“As for the discussion of Jonah and the great fish (just a note: the Bible never said anything about it being a whale), have you ever heard those reports of fisherman falling off of a whaling vessel and being found still alive in the belly of a whale?”
I’ve also heard reports of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill.
See, fish and whales tend to eat things underwater. I’m not sure how they’re supposed to pick things out of the water, and swallow them to an environment with breathable oxygen. It makes no sense.
"There's one reason that the people of Nineveh would have listened to Jonah”
Well, if they were fictional and He was fictional, that’s a reason.
“Anyway, I'd like to point something interesting out. Suppose that I am wrong (and I'm not), I haven't lost anything.”
That depends on how you’re wrong, doesn’t it?
I keep thinking of that Far Side cartoon where Colonel Sanders shows up to find a Heaven run by chickens…
What are you going to do if the Egyptian afterlife is what we all face? Or the Norse? Or the Inca?
“If this were true, I'd just blink out of existence when I die, just like you would. No harm done. That isn't why I'm a Christian, but it's an interesting thought.”
Not really. Pascal’s Wager assumes that there is only one religion and only two possibilities. Human history kinda indicates several thousand religions. Or none.
"I still don't think too highly of evolution.”
Science REALLY doesn’t give a fuck what you think.
“How is it possible that this world just pieced itself together?”
The natural completion of natural processes.
“Where did the laws come from?”
Humans. We saw matter and energy interact and sometimes think we can predict it, so we call those scenarios ‘law.’
“What created gravity?”
Matter.
“Why did evolution occur?”
Life is an imperfect replicator. How could evolution NOT occur?
“How did the intermediate creatures survive?”
You don’t know how evolution works.
“Why is there water on this planet and not on others?”
I believe we found some on Mars. Next question?
“Why is it the only planet in our solar system with a breathable atmosphere?”
You only say that because you evolved to breathe it. If you evolved elsewhere, you might think this atmosphere toxic.
“The theory of evolution is what created the search for extra-terrestrial life.”
No, it’s not. Looking up, and counting, that’s what leads people to think the odds are good for life somewhere.
“There is no proof of any existing, yet we look for it anyway. Why?”
Because there’s no proof that it doesn’t exist.
“The real reason for the national debt. Yes, America, your money is being spent on operations like the one they're running on Mars.”
Dude, send me your address, I will reimburse you for the part of your tax dollars that go towards Mars exploration. Keep the entire penny, don’t worry about change.