Mitochondria do pretty much one thing: convert sugar to energy for the cell. It doesn't control any development despite a malfunction having severe effects.
I think that, in this day and age, we are quite capable of learning right from wrong and doing the right thing for its own sake rather than filling our heads with nonsense about someone, somewhere watching with a notebook and preparing a reward if we do good and a punishment if we do bad, all based on a book written thousands of years ago and most of which has little relevance to life today. What religion provides most people (present company excluded, I'm sure) is a set of rules by which we can judge others while claiming immunity to judgement simply because we "believe." It is evident in the cherry-picking of rules to apply to others while violating many more ourselves. The same people who quote Leviticus against gays, for example, cut their hair and beards, eat pork and shellfish, don't make proper sacrifices to God, etc., etc., etc. and claim they don't because "times have changed." At the same time, for those filthy gays, times have most definitely NOT changed, and only because these good Christians choose to "believe" they have not. Similar examples can be derived from the New Testament as well.
I would not presume to dispute the wisdom of most of the teachings of Jesus, but I would deny any divinity without objective evidence. One can follow the teachings without deifying the teacher.
As for Pascal's Wager (if you're wrong and there is a God...), I'll take my chances. If there is a god, I'm sure he'll understand if I use the brain he gave me to puzzle out whether or not he exists with the objective evidence he provided. And as for what started the Big Bang, well, if a god did it, where did the god come from? Not knowing is no excuse for making up stories.
Finally, wrapping back to good and bad actions, if a person is only doing good to get a reward or to avoid a punishment, that doesn't say much for that person, does it?
I've also been mugged. I've also been beaten. I've also beaten the living shit out of the next guy who attacked me. Messed up his car, too. I told him to go home and tell his friends he got messed up by a fairy. I guarantee you he will not be out gay-baiting again, now that he knows some of us can fight back. And WILL. If that means I can't go to the UK, I don't think I'm missing all that much.
You absolutely do NOT know your life is not in any danger. If he has chosen to attack me, he chooses to accept the possible consequences, which include his death.
So next time I think WE have a police state...
I guess it is not in the interest of the "public good" in Britain for its citizens to be able to defend themselves. I don't care what the pansies in the UN say, you have the right to kill the guy who's trying to kill you.
This is a major gray area that should be resolved. BART is not a government agency per se, it is "quasi-governmental." It should either be moved into the government domain, in which case, the government can decide when it can turn off wireless (or discontinue any other service), or a fully private agency, in which case it can decide for itself what services it will provide and when.
Then there is the question of BART "police"...
I seem to remember these same types boycotting Disneyland, which shrugged it off and declared itself a Baptist-free zone. They didn't suffer and neither will EA. These wretched people have no more power than the rest of us give them.
Convenient because, for most of them, you don't have to be born into it. You can have your fun and then "repent" at the last minute and voila! You're saved!
I had the same issue with advanced statistics. Took it 20 years ago and had my butt kicked. I bit the bullet and took it again after 20 years and got an A -- you'll be amazed how much better your brain works when it's been in use for a while. Fear not!
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Note that the government are really the only ones saying "there's nothing you can do." Meaning there's nothing THEY can do.
Well there's an endorsement all but guaranteed to remove all credibility.
Mitochondria do pretty much one thing: convert sugar to energy for the cell. It doesn't control any development despite a malfunction having severe effects.
And how many people voted for Prop H8 after telling pollsters they wouldn't?
are a moronic race...
I think that, in this day and age, we are quite capable of learning right from wrong and doing the right thing for its own sake rather than filling our heads with nonsense about someone, somewhere watching with a notebook and preparing a reward if we do good and a punishment if we do bad, all based on a book written thousands of years ago and most of which has little relevance to life today. What religion provides most people (present company excluded, I'm sure) is a set of rules by which we can judge others while claiming immunity to judgement simply because we "believe." It is evident in the cherry-picking of rules to apply to others while violating many more ourselves. The same people who quote Leviticus against gays, for example, cut their hair and beards, eat pork and shellfish, don't make proper sacrifices to God, etc., etc., etc. and claim they don't because "times have changed." At the same time, for those filthy gays, times have most definitely NOT changed, and only because these good Christians choose to "believe" they have not. Similar examples can be derived from the New Testament as well.
I would not presume to dispute the wisdom of most of the teachings of Jesus, but I would deny any divinity without objective evidence. One can follow the teachings without deifying the teacher.
As for Pascal's Wager (if you're wrong and there is a God...), I'll take my chances. If there is a god, I'm sure he'll understand if I use the brain he gave me to puzzle out whether or not he exists with the objective evidence he provided. And as for what started the Big Bang, well, if a god did it, where did the god come from? Not knowing is no excuse for making up stories.
Finally, wrapping back to good and bad actions, if a person is only doing good to get a reward or to avoid a punishment, that doesn't say much for that person, does it?
That was an excellent post. I am long since done pussyfooting around trying not to offend someone's delusion.
they can win in any court in the world... LOL
I get little enough sleep during the week. I'll be damned if I'm going to continue the pattern when I don't have to!
I've also been mugged. I've also been beaten. I've also beaten the living shit out of the next guy who attacked me. Messed up his car, too. I told him to go home and tell his friends he got messed up by a fairy. I guarantee you he will not be out gay-baiting again, now that he knows some of us can fight back. And WILL. If that means I can't go to the UK, I don't think I'm missing all that much.
You absolutely do NOT know your life is not in any danger. If he has chosen to attack me, he chooses to accept the possible consequences, which include his death.
So next time I think WE have a police state... I guess it is not in the interest of the "public good" in Britain for its citizens to be able to defend themselves. I don't care what the pansies in the UN say, you have the right to kill the guy who's trying to kill you.
This is a major gray area that should be resolved. BART is not a government agency per se, it is "quasi-governmental." It should either be moved into the government domain, in which case, the government can decide when it can turn off wireless (or discontinue any other service), or a fully private agency, in which case it can decide for itself what services it will provide and when. Then there is the question of BART "police"...
Let's keep sending Demoblicans and Republicrats to Congress so we can keep having intrusive and harmful government!!! Yay!
It may cost less to live there and the weather is nice, but it IS a third-world country.
You mean we don't????
Between these stories on the other side of the world and the fundamentalist nutjobs over here, I think the religulous are getting it sewn up.
I seem to remember these same types boycotting Disneyland, which shrugged it off and declared itself a Baptist-free zone. They didn't suffer and neither will EA. These wretched people have no more power than the rest of us give them.
Convenient because, for most of them, you don't have to be born into it. You can have your fun and then "repent" at the last minute and voila! You're saved!
I had the same issue with advanced statistics. Took it 20 years ago and had my butt kicked. I bit the bullet and took it again after 20 years and got an A -- you'll be amazed how much better your brain works when it's been in use for a while. Fear not!