tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post9205415431452258681..comments2023-09-24T07:53:50.826-05:00Comments on The Atheist Experience™: Half-Hearted EvangelismUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-19827597185592286002007-07-18T10:52:00.000-05:002007-07-18T10:52:00.000-05:00God is love? This would be the God that tortures p...God is love? This would be the God that tortures people for eternity who don't love him back? You have a strange idea of what love is.<BR/><BR/>Really, anon, you are an amateur at this, aren't you? Why don't you learn how to <I>make</I> an argument in the first place before blundering in here and embarrassing yourself with vapid nonsense? I mean, for all your statement said anything at all meaningful, you might as well have written, "Do Skittles exist? If Skittles exist since God is Skittles then God exists."<BR/><BR/>They don't educate you well at Sunday School, do they?Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17933545393470431585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-71959124080325155092007-07-18T08:03:00.000-05:002007-07-18T08:03:00.000-05:00Does love exist? If love exists since God is love ...Does love exist? If love exists since God is love then God exists. If love doesn't exist then I guess you win the argument, but would seem a pyrrhic victory to me to have announced the Love Delusion. No care for a child by its parents, no bond between siblings, no selfless mercy for those in need. And as for lifelong devotion among couples that would need to vanish like smoke. Its a big ask to utterly deny the existence of love: are you up to it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-13996856295597940852007-05-14T09:49:00.000-05:002007-05-14T09:49:00.000-05:00he insisted that in order for me to become an athe...<I>he insisted that in order for me to become an atheist, I must never have been a "real" Christian in the first place</I><BR/><BR/>Playing non-devil's advocate, I've heard Christians of a certain stamp argue that baptism/conversion engenders basically irreversible changes in you, so using that logic (and yes, I do use that term loosely) the fact that you were able to lose your faith means that you in fact weren't a "real" Christian.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-498293379313942462007-02-22T21:06:00.000-06:002007-02-22T21:06:00.000-06:00The pastor at the church I still attend (family re...The pastor at the church I still attend (family reasons) was talking about salvation a few weeks ago and actually said straight out that the "road to salvation" (as it's often called) is difficult to figure out if you just read the Bible, which is why witnessing to people and telling them how to do it is so important. <BR/><BR/>If I hadn't already been an atheist, that would have been the last nail in the coffin. So, God wrote the book, but he couldn't do it well enough to make it self-explanatory?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-70617493223183114712007-02-20T02:44:00.000-06:002007-02-20T02:44:00.000-06:00Oops, I meant to say I was at Berkeley during the ...Oops, I meant to say I was at Berkeley during the late '80's not the late '90's. ('87 to '90 to be precise.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-22568497006459166512007-02-19T08:58:00.000-06:002007-02-19T08:58:00.000-06:00Stephen-You've got to watch out for guys that thin...Stephen-<BR/><BR/>You've got to watch out for guys that think that science only exists and can be "experimentally" confirmed when it only suits their goals. In all likelihood, he's typing his rhetoric on a CRT monitor without noting the irony of "faith in electrons."<BR/><BR/>When you come across these types that have it in for mathematicians or theoretical physicists, they <I>always</I> cite Einstein and General Relativity as "number theory." Little do they know that Einstein's mathematics <I>have</I> been experimentally verified, such as gravitational redshift, the advance of the perihelion of Mercury, and the deflection of starlight. Other predictions, such as gravitational waves, have been indirectly proven, and projects such as LIGO and VIRGO are underway to directly measure them on Earth.<BR/><BR/>Just remember to hang tough. Overwhelming evidence can only slap someone in the face long enough before it hurts. Hence the war on science to begin with.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-64836104316758305352007-02-18T04:32:00.000-06:002007-02-18T04:32:00.000-06:00The whole argument regarding the inaccurate measur...The whole argument regarding the inaccurate measurement of <I>g</I> sounds really familiar. Interestingly I actually was an atheist physics major at Berkeley, and at that time I had read the Bible at least twice. I wonder if this fellow is one of the many confused theists I debated during my undergraduate days in the late 90's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-20170068073614641592007-02-16T15:16:00.000-06:002007-02-16T15:16:00.000-06:00Listening (or reading) crap like this makes my tee...Listening (or reading) crap like this makes my teeth ache. I have never been able to understand how anyone could believe this kind of shit. Christians seem to think that their myths are especially grand. I just don't understand how they can read their bible, or listen to their pastor/preacher/pope/whatever, and not perceive that their mythology is just as silly as any other ancient mythology.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-8134880367530315182007-02-16T10:14:00.000-06:002007-02-16T10:14:00.000-06:00"thanks for including Genesis 38 in your list of b...<I>"thanks for including Genesis 38 in your list of biblical absurdities, it's one of my favorites too. It doesn't 'extol the virtues of prostitution' exactly -- and I'm not sure it would deserve criticism if it did -- rather it accepts hypocrisy in Judah's action"</I><BR/><BR/>This is a fine point.<BR/><BR/>When it comes to questionable sexual morality, I think <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gen%2019:30-38&version=31" REL="nofollow">Genesis 19:30-38</A> may be a better example. (See also the <A HREF="http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/the_seduction_of_lot/gn19_30.html" REL="nofollow">Illustrated version</A>.) Lot gets drunk, and his daughters allegedly rape <I>him</I>! (Imagine trying to use that excuse in court!)<BR/><BR/>God's purported reaction is a bit perplexing, given that he just dumped lava and hot ash on the "wicked" children and nursing infants of Sodom and Gomorroah, and turned Lot's wife into a salt lick for looking in the wrong direction at the wrong time. Rether than doing something wrathful and vengeful like that, God supposedly <I>rewards</I> the drunken, incestuous rape of Lot and his daughters with <I>two</I> venerable nations, the Moabites and the Ammonites, much as he promised a nation to Abraham as a reward for his righteousness a couple of chapeters earlier. (Both nations are mentioned many times throughout the Old Testament. Ruth, for example, was a Moabitess.)<BR/><BR/>Those who claim to believe everything the Bible says have to take this at face value. They have to accept that, at least in <I>some</I> cases, drunken, incestuous rape is not only morally permissible, but <I>righteous</I> in the eyes of God.<BR/><BR/>It seems more likely to me that a few Israelites with a Jeff Foxworthy sense of humor made up the story for a cheap chuckle at the expense of a couple of rival nations. But hey, I guess God's grace just hasn't been efficacious enough to help me understand the piety of incestuous rape!Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03130354533571499310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-82223838283033082362007-02-15T10:09:00.000-06:002007-02-15T10:09:00.000-06:00It might be fun to set up a 'Bible Challenge' on y...It might be fun to set up a 'Bible Challenge' on your show. Invite several Christians, ideally preachers, to take on a group of ex-Christian atheists on a quiz on Biblical knowledge. The difficulty would be finding someone relatively unbiased to set the questions, but I am sure there are people who could do this. My bets are that you would win, if the questions were truly at random.<BR/>Hmmm, have him prepare maybe 500 questions, and choose -- at random -- 50 of them.<BR/>Btw, thanks for including Genesis 38 in your list of biblical absurdities, it's one of my favorites too. It doesn't 'extol the virtues of prostitution' exactly -- and I'm not sure it would deserve criticism if it did -- rather it accepts hypocrisy in Judah's action, having him condemn Tamar for her (one, deliberate) act of prostitution until she demonstrates that HE was her client -- and note she didn't 'solicit' him but simply sat at a crossroad he would pass, knowing he would solicit her. Then the verse condemns him not for hypocrisy, but because he'd refused to let his youngest son marry her -- after God had whacked his two older sons after they married her.<BR/>And for pure raving lunacy, what about God's advice on mildew?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-15507231063200805522007-02-14T23:54:00.000-06:002007-02-14T23:54:00.000-06:00Well, there's why your Sinner's Prayer For Salvati...<I>Well, there's why your Sinner's Prayer For Salvation never worked! God didn't soften and open your heart! It's all God's fault!</I><BR/><BR/>You laugh, but that's actually Biblical. See <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%209:14-23;&version=31;" REL="nofollow">Romans 9:14-23</A>. So much for "free will"!Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03130354533571499310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-60056990353178562242007-02-14T23:49:00.000-06:002007-02-14T23:49:00.000-06:00Oddly, the essayist quoted in this post seems to h...<I>Oddly, the essayist quoted in this post seems to hold low esteem of physicists who make claims without following up with the proper experimentation to _prove_ their claims--and then proceeds to launch into his own claim of god's existence--saying we all should believe without any proof. Just believe it--and it is so. What could be easier? And more nonsensical?</I><BR/><BR/>Like many believers, this guy has a real penchant for this sort of double-think. In another thread with him, he actually tried to argue that I should believe in God without <I>any</I> evidence whatsoever, because I have "faith" in the existence of electrons without having access to <I>pictures</I> of them. So I showed him a <A HREF="http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/highlights/2005/0501electronimaging_e.html" REL="nofollow">picture</A> of an electron orbital. His response? "It is a computer simulation, not a picture."<BR/><BR/>If he applied even a fraction of that skepticism to religion, he'd be an atheist already. But of course, when it comes to his own preconceived notions, he only applies "faith", and expects everyone else to follow suit.<BR/><BR/>Hmm.Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03130354533571499310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-42266794429306567642007-02-14T22:29:00.000-06:002007-02-14T22:29:00.000-06:00Last of all, there are probably some people, who d...<I>Last of all, there are probably some people, who did pray according to God's will, read the Bible carefully, and yet their hearts were hardened. In order to be a Christian, God has to soften and open your heart to the gospel.</I><BR/><BR/>Well, <B>there's</B> why your Sinner's Prayer For Salvation never worked! God didn't soften and open your heart! It's all <I>God's</I> fault!AmberKatthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18288659650941053065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33241741.post-39082544671636434032007-02-14T19:25:00.000-06:002007-02-14T19:25:00.000-06:00Oh, you read the Bible, but you're not a Xian? The...Oh, you read the Bible, but you're not a Xian? Then you must not have prayed.<BR/><BR/>Oh, you prayed AND read the Bible? Then you must not have prayed sincerely.<BR/><BR/>Oh, you were crying when you prayed? Well, somehow your heart must have been hardened against true belief.<BR/><BR/>Oh, you _did_ believe, but you don't any more? Your belief must not have been the belief of a "Real Christian"<BR/><BR/>The Real Christian, that most elusive of creatures. Every Christian, and yet, no Christian. Whoever the Christian, there is another Christian willing to call him "not a REAL Christian." And for the Christian labeling his fellows a fake--a dozen others labeling _him_ a "not a REAL Christian."<BR/><BR/>When physicists wanted people to believe in their view of atomic structure--things like electrons--they didn't ask others to "believe REAL SINCERELY" in order to make it so. They went that extra mile and--apologies for differing with the view of the essayist you're quoting--did experiments to PROVE atomic structure. They showed how electrons could be isolated. And anyone who doubted atomic theory needed look no further than Hiroshima or Nagasaki.<BR/><BR/>Rather than telling me that I should believe in god, and then explaining that the path to believing in god is asking god--whom I obviously don't believe in already (or we wouldn't be having this dicussion)--with a sincere heart to help me believe...why not _prove_ his existence?<BR/><BR/>Oddly, the essayist quoted in this post seems to hold low esteem of physicists who make claims without following up with the proper experimentation to _prove_ their claims--and then proceeds to launch into his own claim of god's existence--saying we all should believe without any proof. Just believe it--and it is so. What could be easier? And more nonsensical?<BR/><BR/>Thanks for posting this--it was interesting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com