Popular Post NyxPeregrine Posted August 31, 2013 Popular Post Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 So today I'd just gotten out of class and was chilling in a student lounge killing time until my next one, when these two students come up, introduce themselves, and ask me if I'd like to take a spiritual interest survey. I can tell where this is going so naturally I accept because I love debating Christians. Anyway, they looked pretty surprised when I said yes, so I was probably the first one who did or something haha. Then they pulled out their list of questions. I'm not sure they knew what they were getting into xD Q: "Do you have any religious affiliation now?" A: "No, I'm an atheist." Q: "What do you think is the meaning of life?" A: "To leave the world a better place than you found it." Q: "Do you think that there could be a god?" A: "I'm open to the possibility of a first cause, such as in Aristotle's theory of a prime mover, but if you're talking about a personally involved puppet-master then no." Q: "Who was Jesus?"A: "He probably existed. I don't know who he was. I wasn't there." Q: "Why do you think Jesus came to earth...what was his purpose?" A: "Well, I think he came to earth because a sperm and an egg united and nine months later he was born, much like other humans." Q: "If there was a god, and you died right now, why should he let you into heaven?"A: "Because I am a good person, I treat people with respect and always try to do the right thing." (Here they looked like they were getting ready to pull out the "but-you-don't-believe-in-god-so-therefore-sinnerrrr" argument, so I continued) "I believe that actions matter more than opinions about metaphysical reality." Q: "If you could ask god one question, what would it be?" A: "Why he lets 17 children under the age of 5 die every minute." Q: (She's writing down all my answers): "Every...?" A: "Minute. Yeah." Q: "Have you ever read the Bible?" A: "I have." Q: "What did you think of it?" A: "I think it's pretty terrible. It's full of massacres, misogyny, it sanctions slavery, it celebrates bloodshed...God basically slaughtered the Canaanites so the Israelites could have their land...he had 42 little boys mauled by bears...he killed Egyptian kids because they had the bad luck to be born first...I wasn't a fan." Them: "Thanksforyourtimebye!" I don't think they expected someone who was actually educated about their religion...they didn't know what to say. It was so cute. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NyxPeregrine Posted August 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Being civil goes a long way in getting your message across, I think...it's the difference between coming away with "omg all atheists are so meeeannn" and "wow, atheists can be nice and have some decent points." Image, yo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderinstar Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Well played! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaLeah Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 VERY nice. Thank you for posting this. I like to engage in the debate or questions too. My answers are very well thought out, and they can't say anything to blindside me either. I'm glad you participated, and I'm glad you shared the conversation with us. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheild Maiden Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Brilliant, I wish I could have seen it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExCBooster Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Q: "If you could ask god one question, what would it be?" A: "Why he lets 17 children under the age of 5 die every minute." Q: (She's writing down all my answers): "Every...?" A: "Minute. Yeah." Every. Minute. It's exchanges exactly like this that convince me that the average pushy-type Christian doesn't really have that much information about how the world actually functions. This force-field of strange naivete shelters them from basic facts of science and history or just plain statistics that would otherwise make their God a self-refuting proposition. It just brings up all sorts of questions for me: do they have the facts, but choose not to see how they are relevant? Do they know the facts exist out there somewhere, and avoid them because they're afraid it is planted by the devil? Or is it simple ignorance? I just don't know, but I wish I understood it better... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhim Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Once when I was in a class at church we were told to go out and give these surveys. It was plainly stated that the object here wasn't to collect data, but to get people talking about Jesus and ultimately convert people. It sounds like the people doing the survey here felt awkward about proselytizing, and simply wanted to treat the survey as data collection instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ ficino ♦ Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Good job, NyxPeregrine. I like especially your answer to the question, what do you think of the Bible? Like Bhim, I remember being asked to go out and use this sort of questionnaire as a tool to opening up a conversation about the gospel. For me it was during an InterVarsity retreat or leadership conference or whatever it was billed as. I remember one student, in answer perhaps to the question about purpose of life, said that God gives us our bodies so we can experience sexual pleasure. Maybe she was trying to pick me up... I just went with the script, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positivist Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Fantastic!!! I loathe to admit that I have campus "missionaries" in my extended family. I find the idea abhorrent, that they go and prey on the questioning, vulnerable, forming minds of young people that are away from their parents, friends and social supports for the first time in their lives. It makes me cringe. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Q: "If you could ask god one question, what would it be?" A: "Why he lets 17 children under the age of 5 die every minute." Q: (She's writing down all my answers): "Every...?" A: "Minute. Yeah." Every. Minute. It's exchanges exactly like this that convince me that the average pushy-type Christian doesn't really have that much information about how the world actually functions. This force-field of strange naivete shelters them from basic facts of science and history or just plain statistics that would otherwise make their God a self-refuting proposition. It just brings up all sorts of questions for me: do they have the facts, but choose not to see how they are relevant? Do they know the facts exist out there somewhere, and avoid them because they're afraid it is planted by the devil? Or is it simple ignorance? I just don't know, but I wish I understood it better... They start with the idea that the Bible is true and build their world view around that. Everything else must be bent and warped to fit the core principle. Then faith is used as a mortar to plug all the holes by ignoring them. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ ficino ♦ Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 BTW NyxPeregrine - does your handle mean Night Pilgrim or something close to that? cheers, F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NyxPeregrine Posted August 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 I really wish they'd tried to argue with me or something...I don't get to do this type of thing nearly often enough! BTW NyxPeregrine - does your handle mean Night Pilgrim or something close to that? cheers, F Ooh, Latin scholar eh? It does indeed. "Night traveller" or "night wanderer" is how I translate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateur Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 "I wasn't a fan" I applaud and admire you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RipVanWinkle Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 ExGBooster said:"It just brings up all sorts of questions for me: do they have the facts, but choose not to see how they are relevant? Do they know the facts exist out there somewhere, and avoid them because they're afraid it is planted by the devil? Or is it simple ignorance?" YES. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chikirin Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 I was totally on fire for God during my college years. I wasn't a big evangelizer, but my discipler would take me our evanglizing. If we saw a lone student minding his own business reading on a bench, we'd hone right in on him. We learned all kinds of techniques so as not to startle him and get him to open up. Usually we'd have a table set up with tracts and we'd pass out literature to anyone who gave us the slightest glance. The only people who ever came to our group were socially awkward types with a religious background. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positivist Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 I was totally on fire for God during my college years. I wasn't a big evangelizer, but my discipler would take me our evanglizing. If we saw a lone student minding his own business reading on a bench, we'd hone right in on him. We learned all kinds of techniques so as not to startle him and get him to open up. Usually we'd have a table set up with tracts and we'd pass out literature to anyone who gave us the slightest glance. The only people who ever came to our group were socially awkward types with a religious background. Oh gawd, Chik--you had me howling!! Oh the memories!!!! We were insane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExCBooster Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 Q: "If you could ask god one question, what would it be?" A: "Why he lets 17 children under the age of 5 die every minute." Q: (She's writing down all my answers): "Every...?" A: "Minute. Yeah." Every. Minute. It's exchanges exactly like this that convince me that the average pushy-type Christian doesn't really have that much information about how the world actually functions. This force-field of strange naivete shelters them from basic facts of science and history or just plain statistics that would otherwise make their God a self-refuting proposition. It just brings up all sorts of questions for me: do they have the facts, but choose not to see how they are relevant? Do they know the facts exist out there somewhere, and avoid them because they're afraid it is planted by the devil? Or is it simple ignorance? I just don't know, but I wish I understood it better... They start with the idea that the Bible is true and build their world view around that. Everything else must be bent and warped to fit the core principle. Then faith is used as a mortar to plug all the holes by ignoring them. ExGBooster said:"It just brings up all sorts of questions for me: do they have the facts, but choose not to see how they are relevant? Do they know the facts exist out there somewhere, and avoid them because they're afraid it is planted by the devil? Or is it simple ignorance?" YES. ... Yet, it answers so many questions... That kind of cognitive dissonance has got to be a lot of strain on the system... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilith666 Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 I wish some would come to my college. Though it's small and private, so probably not. Edit: Oh. They're students. But it still might be fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryper Posted September 4, 2013 Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 You were nicer than I would have been...I would have been completely smart-ass MUCH worse than I am on here...LOL. I don't believe that is even possible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryper Posted September 4, 2013 Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 I really wish they'd tried to argue with me or something...I don't get to do this type of thing nearly often enough! BTW NyxPeregrine - does your handle mean Night Pilgrim or something close to that? cheers, F Ooh, Latin scholar eh? It does indeed. "Night traveller" or "night wanderer" is how I translate it. See. I saw Nyx and thought this. http://www.eve-wiki.net/index.php?title=Nyx Then when I actually looked it up. I got something more like Night Falcon or Night Hawk. Which triggered this thought. http://eve.wikia.com/wiki/Nighthawk Stupid EVEonline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NyxPeregrine Posted September 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 Nighthawk? Whoa, I don't think there's ANY translation of this name that isn't incredibly cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryper Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 Nighthawk? Whoa, I don't think there's ANY translation of this name that isn't incredibly cool. I wouldn't exactly call it a translation. Peregrine is also the name of a falcon. So I....created a meaning from it that worked for me. Glad you like it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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