dsanchez

hi all. i ran a windows 8 update last night & its had the adverse affect of turning my laptops screen off as soon as the power is plugged in. There doesn't seem to be anything in the power options to change and I can't find a way to restore to before this update. can anyone help please???

Wouldn't we all just be running around killing & raping each other? As there would otherwise be no rule saying that this behavior is wrong? Or, like an atheist, would you just understand that this kind of behavior is wrong and not act on it as a matter of pure & common decency? Do you need a book which is 2,000 years old to tell you this, and one which condones it based on behaviour (see the book of judges, quite happy to advocate the use of rape to control people, yet forgotten about as soon as its brought up in church)

For example, Muslim men believe that Muslim women should wear a khimār or shaylah covering their entire bodies. WHY? Are you so insecure in yourself that you can't behave yourselves if a woman even so much as shows an ankle? This wasn't God's idea, it was yours. God wants you to procreate after all.

This question is not designed for atheist's, as atheist's have an understanding of right & wrong without prejudice. It's more about the religious who need a scripture or book to tell them right from wrong and maybe can't understand that rape & violence are wrong unless they are told so by their holy book. Even it tell's them it's excusable ffs.

I realize the religious (Christian, Jew, Muslim, whatever) will say that this is yet another attack on their beliefs, that an atheist is "on the offensive", but I'm truly not. I'm on a quest to understand why dominance is so necessary within religion. If God made us all equal then why are the lines so blurred and why are women's rights so quashed? Without our beautiful Eve's, our Adam's would be nothing...

Before the universe existed, god did. He created the angels & gave those angels the ability to decide what they should do with their existence. The only reason those angels could choose to do anything is because god gave them the options before them. One of those options was be good, or be evil. Free will.

So "God" created the option of evil, and he allows everybody to choose to be it. God created evilness. Not Satan, but God. Satan merely chose to use the free will he was given and chose evil. If the option didn't exist, how could he choose to be it???

God got angry at Satan for disobeying him (apparently) and decided Satan had no place in Heaven, so God needed a place to cast Satan into. So god had to have created Hell in order to cast Satan out & give him somewhere to go. Ergo, god created Hell. Nothing else existed outside of heaven, so this must logically be true.

So, god gave the angels the option of good or evil, allowed satan & his minions to choose to be evil, then punished them for using the only option he created, so he had to have made hell to cast them into into it. Therefore, god made evil and hell.

The logic doesn't stop here...! Satan (remember; he's opposed to god & wants your soul to fight in his army so he can own the universe) rules hell. He is there to punish you if you dare go against god in any way shape or form. But think of this, the only way that you can get to hell is if God sends you there via St Peter. So satan is doing god's work by punishing you even though hes against god & LOVES your behaviour & god is freely feeding satan's army by sending souls to hell. This is just plain fkn stupid. But it's what Christians believe.

This doesn't take imagination to work out, it merely takes a literary mind to understand that the Bible has spouted a load of lies combined to scare you into "towing the line". However, when you use the brain you have & question the facts, it all kind of falls apart. So, who believes in this nonsense, and who has thought about it & realised what idiocy it actually is?

can christians explain for once and for all why easter Monday last year (2011) was on April 25th, but easter Monday 2012 (this year) is April 9th, given that it marks the death of Jesus every year??? (note the use of easter MONDAY, by means of an example. Could easily have been any other easter date)

Does your birthday change dates? Does New Years change dates? Does the anniversary of the death of anyone else you know change dates? So why does easter change dates EVERY year???

I think we all know the real answer (even the christians), but can we all hear it from the christians ONLY please? Thank you :)

The penance of death, if you don't get into heaven, is apparent. Torture, anguish, burning, pain... whatever. The one thing I don't get is this, when you die and your body is left behind how can you feel pain & torture when you have no body to be tortured? Your soul simply CANNOT feel any physical pain. Anguish and anxiety are only available when you don't know the out-come of a situation (which I think you do, when you're given an eternity in hell).

Just wondering how the religious can explain this little loophole to me... Evidence will be very necessary for this one...!

Theoretical question for you cos you're an intelligent sort. Does time exist??

Time is a measurement of distance. Nothing more, nothing less. I.E. A year is how long it takes the earth to go round the sun, a day is how long it takes the earth to rotate on its axis. An hour is a 24th of that and a minute is a 60th of that again. So are we measuring time, or distance?

Hubble theorised that if the universe is expanding, then theoretically, when put in reverse, everything must come together in a singularity and hence the big bang. So time itself must have only started at the very moment of the big bang. NOTHING could have existed before the big bang. Not even time. Except the theory is flawed. How could time only start at the moment of the big bang, when it is only a measurement of distance?!

If all atoms combined in an indefinite fuse, in a place we cant know about and fused so hard that they caused so much friction they caused the big bang, then A) where did the atoms come from, B) where were they when they combined, C) where did the law of fusion come from which allowed it all to happen, D) were did the atoms come from in the first place? and E) Where did the space come from that allowed it all to happen?

I'm not saying "god" did this, as I'm an atheist and also because the same logical rules apply to god (ie. where did god come from then?), but outside of normal physical boundaries, what must have happened and how did it happen that allowed us to ask these questions?

If you dare to quote the bible I WILL mark you down. Only scientific and logical thought can explain this one, but even they will struggle. But at least they will be intelligent. What's the ideas people?

Without religion, science would still exist. But without science, would you still be able to say religion exists? Religion is a state of mind. Psychology, which is science. So without religion, science is still available. How can the opposite be true? Explain...

The average age of human life, up until the industrial revolution some 300 years ago, steadily increased from approx 40 years to between 60 or 70 years. Nowadays we can expect to live to between 70 to 90 years, maybe even longer. My question is this; if the menopause occurs in modern middle-aged women, roughly between 45 - 55 years old, does this mean that it never happened to women when life expectancy was much younger?

Has there ever been any scientific research into this and if so, what were the results? If there hasn't been, do we know that a menopause is a natural phenomenon, or is it a limit nature has imposed for a certain reason? The results of this could be fascinating if it never occurred previously, and just as interesting if it did! I am posting this to both the science & biology questions and also religion & spirituality as I think the answers from both communities could be great to read...

The average age of human life, up until the industrial revolution some 300 years ago, steadily increased from approx 40 years to between 60 or 70 years. Nowadays we can expect to live to between 70 to 90 years, maybe even longer. My question is this; if the menopause occurs in modern middle-aged women, roughly between 45 - 55 years old, does this mean that it never happened to women when life expectancy was much younger?

Has there ever been any scientific research into this and if so, what were the results? If there hasn't been, do we know that a menopause is a natural phenomenon, or is it a limit nature has imposed for a certain reason? The results of this could be fascinating if it never occurred previously, and just as interesting if it did! I am posting this to both the social science questions and also religion & spirituality as I think the answers from both communities could be great to read...

I would like to know if the religious amongst us can dispute the following as a logical debate;

Atheists TRY to be logical because logic & reasoning are the only way to intelligently come to ANY conclusion about anything. Hence the THEORY of evolution & the big bang THEORY. NOT the FACT of evolution, nor the big bang FACT. The religious simply take any usable theory as being true, because it suits their beliefs and arguments and they have already taken a theory (theology anyone?) as being completely true. I.e. religious people state that atheists believe 100% in the FACT of evolution and the FACT of the big bang, even though the very words in their title provide the evidence to the contrary. The religious do this because they believe that what they believe must be 100% infallible. Therefore, the opposition must also do the same, no matter how untrue this actually is.

For example, if you were in court charged with a murder that you did NOT commit, would you rather have a jury made of people who were logical & reasonable and thereby able to examine the facts presented to them and come to an intelligent conclusion, or would you rather have a jury full of people who simply believed what they were told to believe by one side of the argument? All of of us would choose, without doubt, option A. We would want the evidence to prove the facts. Yet apply this to religion. Where is the evidence to acknowledge the facts? Suddenly logic goes out the window and only "faith" remains. Hypocrisy or what?

So, bearing this in mind, PLEASE can religious logic (and please DO NOT provide biblical scripture as some kind of "evidence" to the contrary as this is always open to (mis)translation) be provided? I will not accept religious quotations & scripture itself as "evidence" of anything. Only intelligent logic & reasoning from the religious will be accepted (and VERY much appreciated).

I would like to know if the religious amongst us can dispute the following as a logical debate;

Atheists TRY to be logical because logic & reasoning are the only way to intelligently come to ANY conclusion. Hence the THEORY of evolution & the big bang THEORY. NOT the FACT of evolution, nor the big bang FACT. The religious simply take any usable theory as being true, because it suits their beliefs and arguments and they have already taken a theory (theology anyone?) as being completely true. I.e. religious people state that atheists believe 100% in the FACT of evolution and the FACT of the big bang, even thought the very words in their title provide the evidence to the contrary. They do this because they believe that what they believe must be 100% infallible. Therefore, the opposition must also do the same.

For example, if you were in court charged with a murder that you did not commit, would you rather have a jury made of people who were logical & reasonable and thereby able to examine the facts presented to them and come to an intelligent conclusion, or would you rather have a jury full of people who simply believed what they were told to believe by one side of the argument? If you chose option B, the people who simply believed what they were told to, because they were told to, then congratulations! You've just put yourself on death row. Or at least in prison for life, even tho you were innocent of the accusation to begin with.

Do you see how it works? Only logic, evidence, science and reasoning can provide the truth. NOT a misguided belief in what you were told to believe. Otherwise we are all doomed.

So, to get back to the original question, can the religious amongst us please provide an explanation as to how religion can provide a logical debate to their atheistic counterparts?

Please DO NOT provide biblical scripture as some kind of "evidence" to the contrary as this is always open to (mis)translation. Only intelligent logic & reasoning from the religious will be accepted (and VERY much appreciated).

In the bible god is constantly referred to as he/him/his, i.e. male. But christianity declares that god is monotheistic, that is to say, there only is one god, with no other possible god-like deity. So, to describe god as a "he" reflects a necessary opposition that there must be a "she". Therefore, god is not monotheistic after all? Otherwise what is the point of calling god "our lord" or referencing him as male at all?

Secondly, angels are always depicted and described as having wings. WHY??? If angels are heavenly beings, why are they bound by gravity or air pressure? If they aren't bound by these physical laws, then what use do they have for their wings?

Finally, Jesus was sacrificed for our sins. Who was Jesus sacrificed to, exactly? If I'm not mistaken, wasn't Jesus god (in a sense)? So god sacrificed himself to himself for our sins (sins which he created himself)?

I'm merely looking for logic here. Anybody who dares to use biblical verse and quotes as reason or an answer will not be considered. These types of quote mean nothing in logical terms and are completely open to (mis)translation. Only logical and literal answers will be considered. Thank you.

In EVERY single near death experience I have ever read, EVERY single person says "I was on my to heaven, followed the tunnel, then I felt warmth, love & light. Then I was back on earth." Or "I saw the operating room, people working on me." But not once do they say, "I saw the books placed upside down that all operating rooms have to prove the existence of my survival in the next world."

NOT ONCE have I ever heard a story of a near death experience where the person said, "well it got pretty warm & toasty, hateful and vengeful. Satan's minions came to me, then the next thing I was awake again."

Therefore, all stories of near death are stories of the human mind closing down, with the last part of the central mind (which we already know provides the idea of love & inclusion) being the last to close. Perfect naturalism. Not a reason to believe in idiotic idols. Science over religion. Fact over fiction.

Why has no one ever had a near death experience that brought them to the brink of hell, and why would satan let them get close but then get away???

I am an atheist from Northern Ireland. My small country went through decades of religious turmoil & came close to the brink of civil war in the name of religion. I lived it. Yet when I reference it in answers against religion I automatically get a thumbs down. WHY? Is it too inconvenient that a religious war occurred when Christianity believes it is at an all time high (even tho it's not), or is it simply a case that people can't handle the truth?

Or is it the fact that religious war left me an atheist, too logical to pander to dogmatic views?

Either way, I have lived through religious intolerence and hatred that most of you have not even begun to understand, yet I am constantly marked down for this. What does that say for the religious who have given me thumbs down and I have spoke to by email on this site?

It is perfectly acceptable in society to say "I believe in God" and no one thinks twice about it. But to say "I DON'T believe in god" requires evidence as to how you came to this theory. WHY?! What gives the religious the right to be so un-evidential???

If I said black holes exist but we can't see them, then I'd be asked to provide evidence of their existence. So science steps in & we can prove the existence of a thing that has no right to exist, because a black hole absorbs light & remains invisible to the human eye, ironically making it visible in the void of space. But simply by saying a "being" or "deity" exists (regardless that it has never given any scientific logic or evidence as to it's existence) then it's literally taken as gospel. Can somebody please explain how that logic works???

It would help if only the religious could answer this for me, thanks. =)

that was allegedly a religious marking, or an endeavour of god and this thing could not be explained by geology or anthropological history, where or what could you show me that would be unique and an ultimate identification of godly work? And this could be anywhere in the world and throughout all time...

P.s. It would help if only the religious answered this question. Thanks =)

If the world is approx. 6,000 years old and either god or the devil put dinosaur bones on earth to test our faith, then can anyone explain the humble fern? This little plant has been on planet earth for THREE TIMES longer than the oldest dated dinosaur fossil. And it still exists. It is still one of the most abundant plants on earth as it has adapted to live in so many environments over MILLIONS of years.

So, if dinosaur fossils are not real proof that the earth is more than 6,000 years old just because they are no longer alive, then how about the humble fern since it's still here? Or is this evidence to the contrary inadmissible and for what reason?

It is perfectly acceptable in society to say "I believe in God" and no one thinks twice about it. But to say "I DON'T believe in god" requires evidence as to how you came to this theory. Why?! What gives the religious the right to be so un-evidential???

If I said black holes exist but we can't see them, then I'd be asked to provide evidence of their existence. So science steps in & we can prove the existence of a thing that has no right to exist, because a black hole absorbs light & remains invisible to the human eye, ironically making it visible in the void of space. But simply by saying a "being" or "deity" exists (regardless that it has never given any scientific logic or evidence as to it's existence) then it's literally taken as gospel. Can somebody please explain how that logic works???

I work with a girl who I think is the sexiest most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on. I'm really smitten with her at the mo. Thing is, I know she has kids (which isn't a problem) but I also know she lives with her boyfriend (PROBLEM!) and I know she's at the end of her leash with him. So, my question is, how do I win her over? What should I say or what should I do to convince her to go out with me on our first date??? And what should I say once we're out so she'll start to think of me instead of him? I'm at a total loss with this at the mo, but I'm determined not to lose, I AM GONNA WIN HER. Just dunno how! :os