tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post3165806423181750147..comments2023-12-01T18:05:24.875-05:00Comments on Debunking Christianity: Evangelicals, Your Days Are NumberedUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-58533948724824401202009-07-28T05:37:53.864-04:002009-07-28T05:37:53.864-04:00Ross said..."Gandolf, all I know is that thes...Ross said..."Gandolf, all I know is that these things are cyclical. Are you able to clarify your comments about Christianity in Africa?"<br /><br />No Ross sorry you really got me there!.I havent got any links to documented evidence thats easily found,right at this moment.<br /><br />Tell me were you thinking it would be that likely that many people would really actually document they were taking advantage of christian charity that often though?<br /><br />Were you thinking my suggestion was most likely totally untrue?<br /><br />Have you tried putting yourself in the position of even a atheist in some of these tough situations where even the next meal could be a big worry, as a outsider test?.Would you honestly say you would most likely not say hallelujah if it meant a good feed and the much more likelyhood of many more to follow as well in the future.Than would likely be if you stubbornly always declared no im actually a atheist?.Hell man even people who have been good friends for years going to the same church etc,can find their previous so christian friends and family can start hating them if they go and be to honest and tell them they are a atheist and dont believe in god/s anymore!.<br /><br />In a kids lolly scramble can you show me evidence of many kids that bother to ask about sugar content etc.How many of them actually think that deeply about the contents either.<br /><br />Come on.Surely you dont really believe you can put charity in places in so much need of relief and really suggest its so positively likely to rally be so much about (real deep honest conviction) of faith in christianity or its god?.Gandolfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02624178234332819107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-37894802036681759582009-07-26T19:50:54.371-04:002009-07-26T19:50:54.371-04:00Gandolf, all I know is that these things are cycli...Gandolf, all I know is that these things are cyclical. Are you able to clarify your comments about Christianity in Africa?Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08827731848618933239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-75234644497697803032009-07-24T15:58:20.762-04:002009-07-24T15:58:20.762-04:00So we can rule out some aspects of evolution using...So we can rule out some aspects of evolution using some of your principles on defining truth. That's good.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-89282862371465327112009-07-24T15:57:22.488-04:002009-07-24T15:57:22.488-04:00SBG: How do you recognize something that is NOT tr...SBG: <i>How do you recognize something that is NOT true? You first would have to know what IS true. Were you there? Do you undertastand all of the symbollic language and metaphor of the Bible? Do you understand all the varying types of literature and all of their functions? Do you understand Hebrew allegory?</i><br /><br />Indeed, how do you sort out the allegorical from the literal, at any point in the narrative? Perhaps the talking snake was an allegorical figure. So, too, perhaps Adam and Eve were allegorical characters. And perhaps God himself was originally an allegorical character, whose existence was later taken all too literally.<br /><br />Even within an allegory, what is allegory, and what is meta-allegory? God says, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Subsequently the serpent tells Eve, "You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." The serpent spoke truly: When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they did not die.<br /><br />When God told Adam he would die if he ate the forbidden fruit, was this an allegorical God speaking allegorically to an allegorical man about an allegorcial fruit from an allegorical tree?Northlanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00769117142960558423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-65457928856855245402009-07-24T15:35:31.715-04:002009-07-24T15:35:31.715-04:00"How do you recognize something that is NOT t..."How do you recognize something that is NOT true? "<br /><br />Truth = Reality Thats how <br /><br />Since there are no talking snakes, magical fruit trees, rib women, burnig bushes that hand out stone tablets, Jewish zomies that claim to be their own fathers. I'd say that your book is ignorant superstition and thats why christian aplogetics is so laughable.<br /><br />but thats just me.Scarecrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15324151298399098144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-24493087367854522412009-07-24T15:18:53.566-04:002009-07-24T15:18:53.566-04:00How do you recognize something that is NOT true? Y...How do you recognize something that is NOT true? You first would have to know what IS true. Were you there? Do you undertastand all of the symbollic language and metaphor of the Bible? Do you understand all the varying types of literature and all of their functions? Do you understand Hebrew allegory?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-88128925366232896022009-07-24T15:15:21.909-04:002009-07-24T15:15:21.909-04:00SBG: So if we don't understand it all, then it...SBG: <i>So if we don't understand it all, then it clearly must not be true.</i><br /><br />If we recognize that it is not true, it is a lot easier to understand it all.Northlanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00769117142960558423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-35503706687663051532009-07-24T14:38:33.769-04:002009-07-24T14:38:33.769-04:00So if we don't understand it all, then it clea...So if we don't understand it all, then it clearly must not be true.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-15143597173280238542009-07-24T14:32:10.326-04:002009-07-24T14:32:10.326-04:00SBG: Magical trees, eh? Magical snakes that can ta...SBG: <i>Magical trees, eh? Magical snakes that can talk, donkeys that talk, burning bushes that are not consumed? It must all be a bunch of nonsense!</i><br /><br />The talking snake is actualy rather charming. In the end, one can't help but feel a bit sorry for him.Northlanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00769117142960558423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-47592374676937396522009-07-24T13:52:46.668-04:002009-07-24T13:52:46.668-04:00None,
Magical trees, eh? Magical snakes that can ...None,<br /><br />Magical trees, eh? Magical snakes that can talk, donkeys that talk, burning bushes that are not consumed? It must all be a bunch of nonsense!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-3070024980394770112009-07-24T13:49:42.425-04:002009-07-24T13:49:42.425-04:00SBG: Who said that God put the tree there? Maybe S...SBG: <i>Who said that God put the tree there? Maybe Satan put it there and that is why God told them not to eat it!</i><br /><br />In which case, God would still be a complete doofus. Why not simply remove the tree? Especially, why not remove the tree if he knew in advance that Adam and Eve were going to eat the fruit?<br /><br />But if God had known that in advance, then why did he not know in advance that Satan intended to put the tree there, and prevent Satan from doing so in the first place? But perhaps even God does not know Satan's plans. Or perhaps he does know Satan's plans, and let Satan put the tree there, because he wanted him to. Or perhaps Satan's powers are so great that even God couldn't remove the tree once Satan put it there. You tell me...<br /><br />SBG: <i>Is the tree symbollic of something else, or is it literal? How can a TREE give someone knowledge of good and evil?</i><br /><br />Uh, because it's a magical tree? Magic happens all the time in the BOOK. People walk on water, the dead rise, men are created out of clay, women out of ribs, and the future is accurately and miraculously prophesied.<br /><br />But perhaps neither Satan nor God have the power to create a tree, the fruits whereof would be capable of imparting knowledge of good and evil. In that case, it would absolutely have to be metaphorical. Again, you tell me -- is even Almighty God incapable of creating magical trees?Northlanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00769117142960558423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-15348819899912051652009-07-24T12:15:40.955-04:002009-07-24T12:15:40.955-04:00Who said that God put the tree there? Maybe Satan ...Who said that God put the tree there? Maybe Satan put it there and that is why God told them not to eat it! Is the tree symbollic of something else, or is it literal? How can a TREE give someone knowledge of good and evil? There are many such unanswered questions. So you throw the baby out with the bathwater.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-54909511157482774752009-07-24T11:56:31.884-04:002009-07-24T11:56:31.884-04:00SBG: If someone gave you some land with all kinds ...SBG: <i>If someone gave you some land with all kinds of fruit trees and asked that you only not eat out of one single tree, would you not be greatful enough to leave that one tree alone???? Would you not do the same???? That is the point!</i><br /><br />Whether gratitude is even an appropriate response to a gift-giver would seem to depend on the sacrifice made by the gift-giver in providing the gift. One way of getting at your question is to ask what God had sacrificed in providing "some land with all kinds of fruit trees." Presumably the land was of no conceivable use or value to him, so it was no sacrifice in that sense. Perhaps you could argue that God had had to take six days out of his very busy schedule in order to create the universe (including, in one teeny, tiny corner thereof, some land with some fruit trees), at the end of which process he was completely pooped and had to rest (because, hey, even for God creating a universe is a lot of work). On the other hand, maybe for him it was a kind of hobby, and he enjoyed it.<br /><br />It's quite a peculiar myth, isn't it? One can ask why, for example, if God did not want Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of a certain tree in the garden, he put the tree there in the first place. The question assumes even greater significance if one believes that God has foreknowledge of the future, because that would mean that he had placed the tree in the garden, and created Adam and Eve, knowing full well that they would eat the fruit of the tree. It would be hard to make sense of the myth by concluding that God had actually intended Adam and Eve to eat the fruit even though he had warned them not to, but one could make a little sense of it by saying that it demonstrates that even God doesn't necessarily know what the future holds. Still, God looks like a bit of a bozo for having put the tree there, and the obvious implication -- that God is not terribly bright -- is probably not what the creators of the myth wanted us to take away from it.Northlanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00769117142960558423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-52302396623947266952009-07-24T10:16:24.959-04:002009-07-24T10:16:24.959-04:00None,
If someone gave you some land with all kind...None,<br /><br />If someone gave you some land with all kinds of fruit trees and asked that you only not eat out of one single tree, would you not be greatful enough to leave that one tree alone???? Would you not do the same???? That is the point!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-56847038025594629672009-07-24T10:13:18.637-04:002009-07-24T10:13:18.637-04:00I never said that I HAVE the one true church - I s...I never said that I HAVE the one true church - I said that there is only one true church!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-79306176197152718232009-07-24T10:00:31.394-04:002009-07-24T10:00:31.394-04:00"That is exactly why I used the golden rule a..."That is exactly why I used the golden rule as the standard! All peoples agree with that!"<br /><br />But the ethic of reciprocity" doesn't require god nor sin.Scarecrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15324151298399098144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-38140309265350081432009-07-24T04:06:49.704-04:002009-07-24T04:06:49.704-04:00Ross said ......."Its geographic centre is sh...Ross said ......."Its geographic centre is shifting away from the first world to the developing world."<br /><br />And when that also becomes developed,what next?..<br /><br />Yes Christianity is being lapped up for the moment in places like Africa.But hey people going through tough times and standing in line in benefit ques, dont often really go questioning the papers they need to sign first either to get what they need at the time. <br /><br />Hodge Podge Blogger said..."I think that Chuck's friend and all the other "skeptics" are wrong and haven't taken a good look at history."<br /><br />While relying on past history and telling folks they should maybe take a good look at it,have you been taking the same sort of advice by observing the future and its many differences as well?.<br /><br />Such as use of the net we mostly all have now and advances in knowledge etc.<br /><br />"So much so that several years after this boastful statement, his house was being used by the Geneva Bible Society to print Bibles. And if you hadn't noticed, there are still plenty of evangelical Christians around, like me."<br /><br />Well with the use of the internet we all get the chance to approach believers without even needing to enter their churches or homes and we dont need to meet them in the street.And with failing numbers of church goers many non believers have even brought up church buildings for cheap,and have turned them into something else like houses for housing people or backpackers or even industrial buildings.<br /><br />In future i suggest its quite likely we humans (as in majorities) will also start voting to disallow practices that can be proved to be psychologically abusive and harmful etc,and should a faithful fellow feel its still his/her religious right to make certain threats etc to children some day they just might find themselves behind bars in some jail.<br /><br />Im not banking on beliefs disappearing,but personally i think it might be a pretty good bet to suggest that faithful folks banking on "past history" might possibly be in for a very big surprise.Gandolfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02624178234332819107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-16703180718388623642009-07-24T00:29:25.008-04:002009-07-24T00:29:25.008-04:00savedbygrace said...
"Because xtians have dif...savedbygrace said...<br />"Because xtians have differing doctrines does not equal to differing versions of Christianity. THEY may have a differing version of how the Bible reads or is interpreted, but there remains just ONE TRUE church."<br /><br />Seems to me that you're having a good deal of difficulty with the definition of the term "version". Why don't you look it up, learn it, and get back to me. And while you're at it, think about this: Why to they have a "differing version" while you have the "one true church"? How do you know you have the "one true church"? <br /><br />Til you learn the definition of the word version though this is simply a waste of time.Nightmarehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00981755003761501997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-26256184722463662022009-07-23T23:03:35.611-04:002009-07-23T23:03:35.611-04:00SBG: Adam and Eve did not follow the golden rule w...SBG: <i>Adam and Eve did not follow the golden rule with God! God had given them everything and told them not to eat from one single tree.</i><br /><br />At the risk of asking you to practice theology without a license, I'm puzzled as to how you would would go about applying the golden rule in this case. The rule is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Therefore, it would seem that here you are suggesting that Adam and Eve should have obeyed God as they would have God obey them. Curious....Northlanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00769117142960558423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-18980877535628819352009-07-23T22:56:38.741-04:002009-07-23T22:56:38.741-04:00SBG: My evil cravings are completely gone. I still...SBG: <i>My evil cravings are completely gone. I still get angry sometimes, but I never crave to be angry. In fact, I hate it when I get angry!</i><br /><br />Is anger an example of an evil craving?Northlanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00769117142960558423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-4952888117255525092009-07-23T22:52:20.642-04:002009-07-23T22:52:20.642-04:00SBG: MY target is obedience to God! How about anyo...SBG: <i>MY target is obedience to God! How about anyone's target being the golden rule! Even atheists agree with the golden rule! Sin would therefor be not following the golden rule. Fair enough?</i><br /><br />Fair enough. Of course, my target is not obedience to God, since I do not believe that there is any God for me to obey. My proper "target," in this context, is to do what's right, and I reject the "divine command theory" of ethics to which you obviously subscribe.Northlanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00769117142960558423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-59933744246158422502009-07-23T22:10:36.988-04:002009-07-23T22:10:36.988-04:00Even if the church goes entirely underground, it w...Even if the church goes entirely underground, it will persist. Growing like a weed in China, where it's illegal. So if American society eventually bans it, that could be the biggest blessing Christianity has seen in our nation. Come Lord Jesus.Bithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14360715200753938334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-71443288685071454412009-07-23T21:59:22.978-04:002009-07-23T21:59:22.978-04:00Carbon,
That is exactly why I used the golden rul...Carbon,<br /><br />That is exactly why I used the golden rule as the standard! All peoples agree with that! Adam and Eve did not follow the golden rule with God! God had given them everything and told them not to eat from one single tree.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-77217685818255130092009-07-23T21:50:27.078-04:002009-07-23T21:50:27.078-04:00"MY target is obedience to God! How about any..."MY target is obedience to God! How about anyone's target being the golden rule! Even atheists agree with the golden rule! Sin would therefor be not following the golden rule. Fair enough?"<br /><br />But the golden rule is not original to christianity. From ancient egypt, and greece to Jainism, taoism, hinduism, confucianism, buddhism all have the "ethic of reciprocity." <br /><br />Sin has a very specific meaning under the christian dogma. How is "original sin" like "not following" the golden rule?Scarecrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15324151298399098144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-40330581739054600992009-07-23T20:54:58.258-04:002009-07-23T20:54:58.258-04:00My evil cravings are completely gone. I still get ...My evil cravings are completely gone. I still get angry sometimes, but I never crave to be angry. In fact, I hate it when I get angry!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com