'SteveDeFacto' said:

I can't help but hate threads like this one. In my opinion it should be a standard rule that mods close these threads…

and you're fat

Rotfl!!!!!!!!!!!! Classic comeback.

I can't help but hate threads like this one. In my opinion it should be a standard rule that mods close these threads...

it would probably be better if they did. All it will do is offend some users and they rarely raise any points that could be considered new. Questioning the entire belief structure of a core belief (not belief specific) that someone has held their whole life is obviously going to offend them and rarely will do anything to disprove anything anymore than their proofs for a god would disprove a belief that one does not exist.

This is actually a very interesting question. I am very blessed to make my living as a game programmer. I am doing something that I have always wanted to do even as a child. Our development team at work spends our time creating virtual worlds. Our artists spend quite a bit of time designing characters, terrains, rivers, roads, mountains, lighting, etc until they look perfect. As for us engineers, we spend our time creating virtual laws that our entities must obey and follow. For example, it is up to my discretion as to how much gravity will be applied to the virtual world... if any at all. It is also my responsibility to create the objective and rules for accomplishing that objective. Often times it requires a team of talented and intelligent ceos, producers, writers, artists, engineers, and sound technicians to accomplish a good virtual world experience. I am so happy that video games don't happen by chance or by accident because if they did... well I think many of us would be out of jobs. Virtual worlds simply don't create themselves... nor would they evolve over billions of years by chance. You see we know that Virtual Worlds and video games can't create themselves. Even though the universe is far more complex however, we easily try to reject God.

I believe this is what the Apostle Paul was getting at in Romans when he wrote the following,

"18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles." (Romans 1:18-23)



Its funny, I have a toy of Donkey Kong that sits on my computer at work. I asked a friend of mind where it came from. He said that some toy company must have designed it. However when I asked him where do real monkeys come from, he said they are just a product of mindless chemical reactions that evolved over billions of years... Interesting...

Alright friends, take it easy! =)

You see we know that Virtual Worlds and video games can't create themselves.Yeah, just as a chicken cannot give birth to the egg from which itself hatches from...
However, virtual worlds, video games, and chickens can spontaneously come into existence by random, unguided forces of nature (as evidenced by the existence of chickens ).

Even though the universe is far more complex however, we easily try to reject God.
...
Its funny, I have a toy of Donkey Kong that sits on my computer at work. I asked a friend of mind where it came from. He said that some toy company must have designed it. However when I asked him where do real monkeys come from, he said they are just a product of mindless chemical reactions that evolved over billions of years... "Rejecting God" is not the same thing as believing that "God" is actually a mindless manifold... You could say that those "mindless chemical reactions" are God, in which case it would still be misleading to say that "God created the world" (implying "he" did it on purpose).

If you step in dog poop, you don't marvel and the wonderous design created by the almighty dog anus. If you did, then after looking at the world you'd probably conclude that God himself is just a really large sphincter...

Questioning the entire belief structure of a core belief (not belief specific) that someone has held their whole life is obviously going to offend them

Sorry, but if you're offended by questioning your belief of the paranormal/spiritual, then you're exactly the kind of person that needs to question a few more things about your life, and lighten the fuck up. Anyone serious about their paranormal/spiritual beliefs should enjoy questioning and discovering their foundations.

Doh, I accidentally upvoted this thread, so I'd better reply.

Is religion really just the answer to man's fear of death?

No, it's man's answer to the fear of being accountable to no one but himself. That's a hard pill to swallow, it's easier to pretend you're accountable to something.

I don't want to get into the core debate here, but this:

However, virtual worlds, video games, and chickens can spontaneously come into existence by random, unguided forces of nature (as evidenced by the existence of chickens ).

I think should be clarified, since it seems to trip people up. While there is a random element involved, evolution is far more efficient than the simple random shuffling of chemicals.

Randomly generating code will never get you anywhere, but genetic algorithms do work (given enough time and the correct conditions).

Evolution is not random, and is not unguided - just not guided by an intelligence.

Randomly generating code will never get you anywhere

Actually, it will.
It's mathematically provable that a random code generator would - with 100% certainty - eventually produce the entire works of Activision.

'laztrezort' said:

Randomly generating code will never get you anywhere

Actually, it will.
It's mathematically provable that a random code generator would - with 100% certainty - eventually produce the entire works of Activision.

Good to know - so far my army of coding monkeys have only produced a couple of crappy Sega games... maybe if I give them another few billion billion years, they'll make something cool.

Like Pitfall.

Doh, I accidentally upvoted this thread, so I'd better reply.

'staticVoid2' said:

Is religion really just the answer to man's fear of death?

No, it's man's answer to the fear of being accountable to no one but himself. That's a hard pill to swallow, it's easier to pretend you're accountable to something.

I think, it's more to provide a reason for existence. People wanted reasons for working hard in tough conditions (think back when these religions were founded, life was HARD), trying to be good people, and religion gave them a reason. It's difficult for reasoning beings (humans in this case) to believe their life has no meaning beside surviving day-to-day

I'm an atheist. ( It's not that scary, is it? I mean, have you played Amnesia? That's way scarier... )

Yet, I believe that "God" exists.
The concept of God lives in the mind of the believers of "God", much like Father Christmas.
There is no hard evidence of God, as we don't yet have the technology to prove the concept.

Interestingly, perhaps God exists in another sense; perhaps this world/universe is a prison or rehabilitation, or even a school.
Imagine the possibility of there only being one concious life, "God", yet the universe is populated by uncountable lifeforms.
Perhaps, in this situation, God is to live the full life of each lifeform in turn, which exists, will exist, and has existed, to better itself.
Perhaps this is a simulation, inwhich all of this happens in the blink of an eye.

By definition atheism is the lack of belief in a god/gods, attributing the label god to something else like nature is just trying to fool yourself to feel comfortable with something you don't fully understand.
There is no reason to label something God just because we don't understand it yet, finding out and learning is a part of the human experience and maybe even in a philosofical sense the meaning of life.

If you get overwhelmed about all the amazing and beautiful stuff in the unverse and give up trying to learn about it that's fine, I and most atheists have nothing against believers.
But if you're trying to make a science out of your religion/belief then we'll try to fill in the blanks which you don't want to understand, we call ourselves rationalists because we are actually trying to find the truth.

Also we dont have the technology to prove the concept of a god?
That is just silly, it's impossible to invent a way to measure something which the believers (which has the burden of proof) can't even define themselves.

So in conclusion, if you really want to call yourself an atheist then you need to let go of the ambiguous term "god"