1) It's not just stacking up claims. It's examining those claims to see if they hold true. The very essence of science and the seeming antithesis of religion.

2)By definition? If spirit isn't observable then how can you possible know anything about it in order to define it? You can't just declare something exists and then claim you can never see, measure, or at a minimum mathematically quantify it.

3) I think I've adressed most everything I've been asked, Please be more specific, If I missed something or I need to go over something again, I will readress it.

4) I thought the whole design of this forum was for cordial debate. It may not be your desire to persuade, but if you not going to discuss, then why are you here?

5)"Dismissing out of pocket" as you say is to not consider evidence, to believe what you want to believe. I believe in the scietific method because it has proven itself over and over ad infinitum. Religion proves nothing. Religion makes claims that it cannot back up.
I don't start from a position that its not possible for a god to exist. There has been lots of great science done by scientists both religious and not, exploring the claims of religion. There has been no experiment, no study, no logical or mathmatical theorem that has produced one iota of evidence for the existence of a god, no evidence that miracles are real, or that prayer does anything other than waste time that could be used for something more useful. Science isn't Anti-god. Neither am I. To actually discover evidence of something like that would bring unimaginable fortune and fame to the scientist that made the discovery. Guaranteed Nobel prize and unlimited funding for further research. But thousands of years of philisophical thought and a couple hundred of modern science has turned up nothing that can stand up against even simple scrutiny. What I'm saying is, that so far, the ODDS of there being anything that could be called a god are nil. Just because you argue against the science doesn't mean you're on an equal footing with it. Science produces results. Religion produces ignorance.

Oh, and agnosticism is just being wishy washy. Atheism is the definition of intellectual honesty. Admitting to yourself, that as wonderful as it would be for heaven to exist, that there has been absolutely no coherent argument or evidence given that can withstand examination. As soon as someone can present proof that can withstand scientific scrutiny, I will gladly change my position.

Not true. For starters, Jesus was raised from the dead and was witnessed by many. They saw him eat and they touched him. Scientific process at work: Observable and repeatable (as in many people confirmed).

What happens though by people who start from a position that there is no God and that the only things that exist are things can be scientifically measured is that they go to great lengths to discredit the record. They call it not credible because it is not credible by their methods.

.....to be continued

.....continued

There are plenty of examples of modern day healings from hopeless situations after prayer. Doctors (scientists) who have observed the same situations ending with different results confirm this. Problem is that these events are not repeatable…..and so are not easily accessible to the scientific method – “it can’t be a miracle since miracles do not exist”.

Now, I do not know for sure case by case if it was A) a purely natural healing, if it was B) God-aided, or if it was C) a complete miracle defying the laws of nature. The issue is that the atheist will take B & C off the table even before the discussion begins and they will automatically discredit and repeatability to establish a possible pattern.

All that said, spiritual pursuit is much more about asking/seeking the “whys” than the “whats” and “hows”…….something that science is not equipped to do.

People (more people than ever claim they saw Jesus in his lifetime) swear they saw David Copperfield or Chris Angel flying in the air, that does not make it proof. That is just a person's account of what happened. Hybrid Jesus is god is just not making any sense what so ever and "proof" like you are hiding behind is not helping it. I totally appreciate what you attempting to do, but you cannot keep reproducing any of this except people dying (if Jesus actually died on that day at all).

Example, I say I walked from one skyscraper to another in mid-air. I have 50+ people all tell the same story and claim they saw me do it. Does the fact that we all just wanted to be part of some 15 minutes of fame and had a pact to stick to the story to get the story aired on TV have anything to do with it never actually happening. Eyewitness accounts from 2000 years ago, is not a fact.

But, aren't you(as a group) just as guilty to explain anything that you can't explain as god did it? That is a cop out for now not trying harder to figure something out. I feel you are just trying to put a label on something you don't understand to make you feel better about it.

Example: I'm going to go off on being humanist for a moment. People pray for the people in Japan and then they feel like they helped them and that is it. That is absolute B.S. Stop praying and do something to help those poor people. Donate if you can, re-tweet the donation location if you have no money, but do something that physically helps those people. Stop making yourself feel better and do something that makes a real difference. All that that praying is doing, is making you feel like you helped so you can sleep better at night.

OK, I truly am sorry I got kind of mean here. This is one of those things that really ignites my inner anger. Again I'm sorry for letting the anger out, but I still needed to post it.

You see, christianity is somewhere on the continuum of nonsensical to arrogant/delusional. It makes little sense to attempt intelligent conversation with this sort of dogma, because at the end of the day, the father who is also the son who in turn, is also the holy spirit, turned into a magical zombie and flew off into the clouds.

I think that at the end of the day, like most religions, the thing that makes Christianity great is or can be the thing that makes Christianity bad. It's almost like firearms, they've been used for good and evil. Trying to definitively say that Christianity is bad/delusional/whatever (or the contrary) is an exercise in futility.

I don't think the part where they teach people to be good people or help people through tough times is so bad. It is the rest of it that scares me.