Follow a discussion on the Independent forum re this posting:
How to stop believing in Christianity in five easy steps (Diaries)
By Bnonn Tue Nov 5th, 2002 at 05:46:50 AM EST
I'm in a really stirring mood tonight, and I almost feel like submitting this as an actual article. Still, I value my reputation, so I won't; besides, it's hardly original. So what's a diary for if you don't use it, right?
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statement 1: Christianity states that God is omniscient. Because God is omniscient, there is nothing he does not know. If there was something God did not know, he would not be omniscient, and by definition he would not be God.
statement 2: if it can be known in advance what a person will do at any given time, then when that person comes to that time, there is only one thing that he can do. If there is only one thing he can do, then the choice as to what to do is not his own, though he may be made to believe otherwise. If the choice is not his own, he does not have free will.
statement 3: if God is omniscient, he knows what any person will do at any given time. If this is true, then humans do not have free will. If this is false, he does not know what any person will do at any given time, in which case he is not omniscient, and therefore not God. Therefore, either God exists, or free will exists.
statement 4: the Bible is the Word of God. It says that God exists, and that He created us with free will. However, as we have seen above, God cannot exist if we have free will, and the converse is also true. Therefore, only one statement in the Bible is correct.
statement 5: as demonstrated, if free will exists, God does not. If God exists, free will does not. However, according to Christianity, God told us that we have free will. Therefore, He lied. If He lied, He is not omnibenevolent. If He is not omnibenevolent, He is not God. Therefore, whether free will exists or not, God cannot exist as described by Christian doctrine.
Obviously this can apply to other religions, but I'm most familiar with Christianity, hence the emphasis. I can't, so far, think of a counter-argument that stands up to the above logic; and the only one I've heard is that God is atemporal. To me, this is irrelevant, since the nature of his existence is entirely unrelated to ours, and it is our actions that are under question. If our actions can be known before they occur, then it doesn't matter how that knowledge comes about; it still exists.
In answer to another potential comment (yeah, like anyone will read this anyway), I am not debating whether free will itself is true. I personally don't believe it is, and if you'd like to know why you'll probably find this article pretty interesting. I'm focusing on how the question of free will can be demonstrated to contradict Christian doctrine whether it exists or not.
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
The figures which show Europe's gun culture rivals US
By Stephen Castle in Strasbourg
02 July 2003
Europeans own a total of 67 million registered guns, according to a new survey, which argues that some nations have developed a gun culture that bears comparison with the United States.
The report highlights recent incidents of mass shootings and political assassinations, raising questions about the increasing availability of firearms in Europe and their use.
"Contrary to the common assumption that Europeans are virtually unarmed, an estimated 84 million firearms are legally held in the 15 member states of the EU. Of these, 80 per cent - 67 million guns - are in civilian hands," the report states. But the Small Arms Survey also concludes that the gun culture varies enormously between European nations, and does not pinpoint any overall trend in behaviour in the EU.
The document reflects the fact that, throughout the continent as a whole, the situation has improved and that the end of the war in the Balkans leaves Chechnya as the only major ongoing conflict.
But in some EU countries, domestic gun ownership is surprisingly high. According to Aaron Karp, co-author of the report: "Citizens of most European countries are more heavily armed than they realise, with an average of 17.4 guns per 100 people in the 15 EU countries alone." While that falls a long way behind the US, which is "fast approaching a statistical level of one gun per person", Germans are buying almost as many new firearms per capita as Americans.
Finland, with its strong hunting tradition, has the most legally registered guns in the EU at 39 per 100 people, the UK has 10 - one third of the German and French figures - and the Netherlands has two. Gun laws are tightest in the UK, the Netherlands and Poland, while France has more legal handguns than the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, England, Wales and Scotland combined.
Mr Karp said the assumption there is no overlap between European and American gun culture is misleading. "We have been acting as if this was a comparison between Mars and Venus, but that does not always hold. Many - but not all - countries of Europe have a strong gun culture," he said. He also highlighted the convergence between US and European problems in controlling illegal firearms - thought to exceed those that are registered - and of armed crime.
The report, compiled by an independent research project funded by 12 governments, stresses the diversity of different national law but points out that Germany and France do not have a tradition of tight regulation of firearms. Registration of new guns was only made compulsory in Germany in 1972 and in France in 1995.
It also highlights recent cases of mass murder in both nations: at a school in Erfurt, Germany, in April 2002, where 17 died and 10 were wounded, and in Nanterre, France, in March last year when eight people were killed and 12 wounded in an attack on a council building. In the 13 months before last October, 47 people died and more than 36 were wounded with privately held guns in mass shootings in France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
By and large, Europeans show a preference for rifles and shotguns over handguns. With the exception of France, handgun ownership is largely restricted to urban areas.
HOW THEY COMPARE
Firearm-related deaths (in 2000)
United States: 30,419 (11.3 per 100,000)
England and Wales: 159 (0.3 per 100,000)
Germany: 1,201 (1.5 per 100 000)
France: 2,964 (5 per 100,000)
Gun ownership per 100 inhabitants
United States: 83-96
European Union: 17.4
United Kingdom: 10
2 July 2003 11:51
By Stephen Castle in Strasbourg
02 July 2003
Europeans own a total of 67 million registered guns, according to a new survey, which argues that some nations have developed a gun culture that bears comparison with the United States.
The report highlights recent incidents of mass shootings and political assassinations, raising questions about the increasing availability of firearms in Europe and their use.
"Contrary to the common assumption that Europeans are virtually unarmed, an estimated 84 million firearms are legally held in the 15 member states of the EU. Of these, 80 per cent - 67 million guns - are in civilian hands," the report states. But the Small Arms Survey also concludes that the gun culture varies enormously between European nations, and does not pinpoint any overall trend in behaviour in the EU.
The document reflects the fact that, throughout the continent as a whole, the situation has improved and that the end of the war in the Balkans leaves Chechnya as the only major ongoing conflict.
But in some EU countries, domestic gun ownership is surprisingly high. According to Aaron Karp, co-author of the report: "Citizens of most European countries are more heavily armed than they realise, with an average of 17.4 guns per 100 people in the 15 EU countries alone." While that falls a long way behind the US, which is "fast approaching a statistical level of one gun per person", Germans are buying almost as many new firearms per capita as Americans.
Finland, with its strong hunting tradition, has the most legally registered guns in the EU at 39 per 100 people, the UK has 10 - one third of the German and French figures - and the Netherlands has two. Gun laws are tightest in the UK, the Netherlands and Poland, while France has more legal handguns than the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, England, Wales and Scotland combined.
Mr Karp said the assumption there is no overlap between European and American gun culture is misleading. "We have been acting as if this was a comparison between Mars and Venus, but that does not always hold. Many - but not all - countries of Europe have a strong gun culture," he said. He also highlighted the convergence between US and European problems in controlling illegal firearms - thought to exceed those that are registered - and of armed crime.
The report, compiled by an independent research project funded by 12 governments, stresses the diversity of different national law but points out that Germany and France do not have a tradition of tight regulation of firearms. Registration of new guns was only made compulsory in Germany in 1972 and in France in 1995.
It also highlights recent cases of mass murder in both nations: at a school in Erfurt, Germany, in April 2002, where 17 died and 10 were wounded, and in Nanterre, France, in March last year when eight people were killed and 12 wounded in an attack on a council building. In the 13 months before last October, 47 people died and more than 36 were wounded with privately held guns in mass shootings in France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
By and large, Europeans show a preference for rifles and shotguns over handguns. With the exception of France, handgun ownership is largely restricted to urban areas.
HOW THEY COMPARE
Firearm-related deaths (in 2000)
United States: 30,419 (11.3 per 100,000)
England and Wales: 159 (0.3 per 100,000)
Germany: 1,201 (1.5 per 100 000)
France: 2,964 (5 per 100,000)
Gun ownership per 100 inhabitants
United States: 83-96
European Union: 17.4
United Kingdom: 10
2 July 2003 11:51
Aung San Suu Kyi
She has been moved from Insein jail to an undisclosed location, according to an unnamed source.
Her birthday has come and gone...
Dammit, why is she still being held???
Why is the rest of the world not yelling and shouting???
We are being much too polite over this: LET HER GO DAMMIT!!!
There is no, repeat, NO reason to keep her locked up!
And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
Before the second you turn back
Oh no, be strong
Walk on
Walk on
What you got, they can't steal it
No they can't even feel it
Walk on
Walk on
Stay safe tonight
U2 - Walk On
She has been moved from Insein jail to an undisclosed location, according to an unnamed source.
Her birthday has come and gone...
Dammit, why is she still being held???
Why is the rest of the world not yelling and shouting???
We are being much too polite over this: LET HER GO DAMMIT!!!
There is no, repeat, NO reason to keep her locked up!
And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
Before the second you turn back
Oh no, be strong
Walk on
Walk on
What you got, they can't steal it
No they can't even feel it
Walk on
Walk on
Stay safe tonight
U2 - Walk On
Aung San Suu Kyi
She has been moved from Insein jail to an undisclosed location, according to an unnamed source.
Her birthday has come and gone...
Dammit, why is she still being held???
Why is the rest of the world not yelling and shouting???
We are being much too polite over this: LET HER GO DAMMIT!!!
There is no, repeat, NO reason to keep her locked up!
And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
Before the second you turn back
Oh no, be strong
Walk on
Walk on
What you got, they can't steal it
No they can't even feel it
Walk on
Walk on
Stay safe tonight
U2 - Walk On
She has been moved from Insein jail to an undisclosed location, according to an unnamed source.
Her birthday has come and gone...
Dammit, why is she still being held???
Why is the rest of the world not yelling and shouting???
We are being much too polite over this: LET HER GO DAMMIT!!!
There is no, repeat, NO reason to keep her locked up!
And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
Before the second you turn back
Oh no, be strong
Walk on
Walk on
What you got, they can't steal it
No they can't even feel it
Walk on
Walk on
Stay safe tonight
U2 - Walk On
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
America
The Pentagon is planning a new generation of weapons, including huge hypersonic drones and bombs dropped from space, that will allow the US to strike its enemies at lightning speed from its own territory.
Jayzus have they gone farking mad???
What with their new tendency of pre-emptive strikes and "if you aint with me you are agin' me" attitude they may become the world's greatest threat!
And yet, the rest of the world must resist the temptation to suit up in armour and develop their own superweapons in answer. Rather, we should isolate America economically and make it self-destruct. If they carry on the way they have been lately, this is a given. The world would be a much safer place.
What I just wrote upsets me horribly. I have always loved the ideal of America. I always knew it was more of an ideal than reality but still, the country and it's people were for the most part striving to attain that ideal. It now seems as if it has been discarded, many Americans seem drunk on the power of the bully. True, being a bully will get you what you want... now. In the end though, that will be pretty hollow as you are shunned wherever you go.
The Pentagon is planning a new generation of weapons, including huge hypersonic drones and bombs dropped from space, that will allow the US to strike its enemies at lightning speed from its own territory.
Jayzus have they gone farking mad???
What with their new tendency of pre-emptive strikes and "if you aint with me you are agin' me" attitude they may become the world's greatest threat!
And yet, the rest of the world must resist the temptation to suit up in armour and develop their own superweapons in answer. Rather, we should isolate America economically and make it self-destruct. If they carry on the way they have been lately, this is a given. The world would be a much safer place.
What I just wrote upsets me horribly. I have always loved the ideal of America. I always knew it was more of an ideal than reality but still, the country and it's people were for the most part striving to attain that ideal. It now seems as if it has been discarded, many Americans seem drunk on the power of the bully. True, being a bully will get you what you want... now. In the end though, that will be pretty hollow as you are shunned wherever you go.
America
The Pentagon is planning a new generation of weapons, including huge hypersonic drones and bombs dropped from space, that will allow the US to strike its enemies at lightning speed from its own territory.
Jayzus have they gone farking mad???
What with their new tendency of pre-emptive strikes and "if you aint with me you are agin' me" attitude they may become the world's greatest threat!
And yet, the rest of the world must resist the temptation to suit up in armour and develop their own superweapons in answer. Rather, we should isolate America economically and make it self-destruct. If they carry on the way they have been lately, this is a given. The world would be a much safer place.
What I just wrote upsets me horribly. I have always loved the ideal of America. I always knew it was more of an ideal than reality but still, the country and it's people were for the most part striving to attain that ideal. It now seems as if it has been discarded, many Americans seem drunk on the power of the bully. True, being a bully will get you what you want... now. In the end though, that will be pretty hollow as you are shunned wherever you go.
The Pentagon is planning a new generation of weapons, including huge hypersonic drones and bombs dropped from space, that will allow the US to strike its enemies at lightning speed from its own territory.
Jayzus have they gone farking mad???
What with their new tendency of pre-emptive strikes and "if you aint with me you are agin' me" attitude they may become the world's greatest threat!
And yet, the rest of the world must resist the temptation to suit up in armour and develop their own superweapons in answer. Rather, we should isolate America economically and make it self-destruct. If they carry on the way they have been lately, this is a given. The world would be a much safer place.
What I just wrote upsets me horribly. I have always loved the ideal of America. I always knew it was more of an ideal than reality but still, the country and it's people were for the most part striving to attain that ideal. It now seems as if it has been discarded, many Americans seem drunk on the power of the bully. True, being a bully will get you what you want... now. In the end though, that will be pretty hollow as you are shunned wherever you go.
Sunday, June 29, 2003
Zimbabwe
If the Americans really want to make a huge difference and help millions of people, let them to go Zimbabwe or at least lean on the Southern African governments to make them intervene! The world is apparently not interested in the curtain of darkenss that has descended on this once rich African country.
Please help... by making others aware of this.
Here is the latest entry in Cathy Buckle's weekly diary:
On the verge of giving up Saturday 28th June 2003
Dear Family and Friends,
Many of us in Zimbabwe are on the verge of giving up. Our lives have become almost unbearable. We cannot afford the food we manage to find. We can only buy petrol on the black market and it costs more than our wages. Services and infrastructure are rapidly collapsing, 16 people died from suspected water borne diseases in a major town this week. Our small towns seem to have been completely taken over by political warlords who have the power to take over businesses, ban newspapers, arrange for people to be beaten if they are thought to support the political opposition and prevent the police from doing their jobs. And every day the mindless violence gets worse and worse. This week a farm manager and his wife in their seventies were attacked by a mob of young men who beat, slapped and tortured them for five hours. When their son came to try and help them his hands were tied with bark rope and wire and he was beaten on his back and legs with whips made from fan belts, chains and sticks. The photographs of their injuries are so horrific that I could hardly bear to look at the black and purple bruises on arms, legs, backs and buttocks. In a country where three quarters of the population are being fed by international food aid, the violence demonstrates yet again that it is not land or race which has caused Zimbabwe's hell, just evil politics. Six days out of seven most of us wonder what we are still doing in Zimbabwe and where this is going to end. We look at the situation in the DR Congo and Liberia and wonder if that is to be our fate. Every single day the question we all ask is do we stay or go. Most of us have nowhere to go even if we could afford to do so and so we struggle through the days and look for hope and encouragement from our friends, from people who are worse off than us and from the growing number of exiled Zimbabweans and others who are speaking out and trying to get world leaders to do something before we descend into civil war.
More here.
If the Americans really want to make a huge difference and help millions of people, let them to go Zimbabwe or at least lean on the Southern African governments to make them intervene! The world is apparently not interested in the curtain of darkenss that has descended on this once rich African country.
Please help... by making others aware of this.
Here is the latest entry in Cathy Buckle's weekly diary:
On the verge of giving up Saturday 28th June 2003
Dear Family and Friends,
Many of us in Zimbabwe are on the verge of giving up. Our lives have become almost unbearable. We cannot afford the food we manage to find. We can only buy petrol on the black market and it costs more than our wages. Services and infrastructure are rapidly collapsing, 16 people died from suspected water borne diseases in a major town this week. Our small towns seem to have been completely taken over by political warlords who have the power to take over businesses, ban newspapers, arrange for people to be beaten if they are thought to support the political opposition and prevent the police from doing their jobs. And every day the mindless violence gets worse and worse. This week a farm manager and his wife in their seventies were attacked by a mob of young men who beat, slapped and tortured them for five hours. When their son came to try and help them his hands were tied with bark rope and wire and he was beaten on his back and legs with whips made from fan belts, chains and sticks. The photographs of their injuries are so horrific that I could hardly bear to look at the black and purple bruises on arms, legs, backs and buttocks. In a country where three quarters of the population are being fed by international food aid, the violence demonstrates yet again that it is not land or race which has caused Zimbabwe's hell, just evil politics. Six days out of seven most of us wonder what we are still doing in Zimbabwe and where this is going to end. We look at the situation in the DR Congo and Liberia and wonder if that is to be our fate. Every single day the question we all ask is do we stay or go. Most of us have nowhere to go even if we could afford to do so and so we struggle through the days and look for hope and encouragement from our friends, from people who are worse off than us and from the growing number of exiled Zimbabweans and others who are speaking out and trying to get world leaders to do something before we descend into civil war.
More here.
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