If God exists, where is he? (Page 120)

ghostgeek
ghostgeek: In most organisations, including religious ones, the higher the job position the more bounteous the perks, pleasures and compliments. Seems to be a law of nature.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: Nice to see that scientists have at last discovered Cold Fusion. So where are details of this miracle lurking unseen?
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: So there's a treaty that says you can have as many nuclear bombs as you want but you can't use them? How nice to know that a Hitler lookalike someplace won't one day light up the world because a treaty says he can't.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: Does Kim Jong Un say there’s no practical use for Nuclear weapons? Doesn't seem to be doing so:

North Korea says it has simulated a nuclear counterattack against the US and South Korea as it fired another ballistic missile over the weekend - its fifth this month.

Kim Jong Un instructed his military to hold more drills to sharpen the war readiness of his nuclear forces in the face of "aggression" by his enemies, state media reported.

He said the exercises improved his military's war capability and urged the military to stand ready for any "immediate and overwhelming nuclear counterattack anytime".

[ https://news.sky.com/story/north-korea-simulates-nuclear-counterattack-against-us-and-south-korea-12838763 ]

Of course, he could just like playing God, but if he does it's a racing certainty that one day he'll have to put up or shut up.
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Zanjan
Zanjan: Ghost: “In most organisations, including religious ones, the higher the job position the more bounteous the perks, pleasures and compliments.”

You’re speaking of PAID job positions. Some organizations are charitable institutions run by volunteers, where praise is hard-earned and well-deserved. Yet they’re not doing it for the praise and there is no rank. Any not-for-profit agency, including religions, can contract for secretarial services. That’s a natural expense.

No organization can operate without funds. Religions have open financial books.
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Zanjan
Zanjan: Re: cold fusion: they’re still working on developing applications. Hopefully, we’ll see some within the next 10 years so we can keep global warming at the level it is right now, since it’s too late to avert the crisis.
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Zanjan
Zanjan: “How nice to know that a Hitler lookalike someplace won't one day light up the world because a treaty says he can't.”

The world already knows war is contributing to global warming – whatever a madman does will boomerang. He can’t strut his way out of that. Normally, I don't care to mention the names of living political leaders but, in this instance, we should put propaganda and grave misgivings aside then have a little faith in humanity.

While Putin just visited Mariupol on camera, in the dark of night, we notice he didn’t drive through the devastated bombed out areas – the camera was trained on the few buildings that were untouched and had electricity. Russian soldiers won’t be pleased at the omission of their handiwork.

Kim Jong Un is posturing to make himself and his people feel more comfortable they have protection. They’re just a tiny country, the size of Cuba or the state of Pennsylvania, bordered by the behemoths of China and Russia - can you blame him? If any people are trembling and close to a heart attack, it's them.

I can see why you don’t trust a nation’s ability to select a leader with the right qualifications; be that as it may, never underestimate the people’s power to depose their leader if necessary. Naturally, they’d first need to know they’ve got the backing of the military.

If they choose, it can be done in a bloodless coup; we know because it HAS been done. For sure, that must have called for a LOT of personal restraint. Nobody even threw shoes.
(Edited by Zanjan)
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Zanjan
Zanjan: Further to the above, something is coming that will take their minds off their petty feuds.

Planet Wobble. Too bad we can't do anything about that except pray.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: I'm none too trusting of a population's power to do anything other than poop itself silly. Hitler didn't get the heave-ho from ordinary Germans, or for that matter from the army. It needed the Ivans and a little help from the rest of the world.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: Planet wobble? Yeah, I've heard it's causes by all those lardbutt Americans not going to foreign places. There's just too many of them standing in one place and unbalancing the world.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: I thought somebody was still trying to make cold fusion, you know, WORK!
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: Zanjan, I think you're on the same wavelength as Paul. He reckoned no organization could operate without funds but he had quite a torrid time telling his followers so. I guess he should have had open financial books instead of stuffing the loot in his pockets.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: Among the forests of Yellowstone National Park, some wolf packs share their territory with cougars. Generally, the two species leave each other alone, although wolves may occasionally run a cougar up a tree and steal its kill—or poke around its feces, which the felines use to mark their territory.

Whether from this scat or the water contaminated with it, some wolves manage to pick up a strange feline parasite. This parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, doesn’t make the wolves ill, but it does change their behavior, making many of them bolder and more inclined to take risks—for better or for worse.

Scientists who have been studying the Yellowstone wolves found that those infected byT. gondii are more likely to disperse from their pack or start a pack of their own. “Dispersal is one of the most dangerous things, because survival actually decreases for dispersing wolves, so not very many wolves actually survive the dispersal process,” says Connor Meyer, a researcher at the University of Montana, and one of the authors of the study, published in Nature. But if that wolf succeeds and becomes a pack leader, it will father more pups, achieving a greater reproductive success—a reward that may be worth the risk.

[ https://nautil.us/what-makes-us-bold-264300/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB ]
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: T. gondii has long been known to alter the behavior of animals it infects—to serve its own elaborate life cycle and reproductive success. It sexually procreates inside felines’ intestines, shedding out oocytes—tiny but hardy thick-walled egg-like formations—in the cats’ feces. Water or melting snow scatter the oocytes around the soil, grass, streams, and rivers, where they are unwittingly consumed by a range of animals, including rodents that cats prey on. Once inside this intermediate host, the parasite forms cysts in its tissues. But to complete its life cycle this hitchhiker has to make a final, rather improbable journey. T. gondii needs to return to the feline gut. One way to increase its odds is to make the infected rodents too fearless for their own good, forcing them to put themselves at a higher risk of becoming a cat’s breakfast.

Although the cat-and-mouse paradigm is most extensively studied, the parasite works the same with larger animals, for example lions and wildebeest, Meyer says. But the feline’s prey isn’t the only species that may pick up the parasite from the environment—any animal can, to which the wolves study attests. And the parasite seems to be agnostic—it turns any intermediate host into a bold risk-taker.

That includes humans.

[ https://nautil.us/what-makes-us-bold-264300/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB ]
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: In a 2018 study, scientists found that people infected with T. gondii are more likely to pursue business and entrepreneurship as their career choices. The team tested 1,495 undergraduate students—studying engineering, business, and arts and sciences at a large American university—for T. gondii using a saliva-based test and found that 22 percent carried the parasite. Those with entrepreneurship aspirations were almost twice as likely to be infected, says one of the study authors, Stefanie K. Johnson, an associate professor of organizational leadership and information analytics at University of Colorado, Boulder.

In a human realm, pursuing business and entrepreneurship takes guts and ability to tolerate risks. Starting a company is essentially equivalent to starting a pack. It requires striking out on one’s own with a greater risk of failure, rather than being in the protective folds of someone else’s company.

The team found that was true on a global level also. When they combed through the databases of T. gondii infection from the past 25 years in different countries and synthesized the data with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor research project, they found that “infection prevalence was a consistent, positive predictor of entrepreneurial activity and intentions at the national scale.”

[ https://nautil.us/what-makes-us-bold-264300/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB ]
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: The above seems to be proof positive that a person's character can be susceptible to a little tinkering by bugs. So what else are the critters guilty of? Perhaps they like to make people believe there's a God.
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Zanjan
Zanjan: Ghost, wild cats generally don’t go after mice – mice are for coyotes, skunks, hawks and owls. Cougars prey on large animals; Bobcats prey on medium sized animals.

The wolf is an apex predator so nothing eats it unless they come into an accidental confrontation with each other – that would be cougars and bears.

Generally, humans don’t come into direct contact with any of these wild animals. Only a few people eat game since you can’t buy or sell it. I think the university study picked a bunch of outdoor adventurers, who are more likely to pick up ticks than anything else. Maybe they drank untreated water?

According to my own experience, entrepreneurship has a visible genetic component, a familial predisposition. Perhaps one out of 3 siblings might be so inclined; if not, a parent might be.

An entrepreneur never starts out alone – the first thing they do is make connections and, unless they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, they get some funding assistance. Many of them never completed their education but they know how to budget.

However, as my Aunt used to say, every family has a horse thief in their background.
(Edited by Zanjan)
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bonzono
bonzono: "who said god had anything to do with it?"
The driver and the two men. Other words they both used were "compassion", kindness", and "rescue". They repeatedly emphasized the importance of the bond between humans."

And how did they know it was god?


"FYI, the degree of the light of God in the heart determines the degree of intellectual perception and excellence of action; fear doesn't reside in an enlightened heart, only love."
Says who? you? on what basis?


"If you disagree, reason why the other two drivers blindly drove past them."
This is known as an argument from ignorance. It goes like this:
"I cant explain something, therefore god is real"

Sorry Zanjan, you cant create a god out of nothing simply bcause you lack the intellectual integrity to admit you cant explain something. That's sheer intellectual cowardice and dishonesty - which seem to be cornerstones to religion.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: I'm making an assumption here but I think the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention should know what they're talking about:

Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. While the parasite is found throughout the world, more than 40 million people in the United States may be infected with the Toxoplasma parasite.

A Toxoplasma infection occurs by one of the following:

Eating undercooked, contaminated meat (especially pork, lamb, and venison) or shellfish (for example, oysters, clams or mussels).

Accidental ingestion of undercooked, contaminated meat or shellfish after handling them and not washing hands thoroughly (Toxoplasma cannot be absorbed through intact skin).

Eating food that was contaminated by knives, utensils, cutting boards and other foods that have had contact with raw, contaminated meat or shellfish.

Drinking water contaminated with Toxoplasma gondii.

Accidentally swallowing the parasite through contact with cat feces that contain Toxoplasma. This might happen by
Cleaning a cat’s litter box when the cat has shed Toxoplasma in its feces;
Touching or ingesting anything that has come into contact with cat feces that contain Toxoplasma; or
Accidentally ingesting contaminated soil (e.g., not washing hands after gardening or eating unwashed fruits or vegetables from a garden).

Mother-to-child (congenital) transmission.

Receiving an infected organ transplant or infected blood via transfusion, though this is rare.

[ https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/gen_info/faqs.html ]
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: I guess the message is clear if you don't want Toxoplasma gondii taking up residence inside you. Don't eat undercooked meat and do wash your hands and utensils.
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: So why do rural populations seem more religious than urban ones? Could be they're more inbred, or maybe it's down to them being closer to some rather nasty bugs and things.
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Zanjan
Zanjan: Ghost, there are so many ways one could become infected with a parasite ie., Toxoplasma gondii, that I can't see how it's possible to connect it specifically with entrepreneurship, a talent.

Not all scientific studies are worth their salt. It's a matter of interpreting results.

I remember when researchers advised people not to eat bacon and eggs at the same time because that would give you cancer. The truth is, the only thing it did was increase your level of LDL cholesterol, which you could quickly erase by eating cholesterol- lowering food the same day.
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Zanjan
Zanjan: "So why do rural populations seem more religious than urban ones?"

My take on it is they're closer to nature - they see the signs of God in everything.

Rural and small town people make up the agricultural community. They have to rely on God more and that means creating a closely knit social group. They understand each other and know everybody's name and business.

The only way that could float is by practicing great respect and kindness. When tragedy strikes, they help each other out - it's almost like going tribal.

The city absorbs bodies like a sponge; it's a place to hide or get lost. However, in a small town, you never wanna get fired - you won't work in that town again. It's just wiser to be a conscientious person; when you live that way, you come closer to God.

On the downside, you won't find much diversity of religion, like you can in the city. If you, as a resident, aren't a member of the dominant religion in the area, you'll be feeling mighty isolated; ergo, you have to reach out with the first moves. I know, first hand, that's a lot easier when you're on the workforce.
(Edited by Zanjan)
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GeraldtheGnome
GeraldtheGnome: This is from a forum of mine.

Now in The Book of Genesis, chapter one there are various problems with it. Once again I am referring to the site I last mentioned.

Whether you replace the Hebrew name of the main god with the Spanish name, with which most Christians use as their first language or that of Latin or English or whatever does not matter, I will explain why in a minute. For now though I will use what was used on the site, so élohiym and ´Élöhîm. 'In the beginning ´Élöhîm created the heaven and the earth.'

That is the first verse of the book. It's a claim, various English speaking, Afrikaans speaking, Frisian speaking and and Dutch speaking creationists of some religions think that because the word God is used in the modern version of their language then that means that it is about one god only, that it's a title instead of a name and that it is evidence that proves that the god had no origin, that he was around before anything that he created, also that he is still around either in one place or in more than one place at once or everywhere right now. Well it means none of that, the more delusional the creationist is the more outlandish the claim is by the creationist. For a start if there even is a god or goddess around somewhere right now then he or she has an origin and is made up of material somehow. The verse literally never tells anyone of any claim that even one god or goddess has an origin. The claim by Christian creationists and the like is that there was a beginning and that everything was created from nothing. Unfortunately the hypocrites have noticed that some people that are for The Big Bang Theory believe that the universe was formed from nothing and that is how The Singularity formed.

There is a major problem with The Big Bang Theory, I will mention what is wrong with it later, I am no longer for The Big Bang Theory, the singularity and The Red Shift.

There was no beginning, nothing is either created or destroyed. All that was became the material for all that now makes up all within the Cosmos. The Cosmos never had a beginning and it will never have an end, there never were any boundaries, there still aren't. The Cosmos has no limits. Did the current universe ever have an origin ? Did it ever have any limits ? Does it have any limits and will it ever have an end ?

https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/Introductory_Chemistry/03%3A_Matter_and_Energy/3.07%3A_Conservation_of_Mass_-_There_is_No_New_Matter

The fact that there are experiments that basically disprove that all that is was never created, that nothing is being created right now and nothing ever will be created disproves every creationist theory by every creationists of every religion. Now the argument will be that it does not disprove any creation claim that has that life was created to bring about the likes of Adam and Eve. Well already any claim that any god or goddess can be proven to be around somehow is not true and it never will be proven. I will look at if an Adam and Eve ever existed some other time.

If you go off the claims that all was created from nothing then none of us should be alive because what was claimed is impossible and has been disproven. Elohim also means gods and goddesses in the full context of The Tanakh and The Bible no matter how many claim otherwise, it's also oddly and mistakenly used as a name too, this also was so in the past. Heaven, the heavens and so on about that just means the Earth's atmosphere. Light upon the Earth also only came from The Sun. Distant stars that were around before that would have either not had light reach Earth or were too dim to make a difference. The Sun was around before Earth formed. I'm referring to verse three with this bit. Why do the the verses have that the evening and the morning was the first day, second day and so on ? Why is morning mentioned after the evening ? It doesn't make sense that way. It's all false anyway, that means that I should not dwell on it.

The odd bit that the flood myth is completely based on originated from the sixth verse. Something that I forgot to mention was the claim of a flat Earth with a ocean held there with nothing on the sides. A lot of creationists do not think that there is a mention of that and others think because of that that the Earth is really flat.

I'll bring up verse six and so on of the first chapter next time. In the meantime look at the false claims in chapter two of The Book of Genesis.

This bit is not from the forum, it's just me letting you know about the website address of what I was referring to at the start of the message.

http://www.qbible.com/hebrew-old-testament/genesis/1.html
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ghostgeek
ghostgeek: Zanjan, I have to agree with you about rural populations being closer to nature. That means you're more likely to come into contact with some wriggly horror that's got its own agender.
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