alphaQuad wrote:
> OK, on to the relevance then. Beliefs are just that, something you want to
> believe but for which you have no personal experience that would justify it.
> 
> What's greater then belief? When you KNOW from experience, you do in fact
> actually know something. Belief is more like a faerie tale.
> 
> An atheist has beliefs and doesn't know anything. I am particularly interested
> in these people, because of what I could show them. Call me vulnerable, or just
> crazy, but if you only KNEW!!!!!!
> 
This is vastly ironic, coming from someone that, probably, like most, 
lump atheists into some homogeneous group that all agree with each other 
on "beliefs". Its also even more ironic in that you have

a) Belief that the Bible actual describes something that happened. 
Evidence to support it - your belief that you experienced god. The 
evidence of any of it really happening though... Hmm..

b) Belief that such belief makes you better. Ok.. then explain why it is 
that, other than a few exceptions, nearly all wars are religiously 
motivated, and some of the most vile evil people today "mask" themselves 
in your religion. There isn't a lot of evidence than believing in god 
does anything more than provide justification for those that are "sure" 
they are good, to do the things they want, certain in their own minds 
that everything they do is also what god wants. Too bad no one else 
would agree with all their choices, when made based on that criteria.

c) And this one is part and parcel of the denial of science in this 
country. The abject refusal, despite diseases like Alzheimer's, despite 
nearly half the population having to have glasses, despite people losing 
their hearing, despite the known effects of drugs on the mind, despite 
blindingly obvious cases of people seeing things, despite the known 
effects of fasting, which includes hallucinations, despite head injuries 
changing people's personalities, despite "several diseases" that are 
known to induce false religious experiences, and none of which even 
"gets to" the neurological evidence we have now... despite "all" of 
these things, people like alphaQuad imagine that "religious" experiences 
are in some "special" category, for which their "personal" direct 
experiencing of them is 100% infallible, and always right, and 
constitutes 100% undeniable *evidence* of the existence of the main 
character of their favorite faerie tale.

The argument holds about as much water, based on, "knowing from 
experience", as the fools looking for how DNA works by comparing it to 
Chinese language characters. Its pure gibberish. The brain is not 
reliable at telling if its "own" experiences are accurate, and even some 
*Christian* philosophers, and members of the church, over the last 2000 
years, including both Fancis Bacon, and St. Thomas Aquinas, managed to 
figure that out (or at least almost do so). Why is it that, especially 
in the US, there seems to be an absolute outbreak of people that *can't*?

-- 
void main () {

     if version = "Vista" {
       call slow_by_half();
       call DRM_everything();
     }
     call functional_code();
   }
   else
     call crash_windows();
}

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