intro

[PopeyesPappy]

Welcome aboard GC. At least I assume you are GC. If so please don't expect anything to be different here than at your last forum otherwise I'm afraid you will be disappointed again. I will only ask one thing of you here. Please apply the same standards of evidence to your arguments that you do to ours.

[claytojar]

The victim card is now played.  Assumptions are presented as fact.  No evidence is provided. 

This is not going to go anywhere.

What victim card, if you're eluding to persecution then you're wrong. Christians in this country are not persecuted, badgered yes, but then how many people of different beliefs are not badgered at times. I do not believe I tried to present an assumption as fact, you'll have to show where I did such.

[Solomon Zorn]

I disagree with both, I believe that the universe is probably 50,000 years old.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2013/oct/23/farthest-confirmed-galaxy-is-a-prolific-star-creator

[Mermaid]

Evolution has no real proof, so how can it be fact.

If you think there is no real proof, you aren't paying attention. Of COURSE it's a fact. And it's also a fact that the earth is far, far older than 50,000 years, and there is overwhelming physical, factual, scientific evidence to back it up.

So here is a thought experiment: Is it possible for you to imagine a scenario where God is real and evolution is fact at the same time? A lot of Christians do. Are they wrong?

it seems that more than half of the atheist main reason for being involved is to make things hard on Christians.

Um. How do you reach this conclusion? Because people do not agree with your beliefs? I don't really care what you believe. Just leave me out of it. Is that an example of me making things hard on Christians?

[SGOS]

No one has ever proven God does not exist, I know it's me who has to prove God exists heard it more times than I could count but, in reality no one has proven He doesn't exist and until that happens I see no reason to change what I know.

Yes, it is you that has to prove that God exists.  If you can't, you have no reason to claim he does because someone else can't prove he does not.  See?  You have no proof either way.  That is one Hell of a shabby way to claim you have knowledge about the matter.

I can't see why people would call Christianity far fetched when it is based on loving others.

Holy Mother of all non-sequiturs, Batman!

[the_antithesis]

What's a god?

[stromboli]

No one has ever proven God does not exist, I know it's me who has to prove God exists heard it more times than I could count but, in reality no one has proven He doesn't exist and until that happens I see no reason to change what I know. How are you trying to verify God, through the secular world or the world where God exist, the spiritual? I can't see why people would call Christianity far fetched when it is based on loving others.

Absence of evidence is evidence of absence. If there is nothing that indicates the existence of something, a logical assumption is that it doesn't. The indicators of existence are the outcomes of that existence. Miracles? Prove they happened. Faith healing? Again, evidence. You believe by faith, but that alone proves nothing.

Anything that exists leaves a trail of events that prove it existed. Where is your trail? Biblical evidence? Noah's Ark is a fallacious myth based on an earlier Babylonian myth. Exodus? No historic evidence it happened, the mass migration of more than 2 million people that was not recorded historically anywhere and left no archeological evidence of it happening.

Thousands of religions have existed or still exist on the earth. Your religion is no more valid than any other nor any more provable. The logical conclusion is that religions were the creations of human beings. Your god did not "divinely inspire" until well after the creation of Hinduism, Jainism and other religions. Why are they not true and yours true? 

Evolution? There is far more evidence for evolution than for anything you believe, silly man.
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/search/topicbrowse2.php?topic_id=46
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/

Its called the big picture. We are atheists because we look at all the relative data, not that based on a specific belief system.

[stromboli]

Your belief is based on loving others? Tell that to all the gays in Uganda that are being persecuted by a Christian based governmental policy, all the non christian cultures that have been persecuted and genocidally decimated over centuries, the ongoing attacks on LGBT people around the world, the enforcement of biblically based slavery in this country and others historically and so on, ad infinitum.

Love my ass. You better read some newspapers and some history. You are a naive idiot.

[Mr.Obvious]

No one has ever proven God does not exist, I know it's me who has to prove God exists heard it more times than I could count but, in reality no one has proven He doesn't exist and until that happens I see no reason to change what I know.

Because it's not logical to continue to believe in something that has no real evidence.
Look at it this way: I used to believe the monster of Loch Ness existed. When I learned more about it, I discovered there was no evidence for the existence of such a creature. (And even that there were logical reasons to assume such a dinosaur-like creature couldn't exist in Loch Ness.) Therefore it became more logical to shed the belief without proof. No one has ever proven the Loch Ness Monster does not exist but exactly because no-one proved the Loch Ness monster exists I saw reason to change what I 'knew'. Innability to prove the non-existance of something is a poor way of validating your belief in said something. For the same reason that you stopped believing in leprachauns, the boogeyman, the easterbunny, witches, ... you should change 'what you (deem you) know' about this subject.

Or at least, you know, that's how I (and I think many here) see it.

[stromboli]

We should verify whether or not the theists that come on here have watched Cosmos. It is obvious this one didn't. Would save a lot of explaining, imo.

[the_antithesis]

Welcome claytojar.
Great to see a few Christians here.
Take note of the proselytizing warning. 

I can't remember ever having been warned/banned for doing that in any AvT forum.

Maybe that's because atheist counter-apologists and anti-theists seem so very very keen to start the convo. And they actually challenge/invite me to hear what I think about God and the bible.

I suppose answering theism questions and responding to challenges is OK as long as 'they' start it.
:shrug:

Pussy.

Also, what's a god?

[aitm]

The Bible never tries to prove God.

thats a stupid sentence

I disagree with both, I believe that the universe is probably 50,000 years old.

lack of education makes you ignorant, but not stupid

Evolution has no real proof,

the evidence is overwhelming, but again, failing to educate yourself is no sign of stupidity, just ignorance

The fact that evolutionary science makes assumptions doesn't make evolution true.

ah never applying reason and logic to YOUR position but hold others to it....got ya.

it seems that more than half of the atheist main reason for being involved is to make things hard on Christians.

ohh, poor little kid,,,sing soft kitty for me.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

I did not come here to convert you or anyone else, that is the work of the Holy Spirit. I'm here to hopeful have some good intelligent conversations but it's obvious that even with a simple intro threats are made, why?

No threat, just a warning. We get enough people here who try to do nothing but proselytize. I hope you're not one of them.

The Bible never tries to prove God.

Then it is up to believers to prove it. Many believers attempt to do so using the Bible, though, and if you try to do that it'll be ripped apart.

I disagree with both, I believe that the universe is probably 50,000 years old.

Lol

Evolution has no real proof, so how can it be fact. The fact that evolutionary science makes assumptions doesn't make evolution true.

Fossiles, artificial selection, genetics, comparative anatomy, making it happen in the lab, and antibiotic resistant bacteria aren't evidence, who would've thought?

I will try to enjoy my stay but it seems there are some here who are determined to make things hard on Christians without even getting to know them.

Many of us are rude and crass because we have gone through the same thing over and over and over again. Some of us are polite, some are rude.

I'll respect you as long as you respect me and don't say something completely idiotic. I will not respect your beliefs. If you disrespect me or go into fully into derp land I will not respect you.

I've been reading some of the threads here and on other atheist forums and it seems that more than half of the atheist main reason for being involved is to make things hard on Christians.

These are atheist forums, not Christian forums. We are hard on Muslims, Hindus, and anyone else who comes in and tries to assert that things without evidence are the absolute truth. So far the extent of us "being involved" is responding to a thread that you have started on our forums.

Here's my advice: Be respectful, ignore the flamers but don't ignore their points, and consider the fact that you may be wrong.

No one has ever proven God does not exist, I know it's me who has to prove God exists heard it more times than I could count but, in reality no one has proven He doesn't exist and until that happens I see no reason to change what I know. How are you trying to verify God, through the secular world or the world where God exist, the spiritual? I can't see why people would call Christianity far fetched when it is based on loving others.

Burden of proof: we are not making a claim, we are denying one based off of lack of evidence. I am sure that you deny unicorns, leprechauns, faries, and dragons exist until evidence be provided otherwise. We extend that doubt to god. Not just your god, all Gods.

You are making a claim: God exists, and it is your God. We're not going to your word or the Bible's word for it, and "faith" isn't enough.

As per "loving others": Tell that to the gay kids who get kicked out of their homes after coming out, or the women in Africa and other areas who get burned to death for being "witches" to this very day. All done in the name of Jesus.

[Lion IRC]

Pussy.

Also, what's a god?

Did you want to talk to me about God?  Here in someone else's welcome/intro thread?

[Lion IRC]

Oh look, Lion IRC has crawled out from the rock under which he was hiding. What happened Lion, feeling alone after throwing a hissy fit at AF.org?You better take note of it, too.Maybe because they were too busy chewing on you and similar religitard trolls.
Nope, wrong as usual. We don't start any conversation with religitards like you. It's you and your kin who usually feel obliged to jump in and spew their bullshit.Nope, noone invited you here, let alone challenge you to tell us what you "think". We don't start anything. This is an atheist forum and we usually answer in kind to theists when they start spewing their bullshit.

Anyway, welcome claytojar. :)
Sorry that your welcome/intro thread is polluted by this sort of antipathy.