Rambling down the road
By Carl S ~
Many serial killers begin in their childhoods by torturing and killing small animals. Given this fact, should parents teach that torturing and killing pets is okay? If you do not agree, then why do believers agree with the central teaching of Christianity, which is that the torture and execution of a human must be treated with reverence?
Why do Christians say they “listen to God?” Don't they know what he's told people to do already?
If “moderate” believers” condemn religious extremists/fanatics, and still stay faithful, are they part of the solution or part of the problem?
Sometimes “forgiveness” and “praying” are just cop-outs for not dealing with it.
I have six million reasons why prayer doesn't work. If you choose to ignore the Holocaust, I have millions more in Bosnia, Haiti, Africa, and so on...
Christian, I‘ll play a game with you. You tell me something from your religion or scriptures that I haven‘t heard before, and I'll do the same for you. (Be prepared for my answers of “been there, done that”) Are you up to the challenge of my answers?
Christians assert that “Faith is a Gift from God.” This is strange to the rest of us, because there is no evidence of the existence of a god. This means that the faith itself necessary to believe in the being is of no more worth than its nonexistent giver. Zero plus zero = zero.
Actually, “faith” is an act of will, of choosing what one wants to believe regardless of evidence. This faith is no more a divine “gift” than any other opinions are. To promote and brag about what one chooses to be true, without having any regard to seek what is true, is hardly a gift; in fact, it is an attitude deceitful and disrespectful to individuals who are sincerely seeking truth.
The fact that there are still believers after all these centuries proves that you can fool some people all of the time.
I have a moral obligation to seek the truth. Do you?
Is religion the oldest profession?
Praise God from whom all curses flow?
After reading many American traditional tall tales, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between them and biblical stories. Could it be that biblical stories were the tall tales of their times, tales told around the “campfires” of their cultures? Entertainment has always been popular as an escape from harsh and/or boring reality. I submit that religious traditions are nothing more than entertaining tall tales that came to be taken seriously (much too seriously), and that embellishments are being constantly added which are equally ridiculous. This is what one author describes as “fictional embroidery.”
If virgin birth is acceptable as a matter of faith, so is a virginal fifteen month pregnancy, yes?
Religions are like those beautiful, colorful frogs you see on nature programs: cute, but poisonous.
The major dogma of Christianity is that it is the greatest moral virtue to execute an innocent person for a crime he didn't commit.
Oxymoron: “accurate scriptures.”
The next time a believer asks you to take a “leap of faith,” suggest that the believer take a “leap of facts.”
A driving force which brings a faithful believer to reject beliefs is the moral obligation to seek the truth. To the seeker, it must be truth, not authority, that is held as sacred.
Jesus is boring, and so is St. Paul with his ramblings. If either one of them was a speaker in a public square today, they would be dismissed as nutcases, ignored outright by the crowds.
Ask your Christian friend to compare the commandment “thou shalt not kill” to the commandment in Exodus 32:27-30, and just listen to the rationalizing bullshit. (Where Moses tells his soldiers that the lord wants them to go through their own camp and, “slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.” )
It's interesting listening to the Christians around me. I always get more food for thought, fresh material to write about than I ever anticipated. Also, I wonder what did I ever see in it worth my time?
During the past Presidential campaign season, an old saying was quoted, “We shall counter the lies told about us by telling the truth about them.” Can nonbelievers - secularists, atheists, agnostics - ask for a better method to counter the lies against them than by revealing the facts about the accusers themselves?
You've heard it over and over, “The bible is the best selling book in the world.” Let's consider some things: every two seconds in this world, a Harlequin Romance (or other paperback printed by them under a different name) is sold. And to be honest, isn't pornography the hottest-selling genre, internationally? Even though it's banned in many cultures, which makes it even more desirable.
After walking away from the last church service I ever attended, nearly six years ago, and undertaking a much more thorough investigation of religious beliefs than I had done previously, I'm even more convinced of the summation I arrived at on that day: church is just a gathering of people telling each other stuff. And so, there they go, into yet another year. Unless.....
Why do Christians say they “listen to God?” Don't they know what he's told people to do already?
If “moderate” believers” condemn religious extremists/fanatics, and still stay faithful, are they part of the solution or part of the problem?
Sometimes “forgiveness” and “praying” are just cop-outs for not dealing with it.
I have six million reasons why prayer doesn't work. If you choose to ignore the Holocaust, I have millions more in Bosnia, Haiti, Africa, and so on...
Christian, I‘ll play a game with you. You tell me something from your religion or scriptures that I haven‘t heard before, and I'll do the same for you. (Be prepared for my answers of “been there, done that”) Are you up to the challenge of my answers?
Christians assert that “Faith is a Gift from God.” This is strange to the rest of us, because there is no evidence of the existence of a god. This means that the faith itself necessary to believe in the being is of no more worth than its nonexistent giver. Zero plus zero = zero.
Actually, “faith” is an act of will, of choosing what one wants to believe regardless of evidence. This faith is no more a divine “gift” than any other opinions are. To promote and brag about what one chooses to be true, without having any regard to seek what is true, is hardly a gift; in fact, it is an attitude deceitful and disrespectful to individuals who are sincerely seeking truth.
The fact that there are still believers after all these centuries proves that you can fool some people all of the time.
I have a moral obligation to seek the truth. Do you?
Is religion the oldest profession?
Praise God from whom all curses flow?
After reading many American traditional tall tales, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between them and biblical stories. Could it be that biblical stories were the tall tales of their times, tales told around the “campfires” of their cultures? Entertainment has always been popular as an escape from harsh and/or boring reality. I submit that religious traditions are nothing more than entertaining tall tales that came to be taken seriously (much too seriously), and that embellishments are being constantly added which are equally ridiculous. This is what one author describes as “fictional embroidery.”
If virgin birth is acceptable as a matter of faith, so is a virginal fifteen month pregnancy, yes?
Religions are like those beautiful, colorful frogs you see on nature programs: cute, but poisonous.
The major dogma of Christianity is that it is the greatest moral virtue to execute an innocent person for a crime he didn't commit.
Oxymoron: “accurate scriptures.”
The next time a believer asks you to take a “leap of faith,” suggest that the believer take a “leap of facts.”
A driving force which brings a faithful believer to reject beliefs is the moral obligation to seek the truth. To the seeker, it must be truth, not authority, that is held as sacred.
Jesus is boring, and so is St. Paul with his ramblings. If either one of them was a speaker in a public square today, they would be dismissed as nutcases, ignored outright by the crowds.
Ask your Christian friend to compare the commandment “thou shalt not kill” to the commandment in Exodus 32:27-30, and just listen to the rationalizing bullshit. (Where Moses tells his soldiers that the lord wants them to go through their own camp and, “slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.” )
It's interesting listening to the Christians around me. I always get more food for thought, fresh material to write about than I ever anticipated. Also, I wonder what did I ever see in it worth my time?
During the past Presidential campaign season, an old saying was quoted, “We shall counter the lies told about us by telling the truth about them.” Can nonbelievers - secularists, atheists, agnostics - ask for a better method to counter the lies against them than by revealing the facts about the accusers themselves?
You've heard it over and over, “The bible is the best selling book in the world.” Let's consider some things: every two seconds in this world, a Harlequin Romance (or other paperback printed by them under a different name) is sold. And to be honest, isn't pornography the hottest-selling genre, internationally? Even though it's banned in many cultures, which makes it even more desirable.
After walking away from the last church service I ever attended, nearly six years ago, and undertaking a much more thorough investigation of religious beliefs than I had done previously, I'm even more convinced of the summation I arrived at on that day: church is just a gathering of people telling each other stuff. And so, there they go, into yet another year. Unless.....