I love trying to get creationists to think. My experience though, is that they really don't want to think that much. All their answers are in a little book written a long long time ago by people who didn't understand electricity, amongst many other things.
Alrighty, first I'm not aiming this question at only creationist Christians, I'm aiming it at any religious person:
Lets assume that you believe your religion is the "right religion." Have you ever pondered if your religion is in fact the right religion?, and do you believe it to be the right religion 100%?
The second question pertains to those who answered the last half of the first question "YES," and it also assumes that you are still a member of the same religion you were raised in.
If your parents gave you up for adoption at birth, and your new parents were a different religion, do you think you would be a believer in your new parents religion? Be honest. Ok, try to be honest.
Now, a question to those of you who do not accept evolution.
If evolution was proven to you, and I know this is a hard stretch for the wilfully ignorant creationists, but still, if it finally clicked in that science is not a vast conspiracy to disprove God, but is in fact a study of empirical facts, that includes rigorously tested theories that explain facts, would you have to give up on your current religion?
I've had a recent discussion on Youtube with a Muslim who accepts that life came about around the Pre-Cambrian explosion, but doesn't believe in evolution of man. He believes (wrongly) that Pre-Cambrian life didn't have ancestors. I asked him if he thinks man was created during the Pre-Cambrian timeline. He has yet to answer me.
For those who accept the earth is ancient, but still don't accept evolution of man.
When did God poof life on earth? And when approximately did God poof man into existence?
I don't expect many comments from theists. I rarely get them when I ask for them. I'd really like to see real answers though.
In the meantime, I'm starting to get tired of the "atheists have no basis for morality" garbage. So I will fight back again, with a video I made and posted last year. It includes quite a few questions for creationists:
Bonus question to theists: Did I make your brain hurt from having to think so much?
A few quick responses:
ReplyDelete1) As a Christian I do believe that my religion is efficacious. I doubt any religion is 100% right including my own in that I take us humans to be fallible. And I've come to appreciate various elements of other religions. That doesn't take away from what is valuable in my own faith tradition.
2) Adoption question: well I was adopted. Admittedly it was from Catholic birth parents to a protestant family and yes I am a protestant. Given that folks do convert it's not a given where I end up. But I do recognize how my history has shaped me.
3) Since I believe in evolution, I guess I don't need to answer the last question. And no, my brain didn't hurt with these questions. But your site is interesting and I'll have to pop in sometimes.
I question if my faith (not really a "religion," it's mine alone) is right every day. I check it and adjust it all the time. I believe that it is as right as I am on any given topic. So as long as I believe I am right on a certain topic, I believe my faith is right. However, I have the advantage of a faith that wasn't given to me, but created by me.
ReplyDeleteMy mom's an atheist and my dad is a Congregationalist, so I don't have the faith of either of them anyway. I think if I had had parent who pressured me into following their religion, I would have followed it until I got to college and then made a few adjustments anyway. I also think that in that case, my religion would probably be right in some ways and wrong in others.
Of course, I also believe in evolution. But I had a roommate last year who was a YEC, and I asked her many of the same questions you pose. Her answers? First of all, she believes it is impossible to prove evolution exists. If it was proven to her, she would assume that it was a way that God was testing her faith. She would then feel the need to return to her Bible and talk to other like-minded individuals until she felt renewed and that she had "passed" God's test.
I also know some old-earth creationists, and the general consensus is that God created man sometime around when Homo erectus skeletons began to appear, and the universe was created in seven "stages," not days, which were long periods of time, so life began sometime when the first fossils show up in the timeline. Of course, the OECs I know tend to be more academically oriented than most.
And no, my brain doesn't hurt. Advanced calculus equations and trying to figure out how to create a GMO plant that can grow in crappy African soil makes my brain hurt, a few questions about faith aren't really gonna approach that. :D
Dwight and Basiorana, the questions were not designed to make your head hurt if you accept evolution.
ReplyDeleteIt is those who don't accept evolution who needs to pop a couple of extra strength Advil gel tabs.
Great at least you are starting a debate on the JEWISH invention, " The concept of MONOTHEISM and the LIVING GOD". How to debunk a concept which has and will continue to influence the thoughts,thinking and actions of billions of the human race and are written in the THREE GREAT BOOKS originated in the Middle East- namely the TORAH, the BIBLE and the KORAN and are studied and practiced by them.
ReplyDeleteIndeed other religious philosophies are being assimilated by them daily also. I am a believer in the concept of a higher being and the afterworld as taught by my mother and father who did not know about the three great books.
Shalom! Ever try to read about BUDDHISM, Hinduism or TAOISM? Try "The Secret Message of Jesus" by Brian D. McLaren?
Just stumbled on your site. Entertaining stuff, man.
ReplyDeleteI have to point out, though, that, with this video, you seem to have fundamentally misunderstood the stock "atheists have no basis for morality" argument. The claim isn't that atheists cannot be moral; it's that atheists are without a philosophical foundation for deciding what is and isn't moral. The theist can say definitively, "I know this action is moral because it is consistent with the nature of the deity of my choice" (or immoral/inconsistent, etc.), whereas the atheist can only say "I know this action is moral because I (and/or those around me) approve of it," which, of course, is tautological. It's true that most atheists won't resort to most of the evils/vices/whatever you list in your video, but this isn't the central claim; the central claim is that they have no reason not to do so, other than their own desire not to do so. If there's no authority above humankind, then morality is a human invention, and people can mold it into anything they want. The fact that most people won't mold it into something that allows them to masturbate in front of their parents (one of the more amusing parts of your video) - because cultural norms discourage this sort of behavior - entirely misses the point. It's a question of philosophy, not practice.
Also, I'm sure you don't care, but the video isn't a particularly great advertisement for atheism. "Come be an atheist! Your life will be exactly the same!" doesn't exactly stir my soul (or lack thereof).
Luke, this was not an advertisement for atheism, but a mockery of Fundamentalists. And yes, many fundies believe that if they didn't believe in God and their interpretations of Gods laws, they would be an immoral mess.
ReplyDeleteI've had many say that they would rob and possibly murder without a belief in God's law.