<p>also my writing seminars were on Science and Pseudoscience and then Horror films. they didn’t spend any time trying to tell me about basic, elementary school grammar. because they assumed that in any formal paper, i was fully capable, being a Cornell student and all. and its not like i was in the remedial classes for the people who should have never been allowed to come to this school in the first place. just because i neglect to type 100% properly on a message board where what i’m trying to say is infinitely more important than how i say it does not mean that I don’t know how to do it. its ridiculously simple minded to think so. also i find it funny how you comment on my yours when my lack of aposotrophes and capitalizations are even more glaringly obvious…</p>
<p>Oh I see. Then continue. It’s just something I find annoying.
By all means. Enlighten us all!</p>
<p>lol just reread most of my stuff and i couldn’t find more than 2 places in which i messed up your/you’re with over like 15 uses. to quote the profit marshall mathers - if you don’t like it, you can suck my *<strong><em>ing *</em></strong>.</p>
<p>anybody care to take another jab at what i’ve written? care to tell me how religion is not a dark dark vestige of our past that, in the last 70 years, we’ve completely outgrown?</p>
<p>oh and i’ll let another fun fact out there! I went to church most sundays except during football season and was an alter boy until I was 14 y/o. I didn’t get so much as treated poorly by anybody involved so I wouldn’t want you to think that. It was not a fundamentalist church in any way and was in the northeast. I just quickly came to realize that all my of questions were legitimate and most of them had simple, concrete answers…especially once I started to actually learn math and science and how to use a computer and accumulate knowledge. The hypocrisy of ‘adherents’ as well as the complete and utter baselessness of their claims drove me away very fast. Not to mention praying, heaven and hell, yada yada yada…</p>
<p>So I wouldn’t want you to think that I believe the things I do because anybody told me to. I have a brain, and I use it to come to the most reasonable conclusion - even when that conclusion is ridden with extremely dark critiques of our (and my!) past and present and the overwhelming truth that most everything is meaningless, futile and will have no lasting impact. The only things that fall outside this category are those which advance the human race and the human condition such that at some point in the future we will actually be able to escape this planet, explore the cosmos, assemble wormholes, become a type II civilization and harness the power of our dying homestar, and see if anything else is out there. If we hear vast echos of nothingness, then so be it. Highly unlikely, but so be it. At the very least we’ll be able to get a better understanding of dark matter and hopefully quantum mechanics. On the human condition side, I’m talking about personal freedom and human rights. So don’t get me wrong in that I’m not saying that EVERYTHING is useless, just that most things are given acceptance of some of the most basic truths about our past, present and the road we took to get here. And when you die, thats it, unless you happened to invent an idea or tangible thing that is perputated by future generations. And within a few generations your impact is exponentially decreased until it asymptotically goes to zero within at most 500 years.</p>
<p>Also let me briefly give you a reason as to why religion is still good, depsite all of the negative aspects that I’ve brought up. I don’t know what to tell somebody either thats a crackhead or a dopefiend or is just plain poor and hopeless. I don’t know how to tell them that its partially their fault but partially their society’s but nobody is going to do anything about it. I don’t know how to do these things without in conclusion telling them to trust nobody and take responsibility for themselves. I don’t know how to tell them these things at the same time as telling them that when they die, there’s nothing for them. Sometimes the truth is sad. If people weren’t lied to all of their lives, maybe it’d be easier to get to. Oh well.</p>
<p>also, anybody else know why it says “Moved:” in front of the topic?</p>
<p>…because it’s been moved. </p>
<p>This has nothing to do with Cornell.</p>
<p>treesuss, shut up. You’re making atheists look bad.</p>
<p>If you were able to offer a rational argument, I’d hear you out. But so far, all you’ve done is bluster on about how all religious people are idiots who can’t face reality and you’re so much smarter than them. Really, your posts make you sound more ignorant than any religious person on this thread.</p>
<p>And I think your grammar mistakes only attracted attention because they follow the statement, “i take solice in the fact that i know i am intellectually superior to just about everybody.”</p>
<p>That’s needlessly wordy. Simply say, “I take solace in my intellectual superiority.”</p>
<p>lol a rational argument. are you srs? come the **** on. the whole point of this discussion is that you can’t “rationally” disprove something that there’s no evidence of existence of. it doesn’t even deserve the treatment. as for everything else religion espouses…again LOL.</p>
<p>^If you’re not going to offer a rational argument to support your point, what makes you better than dogmatic fundamentalists? And what’s the point of even posting? Do you just like insulting people?</p>
<p>Either say something constructive, or get off this thread and go revel in your intellectual superiority. And maybe learn some basic grammar.</p>
<p>Yes, good grammar will lead to spiritual enlightenment. Better get crackin’ with those SAT Writing books.</p>
<p>danyellie1913,</p>
<p>Many other posters on this forum are right, rationality is a big part of religion, even if religion does have a component of faith. If you show other college students that your “religious beliefs” are well reasoned, then they will respect you. However, you will have problems if your beliefs are not well reasoned. Many college students, especially at Ivys, are rightly angry at those religious people who say “I love god, I believe in every word of the Bible, and I believe I should be able to oppress others with those not well thought out beliefs, especially by using the government.” That kind of religiosity is not well thought, and you will rightly be attacked for it.</p>
<p>lol rationality is a big part of religion. hilarious.</p>
<p>jesus never lived as a real person. he’s an invention of the power structure of roman times and is a throwback to many sun god’s of old. look at the world through the perspective of its impossible for a virgin to give birth and its impossible for a man to make another rise from the dead and its impossible for a body to rise out of a tomb into the sky and you’ll start to see the seeds of deceit and control EVERYWHERE…</p>
<p>and if you can’t accept those 3 truths (he couldn’t perform miracles because they are impossible, he couldn’t have been born of a virgin because thats impossible and he couldn’t have risen from the dead because that, again, is impossible) then you are too far gone and too far detached from logic to be worth anybody’s time and effort. if you CAN accept these facts, then please explain to me why you think jesus ever even lived at all and why you think he was NOT simply a derivative of Horus and the other sun god’s of old…and guess what, you can’t appeal to authority and you certainly can’t appeal to the bible. so there, now what?</p>
<p>treesuss, before I begin let me say that I am also an atheist, I’m just posting this to prove that not all atheists are as ignorant as you.</p>
<p>Firstly, AMB never said anything about being Christian. Other religions exist, you know.</p>
<p>Second, most historians agree that there was a real person named Jesus who led a religious movement before being crucified. It was quite common in those days. The matter in question is if he was actually the son of God.</p>
<p>Also, you said that “he couldn’t perform miracles because they are impossible.” If they were possible, they wouldn’t be called miracles. Many Christians cite their impossibility as evidence that he must have been divine, not just some deluded nutcase.</p>
<p>Now that I have destroyed treesuss’ arguments, I will offer my own. AMB, could you give an example of a “well reasoned” belief system? Most religious people I’ve encountered base their beliefs off an ancient text or some vague, unexplained emotion, and neither of those seem especially rational to me.</p>
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<p>I don’t understand this argument: if you believe in Jesus and you’re wrong, nothing bad. If you don’t believe in jesus, and you’re wrong, you will burn in hell. Therefore, you should believe in Jesus. I mean…how do you not find that insulting? People should follow christianity (or any other religion, this is simply my example) not because it is a source of morals, communal bonding, and social acts of kindness; not because it will lead you down a path to a better life, give you a purpose to help yourself and others and give you a well-rounded sense of humility judgement… but because it is statistically the more probable and safer thing to do? If I followed a major religion (and I don’t, so take that with whatever bias you may feel), I would be deeply offended if people preached that they should believe in my religion because…“it couldn’t hurt”. You’re basically giving a scientific argument to the unscientific!</p>
<p>And I’m not even talking about the fact that you assumed the odds of heaven vs. non-heaven (“rot”, lol) are 50-50, which is a pretty outlandish claim even for hypothetical scenarios (evidence that brain shuts down after death: basically 100%. Evidence that you have a spirit that can detach from your living presence [soul]: 0. Evidence that death leads to heart stoppage, body temperature decreasing, and overall loss of all vitals: again, approx 100%. Evidence of an ever-lasting “heaven” where souls meander and talk to god: 0. I could continue), so to make an off-the-cuff assumption that the two possibilities are equal as if it’s no big deal is pretty remarkable, and wrong.</p>
<p>Listen, I don’t believe in god or the afterlife for the simple reason that there is no evidence for it. But I’m not one of these militant atheists who are against all religions and religious individuals. If you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc, great. Good for you! As I said before, religion can be a great source of morals, community bonding, and overall social wellness. And if you are truly faithful, if you honestly have strong beliefs in your religion or Creator, then nothing any scientist says can touch you: you believe in God, you don’t need evidence! It is the people who try to distort science (Evolution is wrong, Great flood proven, etc), who try and make it so science agrees with them, that I have a problem with, because it is telling me that they don’t have strong enough faith in their own beliefs: they need to warp the truth so they can convince themselves that what they ‘believe’ is real. But if you’re a true believer you don’t need science. Stop trying to use the laws that govern the natural to explain the supernatural. </p>
<p>And go to Cornell, it’s a great school.</p>
<p>“It’s mathmatically safer to believe in God. Think of it as an insurance policy.”</p>
<p>As an Evangelical Christian, I find that appalling. You’re supposed to believe in God because of faith and love, not your own selfish desires.</p>
<p>“because of faith and love” lolwut?</p>
<p>Because of faith, you are supposed to believe in God? Do you know what the definition of faith is and what it means to have faith in something? lol. What?</p>
<p>Because of love, you are supposed to believe in God? First of all, we could debate what love is and whether it exists too. But we’re not going to… Either way, an interpersonal emotion has nothing at all to do with believe in a higher power. You can love God if you believe in him but niether implies nor is the reason for the other.</p>
<p>So that leaves… you believe in God because he loves you? Orly? Care to explain how or in what ways, specifically? Oh, haha.</p>
<p>^ I think we all understand what context joshcasto’s post is in reference to, so you’re either being a wisea$$ or you’re just an idiot.</p>
<p>what context? I’m being 100% serious. I’d like to know how I’m an idiot…?</p>
<p>He says “because of faith and love” and I’m asking what how and why and you’re telling me that I’m stupid because its obvious? Howso? Enlighten me.</p>
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<p>Your desire to get into heaven doesn’t have anything to do with it?</p>
<p>Only insofar as being with God for eternity – which is love.</p>