Atheist vs. Theist

atheism breeds hatred

I believe in equality. I am a Christian, and forever will be a Christian. Jesus taught us all to love our neighbors as ourselves, which is what I live by. I believe everybody needs to know Christ, and will preach Christ, but it is up to the person to make the decision. Atheism, however, seeks to foster an atmosphere of hate. There is such a bondage and imprisonment in the thought of atheism.
Atheists think they are so superior they live in an isolationist frame of mind, and looks at "theists" as inferior, and threatens eradication, to destroy religion. Sounds very terroristic to me.

Rational Response Squad precepts
Irrationalities we should seek to eradicate from the earth

Dawkins
Religion teaches the dangerous nonsense that death is not the end.
Faith is powerful enough to immunize people against all appeals to pity, to forgiveness, to decent human feelings. It even immunizes them against fear, if they honestly believe that a martyr's death will send them straight to heaven.
It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, "mad cow" disease, and many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.
It is absolutely safe to say that, if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that).
To fill a world with ... religions of the Abrahamic kind, is like littering the streets with loaded guns.

Any other Agnostics out there? Continued from TWO YEARS ago!

Two and a half years ago, I posted this thread on RRS, my very first one.  Basically I was asking if there were any other agnostics on the site.  I was fairly new to the whole concept of atheism, but was a big fan of Christopher Hitchens, and while reading about Hitch,  I ended up discovering RRS.

Anyway, I found the dicussion to be extremely enlightening.  I was blown away by how many intelligent responses I received to my post.  There was some robust discussion and some healthy disagreements, but just about everyone had a really interesting point of view to contribute. 

When I initially posted the thread, I was under the impression someone could be simply a straight up agnostic on the concept of God.  Not an agnostic atheist, not an agnostic theist, but just an agnostic.  Basically my position on whether or not I believed in a god or gods was "I don't know".  I could safely say I was unsure whether I believed or disbelieved, ergo I didn't fall into either the disbeliever or believer camp.  Most importantly, I wasn't one of those people who said "I do not believe in a god or gods but I am willing to suspend judgement because I dont' know for sure".  Again, to reiterate, my position at the time was "I have no idea whether I believe or disbelieve"

Are religious people trapped in their childhood?

Almost everyone has an inner child I guess.

But it seems that with religious people, it is worse. I grew up in a religious family, and they are all like children. I may be wrong, since I am not a psychologist.

God himself is nothing but an imaginary friend. The fear of God and punishment is compatible with parents punishing them for doing bad things as kids. Their entire belief system is like  a fairy tale for little boys yet they don't see the violations of logic in their religion. They seem to lack the ability to differentiate fact from fiction. The religious person's reaction to an atheist is very similar to that of a child who has been told Santa Claus is not real.

The entire obsession with sex that you see with most religious people seems to be something off a childhood phase as well. They seem to perceive sex as an aberration, which is something you'd expect from a 9 year old who kmows all about it.

The religious male seems to dislike women, which is compatible with a 9 or 10 year old dislike of little girls. The same thing applies to religious females with the opposite sex.

God is like a father-figure who punishes them for almost anything, even bad thoughts. But he can also reward them. Satan is like a boogey-man hiding in their closet.

The most religious people don't even work. Priests, pastors. They live off other people while thinking they make money through God.

Fine, y'all got me

 Ok. I'm sure most of you have seen my posts. I love Jesus. He is my savior. That doesn't change.

I have accepted who I am. I have desires for men. I do not want these desires, however, to destroy my marriage. I love my wife and kids. They r all I have. I will suffer through my desires to be with a man to keep my marriage safe.

I've made it 5 years, not comfortably, but 5 years without that type of intimacy, and I struggle, but I know it's worth it.

I think by finally, this week, coming to terms with who I am is a good thing, and it will help, but I need to keep these desires in check.

 

RobbyPants's picture

The best of all possible worlds offense

I'm sure we've all heard the best of all possible worlds defense. The gist of it is that while things might look bad, and we'd wonder why a good god would allow it, perhaps God only has so much control over the universe, and this setup nets the greatest possible good.

Now, it's presuppositional as hell, and that's where it's greatest weakness lies. Once you're willing to go down that road, you can really start presupposing anything under these assumptions. The apologetic can be neatly turned against the apologist.

So, the apologist starts by assuming that things like horrible childhood illnesses are here because they are part of the greatest possible good. I'd say that sounds preposterous and that I can't possibly see how the world gets worse by removing them. The closest thing to a sane defense is for the apologist to say that the plan is so big and grand, that I can't possibly see it all, and I lack the foresight and judgment of Almighty God. Fair enough (well, not really). Lets try another scenario:

common ground

Just for the sake of finding common ground, with the fact that I have a genuine care for all of you:

 

FINAL FANTASY VII remake. Epic Awesomeness

letter to Old Seer

 Old Seer,

     I would like to know your story. Not your cults story, your story.

I will give you mine.

Growing up, I was in a traditional catholic household, going to public school. I was the "average" kid. I played sports, video games (RPG's mostly, which have significant references to pagan religions), hung out with friends, etc. I claimed catholicism, but that was it (as most catholics do). After high school, I joined Navy. 

During this time from high school to my beginnings in the Navy, I explored my sexuality, and found pleasure in same sex. I was in "A" school, and I was invited one Sunday to a local Baptist church, and I really enjoyed it, and the guy that invited me, prayed with me, and asked me to invite Jesus into my heart, I did that.

From that point on, I received what was like an awareness, and my "activities" tore me up inside. A little later down the road, I was invited to a United Pentecostal church, where I spent the next 8 years. I thought I had the "in" while I was there, but I was still living in sin. I read the Bible, but I trusted the preaching too much. Still when I would do the "activities" I would have the weight of guilt.

For Old Seer

 Ok. Fresh thread. Let's take a new approach.

I do not want to here "our interpretation.....smurfs....bla bla". That has been well established.

in an attempt to make it easier, let's start with addressing individual questions. Here goes:

Judeo-Christian history, Jewish tradition, encyclopedias, the website I have shown, theology, etc. state that Hebrews do not state or write "God" because they think it too holy, so they substitute with JHVH. This is a FACT you can look up anywhere.

You, Old Seer, stated "the author avoids the use of "God" because the term didn't exist pre-fall.

my question is where did you find that information?

the threat of atheism

 Common atheist flaws

the belief that they ( the atheist) has a higher degree of intelligence than a believer, when those, like me, have a college education, and know atheists that dont.

tithes and offerings. The Bible mandates tithes and offerings, but not to pay God, as most think, but to feed the priesthood. Compare that to today. Without tithes, the preacher or church staff could not eat, and the lights Could not stay on.

Atheism also rids an individual of all emotion due to the religious belief that life has no meaning. Atheism leaves no hope in humanity.

it is a flaw that atheists do not think atheism is a religion, when it is just as much as a belief structure as any other religion.

atheism teaches selfishness rather than selflessness

I could go on an on about how atheism is a threat to humanity but I'll leave it here for now.

Brian37's picture

The French Christopher Hitchens Paul Heinrich Dietrich

French author Paul Heinrich Dietrich had the Church of his time scared of him. And so much so no one knows where he was ultimately buried. He is considered to be the father of modern atheism.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baron_d%27Holbach

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_d%27Holbach

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