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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Former Dawkins Atheist Richard Morgan Continues to Praise God, Christian News, The Christian Post

Subject: Former Dawkins Atheist Richard Morgan Continues to Praise God, Christian News, The Christian Post

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Top 10 Signs You are a Deluded Atheist

An answer to John Loftus rather deluded article I found on the web called Top 10 Signs You Are A Deluded Christian

At least he admits it is an opinion.

I simply present the facts that show that he is over-generalizing and using simplifications which are not necessarily true. In fact most of them are bold assumptions spun from jaded minds that seem to believe that if you don't believe like them, then you are deluded.

How deluded is that? Why are these kind of people so arrogant and mockers of believers?

From Evernote:


Top 10 Signs You are a Deluded Atheist
Fact by Charles G Pedley

Opinion by John W Loftus

I included John's misguided opinions first and then my answer in bold.

"Below in no particular order are what I consider the ten marks (or characteristics) of a deluded person. I think even some Christians will agree with some of them. You might want to consider from this checklist how many of them apply to you. To the degree that more of them apply then the more likely you are deluded by your faith. Now it's quite possible than Christians can be deluded and yet their faith is true, in the same sense that a person might be brainwashed or indoctrinated into believing the truth. But the point is that if you're deluded then you have no reason to believe."

A deluded person is more likely than not one who...

1) Was born and raised into his or her religious faith. Just taking the odds at face value this is non-controversial and undeniable given the number of religions
propagated around the globe and adhered to with utter and complete confidence as the one true faith.

Answer: No. A deluded person may be someone who thinks they know better than anyone else, especially those with OPPOSING beliefs. That is also a sign of arrogance, and egocentricity. Atheism too is a religion. It is a faith in whatever materials or people that convinced you of your atheistic beliefs. Instead of a church's beliefs, you accept the "reasoning" of others because you choose to.

2) As an adult never adopts nor cultivates the adult attitude of doubt. All adults must revisit the religious faith taught to them by their parents, since #1 above is undeniably true. That means they must doubt. Doubt is the adult attitude.

Answer: Doubting is NOT adult. It is common in humanity. Being a teacher for 34 years and a parent, I have met all kinds of doubt. Again this statement is one of arrogance. The unwritten thought is "I doubted when I became an adult so therefore ALL people should doubt if they are really adults."

3) Never reads widely or is exposed to other points of view in the media. I'm talking about non-fiction works about the sciences, different cultures
, different faiths, and those written by skeptics or non-believers. To escape from being deluded believers should read books that are written by people within different cultures and faith communities, and watch programs on the History Channel, National Geographic Channel
, Discovery Channel, PBS
, 60 Minutes, Dateline, and yes, YouTube. [Getting our factual information from the higher learning centre of YouTube are we John?]

Answer: Nothing wrong with any of the above, BUT if you swallow wholehog everything you see in them, then you are deluded yourself, especially if you ignore checking the works of others who DOUBT ideas presented on the above sources! Believing everything one sees in a science textbook or a program on TV, or another faith is simply substituting faith in one set of sources for others! Now believing everything you see means you have FAITH in those sources. So you have discovered a NEW BIBLE.

4) Does not travel widely including travel into different cultures. A deluded person only experiences a small slice of the pie. One must experience the world to see how others live. The more the better.

Answer: Traveling may be a source of knowledge. However many cannot travel widely. I certainly would not write off the reasoning powers and inteligence of anyone JUST because they do not travel "widely .... how wide is widely" Travel is NOT a prerequisite to reason or you may have to strike all knowledge in the world before some date where widely available modern methods of transportation were even available or affordable. And John, more is not always better. That is why drinking some water is good for you but trying to drink an ocean results in loosing your life.

5) Stays within the social confines of like-minded religious people. The Amish are the extreme examples of this. Many believers only have believing friends. Even if believers cannot travel the world they can still step outside their social grouping to meet other people who think differently. Most believers do not trust people of different faiths or non-believers. Seek them out. Attend a freethinker's group meeting. Get to know them. Become friends with them.

Answer: Why? What will that do for you when we live in an age where so many ideas that do not agree with our own are rampaging through modern media. Nothing wrong in associating with others. But the idea of "freethinkers" is an arrogant idea. Freethinkers are those who think freely. If you think that other people do not think freely then you are assuming you do and they don't. So would Peter Hitchens for one example be a freethinker? According to this author, one would assume not. It seems like "freethinkers" are those who think freely like other deluded "freethinkers". If you DO NOT think like them then you are what "slavethinkers"? How arrogant and patently untrue!

5) Never studies deeply into the nature of his or her adopted faith. The more you know the less you believe, the less confident you become, the more you doubt.

Answer: Doubting is not wrong. David doubted and God said that David was a man after his own heart. But the simple act of doubting means nothing. Children say "I doubt it." all the time. Any idiot or genius can doublt. But if you do not look at both sides of an issue then you are deluding yourself. For example how many atheists would read about the conversion to Christianity on atheists? I haven't heard of any. But it seems to me that atheists want to associate and read what ONLY other atheists say because only "they" are "freethinkers". But how can you be a free thinker if you eliminate the works of INTELLIGENT PEOPLE of OPPOSING VIEWS?

7) Preaches to people who think differently rather than rationally engaging them. I am constantly amazed, bewildered, frustrated, and bored with the kind of responses I see from believers who comment here at DC. They come here preaching. They pontificate. They quote mine from the Bible
. They even say we're going to hell with glee. Many of them merely mouth the words of the creeds and affirm what they believe rather than actually engaging us with a rational discussion about the basis for believing in the first place. They come here preaching to us from an ancient superstitious set of texts we don't believe rather than showing us why we should believe it.

Answer: How ludicrous! You are PREACHING ABOUT CHRISTIANS being deluded! So ONLY YOU are allowed to preach? How arrogant is that? Right now I am preaching about how atheists like you may be DELUDED. But perhaps you are so deluded you cannot see that you are?

8) Claims he or she does not need evidence to believe. Take notice Alvin Plantinga and Bill Craig! This is utterly delusional thinking especially when we consider all of the things they must take as properly basic beliefs coming from the witness of the Holy Spirit
. Anyone who claims their faith does not need evidence, even if true, ought to take a reality check
.


Answer: Remember the FAITH OF ATHEISM also needs evidence. So let us see your evidence. Prove that God does NOT exist.

Just because you have not seen him, does not mean God does not exist. Perhaps you have not looked in the places like Peter Hitchens, Michael Coren and others have in order to find God.

Imagine how silly their argument is if we compare it to lost keys. Situation: You cannot find your car keys. You look everywhere you can think of but cannot find them. So you borrow your wife's keys and assume that YOUR KEYS NO LONGER EXIST because YOU did not find them.

Is that a rational conclusion? Of course not. And it is NOT rational to say God does not exist because you are not a good enough searcher to find him as believers have.

All around me I see evidence of a design. Modern space travel marvels us, but it came from design, not accident.

Accidents like the Challenger end in disaster.

I look around and in general I do not see the Earth as being the result of a disaster.

Disasters like the quake in Japan, exhibit chaos, the disorganization of formerly organized things. Earth shows organization NOT disorganization. That is evidence.

9) Must be convinced that his or her faith is impossible before seeing it as improbable. Time after time
believers will claim I have not proved that their faith is impossible, and so lacking this kind of proof they still claim to have a reason to believe. However, we're always talking about probabilities, so even if it's still possible to believe in light of a number of problems for faith it's still an improbable faith.

Answer: Do you ever listen to yourself? YOUR faith is that of an atheist that requires absolutely no proof of the non-existence of God. You cannot prove that someone's faith is improbable unless you have ALL KNOWLEDGE. Surely you do not claim that! IF you do your faith is in YOU and YOUR REASONING, whether faulty or not. So are you saying you are more intelligent then all the great minds in the present day and in the past who ever were Christians? If you do, what kind of arrogance is that? If you don't then you are starting to face the reality that maybe you have gone from one "delusion" to another delusion.

10) Must denigrate the sciences in order to have faith. This is what I see time after time. Believers denigrate the sciences is a number of ways in order to believe. That's because faith demands it. Some believers don't even know what I'm talking about. That's what I think. Since science tells us prayer doesn't work then it doesn't work. It tells us the universe is 13.7 billion years old. It tells us we evolved. It tells us there was no Israelite Exodus from Egypt. It tells us the Nativity stories
in the Gospels could not be true. It tells us virgins do not have babies. It tells us that dead people do not bodily rise from the grave. Christians must denigrate science in order to believe. Science or Faith? Science has a track record. Faith flies planes into buildings.
Science all the way, hands down. End of story.

Answer: [Do you notice how John, like all agnostic-atheists do, can not help but get emotional and fling adulterated opinions and accusations out like flies around cow-terds? When will atheists simply respect those who believe differently? ]

Science DOES NOT tells us prayer does not work! In fact many recent studies have shown that a patient who has faith or not who is prayed for has a better chance of getting better than one who is not prayed for.

Science does not talk about "prayer". If it did, then it would become a philosophy, faith or religion itself. Science investigates ideas and finds proof for them. If it is not testable and repeatable then it is not science but has entered the realm of bias or faith.

Science tells us stuff that usually happens. It cannot deny that people have come back from the dead as Jesus Christ did, or people who have been declared legally dead have become alive again.

There are many things the god of science cannot explain. In fact if you go back far enough, science could not explain the hoax it believed in for about 40 years called Piltdown Man.

There are phenomena that occur that science does not have all the answers to. There are ideas taught in the 50's and 60's that now science declares were wrong. Science often comes up with a new conclusion to explain how a previously accepted fact has been shown not to be true.

And also his statement "Faith flies into buildings" is so ridiculous.

Deluded faith can fly into buildings. It can also write on blogs that Christians are deluded while at the same time not recognizing its own delusions.

Faith in no-God flies out of the mouths of childish atheists who think ONLY THEY ARE INTELLIGENT and right. According to them, if you believe you are stupid, but if you don't believe, then you are intelligent.

Isn't that like the childish assertion that everyone else is stupid but you? How adult is an arrogance of superiority?

I would also suggest that John Loftus, former deluded Christian, now deluded atheist associate with Christians who are at least as smart as he thinks he is and then see who is the most deluded. To belittle those who cannot answer him is again a childish mocking like we as children did when we called others names. How adult is that John? Come on. At least get honest.

See Prayer and Healing

Dissent from Darwinism

Evolution News

Nota Bene: The Universe Is Haunted, Stephen Meyer TV Series on ID, and Registration Ends Friday for Westminster Conference

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March 23, 2011

The Universe Is Haunted: Reflections on the "Nature of Nature"

In the history of modern propaganda with its technique of the Big Lie, it's hard to think of a brazen untruth more successful in shaping opinion than the one that equates intelligent design with Christian fundamentalist creationism. Almost as influential is the related lie that there is no serious scientific controversy over Darwinism, that main support pillar of contemporary materialist or naturalist doctrine.

Anyone who's still unclear on either of these points should take a moment and just weigh in his hand The Nature of Nature, a massive and massively learned new 900-page volume of essays. In chapter after chapter, proponents and critics of naturalism and Darwinism, scientists and philosophers, hammer away at each other at the highest levels of debate.

Continue reading . . .

Does New Scientific Evidence About the Origin of Life Put an End to Darwinian Evolution?

How did life begin? Where did the first cell come from? Questions that have plagued scientists for centuries remain unanswered today, but recent scientific discoveries are leading modern scientists to explore the theory of intelligent design as a better explanation for the complexity of life and the universe.

In four television episodes of the John Ankerberg Show broadcast across the US and over 200 nations worldwide, Dr. John Ankerberg interviewed Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, author of the groundbreaking book Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. The series will begin broadcasting on April 3 at 5:30pm EDT on the Daystar Network and on April 10 at 9:30pm EDT on the INSP Network.

Continue reading for links to watch the full videos online . . .

Deadline to Register for God and Materialism Conference Fast Approaching

The online registration deadline for the God and Materialism conference is Friday, April 1 by 5:00 pm (EDT). If you want a box lunch for the conference as well as full conference materials, you must register by April 1. Walk-up registrations may be available at the conference if space is available, but box lunches will not be available unless previously ordered by April 1, and there is no guarantee of conference educational materials for walk-up registrants.

More information and registration here . . .

Make a Difference for ID: Enroll in the Summer Seminar Programs

The 2011 Summer Seminars for college juniors, seniors and graduate students is an intensive 9-day summer learning opportunity in Seattle, July 8-16.

These seminars are designed for outstanding and motivated students who seek a deeper understanding of science and its implications for society. Past alumni credit the seminar with giving them focus and inspiration for their research, as well as a place to network and receive the support and mentoring they need to equip themselves for the rewarding but difficult work ahead.

This year, in addition to the seminar focusing on ID in the natural sciences, the Center for Science and Culture announces the new C. S. Lewis Fellows Program on Science and Society, which will explore the growing impact of science on politics, economics, social policy, bioethics, theology, and the arts.

The CSC Seminar on Intelligent Design in the Natural Sciences will explore cutting-edge ID work in fields such as molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology, developmental biology, paleontology, computational biology, ID-theoretic mathematics, cosmology, physics, and the history and philosophy of science. This seminar is open to students who intend to pursue graduate studies in the natural sciences or the philosophy of science. (Click here for details and to apply.)

The C. S. Lewis Fellows Program is an inspiration from the work of its namesake, particularly The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength, where Lewis foresaw the dangers of both scientism and technocracy. (Click here for details and to apply.)

Discovery Institute will pay expenses for students who are accepted into these programs (travel, lodging, meals, books and other course materials). Applications will be accepted until April 22, 2011, but earlier applications may receive priority consideration.

If you're not a student, please consider forwarding this information on to the students you know who may be interested.

Upcoming Events

March 25 - 26, 2011
Darwin vs. Design - Why It Matters and What We Can Do About It
Crossings Community Church - Oklahoma City, OK

April 8 - 9, 2011
God and Materialism
Westminster Theological Seminary
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Monday, March 14, 2011

PALESTINIAN TERRORIST APARTHEID

Photos https://picasaweb.google.com/picsyesha/Itamar#

On Friday night at 10:30 pm the terrorists entered the house through the living room picture window, did not notice the 6-year-old boy sleeping on the couch and continued on to the bedroom where they slashed the throats of the father and newborn baby who were sleeping there. The mother came out of the bathroom and was stabbed on its threshold. The evidence shows that she tried to fight the terrorists.


They then slashed the throat of the 11-year old-son who was reading in bed. They did not notice the 2-year old asleep in his bed, but murdered the 3-year old with two stabs to his heart. 


After that, they locked the door, exited through the window and escaped. Exactly two hours after the infiltration, there was another warning signal from the same spot on the fence, as the terrorists left the way they had come. Once again, the patrol did not identify the source of the signal as infiltration.


The 12-year-old daughter returned home at 00:30 and found the door locked. She asked a neighbor, Rabbi Yaakov Cohen, of the Itamar Yeshiva, to help her. He brought a weapon with him once he noticed tracks and mud near the house. The two woke up the 6-year old sleeping in the living room by calling through the window and when he opened the door, the Rabbi returned to his home. 


When she entered the bedrooms, the young daughter saw the horrific bloodsoaked scene and ran out of the house screaming. 


The neighbor ran back and fired several shots in the air to alert security personnel. Within a short time, large police and IDF forces arrived and began intensive searches to see if the terrorists were still in the community. At 03:30 a.m., military trackers discovered footprints leading to the Arab village of Avrata.

=============================================
May the Almighty embrace the souls of those who were murdered in a flood of light and total peace, while avenging their deaths.  May He be ever with the surviving children.
May there be strength for the senior Fogels and other friends and family who will care for the surviving children.  And may the love of the caretakers who will tend to them bring succor to the Fogel children, so that in time they may re-build their lives for good.
And, finally, may our people Israel know this sort of tragedy no more.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

WATCH OUT FOR ISRAELI APARTHEID

Where Is the Outcry Against Arab Apartheid? - Khaled Abu Toameh (Hudson Institute-New York)

Mohammed Nabil Taha, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy, died this week at the entrance to a Lebanese hospital after doctors refused to help him because his family could not afford to pay for medical treatment.

This tragic case highlights the plight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who live in Lebanon and who are the victims of an apartheid system that denies them access to work, education and medical care.

Ironically, the boy's death coincided with Israel Apartheid Week, a festival of hatred and incitement organized by anti-Israel activists on university campuses in the U.S., Canada and other countries.

And this is happening at a time when tens of thousands of Palestinian patients continue to benefit from treatment in Israeli hospitals.


  • Last year alone, some 180,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza entered Israel to receive medical treatment. Many were treated despite the fact that they did not have enough money to cover the bill.
  • In Israel, even a suicide bomber who is - only - wounded while trying to kill Jews is entitled to the finest medical treatment. 

Friday, March 11, 2011

Israel Apartheid Week?


The Real Jerusalem Streets

What is really happening in Jerusalem

Israeli Apartheid?


Saudi Arabia bans protests, Turkey locks up journalists, Iran and Libya kill their opponents.
Meanwhile, 55 college campuses around the world prepare for… Israel Apartheid Week.
Haneen Zoabi, a 41-year old Arab woman is an elected member of the Israeli Knesset
and has led anti-Israel protests.
Israeli apartheid?
Her actions would never be tolerated in any of the surrounding countries,
but Zoabi’s anti-government pieces are routinely published in main stream Jerusalem newspapers.
While Saudi Arabian women are forbidden to drive a car,
in Jerusalem, many Arab women take driving lessons
and sit on Egged buses in traffic jams on Agrippas Street like everyone else.
School girls are not afraid to share the same streets,
no matter what uniforms they wear,  and go on to attend Israeli universities
and find work in the medical professions
in Israeli hospitals.
Arab women walk alone
through the streets of the Old City
and in all the neighborhoods
around
Jerusalem,
dressed in clothing
of all types
and colors.
Often Arab women shop
in Mamilla Mall,
in the Machane Yehuda Market, the shuk,
on Jaffa Street,
King George Street,
and in Talpiot.
They can eat in a street cafe or restaurant
or walk with a male companion.
With young children
or alone,
Arab women are not afraid or forbidden to move around freely.
So is this Israeli apartheid?














You DO REALIZE that ISRAEL is the cause
of Islamic Apartheid, Honor Killings,
 Gender & Sexual Inequality, do you not?

Yes! It is ALL the fault of Israel. 

THEY MADE IRAN DO IT!

THEY MADE HAMAS AND HEZBOLLAH DO IT!

IT IS ALL THE FAULT OF ISRAEL!!!

Editor: 
"If you believe that, please put a few
 thousand dollars under MY pillow...."

Signed ..... I am the Tooth Fairy