Pattern-chaser

No, it wasn't/isn't. I'm sorry if it seems that way to you. :yikes:

I thought consensus, or something close, was the idea too. I called it what I called it because that's what I was looking for, if it was/is there to b...

Thanks to everyone for their contributions here. There are many comments worth responding to, some that I agree with, and some not. But there are just...

This bothers me a bit. To the extent that Jesus was God, he was not human. To the extent that he was human, he wasn't God. It's a bit of a puzzler (to...

Ah, a proper atheist. :smile: I apologise to you and your brothers and sisters. When I referred to "atheists", I referred to the majority of people wh...

That doesn't work for me. Beliefs vary widely, of course, and the details of my personal beliefs aren't important here, but the God I venerate is not ...

I think it refers to an entrance or place of entry. Entry to somewhere; in your example, a passage/corridor. A door leads onto whatever lies behind it...

Not at all, but I think the privilege of describing God should be offered first to theists. That makes sense, doesn't it? :chin:

Not a "portal", or something similar?

I don't think anything to do with God or religion can be proven, can it? :chin:

How kind, I think. :chin: :smile: :blush:

I haven't noticed any particularly unpleasant exchanges recently, but I suppose it depends which topics we follow. For all I know, the OP is complaini...

:up: :smile: They embarrass me, anyway.

Not from the showing of a single swastika, no. But regular, supportive, coverage of (say) racist stuff does cause a surge in support for organisations...

:up: Our mods seem to do a good job. Thanks to them! :up:

The Egyptian Book of the Dead is a guide to dying well, nothing more. :roll: <Assertion alert> Do you have evidence? Or supporting ideas, even? :chin:

The latter. :wink:

I don't want to get nit-picky, but doesn't a door open onto a passage? Isn't it an entry to that passage? :chin:

No, they don't.

The Bible might be your holy book, but it isn't mine. :up: :smile:

Now let's not get carried away! :smile: Flexibility of thought helps specifically when we're seeking for something new or different. And it needs to b...

Are you still banging on about "like" signalling a comparison? :roll: "‘Like’ isn’t a lazy linguistic filler – the English language snobs need to, lik...

I think there's room here to understand - and defend? :chin: - flexibility of thought and vocabulary. It's not a crime or a sin, as far as I know. It ...

Not you as well? :gasp: Is this "evidence" of a standard that scientists or philosophers would consider acceptable? Or is it more of the 'there's no e...

<yawn> I would love to have words to answer that question. So would many other philosophers. We've been trying to answer this since at least Hume, if ...

And who pays the wages of these pure and unbiased scientists? Oil companies; tobacco companies; pharmaceutical companies...? Do you think they would c...

Sorry, I don't think it is. I know I didn't use it to convey that meaning. :razz: Full dictionary entry here.

For real? We each defined ourselves? That would be the best bootstrapping trick I've ever seen or heard of. If it was correct. :chin:

This is what it's like to be a philosopher? You're claiming ignorance of a well-known English idiom. Perhaps you're American? :razz:

Wow! Yes, we can do what you say, of course. But what, and how much, will we learn? Your approach will give us what an alien (say Mr Data) could learn...

...or maybe She's just busy looking after the rest of the Universe? It's a big place...?

By Jove, he's got it! :smile:

OK. :up:

Are you saying it's illogical to guess?

They could. And as long as they "suggested" this, not asserted it as fact, they would be correct, for this is one possibility among ... God knows ( :s...

I think we can safely state that we have found no evidence at all concerning the existence of God, and we know of no way in which such evidence might ...

:up: Absolutely they can! But let's be honest as well, and state clearly that we're guessing, without basis in logic or fact. I find it helps with men...

:smile:

I have stated clearly that mine is a faith position; I offer no foundation for it, because there is none that I am aware of. You're the one in denial ...

No, it's logic.

Isn't faith often - or always, by definition? - without facts? :chin:

From www.logicallyfallacious.com: Taken from here.

Not quite sure what you're getting at ... but I can't see anything to argue with. :up:

"Burden of proof" is what people say when they want someone else to do the work. There is no burden of proof. There is only us, the topic we're discus...

:smile: Not quite, but close. :wink: If you ask three believers to describe God, you'll get four contradictory answers, to mash up the old joke. Few b...

My (very limited!) knowledge of biology says that gases are too amorphous to maintain the physical structures of life, without them just breaking up a...

Yes, and I'm wondering: How did you know to look in the kitchen, on the table?How did you know you were looking for an apple?Is it an ordinary apple y...

There is: none. :up: You did, but an assertion is just that. Where's the justification; the evidence? What is this evidence against the existence of G...

Anything more on offer more central to the OP, the philosophy of Software Engineering? :chin:

Ah yes, here's what I said: That was a joke. You can see the :smile: emoji, telling you so. Sorry I wasn't clear enough. :meh: I am happy to admit tha...