Rant on Theories, Laws & Misconceptions Options

[Supersprynt]

I hesitated creating a thread regarding this but this is really the best medium in which many people can talk openly about something w/o much consequence. Plus I'm big on freedom of speech and so here it goes.

Friday night I go and see Damon Wayans stand up. Second time I saw him, and he was pretty funny the first time. This time he wasn't nearly as funny. Mainly because he started attacking anything that wasn't Christian. Oh boy. So he goes on to say that evolution is the stupidest thing he's ever heard and goes about mocking how its ridiculous something just formed and one day hopped out of the water and another day got legs and another day jumped up into a tree and then finally said "I got to get a job" as a human.

Hilarious. Oh wait, its not. In fact I was flabberghasted and the level of sheer stupidity emanating from this mans mouth. Evolution is the stupidest thing he's heard? Did he think it happened in 6 days? He then continued to say that atheism is on the rise and its basically got to be stopped and how its horrible not to believe in anything.

By now your thinking, where is he going with this? My dilemma which is actually eating at me is how many of you think that evolution isn't real? How many people think that evolution happened overnight; and how many people are under the impression that evolution is just a hypothesis, nothing more than a guess; how many people think atheism is evil? Im genuinely curious.

If I dont get any responses to this I'll chalk it up to I wrote too much, you got tired, fell asleep and drooled on your keyboard. I also want to say that if you do decide to respond, you do it in an intelligent, RESPECTFUL manner. I'm not looking for this to get closed because religion is a very very touchy subject. This is primarily for those who have an open mind, and willing to engage in intelligent conversation.

Thanks.

[jgreening]

Deductive reasoning (the scientific method) is not the opposite of belief - its just different. There are many many people (me included - undergrad philosophy major, lawyer by trade) that tend to be very rational yet also have faith in God.

I once struggled with reconciling the whole issue myself. Even in my most agnostic days (during college) there were two questions that I could never answer purely from a scientific perspective.

1. If the world was created in a "big bang" (followed by evolution), how and why did the big bang occur?

2. In a universe full of various forms of "matter", how can we explain how and why some things are living?

I would argue that the most logical among us might conceed that there is something bigger than us that holds the answers to these questions.

[saleeka]

Deductive reasoning (the scientific method) is not the opposite of belief - its just different. There are many many people (me included - undergrad philosophy major, lawyer by trade) that tend to be very rational yet also have faith in God.

I once struggled with reconciling the whole issue myself. Even in my most agnostic days (during college) there were two questions that I could never answer purely from a scientific perspective.

1. If the world was created in a "big bang" (followed by evolution), how and why did the big bang occur?

2. In a universe full of various forms of "matter", how can we explain how and why some things are living?

I would argue that the most logical among us might conceed that there is something bigger than us that holds the answers to these questions.

Just curious, but am I correct in assuming that you no longer consider yourself to be agnostic?

This post has been edited by saleeka: Feb 27, 2007 - 3:05 PM

[jgreening]

There are many many people (me included...) that tend to be very rational yet also have faith in God.

Just curious, but am I correct in assuming that you no longer consider yourself to be agnostic?

[saleeka]

There are many many people (me included...) that tend to be very rational yet also have faith in God.

Just curious, but am I correct in assuming that you no longer consider yourself to be agnostic?

The point of most logical people believing in somthing of a higher power/understanding is a core to what it means to be agnostic, yet i'm still unsure what you are getting at- the word God to me is unclear in this context...

That said, I feel that being agnostic is the most logical middle ground you can have. Our human scope isn't capable to grasp somthing we cannot physically achieve, so there is always questions left without answers. Why bother? I am man enough to admit that I am too selfish to commit to any set of rules or train of thought that does not allow me to experience the life that I have at this moment to it's fullest, stopping short of any action that would be detremental to other being's lives. I don't see anything wrong with that...

This post has been edited by saleeka: Feb 28, 2007 - 3:30 AM

[jgreening]

I am too selfish to commit to any set of rules or train of thought that does not allow me to experience the life that I have at this moment to it's fullest, stopping short of any action that would be detremental to other being's lives. I don't see anything wrong with that...

For the sake of argument, I will assume that "experience life that I have at this moment to the fullest" means "experience everything I can". This may not be what you intendend. Having said that, I imagine there are many people who think that the more and varied experiences they can have, the better. Through experience, I have come to believe something 180 degrees different; that, experience itself is neither good or bad. It depends on what you are experiencing to know whether its good or bad both for yourself and for others. I believe that we all make choices about what we will experience and those choices have consequences. I am not talking about legal consequences or what happens to your soul. I am talking about what happens to your life.

Also, don't be so judgmental to think that living by a moral code somehow limits the life experience. I would argue that the most self-actualized people have a very high set of personal standards about what they will or will not participate in. On the other hand, it is my experience that those that do not set boundaries have lives that are often a mess.

This post has been edited by jgreening: Feb 28, 2007 - 10:08 AM

[saleeka]

For the sake of argument, I will assume that "experience life that I have at this moment to the fullest" means "experience everything I can". This may not be what you intendend.

Also, don't be so judgmental to think that living by a moral code somehow limits the life experience. I would argue that the most self-actualized people have a very high set of personal standards about what they will or will not participate in. On the other hand, it is my experience that those that do not set boundaries have lives that are often a mess.

What I mean by living life at this moment to it's fullest is that I'm not going to try to "do the right things" to obtain any sort of afterlife. Yes there could be something after this life here on earth, but there also may not be. Therefore, I'll stick to what I know and try to make the most of the time that I currently have here. I will also say that I'm a bit perplexed to understand how what I said translated into a general disliking for those who have "moral" values. Morals is such a loaded word, because it means different things to different people, but making a conscious effort to not negatively impact other's lives I feel is a pretty high moral standard to hold yourself to. I really feel that most people have such a misconception or complete lack of understanding what it means to be Agnostic sometimes...

What I have always found so interesting about religion is that almost every major religious doctrine can be boiled down into one main core belief: Treat others the way you want to be treated. I can relate to that more than anything else I've pulled out of my Christian upbringing, but you don't necessarily need to be Christian to hold that thought.

This post has been edited by saleeka: Feb 28, 2007 - 1:40 PM