Imagine How Smart I Would Be If I Was an Atheist

Um... no. However that has little to do with the validity of evolutionary biology.

 

With a thread like this you take away all needs for imagination, Blackrook.

 

You dont seem very intelligent,come, try to convince me that you are smart.

 

You're smart enough to know that is a lie aren't you? Some people who are atheist claim Christians are stupid but many people who are atheist don't. The vast majority of people who are atheist never say anything about it at all.

Belief isn't a choice. Your brain takes in all the information from your senses, experiences and memories and reaches a conclusion (in fact, a whole set of conclusions). You have no direct rational control over that process.

Of course, if you're so smart, you'd know all this already which poses the question of why you really posted this thread in the first place?

 

This reminds me of the part in Choke where Mancini tells Cherry that blondes are more likely to develop skin cancer. When he sees her later, she has dyed her hair brown and is all proud of her newly reduced cancer risk.

 

Yes yes, we get it. An atheist proclaimed you to be an idiot because you were a thiest. Mommy didn't love you enough, blah blah blah heard it all before. All you are doing is enforcing more negative stereotypes. Not all atheists think theists are stupid. Only aggressive atheists. The same can be said for christians. Not all of them rant about athiests burnign in hell for eternity, abortion being wrong, and how gays deserve to be thrown into a pit but the stereotype makes them all out to be that way.

 

I have to admit there are a few share of Atheists (seems like more on here) seem to think religion contradicts intelligence. I admit that I grew up in an agnostic/ secular household, but I don't think growing up in a Christian household would of made me any less smart. Sure, I had a lot of help growing though. My great-grandparents and other family members helped me along the way. I was taught how to read (via Hooked on Phonics) and to count to over 535 when I was 3 or 4. I kind of self-taught myself about the basics of weather and hurricanes by watching the Weather Channel while growing up. Yeah, I honestly don't think being born Christian would of made a difference, intelligence-wise.

 

I was actually given an IQ test as a young man….. After reading through the questions and understanding how absurd they were within themselves, I moved to the end without answering one, and wrote a dissertation about what currently constitutes intellect and how severely flawed the system itself is, in it's assessment of it; and then I explained what intellect should become!

Our society is based on the monetary assessment of worth….. Advancements in technology are severely hindered; our systems of education and the institutionalized aspect of money within it, severely limits the availability of knowledge or the exponential potential in the advancement of it. Education in this expression of humanity prepares us only to become proficient at jumping through the absurd hoops of chasing ridiculous paper tokens of worth, and not much more.

If money was no object in advancing the mind, hence, if money no longer existed….. We would live in a world filled with incredible abundance, not just for a small percentage, but abundance for every life and every mind….. What we currently consider to be wealth, would look like nothing by comparison.
Manual labor would be removed through boundless expressions and advancements in technology. Our creative expressions would be set into motion within a pure canvas of knowledge.
99% of criminal acts involve money or the social stratification of class that is produced by it…. Remove it, and you remove the need for social law, criminal law and all the institutions including the prison systems surrounding it…. What is left in the field and practice of Law? That would be the very indulgence of money itself Bob!
So what is a lawyer but a trained and high payed monkey that is simply jumping through our own fabricated hoops of absurdity?….. The judge,the lawyer, the jury, the goon enforcer cowboy with a gun; these are all needless positions in a severely hindered expression of humanity and the very definition of what we should consider, an insult to intellect.

As far as cognitive abilities and the process of the mind, I'm about as sharp as they come; however, I am intelligent enough to know that I am a mere moron next to what my mind would have become in a free expression of humanity. Our current state of humanity, does not have the nurturing capacity, the availability, or even enough knowledge to even begin to witness the potential of ANY mind!
Beyond our currently limited capacity: even if I was released into this free expression of humanity to explore my potential; Even if I became the greatest mind in my field…. The heightened aspect of knowledge in this advanced expression of exponential growth in potential would only allow me to remain there for a short while.
We become a student, an observer of brilliance…. We advance within this brilliance and become an offering to it…… We set minds forward upon our knowledge and yet again become an observer, where the collective mass shows that knowledge evolve, into a magnificence and beauty we could have never fathomed on our own.

There is no ego in intellect, only the knowledge of it's infinite potential in expression.

 

Until we learn what it is to truly become free; anything we could possibly declare to be intelligence, is only an indulgence of our own ego.

 

I haven't seen you here before so perhaps you are unaware of the way most atheists on this forum consider themselves superior in intelligence to us benighted Christians.

If you are an exception, that is nice, but your aggressive and nasty tone suggests otherwise.

 

What's the point in linking you something when you'll just ignore it because it contradicts your image of yourself?

 

Like I said, intelligent people are simply better at lying--both to themselves and others. Intelligent people can be religious just like anyone else. They're subject to the same cognitive vulnerabilities as normal folks, only in their case those vulnerabilities often aren't checked because the person considers themselves too intelligent to be fooled.

As someone with a lot of experience in public relations and persuasion, let me say that people who think they're smart are some of the biggest rubes around. They buy into all sorts of bull(*)(*)(*)(*) very easily, all you have to do is build a narrative, present them with some intelligent-sounding argument to support it, and throw a bunch of data they don't really understand (but think they do) in their face. Then put all the pieces together for them again, so they buy into your narrative. It's easy.

The funny part is that they'll often go spreading it around to all their smart friends if you're actually successful with the propaganda. I think it's probably because intelligent people are often highly educated, which seems to leave a gaping vulnerability in their ability to detect bull(*)(*)(*)(*). Education leaves people very open to certain forms of propaganda--especially propaganda that matches with the educational zeitgeist at the time they graduated from college.

Religious people aren't all stupid, they've just chosen self-delusion rather than objective analysis. It's a choice on their part, facilitated by the exploitation of universal cognitive vulnerabilities by religious institutions. It's amazing how religious folks will just turn off the rational thought processes when their favorite fairy tales come up for consideration. Perfectly rational, thoughtful people just train themselves not to critically consider these stories and doctrines. It's an incredible case of self-delusion.

Oh, I can explain it alright. Educated, intelligent people are very good at self-delusion. It's why they can buy into obviously illogical propositions like the efficacy of prayer.

 

Eugenics is a rejection of evolution by natural selection.

 

Now, let me discuss Christianity which declares a different aspect of assessing worth….. The concepts of righteous and unrighteous have mirroring qualities to the monetary assessment of worth where one life is declared to be worthy and another unworthy; only in this example we are talking about God's grace.
Christianity claims that we all have a choice to accept God's grace by accepting Jesus as our savior. Even if this was the true model of our form, we have quite a contradictory model within one's ability as it pertains to their placement within the social structure of humanity. How then are we able to consider it a choice when there is no equality within the model?
Again it displays the same aspect of ego and the very indulgence of it.

In the example given above, I show where "deviant" behaviors begin to fall away into the pure expression of the mind….. Yet somehow, the current model of absurdity that we adhere to is the one we are using to declare acts of righteousness and unrighteousness?
That alone to intellect is a reason to question the validity of such a belief and discard it as yet another absurdity of self worth and the edification of the ego within a declared state of righteousness.

 

Again, until we learn what it is to truly become free; anything we could possibly declare to be 'spiritual' discernment or knowledge, is only an indulgence of our own ego.

 

You can't be that smart, you're a member of this forum...

hey ohhhhhh

I kid, I kid.

My Dad was a beer salesman for Anheuser Busch, and my Mom was a housewife....

I'm doomed!
doomed I say....

I don't hold much "faith" in genetics as the sole determinant in a person's ultimate success or failure in life.

 

It also means intelligence does not give you any skills at masking yourself socially acceptable. What is your field of law?

 

Do you, Blackrook? Logic? Truth? Facts?

 

My neural connectivity and the firing sequences of trillions of them seem just a wee bit beyond anything such as "me" to actually control. In fact, this "me" deal seems like more of their shenanigans than like some dude residing inside - if ya catch my drift. Darn little buggers just seem have "a mind of their own". Well, whatever...

 

It's an internet forum. This is the place for being socially unacceptable. It's a place to vent, not engage in serious discussion. No one changes their minds due to a post on an internet forum.

None. My logical background comes from an emphasis on research methodology in college, as well as a background as a programmer. Formal logic played a large role in both endeavors. My perspective on the gullibility of self-acknowledged intelligent people comes from my experience in the public relations field, and my work as a political consultant. The dishonesty was giving me some serious problems with depression, hence why I don't do it any more, and why I'm free to speak my mind about the folks I used to work for.

 

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Neither would a real genius. Or indeed anyone with a smattering of understanding of genetics.

 

Einstein denied Quantum Mechanics till his death. Newton was so petulant that he suppressed other science while head of the Royal Society. Darwin studied and logged his flatulence til his death trying to discover it's cause. Neils Bohr was a chain smoker. Jefferson died leaving his own children in slavery in denial of his own beliefs. Von Braun was a Nazi party member and recently some Russian deciphered Poncair's Theorem after 200 years, lives with his momma and turned down the 1 million dollar prize. Oh, yeah, and you believe in God. Big whup.

 

Nope, apparently just their sex life

And all the sanctimonious atheists seem to be missing the point - YOU are the one that constrantly harp that education and intellect are the basis of atheism - well, what happens when smart people disagree?

That would drive a smart person to offer a PROOF for their cause.

It causes the emotional and insecure to lash out.

So if this bothers you atheists, and looking at the posters who have been lashing out on this one, perhaps you should take a good hard look in the mirrior.

Your standards of condemnation damb most of those who are screaming the loudest on this thread.

Its nice to see those who prattle on about how smart they are meet someone who is smarter than they are ... and the sudden disdane for intellect and ability - well, intellect and ability that reach a different faith choice.

Are we traccking why many theologians consider atheism to be self worship? Nothing can EVER be better than you - even when they surprass you on your own standards of judgement - you just change the standard.

Odd how that problem keeps popping up with atheists.

 

I honestly don't think that's true. There are certainly some very vocal atheists who attack, condemn and belittle religious believers on this forum and those like it but those are also the ones you'll notice more. I think there are plenty of others who don't think that way and out in the real world, the vast majority of non-believers don't even give the question consideration.

Equally, there are some Christians and other religious people here (and elsewhere) who clearly consider themselves superior to anyone who doesn't believe the same thing though again, that's not true of the majority (it could be considered true of you though).

The issue here isn't atheism, it's the variety of human nature.