No one Murdered because of this image! - TheOnion Special!(NSFW)



The problem for Christians is that the entire religion is based on the belief that the Bible is 100% accurate. If the Bible is not 100% accurate, then it calls into question whether or not Jesus was really the Son of God who died for our sins etc. Since there are a lot of factual errors in the Bible (math errors, genealogy errors, archaeological errors, celestial errors, etc) then the entire basis for the religion is suspect.

The same could be said for any religion so I don't mean to single out Christianity.

EXACTLY. But instead of admitting this they start the cherry picking..."oh I only adhere to the new testament." "Oooh it was a different time back then (which some how explains why donkey would suddenly talk)"... Instead of admitting that maybe their foundation is shifting sand (SEE WHAT I DID THERE) and therefore their whole religion is, as you say, suspect. I mean, yeah it takes balls to do this, but it's discouraging the amount of cowardly people out there who won't even try.
 
@REIMktg - when an entire religion is based on a virgin birth, it's hard to get anyone with a scientific mind to take it seriously. And if you study the old pagan religions you'll see that as silly as the idea of a virgin birth is, the idea goes back thousands of years before Jesus was born. So not only was it a silly idea, but it wasn't even an original idea.

Once again, I am not trying to argue for Christianity. I am trying to answer the post that arguing with Christians is like arguing with a brick wall. I am trying to explain this and show where the Christian could be vulnerable.

The Christian will tell you:
The virgin birth was also prophesied thousands of years before Christ within the Bible, more than one time.
The Bible has God telling Satan of the virgin birth at the time of Adam & Eve.
Of course there are duplicates. Satan has many duplication's of Christian concepts - virgin birth, trinity, savior crucified etc.
The problem with arguing this route is that not only was it prophesied within the Bible the Christian can also point out that thousands of years before found writing or records we have Job understanding the precepts of God - yet he has no written scripture. Therefore God had communicated these things thousands of years prior to what we have as recorded history. Then the Christian will say that Satan and Demons that have been around since the beginning could easily put these things into place as they themselves seek worship from Man as a direct front against God, whom they hate.

I was thinking the thoughtful on this forum would understand that it is pointless to argue these issues.

I have said that faith in fulfilled prophecy underlies and girds the Christian faith. Show that their faith in historically fulfilled prophecies are archaeologically incorrect and the foundation crumbles. Sodom, The Exodus, Fall of Trye, Naming of Cyrus, re-building of Jerusalem, re-gathering of the Jews, all the world seeing events at the same time, etc....
 
EXACTLY. But instead of admitting this they start the cherry picking..."oh I only adhere to the new testament." "Oooh it was a different time back then (which some how explains why donkey would suddenly talk)"... Instead of admitting that maybe their foundation is shifting sand (SEE WHAT I DID THERE) and therefore their whole religion is, as you say, suspect. I mean, yeah it takes balls to do this, but it's discouraging the amount of cowardly people out there who won't even try.

That may be true for some, but the New Testament did reframe the Old. That is explicitly written in it. I am not trying to argue for Christianity ITT, but saying why an incomplete understanding of the religion allows You to be quickly dismissed. Hopefully seeing my posts you can understand how it all ties together. Its far from illogical, but does require an open mind. As does the appeal to time that is used in evolution. Why so many intelligent people are stuck in thinking a singular way is fascinating to me.

If you are truly interested in getting through to the Christian you have to speak to them in their language. This is called basic communication theory. You must speak to people in a language they understand. A way that allows for a God and his interjection into time & history and then shows they are wrong - even if you do not concede the point, just start with their assumption.

Pointing out that you believe a Donkey could never talk is a weak argument to those that believe God created the Earth. I mean, if they believe this, then the donkey issue is simple. Their bible is filled with God's supernatural intervention.

I know you are hostile to all of this, that's fine. But if you have any desire to understand how to talk to these people in a persuasive way, then see what I have written. You communicate to people on their terms and then bring them to yours. You do not start in your frame of reference. Basic communication.
 
I was about to call you a fucking retard, until I realized that there is no way that English is your primary language, so I'll take it easy on you.

Yes I do realize how silly that all sounds and that is why I am not a Christian. If you'll re-read what I wrote maybe it will make more sense to you now.

@REIMktg - when an entire religion is based on a virgin birth, it's hard to get anyone with a scientific mind to take it seriously. And if you study the old pagan religions you'll see that as silly as the idea of a virgin birth is, the idea goes back thousands of years before Jesus was born. So not only was it a silly idea, but it wasn't even an original idea.

I was not talking to you.

I was just picking a line, that Christians strongly believe and base their lives and faith upon.

It just happened that I was quoting you.

Thanks for taking it easy on me...
 
You communicate to people on their terms and then bring them to yours. You do not start in your frame of reference. Basic communication.

I've always thought there was no "bringing them to my side" if you are speaking to people that believe in supernatural beings, talking donkeys and virgin births. It's no different than trying get a delusional schizophrenic to understand his/her delusions. The parallels of Schizophrenia and Christianity are striking, btw, believing in specific and particular imaginary beings would usually be grounds for mental illness, no?

Anyways, I understand that most people are lost causes. But what interests me is the people that suddenly wake up. How did this happen? What was the switch in their brain that suddenly made them see? Was it sudden or was it gradual? Is it a personality trait or is it environmental? Is there an age limit? I know there is a link between intelligence and religion, but what's the catalyst?
 
I know there is a link between intelligence and religion

What's the link?

I certainly hope you aren't insinuating that more intelligent people are somehow less likely to be individuals of faith.

Issac Newton would beg to differ with this viewpoint, and I'd like to see an example of a more developed, intelligent, or logical mind from any epoch.

He once said, “I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.”
 
That is why I said you cannot debate Doctrine. Because the logical consistency of it for a Christian is sound.

Everyone already understands that for many Christians "the Bible is true because it says so in the Bible." A whole different can of worms gets opened when you try to make that sound more fancy than it is by saying it has been vetted, doesn't contradict science, etc.


I certainly hope you aren't insinuating that more intelligent people are somehow less likely to be individuals of faith.

Issac Newton would beg to differ with this viewpoint, and I'd like to see an example of a more developed, intelligent, or logical mind from any epoch.

Black people on average score lower on tests. Neil deGrasse Tyson would not beg to differ, as I'm sure he is well aware of this.

The majority of "intelligent" people in the US are believers, but atheists on average are more intelligent than the general public.

The southern states overall score lower on tests. Southerners are more likely to be believers. Blacks are also the most likely among the races.

Women are more likely to have long hair, but millions of men have long hair, millions of women have short hair...
 
What's the link?

I certainly hope you aren't insinuating that more intelligent people are somehow less likely to be individuals of faith.

Issac Newton would beg to differ with this viewpoint, and I'd like to see an example of a more developed, intelligent, or logical mind from any epoch.

He once said, “I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.”

Really? You've never seen the research? Like:

High levels of religiosity have been linked to lower levels of intelligence in a number of recent studies. ...here in a large
sample of US adults...We measured six dimensions of religiosity ....The results indicated that lower intelligence is most strongly associated with higher levels of fundamentalism...
[/B]http://www.midus.wisc.edu/findings/pdfs/1197.pdf

And then there's this fairly famous graph:

800px-LynnHarveyNyborg-CountryBelieveGod-Intelligence.svg.png


But really, just google it, dude. It's fairly well known about the correlations between IQ and Religiosity. And yeah, yeah correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation (an unfortunate mantra for the scholarly community who have to deal with large groups of people that just don't like what they're reading) but there's plenty of evidence out there indicating a general higher level of intelligence in the non-religious vs the religious. Does that mean all atheists are brilliant? Fuck no. And does that mean that all intellectually gifted people (like Netwon) are Atheists? of course not. As the first study illuminates, there are definitely other factors involved.
 
Here's a point.....

Anybody notice the major world religious figure missing from that obnoxious little cartoon????

You know, the guy that actually WAS a rapist and pedophile??

Where is he??

And I wonder why he isn't there??

Any ideas??

lol Locutus
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+3
#4Re: No One Murdered Because Of This Image

3 days ago

Kinda relates to these later articles:

Dear Muslims, Christians, Hindus, and Jews,

You’re living in the age of the Internet. Your religion will be mocked, and the mockery will find its way to you. Get over it.


If you don’t, what’s happening this week will happen again and again. A couple of idiots with a video camera and an Internet connection will trigger riots across the globe. They’ll bait you into killing one another.

Stop it. Stop following their script.
 
Here's a point.....

Anybody notice the major world religious figure missing from that obnoxious little cartoon????

You know, the guy that actually WAS a rapist and pedophile??

Where is he??

And I wonder why he isn't there??

Any ideas??
Um, your elevator doesnt go all the way up to the top floor, does it? :conehead: