Religion.

[donkey]

i'd ask any christian to explain these.
 the dinosaurs,proof of evolution which is growing by the day,though shall not kill(but they eat meat),why a non believer will burn in hell,where is hell,the laughable old testment,why is easter on a different day every year,how can a human get pregnant wothout a males sperm,how can anything create the world in 7 days,etc,etc,etc.thats off the top of my head and i could go on for hours.

Can an atheist try to answer these?  If so, I will.

Evolution and dinosaurs - Adam and Eve is a metaphor.  Had someone 3000 years ago tried to explain the origins of the universe talking about atoms, elements and so on he'd have been laughed out of town.  So Adam and Eve was made up to show how God was responsible for the start of life.  Steven Hawking believes in the Big Bang (bloody stupid name by the way...tiniest thing ever and no sound!), but believes it was engineered (by God, or whomever I don't know what SH thinks about it).

Thou shalt not kill - probably should just apply to humans.  If God created man, he gave us incisors - therefore we should eat meat. (watch the veggies go for that one   )

Non-believer in hell - I guess if you are good egg, God will forgive you, so you avoid hell.

Old Testament - Great read, I'm sure somewhere I read/watched something explaining all the plagues on Eqypt through science.

Easter - covered elsewhere on the TEF.

Immaculate Conception - Erm, sorry, you just need faith to believe, can't help you.

Seven Days - Actually six, as he took the last day off.  Metaphor.

Hope that helps.  Any more religious questions the atheist can try to answer?

[Sussex]

I'm with arriba on this one. We all used to be monkeys, I've see the diagrams.  

[Simon Pieman]

I can't Adam and Eve what I'm reading here.

[donkey]

I'm with arriba on this one. We all used to be monkeys, I've see the diagrams.  

Agree, but I don't see that evolution and creationism are mutually exclusive...like I said it's easy enough to believe a higher being created the universe and let us all evolve.

And to be a pedant we didn't evolve form monkeys, we can't have done as they are still around.  However, I believe the idea is that humans and monkeys evolved on different lines from a common ancestor.

[Simon Pieman]

I'm with arriba on this one. We all used to be monkeys, I've see the diagrams.  

Agree, but I don't see that evolution and creationism are mutually exclusive...like I said it's easy enough to believe a higher being created the universe and let us all evolve.

And to be a pedant we didn't evolve form monkeys, we can't have done as they are still around.  However, I believe the idea is that humans and monkeys evolved on different lines from a common ancestor.

Surely you mean donkeys?

[donkey]

I'm with arriba on this one. We all used to be monkeys, I've see the diagrams.  

Agree, but I don't see that evolution and creationism are mutually exclusive...like I said it's easy enough to believe a higher being created the universe and let us all evolve.

And to be a pedant we didn't evolve form monkeys, we can't have done as they are still around.  However, I believe the idea is that humans and monkeys evolved on different lines from a common ancestor.

Surely you mean donkeys?

 

[BANGKOK RED]

And to be a pedant we didn't evolve form monkeys, we can't have done as they are still around.  However, I believe the idea is that humans and monkeys evolved on different lines from a common ancestor.

Humans evolved from Ape's, not Monkeys, and in fact we are Ape's ourselves. (Pedantry )

And why could not Monkeys and other Ape's (Gorillas ect.) still exist? Look at how many different types of birds there are after-all. We just evolved into a different type of Ape that's all.

Anyway, The Noah story has some gaping wholes in it. All mankind was eradicated except for the Noah Family. And so again why are we not all deformed through in-breeding?? Not just us either but all of the Animals (2x2). Any species must mix the gene pool to re-produce successfully and so 2 Elephants, for example,  on the Ark cannot be responsible for the worlds current Elephant population.

It may be a Metaphoric yet it is still preached as fact!

[Simon Pieman]

I thought it was several pairs of the same animal or something like that. I'm sure they talked about it on QI once.

[donkey]

And to be a pedant we didn't evolve form monkeys, we can't have done as they are still around.  However, I believe the idea is that humans and monkeys evolved on different lines from a common ancestor.

Humans evolved from Ape's, not Monkeys, and in fact we are Ape's ourselves. (Pedantry )

And why could not Monkeys and other Ape's (Gorillas ect.) still exist? Look at how many different types of birds there are after-all. We just evolved into a different type of Ape that's all.

Anyway, The Noah story has some gaping wholes in it. All mankind was eradicated except for the Noah Family. And so again why are we not all deformed through in-breeding?? Not just us either but all of the Animals (2x2). Any species must mix the gene pool to re-produce successfully and so 2 Elephants, for example,  on the Ark cannot be responsible for the worlds current Elephant population.

It may be a Metaphoric yet it is still preached as fact!

I'm not good on primates     I was suggesting, however, that humans share a common ancestor with other primates.  Indeed, surely the theory of evolution means we are all related to that first life form that crawled out of the sea.

As for Noah, a metaphor for something I would think.  Have to ask the religious types what though.  Didn't QI prove that there were seven of a lot of the animals, in any case? (do you get QI in Thailand?)

[BANGKOK RED]

Not actually having read the Bible I could well be wrong about the number of animals. I was going by the song we used to sing at school, more fool me for not checking before posting.

What is this QI thing?

[Sussex]

I'm not criticising people who have a belief in something, I just don't buy into a story with so many flaws in it's laughable.

I blame my parents for sending me to a catholic primary school.

Apes, monkeys, ducks or whatever, I've seen the diagrams.  

Hail Mary...

[donkey]

Not actually having read the Bible I could well be wrong about the number of animals. I was going by the song we used to sing at school, more fool me for not checking before posting.

What is this QI thing?

Quite Interesting - A quiz show hosted by Stephen Fry, that debunks stuff we thought we knew.  I am now aware that almost everything I ever knew isn't true.  It's funny, so I like it.

http://www.qi.com/

[BANGKOK RED]

Anyway:

And a question for the Christian Beleivers out there.

Do you beleive in evolution? When Darwin first published the "Theory of evoluton" it was blasted by the church as blasphemous (Sp?). Which indicates that at the time Adam and Eve was considered a fact as opposed to a metaphor.

And if you beleive in the garden of Eden as fact, then surely you cannot beleive in Evolution right?

Or is it possible that the church has (Had to) accept science, and therefore the Eden story is no longer fact but a "metaphor"

I'm not looking to insult anybody, just interested like.

[chalkies_shorts]

Anyway, The Noah story has some gaping wholes in it. All mankind was eradicated except for the Noah Family. And so again why are we not all deformed through in-breeding??

Maybe Christianity is rinfenced 30 miles away up the A420 whilst the rest of the world accept Darwinism?

[redbullzeye]

As someone who was brought up in a strict religious background for 17 years  - I've spent tonight researching the religious allegories contained in the Matrix Trilogy and feel closer to the "truth" than ever I did during my early years.  I am sorry to say I subscribe to the view that religion is a method of controlling people and their hopes and dreams. I looked at people who were religious and would expect them to be better human beings than those who weren't - Wrong, other people were just as humane and caring.  Religion is the same as joining a golf club - the need to be accepted, the need to belong.  PS it was a "religious summer camp that I first got my hand down a girlie's knicks - so it can't be all bad