort. What it does mean is that you are willfully obtuse, and like playing with strawmen. This has been discussed ad nauseum, atheism is a position about belief in a deity, agnosticism is a position about knowledge. I do not believe it is possible to know that there is or is not a deity (at least based on a transcendent, supernatural sort of deity) therefor I am an agnostic. Based on the exisiting evidence, I do not believe that such a deity exists, therefore I am an atheist.
I use atheist as a label, simply becasue far to many people think agnostic means wishy-washy or open to proselytization, which I am not.
So, you have failed to make anyone backslide. Or indeed, change or rethink their position in any way. Do you honestly think the majority of us are that unfamiliar with logic and apologetics 101? Come on, Viz, that was just weak.
That's because you have not proven anything. The Cosmological argument requires special pleading for an uncreated eternal creator. You simply skip that part... Ignoring rebuttals or counter arguments does not miraculously make an assertion into a proof.
-NoCapo
Thanks for another great post NoCapo. Great answers and responses there to Vizio. Very clear and to the point.
There are different kinds of addictions or habits. One can affect the mind with some chemical or compound and it can take some time for the mind to repair itself if you damage it. You can also 'educate' the mind into a particular patter of behaviour. It takes on inclination and repetition, and that can sometimes be as hard an 'addiction' to change.
True, looking at it from a behaviorist view instead of a chemical view probably would make religion look more addictive.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
