Do extremely religious people piss you off?

[Nigel 0]

I'm with you..science is an open system, constantly being updated as new evidence or better thinking surfaces.
Religions are closed thought systems, which means even if you could prove (which I probably couldn't) that God doesn't exist, they'd just say...'Yeah, you make a good point - but I'm still going to believe this crap'
So evidence-based reasoning is waste on the credulous.
Strange thing: Any adult who believes in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, Loch Ness Monster, Yeti, UFOs driven by little green men etc is clearly a picnic short of a sandwich and don't merit a debate.
But God..."Well, that's different...."

[windcatcher 0]

Before I even clicked on your thread, I knew what you really meant was that CHRISTIANS piss you off, not just religious people. There is NO other name above the name of Jesus, and there is NO other name that offends more than the name of Jesus. Hmm, I wonder why? Perhaps because there is an enemy out there who shudders at his name, and is wanting to take out whomever he can, getting them to disbelieve in the ONE who can SAVE them, set them free from their burdens, their anguish, their pain, their guilt, their sin.

It's never too late, if you are still alive and breathing...to accept the ONE who created you, the ONE who loves you more than you or I can possibly comprehend, the ONLY ONE that has the power to redeem you.

Call me crazy, call me mindless, call me a fanatic and hate me, but I have experienced God in so many ways that I could never reject Him. I am imperfect in countless ways, but my main desire in life is to please God and live a life worthy of being associated with Christ.

Mother to the cutest little thing in the world...

[Nigel 0]

Honestly sweetheart, it's not just Christians that piss me off. Crazy Muslims who circumcize baby girls, crazy Jews who slaughter Palestinians also bug the f**k out of me.
I'm still alive (and breathing - the two tend to go together!) and have no wish to be loved by your God: I'm guessing he's the same malevolent chap who keeps giving all those poor people such a hard time - malaria, dysentery, bad weather, earthquakes, you know the sort of thing. And presumably letting Bernie Mac die this week-end was all part of the divine masterplan?
If you really believe the religious nonsense, then try this experiment next time you jump: Turn off your AAD, close your eyes, pray hard that God will save you, and see what happens....I'm fairly confident I know what the result will be, but I'm always open to conversion!

[windcatcher 0]

Thou shall not test the Lord thy God.

If you have no wish to be loved by God, that's your desire, but that won't keep it from happening.

As far as bad things happening, we cannot see the bigger picture of why things go on the way they do. When I was pregnant my FIRST year of marriage, our house got foreclosed, car got repossessed, my husband lost his business, my car barely ran and the heater broke in the middle of winter, etc, and guess what? It was NOT a fun time. I cried, I struggled, I didn't like what I was going through, but ya know what? The circumstances made me a more thankful,humble person. We can wish that life is full of good things and that we won't ever suffer, but suffering is a part of life and many lessons can be learned from it. I know this can be a hard concept to grasp, but God is in control. We are not God and we won't understand everything till heaven, but I do believe that we go through things on earth for a reason.

Mother to the cutest little thing in the world...

[Nigel 0]

I test the Lord thy God all the time - and thus far she's falling well short!

I'm sorry for the bad things that have happened to you - but not wishing to belittle them, they all seem pretty materialistic.
In reality, being born white - or at least in Europe or America - means you've won the lottery of life - and have a good chance of living to see your fifth birthday.

Does your God only take care of you if you acknowledge her, or the right version of her? So all the Jews in the gas chambers, praying for help, were ignored "Sorry chaps, but if your parents had had you baptized, I might have been able to help...As they didn't...well what can I say to help? "Don't try holding your breath" is the best I can do for you'

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

Quote

It's never too late, if you are still alive and breathing...to accept the ONE who created you, the ONE who loves you more than you or I can possibly comprehend, the ONLY ONE that has the power to redeem you.

You are exactly the kind of person I was talking about. Always trying to get people to switch to your religion. Seriously it's fine that you wanna blow Jesus, but I don't wanna have to listen to your crap. Have a nice night.
Edited to add: It's great how religious people think their religion is the only one that is right. No theres not room for more than one to be right. For groups of people that claim to be accepting and caring and understanding people you religious people are pretty cold hearted. (eg. the old 'your going to hell because you have a different opinion than i do' type of comment)

[SpeedRacer 1]

Quote

Does your God only take care of you if you acknowledge her, or the right version of her? So all the Jews in the gas chambers, praying for help, were ignored "Sorry chaps, but if your parents had had you baptized, I might have been able to help...As they didn't...well what can I say to help? "Don't try holding your breath" is the best I can do for you'

This is a seriously destorted view of reality, and of God.

Um, the NAZIs were human beings, with free will, and the capacity to act on it, just like any human beings. Let's get real. Did it occur to you that the NAZIs used their own free will to enact their evil on the Jews & others?

This is the problem with fundy atheists: They START with a distorted idea of God, and then discount that distorted idea. Like there is some big Old Puppet-Master sitting on a throne in the sky making sure everything goes according to his will.

That is not how the real world is at all. And that is not what we Christians believe.

Leave aside the absurd & simplistic strawman arguments. They have no relevance to reality.

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------

[JackC 0]

Quote

This is a seriously destorted view of reality, and of God.

Um, the NAZIs were human beings, with free will, and the capacity to act on it, just like any human beings. Let's get real. Did it occur to you that the NAZIs used their own free will to enact their evil on the Jews & others?

This is the problem with fundy atheists: They START with a distorted idea of God, and then discount that distorted idea. Like there is some big Old Puppet-Master sitting on a throne in the sky making sure everything goes according to his will.

That is not how the real world is at all. And that is not what we Christians believe.

Leave aside the absurd & simplistic strawman arguments. They have no relevance to reality.

So you're saying that Christians believe that God isn't going to lift a finger to help anyone if it infringes someones elses free will (or even if it doesn't)? Essentially, your saying that Christians believe that we're on our own down here?

Yes that is the reality of it, God isn't going to help whether that is because of human free will or because God is a fictional character. But that doesn't seem to be what some Christians think. Take Windcatcher for example: "I know this can be a hard concept to grasp, but God is in control. We are not God and we won't understand everything till heaven, but I do believe that we go through things on earth for a reason.".

That seems to be the words of a person who thinks God is the big puppet master in the sky making sure everything goes according to his plan. It's a pretty fucking dangerous outlook too IMHO.

Hell even the Bible says "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you can say to this mountain : move ! And it will move ! And nothing will be impossible to you". That strongly implies that God will move mountains for you if you have enough faith (mustard seed sized faith).

Maybe you're not a typical Christian, or maybe Windcatcher isn't a typical Christian, maybe there are no typical Christians, but either way your assertion that "that is not what we Christians believe" doesn't seem to be true now does it?

[birdlike 0]

Quote

I'm with you..science is an open system, constantly being updated as new evidence or better thinking surfaces.
Religions are closed thought systems, which means even if you could prove (which I probably couldn't) that God doesn't exist, they'd just say...'Yeah, you make a good point - but I'm still going to believe this crap'
So evidence-based reasoning is waste on the credulous.

Wow. That is an AWESOME summary. I love it!

Spirits fly on dangerous missions
Imaginations on fire

[birdlike 0]

Quote

Thou shall not test the Lord thy God.

That would be the first rule I would set up if I were making up the myth of a guy like God, who is full of contradictions and impossibilities and whose mythos falls apart under even basic logical analysis.

Quote

If you have no wish to be loved by God, that's your desire, but that won't keep it from happening.

Ah, more nondisprovables! Keep 'em coming! They're such wonderful "proof."

Quote

As far as bad things happening, we cannot see the bigger picture of why things go on the way they do.

Then why didn't God tell us, in his bible, that we should expect that even good people should expect really shitty things to happen to them even though God could just, with a wiggle of his nose like Samantha the witch, spare them, because it's part of a plan they were created to be too tiny-intellected to fathom?

Quote

When I was pregnant my FIRST year of marriage, our house got foreclosed, car got repossessed, my husband lost his business, my car barely ran and the heater broke in the middle of winter, etc, and guess what? It was NOT a fun time. I cried, I struggled, I didn't like what I was going through, but ya know what? The circumstances made me a more thankful,humble person.

How can you tell the difference between bad things that GOD made happen and bad things the DEVIL made happen, then?

Quote

We can wish that life is full of good things and that we won't ever suffer, but suffering is a part of life and many lessons can be learned from it. I know this can be a hard concept to grasp, but God is in control.

Any God who made every particle of the universe could have, on the same whim, made a wonderful world without pain, hate, suffering, "sin"...

How about, you go on believing, we'll go on not believing, and you can stop trying to persuade us to believe, hey?

Spirits fly on dangerous missions
Imaginations on fire

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

Quote

Any God who made every particle of the universe could have, on the same whim, made a wonderful world without pain, hate, suffering, "sin"...

Wait I think I know the answer to this one! We would have all that if it wasn't for Adam and Eve fucking it up. Get real people.
Hopefully for getting that right I win a reprieve from these God freaks incessant crap.

[SpeedRacer 1]

Quote

Then why didn't God tell us, in his bible, that we should expect that even good people should expect really shitty things to happen

The Bible DOES deal with this very issue, in many places.

Have you actually read it?

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------

[JackC 0]

Quote

Quote

Then why didn't God tell us, in his bible, that we should expect that even good people should expect really shitty things to happen

The Bible DOES deal with this very issue, in many places.

Have you actually read it?

Job was my favourite. God basically smote him over a bet with the devil. Go God!

I think if that happend these days, they'd film it and call it Jackass.

[pirana 0]

Quote

This is a seriously destorted view of reality, and of God.

This is the problem with fundy atheists: They START with a distorted idea of God, and then discount that distorted idea. Like there is some big Old Puppet-Master sitting on a throne in the sky making sure everything goes according to his will.

That is not how the real world is at all. And that is not what we Christians believe.

Leave aside the absurd & simplistic strawman arguments. They have no relevance to reality.

Having someone that buys into the Bible literally tell others about the real world is like asking a caveman what kind of insurance to buy.

This little blurb from Demotivators.com about sums it up:

The belief that a cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree . . . yeah, makes perfect sense.

A belief of this magnitude of absurdity on any other topic would cause most to look at the believer as if they were nuerotic at the least; downright insane is more like it.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[SpeedRacer 1]

exactly.

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------

[Froggy 0]

Quote

This little blurb from Demotivators.com about sums it up:

The belief that a cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree . . . yeah, makes perfect sense.

LOVE it, wonderful!!!

--------------
We were not born to fly. And all we can do is to try not to fall...

[Nigel 0]

Free will, you believe in free will?
So 6 year old Johnny says he wants to be a fireman when he grows up. Fast forward to when he's 25 years old - and he's a fireman. On the face, it looks like he fulfilled his choice.
Trouble is, little Johnny had no control of the factors that led him to choose 'fireman' over 'nurse' when he was 6, so no free will, I contend.
I contend we're complex automata that respond to our environments in statistically predictable ways: Individuals may seem to have act freely, but the range of choices is pretty limited. Of course...in our day to day lives, the illusion of free will is good enough to not be an issue...until someone is compelled to question it!

[maadmax 0]

Free will, you believe in free will? ....
I contend we're complex automata that respond to our environments in statistically predictable ways: Individuals may seem to have act freely, but the range of choices is pretty limited. Of course...in our day to day lives, the illusion of free will is good enough to not be an issue...until someone is compelled to question it!

Quote

So what compelled you to decide that right and wrong, good and evil were yours to decide? Were you forced into your belief that God is a myth, and that you are the center of your universe.
Was it brainwashing that allowed you to elevate yourself to the prestigious position of judging the Spiritual understanding of others? Some how I don't think so.

________________________________________

• Quote

[Nigel 0]

Wow, a really good point! My apparent choice of belief system (atheism) is likely driven by factors just as out of my control, as yours is too.

But believing something to be true doesn't turn the belief into reality. In other words..'I believe in God' doesn't translate into 'God exists'. (And similarly, 'I don't believe in God' doesn't mean he/she doesn't)

However... the fundamental difference between our beliefs is I would acknowledge the existence of a/the god if the evidence was objectively compelling.

Whereas, I suspect no matter how compelling the evidence to the contrary, your belief wouldn't change..

[Nigel 0]

Nicely - and humorously put!

[birdlike 0]

Quote

Job was my favourite. God basically smote him over a bet with the devil. Go God!

If God is God and knows all eventualities, knows the future, why would he ever have to make a "bet"? He knows what the outcome would be ahead of time! I guess he'd never lose a bet, then.

Just more evidence of the unvalidity of the concept of God, I guess.

Spirits fly on dangerous missions
Imaginations on fire

[SpeedRacer 1]

I think you missed the point of the book of Job.

Job wasn't a real guy, the book was written in order to illustrate a point.

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------

[Andrewwhyte 1]

Quote

I think you missed the point of the book of Job.

Job wasn't a real guy, the book was written in order to illustrate a point.

Are you saying the bible is not word for word true? Maybe the gospel is like that too.

[pirana 0]

Quote

I think you missed the point of the book of Job.

Job wasn't a real guy, the book was written in order to illustrate a point.

The ENTIRE Bible was written to illustrate a point. As were all our favorite old religious texts. Politicalization of the ideals and literal interpretation of them by narrow minded agenda driven morons is probably the biggest bane of society today.

If more humans spent efforts examining the principles professed instead of imposing literal interpretation of the stories used - - the world would be a far more peaceful place. Unfortunately, I think we need to get below a certain criticasl mass of small minded morons before that can happen.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[SpeedRacer 1]

Quote

Quote

I think you missed the point of the book of Job.

Job wasn't a real guy, the book was written in order to illustrate a point.

Are you saying the bible is not word for word true? Maybe the gospel is like that too.

I am a Catholic. Catholics, generally speaking, do not go in for Fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible. We believe the Bible is the Word of God, but is not a substitute for a science textbook or a history text book.

Portions of the Bible ARE historical. For example, most historians DO accept the historical fact in the Bible that Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian King, conquered Jerusalem in the 6th century BC.

Similarly, the Books of Kings & Chronicles list the kings who ruled over the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. It's just a dry grocery list of kings, not trying to sell anything religious. Most reasonable people would not find it so unbelievable that a literate people would keep a record of the succession of the kings that ruled over them.

However, the book of Job is not part of the "Historical Books" in the Bible. The book of Job was written in order to illustrate a point, not to record a history.

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------