Serious question, how can anyone in this day and age who is somewhat intelligent believe in God - Page 4 - Religion, God, and Theology

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Serious question, how can anyone in this day and age who is somewhat intelligent believe in God

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06-18-2010 , 04:58 PM

#76

einbert

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 14,910

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butcho22

Well it wasn't a very good point iyam. Unless you define smart as "doesn't believe in god", someone with a phd is going to be considered smart by, well, everyone else.

That's fine, a lot of people think our government is not corrupt, the war on drugs is right, and that they will go be with the angels when they die. Doesn't make any of those things the least bit true.

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06-18-2010 , 04:58 PM

#77

All-In Flynn

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Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 10,923

Quote:

Originally Posted by einbert

No but I would like to tell you to go **** yourself.

Feel free. Probably is quite embarrassing to make an unjustified sweeping generalisation and then be made to look like a tool. Go ahead and vent.

Quote

06-18-2010 , 04:59 PM

#78

SecondChance

adept

Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 974

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butcho22

I didn't mean that's the only thing that makes someone smart. I thought it was obvious that I was asking if that was a prerequisite to being considered smart.

You said you had yet to meet a smart theist. So why then don't you change your 99.99999% to 100%?

Because I'm sure there is at least 1 exception out there, since I haven't interviewed the entire world.

I mean, you can say it's a prerequisite to being considered smart, but I really wouldn't go that far. I mean, is believing that the earth is round a prerequisite to being smart? Technically it is, but it's kind of so obvious that I wouldn't even consider it one.

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06-18-2010 , 05:00 PM

#79

loK2thabrain

Tiger > Jack

Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 23,204

Quote:

Originally Posted by einbert

Because they really know that anything beyond deism can't be supported with logic or facts.

Quote

06-18-2010 , 05:00 PM

#80

einbert

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For what it's worth any degree, but probably especially advanced degrees have more to do with work ethic than actual intelligence. It's really not very hard to get any of those honors if you are willing to put the work in and are reasonably intelligent.

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06-18-2010 , 05:01 PM

#81

einbert

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Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 14,910

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butcho22

Man I have always wanted this pic to be posted about me, thanks for making me feel special today

Quote

06-18-2010 , 05:01 PM

#82

All-In Flynn

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Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 10,923

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondChance

Manamana, doo-doo de-doo-doo, Manamana, de-doo-doo-doo, Manamana, doo-doo de-doo-doo, de-doo do-do do de do de do!

Cool story bro.

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06-18-2010 , 05:02 PM

#83

SecondChance

adept

Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 974

Quote:

Originally Posted by einbert

To further expand on this, degrees from the bottom half of schools are meaningless and have an extremely low (most likely 10% at most) correlation with intelligence. Degrees from the top half of schools probably have a 50% correlation with intelligence, meaning there are a lot of exceptions and it's not correlated highly enough to even bring up

Quote

06-18-2010 , 05:05 PM

#84

loK2thabrain

Tiger > Jack

Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 23,204

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondChance

Riveting tale, chap.

Quote

06-18-2010 , 05:06 PM

#85

SecondChance

adept

Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 974

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butcho22

Riveting tale, chap.

I mean, I thought it was obvious but I guess some people apparently are totally shocked by that piece of information

Quote

06-18-2010 , 05:07 PM

#86

loK2thabrain

Tiger > Jack

Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 23,204

Nope. Just shocked that you can't admit there are a lot of smart theists.

Quote

06-18-2010 , 05:07 PM

#87

SecondChance

adept

Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 974

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butcho22

Nope. Just shocked that you can't admit there are a lot of smart theists.

LOL, because there aren't? Next thing you'll tell me is that there are a lot of smart people who believe the world is flat, or that unicorns and witches exist. It's practically the same thing..believing in concepts that were thought of as standard a long time ago, but now are regarded as absurd

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06-18-2010 , 05:13 PM

#88

loK2thabrain

Tiger > Jack

Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 23,204

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondChance

Look at it like this....

You're saying that I couldn't find 100 (1000, or whatever. a bunch of) theists that we could interview on a series of issues (anything except religion) with you coming out saying, "yeah, those dudes are pretty smart."

Do you realize what how idiotic this is?

Being an atheist isn't a prerequisite for being smart. If you think it is, then I don't know what to say. Well, I do know what to say, but I don't want to get banned so I'll bite my tongue.

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06-18-2010 , 05:13 PM

#89

SixT4

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Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 2,924

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondChance

You seem to have a lot of answers, but they all appear to be entirely anecdotal. Strange that.

Quote

06-18-2010 , 05:16 PM

#90

SecondChance

adept

Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 974

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butcho22

Yes, I don't think you could find 1000 theists that I would consider pretty smart.

And sorry to break it to you, but not believing in ridiculous theories IS a prerequisite to being smart. MAYBE there are a couple of smart people out there who have just been so brainwashed on this particular issue/are extremely stubborn/just not educated about religion, but the generalization that theists are dumb is one of the strongest, if not the strongest generalization out there. If you know of a stronger generalization, please say so.

Quote

06-18-2010 , 05:17 PM

#91

SecondChance

adept

Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 974

Quote:

Originally Posted by SixT4

You seem to have a lot of answers, but they all appear to be entirely anecdotal. Strange that.

I mean yeah, if you want to research it and find out some closer numbers then go ahead, but there's thing called common sense. Are you trying to say you disagree with that statement?

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06-18-2010 , 05:22 PM

#92

dknightx

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Can we get an IP check on SecondChance? Sounds like the Gunth in an atheist costume.

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06-18-2010 , 05:35 PM

#93

SecondChance

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Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 974

Anyway, can someone please answer my question about heaven? Do flies go? Dogs? Cats? Apes? At what point did humans evolve enough for them to go to heaven? What about other forms of life in other solar systems...what about life that's almost as complex as humans? More complex?

And one more question, why do you want there to be a god?

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06-18-2010 , 05:48 PM

#94

Weatherhead03

veteran

Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2,805

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondChance

How about you put your money where your mouth is.

Ill get two theists from this forum. We'll arrange an IQ test and you can go against them.

Although i'd be surprised if you had 500 bucks to your name.

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06-18-2010 , 06:01 PM

#95

RLK

veteran

Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 3,420

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butcho22

I am going to jump into this thread one more time. I apologize somewhat as this falls into the category of "I told you so", but I cannot resist. A couple of weeks ago I made this comment:

Quote:

The dimmest theists are matched by the dimmest atheists.

To which you responded:

Quote:

As one of the dimmer atheists on this forum, I can confidently say this is horribly wrong. (See Gunth and Splendour for exhibits A and B)

I did not challenge that then as I could not see a productive path forward, but I would now clarify that my original post was not motivated by you at all. I will not ask you to concede my point as there is still not enough evidence, but with this thread as a backdrop perhaps you could admit that my point did have some merit.

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06-18-2010 , 06:02 PM

#96

loK2thabrain

Tiger > Jack

Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 23,204

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondChance

Yes, I don't think you could find 1000 theists that I would consider pretty smart.

Well then you are an idiot.

Quote:

And sorry to break it to you, but not believing in ridiculous theories IS a prerequisite to being smart. MAYBE there are a couple of smart people out there who have just been so brainwashed on this particular issue/are extremely stubborn/just not educated about religion, but the generalization that theists are dumb is one of the strongest, if not the strongest generalization out there. If you know of a stronger generalization, please say so.

You don't get it. Believing in God cannot be compared to any other theory you're referring too.

Macro-evolution is the only other theory I can think of that is even close to being on the same playing field, but even that isn't the same.

These smart theists I'm referring to agree with 99.99999% of the theories agreed upon by the scientific community. (sorry that's vague, but hopefully you catch my drift.)

They are able to suspend logic and reasoning for this one issue. It doesn't change the fact that they are smart.

Maybe we should take a step back....Give us your definition of "smart", please.

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06-18-2010 , 06:04 PM

#97

Gunth0807

Wears Hoodies in Pizza Joints

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 9,249

Quote:

Originally Posted by dknightx

Can we get an IP check on SecondChance? Sounds like the Gunth in an atheist costume.

Definitely not me, i have never had a 2nd account on 2+2 and most likely never will.

Quote

06-18-2010 , 06:06 PM

#98

loK2thabrain

Tiger > Jack

Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 23,204

Quote:

Originally Posted by RLK

I am going to jump into this thread one more time. I apologize somewhat as this falls into the category of "I told you so", but I cannot resist. A couple of weeks ago I made this comment:

To which you responded:

I did not challenge that then as I could not see a productive path forward, but I would now clarify that my original post was not motivated by you at all. I will not ask you to concede my point as there is still not enough evidence, but with this thread as a backdrop perhaps you could admit that my point did have some merit.

I would say the poster in question is being incredibly stubborn. I still cannot put any atheist I've yet to come across in the same category as Gunth or Splendour.

However, I do admit that I've yet to know enough about, say, the OP of this thread, to rule out that he's on their level.

I hope this doesn't come off as me refusing to admit I'm wrong. Splendour has been here for years, and Gunth has many many posts in this forum compared with OP. I need more time, but I will admit that it's a possibility to your point has some merit.

Hopefully that's a good compromise for now.