Author Topic: TOO MUCH EDUCATION  (Read 133428 times)

Offline Bob B.

  • Jupiter
  • ***
  • Posts: 819
  • Bob the Excel Guru™
    • Rocket & Space Technology
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #90 on: May 25, 2012, 06:39:29 PM »
My answer tends to be, "How do you know that penicillin isn't the answer to your prayers?"

That reminds me of a joke…

A raging river overflows its banks and begins to flood an adjacent town.  As the floodwaters surrounds a man's house he climbs up to the roof.  Shortly later a rescue boat sails up to the house offering to take the man to safety.  The man refuses to board saying, "My God will save me."  As the waters continue to rise, a helicopter flies over the house, but the man again refuses help saying, "I'm putting my faith in God, he will save me."  Eventually the waters flood over the house and the man is swept away and drowns.  When he arrives in heaven he asks God why he didn't hear his prays.  God answers, "I sent you a boat and a helicopter, what more do you want?"

Offline raven

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 1650
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #91 on: May 26, 2012, 02:50:24 AM »
I was going to reply with almost that exact same story. ;D
If God made us, They also gave us ingenuity and intelligence. Prayer can be a good way of showing support and well wishes, which are a significant part of the healing process, but one should not put the Lord thy God to the test, but instead make use of the gifts already given.
Modern medicine is one such gift.

Offline gillianren

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 2211
    • My Letterboxd journal
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #92 on: May 26, 2012, 03:26:21 AM »
My uncle (born again) once gave my mother (Catholic) a lecture on the power of prayer.  When my grandmother was dying of Parkinson's, he apologized to her for it.  My uncle is smart enough to know that there are some things where human ingenuity is important.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline Mr Gorsky

  • Venus
  • **
  • Posts: 40
  • Flying blind on a rocket cycle
    • That Fatal Kiss Music
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #93 on: May 26, 2012, 08:20:26 AM »
God would not have given us reason and intelligence if we were expected to never use them. It is those very things that provide the free-will without which faith is meaningless. I believe that miraculous healings do take place, and have witnessed a couple, but a miracle is exactly that ... an unusual, out of the ordinary experience, normally reserved, in my opinion, for when there is a reason for it to take place.

I have what I describe as a broken eye - a scarred retina as a result of a squash ball hitting it, and for a few months after the injury occurred several people were praying for it to be healed. I asked them to stop, not least because I came to realise that while there was nothing medical science could do do to heal it, it didn't actually prevent me doing anything I did before. Except watch 3D movies, although whether that is a good or bad thing is an open question.

Anyway, enough faith talk.

it just makes me sad every time I see a person of faith arguing faith over science, especially as it effectively highlights that their faith doesn't extend to the notion that their creator knew what he was doing in giving humans a fully functioning brain and the creativity to use it.
The Optimist: The glass is half full
The Pessimist: The glass is half empty
The Engineer: The glass is twice as big as it needs to be

Offline Jason Thompson

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 1601
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #94 on: May 26, 2012, 08:28:02 AM »
I'm reminded of the guy who jumped into a tiger enclosure in a zoo carrying a bible and insisting that God would protect him. I think it more likely that if indeed there is a god he was up there looking down saying 'oh come on, give me a break!'. Certainly the man got mauled to death by the tiger...
"There's this idea that everyone's opinion is equally valid. My arse! Bloke who was a professor of dentistry for forty years does NOT have a debate with some eejit who removes his teeth with string and a door!"  - Dara O'Briain

Offline JayUtah

  • Neptune
  • ****
  • Posts: 3814
    • Clavius
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #95 on: May 26, 2012, 10:39:51 AM »
If God made us, They also gave us ingenuity and intelligence.

There's even a prayer to that effect in the Episcopalian tradition, stating that God has blessed his children "with memory, reason, and skill."
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams

Offline raven

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 1650
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #96 on: May 26, 2012, 11:58:26 AM »
There's even a prayer to that effect in the Episcopalian tradition, stating that God has blessed his children "with memory, reason, and skill."
I can certainly respect that.  :)

Offline gillianren

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 2211
    • My Letterboxd journal
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #97 on: May 26, 2012, 02:46:17 PM »
There is an implicit assumption that a lot of people (at both ends of the religious spectrum) make that it is impossible to be both a person of faith and a person of science.  However, I think it's a lot more common than people realize, if you open it up to not merely scientists but people who respect the value and importance of science.  Just because I'm lousy at physics doesn't mean I don't think physics is important.  Just because I believe in a deity doesn't mean that I think that deity wants to limit human understanding.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline ginnie

  • Mercury
  • *
  • Posts: 15
  • I wuz FRAME-A-DUH
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #98 on: May 30, 2012, 07:50:37 PM »
I've never been to Australia either, but I don't automatically assume anyone who claims to have been there is lying.

Good, because I've been to Australia.  It's real.  Not like Canada.

Hey!  ;D

Offline Not Myself

  • Earth
  • ***
  • Posts: 217
  • Unwanted Irritant
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #99 on: May 30, 2012, 11:42:32 PM »
Good, because I've been to Australia.  It's real.  Not like Canada.

Hey!  ;D

Oh, come on.  A country larger than China, but with only 2.5% of the population, most of whom are lumberjacks, which has both English and French as official languages, where the football teams have twelve players who have only three downs to advance the ball, and the police look like this?



Next you'll be telling us that moose are real  ::)
« Last Edit: May 30, 2012, 11:46:01 PM by Coelacanth »
The internet - where bigfoot is real and the moon landings aren't.

Offline Echnaton

  • Saturn
  • ****
  • Posts: 1490
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #100 on: May 31, 2012, 08:01:26 AM »
where the football teams have twelve players who have only three downs to advance the ball

No way, that is entirely implausible.  We all know that God mandated 11 players and 4 downs.

Quote
Next you'll be telling us that moose are real  ::)

I can attest to moose, in fact a Møøse once bit my sister.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2012, 09:22:04 AM by Echnaton »
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline raven

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 1650
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #101 on: May 31, 2012, 09:08:01 AM »
It is a country where men (and woman) attach blades to their feat, carry two handed wooden paddles, and fight it out, occasionally taking the time to try and put a piece of rubber into two nets.
Allegedly, this is also a country known for its Ned Flanders levels of courtesy.
This contradiction is excellent proof of the Canada Hoax.

Offline Glom

  • Saturn
  • ****
  • Posts: 1102
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #102 on: May 31, 2012, 12:09:30 PM »
It is a country where men (and woman) attach blades to their feat, carry two handed wooden paddles, and fight it out, occasionally taking the time to try and put a piece of rubber into two nets.
Allegedly, this is also a country known for its Ned Flanders levels of courtesy.
This contradiction is excellent proof of the Canada Hoax.

That sounds too educated.  My common sense tells me that Canada isn't biologically possible.

I mean look at it!

Offline Zakalwe

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 1598
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #103 on: May 31, 2012, 01:19:33 PM »
It is a country where men (and woman) attach blades to their feat, carry two handed wooden paddles, and fight it out, occasionally taking the time to try and put a piece of rubber into two nets.
Allegedly, this is also a country known for its Ned Flanders levels of courtesy.
This contradiction is excellent proof of the Canada Hoax.

There's no mention of Canada in the Bible either, so it can't exist. ::)
"The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' " - Isaac Asimov

Offline frenat

  • Mars
  • ***
  • Posts: 460
Re: TOO MUCH EDUCATION
« Reply #104 on: May 31, 2012, 03:19:04 PM »
It is a country where men (and woman) attach blades to their feat, carry two handed wooden paddles, and fight it out, occasionally taking the time to try and put a piece of rubber into two nets.
Allegedly, this is also a country known for its Ned Flanders levels of courtesy.
This contradiction is excellent proof of the Canada Hoax.
And what about curling?  You can't tell me a sport .ike that really exists.  Yet more proof of the Canada hoax.
-Reality is not determined by your lack of comprehension.
 -Never let facts stand in the way of a good conspiracy theory.
 -There are no bad ideas, just great ideas that go horribly wrong.