Although you are new at golf, you have just hit a beautiful 200-yard drive and your ball has landed on a blade of grass near the cup at Hole 3. The green contains ten million blades of grass. The odds of your ball landing on that blade of grass are 10,000,000 to one against, too improbable to have happened by mere chance. What's the explanation?


The wind guided it
Your muscles guided it
There is no need for an explanation
You consciously designed your shot to land on that particular blade


Which of the following is most likely to be true, and why?


Romulus was the son of God, born to a mortal human virgin
Dionysus turned water into wine
Apollonius of Tyana raised a girl from the dead
Jesus Christ was the son of God, born to a mortal virgin, turned water into wine, and raised a man from the dead


Conceding that torture is permissible under certain conditions, which of the following would be the best justification?


Your prisoner is the only one who knows the date and time of an assassination attempt on the Pope
Your prisoner is the only one who knows where a nuclear device has been planted in Washington, D.C.
Your prisoner is the only one who knows where a vial of nerve gas has been placed in the London water supply system
Your prisoner has announced that the earth revolves around the sun


We know that Christianity is true because the Gospel writers, inspired by God who can make no error, recorded the founding events. For example, on the first Easter morning, the visitors to the tomb were greeted by which of the following:


A young man (Mark 16:5)
No, no, it was no man, it was an angel (Matthew 28:2-5)
You're both wrong, it was two men (Luke 24:4)
Damn it, there was nobody there (John 20:1-2)


According to inerrant Scripture, the Savior prayed alone in the garden while the three disciples who accompanied him had fallen asleep. How did the gospel writer know the words of that prayer?


Jesus left them written down under a rock
They were recorded on a primitive taping device
The gospel writer was psychic
The three disciples were later hypnotized and asked to recall the prayer


According to at least one sainted church father, one of the pleasures of the saved will be to behold the agony of the damned. What would be the best time of day in heaven for a mother to behold the agony of her only son?


Early in the morning before it gets too crowded
Mid-day when she can compare notes and share the celebration with other mothers
Late at night when she can enjoy the flames in starker contrast


In the Judeo-Christian tradition, we always look to the Bible as a guide. In this example, your teenage son has returned home from the prom intoxicated. The Bible's instruction is:


Sit him down for a heart to heart talk
Enroll him in AA
Take away his driving privilege for one month
Smash his head in with rocks


In this example, your son-in-law, returned from his honeymoon, has just told you he suspects your daughter was not a virgin on their wedding night. Wishing to abide by God's holy rules as laid out in the Bible, you should:


Ask him if he was a virgin before you do anything
Advise him to forgive her
Talk to your daughter
Go find those rocks


You are eating lunch at a crowded fast food restaurant, occupied mostly by children, when suddenly a gunman bursts in, screams "Do not question or test me," and sprays the room with bullets. Ten people are killed instantly, many more grievously wounded, but somehow you escape unharmed. His ammunition expended, the gunman collapses to the floor. What should you do?


Call the police and wait for them to arrive
Call the police and leave
Risk death by asking the gunman why he did it, even though he told you not to
Fall on your knees and give thanks and praise to the gunman for sparing your life


Why did God show his backside to Moses, as described in Holy Scripture, Ex.33:23?


He invented everything, and this was simply the first mooning
He was really ticked off when Moses dropped the tablets
He was piqued, having just discovered His almighty powers were useless against chariots of iron (Judges I:19)
Moses was too serious and needed to lighten up a little


Jesus was God, and God knows all things, including all the medical knowledge that will ever be known. Why did Jesus blame demons for the case of epilepsy he cured?


He was suffering from a temporary case of "brain freeze"
The Aramaic word for "demon" is the same as the word for "cranial malfunction"
Neurology was not his specialty
In first-century Palestine, demons really did cause epilepsy. This affliction only began to be caused by electrochemical brain activity after about 1850 A.D.


This morning's paper carries a story about a suburban father who became so enraged with his disobedient children that he carried them both to the backyard pool where he drowned them, along with their puppy, their kitten, and their hamster. How should this father be treated?


He should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law
He should be banished from the town
He should be lynched to save the taxpayers' money
The townspeople should gather together to sing hymns of praise to him

I love the humour in that post locutious, and it does raise so many relevant, pertinent questions for theists to ponder, but that is unlikely, as it is not in our nature to ponder too much, over things that make us uncomfortable.

We also have the ever present catch-22 of all theists;
God moves in mysterious ways.

Well I disagree with you on those points soren, it is totally futile trying to argue logically about god's existence, against a committed theists faith.

However, the daily contradictions, the unanswerable questions, for some mount up, and leads them to stop accepting the absolute truth of all they have usually had drummed into them from infancy.

When they start to ask their own questions, and seek their own answers, a light hearted approach may be more preferable, than trying to wade through existential arguments, without end, for all they want is to find their own path, and for many, it is the first time in the life they experience that.

I'm not back, but I do miss you guys. Here's a different take on Atheism. You do need to read the whole thread. It reflects my belief that 'atheism' (the lack of belief (whatever that means) in gods (pick your own definition but it should include wooden artifacts)) is irrelevant. I think everybody should find it amusing - atheists and theists alike. I particularly like the new classification of 'ARA' (Anal Retentive Atheist)

http://www.the-brights.net/forums/forum/index.php?showtopic=9418&st=0

muso wrote on Apr 20^th, 2009 at 11:36am:

Yeah great link.

Hope to see you back full time soon.

Yadda wrote on Apr 18^th, 2009 at 11:46pm:


I don't think the questioner finished their sentence in an impartial way, I just gave it some help.

Being the materialist that I am I have to say that I think it is simply the brain's last hurrah, maybe it's last desparate attempt to restart everything or maybe just an attempt to distract us from the too painfull reality. This last flaring of all the binary circuits switching off and on seems to me to be the last desparate act of the self aware organism.

Yadda, I don't believe in an afterlife, I really hope I am wrong because quite frankly nothingness is unappealing at best and downright frightening at worst. I am not one of those courageous souls that say that death holds no fright for me but I do hope to meet it courageously, like Spinoza. Yet even though it frightens me there are things that I would trade my life for without hesitation and probably more importantly even after a second thought. Protecting or helping my little boy is the most obvious.

As for Kerry Packer not seeing heaven....surprise surprise. Sorry that is facetious, but I could not resist.

Yadda wrote on Apr 20^th, 2009 at 2:56pm:


We can only work within the framework we have, and all assumptions need to be questioned where appropriate.

The concept of science is to try to cross check the information we have with others in a way that reduces the risk of getting it wrong.

This is why scientists tend to be sceptical of things that are not testable.