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Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 1:55 pm
by EssentialSacrifice
I used the inverted commas for a reason, you know? Either way...Stephen Hawking "discovered" it.
Yeah...no, MB I didn't get that the use of the inverted commas meant anything... just highlighting your thoughts in conjunction with an example from Hawking. I thought perhaps you had new information regarding Hawking's "theory". This is actually pretty old info and well regarded as defunct in most scientific circles... I do know there are those who wish to advance that theory but have no more ability to "proof" it than Hawking... it was really just an exercise in mathematics combined with wishful thinking to overcome his objections to God.

But, at least he's got God on his mind ! y*-:) Sometimes He works in the most mysterious of ways... y:-?

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 8:06 pm
by MBPrata
I do know there are those who wish to advance that theory but have no more ability to "proof" it than Hawking...
Lol, but who has? Ir order to prove it we would have to, I don't know...get out of our universe in a rocket (probably dying in the process), entee the so-called nothing outside of it and somehow watch the bloody particles coming from nowhere!

Yeah, it can't be done. I guess...let's just keep in mind that the fact that we can't prove something doesn't make it any less real. Whether it is spontaneous creation, our mind (not to say soul or conciousness) or even...well...God.

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 6:55 am
by Nicki
MBPrata wrote:
Unless you have some other pictures that show these "pyramids" actually look like pyramids, this whole thread is meaningless.
As I said, I didn't see that much of pictures; I read more testimonies regarding how similar it was to a pyramid. Pictures are not necessarily the ones who make me more suspicious that intelligence isn't needed to make intelligent stuff. Some testimonies from scientist, however, are...
Suddenly, there is NO face, just a rock!
Yeah, I remember that rock. Still, that brings back the question: if God designed our solar system, did He go so fat that he designed the surface of Mars? If He did, wouldn't it be better to remove the face-like rock? If He didn't, then to which degree He designed our solar system?
What's wrong with a face-like (from some angle or distance) rock or a pyramid-ish one? They could well have come about randomly but the face-like one is not quite the same as an actual face (living cells, complex systems and all) and neither does the pyramid one seem much like a real pyramid.

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 7:15 am
by EssentialSacrifice
let's just keep in mind that the fact that we can't prove something doesn't make it any less real.
I can absolutely agree with this... especially when talking of minds, souls, spiritual belief and God. I would say however, there are proofs available within the human confines of understanding for all of these "immutable characters" of ours like our souls and God. I am Catholic and firmly believe in the church's teaching of the bible as a most important part of learning about our God. The works within the book have been saved over the millennia for a reason and they have been scrutinized by so many, wheres so many have spent literal lifetimes looking for and finding answers to our existence.

I know many in here do not feel this way, perhaps you too MB, but in my mind, with the inclusion of or the true "rule of faith"—as expressed in the Bible itself—is Scripture plus apostolic tradition. The traditions include faith outside of the bible with the bibles veracity as conclusive verification of the traditions. This tradition is and has been practiced since the very beginning of the Christian faith. Before there even was a bible. It is part and parcel of all we know and learn from God and the experience we have with Him and one another.

So the "proofs" I speak of are not for everyone. Not everyone can see the forest for the trees as I, and many like me do. I understand the desire some have to see conclusively the facts as they feel the need to, personal, nonjudgemental, opinionless facts that are irrefutable to any and all who perceive them. But I don't think that is the world we live in. I fear they wait for the unattainable to transpire and so will be continually disappointed in their world view in regard to their essence springing in to spirituality. The combination of the bible's truths, some hard some easy, some ugly some beautiful, some serene some brutal.... all .... included with the tradition of men who have experiences that cannot, may not be possible for others the recognize as legitimate spiritual experiences has convinced me there is so much more available to us after our lives here.

The universe wastes nothing, changes everything and so will we... not be wasted but changed for eternity in reward or punishment... but change there will be, IMO and not one of us will know for sure how that will go until the end. I wish to prepare for that end confident in the proofs I have amassed in my time here. Proofs only I can verify for me but so greatly wish all could verify for themselves.

I pray for the conversion of sinners nearly every day (of course including myself), and am in great hopes, that which i feel i can do nothing about while here on earth will be accomplished, if even ever so minutely after death for those, by God, who are good people who simply do not rationally accept who, IMO is the cause for all of existence. That proof will not be available to me until after death, but hopeful of your let's just keep in mind that the fact that we can't prove something doesn't make it any less real

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 2:01 pm
by RickD
In other news, apparently pyramids have been discovered on Jupiter. Here's the proof:
Image



What does this do for Christianity? Can we still believe in God with this evidence?

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 2:33 pm
by RickD
RickD wrote:And some of you have been wondering where Furstentum Liechtenstein has been. Well, my sources tell me he's been spotted on Mars. Apparently, his plane got diverted...a little.
Image

This is what happens when a no skill moron finds a bad photoshop app for his iPhone!

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 9:18 pm
by 1over137
Now we know where FL is.

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design?

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 4:58 pm
by MBPrata
What's wrong with a face-like (from some angle or distance) rock or a pyramid-ish one?
Well, I guess it is not that "wrong", it's just that those two could be two more items of a (already long) list of, say, evidence that structures who seem to have been planned can be created with no need for a plan. And if God wants us to believe that we were created by Him and not by some stupid, blind, omnipotent laws, we could use a lack of that list...

EssentialSacrifice...well, maybe you're right. I just wish I could know whether you are or not. I usually feel like I've been fooled whenever I accept an optimistic belief which I hadn't accepted have before. That's how I am...and that sucks! :P

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design?

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 6:15 pm
by abelcainsbrother
MBPrata wrote:
What's wrong with a face-like (from some angle or distance) rock or a pyramid-ish one?
Well, I guess it is not that "wrong", it's just that those two could be two more items of a (already long) list of, say, evidence that structures who seem to have been planned can be created with no need for a plan. And if God wants us to believe that we were created by Him and not by some stupid, blind, omnipotent laws, we could use a lack of that list...

EssentialSacrifice...well, maybe you're right. I just wish I could know whether you are or not. I usually feel like I've been fooled whenever I accept an optimistic belief which I hadn't accepted have before. That's how I am...and that sucks! :P

What you are implying is much much harder and requires far far more faith to believe than to believe God in human flesh Jesus walked on water,healed the sick,raised the dead,turn water into wine,etc not to mention how far out of logic and reality you are in order to reject God.

There is an answer in the bible to that structure on Ceres that does not look like a pyramid,but a mountain.

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 8:19 pm
by Kurieuo
MBPrata wrote:
Oh yes... it's not foolishness.
Of course Mr. Dawkins contradicts himself once in a while. Nothingness is a weird, freaking confusing stuff (or...lack of stuff?), it's hardly possible to talk about it without contradicting. Also, remember, christians also contradict themselves. Is it ok for me find them guilty for foolishness by exposing one of them contradicting himself/herself?
While I love to take the mickey out of Dawkins, he is nonetheless a very interesting and passionate person.
But, logic and reason is not his forte and highly clouded by his Atheistic anti-religious bias.
I think that much is clear to all who at least aren't like-minded Atheist themselves.

Given your self-confession of slant towards Nihilism, if true, then think about you being here... discussing and making all sorts of comments and claims would mean you're a person full of the utmost contradictions. Perhaps you not so long ago came out of an IB's theory of knowledge course, and are now wired to see no real knowledge. Let me call your bluff however.

A true Nihilist would at least flirt with killing themselves.
Heck, I was Christian with existential issues -- ultimately seeing no real meaning in living life further having believed myself to discover it. While such isn't Nihilist, I clearly see and understand the end result of Nihilism and where it leads, which is nowhere.

Everything about you here though, if you are honest with yourself and truly reflect, seems to show that you aren't really Nihilistic except that you like playing that out for this discussion and thread. Indeed, you grasp knowledge and even believe in certain truths. That is apparent from your posts.

Let me dribble a bit -- actually I think there's some pearls here in what I'm about to say, but I'm happy to keep them as mine.
Nonetheless, in case you might be able to make some kind of association and some sense be brought about.

You know there is a certain logic and rationality to Pragmatism.
It's required to get started working on some intuitive foundational beliefs, or you may as well end your life and embrace insanity.
Speaking in practical terms, which would you prefer? Living life embracing what seems obvious with a sense of truth, or rejecting every belief including the rejection of rejecting a belief, rejecting that statement, and that statement, and that -- caught in a loop of insane thought unable to escape and embrace any meaning or truth = you may as well just end it.

Obviously life, if it be true, is a more logical and rational conclusion pragmatically speaking, therefore lets accept logic, reason and experience as foundational sources of truth. Hey, and by those same grounds, let's accept other beliefs that seem intuitive as foundational also, including morality, goodness, justice, emotions, feelings, spirituality and the like.

With those foundations then it's a matter of some form of coherentism -- what is the largest and biggest puzzle pieces of beliefs you can fit together that best explain things. When it comes to existential questions and grounding many of the intuitive beliefs we just tend to naturally accept -- morality, existence of a self, goodness, justice, beauty, feeling of purpose, feeling of true meaning to life, feeling of the divine, that we can "progress" towards some superior standard -- all these puzzle pieces seem to best fit in a Christian puzzle.

If it's a matter of which belief sets are the most coherent, nothing comes close to Christianity.
If you can, get a copy of The Universe Next Door by James W. Sire. Great introductory book to world views.
Biased? Of course, everyone is. So it's a matter of our working out what appears to be most coherent picture of the world isn't it?
MBPrata wrote:
Kurieuo wrote:You must be talking about something other than Atheism, because Atheism isn't logical at all.
I was talking about any belief, atheism included. Nearly every belief I've met until today has a logic behind it. Yeah, atheism included. Also, a couple of atheists I know don't expect logic to apply. As in...they believe everything that exists is just flat-out absurd, so the so-called lack of logic in things coming out of nowhere stops being relevant.
The most illogical, is a self-professing Nihilist who is making truth claims left, right and centre.
There is nothing more illogical than a Nihilist carrying on any sort of discussion other than meaningless mutterings.
You'll find such either as perhaps serial killers (because nothing is real anyway), in a mental asylum muttering away or dead due to suicide or the like.
MB Prata wrote:
Nevermind the self-refuting nature of saying "We humans can realise that we don't really know anything at all" -- are you claiming to know something there?
No. That would be inconsistent with my belief that we know nothing. Instead, I am claiming that I BELIEVE that we know absolutely nothing.
Of course it would be inconsistent with your "Nihilism". You being here is inconsistent.
Again, you should truly self-reflect as mentioned in my writings above.
Evidently, you believe you can know some things.
MB Prata wrote:
You're close to the key for escaping Nihilism in a justified way.
Well, maybe...and maybe I need to escape Nihilism...but it is still a valid way to live. Namely when someone gets so nuts because of not believing in anything that he/she says: "Screw this, I know nothing! I'm just gonna be happy and make other people happy!". Sounds constructive, am I right? ;)
Constructive? No, sounds meaningless. You're fooling yourself if you think otherwise.
I've thrown out what I consider to be some pearls above... to help. Do with them what you will.

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design?

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 3:27 pm
by MBPrata
discussing and making all sorts of comments and claims would mean you're a person full of the utmost contradictions.
Of course I am; everyone constradicts himself/herself. Not to mention the universe, existence, time and space, which are such contradictory things...
A true Nihilist would at least flirt with killing themselves.
Uh...who said I didn't? I have thought of suicide lots of times, namely when I had my big fat existencial crisis (2012).
Everything about you here though, if you are honest with yourself and truly reflect, seems to show that you aren't really Nihilistic except that you like playing that out for this discussion and thread.
If that means I'm sort of acting...well, excuse me, but that's offensive. I don't like to be called a liar; I'd rather you not to do it. Also, if I'm not a "real" Nihilist, who cares? I don't know a lot about Nihilism anyway, I just know that I don't believe we humans can "know" anything, just believe (please don't blame for saying "I just know", it is an expression. Don't take it literally). If that isn't Nihilism, whatever, I didn't came here to discover the name of my beliefs.
I guess I'm more like Max Planck, who apparently said that we'll never solve the mystery because we're part of it...
Indeed, you grasp knowledge and even believe in certain truths. That is apparent from your posts.
Yes; I believe. Not "know"; believe. And that doesn't mean a lot, I'd say...
Speaking in practical terms, which would you prefer?
Of course I'd prefer the first option, but I can't. Every day I find out that everything I think I know has evidence against it. Every-freaking-thing! And the loop you mention does sound logic, but can harldy avoid getting thrown into that loop.
If it's a matter of which belief sets are the most coherent, nothing comes close to Christianity.
As you must calculate, I don't believe in that. First, I don't even know whether I believe in "coherent" belief sets. Second, each day I discover new information that doesn't seem to fit with Christianity, namely when it comes to God's (supposed) intelligence.
And it's nothing against Christianity in particular! It's just the belief set I know better (well, aside from atheism, I guess...), therefore it's the one I research more about.
Of course it would be inconsistent with your "Nihilism". You being here is inconsistent.
Again, you should truly self-reflect as mentioned in my writings above.
Evidently, you believe you can know some things.
Inconsistent? Maybe...that only makes me think existence is even more absurd than I thought before.
I believe I can know some thing? Uh...actually...not really.



PS: Phew! You didn't take it easy on writing on your last post, hey? I had to read some paragraphs some 5 times in order to understand them, and I'm still not "sure" about some of them...

PS2: Sorry, I've had some busy days!

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design?

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:05 pm
by abelcainsbrother
MBprata

Atheists are the last place you want to look for information about God,the bible,theology,etc.You should instead use this place for that,in a respectful manner.But getting back to atheists,you seem like a pretty smart person and before you go asking atheists questions about God,the bible,theology,etc ask them this,it makes no difference who they are,they can be an atheistic scientist but you should notice this about atheists and it is this anybody who rejects God automatically rejects logic,reason and reality in order to reject God,even if they don't realize it.
First off let's talk about logic,reason and the reality around us.

It is a fact of logic,reason and the reality around us that all things have a cause and all things that have a cause are caused by something else and all things are willed into existence,now I want you to try to notice,really key in on those who reject God and I think if you do you'll see that in order to reject God they are living in LA LA land,they deny logic reason and the reality around them.

So here is the question,before you go asking atheists about God,the bible,theology,etc ask them this.
Can you name one thing that does not have a cause,was not caused by something else and was not willed into existence? And I think you'll see they cannot name one thing.

So again you do not want to get your info from people who are so far out of reality that it would be a futile attempt to discuss evidence,God,the bible,theology,reality,logic,anything with.

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design?

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 7:52 am
by MBPrata
abelcainsbrother

I really appreciate your feedback. Still...
Atheists are the last place you want to look for information about God,the bible,theology,etc.You should instead use this place for that,in a respectful manner.
Ok, there's so much wrong with this. 1. There are atheists who know the Bible better than some so-called christians. 2. Some atheists are, by nature, cynical, which can mean they reject naive hopes because of those hopes' optimism. 3. I know I can use this place to learn instead, namely because it usually quotes sources for everything. However, that doesn't mean it is not biased. And bias is one of the worst obstacles to a thoughtful, rational conclusion. 4. You may say that atheists' websites are also biased (towards atheism or something...), and you'd be right. However, so are christians' websites. So how can I trust any of them? 5. When did I say I looked for info about the God of the Bible around atheists? Why did you think that? Was it because we talked about Dawkins? If it was, I'd suggest you to let it go. It was just a small moment. Other than that...well, it's kind of true that I heard a lot about God and the Bible from atheists, but that's because I grew up in a mostly atheist environment. I had no choice, so to speak...however, I hadn't told you that, so I still don't get your assumption...
It is a fact of logic,reason and the reality around us that all things have a cause and all things that have a cause are caused by something else and all things are willed into existence
Not if one believes in spontaneous creation...
So here is the question,before you go asking atheists about God,the bible,theology,etc ask them this.
Can you name one thing that does not have a cause,was not caused by something else and was not willed into existence? And I think you'll see they cannot name one thing.
Actually...
From the christian perspective, there's God. And, please, don't tell me God is His own reason. That only makes sense if you think about it for less than 5 seconds.
From the atheist perspective, there are the rules that allowed something to come into existence in the first place. Not particles; rules. It's different. Those rules "may" exist without being caused or wanted just because they are...well...rules! Not something physical, something...metaphysical, I guess.

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design?

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 8:44 am
by Byblos
MBPrata wrote:Not if one believes in spontaneous creation...
Oy! And theists are accused of believing in fairy tales? :shakehead:
MBPrata wrote:From the atheist perspective, there are the rules that allowed something to come into existence in the first place. Not particles; rules. It's different. Those rules "may" exist without being caused or wanted just because they are...well...rules! Not something physical, something...metaphysical, I guess.
Exactly where did these rules come from? That's the difference between us, we can actually make a rational case for creation whereas the only thing you can offer are inexplicable, scientifically unreachable set of brute force laws.

Re: What does the Ceres pyramid say about intelligent design?

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 8:53 am
by RickD
Byblos wrote:
MBPrata wrote:Not if one believes in spontaneous creation...
Oy! And theists are accused of believing in fairy tales? :shakehead:
Yes Byblos.

Theists are the loonies who believe God created something from nothing (Ex nihilo ).

But atheists are perfectly reasonable in believing in spontaneous creation (something created from nothing).

Sometimes, the most intelligent people come up with the dumbest things:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2758745/posts