Quote Originally Posted by Ignatius
God doesn't exist.

If he does then why doesn't he show himself? It's no good others telling me he does. Right now we really could use him. If he exists why doesn't he come here right now and show us. No ambiguity, nothing like that. Just show up and make sure everyone sees he's real, then he can go back to wherever he came from and we can all worship him for ever and ever amen.

It's not much to ask. Instead of that we are asked to rely on a book which is open to thousands of interpretations. Religion is the cause of nearly every war in the world right now. Surely God should show us a sign? Let us know he's around.

There is NO scientific reason to believe in God. It is purely a matter of faith. You'll not find me knocking anyone's faith, but it's anything but scientific. I believe in science. Science tells me that if I stick my hand in the fire I get burned. And guess what...it's true. Science tells me about gravity, and I can prove that right now. I just threw a ball in the air, and it came back down. Now God...he tells me (via a book) that all kinds of things are going to happen, or have happened. And guess what...none of it can be proved. It's all about faith, and I have none. An entirely rational position. I think faith is irrational, by it's very nature it must be. God asks you to have faith and belief, good for you if you have it, but I'm not buying it.

Mud Dauber, I've explained this again and again so this really is the last time. I think you are trying to yank my chain, good luck with that.

Here it is again, in the simplest terms I can put it. If I tell you that there is a man in the corner, and you can't see him, then it's down to me to prove that he is there. It's not down to you to prove that he isn't.

The thing about poker... it's not fixed, I make a decent amount of cash from it, and I work another job as back up. It's certainly possible to win money at poker if you play the percentages and you understand what those percentages are. There's no real mystery to it. Online is pretty good, but I like a face to face game in the casino. There's a lot of players there who think that poker is all about smoking a big cigar and trying to stare the other guy down...just like the movies. We call them fish, and I'll eat them all day.
(Serves me right for trying to cook dinner and reply at the same time, my session timed out and I lost everything I had typed ! So here goes again)

"God doesn't exist." "If he does then why doesn't he show himself?"

You said you had empirical evidence that God doesn't exist. What experiments have you done to prove this ? Are you familiar with quantum theory, or the spacial fourth dimension ? Do you believe in such things, even though you have never seen either, or proof of either ? I am surprised at someone with your alleged intelligence (I say alleged, as I don't know you) saying that none of the events in the Bible have ever been proven. Are you not familiar with history, or with archeology ? Both have proven that elements of the Bible are true, mostly in the New Testament. Many of the people have been proven to have existed, as with the places and events. Many of these accounts were written by people who did not follow Jesus.

You believe in science, you say - archeology is a science, too. Is it not just as important as physics ? Or chemistry ?

You said earlier that you have faith in humans. What kind of faith, faith that they are going to step on you in every fashion so that they can get what they want ?

I'm not trying to yank your chain Iggy - I'm just trying to find out why your brain works the way it does.

Is there any empirical evidence that poker can support a family ?

Let me tell you something, as I would like to see what you think of this. I have a friend that I've known for eons. Her mother took her to church sporadically as a child, but she stopped going probably around middle school. She had a very difficult childhood, and went off the deep end several times as a teenager. She ended up being a stripper, a crack head, and a rape victim, which resulted in pregnancy. I was her only loyal friend through all this. She was never a religious person, in fact she shunned the church, just as she shunned her mother and stepfather. Fast forward many years, and she is driving home in the middle of the night, down a two-lane road in the country. She lost control of her car going around a curve, and went into the woods where she hit a tree. She was nearly decapitated, broke all of her ribs, and completely crushed her left leg. I drove a hundred and fifty miles to visit her in the hospital, and saw her in traction with an ear-to-ear gash that had missed the jugular by a fraction of an inch. When she got out of the hospital months later, she sat me down and told me exactly what had happened. She said that when the paramedics came to cut her out of the car, she was sitting in a tree above them watching the whole thing. She reminded me that she was never religious, agnostic at a stretch, and went on to tell me that while she was sitting in the tree, watching her broken body bleed, that she felt the presence of God "sitting" right there beside her on the limb. She said he told her that she was going to be okay, and although she was "ready to go" with him, he "put" her back into her body. (I'm using the words she used, she said there wasn't really any way she could describe it properly) Her doctors performed surgery on her for 12 hours, and told her that they were completely astonished that she lived.

What do you make of that ? Brain farts ?