Xerces

It can hinder empathy, and motivate otherwise good people to do horrible things. The real question is is religion needed to be empathetic? Is it needed to be good? Why is Xtianity any different than all the other systems of belief that promote the golden rule and leading a good life?

Concerning the article. I read it and also the comments. 

I really like this one.

 

Michael Merrill wrote:

 

I completely disagree with this article. Here's why:

 

The words "you are wrong" are the worst words you could ever use to try and persuade someone to see your point of view. These words make everyone's mind stop working. If you use these words, you have already decided to no longer think, because you "know" that you are right. You will not listen to anything the other has to say. If you hear these words, you will also stop thinking, because you have now lost any respect you had for the person that is speaking to you, and most likely feel that the person speaking to you is a pompous "know it all".

 

 

Facts can be very illusory. You might have all the facts you need to back up your point of view, only to later discover that your facts were not facts at all, or that they had much less to do with what you "knew" to be true than you originally thought.

If we eliminated the words "you are wrong" from our vocabulary, perhaps we could have more discussions and less debates. More learning from each other and less "trying to teach others what we ourselves don't really know"

 

To quote Socrates: "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing"

 

I would additionally add that perhaps the writer should read his own article about the difference between facts and opinions. I'm sure it was difficult to admit that you were wrong about the water, but the least you could do was state that you had the "facts" wrong, instead of stating that your "opinion" on water was wrong.

So the Word came to Moses from the light emitted from a flammable object which didn't catch fire, what 's the big deal?

 

A story about the Bush in the Monitor.   

Considering there is no way of actually knowing what happened, it's more likely Moses was on some drugs.

I'm accepting new friend applications and you all fit the criteria, if you gift me deviled egg potato salad I'll love you forever. On a more down to earth note, yeah people suck, but it seems to get easier to gauge whether or not people deserve trust just by observation. Not so much over the internet though, body language goes a long way.

Your brain can play more tricks on you than you know. As for NDEs, they are more or less tied to what you believe, people that believe different things see different things. Also, I will add that spiritual experiences can be induced easily through drugs, and possibly through disciplined meditation. Also, if you go to Google and punch in The God Helmet, it should bring up an experiment where they were able to induce "mystical" sensations in the wearer. Here is a quick link to search results actually: https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=the+god+helmet&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

Face it Kirk, the world just isn't that into you.

There are hundreds of myths from around the world that suggest there was a great flood.

Whether local or global depends on the story you go with.

 

I think all these ancient stories have origin in the flood recorded in Genesis.

 

I believe it happened. 

Only this story is actually older than the one found in Genesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgamesh

Kinda yeah. Look at those mega churches, all those "donations to god" being put to use. Not feeding the homeless or other charity work.

I don't think I really had a choice actually. Folks have always been very religious, and I was raised that way. Wasn't until my teens that I started doubting and eventually stopped believing.

I wouldn't say it has anything to do with being too friendly. You can be super friendly and still not be naive or too quick to trust someone. Trust is earned, friendship is a two way street, if you notice someone trying to take advantage of your kindness you make them back the fuck off.

I'd like this to be a thread where links to helpful and informative sites can be found for the person that has just left christianity, is doubting, or anyone that just wants to further their knowledge really. The idea is to have them all in one place for easy access and have it pinned. Links can be submitted by anyone and should include a short description. If this is already been done let me know.

Skeptic's Annotated Bible/Quran/Book of Mormon: A website that picks apart religious texts and puts them into categories for easy reference. E.g. contradictions.

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

Talk Origins: Explores the debate between evolution and creationism, lots of stuff to read on this site.

http://www.talkorigins.org/

Beliefnet: Learn more about other religions

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/index.aspx

About.com: Another website to learn about other systems of belief. Amoung other things.

http://www.about.com/religion/

Panda's Thumb: Popular evolution blog

http://www.pandasthumb.org/

TED Talks: Various talks on a plethora of subjects, quite a few on there about religion, belief, skepticism, etc.

http://www.ted.com/

Alain de Botton: Looking for philosophy? This guy is really good.

http://alaindebotton.com/

I'll probably add some more later.

What sticks in my craw is women who are obviously being used.   For example, I had two separate clients who each had 3 kids, but weren't married.  Yes, that is what children want to see:  Dad's too much of a weenie to commit to mom.  Kind of like Matthew McCaughney (however he spells his name):  His girl friend got pregant for the third time and he decided to marry her.  It's about time.

 

I'm all for women's rights.  Raised by a single mother who raised 6 kids on her own with no help.   Please, don't presume that everyone who is a Christian believes that all women should be Quakers.  I'm just saying that it's sad when a guy won't marry a woman.  Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but, if a guy has been living with a woman for an extended period of time, he has his eyes elsewhere.  

Sounds like you're biased because you have strong personal reasons to think everyone needs marriage.

R r r i i i g g h h t t!  Dude, you keep serving your woman that Kool-aid to drink.   

 

You' obviously won't be convinced by anything. Lets just agree that you're a dumbass.

This has nothing to do with the whole sin thing.  I just feel sorry for women who live with their boyfriends.  95% of the time, these women want to get married but their boyfriends always have an excuse for not getting married.  To all of you ladies who are stuck in this predicament, a real man will dive head first into a marriage for a woman that he loves.  If you have been living with a guy for several years, then he's a turd.  Get rid of him  Why settle for someone who doesn't want to marry you?  Yes, I realize that some women actually start off just wanting to live together, but, as the years pass, very few want to stay in this situation. 

 

There is a local radio station in San Diego.  Each day, the DJ fields a call from a woman who thinks her boyfriend is cheating on her.  The DJ then calls the boyfriend, pretending that he is a local florist and informs the boyfriend that he has been randomly selected to send a dozen romantic roses to anyone he wants.  99.9% of the time, the boyfriend sends the roses to his lover or new fling, all while his girlfriend sits on the other line, silently listening in.  75% of the time these are live-in boyfriends. Ladies, the fact of the matter is that guys that don't want to get married almost always either have something going on the side, or are keeping their options open.  Why would you want this?  You're better than that.  

Nothing to do with the whole sin thing? Then why complain about it? Some people are perfectly fine without getting married and are happy living together. You shouldn't be so presumptuous as to what is and isn't right for other people.

Comments say end of video says all stereotypes are not true. And fuck other people, be what you want and feel what you want, don't listen to stupid people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rh6qqsmxNs

I totally and completely agree, he is my heavenly husband as well. I wanna shove it in his ass so hard. He really likes it in the shitter to, when he was on the cross he thought about us doing the nasty and his clothes came off on the cross, example:

Did I mention I'm over 2000 years old and it is because I, Xerces, sucked Jesuses dick on that special day? His holy cum is what keeps me preserved.

Here's a challenge to all of God's critics. If you were God and you had to create beings:

 

1.Will the beings you create be equal to you or less powerful?

2.What degree of free will will you allow to those beings?

3.How will you prevent those beings from hurting you, each other and their creation?

4.What will you do with those beings who break your rules?

Are you serious? Why are you even calling this a challenge? Bitch please.

*edit* Just realized this thread is 3 years old, who's bumping old threads?

 

The existence of exceptions to tradition does not make tradition unwise. So your examinaiton does nothing to further the discussion.

I'm pretty sure you have nothing that would further the discussion.

I don't even know why we need to give the other side the time of day in this debate anymore. A

My thoughts exactly, there shouldn't even be a discussion anymore. It's like people speaking against interracial marriage. What's funny is these christians try to list reasons why gay marriage is wrong, that is destroys families, gays turn children to homosexuality, etc. They ought to just fucking say what is on their minds, and what is on their minds is a lot more disgusting than they are letting on. Although some do go the extra mile and say homosexual people should be put to death, that homosexuality should be outlawed, but that seems more and more rare as the assholes try to sugar coat their arguments against homosexuality.

We're on the winning team right now though, religious people are losing their influence, shouldn't be long before gay marriage is legal just about everywhere.

I'll take the bait.... ***why do I do this?***

 

I am a fiscal CONSERVATIVE who leans Libertarian on social issues, but I will always vote Republican or Tea Party (gag) because I simply have no other VIABLE home for my thoughts about economic issues. WIthout a strong economy, we ARE NOT EVEN A COUNTRY, so the rest of that social shit doesn't matter AT ALL. A strong monetary system has to come first before we can give out goodies to everyone else...duh.

 

Do the goofy Jesus rants form Christards like Glenn Beck make me crazy and embarrass me? You bet they do...but I hold my nose and vote with them the way my more Conservative black buddy Reggie held his nose in 2008 and voted with Democrats in spite of his ProLife values (but swears he is all in for Romney this time because Obama is an idiot on the economy---its about his gas tank this time...go figure..?)

 

And yes---while I may be only barely a year into this de-conversion, I am very much an atheist, though that word comes very hard for me considering most "never been Christian" Atheists have the reputation for being quite malevolent.

The George Bush administration did a great job managing our economy!

Very good video.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGeSRyzN49Q

Also very good video:

OrdinaryClay, last time I saw you on here, I asked you a few questions and you never answered them.

 

1. Do you believe God is moral?

2. Do you believe the law in the Bible accurately represents God's morality?

3. Do you believe that the Gospels are an accurate representation of what Jesus' did, said, and represented?

 

Yes, don't put words in my mouth. 1) Yes, 2) Yes and 3) Yes

 

 

Yes, I believe all the Old Testament laws were moral, and God's laws are just. I also believe the New Testament is a new covenant and our behavior is to change based on the New Covenant. The laws have not changed. Our behavior has. I find it hard to believe you have not heard this before so by all means just cut to the chase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzAorFB0Zm0

 

You guys seem to repeat the same thing over and over and over again. I mean, where is your brain??? Show some intellectual curiosity, man !!

No, I'm not talking about a metaphor. I mean if you want to get on a plane the TSA agent has the right to force you to strip and they get to stick their fingers into your body. To me that is a form of rape and I won't travel by plane until it ends.

I took a plane last year and I wasn't patted down by TSA.

The reason why people could not understand was because they have become spiritually dull.

Dull huh? Let's spice things up!