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So my girlfriend thinks the Earth is 6000 years old...

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JokerOfSpades said:
Technically we can't know anything we don't study for ourselves. Technically we have blind faith in scientific studies, just because we read the news about them.

And historical stuff, too.
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What in the blue titty is this? How can someone not know how the scientific method works? What's going on in schools?!?!?
 
Op, coming from a guy that just fought with the mother of his child about a question the child asked about angles and gods, it isn't worth it. If she is this old and still believes it that means she being willing ignorant about history.
 
Let her believe what she wants to believe provided it isn't hurting anyone. If she wants to believe the universe is a dragon's vagina, who cares? What matters is whether you're happy with her or not and from what you're saying, you are. Don't listen to gaf and their elitist view on stuff like this.
 
Count Dookkake said:
The "track record" includes things like: medicine, airplanes, phones, etc.

This stuff tends to work and that is why most of us are not compelled to test everything we learn of through science news. Some are also aware that studies may contradict one another and that further testing may be required.

Again, this is nothing at all like faith in the religious sense. You can not conflate the two, no matter how many times you choose to dodge that point.
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Mm, and people strangely get better every day as well. Some choose to put that on a higher being. Some people put it one higher than science - that because these things work, there must be a God.

And if you really wish to use medicine as an example, you should know that many things were used as medicine in the past that we now realize isn't worth it or is harmful in other ways. These things "work," but the whys and hows are more muddied.

If we were merely to say that we can believe every scientific study because certain things work, does it make us that much different than the religious who pray and (by some coincidence) receive results? Now they too have a "track record" of sort, albeit anecdotal. And those people bunch into a group, and the group tells them what to believe, and because of the track record...

[SPOILERS]Devil's advocate, don't get too angry dude[/SPOILERS]
 
SoulPlaya said:
Dump her. Fuck is the issue here?
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You would dump someone for their religious beliefs? That blows my mind, lol. I mean, do you but unless she's forcing you to go to church and all that it really should be a non-issue.

I mean if the shoe was on the other foot and we had a GAF member sulking that their religious gf dumped them because they wouldn't go to church.

One of my best friends is a 7th day Adventist. Super intelligent dude. Two masters. Does fucking scientific research for universities and shit. Yet him and I and another friend sat down for about 2 hours one night arguing about what the fuck is wrong with him to think the planet is only 6000 years old despite the physical evidence and implications that it's MUCH MUCH older.

But in the end, that's my friend. He doesn't go around hurting anyone. He's a cool dude. Should I then not be friends with him?

That's MORE narrow-minded than thinking the Earth is 6000 years old...
 
Mengy said:
Fantastic. Utterly fantastic. :D
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South-Park-nice.jpg


I personally couldn't ever be intimately involved with somebody who will turn such a blind eye but hey, do what you feel.
 
DragonKnight said:
That makes no fucking sense then. So she's fundamentalist in one aspect of her religion, and lax on other parts? Some girl you get there...
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A vast majority of religious people are like this....

I know grown adults that will cover their eyes at the Titantic breast scence b/c it gives them "impure thoughts."...and yet they will revel in watching people get destryoed in a movie like Gladiator.
 
cosmicblizzard said:
Let her believe what she wants to believe provided it isn't hurting anyone. If she wants to believe the universe is a dragon's vagina, who cares? What matters is whether you're happy with her or not and from what you're saying, you are. Don't listen to gaf and their elitist view on stuff like this.
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:lol

It's elitist to laugh at Young Earth Creationism now.

Their children will be influenced by this nutter in the future, so it would harm them.
 
If someone isn't open to the idea that they're wrong, then well, nothing anyone can do.

As a religous person myself I don't understand the mindset. We aren't perfect and I don't get the iron hard "I am right!" attitude that people have.
 
Well, if the sex is fantastic, I doubt anyone would care. Just don't plan on having kids with her. No point in ruining lives now. Poor kids dont even have a choice.
 
Suairyu said:
I have a sneaking suspicion that you don't understand how fundamentalism works.
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WRONG. Parents have been fundamentalist all my life.

Edit: Don't forget to tell her that is doesn't matter how old the Earth is cause she's still going to hell for fornication. If she's cool with that then I don't have a problem.
 
Count Dookkake said:
Because we don't need to.

The track record suggests that it is expedient to accept certain concepts as true.

This is not faith in the religious sense.
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It's still faith. You trust in a system. The guy who said that people can test out experiments with their own equipment needs to learn about construct validity.

We put a lot of trust into many components of the system. How do we know that we're measuring what we're claiming we're measuring? How do we know that the results show what we're looking for? It takes years of training and education in various fields to get to the point where we can do these experiments, and the vast majority of people are not going to do that. We put trust in the mathematics that other humans came up with. We put trust in the statistics of random sampling and random assignment. We put trust in the scientists who came up with the experiments. We put trust in the community that replicates the experiments and questions the methods and conclusions.

We glean our understandings of the world through concise summaries of decades of research.

So, yes, we do put a lot of faith in the system. The methods for conducting experiments are fine, but there's a whole lot more to it than that. The human factor is staggering.

We trust science because we see the results all around us. We put a man on the moon. We sent rovers to Mars. We construct tall skyscrapers that tower over us majestically and withstand major earthquakes. We put a lot of faith into science but frankly the results speak for themselves.
 
Suairyu said:
Speaking from experience, love can be the cruelest thing in the world. It is entirely possible to fall absolutely in love with someone knowing full well it's never going to work.

I mean, generally, the formula for love is the following:

intimacy + time = love

However, you go on to say "... and she is a hell of a good girl" so here's hoping there's more to it than that. I'm just saying, think carefully about things, alright? Love is horrible. If you think you're going to need to bail, it always works out best if you bail sooner rather than later, for both of you.

Of course, no-one ever bails before they have no choice, either. That's love.
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WHAT THE FUCK.

You're not chinner.
 
OP. So she has some crazy beliefs. They're obviously not a deal breaker or you wouldn't be with her. You found a good girl. Stick with it.

Darklord said:
I can't find love in an unintelligent woman who I can't respect. No offense to your girl.
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Must... resist... avatar quote...
 
Dump her.

I would dump anyone for being a total fucking idiot. Believing the earth is 6000 years old is like believing Santa is real. How can you respect anything that person says or thinks?? That kind of incurious mind is something that would affect reactions to practically everything worth talking about. Sounds like torture.
 
JokerOfSpades said:
Mm, and people strangely get better every day as well. Some choose to put that on a higher being. Some people put it one higher than science - that because these things work, there must be a God.

And if you really wish to use medicine as an example, you should know that many things were used as medicine in the past that we now realize isn't worth it or is harmful in other ways. These things "work," but the whys and hows are more muddied.

If we were merely to say that we can believe every scientific study because certain things work, does it make us that much different than the religious who pray and (by some coincidence) receive results? Now they too have a "track record" of sort, albeit anecdotal. And those people bunch into a group, and the group tells them what to believe, and because of the track record...

[SPOILERS]Devil's advocate, don't get too angry dude[/SPOILERS]
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I'm not angry. I am perplexed by your misunderstanding, but doing my best to not be condescending. I can't tell if it is a genuine confusion on your part or the work of some desire to protect a hidden belief. It doesn't really matter, I suppose.

Anyway, your response is superfluous. Feel free to reread my posts and the posts of others. You are wrong, but with a bit of effort, you will catch up soon enough. That is, if you are being genuine.

Bombadil said:
It's still faith.
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It is not faith in the religious sense, which is what this tangent is predicated on.

See also the difference of meanings for "theory" in a scientific sense vs a colloquial sense.
 
Cosmic Bus said:
This is part of your post is very, very strange to me. Christians and other religious faiths are quite capable of experiencing awe and wonder towards the universe as much as anyone else, just that we hold different opinions of its origins. That doesn't change how amazing it all is, nor does someone holding these beliefs have much, if any, effect on you any more than your beliefs affect other faiths. It makes you come off as a bit childish, getting upset because "No! You HAVE TO think the same things as me!"

Learn to be more open-minded. It will serve you well in life.
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She may experience awe during stargazing at what God created in the past 6000 years, but that wouldn't be the same awe I experience in thinking that the universe is billions of years old, or what marvellous changes our planet has undergone over countless and huge spans of time. And I never once said that I felt she had to change her beliefs to match my own, you are the one who stated that. I accept her for who she is, I just feel a bit sad about it.

Maybe instead of being super defensive and telling people who think different than you to be more open minded, you should actually listen to what others say and not insult them when their beliefs differ from yours? :)
 
Plywood said:
WHAT THE FUCK.

You're not chinner.
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omg are you that super hot naked chick from that lord of the rings tv show?

DragonKnight said:
WRONG. Parents have been fundamentalist all my life.
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And I can guarrantee you I could find passages in the bible your parents are lax on. I would bet you a lot of money. Fundamentalism of holy-text based religion is inherently flawed because they're poetic verses, often containing many contradictions.

Fundamentalism is as much "pick and choose" as the behaviour the OP's girlfriend is exhibiting here. The great thing about fundamentalism is that they usually can't even fathom the fact they have encountered contradictions; their interpretation of metaphorical statements are correct and everyone else is wrong.
 
The only time I care about a total stranger's belief system is when it has a chance at influencing public policy. Aside from that, not only could I not care less, but I've learned that it's unhealthy to concern yourself with such things.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to prove to someone on the spot that things like radiometric dating and evolution are true on a fundamental level, if they don't want to believe you. You will not win. You are wasting your time. You will leave with a headache. Leave them be.
 
Believing the earth is only 6000 years old shows a distinct lack of rational thinking and basic logic. This is not a person you want to be with your entire life, let alone allow around your children. I can see hoping that she would wise up after a while but if it's been a year, chances are she will be a fool till her dying day.
 
Mengy said:
Fantastic. Utterly fantastic. :D
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If you see kids in the future with her, either man up and take charge of their education while accepting moms "views" and good luck persuading her when it comes to choosing schools for the kids etc OR bail now.

If she is not in for the long run, enjoy the sex, have fun, slowly back out.
 
WeAreStarStuff said:
A vast majority of religious people are like this....

I know grown adults that will cover their eyes at the Titantic breast scence b/c it gives them "impure thoughts."...and yet they will revel in watching people get destryoed in a movie like Gladiator.
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This.


My friend believes the Earth is 6000 years old because the Church told him so. Yet fucks chicks without being married and has NO problem fornicating like a motherfucker when he hits up a club....
 
Mengy said:
You know, there was a time where I would have said all of the above comments. I used to think I could never date someone who thought like that. However, I've learned that being with someone who believes exactly as I do really isn't that important to me. Love is more important, and she is a hell of a good girl. Plus, I really do have fun debating the whole young Earth thing with her, I'd actually miss it somewhat if she came around.

Still, trying to imagine the universe from her perspective, it just seems like so much grandeur and awe is lost through her eyes...
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lol what debate man, she is straight up wrong.
 
According to the bible 2500 years ago the great flood happened leaving only 8 people, please explain to me how we got to a population of 7 billion in 2500 years? And in that time how did we get different coloured skin?

I don't know how any rational minded person could not see this.
 
Mengy said:
TLDR: I don't get blind faith, learning is super awesome.
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Don't know if you can really call it blind in this case. As you said, this is what she grew up with. It's been around her from birth with very few people if any challenging the things she views as facts. It's probably not something you'll ever be able to purge from her as she is probably still very much ingrained in that community. All the facts in the world probably illicit more than a "heh, that's cute, but I know you're wrong" from her. Dunno, could be misjudging the situation entirely but that's the way I see it.
 
Serious question - how accurate is C-14 dating? Everything I've found suggests that older objects are subject to bogus readings because we don't have a reliable way to calibrate the readings.
 
Enron said:
for as much of a big deal people make of fundies that believe the earth is only 6000 years old on the internet, I myself have never ever met anyone that thinks the earth ISN'T millions of years old, and I spent my HS years in the middle of fundie Southern Baptist nowhere and my family is super religious.
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This, its incredibly rare. The only one I ever met was real crazy.
 
LCfiner said:
Dump her.

I would dump anyone for being a total fucking idiot. Believing the earth is 6000 years old is like believing Santa is real. How can you respect anything that person says or thinks?? That kind of incurious mind is something that would affect reactions to practically everything worth talking about. Sounds like torture.
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Having 1 outlandish belief does not make all of their beliefs outlandish. As Mammoth Jones said, even the smartest people can believe stuff like this.

It amazes me how much humans are being simplified in this thread based on a simple belief that doesn't even affect anything. Who the hell cares?
 
you people probably think that we live in a universe that is 13.7 billion years old. wake up man, we are living in a hologram, we are IN THE MATRIX!!!!111
 
nicoga3000 said:
Serious question - how accurate is C-14 dating? Everything I've found suggests that older objects are subject to bogus readings because we don't have a reliable way to calibrate the readings.
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You wouldn't want to rely on it by itself.

Luckily, nobody has to.

That's how evidence works - you have a lot of correlating information pointing to a most likely explanation.
 
nicoga3000 said:
Serious question - how accurate is C-14 dating? Everything I've found suggests that older objects are subject to bogus readings because we don't have a reliable way to calibrate the readings.
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~50,000 years, and it's calibrated against levels of atmospheric carbon-14.
 
Yes the two do correlate. To defend the believe of a young earth is to believe that God created the world. To believe that means believing Bible is true word for word and that is a fundamentalist view. Therefore, her having sex and yet standing for a young earth is a contradiction. The apostle James says it himself: "how can a fountain bring forth clean and poisionous water?" (paraphrased). As long as his girlfriend is cool knowing that she's going to Hell then it doesn't really matter then.
 
cosmicblizzard said:
Having 1 outlandish belief does not make all of their beliefs outlandish. As Mammoth Jones said, even the smartest people can believe stuff like this.

It amazes me how much humans are being simplified in this thread based on a simple belief that doesn't even affect anything. Who the hell cares?
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i think you're confusing belief in God with belief in a literal bible.
 
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