Thread: Any Athesists out there? I need backup.

Baptists be batshit-bonkers. Tread lightly.

I think this belongs in the R/S forum. Speaking of R/S, you may want to check there and see what some of the atheist there are discussing and you can mode your theories around those as well.

Originally Posted by ExoByte

Baptists be batshit-bonkers. Tread lightly.

Haha, not to mention I'm smack dab in the middle of Georgia. :/

Originally Posted by ShadowNightWing

I think this belongs in the R/S forum. Speaking of R/S, you may want to check there and see what some of the atheist there are discussing and you can mode your theories around those as well.

Ah, will do.

Keep your ears tuned when they describe things that supposedly prove the existence of a creator rather than the god they worship. Theists generally don't make any attempt to prove their god over any other god. There is no evidence for any god in particular, so you shouldn't have much of a problem there.

The actual evidence they present for a creator generally falls along the lines of ignorance, willful ignorance, and using ignorance of certain phenomena to support the notion of a creator (like the cosmical argument). You should arm yourself against the cosmical argument and point out the many logical fallacies and educate yourself about the 2nd law of thermodynamics argument. Other than that, if you're relatively knowledgeable, intelligent, and think rationally, you should have no troubles.

Yes... Cause exists, therefore an invisible monarch with a gigantic and unstable ego created the universe. Get it?

Thanks Black Eagle, I needed a brush up on the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

Yes... Cause exists, therefore an invisible monarch with a gigantic and unstable ego created the universe. Get it?

Haha! Yeah, I've heard that argument from causality before, and I call bull.

These suggestions are awesome, keep 'em comin guys!

And for the sake of agreeability, I'd also throw in something that points out that you don't have a problem with faith, just the bad things people do in the name of faith. Like Jihads, indoctrination of ignorance, not giving homosexuals rights, etc. Because faith is just that: faith.

if you're accepting the invitation for the sake of having an argument, don't expect these people to flexible - just think of it as an educational experience haha... like ExoByte said, tread lightly.

Bring up of course god is real, he is even here on earth to change the bibles text every few years..

God supported Death Pentalty... So tell them they all support death penalty and claim them killers... lol , you really should video tape this one

sigh

Man. This thread is really depressing.

Well, it was interesting for sure.
I don't think any of the people there presented me with anything that really made me question anything.
They don't believe in evolution.... yikes..

Anyway, I didn't videotape it, but I did record sound, but it's about an hour and a half long.


This guy is pretty serious too, which I like. He invited me back next week. He's got this kind of "we'll explore this stuff together" attitude. Kinda weird, but maybe he'll learn something

^^ He's hoping to get you on their side. Really.

Actually, I know the type. A minister of the same kind spoke at my church before, and my pastor does it too.

They specifically go to college campuses to discuss things. One on one, and to a crowd. Some are even daring enough to pull out a megaphone.

Give him a chance man. They are sincere, and you have no idea all the preparation/guts it takes. These people are really doing alot, and it's for your personal well being.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

He's hoping to get you on their side. Really.

And I'm certain you speak from loads of experience. Actually, you're right. There are two sides. Heaven, and Hell.

They want him on the first.

^ Nevermind this guy, Tom. He's basically our local village idiot; chuckle and move on.

The best way to handle stuff like that is to not say anything for a long while and let them just talk until they start to run out of wys to rephrase their hypothesis, and then start questioning what they say. It's best for both parties because it let's them get everything out so you know thier arguments and it lets you pick them apart more easily. Don't expect these guys to walk away with anything you may tell them though. Baptists are the second worst kind, next to Pentacostals and after Seventh Day Adventists. Just hope they aren't the sort of person who thinks that yelling really loudly or saying something isn't true over and over is how you conduct intelligent conversation. You get a lot of those with them baptist folk.

Also, when you are arguing, remember that these people actually believe in this magical monarch of the universe. Like, they take it really seriously.

Tell me, how was I being an idiot in the above post? I suggested that he treat the Christians like humans, and you suggested that he treat them based on your biased perspecives.

Just be ready to hear lots of explanations which work with circular logic or with no logic at all. Don't expect rational thinking or reasoning, rather be ready to hear lots of emotional rambling, which essentially proves nothing unless you have experienced it personally inside your head. Don't go into their mindgames or wordplaying and be very patient since they will hit you with wall of text from the bible again, and again and again, assuming it will sink in if they repeat it enough.

My favorite one is to ask the reason why a single, human written book should be raised to an authority above rational reasoning of an individual. Ask that.

Humans were the medium. It was the inspiration that makes a difference.

Originally Posted by TomSnare

Well, it was interesting for sure.
I don't think any of the people there presented me with anything that really made me question anything.
They don't believe in evolution.... yikes..

Anyway, I didn't videotape it, but I did record sound, but it's about an hour and a half long.


This guy is pretty serious too, which I like. He invited me back next week. He's got this kind of "we'll explore this stuff together" attitude. Kinda weird, but maybe he'll learn something

If possible, please share.

Well, be curteous all the same. Like I said, it's kind of a lot on their parts.

You can upload the audio file to 2shared.com Make sure to compress it if you decide to upload it

I'm curious to know how many personal anecdotes they shared as.. evidence.

Originally Posted by A Roxxor

^ Nevermind this guy, Tom. He's basically our local village idiot; chuckle and move on.

The best way to handle stuff like that is to not say anything for a long while and let them just talk until they start to run out of wys to rephrase their hypothesis, and then start questioning what they say. It's best for both parties because it let's them get everything out so you know thier arguments and it lets you pick them apart more easily. Don't expect these guys to walk away with anything you may tell them though. Baptists are the second worst kind, next to Pentacostals and after Seventh Day Adventists. Just hope they aren't the sort of person who thinks that yelling really loudly or saying something isn't true over and over is how you conduct intelligent conversation. You get a lot of those with them baptist folk.

Also, when you are arguing, remember that these people actually believe in this magical monarch of the universe. Like, they take it really seriously.

Yeah, I tried to let them talk without interrupting, it's really hard sometimes though, like when they say things "decided" to evolve. lol.

Originally Posted by Black_Eagle

If possible, please share.

I'll have to edit it some, the raw file is really really slow and boring. On top of that, I need to get it into mp3 form, which I'll look into in the next couple days, the only thing I can do now with Audacity is wav :/

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

I'm curious to know how many personal anecdotes they shared as.. evidence.

Not a whole whole lot, surprisingly, but they had plenty of biased sources, which I pointed out blatantly




My man Norm gave me a bunch of little pamphlets and printouts and stuff about creationism. I'm tempted just to tell them that I'm not gonna argue about it because it's such a solid and widely accepted fact (keep in mind we're not just arguing evolution vs. creationism, but more like theism vs. atheism). Or I could just lay down some pro-evolution points and challenge them to 'disprove' them, which I think might be more effective.

I WILL NOT BLOW UP...I...WILL...RESTRAIN MYSELF!!!

Okay man. Download VLC media player (Good program. Small, and free. Can play virtually any audio file in existence. Pluz, it's multi platform)

Open up the audio file in VLC

Select media

select convert/save

select the file

select the convert/save button

beside profile, select Audio - Mp3

Make the destination file [anything].mp3

press start

When the file finishes converting, close the player an reopen before attempting to play the file. Doing so will only cause it to re-convert.

Upload the file to 2shared.com (Free file hosting. Megaupload will work too, but it has a 50 second time limit, and a captcha.)

Hope this works for you.

Ah, I've had VLC for a while, I didn't know it could convert, haha, I'll do that.

Keep in mind that I haven't edited it, so, it's really long and probably boring.

That's fine. I'm sure we don't mind the unedited version.

MAKE SURE TO UPDATE VLC

The tutorial I wrote is for the recent version. The older version is a little more complex.