Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumMy father tried to argue with me over religion. I told him
the Bible justifies rape and slavery. He said it didn't. I read several verses to him and then he mentioned a 3rd world country would rise up and control the world. I laughed and said how long will we reside in the last days? It's been thousands of years.
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beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)I guess I was lucky, I was raised without religion.
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)No matter how many ridiculous verses there are in the bible believers will believe the nonsense in the book of fables.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)It brings them comfort and the thought of letting go and figuring it out on their own terrifies them.
I don't have any advice but I do hope he doesn't judge you for being a freethinker.
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)hasn't proven there is no good; which is true, but science does believe in peer review. By the way, no one has proven one exist either. The response we get is you have to have faith.
They use someone recovering from terminal cancer as a reason to believe.
We wonder about all of the other times when nothing happens. The response it's all part of God's plan. Come the fuck on.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)Like the story about the patient whose cancer went into remission or the premature infant who survived against the odds - it's a miracle! Jesus answered our prayers!
What about all of the people who didn't make it? Were they not worthy of intercession?
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)Our bodies heal ourselves sometimes, but most of the time it's science that heals. Believers will say God healed them. No he didn't the Dr. did.
Lordquinton
(7,886 posts)If so then we have real numbers to compare. And how do we compare rising recovery rates over time vs a drop in belief?
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)Lordquinton
(7,886 posts)Or is this more of the plan that makes less sense than random chance?
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)
Lordquinton
(7,886 posts)No wonder theology is such a high level subject, so confusing.
progressoid
(50,784 posts)A couple years ago, a couple guys on a local morning radio show were laughing at what believers ignore in the bible (sex and violence etc). Their sports guy was a serious Catholic. And like many believers, had no idea what was actually in the bible.
So I called in to and told them to look up Ezekiel 23:20:
There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.
The religious sports guy refused to believe it was in the bible because he didn't learn that in Sunday School!
About a year later he transferred to a different station.
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)In 1 Samuel 5-6, the Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant and take to the temple of Dagon in Ashdod. The Philistines place the Ark beside the statue of Dagon, and when they return in the morning they find the statue has toppled over, face-first, onto the floor. The Philistines think little of it and return Dagon to his standing position. The next morning, the statue has fallen again. This time, the statue breaks into several pieces. God's subtlety is lost on the Philistines, however, so he moved to more drastic measures: he curses the people of Ashdod with mice and hemorrhoids (or tumors).
Understandably distressed, the Philistines ask how to make things right with such an infantile deity. The answer: offer up 5 golden hemorrhoids and 5 golden mice, and return the Ark to the Israelites posthaste.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)Last edited Fri Dec 11, 2015, 08:55 PM - Edit history (1)
His basic argument was I'd believe when I was dying.
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)Why do people say oh God when they are in pain or dying. It's a figure of speech.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)Well, I'm scared of dying in pain and helplessness. But that doesn't mean I believe in an imaginary friend.
lindysalsagal
(22,411 posts)None of it traditional or institutional, but she needs her voodoo to get through the day. I doubt she has any consiousness of the real unconscious basis for these needs: Could have something to do with being beaten by her mother and big brother, and ignored by her father as a child.....
Deep-seated childhood insecurity can install any number of irrational ideas into an otherwise critically thinking person.
When I scoff, she scoff, back. She needs it.
amuse bouche
(3,665 posts)I am anti-theist to the bone. I was railing against some religious crap one day and one of my sons said,
Mom, ya... they are ridiculous but they would go crazy if they didn't hang onto it
Ok sweetie, you have a point, but to me, they already are crazy 
In other words, I believe people would be better off if they would just confront their demons, openly and honestly.Then they can move on. It really isn't the end of the world
Freelancer
(2,107 posts)The Christian Bible clearly says that only 144,000 will get into heaven. Sure, every Christian denomination dances around it, but it's explicitly in there. So... you can ask your dad whether, by his Sunday School logic, it doesn't make more sense for him to get in tight with the devil, since, according to his church, everyone he's ever known is either in, or going-to hell. If he became a demon of some authority, he might be able to get granny into a nice condo on shore of the burning lake.
I'm imagining that conversation... "Dad -- if you won't become a demon for your own sake, then do it for granny!"
LOL!
Clearly, this is not remotely real. It's our brains playing games of cause and effect with the ghosts of the pleistocene. It can be hilarious, though.