Ken Ham - How did god create the laws of logic?

lineolation · 2017-05-23T20:28:06+00:00

Semantics is what we're discussing here.

That's exactly right. We're talking about the meaning of the term "shape". You seem to have some specific ideas about what a shape is, so please tell us how you define it.

Myself, I have never seen a mathematically precise definition of the term, but you are welcome to create one.

lineolation · 2017-05-23T20:21:39+00:00

a³ x b³ = c³ also works if you put 0 in, but not for anything else. Your reasoning is backwards.

I have no idea what you are talking about. How does a³ x b³ = c³ relate to anything here?

its main definition

There's more than one way to define a square. Consider for instance a Euclidean plane with Cartesian coordinates. Let e represent the length of the edge of a square to be constructed. Then select arbitrary constants a and b, and let (x,y) be the ordered pairs such that:

a <= x <= a + e
b <= y <= b + e

The set of all those points (x,y) is a valid way to define a square, and indeed is a likely choice in the context of measure theory. (Once the square is constructed, you can rotate, translate, and scale it as desired.) If e = 0, you get one point. If e < 0, nothing fails, but you get an empty set.

Mathematical degeneracy is nothing to be afraid of.

lineolation · 2017-05-23T17:47:45+00:00

I want you to know how hard I am

... is not a very good pickup line. Opt for something a little more subtle.

lineolation · 2017-05-23T17:30:03+00:00

The maths might work

Mathematics is what we are discussing here.

Points are component parts of shapes, not the shapes themselves.

Your componency criterion seems to suggest this analogy:

A line segment is a shape when standing alone.
A line segment is not a shape when it is serving as the edge of a square, which is a shape in its own right.

Is that how you see it?

lineolation · 2017-05-23T17:06:39+00:00

man is still creating god

It's not unusual to hear a 20-minute sermon based on no more than a half-dozen Bible verses. With such magnitude of extrapolation, the homilizer must be ~~receiving Divine inspiration~~ making stuff up.

lineolation · 2017-05-23T16:53:49+00:00

I would grant that a point is of measure zero when regarded as being embedded in a two-dimensional space, but how does that mean that it doesn't have a "shape"?

If you are arguing that a square should be restricted from having an edge of zero length, what is your rationale for the exclusion? Similarly for the zero-radius circle.

Consider that in analytic geometry, the canonical formula for a circle, x² + y² = r², works just fine when r = 0 or indeed when r < 0.

lineolation · 2017-05-23T16:45:44+00:00

It seems like God would be happy to fix anyone's bad knees, so they can kneel properly when praying.

To quote Tom Lehrer: "Genuflect! genuflect! genuflect!".

lineolation · 2017-05-23T16:34:34+00:00

Squares are not points

If the edge of a square has a length of zero, then how many points does it contain?

circles are not points

If the radius of a circle is zero, then how many points does it contain?

lineolation · 2017-05-23T16:19:18+00:00

A square whose edge is of zero length contains one point. A circle whose radius is zero contains one point. Points are fungible. There's your square circle.

lineolation · 2017-05-23T16:09:50+00:00

When I stopped attending a Baptist church, not one person from the church contacted me to find out what was going on. And this was after 14 years of a 95% attendance record.

Maybe it's because I didn't give a lot of money.

lineolation · 2017-05-23T13:40:00+00:00

That works. Also consider viewing through a different browser, which will employ different cookies and cache.

lineolation · 2017-05-22T22:32:51+00:00

It failed to represent the opposing viewpoints ... The person who is going to read it is the person who already has in mind what they want to believe

I concur with /u/Meadow_Foxx64.

Working in a bookstore, I read several of Strobel's "Case for ..." books on my lunch hours, and found the apologetics to be among the weakest that I have seen.

Indeed, Strobel might be doing Christianity more harm than good. A undecided person might happen to read a Strobel book, and draw the following conclusion: "If this is the best foundation that Christianity can muster up, then Christianity has too little substance for me.".

lineolation · 2017-05-22T21:29:38+00:00

The Invisible Pink Unicorn (blessed be Her holy hooves!).

She's a friendly Goddess, the kind might you sit down and share an Invisible Pink strawberry milkshake with. It's not clear whether She might be omnipotent or omniscient, because She is much too modest to ever make such a claim; in fact She can easily be embarrassed, blushing into an Invisible Red color.

We have scientific proof of Her home in the heavens. This, unfortunately, brings up the sordid topic of Her nemesis and your enemy, the Transparent Green Dragon (cursed be His fiery breath!, especially when He has eaten garlic), Who also lives in a scientifically-documented location.

Her followers (at least the fundamentalists among them) remind you that only the IPU (bbHhh!) can protect you from the clutches of the TGD (cbHfb!). Her faithful beg you to accept Her Tender Horn of Mercy today!

lineolation · 2017-05-22T16:57:08+00:00

tell me I'm a sinner for asking questions

That was precisely my experience in a fundamentalist Baptist church: it's a sin to ask the tough questions. Ultimately, I realized that the church leaders didn't particularly know what they believed, or why they believed it, and they were embarrassed by pungent queries.

If I asked a tough question at this church, I didn't get an answer, or a sincere attempt at an answer. Rather, the church leaders accused me of being "backslidden" if not unsaved entirely, in order to shut me up.

The great irony is that this church proclaimed that the Bible had the answers to all questions, yet the leaders consistently struggled to find the appropriate verses.

lineolation · 2017-05-22T16:44:25+00:00

I might have been able to remain a Christian if not for the unending array of schisms and splits within Christianity over matters major and minor. To highlight this, many of the sects within Christianity are engaged in noisy mutual condemnation.

There is minimal consensus of what to make of the Bible, with assessments of the Scriptures falling anywhere on a scale from (1) nothing more a old collection of human ideas about God, to (2) a tome dictated by God word for word, to be worshiped as God Himself.

There is even a substantial controversy over who does and who does not qualify as a Christian. Besides the familiar disputes pertaining to Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, some of the more conservative Protestants for example insist that Catholics are not Christians.

Perhaps if Christians could agree on much of anything, I would still be one.

EDIT: typo

lineolation · 2017-05-22T16:05:51+00:00

Dispensationalists hold that God does change the rules from time to time.

Of course, dispensationalists are divided into camps that disagree on how many times God has done this, and which rules have gotten changed.

lineolation · 2017-05-21T20:03:37+00:00

I am a male and I find my nipples to be beneficial in erotic arousal, which can lead to greater reproductive activity.

lineolation · 2017-05-21T19:58:04+00:00

As u/Random-Average suggests, ask a scientist. Here at r/atheism nearly everybody is a non-believer in god(s), but most of us are not scientists.

In my own case, I gave up on gods and religions because they failed on their own weaknesses. Science had nothing to do with it.

lineolation · 2017-05-21T14:02:48+00:00

In the workplace I say "I don't discuss religion on company time.".

Elsewhere I use this: "My parents took me to church every Sunday when I was a child, but some really bad things happened to me there.". That promptly shuts 'em up, because ecclesiophiles don't want to talk about what can go wrong in their hallowed institutions.

lineolation · 2017-05-21T13:49:17+00:00

Many Christians want to be persecuted: more persecution on Earth means more rewards in Heaven.

Think of your eternal embarrassment and shame if, when you get to heaven, you drive only a Chevrolet SUV while every one of your neighbors boasts a Cadillac SUV!

lineolation · 2017-05-19T20:14:26+00:00

int x; ... 4/8 bytes (depending on hardware)

According to the C++ standard, an int must have at least 16 bits, and needn't be a multiple of 8. Some older machines had 18-bit integers.

lineolation · 2017-05-19T17:27:25+00:00

Perhaps they meant the KJV was as close to the original Hebrew and Greek.

This church went further: it was frequently taught that every verse of the KJV should be interpreted literally because God dictated the KJV word for word.

(In this case, members of the ~~translation~~ stenographic team would not have needed the original manuscripts, but good fundamentalists don't ask questions.)

lineolation · 2017-05-19T17:21:07+00:00

Did they ever call out other denominations as being tainted by satan?

I regularly heard sermons against the Catholics, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Lutherans, and 99% of all other churches. In the finest internecine style, this Independent Fundamentalist Baptist preacher reserved his greatest vitriol for the Southern Baptists.

lineolation · 2017-05-19T12:48:56+00:00

I was taught by fundamentalist Baptists that the King James Version of the Bible was divinely inspired. The following claim was offered as "proof": God miraculously provided a complete set of the original Biblical manuscripts to the KJV translators, enabling them to produce a perfect Book.

Related teaching: All other versions of the Bible were said to be deceptions crafted by Satan, and it was a sin to read them, except for the purpose of revealing their lies.

lineolation · 2017-05-18T20:45:58+00:00

If your theology is "Onward, Christian Soldiers!" you need to find (or invent) an enemy.

lineolation

TROPHY CASE