Being a Christian is not that hard.

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xenoview's picture
According to the bible god

According to the bible god only created Adam and Eve.

Seaofmadness's picture
Predictions about where and

Predictions about where and when certain fossils should be found in the strata and the features they should have always bear out without exception (tiktaalik would be a prime example). Genomic and DNA evidence now proves common descent conclusively. Chromosome 2 proves our relationship to chimps. Biogeography and the geographical distribution of organisms unassailably supports evolution. Vestigial body parts such as appendices, wisdom teeth, and certain muscles, together with their corresponding, now defunct genes undoubtably support evolution, and make no sense under creationism. Bacteria and infectious disease show evolution right before our eyes as we continue to try to make vaccines to kill ever-evolving microorganisms that have extremely quick life cycles and evolve very quickly. The evolution of whales show that they clearly evolved from land mammals which were also precursors to hippopotamuses, having vestigial hind-limb bones (leg bones). Every single example one can find in nature demonstrates the factuality of evolution. It is called a "theory" because "theory" means an explanatory framework that explains how the facts work, kind of like how "music theory" is a framework that explains how scales, notes, chords, key signatures, and tonality in the world of music and sounds works. It's a theory because it is a very detailed framework and body of facts with explanatory power, not the type of "theory" you and other religious types are trying to use.

SBMontero's picture
@Zombocalypse: Oh, that's

@Zombocalypse: Oh, that's simple, the little bones you have in the inner ear were your guts and in your cells there is a thing called double DNA elicia that evidence that you're family even of vinegar flies, with which, by the way, you share much of your DNA. Having verified that the evolutionary fact is a fact, which, incidentally, doesn't debate nor the Vatican, only the idiots, let us go to the important thing... give me an evidence that your god is real. Go ahead! C'mon!

P.S.
lol John.

Stu. K.'s picture
Tried praying once to twice a

Tried praying once to twice a day for almost a year to help my OCD go away. Still nothing and reached my breaking point with religion realizing there was no god helping me. In fact a couple days later, it slowly started going away a bit probably because all the stress religion was (OCD and religion are a horrible, stressful combination) So to that I say fuck your god.

LogicFTW's picture
That is unfortunate you

That is unfortunate you suffered through OCD, and that people led you to believe at one point in your life you could pray it away. I am glad to hear it improved since then.

Harry33Truman's picture
Mac, I had, and still have

Mac, I had, and still have though it is less severe, OCD- it isn't something you 'suffer' from. Its entirely habitual.

Stu. K.'s picture
Ahh I suppose you're right.

Ahh I suppose you're right. I haven't thought about it or researched about it much.

Stu. K.'s picture
Thank you! That means a lot

Thank you Logic! That means a lot going out of your way typing this :)

Zombocalypse's picture
What made you think that your

What made you think that your OCD going away wasn't God's answer to your prayer?

Stu. K.'s picture
If God can see the future, he

If God can see the future, he knew I was gonna quit believing him soon. It sounds rather strange that right after I quit (and he knew I was going to), he THEN answers them.

watchman's picture
@Bee......

@Bee......

Three quick questions ....if you would be so kind...... just for my personal edification.

1/ How old are you..?

2/ Which version of the Bible do you use..?

3/ What is the name of your particular deity..?

Zombocalypse's picture
1. 25.

1. 25.

2. I don't know which it is. It's a free Bible I got from a hospital. It said it was provided by "the Gideons" or something like that.

3. Yahweh/Jehovah.

Edit: I'm actually not sure of his name. I don't know if Jehovah is synonymous with Yahweh. All I know is that the God that I am praying to is the God of both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Sky Pilot's picture
Zombocalypse,

Zombocalypse,

Why are you praying to become a slave?

Isaiah 14:1-2 (MSG) = "Now You Are Nothing
14 1-2 But not so with Jacob. God will have compassion on Jacob. Once again he’ll choose Israel. He’ll establish them in their own country. Outsiders will be attracted and throw their lot in with Jacob. The nations among whom they lived will actually escort them back home, and then Israel will pay them back by making slaves of them, men and women alike, possessing them as slaves in God’s country, capturing those who had captured them, ruling over those who had abused them."

LogicFTW's picture
It sounds like your

It sounds like your particular sect of christianity is better than most via your brief, and likely biased explanation. I do not have nearly a problem with religious people that choose to practice their beliefs in private at home, and not trying to bother others with their beliefs and do not try to push their belief system on others in any way.

Of course you are here, explaining your particular religious beliefs, because you feel you need to "save others" or show them the path. Not quite as private anymore.

Also you misunderstand atheist. Most of us anyways, do not believe in god, that is first, and dislike most major religions second, usually as a result of not believing in god. I have met atheist that actually do like some religions, they just do not believe in god. And most theist I met will say they actively despise certain other religions.

Pretty easy to have a relationship with something that you expect no interaction with, and when things happen, you credit this god with the results. But other people have told you, that this thing created morals, has an afterlife, and gives you a purpose in life. What a nice warm blanket to cuddle up with. This relationship is even easier when you were introduced to it as a kid, before you reach adulthood, have lots of school and learn to think critically for yourself in areas of life that are not so simply explained.

Prayer. Heh.

If we analyze God's responses to ambiguous prayers using statistical tools, what we find is that there is never any statistical evidence for prayer. In other words, when we statistically compare prayer to coincidence for explaining any situation, they are identical.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery. In fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications.
http://www.livescience.com/4882-faith-prayer-kills-children.html

CyberLN's picture
You said, "One of the many

You said, "One of the many reasons why an atheist becomes an atheist is because of his or her disdain for religion."

What are the other reasons?

Zombocalypse's picture
Lack of belief in God? I don

Lack of belief in God? I don't know. lol. I'm sure there are lots though.

xenoview's picture
I became an Atheist due to a

I became an Atheist due to a lack of evidence of any of the gods humanity worships.

pijokela's picture
This is the important point

This is the important point of this discussion in my opinion. If I had become an atheist because of my "disdain for religion" or even disdain for god, clearly I might be persuaded back to worship by believers with a nicer religion or a nicer god.

Unfortunately I became atheist because I just do not believe any god exists. Therefore I do not care what your religion or god are like - although for your sake I am glad to hear they are nice and peaceful.

mykcob4's picture
Okay, Zombocalypse.

Okay, Zombocalypse.
You make plenty of false assumptions.
1) "One of the many reasons why an atheist becomes an atheist is because of his or her disdain for religion. This disdain for religion usually comes from seeing the injustices and oddities of his or her respective religion. Pedophilia from priests, for example."

Not generally true at all. Most people become atheists because the come to reality. they apply logic to religion and they finally see that it makes no sense.

2) "I understand the hate for the institution of religion, but like a said, being a part of it has nothing to do with true Christianity. True Christianity is a RELATIONSHIP with God. And having a relationship with Him is EASY."
You assume that YOU have a relationship with your god. I contend that you have a relationship with yourself and just call it god. You must first prove your god which have ignored doing.

3) "I now propose a better way. And that is by prayer. You simply pray to God to ask for His grace, and He will surely give it to you in due time. It is almost like magic, but very real."
You have to PROVE that prayer actually does something. There is no proof that prayer is anything. Usually, it is just a display and nothing more. In some cases, it acts as a placebo. There is no proof that prayer is anything or does anything.

People are not atheists out of disdain. The fallacy of your argument. And I for one don't find it easy being something based on pure myth and imagination.

Zombocalypse's picture
1. Please give me examples of

1. Please give me examples of things that make no sense in the Bible.

2. Aside from claimed miracles and the historicity of the Bible, there really are no proofs of His existence other than the super obvious ones, such as the fact that we exist at all.

3. If you count my personal experiences with prayer as proof, then there's that. Many other Christians can be a testimony to the power of prayer. My mother, who has an IQ of 140, believes in prayer. And you can't say she's stupid either. Her IQ is friggin' 140!

Sky Pilot's picture
Zombocalypse,

Zombocalypse,

So you believe in unicorns?

Deuteronomy 33:17 (KJV) = "17 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh."

xenoview's picture
Humans being alive is due to

Humans being alive is due to humans having sex, not a god creating them.

Seaofmadness's picture
"1. Please give me examples

...

Jared Alesi's picture
IQ has nothing to do with

IQ has nothing to do with logical capabilities. But if it did, we could point out that of all the people registered as "Genius" (IQ of 160 or above), none of them are Christian. Any person of any IQ can believe in any absurdity they wish. It's not intelligence, it's rationality. Your mother and yourself obviously have very little.

Zombocalypse's picture
Hi everyone.

Hi everyone.

I'll answer these questions later tonight. I gotta go right now. Thanks for the responses.

mykcob4's picture
What? You are running away.

What? You are running away. You had time to post something you KNEW we would respond to, then you post a lame excuse for not facing us? Lame, very lame!

Pitar's picture
I happen to agree with the OP

I happen to agree with the OP's perspective on religions in contrast to internalizing instead, and I have harbored that idea for a long time. Outward religious worship is mostly high-fiving for the sake of appearances. It's those appearances I credit with exacerbating religion's image amongst all people regardless of their affiliations. The ceremony and pageantry is wholly unnecessary to the sole intent of worship.

People who put on a display of saying a prayer before they eat - grace - is genuinely perceived but isn't necessary to put on display. Gesticulating with the arms the sign of the cross serves what end? Mumbling some inaudible prayer within earshot of others accomplishes what? These are the ceremonial attributes of cathaholics that are not only contrived to have a specific meaning (trinity related), they will produce nothing more that a simple internalized thought on it will (for the individual).

The clothing (clerical), the body language, the gatherings, the public prayers sessions, the architecture, the statuary, the very core of the religious purpose blurred by it all serves the believer in what manner? No one knows. It's called spirituality but it needs a stage?

Anyway, he (or she) is correct regarding internalizing worship. One does not need to channel that through a religion. If someone needs to channel you could say that person is worshiping graven imagery.

The beauty of the concept is it's internalized, private, and no more important to anyone than wondering what's in a neighbor's trash can. It becomes no one's business.

algebe's picture
@Zombo: "Being a Christian is

@Zombo: "Being a Christian is not that hard."

You're right. From my observations, it looks like an absolutely flaccid way to go through life. Praying to an imaginary friend for a win in the heavenly lottery is no substitute for getting up on your own two feet and facing the real world.

Nyarlathotep's picture
Zombocalypse - as soon as you

Zombocalypse - as soon as you "factualize" the theory of evolution from being a mere theory into a fact

The Crackpot Index - [+10 crackpot points] for arguing that a current well-established theory is "only a theory", as if this were somehow a point against it.

LogicFTW's picture
Adding to what Nyarlathotep

Adding to what Nyarlathotep said: It is more than just theory, it is a powerful scientific consensus.

"The theory of evolution through natural selection is also supported by an overwhelming scientific consensus; it is one of the most reliable and empirically tested theories in science."

National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine (2008). Science, Evolution, and Creationism. National Academy Press. ISBN 0-309-10586-2.

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