Assume Nothing

Curious - what happens in a polyamorous relationship if any parties fall in love?

It's also why I propose the question, 'what do you look for in a relationship, and why are you wanting to be in one?' - because feelings of fondness/closeness can be better achieved with monogamy because of a stronger commitment. Polyamory is probably more fun, but for someone who wants to settle down - maybe it wouldn't be optimal.

... let's just say I've accidentally stumbled across some when clicking innocuous-looking links <,<. Oh, and of course - a classmate had to show everyone a porn-flick site during a break 'for the lulz'.

I've been reading through reddit, and a particular post from r/atheism seemed rather inspiring to me. I want to propose a similar challenge for OTers, but it's going to be a silly challenge to do the opposite of what I already do. So, I'm asking /ot/ - what'll be a good challenge not too dissimilar from the one above for everyone to participate in? Bonus points for something potentially life-changing. [hide=For your information, if you don't like to click links.]UPDATE EDIT: Here is my one week update. I thank you all for your interest. It's humbling. It's just what it sounds like. I was born and raised as a devout Christian. It is all I have ever known and believed in, and still do. However, I'm presenting a challenge to myself. I am going to "abandon" my faith for a week and try to objectively study the bible. I am going to question the existence of God. I am going to critically think about any arguments I read against God. And I am not going to use a bible except for these purposes, not to justify my faith. I am not doing this to change my belief system, but to understand Atheism better. It may prove entirely futile, but I like to constantly improve and learn so this seems like an interesting exercise. I'm not even sure how this will go. I know it's going to be difficult to even abandon my thought process and suddenly think opposite as I always have for a week. I'm going to give it an honest effort though. Now, I have thought about the 2 outcomes of this. (1) "Best Case" Scenario: My faith is now stronger because I have not found a good enough basis to think otherwise. (2) Worst Case Scenario Two: I am now an Atheist. I'm accepting those because for 1 of those to happen I would have had a pretty good reason. Like I said before though, I'm not doing this to become an Atheist. Here are some of the reasons why I am doing this: I want to understand why someone would become an Atheist. Since this is a default subreddit, I have been exposed to a few valid points that (while I may not agree with them entirely) seem rational and warrant further explanation. I don't think this will change my faith, but it may very well strengthen it. I have always had to understand the other side of an issue in order to fully understand the issue itself. I have done this with most everything in my life except for religion. It's kind of a taboo thing to do as a Christian. Also, I am posting this not for some sweet Karma (clearly it's a self post), but just because I thought /r/atheism may have some good suggestions for me this week or good places to start. ALSO also, as you can see this is on a Throwaway account. I promise this isn't an attempt to "troll" or anything. I'm only using a TA because my actual user account is known by too many IRL redditors that may not approve of this, although I don't see anything wrong with it, that's just the way it is! Of course, at the end of this week I will provide an update. Regardless of the outcome, I hope the reaction to be judgment free. So, here's what i'm starting with: It seems the book "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins is a favorite among Atheists, so I am going to be reading a copy. I do a lot of reading and this book doesn't look like it would take me longer than a week. I have found some YouTube channels from proclaimed Atheists (TheoreticalBullshit being one) that I'm going to watch, with my guard down of course. I'm not sure what would be the best source for this (like The God Delusion seems to be an overall simple and easy to read counter to the existence of God), but I am still looking for a good book that proves Evolution. I know there are many, but like I said I want one similar to God Delusion that I can easily digest in a weeks time. For the time being all I can do is internet research. I decided to look into the origin of all religions. I think this is important to understand if I want to claim mine is correct. That's all I really have for now. I know it's not some major breakthrough and I'm not doing anything that wild, I just thought /r/atheism might enjoy the journey with me. And if you have anything to add to my lists or suggestions for reading material or how to successfully do all of this with the objective and critical thought process I would like, then I'm all ears! I don't presume that to be easy and i'm sure I will catch myself many times faithfully shaking my head. Off I go. EDIT: Already! It was brought to my attention that my phrasing of "worst case scenario" as becoming an Atheist already didn't seem open and honest. I completely agree and that was an honest mistake. You have to see from my current Christian perspective how easily something like that could slip because let's face it, as a Christian, becoming an Atheist is the worst possible outcome haha. I meant no offense and assure you I am going to do my best to be neutral and "deprogrammed" for a week. EDIT: I guess I need to explain myself a little more. I should have worked on my phrasing before posting apparently. When I say "become" an Atheist I mean in the context of someone changing their belief. I know we are all born "Atheist", but I meant nothing deeper than someone becoming something different. That's all. Also, as far as "the week" is concerned. It may prove at the end of this week that I am still very curious and not satisfied and carry on with this learning experiment. At the point it will be no more than a symbol. I assure you though that if I still want to do some reading, I won't just stop because of a self-imposed time restraint. Hope that clears up my intentions a little. And thank you all for so many great suggestions and thoughts, as well as encouragement. Very cool. ANOTHER EDIT: Final edit for the night. I just want to say this was an overwhelming response, literally, I can't keep up. I was not expecting this. I expected maybe a couple helpful suggestions and tips and that's all. I especially want to thank everyone for being just as open-minded in their responses to me and understanding my current perspective and how it is difficult to throw it all aside, but that is the idea and I promise you all I will try my best. I have read every single comment and am doing my best to respond. If I haven't responded though, just know I now have this archived for me this whole week and this is going to prove to be a greater reference guide than I could have imagined. I have a lot more to look at than I imagined too. Things escalated quickly... Thank you all again for the advice as well as the wishes of wellness and good science! I will be updating, especially at the end of this week. And i'm sorry for capitalizing "athiest"!" Won't happen again. Also, considering this is getting far more attention than I originally thought, it would be very cool for other Christians to take up this challenge with me, should you be currently reading this and think it's a neat idea. EDIT 4/21/12: For anyone that is checking back on this post for any updates I just wanted to provide a quick one before I head to bed. The past 24 hours have been exhausting. I can feel an emotional tax taking its toll. It has been scary, fascinating, and entertaining all in one. Obviously I have reached no conclusion, nor is the purpose of this to reach a conclusion after a week. You atheists may be excited to know that I had an experience today where a few things just made good sense. PUT YOUR BABIES BACK DOWN and let me finish. I was having trouble really thinking as someone who does not believe in God up until a few hours ago and suddenly my heart jumped a little and my eyes lit up and I realized I can really dig in now and get what I want out of this week. Not saying I fully grasp the thought process, but an absolute step in the right direction for this experiment and I was happy because I knew I would be able to report back honestly now. That is all for now. Don't worry too much about checking back here if you even are. I'm going to make a new post at the end of this week as an update. No need to pile on any more edits to this post than there already are.[/hide]

The silly weather has annoyed me today. It's funny that I could come home sweating from cycling yet come home with extremely cold hands/face from the windchill. EDIT - oh, and network censors. It's funny how pornography sites are not blocked at my school, but some random sites are for 'hate speech' or whatever.

Of course I have, it's just that it seems that we're more complex than that - I just can't quite put my finger on it. I'll update you on this when I find something on it, it's just not a typical subject to come up.

It's not really a reason as such to be an atheist, but it does show how unreasonable a claim like 'you have no morals because you're an atheist' is. Do we really want to worship something that's as malevolent as Yahweh? EDIT - Peronix has the right idea. If I could, I'd give you an upvote.

I can't put my finger on what we do base our decisions on, but the remark that 'we make our decisions based on our personality' seems a little inaccurate to me - or at least, something feels missing.

@Sarge - I'll take some responsibility here, I was less than cordial with that remark. I do apologize for that. I still don't understand moderate theism though, it makes no sense to accept it.

It's a commitment thing - if you have difficulty committing to a relationship, maybe a 'quick bleep' is good enough. If you have what it takes to truly commit to a relationship - including the pains and sorrows along the way, then do that. ... or take the third option: polyamory.

He cherry-picks and dismisses the one that seems less plausible, and takes a leap of faith to accept the other, presumably.

It depends - benefriends get the best of both.

I'm tired of the so-called friendzone. Why can't we just value friendships over relationships - there's far more to be gained from a friendship anyway, just less sex.

Banned for breaking the chain.

Banned for assuming that it was an assumption.

Banned for 'actually being naive'.

Here's a fresher discussion: If we imagine that deities do exist, and that it is the Christian god, YHWH - then how do we decide if 'God is great'?

In other words, you don't believe because you sincerely accept that the biblical scripture is of some greater wisdom, or that it's anything close to the truth. It's rather the opposite - you believe because it feels good to you, and because you can't cope otherwise. I have a greater concern for whether my beliefs are true. If it's not convincing, I refuse to accept it. It's the dividing line between theists and atheists.

You're missing the point entirely. It doesn't matter whether he finds a problem with it - it doesn't make it any means true or otherwise reasonable to believe in.

I don't think he did - and that's only part of the problem.

I don't understand though - why postulate on something you can never observe/sense in the only life you know with certainty exists? If evidence is out of the question, and there's very few arguments that could support the existence of heavens/hell, then it would seem silly to believe. So, ultimately, I'll question - why believe in it?

Banned for failing to elaborate why hyperbole is unacceptable.

I've seen this far, far too much - and it strikes me that even on OT, it crops up. I can only speak for myself, but as a person without belief in deities, I believe in many things - the power of expression, the strength of humanity, the changes we could make, etc. It just so happens that many atheists tend to be secular humanists, or rationalists, etc. I could find a quote of someone saying it better, but I'll just leave it at that. It doesn't require the concept of a god to fill in the gaps. The objective should really be 'believe in only what's necessary'. If religion is unnecessary, why follow its teachings?

I'm uncertain, but is that Udon? I've always preferred to stir-fry it with a little darker soy on high-heat so it doesn't kill the texture. I'm not sure on what the other ingredients are... wouldn't be my ideal meal but it should be satisfactory. Ideally, it should look like this:

It's the fault of word-usage, its connotations are derived from the media after-all. By child-abuse, he doesn't mean sexual child exploitation - rather, he means causing direct and often very significant harm to children, for that is to say, psychological and physical abuse (child-abuse). I don't disagree that fundamentalists do cause a lot of harm to children, often tantamount to brainwashing. I don't know the sources and its language, so I can't verify the legitimacy of the translation, but to illustrate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjbJnZUJTYU It seems plausible enough, their punishment for apostasy is the execution after-all.