When I was in Junior High, I began to notice people much differently than in elementary school. When in grade school everyone just plays or does what the teachers tell them to do. They don't pay real attention to traits of other people unless those traits are extreme.
In JR High I noticed the behavior of the fellow kids and similarities arose, patterns. Those that were bullied tended to seek comfort in their own kind. If they were completely alone (no friends) they would just take it.
There was this one chap whom everyone suspected of being gay (back then there was more prejudice and less understanding). He tried to always hang around the girls and talk like them, act like them and so on. He became more and more isolated as people just shied away from him. The more ignorant boys started to bully him in the most perverse and rude manner imaginable.
A particular trait of this kid was that he knew the bible word for word. He used to defend himself by quoting scripture which only made the bullies laugh even harder.
Well, one-day things came to a head....literally. He raped a boy in the bathroom. As the cops were dragging him out of the school he was SCREAMING biblical verses as loud as he could.
The point here is that people that are unbalanced, that can't find their identity and come to grips with it when they do find out who they are, react irrationally. They expose their insecurities with irrational actions. That is what spewing scripture is all about. It is a defense mechanism used to protect one's vulnerabilities.
Whenever I see someone quoting scripture and not engaging I see an insecure person trying to protect themselves. They are obviously troubled, confused and vulnerable.
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It's the default unfortunately, I've had these debates many times with various people on various points...
For example, you ask a theist for evidence without making an arguement from authority in quoting scripture and they quote anyway...
I talk to flat earthers and ask can they prove their model, and they reply with a cgi model (which doesn't comport with reality) and fail to see the irony in that they disbelieve and mock nasa for their 'CGI' images of earth from spar, yet do the same to back their retarded claims.
Unfortunately I think they are too scared to actually look for genuine evidence.
But each to their own, id have no problem with religion if it kept it's nose out of education and globel policy making.
In my mind Random you are one the funniest people on the forum, and you don't even try at it. Damn, I would love to go to an Oxford pub and have a coffee( I don't drink anymore) while you had a pint and just listen to you talk. I think I would bust a gut.
I think that you are brilliant.
Haha I would welcome that my friend!
It's probably because most English people are sarcastic bastards.
People use learned coping skills when they are insecure. As an example, a person with a poor inner dialogue who feels unloved will take the feeling they feel and turn it into truth about themselves. I "feel" unloved so therefore I am unloveable. They will then proceed to act in a manner consistent with how they view themselves and fulfill their own prophecy about themselves. They will push people away, become defensive, angry, closed off to connection with others... etc. A person can cast off religion if they simply learn how to speak to themselves in a kinder way.
"The mind is a garden, and joy and suffering are its fruits".
Absolutely right Sirk.
Everyone wants some sort of acceptance, but they have to accept who they are first.
@Mykcob4: "they have to accept who they are first"
One of the ideals of the ancient Greek philosophers was "know yourself."
Compare that with the Judeo-Christian myth. God dangles the fruit of self-knowledge in front of humanity and then punishes us for eating it.
Individuals who spew bible verses and believe one thing and act another way are totally at fault; You could make a bible verse into anything you want to especially these days. Many people have a difficult time living according to the ethics that it lays down. the moral laws say of Christianity are very hard to keep and are often violated. Especially the moral laws of no sex outside marriage and this other one do not practice homosexuality. That`s why the younger people are turning away of any form of organized religion in droves.
NO Devout, people are turning away from organized religion because it professes a false narrative and there is no benefit in it. They are turning to reality.
DC; "You can make a bible verse into anything you want to these days."
What you just said right there. You are on the right track, my man. However, it ain't just "these days". It has ALWAYS been that way. Why do you think there are so many various denominations that came from the exact same "perfect" book?
Keep using that brain and keep questioning, bud. Thinking critically for yourself is a wonderful thing.
Wow, what a sad story, @Mykcob, yet full of lessons, such as the one of the Bible, and in general I would say faith in a magical entity, being a good cover for insecurities and fears, as you explained. It also illustrates the cherry-picking we're always talking about: how the same book could be used by a gay or by a homophobic to make their points.
@Devout: the moral laws say of Christianity are very hard to keep and are often violated.Especially the moral laws of no sex outside marriage and this other one do not practice homosexuality. I wonder why these laws have been often violated for 1700 years... How could that be?
It's very convenient (and obscenely evil twisted) to consider as "sins" the violation of commandments impossible to follow (as impure thoughts, a completely involuntary reaction, or something innate, as sex and love drives are), so everyone feels like they are not good people and that their natural impulses are wrong.
Re: The "sin" of sex
Outstanding point there, Flame!
Sitting here at the kitchen table with my wife just now and she read to me a fantastic statement she found. In Psalms 14:1 it says, "A fool has said in his heart there is no God." And somebody had countered with, "Yeah, but a wise man says it out loud." I just thought that was awesome.
On an interesting side note to that, doesn't Matthew 5:22 say something along the lines of calling somebody a fool puts you in danger of hellfire? Ummmmm.... (???)
And she just found another one.
How many times have we all heard this from theists? "If there is no God, what is the purpose of life?"
Well, wouldn't that be about the same as asking, "If there is no master, whose slave will I he?"