The object is the filling. The concept of the object is its outline. I explained that, didn't I? — Shamshir
You are suggesting a God who could create the planet Earth, the other planets in the Solar System, the Sun, the 200+ billion stars in our galaxy...and the 300+ billions of other galaxies we know of...
...and it cannot do something as simple as contact us???? — Frank Apisa
..why would the GOD continue to make it so difficult to KNOW its existence to people who are relatively sophisticated, relatively knowledgeable, less superstitious now? — Frank Apisa
Time always flows from low to high entropy — Possibility
Similarly god is defined as a sentient being with omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience (usually) so whether or not such an entity exists is a yes or no question. — khaled
And is made of spaghetti. — S
We all work for gain, but not all of us can work for personal profit maximization or the system doesn't work? This is what I understand from your statement. — boethius
Again what ethic should they base this oversight roll on? Why can't the citizenry also seek to maximize gain, why is it only the capitalists and mobsters that can have this ethic depending on what system they find themselves in? — boethius
A followup question, given that we agree capitalists do not have a personal ethic that is compatible with public service, it is only accidental that they produce value in your description due to a government system and culture, shouldn't the citizens strive to keep capitalists away from influencing governing processes? — boethius
What you refute as a ‘state of nothingness’ is more accurately a state of zero entropy - which is also the ‘start’ of time as we are aware of it - but not necessarily the start of spacetime (ie. the Big Bang) — Possibility
Outside of this sense of time is indeterminacy, potentiality - a timeless, formless existence that is frequently dismissed as ‘nothingness’, yet is the underlying ‘cause’ - the origination - of everything that can and does occur in time. — Possibility
You have changed the personal system from greed to gain, are these different motivations or the same? — boethius
For instance, if a civil servant is offered a bribe, and they are confident it is reasonable risk/reward, should they take the bribe? If not, what moral grounds should they have to refusing the bribe? — boethius
How so? Anyone from any culture can join a gang and work their way up to become a mobster; in some cases, given their skill set, it's an economically rational decision. — boethius
If so, shouldn't the credit, the "God's work" be attributed to the government and whoever is involved in maintaining the government? — boethius
ost critical of my questions, concerning the actions that go towards this government/culture/system maintenance that are required for things to not be mob and corruption based, do these maintenance actions follow from a ethic of personal greed too? If so, can you describe how so? — boethius
The mob also runs on a system of personal greed, likewise the system is inefficient but certainly more efficient than anarchy, are the mobsters also doing God's work?
If they aren't doing God's work, what is the difference in the internal ethos of of personal greed that you would argue is different? — boethius
There sure isn't anything contradictory in saying that time could be everlasting. You couldn't have time if at some point there was no time. You would have to go from no change to change, how could that be possible? You couldn't get a universe from a completely static state. — Sam26
1 Do not say what you believe to be false. — fdrake
2 Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. — fdrake
Therefore, intelligence from both sides is the key to effective communications and common sense is the medium. — akourios
What I am, Devans...is a person willing to acknowledge I do not know the things I do not know — Frank Apisa
Why should it be blind guess? — EnPassant
"Who created your God?" — TheSageOfMainStreet
One problem with this is that "surprise" seems to be used in two rather incompatible ways — Terrapin Station
There are no arguments and no counter arguments concerning something that is impossible to determine — whollyrolling
There is no evidence of what you call first cause — whollyrolling
There are numerous extensive and intensive methods of observing reality and describing its contents and its laws, yet no god or grand cause has ever been demonstrated. — whollyrolling
Those all have promises with their premises, such as "Now whatever is in motion is put in motion by another" — Terrapin Station
There are absolutely NO PROOFS that a first cause exists. — Frank Apisa
I hear you continually claim that there are many "Proofs" for god and none against it. — whollyrolling