Optical Illusions

[Nimzo]

I'm a Maths teacher by profession, and I absolutely love optical illusions.  Here are a couple of my favourites - post your own!

How many circles can you see?


Are you sure that's a triangle?

[OldGit]

[Nimzo]

That's a nice one, I particularly like this version:

[The Magic Pudding]

I see no circles, I see a triangle or two and a partial duck.

I'm starting a big fire for anyone who says differently.

[Nimzo]

I see no circles, I see a triangle or two and a partial duck.

I'm starting a big fire for anyone who says differently.

This is the thing with you atheists - you have no patience.

[original_gender]

This is the thing with you atheists - you have no patience.

We have the patience to read the bible, unlike most Christians.  

Here is my contribution:



When you first look at it, all you see is a chafed and gurgling rectum, but when you stare at it for a little while longer it becomes a self-loathing homosexual.

Edit: This is Fred Phelps, by the way.

[Nimzo]

We have the patience to read the bible, unlike most Christians. 

This is true - one of the reasons why I'm here actually, because atheists (by definition) have rejected some kind of thought about God in order to call themselves "atheists", whereas it is possible, I dare say common, to call yourself a "Christian" and have no thoughts about God whatsoever.  In other words, the "Christian" label can itself be an illusion.

Fred Phelps

Comes to mind...

[xSilverPhinx]

We have the patience to read the bible, unlike most Christians. 

This is true - one of the reasons why I'm here actually, because atheists (by definition) have rejected some kind of thought about God in order to call themselves "atheists", whereas it is possible, I dare say common, to call yourself a "Christian" and have no thoughts about God whatsoever.  In other words, the "Christian" label can itself be an illusion.

Reminds me of Dennet's 'belief in belief'...

[McQ]

We have the patience to read the bible, unlike most Christians. 

This is true - one of the reasons why I'm here actually, because atheists (by definition) have rejected some kind of thought about God in order to call themselves "atheists", whereas it is possible, I dare say common, to call yourself a "Christian" and have no thoughts about God whatsoever.  In other words, the "Christian" label can itself be an illusion.

This is actually backwards. It is religion which presents us with the idea of a god. That is the supposition. That is the pre-supposition. An atheist doesn't necessarily reject a god after first believing in a god. People are born without the idea or knowledge of a god. Many Atheists really just lack a belief in a god naturally.

That is, unless we were reared by parents who taught us that there was a god, just like they taught us about other things. And at some point, we simply decided there was no evidence to support that belief. You can argue that this is rejecting a thought about god, but that misses the fact that we were first taught to believe that there was a god. In that is the acceptance of a belief, which is a conscious act.

As for christianity, it is impossible to be one, according to the definition of a christian (i.e. believer in christ) and not think about god actively. Christ said he was the son of god. The god of Abraham. And to believe in him is to believe in god the father son and holy spirit, together.

[xSilverPhinx]

How many circles can you see?

Are we even supposed to see circles in this one? ??? I don't see even one.

Edit: nevermind, I see them now. There are 16.

[original_gender]

Fred Phelps

Comes to mind...

Google him. I try to hate the Christianity and not the Christian, but I would force-feed him a salad of his own genitalia at gunpoint.

[Nimzo]

This is true - one of the reasons why I'm here actually, because atheists (by definition) have rejected some kind of thought about God in order to call themselves "atheists", whereas it is possible, I dare say common, to call yourself a "Christian" and have no thoughts about God whatsoever.  In other words, the "Christian" label can itself be an illusion.

This is actually backwards. It is religion which presents us with the idea of a god. That is the supposition. That is the pre-supposition. An atheist doesn't necessarily reject a god after first believing in a god. People are born without the idea or knowledge of a god. Many Atheists really just lack a belief in a god naturally.

That is, unless we were reared by parents who taught us that there was a god, just like they taught us about other things. And at some point, we simply decided there was no evidence to support that belief. You can argue that this is rejecting a thought about god, but that misses the fact that we were first taught to believe that there was a god. In that is the acceptance of a belief, which is a conscious act.

As for christianity, it is impossible to be one, according to the definition of a christian (i.e. believer in christ) and not think about god actively. Christ said he was the son of god. The god of Abraham. And to believe in him is to believe in god the father son and holy spirit, together.

I agree with what you say, but it isn't the opposite of what I said - I'm talking about thoughts (as in, thinking) about God as opposed beliefs/ideas about God (which are the objects of thought) and applying labels to oneself (i.e. identifying oneself as an atheist or as a Christian) as opposed to being an atheist or a Christian.  A child can be an atheist (taking the definition as "one who lacks belief in God or gods) without knowledge of or identification with the label "atheist".  But rarely will you find someone who knows about and accepts for themselves the label of "atheist" if they have not subjected theistic beliefs or ideas (of others or of themselves) to some kind of thought which led to a rejection of those beliefs or ideas.

Contrarily, one can accept the label "Christian" without having ever applied thought to one's beliefs or ideas about the Christian God.  Now, whether one must have thought actively about the Christian God in order to be a Christian is, for me, an open question.  In a very significant sense, Nietzsche was right when he said "In truth, there was only one Christian, and he died on the cross."  No self-described Christian ultimately meets all the standards to be a (rationally, morally, existentially) consistent follower of Jesus (if, indeed, such consistency is possible).  On the other hand, neither were those who first called themselves "Christians" at Antioch - it was simply the name for those who were part of the church, the Christian community, bound together by faith (that is, trust) in God through Jesus.  One can trust in God without having applied any thought to what one means by "God".




Back to the thread...
Are tiles A and B really different colours?

[Nimzo]

Fred Phelps

Comes to mind...

Google him. I try to hate the Christianity and not the Christian, but I would force-feed him a salad of his own genitalia at gunpoint.

I know who he is - he is exactly the kind of person who "comes to mind" when I think about the terms "self-described Christian" and "lack of thought about God (or, indeed, much at all)".

[Crow]

I love 3D street art optical illusions.

[OldGit]

^ 'Fraid I can't see it.  ???

Are tiles A and B really different colours?

No, they're the same.  The only way I could tell is by taking samples with the excellent Windows7 "Snipping Tool" and pasting them side by side onto a blank image.  Very strange.

This on's as old as the hills: