There is no god. - Page 24

10-27-2006, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j3tDr1v3r

Quote:

Originally Posted by STRCHK

No. No. A lottery is simply picking numbers out of a hat. So if there are 1,000,000 tickets in the hat you odds are 1 in 1,000,000. that you'll pick the winning ticket. As far as god odds go there are only two possible outcomes just like a coin flip. God or no God.

Actually, this is incorrect. Your odds in a lottery are simply a statistic of the number of choices required versus the number of options available. Your odds of winning a lottery are no better if there is only one ticket sold or one million tickets sold. A raffle however fits the description you gave. So, if we're using the lottery reference, your odds are a derivitive of the number of possible outcomes of the nature and existance of God, therefore it would be somewhere near infinity 8)

Sounds good to me.

Although, in a lottery, the number of tickets sold will determine the chances of A winner occuring (versus no winner).

In a raffle, there's always a winner.

STRCHK · 10-27-2006, 02:58 PM

You folks are right about the lottery. My example is a raffle. But back to the original question; God or no God. There are only two possible outcomes. So the odds are 50/50.

j3tDr1v3r · 10-27-2006, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STRCHK

But back to the original question; God or no God. There are only two possible outcomes. So the odds are 50/50.

I disagree that there are only 2 outcomes, unless were classifing all derivitives of a higher power into "God". If not, you have infinate outcomes, a la:
God
Budda
Muhammad
Ra
Little Green Men
Big Green Men
Spaghetti Man
Zeus
Nothing
and so on, and so on, and so on

10-27-2006, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STRCHK

You folks are right about the lottery. My example is a raffle. But back to the original question; God or no God. There are only two possible outcomes. So the odds are 50/50.

I think I have to digress on the 50/50 thing if you don't get it this time... Two possible outcomes does not automatically make it 50/50 unless the chances of either being right are equal.

Like we said with the lottery, just because you either win or you don't, that doesn't make it a 50/50 chance.

Mitch · 10-27-2006, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JungleJetCLE

...such as the sudden occurance of nearly every mamal during the Cambrian period ...

Shenenigans!! There were ZERO mamals [sic] that spontaneously occurred during the Cambrian period. :wink:

We wonder why we dont understand the Middle East/Islam...and we have a 16 page thread about this...

Mr Hat · 10-28-2006, 01:29 AM

Alright, thats it.....go tell DMS there's no God, I dare you.
This is Madball,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKLpvrhhaso

FlyXJTnow · 10-28-2006, 01:53 AM

I think you guys should read "The End of Faith" by Sam Harris. Then you'll see how irrational faith is and what a crock most of religion is.

Jordan Van Dyke · 10-29-2006, 06:18 PM

I just read a great article on this subject in the latest issue of "Wired" magazine. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this thread, whichever side of the debate you're on.

Fats Schindee · 10-30-2006, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Swingline

A common analogy is that of the watch. If you were walking along a beach and saw a watch lying in the sand - would you assume that over the millenia the sun and wind and rain, sand and ocean slowly combined to form the tiny device with gears and springs purely by accident? Or, would you assume there was a watchmaker? I contend that we and the universe are far more complex than any watch.

Sorry to bring a quote from page 7 back from the dead, but since we are recommending good reads on the subject, here's one:

The Blind Watchmaker, by Richard Dawkins

I had to read this in my freshman BIO class in college, and it really helped me make sense of the whole evolutionary theory. The title is based upon a refutation of the above "watch analogy" quote. Excellent book. He also wrote The Selfish Gene, also about evolution, and has a new book out (which I've yet to read, but would like to soon) called The God Delusion, which sounds like it's right up the alley of anyone reading these posts...

Red Swingline · 10-30-2006, 02:30 PM

Ah, but Dawkins is as much of a zealot as any religious fanatic. It just happens he's WAAAY over in the other direction. That being said, he's an interesting read - but he has as much of an agenda as Falwell or Robertson.