Today's example of how Atheists are so awesome!

[Johnny68]

Jesus is a work of fiction, just like everything else contained in the book of fairy tales known as the bible.

https://www.atheists.org/activism/resources/did-jesus-exist/

 

[byco42]

Jesus is a work of fiction, just like everything else contained in the book of fairy tales known as the bible.

https://www.atheists.org/activism/resources/did-jesus-exist/

Takes consistent, continual, constant, and concentrated effort to deny God. Takes none of that to accept Him.

Someday, you will weary of the effort and struggle of self-existence. Until then, keep pushing that rope uphill. It will never get to the top of it.

#30

 

[Michchamp]

I don't believe people who actually and initially wrote the books that are in the Bible believed they were all false. I believe they were recording actual events, or representing them in stories, depending on the book. But I also believe that scripture is divinely inspired.

Why would they do this? Why would people risk death for a known lie? Consider the actual process of recording scripture in the first century. Who would expend that brand of tedium unless what they wrote was true and important to document?

I don't think that's the great argument you think it is. Being willing to die for a cause doesn't validate the righeousness of the cause.

It's not a matter of it being a "known lie"... they just had a vested personal interest in it being true. Plenty of unsavory examples of martyrdom throughout history... right up through every Nazi that fought to the death or committed suicide in lieu of being captured in WWII, or every mafiosi that lived and died by the sword, putting their personal reputation ahead of their life.

Another recent example...

"Willing to die for a known lie..."

of course they believed it at the time.

 

[Johnny68]

Takes consistent, continual, constant, and concentrated effort to deny God. Takes none of that to accept Him.

Someday, you will weary of the effort and struggle of self-existence. Until then, keep pushing that rope uphill. It will never get to the top of it.

#30

Nah, it takes around 5 minutes once you're old enough to realize your parents indoctrinated you into the same silly beliefs they themselves had been forced to believe.

There is just something broken in the minds of people who reach adulthood and continue believing in fairy tales.

 

[byco42]

I don't think that's the great argument you think it is. Being willing to die for a cause doesn't validate the righeousness of the cause.

It's not a matter of it being a "known lie"... they just had a vested personal interest in it being true. Plenty of unsavory examples of martyrdom throughout history... right up through every Nazi that fought to the death or committed suicide in lieu of being captured in WWII, or every mafiosi that lived and died by the sword, putting their personal reputation ahead of their life.

"Willing to die for a known lie..."

of course they believed it at the time.

Didn't Brother Rice offer you anything in the way of how Christian martyrs faced and endured death? No accounts of martyred saints in the classroom?

Sts. Agnes, Rose, Philomena, Lawrence, Stephen, Thomas More, the human torches of Nero ... HERE

Comparing Christian Martyrs to Nazis, Mafia, and Cultists is rather grotesque, given the vast disparity in what they were "fighting for". And suicide is not martyrdom. And you missed the obvious inclusion of the Japanese Budo code.

 

[Michchamp]

Didn't Brother Rice offer you anything in the way of how Christian martyrs faced and endured death? No accounts of martyred saints in the classroom?

Sts. Agnes, Rose, Philomena, Lawrence, Stephen, Thomas More, the human torches of Nero ... HERE

Comparing Christian Martyrs to Nazis, Mafia, and Cultists is rather grotesque, given the vast disparity in what they were "fighting for". And suicide is not martyrdom. And you missed the obvious inclusion of the Japanese Budo code.

Well, I'm not intending to slander Christian martyrs by the comparison, just pointing out that lots of people give their lives for a cause, and to use that as an argument for Christianity is therefore problematic. Also - to me at least - I'd question what sort of benevolent, omnipotent, all-powerful deity would sit there and watch his adherents give their lives - their only lives - up in horribly agonizing fashion like that just to show some sort of allegiance to him. But I digress...

rest assured Brother Rice, and my even more authoritarian, and elitist Catholic grade school did their best to indoctrinate me into Catholicicism and it's "supremacy" among all the various religions I could have believed in.

Although I did always get the sense that the Brother Rice theology dept. was undermined by other departments' focus on open-minded & honest pursuits of knowledge. Like if they really wanted me to walk out of there ready to picket abortion clinics and go to church every week, they should've had the English department (and also natural science) clear their reading lists with theology first.... and also taken pains to ensure we went to places like Hillsdale or Calvin College, the higher ed equivalent of homeschooling... not UM.

 

[byco42]

Well, I'm not intending to slander Christian martyrs by the comparison, just pointing out that lots of people give their lives for a cause, and to use that as an argument for Christianity is therefore problematic. Also - to me at least - I'd question what sort of benevolent, omnipotent, all-powerful deity would sit there and watch his adherents give their lives - their only lives - up in horribly agonizing fashion like that just to show some sort of allegiance to him. But I digress...

You mean like His Son did? Martyrdom is a punch-ticket to Heaven. And if you knew their stories, you'd know the details of their deaths and that they oftentimes were not as "agonizing" as you believe.

And, for those who did suffer, they did so willingly and temporarily. The reward far outvalues the punishment.

But these martyrs did not die to go to Heaven; they died because they would not renounce the Church, Jesus, et.al. They still are dying every day.

 

[byco42]

Nah, it takes around 5 minutes once you're old enough to realize your parents indoctrinated you into the same silly beliefs they themselves had been forced to believe.

There is just something broken in the minds of people who reach adulthood and continue believing in fairy tales.

So be it. I'm broken. BTW, I was not "indoctrinated" as a child. My catechesis began as an adult. One day, we'll all draw a final breath and then we'll know what's what.

I believe that you and I were created with intent as individuals to love God and neighbor. If it's a "fairy tale" as you say, at least it's a noble one.

 

[Johnny68]

So be it. I'm broken. BTW, I was not "indoctrinated" as a child. My catechesis began as an adult. One day, we'll all draw a final breath and then we'll know what's what.

I believe that you and I were created with intent as individuals to love God and neighbor. If it's a "fairy tale" as you say, at least it's a noble one.

You don't need to believe in invisible sky wizards to be a good person. As a matter of fact, in today's society, it seems to me that some of the most hateful people in the country invoke their religious beliefs in an attempt to justify their hate.

 

[byco42]

You don't need to believe in invisible sky wizards to be a good person. As a matter of fact, in today's society, it seems to me that some of the most hateful people in the country invoke their religious beliefs in an attempt to justify their hate.

Goodness and love for neighbor does not originate from within us. For those who abuse their faith, well ... that's not new.

I've been where you are. I'm not there now.

 

[Michchamp]

Goodness and love for neighbor does not originate from within us. For those who abuse their faith, well ... that's not new.

I've been where you are. I'm not there now.

I was where he was when I was like 23, 24.

Now I just bask in the awesomeness that is atheism and live and let live.

 

[mhughes0021]

Didn't Brother Rice offer you anything in the way of how Christian martyrs faced and endured death? No accounts of martyred saints in the classroom?

Sts. Agnes, Rose, Philomena, Lawrence, Stephen, Thomas More, the human torches of Nero ... HERE

Comparing Christian Martyrs to Nazis, Mafia, and Cultists is rather grotesque, given the vast disparity in what they were "fighting for". And suicide is not martyrdom. And you missed the obvious inclusion of the Japanese Budo code.

Lucifer is the king of the martyrs. Sacrificed eternity of heaven and beauty in order to teach humankind free will. Are you a fan of his?

 

[byco42]

I was where he was when I was like 23, 24.

Now I just bask in the awesomeness that is atheism and live and let live.

To what extent?

 

[byco42]

Lucifer is the king of the martyrs. Sacrificed eternity of heaven and beauty in order to teach humankind free will. Are you a fan of his?

No Lucifer was just a rebellious angel. He is the antithesis of a martyr. What he "taught" me was the peril of rejecting God. Then, I do not adore God order to gain Heaven, I adore him because it's what he is due. It's simply Justice, the first Cardinal virtue. I am not here otherwise. I owe everything to Him, and to his Son.

As expressed in every Mass:

"It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, through Christ our Lord."​

 

[Spartanmack]

Jesus is a work of fiction, just like everything else contained in the book of fairy tales known as the bible.

https://www.atheists.org/activism/resources/did-jesus-exist/

You sure seem to spend a lot of time "debunking" Christianity on a sports forum for someone who's religion says you only have 6 years before the world is going to end - especially for someone who doesn't believe in an afterlife or eternal soul.

Given your priests' track record predicting catastrophe, you might want to heed them - it's almost impossible to always get it wrong, they're gonna be right about something someday. What if it's this one?

Shouldn't you be spending that time doing something more interesting? If this is on your bucket list, it shows a serious lack of imagination.

 

[Johnny68]

You sure seem to spend a lot of time "debunking" Christianity on a sports forum for someone who's religion says you only have 6 years before the world is going to end - especially for someone who doesn't believe in an afterlife or eternal soul.

Given your priests' track record predicting catastrophe, you might want to heed them - it's almost impossible to always get it wrong, they're gonna be right about something someday. What if it's this one?

Shouldn't you be spending that time doing something more interesting? If this is on your bucket list, it shows a serious lack of imagination.

Holy crap dude, are you having a stroke? Literally nothing you just said makes the least bit of sense. Obviously you're upset by someone calling you out for believing in ancient fairy tales but there's still something very wrong going on here.

 

[Spartanmack]

Holy crap dude, are you having a stroke? Literally nothing you just said makes the least bit of sense. Obviously you're upset by someone calling you out for believing in ancient fairy tales but there's still something very wrong going on here.

I know none of it makes sense that's why I'm mocking you for it but you believe every word of it.

Climate is your religion, plain and simple - the government and science priests you worship demand absolute loyalty, the say the science is incontrovertible and you believe it. That's religion, not science.

In 2019, one of the really smart people you trust in government (insert clever emoji indicating mockery here) said the world would end in 12 years if we didn't spend at least $14T to tear down and rebuild our society and economy - with a primary focus on racial justice, because the climate is racist too. According to their climate clock, we now only have 6 years, not 8 years to act. We have one here in NYC in Union Square, one of the busiest hubs in the City. It's beautiful and you can't miss it - millions of people see it every year

It's dogmatic, absolute, you're condemned or at least doomed if you don't believe it. You even have the possibility of redemption - if you give up your freedom and hand over $14T to your cult leaders. That's a religion.

You mock religion at the same time you're a follower of one based on junk science and fear mongering. Anyway, don't you have anything better to do with your 6 years?

 

[Michchamp]

To what extent?

To the extent this ever-changing world in which we're living makes me give in and cry. Then...

*CUE LIVE AND LET DIE*

 

[byco42]

To the extent this ever-changing world in which we're living makes me give in and cry. Then...

*CUE LIVE AND LET DIE*

Not one of Billy Shepherd's better songs, IMO.

 

[Michchamp]

Not one of Billy Shepherd's better songs, IMO.

aw crap, I forgot about that.