The devil

He or She may or may not exist, but the actions/ behaviours attributed to He/ She sadly do certainly exist .

Bridgeit

He or She may or may not exist, but the actions/ behaviours attributed to He/ She sadly do certainly exist .

Isn't that just a convenient 'get out' clause though? By claiming 'the devil made me do it', isn't that just an excuse for refusing to take responsibility for one's own actions? Does mankind not have free will, after all?

nadateturbe

Still, a theory is not a fact.

As I said, you don't know what a theory is.

What are your thought on the theory of gravity? Wave theory? After all they are "only a theory".

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

cynthia- this is truly NOT funny.

Blondiescot

Bridgeit

He or She may or may not exist, but the actions/ behaviours attributed to He/ She sadly do certainly exist .

Isn't that just a convenient 'get out' clause though? By claiming 'the devil made me do it', isn't that just an excuse for refusing to take responsibility for one's own actions? Does mankind not have free will, after all?

Exactly! Same for good deeds.

I met some evangelicans some years back. They were from an Eastern European country and we took them 'under our wing'. Helping them in all sorts of ways, and giving them a lot of furniture when we were moving as they had managed to buy a small house.

One day she said 'but how do you know what to do, and you are not even Christians!'. I asked her to explain what she meant. And they both said, well you are always helping people and giving stuff, etc, but God is not even telling you to do it. How, why?

They found it hard to believe that the desire to help, to do 'good' deeds and not to do the opposite, could come from the self, rather than God or Evil.

Fascinating theory I studied in the past 'the theory of moral development by Kohlberg (and others).

I wonder when what could be seen as robust challenge becomes plain rudeness? Or is it just rude?
Example: As I said, you don't know what a theory is.

I think poor Lucifer's had a bad press. God wanted to keep Adam and Eve in a childlike innocent state. Lucifer wanted to set them free from this false innocence by giving them knowledge. God said, "No" but Lucifer did it anyway. God was peed off with Lucifer and kicked him out of Heaven. Was Lucifer really bad or was history written by the victor?

As I said, you don't know what a theory is.

I do.

ExperiencedNotOld

I wonder when what could be seen as robust challenge becomes plain rudeness? Or is it just rude?
Example: As I said, you don't know what a theory is.

Just what I thought. Some folk think it's OK to be rude or insulting.

Which is why my name on GN is Nadeteturbe.

Volver you asked me questions which you know I won't have the energy to answer, as I've explained to you.
Having a break now. Save my energy for Octordle. 🙂

I'm not taking part any more.

I guess I could just excuse myself by saying the devil made me do it.

nadateturbe

Still, a theory is not a fact.

A layman's "theory" is not a fact. It is an unproved possibility.
A scientists theory has been subjected to innumerable people trying to unprove it by exposing it to every test that can be applied to it, and duplicating the results of those tests on many other occasions.

A scientist's "theory" has been subjected to a lot of research and observation, and has stood up to being tested, the logic and mathematics involved have been repeatedly done by different people, and the experiments have been repeated again and again, with the same results.

Most people have heard of Pythagoras. He noticed that triangles with one 90-degree right-angle seemed to have a certain relationship in the lengths of the three sides. So he researched it for years, drawing right-angled triangles, measuring the sides, and analysing the relationships of their lengths. What he came up with was "Pythagoras' Theorem"

He proved what has been drummed into schoolchildren ever since - that if you multiple the length of the long side (opposite the right-angle) by itself, the result is the same as multiplying the length of each of the other sides by itself and adding those two numbers together. That is "The square on the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle equals the sum of the squares on the other two sides This has been proved every time it was done.

At one time (up to recently, anyway!) I could have taken you through every step of the proof. To follow that proof, you would have had to already know some other facts to do with geometry and/or algebra, but I can assure you that it works.

There are more than 30 different ways to prove it, Some are here - brilliant.org/wiki/proofs-of-the-pythagorean-theorem/

Thank you Elegran, a post offering evidence for consideration, not an argument where son rove is shouted down.
I seem to have a one woman crusade for reasonableness here, but all welcome to join in!

Personification means "giving human qualities to an abstract idea," as in a movie villain who is the personification of evil.

So much for a break! Elegran thank you for educating me about things you assume I don't know.
And would you believe I got the geometry prize at school.

Experienced I get your point about reasonableness but I have already said I understand theory. I don't need a lesson.

Yes, I believe you! However, that wasn't posted for its own sake, but as one example among many of how a scientific theory is not just a blind guess by someone with imagination, it is the result of a lot of research and repeated testing.

The devil brought me back... 😜

Elegran says that A scientist's "theory" has been subjected to a lot of research and observation, and has stood up to being tested, the logic and mathematics involved have been repeatedly done by different people, and the experiments have been repeated again and again, with the same results.

But someone thinks that saying "but I just don't believe it, it can't possibly be true" is just as valid a position to take.

Ho hum.

At one time,years and years ago , the devil was popularly supposed to be a person that occupied space like other persons do.

People used to be superstitious and believed real ghosts , the Devil, and stuff like that.

Yes, I think denial is a valid position to take. It’s only brought into question when someone queries the denier’s belief. That makes two separate beliefs, right or wrong either way.
Have patience. Try to discuss not shout down. Someone you may think a fool may think the same of you.

nadateturbe

Experienced I get your point about reasonableness but I have already said I understand theory. I don't need a lesson.

I didn’t question that for one moment.

ExperiencedNotOld

Yes, I think denial is a valid position to take. It’s only brought into question when someone queries the denier’s belief. That makes two separate beliefs, right or wrong either way.
Have patience. Try to discuss not shout down. Someone you may think a fool may think the same of you.

Do stop trying to tell us how to behave ExperiencedNotOld.

volver

ExperiencedNotOld

Yes, I think denial is a valid position to take. It’s only brought into question when someone queries the denier’s belief. That makes two separate beliefs, right or wrong either way.
Have patience. Try to discuss not shout down. Someone you may think a fool may think the same of you.

Do stop trying to tell us how to behave ExperiencedNotOld.

I’m attempting to stimulate discussion or trying to. And to consider other viewpoints, even if they differ. If you take it as telling you what to do, so be it. Seems to make sense in my reasonable opinion.

ExperiencedNotOld
Sorry, Your comments were well meant and appreciated.
The remark about not needing a lesson was for Elegran. I felt I was being talked to as if I was at school.
I may not be a scientist like volver but it doesn't mean I know nothing!. I've had many discussions on evolution/existence of God.