You start on the 'think about it' screen where you are presented with 4 choices, shown here.
So we have a diagram of 4 possible choices. We'll start bottom right and choose 'I don't care'
Result: Wow that was easy, they just gave up. Though to be fair the main page of the 'proof' section claims that it does not provide persuasion just logic. I thought this was going to be a challenge but...lets try some other options.
Both 'I don't know' and 'trust does not exist' lead to the same stupid question, posted here.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict this sort of minimalist strong arming is going to dominate the whole proof section. After all if you don't know whether or not absolute truth exists you are forced either admit that it does or go back to the main screen. No argument, no discussion, binary answers to really bad questions.
Now the final of the 4 choices is top left, sitting in for good information we are forced to admit that 'absolute truth exists.' I should amend that its a ridiculous choice but I always liked to diagram the choose your own adventure books to see where your path would inevitably lead.
Allow me to elaborate one step further as, at this point, I have not looked at any of the questions afterwards but I can predict that this whole thing is some variant of what my childhood self dubbed 'a loopy funnel.' We all know where the proof supposedly goes, the only question is how the choices we make or answers we provide will get us there.
In the two or three CYOA games that I plotted out there were certain situations you could run into from multiple paths. One such, that always stuck with me, was walking past a bubbling mud hole where you could jump in, rub some on wounds, throw in a coin or keep walking. And this same stupid mudhole was after a cave, inside the enchanted forest and along the path to the ocean.
Let's see how things progress from here, shall we. If you go with 'Absolute Truth' you come to this screen and get to begin the journey to 'prove' god exists. Heigh-ho, I can't wait.
Let's see how Step 1 enriches our lives, shall we?
******************
I was going to do this point by point but that turned into WAY to many screenshots so I will just diagram it out for you in simple terms and throw a few caps in along the way.
Here's the basic gist of the 'proof' you'll have to click on the image to make any sense of it because it goes across 3 screens.
I know it looks tiny but that image is 3000 pixels long.
The basic format is actually far simpler than I envisioned. Lamentably I was ABSOLUTELY correct in my presupposition that its just a bunch of forced choices. No loops, no redundancies and absolutely no elegance to the whole thing.
Wait, that sounds about right for religious thinking.
Anyway things are pretty tame up until the last part, after step 7 you get a teaser for the penultimate and final proof.
And finally we arrive at...ah fuck it here's the ultra disappointing reveal...
Goats and gonads what a mother lovin' waste of time. That's not a proof its not even a sound idea let alone earth shattering or mind-bending.
I'll get to why it's stupid in a second (besides the obvious) but you have to love the irony of this whole test saying that the immutability of physical law proves the existence of a supernatural deity unbeholden to any such laws.
Actually, I think I am just going to make a video with Camtasia and rip this thing to shreds.
It was a sad week, just a hair under my typical quota. 3.550 MC which isn't terrible and it would have been much better but my frickin' knee flipped out on me on Friday.
I got in a decent 1500 on Tuesday, 1200 on Thursday and I was well on my way to somewhere in between on Friday when a constant ache in my knee started to fuck up my concentration. Around 600 it got to the point where I couldn't stand the thought of keeping it up.
Sacrificing a body part, especially one connected to my quadriceps (my biggest source of calorie output other than my brain perhaps) just isn't worth losing for a single workout.
The good news is that I have already banged out 2450 for the week which means another good workout or 3 decent walks will get me back up to speed. Hopefully I can get a couple good ones in before Friday and the drunken debauchery of this weekend won't offset my progress too badly.
I plan to consume roughly 5 MC of alcoholic beverages and the only exercise I will be getting will include carrying my computer roughly 50 feet, swigging said alcoholic beverages and jumping out of my chair to scream obscenities during the LAN party portion of the festivities.
So about two years ago I stumbled across the following video on Youtube:
10 questions that every intelligent question must answer
It's an excellent video pointing out some of the more glaring problems with christianity and the christian faith in general. The video is associated with the ever popular whywontgodhealamputees.com and godisimaginary.com
And it was with a sense of mirth that I stumbled across this next video which seeks to refute the original video and fails miserably to do so.
Now I comment, rate and favorite videos pretty often and I am occasionally guilty of spouting off some bullshit for no good reason. I've reviewed some of my comments and found them hasty, tacky, stupid or incoherent but its pretty rare that anyone actually bothers to reply.
Not so today, dear readers. The creator of the video got a little nasty with me about the issue so I will post my original comment and his replies in chronological order for your amusement.
Toledosteal: (that's me) Failed to answer question #1. If running the universe involves miraculously healing SOME ailments then on at least one occasion this would require healing an ailment that is outside the scope of the human immune system/genetic inability to regenerate limbs.
You can't say god heals sick people without healing amputees because sometimes sick people get better on their own. The point is that miracles do not happen or amputees would spontaneously heal if god wanted them to. Ass
Reply #1
Patrickdunnevant: ///The point is that miracles do not happen or amputees would spontaneously heal if god wanted them to.///
Well, that's a very important final clause: "if god wanted them to."
Suppose he doesn't. What does your argument do then?
Riposte #1 (from me)
Very simple, I suppose god doesn't want to heal people despite infinite power/skill/intelligence on his part.
That makes your god a giant asshole answerable to every second of human misery throughout existence. I am glad your god doesn't exist because if he did then all of 'his creation' would be a giant nightmare for a few years and then an eternity of obesiance or agony.
Lucky for us rational folk you guys are wrong.
Reply #2
Then I suppose you are also a "giant asshole", too. After all, what in the world are you doing to fund research that would help amputees? Are you doing everything in your power to help people like that, or are you sitting passively on the sideline?
You certainly can do a great deal to help, but I suppose you merely "don't want" to make that extra financial commitment, right?
You evil, evil person.
***(part 2)
I got an idea. How about, instead of blowing up propane tanks like an idiot, you donate that money you used for destruction to a medical technology organization instead?
Riposte #2
Three things:
You're being spiteful instead of turning the other cheek.
I don't donate money to fund amputee healing research but I have donated bone marrow 4 times in the last 3 years. It hurts like an unholy bitch slap and I am sore for a month afterwards but its something almost anyone can do to help.
Also I am not an omnipotent deity. If I were then I would certainly do everything in my power to fix this rotten mess of a planet, end human suffering and prove how lame your idea of god is
***(part2)
Also every time I reply to your comments I am adding a 1 star rating to this video. Just doing my part for the greater good.
********************
Updated comments here:
Reply3:How am I being spiteful in pointing out the obvious conclusion of your argument? And perhaps you should check out Matthew 23.
Well, that's a start. But there's still a great deal that you obviously COULD be doing. And since you aren't doing all of that, you are therefore evil by your own logic. It doesn't matter that you're not omnipotent. That doesn't mean anything. What matters is that you COULD do something, and you choose not to. Evil.
Out of curiosity, how would you "end human suffering?"
Part2: (pretty frickin' annoying how short 500 characters really is)
Thanks for admitting that you're the atheist equivalent of a creationist votebot, Toledosteal. At least you're honest in spite of your despicable evil nature.
Right? Or will you renounce your argument?
Riposte3: Calling me an idiot and a destructive time waster (propane tanks cost about 5 bucks each) is being spiteful. Calling me an asshole for any reason is spiteful.
I am doing something vital for humanity, not for amputees but for people that need help via a healthy blood forming system I am there.
By calling me evil you are also calling god evil, you're really to lump in the big guy just to take down a random youtube atheist? I am human, not evil. You and everyone else is evil by that logic too.
Part2: I'm not votebotting, I told you I only vote when answering your replies. That's what ratings are for. And I believe in honesty which is why i disbelieve in your and every other god. Also, to end human suffering would be simple, meet all human needs and ensure justice and fairness for all people.
If you're omnipotent how F'in hard would that be? The fact that your god would send a single soul to hell is proof beyond doubt that god is invented by people. Because only people could be so cruel
Part3: Also, the 500 character format is impossible to respond adequately. Send me a PM and we can take it to long form email if you care to continue this.
Reply4: What ratings are for is to give your opinion about the video in question, not to continually do in such a way as to lower the overall ranking. You are indeed votebotting.
How would you "meet all human needs?" Would you put everyone in a world and make it impossible to do bad things? Where does free will fit into the equation? How would you ensure justice and fairness for all without, say, divine judgment, which you seem to take issue with, or removing human will entirely?
It's not that simple.
Riposte5: Your logic was to apply my argument about GAWD to ME, a non-omnipotent human. That is where you seem to be missing the point.
And all I admit is that everyone on earth is human. Your deity is remarkably human as well. So how about instead of your little false dichotomy strawman I conclude that because god shares the characteristics of man he/she/it must in fact be human.
Reply6: The fact that God is omnipotent means absolutely nothing in this argument.
Your argument is still that because he isn't doing everything he possibly can to stop evil from happening, he is therefore evil. Using subject substitution, because YOU aren't doing everything in your power to stop evil, you are also evil. Though an omnipotent being could do much more than you could, the fact that you're doing practically nothing says a great deal.
Back up your claim about how God is "remarkably human."
I cannot comment because I guess there's a limit on how many times you can comment in a certain period of time to cut down on spam/trolling so I'll wait a bit and see how that goes.
Oh good its back on, things are getting a bit muddled now but i'll keep it chronological.
Riposte6: Omnipotence is a key factor because unlike me god doesn't have needs/a job/a wife that take up time. If he has infinite power he should be able to manage creation and still have infinite power left over for extra stuff.
If I had infinite power I would cure every disease RIGHT NOW. I would even cure your inability to think critically.
What are you doing that's so great for humanity? You think you're saving souls by making youtube videos? Really, what else you got?
(response to the jab about being a votebot)
Ratings are there to indicate quality and in your case lack thereof.
You wouldn't have to take care of everything just the basics of biology and education. If someone tries to commit a crime you don't let them carry it out, if they try to rape you prevent it and fix whatever psychosis they have to cause that behavior in the first place.
The only reason faith is exalted by you theists is because a real god wouldn't need it. Without a real deity you HAVE to have faith because it's all fake.
Spicy stuff, right? I hope that C word replies because I would love to eviscerate him without the constraints of 500 character nonsense and filet his brain for the entertainment of my 3 loyal fans. (Mary, Veko and Nats you guys rock!)
Also I did check out Mathew 23 and there's an awful lot of shit to wade through. This verse caught my eye for Irony's sake.
27AX)">(AX) "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are likeAY)">(AY) whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones andAZ)">(AZ) all uncleanness.28So you alsoBA)">(BA) outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full ofBB)">(BB) hypocrisy and lawlessness.
********End update
That's the state of things right now.
Here's what cracks me up about the whole thing from the outset. This chucklehead patrickdunnevant decides he's going to refute the video but just dodges questions, ignores facts and distorts reality throughout.
For example in 'answering' the first question he basically says "well yeah god coulda fixed them amputees but he don't want to"
But the author of the reply video also talks about how medical professionals believe in miracles and all this crap just like he does. While I am highly skeptical of the reliability of his statistics he puts forth the claim that 3/4 doctors believe in miracles.
Really.
Now as the son of physician I can argue that even in the deep dirty south it is unlikely that 3/4 doctors believe that god lends a hand during surgery or highlights deformities during xrays or anything like that. If you lump in nurses, aides, reception people and sales reps for the big pharm then I have no doubt you'd be a lot closer.
But patrickdunnevant ignores the simple, inescapable premise of the original video. Amputees are never healed spontaneously, there is absolutely no current method of a human reproducing or regenerating a limb.
Humans however CAN naturally recover from stuff like Cancer, heart disease, kidney stones, tumors, difficult births etc. But NOT amputation.
The claim that miraculous healings have occurred when it comes to stuff like Cancer, heart disease, kidney stones, tumors, difficult births etc is a moot point because there is some probability that the body will win a few of these battles despite a grim prognosis. If anyone ever regenerated a limb that would be darn near miraculous.
But it has never happened and without some advanced medical technology to bump things along will never happen in reality. We as organisms simply do not possess the means or ability to regenerate an arm or a leg. It's a fundamental part of our biology just like we can't breathe underwater or fly through the air.
"But god COULD do it, he just don't want to..." This is not an argument. God could have prevented the holocaust but he didn't not because he is evil or lazy or impotent but because he is IMAGINARY.
There's no getting around it and if patrickdunnevant had half brain he'd stop rationalizing his way into looking like a tool and figure that out.
Also if anyone was curious about his comment about blowing up propane tanks he was referring to the these:
I submit proof of her status here and now with a link to an article penned by her regarding the fate of one Dr. George Tiller. The article was written one day after said doctor was murdered during church services, just in case you haven't been paying attention.
Several things caught my eye about this craven witch's attempt to justify no moral outrage over the man's murder.
In addition to being a hit man for hire, Tiller also offered funerary services to mothers that paid him to off their kids. While most clinics in the nation are content to just rape and scrape, Tiller took his practice leaps and bounds beyond the norm and peddled abortion packages that included photographing, footprinting, handprinting, baptism, cremation, and arrangement for autopsy.
Oh, god forbid the man actually help his patients (the mom's) by sparing them the trouble of making arrangements seperately. Not every baby that was aborted was brought in by some cracked out mom on meth laughing about gettin' her baby sucked out. Late term abortions are often carried out because they represent a threat to the mother.
So finding out your 8 month baby will kill you unless it is aborted is bad, having to make the choice to save your own life is worse and then wanting to see that it is interred according to your wishes before you have even seen it's little face is probably a fucking nightmare from which I am glad to have been spared. Gingi, you cunt, why can't you think about anything besides your own miserable preconceptions?
My second point of contention comes from this section:
Murder is murder, and it is something that we pro-lifers inherently deplore. But I can't help but note - and my history is rusty so pardon me here - I'm trying to remember, did anyone mourn Lee Harvey Oswald when Jack Ruby gunned him down?
Allow me to translate this segment into rational person thought: Group A abhors action M except when Action M is committed against practioners of Action M.
Allow me to translate this into how my brain parses such a nonsensical statement: I Gingi Edmonds, pro-life cunt, do hereby announce that my hypocrisy is not some quiet error in judgement but a bold and contradictory proof that my brain does not work correctly. After all how can you inherently deplore an act SELECTIVELY.
If I denounce racism *except against people who are themselves racist* then I am a hypocrite. The way to unravel this is simple, and Ms. Edmonds the sea witch could take a hint by applying some logic to her own views. IE racists are assholes, however being an asshole racist does not justify asshole racism towards you (the asshole racist) but nor does it preclude the fact that you are a racist asshole.
I mean, think about it. Someone just shot a Nazi guard manning the gas chamber at Aushwitz. I should feel bad about this? George Tiller the Baby Killer's acts are every bit as vile as the Nazi war criminals who were hunted down, tried, and sentenced after they participated in the "legal" murder of the Jews that fell into their hands.
Asinine, short-sighted, never-read-a-fucking-psychology-or-history-book drivel! You say you oppose murder, inherently, yet you can just shrug it off so easily? I daresay you ought to amend your beliefs and opinions or you SHOULD oppose the murder of a nazi warcriminal. After all murder is murder, right Gingi?
No, because your opinion trumps rationality and fairness and any sort of intellectual effort to actually grasp the complexities of the abortion debate. Sorry Gingi wingi, don't hurt your little bwain cells by actually using them.
Now nevermind the implications of groupthink or the fact that most of the nazi's who committed warcrimes were every day folk I just wanted to further elucidate the hypocrisy before we reach the crown jewel of Gingi's stupidity.
Instead of scrambling to feverishly denounce the pro-life community ("Anyone who thinks Tiller's death is in any way a positive thing is not a true pro-lifer"... huh?) we should be looking at a very serious fact: If every single pro-lifer who is currently falling all over themselves to publicly mourn the "loss" of this abortionist displayed just a fraction of that outrage over just ONE of the children Tiller murdered on a regular nine to five, Baby Killer Tiller would have been put out of business long ago and he would not be dead today.
Yes this article goes on but this part bears special mention. Tiller was not a murderer, period. He was a doctor. Doctors perform procedures and prescribe medicines for the health of their patients. What the anti-choice folk don't realize is that bronze age conceptions of life/death, right/wrong and good/evil should not be universally applied to anyone who disagrees. America is not a christian nation, we are bound by secular law and not your craven theocratic nonsense.
Now I acknowledge that their should be limits and checks on abortion (as there are with ANY other medical procedure) but forcing a woman to bear a child that will put her in personal danger is wrong. Forcing a teenage girl who got knocked up by her boyfriend because her parents wouldn't spring for birth control is WRONG. After all if a mother does not want a child what hope does that poor child have without a mother's love?
It gets worse. Much worse.
I know this is a huge loss for Tiller's family and they need our prayer and support. I'm sure they are grieving bitterly, and it is heartbreaking to think of the pain that they must be feeling. It is ultimately tragic that Tiller did not have an opportunity to properly prepare his soul to face his Maker. Unless some miracle happened, he left this life with his hands drenched with innocent blood.
So much worse. Yes let's console the family by posting screeds saying that he deserved it (Tiller's family can fucking read your article, she devil) and that having not 'prepared his soul' is now burning in the anguish of eternal hellfire. It's dumbfounding she can so brazenly condemn this man for acts of supposed barbarity and then righteously announce that god will allow him to suffer for an infinite period of time. Even if every aborted fetus came to term, lived to be 100 years old and suffered being beaten or raped every day for that span of time the misery inflicted on a single soul in hell would be infinitely worse and for an infinitely longer time.
Yes, the wrath of Gingi Edmonds is tame compared to that of her imaginary sociopathic deity.
The man chose his fate the moment he dismembered his first infant. I'm not embarrassed to say what the punishment for the crime is anymore than I'm embarrassed to admit that child killing is a crime.
And so much much worse... Let's take another look at the supposed mercy of the christian god. During Noah's year long boat ride the 'source of morality' drowned every human being, man, woman, child and unborn alike. Put your fucking god on trial if you're so against abortion.
And yes, somehow it gets EVEN worse than I could believe possible.
Did I want him to be gunned down in church - even a hypocritical, Molech-worshiping fraud of a church like the one he was attending while shot? No. I would have much preferred him being tried and convicted in a court of law that is consistent with medical science and personhood as defined in our Constitution. We can prevent the atrocious acts of violence against abortionists by holding them accountable to their actions.
Yeah, we can protect doctors who perform abortions (side note what is with dickhole religious nuts throwing 'ist' onto words they don't like to describe people. darwinist, evolutionist, abortionist...lame) all we have to do is prosecute them for murder. Take a look at their orderly medical records to prove their guilt and lock them away or have the government execute them for us. Not safe, not freedom, not in my fucking country, bitch.
There is no doubt that Tiller deserved to be executed for his crimes. I just would have preferred a state sanctioned lethal injection, hanging, firing squad, electric chair, good old fashioned stoning, what have you.u.
What odious pit of hell coughed you forth, gingi edmonds. What vile pool of satan's smegma did you climb out of to plague this world? How in the motherfuck can you A) Justify death penalty but not Abortion, B) Consider 'good old fashioned' stoning better than being shot to death?
You are sick as fuck if you honestly think that anyone deserves to be bludgeoned to death from flying rocks.
Observe, if you dare, what a stoning looks like.
If that video doesn't sicken and scare the shit out of you I suggest you go talk to a psychologist.
I mean, I personally would not shoot an abortionist, but who am I to impose my morality on someone else? If you are against shooting abortionists, then don't shoot one, right? Hmm, suddenly pro-choice rhetoric doesn't sound so warm and fuzzy and virtuous, does it?
Thank sweet buddha that this is almost over. Gingi you ass, what fucking world do you live in where the odious spew that comes out of your mouth and your fingers actually makes sense?
People like you are why people like me despise organized religion and its practioners with such passion. You are an evil woman for suggesting that murder, stoning and hell are all justice in your eyes. And you make these claims simply for political points despite the fact that a man is dead for the crime of doing his job.
Tiller was killed by a pro-choice act. Pro-lifers need make no apologies. Both men are guilty of bloodshed and this tragedy is a sad but all-too-real testament to the biblical truth that those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
Finally we reach the end. I bolded two phrases here because they stand out to me. Reading this article has made me sick to my stomach and I am tired of even processing the words because to do is causing me physical harm. I do not think that pro-lifers should apologize, they should examine. Really examine their beliefs and what they truly hold as moral and virtuous. Should it not give you pause that you want fetuses to live but are prepared to allow full grown people to die whether by vengenance, the state or some divine retribution?
I empathize and I know the idea of baby-murder turns the stomach of every rational human being but fetuses are not humans. The life of the mother should take precedent over her unborn children and a victim of rape should not have to endure the curse of raising her attacker's child.
The second bold phrase is there not as a call to examine but a call to action. Doctors, even abortion doctors, have saved more lives than every priest of every sect who ever walked this earth. Medicine, anti-biotics in particular, has allowed the human population to swell and grow like never before. Literally half of everyone on earth could not survive without our current understanding of science and the progress it has brought us.
Only claims of indignation and scorn can come to those who deny that secular knowledge is a far greater force for good than any religion cooked up on a mountain or through the smoke of some chemical hallucinogen. Science, knowledge and rational thought are the pillars upon which our civilization stands.
Will you side with those who are laying the bricks or those with the hammers, wearing crucifixes around their necks?
120 days since Feb. 1st. 62 gym workouts 100+ miles walked around the neighborhood
Net loss so far 18 pounds since Feb 1st. Net loss since last year is approximately 32 pounds.
Now I can say that but it doesn't really convey a tangible sense of the progress so far. Here's a little math and then a more visual example.
1 pound of butter (4 sticks) carries 3200 calories. If you're up to scratch on your nutrition you know that one pound of fat has about 3500 calories. The difference comes from some water and milk solids in said butter.
Now 18 pounds of fat in the body are sure to include some water, protein and bloodvessels so we'll use it as an analog for body fat. 18 pounds of butter is 72 sticks of net fat loss over the span of 16 weeks.
That's about .6 sticks of butter PER DAY for about 4 months.
Oh and here's a picture of 20 pounds of fat for comparison.
Mmm, bacon. At my current level of progress, despite the 2 week slow down, I could probably live on bacon and still lose weight.
So we have a diagram of 4 possible choices. We'll start bottom right and choose 'I don't care'
Wow that was easy, they just gave up. Though to be fair the main page of the 'proof' section claims that it does not provide persuasion just logic. I thought this was going to be a challenge but...lets try some other options.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict this sort of minimalist strong arming is going to dominate the whole proof section. After all if you don't know whether or not absolute truth exists you are forced either admit that it does or go back to the main screen. No argument, no discussion, binary answers to really bad questions.
I know it looks tiny but that image is 3000 pixels long.
And finally we arrive at...ah fuck it here's the ultra disappointing reveal...
Goats and gonads what a mother lovin' waste of time. That's not a proof its not even a sound idea let alone earth shattering or mind-bending.
