Increasing Our Faith

[NearBr0ken]

This is the name of a Creationist/Apologetics organization that meets on the college campus every Tuesday.  It would be unfair of me not to give Creationism a fair chance (seeing as so many regard it as a valid theory) so I sat in on a meeting.  It was a farce.  They said that something had to create the universe because things just don't come from nowhere (never mentioning that it didn't have to have a beginning; a.k.a. the Bifurcation fallacy), if we evolved from monkeys, why are monkeys still around (blatant ignorance of the processes of natural selection), order and purpose requires a designer (I'm recommending the Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins), the practice of "heat balling" by honeybees to protect their hive.  I did some research and it concluded that "The results show remarkable thermal fine-tuning in a co-evolving predatorâ€"prey relationship."  But since creationists don't believe in evolution, I can't use evolution as a premise for my argument, can I?  :|  Like we've never seen that before.  Anyone should feel free to answer these questions and I'll be sure to put them in this essay.  I'm going to make copies and give them to the people attending, which thankfully is a very small number.  I'm playing double agent here.  I just received a 7 DVD set called "The Truth Project" (Google it, I dare you).  It's set up in a small group curriculum and I'm letting him borrow the series.  It's as full of fallacies as he is, and I want to see him try to hold his theory up.  I'm off to the library and I'll post later tonight.

[dodgecity]

I look forward to seeing it. It's impressive that you are making a conscience decision to deal with these people. I probably wouldn't have the patience.

[raptor1770]

I don't know if you've seen this before but it may help you in your essay. At the very least its interesting to have the whole process spelled out so clearly and simply.
[youtube:1xusy6rg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM-LcQZHg1M[/youtube:1xusy6rg]

[AlP]

Wow! That's an impressive effort. Good luck with it.

I watched the trailer for "The Truth Project". It's typical of trailers in that there isn't much actual information but it promotes Christian doctrine. The production values are quite high in some places and shoddy in others. I turned the sound off to watch the camera work and some of the other visuals. It's really quite well put together in places. But the CG is terrible. The main actor seems quite believable (it's a pun!) but some of the extras are laughable. Somebody spent a lot of money on this and unfortunately a DVD this well produced will probably cause a fair amount of bullshit to become permanently lodged in some unskeptical minds.

[SSY]

I guess he never came back, maybe they got him?

[GodlessInND]

I'm impressed with your enthusiasm, NearBr0ken, though I fear your essay will fall on blind eyes.  Still, I am interested to hear what kind of response you received from the group.

[NearBr0ken]

Alas, I wrote some of it, made some good points, then realized it was futile.  Between the time I started writing it and the time I got back to writing it, I debated a theist.  It made me realize that my case was hopeless especially if it was one atheist v. a group of theists.  They seem to thrive in group environments.     I was going to save it but all of the points I made were simply repeating facts that most of us already know well.  Without an audience, I just trashed it.

[Twiddler]

I'm impressed with your enthusiasm, NearBr0ken, though I fear your essay will fall on blind eyes.  Still, I am interested to hear what kind of response you received from the group.

Yeah, that's my guess too, sadly.  That's just the way it often is with people who are that deeply into their religion.  But I guess that just makes me appreciate the open-minded that much more whenever they appear.

EDIT:  I now see that you scratched it.  And for your own sake, that might be best.  You'd probably be better off discussing the issue with the nearest wall...