http://www.reddit.com/comments/dnlim/a_christian_ministers_take_on_reddit/

There's plenty of them.

Interesting side note: Did you know that in spite of the "catholic priests rape little boys" controversy, the highest cases of rape were actually in protestant churches, and not with the priests but with volunteers. Which is why many churches have mandatory background checks now.

The more you know!

I don't understand what is so funny about this.

Where's the nearest Catholic school for girls again? You know how hot they're reputed to be!

They don't make the news, so they don't exist.

A Christian is trying to make sense. Naturally, this is uproariously funny.
Yeah, I don't get it either.

Just want to make a little side note... Just 'cause christian bashers are loud doesn't mean they're the majority, either. I'm not sayin that's what you're sayin, but I'm just sayin.

You don't understand what's funny about a minister saying this:

You must be religious. Move along.

He meant that they're not newsworthy, which has meant "weird or provocative or tons of blood" the last few years. The masses must have their bread and circuses one way or another.

bamccaig gives non-religious people a bad name.

You're right, I don't. How is it not correct?

EDIT: I like how fast Mark Oates distanced himself from bam-bam though. I wonder how fast can the rest of you do it?

I don't get it either.

I see. Usually I laugh a lot to Christian jokes. Well, this is of course no joke, but some find it funny. Has it something to do with a strong faith in that absolutely nothing good can come out of Christianity, or any religion for that matter? And having that faith, one can nothing but laugh at everything any Christian utters in an attempt to point out what really matters in Christian values.

<append />
A Finnish comedy series had a good sketch about two priests at the staff room. One reads a sign on the billboard, which says:
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
Then he starts a long rant about: "Who put up this? Have we discussed this on a meeting? Are we supposed to do this now or next week? How do they think we will have time for this..." The other priest joins the rant and both complain loudly how the management level fails in putting up the job tasks.

In the following week episode same priests meet in the staff room again. One of them is about to have the sermon and tells the other that he's going to try a bit different approach, just to get better attention from the parish. He enters the pulpit, grabs the mic and starts a stand-up like act. "Have you ever thought of that Jesus is always pictured as a long haired hippie? He must have had some fight with his dad at some point. 'Sure you don't intend to go to Earth looking like that! For heaven's sake, have a hair cut!'"
Awkward silence in the church follows. Fellow priest sighs in the staff room.

Of course you have to imagine all the rest, like how two very talented comedians make the best of these sketches.

He didn't answer my philosophical questions. Basically, I wanted to see why he believes. But he didn't answer.

I didn't say that it was incorrect.

I don't have any "faith" in any religion; for nor against. I know of a lot more bad than good that comes from religion and I have never heard of scientific evidence to support any of them.

I just find it refreshing to hear an alleged minister admit that Christianity is a very poorly sold religion. In my experience, most Christians get upset when you point out flaws in the system. Most are completely oblivious to them. An actual salesman of this crap is the last person that I expect to admit the reality. Of course, I have to take it on faith that he's even a minister.

I'm a Christian. I "adopted" a disabled girl in Uganda, I give to the Salvation Army and the UNHCR, and in general I'm a good an honest person. I don't force my religion on anyone, I don't even talk about it unless someone brings it up. Christian values are good, wholesome stuff. There is no "hate" in Christianity. So I don't know where you get the bogus idea that religion does a lot of harm. I think your perpetuating of hate on the internet (not just in this thread, but time and time again) does a lot more harm than any religious person I've ever known. Of course my true opinion of you is that you're just a little boy who wants to be different by rebelling against the norm, which a lot of us do, but you're the first person I've seen carry it into adulthood (you being an adult is debatable though. Your age is there, but I'm not sure you're anywhere near maturity wise).

Noooo! Don't do it! AAAHHHHH----PPPPSHHHHHHHH!

I was too late.

I know, he probably won't even try to understand, but it was worth a shot.

Depending on which adherents you focus on, all perspectives on religion - atheism included - are "poorly sold". Every group has its assholes and everyone knows this.

Guess I still miss the funny.

When did this thread become about Trent Gamblin?

No, you send money to an organization that claims to contribute to her welfare. These organizations aren't very transparent about where your money goes though. You may well be surprised what it's actually used for.

You may have heard of Mother Teresa, for example.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bullshit+mother+teresa

That's not to say that your money doesn't help out or that it isn't good of you to give. It's possible that the organization that you go through is legitimately interested only in the welfare of the children and not in pushing their beliefs or building their bank accounts. It's possible that you give that money because you care only for the child and not because you think it looks good to those watching nor that it makes you somehow superior to every other human on the planet.

It seems you are the first person to mention hate in this thread (at least according to Vimperator).

In any case, if you don't believe that there's any hate in Christianity then you must not be a very big history buff. I'm also guessing that you haven't watched Religulous.

Of course, religions are slippery in that the actual "teachings" are somewhat arbitrary and so it's pretty impossible to say conclusively that "Christianity" teaches hate. There's no one Christianity because it's basically nothing more than interpretations of the Bible. Certainly numerous Christian groups over the course of history have hated others in the name of Christianity and the Christian God. It's not really important if you or your church is responsible for the hate or harm. The fact is that it was still Christianity and its followers that did it.

Again, that's not to say that you necessarily preach hate just because you're a Christian, but others have and do.

What hate are you referring to? Disagreeing with your beliefs and indeed finding humor in them is not the same as hate.

What "norm" exactly am I "rebelling" against?

>:)

Try to understand what? You didn't really seem to make a point. You just said that you are good and I am bad. I think that pretty much sums up the default Christian argument.

Atheism isn't really "sold".

It isn't about the assholes. It's about the bullshit.

That's a cop out used by people who are too cheap and selfish to help out the less fortunate.

How is that not important? That was not Christianity and its followers that were responsible for the Crusades or anything of those things. If I call myself a buddist and go out and blow up an airplane, does that mean buddists and its followers did it?

You see? You did it again. You continue to insult and spread hate about Christianity. And I did not say you were bad, I did not say atheism was bad, I said hate was bad. And I may have been the first person to mention the word "hate", but vimperator searches for text, not what the text expresses. I said what you were doing, spreading hate for Christianity and other religions is bad. You know, it's a long leap, but it is a rational one to compare your view on religion to some other peoples. And before you cry unfair, in previous threads (more than one IIRC), you've said religious people should be scrutinized and ostracized from society for their beliefs.

Blwhahha?!? A bamccaig?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Really? You've never read an article denouncing religion or heard a talk show about how all religion is dumb or archaic, or listened to someone go on about why the world would be better off without religion?

Really? Really?

I thought you were trying to sell atheism by making this thread? Isn't it one of those buy-one-get-one-free-only-pay-for-extra-shipping deals like those infomercials on tv?

It isn't about whom. It's about why. If it was your belief in Buddhism that made you go out and blow up an airplane then I would say that Buddhism is harmful, even if that isn't its actual intent.

It seems pretty clear that the Bible is not without hate: http://www.religioustolerance.org/bibl_hate1.htm

You use the word hate too often. In every religious discussion I have ever had with a Christian, the message is always that they are good and others^[1] are bad. They will go to Heaven and others will go to Hell. It's the very foundation of the belief system.

Scrutinized? Certainly. Ostracized? Only those that bring harm to society because of their beliefs. In other words, I support your right to believe them, but if you wish to bring harm to me and mine because of your beliefs then I'd prefer you to GTFO. And I'm not saying you necessarily do. Others do, however, and I do believe that there is no advantage to society to have religious beliefs. It's basically anti-science or anti-knowledge, and therefore anti-progress. What little "good" you can claim your religion accomplishes can be accomplished without any idea of God (and indeed, is).

Note that they aren't saying that "you should be an atheist because X, Y, Z." They're saying that "religions A, B, C, etc., don't make sense because X, Y, Z..."

Atheism = no theistic beliefs = no religion = nothing.

You can't sell nothing. Atheism doesn't have anything to offer you.

bammcaig, everything you say is idiotic. At no point in your rambling, incoherent responses do you even come close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone on these forums is dumber for having listened to you. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

If I had this much spare time on my hands, I'd use it to do something productive (like writing games).

lolwut ... r u drunk bammy ?

Instead you waste what little spare time you apparently have, doing the same thing as us.

I knew you would say that. My point however was that this is a "game developing" community network (says so at the top left of the page), not a "religious or anti religious flame war waging" community network.

anyway:
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I've been creating a flowchart (uh...in my mind) that disassembles how a person came to a certain religious belief (or the lack thereof). My hope is to discover paths that lead to suicide and help determine if someone is going down that path. The very first question is "Do you believe there is a purpose to our existence?" If yes, then you are one step closer to believing in some kind of religion (however, there is a chain on this route that doesn't have a religious conclusion). If no, then you are likely not a religious person.

I got interested in doing this when I discovered that someone can be non-religious but yet still find great purpose in living, even living with good morales/intentions (I actually discovered this here on this forum). So saying no to that first question above is not necessarily evidence in a discouraged life or that it leads to eventual suicide.

Relevant to this thread? Not sure, but sure seemed as good as any place to mention my random musings.

To Dennis:

That is true. And in fact I've been programming a game all day long. Maybe 1/20th of that time was responding to this thread... but you're absolutely right. I wish bamccaig would stop writing flame bait posts... someone has to stand up and show what an ass he is, or people might actually take him seriously, and that would be very dangerous.

Well, yes. Yes they are. Google auto-completes "why you should be an atheist" rather quickly, for example.

There exist people who would take him seriously? I thought that even I was more serious than he.

I don't think it makes any sense to be worried about what other people think about others or whether they take them seriously or not.

Everybody lives and makes their own picture of the world, it's inhabitants and their ways. I don't believe anyone is entitled to control that.

Trying to rally up people against someone only creates more hate (on both sides) and further alienates that someone from the community, nourishes mutual distrust and fuels negative emotions.

Well said Dennis. Wish I could restrain myself better. He makes it awfully hard :/.

Oh, I'm not trying to rally up against bamccaig. I'd be devastated if he left a.cc. One of the primary reasons I still come here is to read his posts.

Others are bad and so am I! Everyone is a sinner, that includes Christians. I've argued about that with Christian who think they're better than others, but I think the message comes across pretty clearly in the Bible that we've all screwed up.

Quite a lot of people try awfully hard to sell atheism.

I agree. It's like there's theism and atheism and both are more or less extreme beliefs. Beliefs in that sense that it's important for the supporters to proclaim it loud and that way make a meaning in their lifes. Roughly speaking. Then there's a more void like atheism, that really doesn't make a fuss of the thing, because there is no thing.

King James Version, Jesus H. Christ speaking.

Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father,
and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea,
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Haha, Trent just got told!

God owns you all.

... he's saying God comes first.

EDIT:

nvm, that might be another verse. I don't feel like looking up the context but the Bible is not to be interpreted literally -- meaning there is a lot of simile and things of that nature in the Bible.

EDIT2:

Actually having looked at it, I think I was right with what I said before my edit.

See, this is the trouble about giving any religion a name.

One calls himself a Christian with some belief of what he thinks Christianity is or should be, and thus every verse and passage in the Bible becomes bent to map his perception.

So instead of applying the Bible as your sense of morality, you apply your sense of morality to the Bible. There's no way Jesus can tell you to hate somebody, so therefore, it must mean something else. I find that most non-hardcore religious people are actually like that, and as such, could easily be Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist and be the exact same person.

Although, I agree that picking verses out of context is very misleading. However, people still have no problems dismissing entire passages and concepts that don't mesh with their opinions, so I think the whole "out of context" is mostly just a convenient excuse.

And then also, it may originally have said "If any man come to me, and gives a hat not to his father" which then got miscopied to "If any man come to me, and gives hate not to his father", etc, etc.

Anyone who doesn't give out hats certainly can't be one of my disciples. Oh, and speaking of disciples, I just actually bought a legal copy of the Gold edition of Disciples II.

I think actually reading it in context, after having read the Bible, it meshes with the rest of it in its wording. But I'm no Bible worshipper... it has taught me some things though, such as

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

There are so many more positive messages in the Bible that it's just trolling to pick out a bad one and claim it to be representative. But again, not a Bible worshipper...

So we should just ignore the bits we don't like?

Anyway, that passage in Luke was pulled out as a response to the claim that there is no hate in Christianity. It was relevant and a very good point. I also don't think the passage was meant to be figurative, although it has been taken out of context in this thread.

All I'm getting at is to say Christianity (or some religion) was responsible for some evil deed is fairly pointless. People use whatever means they can to accomplish their goals, even if that means adapting a religion and using it to their own advantage.

Yes, organized religions have done some terrible things, but so have non-religious organizations. It doesn't really matter. Even in the complete absence of the concept of God, I believe the same sort of people would be responsible for the same sort of things. They'd just use other means to accomplish their agenda.

Nationalism is just as an effective tool as religion... and in fact, most religious war machines were nothing but justified racism.

No, you should focus on those. Obviously that's what you're looking for.

You're right, how could I not see it before! God wants us to hate everyone! That's why He cured the sick and fed the hungry! He's eeeeeeeeevil!

Well, that's one way to respond, I suppose. I'm pretty sure God doesn't hate everyone, though. If He did, why send Jesus in the first place? No, the way I read that passage is that loving the world will cause you to put the world before God. Look at Luke 16:13, the whole "No servant can serve two masters" passage that points out how loving one master will make you hate the other.

Erm... you realize I'm a Christian, right? I just don't think we should brush aside perceived issues in the Bible.

Bam's religion is Sonyism.

I'll see myself out.

I agree, that's pretty much what I said too. Hate in that context means "love less", either it's for added drama or a quirk in translation.

A lot of my Bible study was done at a time when I was struggling with an undiagnosed mental illness, and the nature of the illness, as it was getting worse, caused some pretty irrational behaviour and extreme attitudes about things. Thus when I pick up a Bible now, I'm quite terrified by it. Afraid that I'll go back to those extreme ways of thinking and some pretty hellish times... I can only tolerate it in small doses and in the parts that I remember. Perhaps I'm naive, but I've done my 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, and I just want to read the warm and fluffy Bible quotes now .

So what I hear is that this is what Jesus is to you.

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Well, that's fine if that's how you want to live. I don't think you'll burn in Hell for only reading comforting passages But if you're going to challenge people who dislike Christianity, expect them to come right back with some of those passages that make you uncomfortable.

There's a lot to interpret about religion. But we agree that Jesus was white, good-looking, and totally ripped.

He was probably ripped, being a carpenter and all. But Jesus was African. That is to say, he was either somewhat olive, or just outright black

append: What I don't get is why aren't more people Jewish, if it was good enough for Jesus, why isn't it good enough for you?

Fair enough. I'm not really trying to challenge anybody, but everybody needs to see that there is nothing inherent in religion which is "bad" for people. I think back to when I was an atheist, and I compare it to what I experience now. When I go out, I have the overwhelming feeling that people are against me, loud noises make me think someone is enraged by my presence, and it's a surreal kind of balance between those thoughts and "it's all in my head". I don't know if that makes sense, but that's how I felt when my family was mad (or as I learned later, saddened) that I didn't believe in God. I'm not trying to convince anyone that my beliefs are correct and theirs are wrong, I'm just trying to say, that despite my religion, I'm not a bad person. I don't want bamccaig or anyone to go through life thinking that religion == bad or religion == deceit. Damn, now this sounds preachy and I did not intend it to be.

HAHAHAHA! I assume you mean "ripped" in the "defined muscles" sense, and lots of images have him as a skinny little wimp. But he was a carpenter after all, with extremely crude hand tools, so he should have been pretty tough. OTOH, he looked so much like the other short dark black-haired population that Judas had to point him out to the Roman soldiers. According to the bible anyway.

Err... seriously? What you are describing there is mental illness.
Yes, really. It sounds like paranoid schizophrenia. No joke. I wish it was, but... yeah.

I didn't think someone with schizophrenia could pay attention long enough to type a paragraph

You're stereotyping here. Most Christians I know, including myself, don't feel they're any better than anyone else by virtue of religion.

IMHO, that's territory to explore with a mental health professional. And I say that with the utmost respect. Nevermind religion. It sounds like it holds more significance than it should for you. If you're afraid of relapsing then you should discuss it with someone. I don't think that you should live in fear of it.

I respectfully disagree. IMHO, Religulous makes the point pretty clearly and fairly. Better than I can.

It sounds like you associate your past disbelief in any deity with past mental instability. I mean no respect, but that's just how I interpret it. I wonder if you've ever discussed your religious beliefs with a mental health professional familiar with your mental health history. It certainly sounds like your religious "beliefs" are more than just beliefs.

This sounds like you've been pressured into believing in God by your family. Not that that's a rare attribution.

That just sounds like subconsciously you recognize the harm that it can have. I don't believe that all religious people are bad people. However, I do believe that it makes believers vulnerable to bad influence in a way that freer thinkers aren't. There's a reason that most^[1] religions require of you that don't question them, of course.

I don't "think" it. I know it. I was raised as a Christian and grew up with Christian friends. I have pretty "intimate" knowledge of it as a religion and how it affects the people around you. I'm not referring to some kind of "cult" masquerading as Christianity. I'm talking about your average, everyday Christianity. I've been exposed to many different churches and "flocks" and they've all been different, but they've all been the same too.

And how does it effect the people around you? I see kindness, generosity, and caring coming out of the Christians I know. Sure, I see a few people who are bigoted and hateful, but looking at them I think they'd be that way no matter what, and just use religion as an excuse for it.

In my experience, Christians are deceitful. Those that I have known appear to feel obligated to be nice and kind and caring to people, but as humans aren't actually capable of being it when they don't actually feel it. The result is that they pretend to be to please their conscience (i.e., "God"). Unfortunately, in the end, the people that "need" it from them need more than pretending and eventually the guise fails. People then get hurt and the deceitful deny any accountability. The end result is that the people that needed a friend are left broken, damaged, and untrusting; and the religious move on with their lives unscathed. Maybe that's just me.

Bammy is just stereotyping based on his 2 asshole Christian friends.

Oh. That's good to hear. But that conflicts with some stuff I saw on the news last night. There was a story which involved a whole lot of christians (baptists, I think), trying to spread the word of their faith.. and in this particular case the word was that "god hates gays". Apparently these people believe that American soldiers who have been killed in recent wars are actually being punished by God for defending a country which sanctions homosexuality; or something like that. Anyway, it sounded extremely hateful. "Thank God for dead soldiers" read one of the signs... these people were apparently so hateful of gays and of people that supported the rights of gays that they were somehow pleased by the deaths of their own soldiers.

Ouch.

In general I do believe that a lot of good will, and creativity, and motivation is born out of religion; but is it worth the hate, and the intolerance, and the anti-science junk that comes along with it? I just don't know.

That sounds like you met some pretty terrible people who label themselves as Christian. All I can say is that I'm sorry to hear that people are doing this sort of thing (whether they call themselves Christian or not).

But these people are being hypocritical. That much is obvious. Pretending to care won't fool God, and anyone who actually believes in and follows God would know this. I'm just glad the Christians I met weren't so hypocritical, or I might never have converted! We aren't all evil, deceptive pricks.

EDIT:

Me and my roommate (also Christian) both facepalmed when we heard about this. I'm sorry, stereotypically-bigoted homophobe, but God doesn't hate gays, or any other group of sinners (and why is it always the gays that are singled out? Why not the dudes who stare lustfully at women's cleavage?)

There's always some bad apples who ruin it for everyone else. This applies to any group, organization, etc.

Not at all. I don't believe schizophrenia has any effect on attention span (though, some of the drugs to treat it may well do so). There have been some quite prolific writers who had schizophrenia. Edgar Allen Poe comes to mind.

edit:

The one thing that I can think off is that belief in a creator who put us here for a purpose can cause people to pass off some of the responsibility for their actions on their 'creator.' Though it's debatable if this is a problem with belief in a creator, or just weak minded people. As has already been said, many of the people who do bad things because of their religion would possibly have done them anyway if they hadn't been exposed to that religion.

This is the default defense that Christians take when other Christians^[1] fail. They're not "real". They're not "like me". They're something else. I'm afraid those are the same Christians that you know.

What you fail to comprehend is that they feel the exact same as you do. If I were to tell them this story about them (but not them) they would have an identical response. In fact, I've had them talk about each other behind each others' backs that way. I know you really want to think that they're not as good as you, but consider for a moment that they're just like you. In other words, what if you and/or your friends are just like them. What if?

It's easy to reverse that argument and say that if they hadn't had an imaginary "creator" to blame for their actions then they never would have committed them.

You need to come to terms with the idea that "your experience" is necessary to make sense of some of the things you say. That's why no one understands the original post; the experiences of others are different. Kinda like in the PlayStation Move thread.

Nowhere did anyone play the "not like me" card (that I can see). There are some pretty clear standards and indicators laid out in the Bible. In much the same way as you might identify a particular Pokemon, if they don't fit the description, they aren't Christians. What they "feel" is irrelevant. What they "think" is irrelevant. Even the Bible says there are lots of people who will come to the shiny gates thinking they're going to get escorted right in for being so awesomely Christian, only to find out they weren't really anything. "But I should go to Heaven because I went to church every Sunday!" Yeah, life's a bitch, huh?

Bambam, would you play an online match against a Christian Sony fanboy who had bought two Move wands?

Neil Black said that I had met some "terrible people" that merely "labeled themselves" as Christians, as if to suggest that they aren't really Christians, unlike himself. Is that not the "not like me" card?

Saweeet, could you list those standards and indicators for me please?

I hate to be the one to break this to you^[1], but NOBODY meets the "standards and indicators" that Christians claim "regulate" who is and isn't a "real" Christian. There is no governing body or council that decides. Essentially, every individual decides whether or not somebody meets their definition of "Christian". In general, the answer is yes, assuming they convincingly claim to believe, at least until they're held accountable for their actions to another Christian, at which point they are suddenly exiled by said other Christian. Forgiveness? What?

There are no standards or indicators. The Bible is not a Christian handbook. Every church leader and indeed every Christian interprets for themselves what the Bible means. I really appreciated what Matthew Leverton said (albeit, he surely had no intention of supporting my argument) earlier about how Christians bend the Bible around their own personal beliefs instead of the other way around.

The Bible can't refer to Christianity specifically as Christianity came after. Additionally, most readers with half a brain would agree that it can't be taken literally as it itself contradicts itself. The best that you can do is interpret its meaning and apply that to what you believe. There is therefore no direct connection to God.

I suppose that it would depend on what type of "online match" that you are referring to. Counter-Strike or...?

If you can show me where he specifically refereed to himself, sure. Keep in mind someone of any religion could have made the same comment as long as they had a rudimentary education of Christianity (ie: they knew what they were talking about), so the "not like me" is far from implied.

Considering the forum, I think I'd opt to keep that can of worms sealed. I already know from this crowd in general and you in particular that that's a discussion that will go exactly nowhere, especially since most of the rest of your post pretty much paints a picture of the type of ignorance I'd expect to see (Bible "contradictions" and history are old topics around here; you have absolutely nothing new to add besides flamebait). Feel free to call bullshit on me; I already know you never change your mind and I'm still waiting for you to answer my much earlier posts anyway, so hate away. I'm going to bed. Make funnier threads pls.

I never have trusted the judgment of people with only half a brain.

I don't even know what your argument is... The thing that is ironic about your statements is that on one hand you want to say Christianity is useless and evil, but on the other hand you want to broaden it to include every Tom, Dick, and Harry who say they are Christians because they were sprinkled with some holy water fifty years ago.

So you dumb down the concept of Christianity to the bare minimum of simply calling oneself a Christian, and then you act like everybody who is a Christian is some weird nut. It's just another form of irrational generalizations. The broader you define a concept, the fewer valid generalizations you can make.

It would be no different than assuming all atheists are rude because one of them farted in your general direction, and therefore everything they believe is nonsense, and every action they take is evil and self-centered.

Anyway, when somebody says "but he isn't a real Christian," all they really mean is "he doesn't believe the same things I do." And while you can argue all day over what the definition of being Christian is, the essence of what they are saying is still true: it's not fair to lump them into the same group just because they share a common name.

You have decided that Christianity is evil, and therefore everything associated with it must be. That's no different from what religious fanatics do regarding atheists.

It is schizophrenia. I was diagnosed about 7-8 years ago.

And bamccaig, judging from your behaviour last night, about /*her*/, you're in no shape to make claims that I'm "damaged" from a mental illness. It's a sickness, just because you're sick, doesn't mean you can't think rationally.

Wow, an Allegro.cc thread about religion!!!!

Come on people, everyone is entitled to believe what he wants to believe. It doesn't matter, as long as said person doesn't cause any harm either directly or indirectly.

Errr... you do realize that the 2nd half of the bible (aka the new testament) was written entirely after Jesus died right? He had been dead 30 years when the first new testament books were written.

They thought the Second Coming was going to happen in a few months. Why write stuff down if people can remember it clearly? After years had gone by with nothing happening, they thought it best to write it down.

[EDIT]

I'll just leave this here.

[EDIT2]

I stated above that Jesus was a carpenter.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/05/24/100524crat_atlarge_gopnik?printable=true

So "facts" that are supposedly widely known depend on an interpretation of one translation?

"Dillooshunull". Ugh.

That guy's done some great videos (I looked for my favorite but can't find it) but that one was just lazy name-calling .

That's my bad. After reading two different creation stories in Genesis I put my Bible down and started playing Counter-Strike^[1]. Though, to be honest, the very existence of a "new testament" seems to contradict God. Why would God need a second attempt? The whole thing seemed shifty to me even when I believed in it, before I felt comfortable questioning it.

Let me get this straight: you're denouncing a book that you haven't even read? You say the Bible has contradictions, but you haven't read it. You say that Christians are horrible people, but you haven't even read the book that defines what a Christian is! You're arguing without any real knowledge of the subject you're arguing about.

To be honest, most of us guessed this already.

Firstly, the majority of the Bible isn't capable of defining what a "Christian" is because it was written before such a concept could have possibly existed. Second, I haven't had the need to read it. It was read to me in church during service and that was plenty to spot the contradictions. I have as much knowledge as is needed to make a decision on the matter. Certainly, memorizing the Bible would make it easier to slaughter Christians in debates, but I just don't care that much.

Ok then. Good luck with that. I'm not going to sit here and argue with someone who has already made up his mind.

This thread is more riveting than American Idol!

Yeah, but come on, so is a lump of coal.

I asked my questions again, he did not reply again, but most probably because he lost interest and did not see them.