Definitions don't have a viewpoint, people do. It doesn't matter what another society thinks is acceptable, evil is evil. Intentionally causing harm to someone is evil no matter if it acceptable somewhere or not. This goes down to the core of how people perceive right and wrong. You can cause harm to someone else and be perfectly justified, in fact, this is evident in nearly any society. However, that doesn't negate the fact that you still harmed someone on purpose which means it was evil.

I don't know, maybe there's a certain taboo about using the word "evil" since it has very strong connotations and isn't commonly used in day to day conversations. I think some of us might think of "evil" as the pinnacle of all things bad, but it's definition is much less powerful than the reaction it sometimes gets.

Simply causing harm to someone else is evil in it's most basic definition. What is or isn't acceptable in society is separate topic and doesn't change the meaning of the word.

 

Wrong question. Ask yourself and seriously consider how you believe things can be true but depend on point of view. If something is true, it does not matter who looks at it or from what point of view. The fact is that it is true by nature of being truth and it would not be called truth if it were not true.

You can only believe your statement if you don't believe in the true meaning of truth, but you believing in it does not make it true or not true. The fact being true or not true makes it so. For something to be true, it is in accordance with the actual state of affairs. If it is true, it is true. If it weren't then it would not be true.

I know it's confusing and the word true is in those two chunks a lot... Just focus on the real meaning of truth. Truth is eternal.

 

Hit the nail right on the head.

 

I say you're wrong as well.
If killing is always wrong, then there is no reason to make killing right There is no right reason to end a life, because it is wrong to end a life.

 

How so? You have the power to uncreate God?

 

Truth is what is. If there is no truth, then there is nothing.

People can think differently, but it does not matter what they think. Truth is true regardless of whether or not it is acknowledged. Just because people don't know something is true does not make it not true. It only means that those people don't know the truth.

 

Sorry, I didn't read the entire thread cuz my laptop is about to die, so I'll post a quote from the laws of physics:

"Every action has a reaction".

So when there is a reaction, there is an action, and so on, and so forth. So no, nothing is ever idle because there is always an action creating a reaction.

 

God is unmeasurable. I could turn that statement on it's head and ask you: do you have the power to create God? Of course not, because then YOU would be the creator, not God.

I am an atheist, as such I do not believe in any sort of higher power, let alone the Christian one. There is zero evidence to suggest a "creator", thus "He" does not exist. It seems to me that your statement is backwards.

"God does not exist purely because you believe in him."

Until measurable, scientifically sound evidence proves otherwise, your statement is purely opinion.

 

What is god? How is god unmeasurable when we know nothing about god, we literally know NOTHING about what god is. I know some of you have faith, and I have no problem with that, that is your belief, and I have mine, and I'm sure you think my beliefs are not true, and thats fine with me because my beliefs are just that, they are mine. Forcing someone to believe what you believe is immoral and should be a crime, and in some countries it is.

Remember the quantum dual slit experiment? Where the electron acts differently when it's being observed? How it normally creates an interference pattern when shot through 2 slits, however, when scientists set up a "camera" to monitor why the electron is behaving soooo strangely, the electron knows its being watched and thus no longer creates the interference pattern, its whole behavior changes and it goes from making many hole patterns on the back of the linear accelerator, when being watched it only makes ONE HOLE!

Now that is some solid proof that something very strange exists, something so strange that it defies ALL laws of physics. It shows intelligence in matter, matter so small that we can't see it without the use of the strongest microscopes (no, not the one you used in science class). That gives me hope and backs up my theories of a supreme being.

Sorry I just spewed all of that at you guys, but I find it funny when people quote 'facts' about god, how can you state 'facts' on something that has never been observed? I know some will argue that people saw god in biblical times, but the bible has as much credit as a fairy tale. I'm not discrediting your beliefs, for all I know there is a skinny bearded Jewish guy that controls our fates, in our universe, ANYTHING is possible, we're just so limited in understanding anything out of our realm, as my physics prof used to say: "We're stuck in 3-D!", meaning that we're stuck in thinking in the way humans do. We've never seen the 4th dimension which means we can't understand it.

Just as though if you were stuck in 2-D and someone tried to explain 3-D to you, do you have any idea how it would sound to the person stuck in 2-D? They would only be able to understand 3-D if they somehow took a leap into the 3rd dimension and saw exactly what it was like, but without that leap there is no way that 2-D persons' mind could grasp what is beyond his 2-D world.


For a better understanding of what I'm talking about, please watch this animation created by MIT that makes understanding quantum mechanics very simple, it may open your eyes to other ideas of what is out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWyTxCsIXE4


And in case you didn't see the quantum slit experiment when it was posted a few weeks ago, here's a link to that animation. This video will blow your mind and really make you think outside the box! I highly recommend watching both videos for the full effect!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc


Now that you've watched both videos, I hope you can understand that there is far more to our universe then we ever imagined... I don't want to discredit your beliefs, I'd just like you to keep an open mind about things.


Sorry, I went off on a bit of a tangent there, but at least you learned something about quantum physics and it was fun!

 

I'm going to respectfully agree to disagree, as it seems our basis for beliefs are quite different. See you on the next thread.

 

See, there's this thing called "Secular Humanism", it says man is the source of all meaning and all purposing. You know what i'm saying? We're just the result of a big cosmic explosion. We don't really have a purpose or meaning, so we just come up with our own purpose. We're the source of our meaning and our purpose. How can a man, which is the product of chance, a finite being be the source of purpose and meaning? You can't! You're created with purpose man!

There is tons of evidence for God, there however is none for Big Bang or evolution. Do you believe in Secular Humanism? If not, what do you believe about the origins of man and the universe? Feel free to answer these two questions for me while you're explaining it for me

1. Where did the universe’s original matter come from?
2. How did life begin?

 

I can respect that

 

Sorry mate, but there are a lot of holes and down right wrong info in that double slit video. Trying to dumb down quantum mechanics for the laymen leaves a lot of the intricacies (that explain such odd phenomena) out. Marbles and electrons are complete different in structure and behavior, comparing the two (while I understand why they tried to) is silly.

The fundamentals they explained were correct but the whole "it changed when we looked at it" seems fallible. I would have to research that a little more because I have never read about that (was minoring in physics). That experiment has been observed since Thomas Young noticed it in 1803. Ever since then physicist have been arguing over whether light is particle or a wave and neither have been able to triumph, so as it stands light is BOTH a particle AND a wave (or at least shows characteristics of both). They used the word "electron" in that video. I'm not sure if they really meant "photon" though as I have not heard about electrons behaving like photons.

Anyway the point here is that we used to not know about ANY of quantum mechanics, weather, why the sun rose and set, if we were the center of the universe, etc and to people of those times even considering how these phenomena worked as awe-inspiring and led to the 'belief' that a higher being was necessary. Guess what? It wasn't. It just takes time for us to figure things out.

Saying "Wow... this is strange! We have never seen anything like it, and we can't define it. Guess God did it! Case closed!" is (IMO) silly and surely NOT science.

And yes God (or god, or gods, or Gods) IS unmeasurable by science. He (she/it) always has been. Trying to argue that point is equally pointless. Why you contradict yourself in the next sentence, I don't know. We know a great deal about what people believe to be god. They have even tried to produce scientific evidence; none of which stands up to further scientific query. But, and here's the kicker, god, as a thing, a phenomena, is unmeasurable by science. That, is a fact. Trying to use holes in quantum theory to prove there is a higher being, it just proves we haven't found the answer yet. Don't fall pray to "the God of the gaps".

Does that mean he doesn't exist? Not necessarily. In my opinion, no he doesn't. But the fundamentals of god requires faith and belief. I have neither and until evidence that can be proved without leaps of faith comes to light, I'll continue in my Atheism.

 

 

Yes, I understand that, but it's much easier to post that video then to explain the experiment in its full technical entirely... People would get through the first sentence and their eyes would glaze over.

I know that video lacks a lot of detail and explanation, but it still gets the message across in a very simple way. They don't need to understand the experiment to understand that some very strange things occur in the quantum world, things that defy logic and our normal understanding of this world. My physics instructor would always say "To understand quantum mechanics, you must first let go of your understanding of reality, and only then will you understand QM" (or something really close to that).

I have a lot of friends who are very religious, and it always puzzles/fascinates me at how much faith they have in their religion. It baffles me how they never question their religion, they never ask "why", nor do they ever even accept the fact that their religion might be wrong. There is no question in their mind that they are right.

I try to explain some of this stuff (QM) to them just to open their minds up a bit, but they always come back with the same rebuttle, they always try to make science into some huge conspiracy theory of how man is trying to rid this world of Christianity and how these scientists are paid off to come up with some of the things they do... It's quite mind boggling what people will come up with when they are cornered.

Anyway, that's a really quick explanation that I typed up really quickly, so pardon my grammar and spelling.