oldviolin wrote: 

I don't know...I mean, I just don't know...

 justlistening wrote: 

Ok, you're just funnin' now...admit it

 Manbird wrote: 

 kurtster wrote: 
  No!  God placed a sign in the sky promising smooth running.

 Manbird wrote:  



The following then must be a sign of an atheist, my bad ...

 oldviolin wrote: 

I believe the stuff forum is here

I've been meaning to visit

 justlistening wrote: 

I like stuff too! But then...

 oldviolin wrote: 

PROOF OF GOD

• Turkeys are not gods - yet nor are they mere humans. What are they?

• Dear god please fill this can back up with beer nuts. 

• What would you say if god smote your tongue. Nothing is what. 

• Don't shoot guns into the air in case you hit god even though 

  he could probably tolerate the pain since he is after all god. 

• I can't wait to die soIi can get a good look at god's hairbrush. 

• You can tell who is human and who is alien by how high they can throw their shoes. 
 

 oldviolin wrote: 
not me of course, but that's what i hear, i think, anyway.  yeah..

 justlistening wrote: 

oh yeah?

 oldviolin wrote: 

I defer to Manbird...or something

 oldviolin wrote: 

You know there are those of us here that will be glad to enlighten you

 kurtster wrote: 

Interesting thoughts.  Maybe it's the price we pay for being "thinking" beings.  As horrid as this may sound, I have often wondered if evil is like sex; both base emotions and drives that are necessary for survival.  Surely in the wild it's killed or be killed.  At some level we have to be wired to perform acts we would abhor doing otherwise in the name of survival, or protecting loved ones (a child for instance).  And just like animals that fight for territory and food for survival - we must have this instinct inside of us too.

And just like sex can have a wide range of practices outside it's basic purpose of procreation (BDSM for instance), the violence we are capable of for survival can also be preverted.

The brain works by making associations.  We take for granted that everyone will filter out the most horrific associations or at least know not to act on them.  But we are also emotional beings. Witness movies like Saw and you know what humans are capable of imagining.   Perhaps our brains are just imperfect and there are those among us who are incapable of separating the imagination from action.

I don't know...I mean, I just don't know...

 justlistening wrote: 
Ummm, a little of both perhaps.  I can say I do believe that evil is a real force in life.  I don't pretend to know the source, however.  I just acknowledge it.

Perhaps its merely rooted in genetics, or there is truly a greater force that can influence and in some cases "posess" individuals.

I know this thread was not started by an Atheist, but I thought it was a sincere question worth asking, because evil as I have come to know it is purely a religious creation. 

I think there is a difference between amorality and evil.  The difference to me between the two is that evil has a purpose. 

So Kurster, do I take your comments to imply that you feel there is an evil force independent of the individual which "posesses" (for lack of a better word) them to do evil?  Or am I reading into it?

(1/8) Is There An Afterlife? Christopher Hitchens vs Shmuley Boteach



Christopher Hitchens debated Rabbi Shmuley at Cooper Union, New York on Thursday, September 16, 2010.

 RichardPrins wrote: 
Interesting discussion, I was actually already aware of the two studies, the Stanford and the shock test for some time, although I forget where or when.  It doesn't really answer my question per se in that it does not answer what force drives the power that grants the ability to manipulate the people who perform the evil illustrated.

An old cliché is that power can be used for both good and evil.  So with that in mind, it takes us back to the question I posed, still open and unanswered.  Power is a tool, not the source.  Unless one considers that absolute power corrupts absolutely, which leads one to the possible conclusion that power is inherently evil.

Grist for the mill ...

 oldviolin wrote: 
no

gist