Some of us, myself included, find the hypocrisy to be unpalatable and the suspension of logic to be too far fetched.
[/quote]
I’m pretty sure that makes it bad, when it colors your perspective and allows individuals to make decisions based on fiction. Stem cell research, abortion, euthanasia, gay rights, etc.[/quote]
Actually the opposite is true. Being an atheist distorts your views on such things. As a reformed atheist I understand this better than most. The existential crisis that arose during the enlightenment directly resulted in the rejection of natural law precepts such as individual liberty, the sacredness of life and private property rights.
[quote]batman730 wrote:
I happen to believe in God, although I don’t consider myself especially religious. I experimented with not believing a few years back, but the idea never really took.
In any case, whatever you believe, I think the only way to realistically have faith that things will be okay is to resolve to stay in the fight and be okay with however things are, come what may.
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Yeah, religion is super bad because the frown upon the murder of innocent babies.
God damn your head is stuffed right up your as son this one…[/quote]
Ummm, the psalm I quoted earlier (137:9) says “Blessed is the one who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks”. Humans have been “murdering babies” since they’ve been having babies. Your “Christian God” has commanded people to murder babies (hint - shit like that might be a reason that some people have a problem with religion).
That’s the hypocrisy: YOUR BIBLE talks about YOUR GOD telling HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE to KILL BABIES… Let that sink in for a minute. YOUR GOD. YOUR BIBLE. COMMANDING PEOPLE TO KILL BABIES. But then he magically changed his tune after he commanded “HIS SON” to die an excruciating death by crucifixion… For “OUR SINS”… Yeah - THAT’S the kind of psychotic mutherfucker that I want in MY life and that I want to seek approval from…
But then, even thought your God commands babies to be killed, etc… you Christians have a problem with abortion. “Go forth and multiply”. Well guess what? By 2075, there won’t be enough food on the planet to FEED everyone! Unwanted babies create two things: poor, angry young women who have MORE unwanted babies and poor, angry young men who are easily manipulated into becoming terrorists. NEITHER of them can feed themselves… so all they will do is suck our fucking FINITE resources dry… But go ahead, let’s save ALL THE POOR INNOCENT BABIES.
I can think of a couple of million radical Muslim “former babies” that I wish would have been aborted… But instead they are now blowing us up… And what is the excuse they are using to blow us up? Hmmm, let me think…
Please remember that the OP asked the non religious members of our fraternity for an opinion, so perhaps the religious types (Beans I’m looking at you) might like to take a deep breath and butt out.
Lets not hijack this into yet another pointless screech-fest for and against your favourite deity.
[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
Please remember that the OP asked the non religious members of our fraternity for an opinion, so perhaps the religious types (Beans I’m looking at you) might like to take a deep breath and butt out.
Lets not hijack this into yet another pointless screech-fest for and against your favourite deity.[/quote]
Thanks again all. I’m doing better than I was and going to sign up with counseling offered by hospice. I really have zero financial problems, so that’s good. We had life insurance and investments, Barbara had retirement accounts that are now in my name.
But still the grief can be too much at times. We had a local doctor commit suicide a few days ago… I knew the guy and he was a good friend of my neighbor down the block. He can’t even come close to wrapping his head around it. I can’t imagine what his wife and family is feeling, makes my loss look like a hangnail right about now.
[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
Please remember that the OP asked the non religious members of our fraternity for an opinion, so perhaps the religious types (Beans I’m looking at you) might like to take a deep breath and butt out.
Lets not hijack this into yet another pointless screech-fest for and against your favourite deity.[/quote]
Beans is religious? You sure about that?[/quote]
Lmao, no kidding. No wonder it’s impossible to have a civil discussion about this stuff. People stop even hearing what’s being said.
Yeah, religion is super bad because the frown upon the murder of innocent babies.
God damn your head is stuffed right up your as son this one…[/quote]
Ummm, the psalm I quoted earlier (137:9) says “Blessed is the one who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks”. Humans have been “murdering babies” since they’ve been having babies. Your “Christian God” has commanded people to murder babies (hint - shit like that might be a reason that some people have a problem with religion).
That’s the hypocrisy: YOUR BIBLE talks about YOUR GOD telling HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE to KILL BABIES… Let that sink in for a minute. YOUR GOD. YOUR BIBLE. COMMANDING PEOPLE TO KILL BABIES. But then he magically changed his tune after he commanded “HIS SON” to die an excruciating death by crucifixion… For “OUR SINS”… Yeah - THAT’S the kind of psychotic mutherfucker that I want in MY life and that I want to seek approval from…
But then, even thought your God commands babies to be killed, etc… you Christians have a problem with abortion. “Go forth and multiply”. Well guess what? By 2075, there won’t be enough food on the planet to FEED everyone! Unwanted babies create two things: poor, angry young women who have MORE unwanted babies and poor, angry young men who are easily manipulated into becoming terrorists. NEITHER of them can feed themselves… so all they will do is suck our fucking FINITE resources dry… But go ahead, let’s save ALL THE POOR INNOCENT BABIES.
I can think of a couple of million radical Muslim “former babies” that I wish would have been aborted… But instead they are now blowing us up… And what is the excuse they are using to blow us up? Hmmm, let me think…
Oh yeah! : RELIGION[/quote]
Psalm 137 (like all of the Psalms) was written as a prayer. If you read the rest of Psalm you get a picture of the Edomites oppressing the Israelites. The psalmist is praying to God for retribution. That verse was not a command.
[quote]beachguy498 wrote:
Thanks again all. I’m doing better than I was and going to sign up with counseling offered by hospice. I really have zero financial problems, so that’s good. We had life insurance and investments, Barbara had retirement accounts that are now in my name.
But still the grief can be too much at times. We had a local doctor commit suicide a few days ago… I knew the guy and he was a good friend of my neighbor down the block. He can’t even come close to wrapping his head around it. I can’t imagine what his wife and family is feeling, makes my loss look like a hangnail right about now.[/quote]
Glad to hear you’re getting support and that there isn’t financial strain on top of everything else.
Yeah, religion is super bad because the frown upon the murder of innocent babies.
God damn your head is stuffed right up your as son this one…[/quote]
Ummm, the psalm I quoted earlier ([/quote]
It isnt’ my anything…
I can make a perfectly secular argument against the legal murder of babies, and do every time.
Irrelevant of the rest of your post, which I didn’t read because none of what you mentioned is mine to own, things change, ideas change, and idea that a modern Christian is anything but 100% correct in believing the whole sale slaughter of children might not be the best idea, based on things written in a book thousands of years ago, maybe not to be taken literally, is a waste of conversation.
[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
Please remember that the OP asked the non religious members of our fraternity for an opinion, so perhaps the religious types (Beans I’m looking at you) might like to take a deep breath and butt out.
Lets not hijack this into yet another pointless screech-fest for and against your favourite deity.[/quote]
Please remember that you can actually read posts on the internet (flaming Militant Atheist that is petrified of trying to have an adult conversation Marty, I’m looking at you.) I’d say I’m more or less the very type of person he was looking to question.
Psalm 137 (like all of the Psalms) was written as a prayer. If you read the rest of Psalm you get a picture of the Edomites oppressing the Israelites. The psalmist is praying to God for retribution. That verse was not a command.[/quote]
lmao… You mean, he cherry picked a portion of a book he hasn’t read in order to paint something he doesn’t like in a bad light?
[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
Please remember that the OP asked the non religious members of our fraternity for an opinion, so perhaps the religious types (Beans I’m looking at you) might like to take a deep breath and butt out.
Lets not hijack this into yet another pointless screech-fest for and against your favourite deity.[/quote]
I don’t mind if those who are religious chime in. However, constructive input and some reasons beyond just “god is great” that can be applied to other aspects of life are what I went. I think this thread has been quite interesting so far and for the most part its been great to hear different peoples points of view
Some of us, myself included, find the hypocrisy to be unpalatable and the suspension of logic to be too far fetched.
[/quote]
I’m pretty sure that makes it bad, when it colors your perspective and allows individuals to make decisions based on fiction. Stem cell research, abortion, euthanasia, gay rights, etc.[/quote]
Heaven, oh I mean science, forbid people have a difference of opinion on matters squarely in the gray area of life.
Although, the fact that abortion is a gray area just goes to show how fucked up we are.
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
By 2075, there won’t be enough food on the planet to FEED everyone! [/quote]
Okay, lets for a second pretend people haven’t been making this same prediction for, oh say, at least the last 200+ years, and have been wrong every time. And lets also pretend we don’t have technological advances everyday in a vast number of fields that will more likely than be able to keep up with our population…
So… Your solution to a problem that hasn’t existed in the last couple centuries that people were sure as shit it did is to ignore all other technological opportunities and just vacuum out the sliced up babies then?
I’m not sure here, but you’re saying if we didn’t have the free for all abortion we do, American streets would be lined with terrorists?
Yes, I agree, I think innocent babies should be saved.
But food is not finite, and nor is selfishness a reason to support murder.
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
But then, even thought your God commands babies to be killed, etc… you Christians have a problem with abortion. “Go forth and multiply”. Well guess what? By 2075, there won’t be enough food on the planet to FEED everyone! Unwanted babies create two things: poor, angry young women who have MORE unwanted babies and poor, angry young men who are easily manipulated into becoming terrorists. NEITHER of them can feed themselves… so all they will do is suck our fucking FINITE resources dry… But go ahead, let’s save ALL THE POOR INNOCENT BABIES.
I can think of a couple of million radical Muslim “former babies” that I wish would have been aborted… But instead they are now blowing us up… And what is the excuse they are using to blow us up? Hmmm, let me think…
Oh yeah! : RELIGION[/quote]
I don’t understand how you can be one of the more intelligent posters on this site and then produce this emotionally charge non-sense.
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
Unwanted babies create two things:
poor, angry young women who have MORE unwanted babies and poor, angry young men who are easily manipulated into becoming terrorists. [/quote]
How is this the fault of the child? Why should someone that has never exercises a second of free will be held responsible for the sins of their parents?
Maybe we should let the mom give birth and then kill her? Maybe we should just off fathers our of wedlock? Why do they get to live while the baby they created get’s a death sentence?
[quote]
NEITHER of them can feed themselves… so all they will do is suck our fucking FINITE resources dry… [/quote]
Good point. We should just kill everyone that doesn’t produce anything. Seems logical.
[quote]
But go ahead, let’s save ALL THE POOR INNOCENT BABIES.
I can think of a couple of million radical Muslim “former babies” that I wish would have been aborted… But instead they are now blowing us up… And what is the excuse they are using to blow us up? Hmmm, let me think…
Oh yeah! : RELIGION[/quote]
So the “fact” that about .02% of the population (2MM out of 7BN) are Muslim terrorists makes abortion okay?
If I may submit a thought…religion in my estimation is a hollow hope. Hollow in the sense that religion says, “Follow the rules and good will come your way.” But what happens when you follow the rules and bad comes your way?
For me personally my hope is founded in the gospel, not religion. In regards to those who lay blame on the Christian faith for oppression and injustice - I agree. Christians historically have a very poor track record in which we should repent. However, I don’t know that the problem was Christianity per se, but not enough Christianity.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter from a jail cell saying a similar thing during the race conflict in the south. He said the whites (many whom espoused the Christian faith) that were oppressing the black men and women of the south need more of the gospel, not less.
Lastly, many bristle at the truth claims of Christianity. However, to reject them is also in and of itself a truth claim.
I’m assuming we can at least all agree that something has seriously gone awry. The world is full of injustice, oppression and personal tragedies. I look forward to the day in which wrongs with be set right and in the meantime grieve for those suffering personal setback and loss.
[quote]Mark Dugdale wrote:
If I may submit a thought…religion in my estimation is a hollow hope. Hollow in the sense that religion says, “Follow the rules and good will come your way.” But what happens when you follow the rules and bad comes your way?
[/quote]
