Grandma's Roasting in Hell, Being Tortured by Demons, Honey. Now Eat Your Peas!

There's a lesson here somewhere.

I've probably mentioned this before, but my first crisis of faith occurred when I was six and a nun told me that dogs don't go to Heaven. Really, what's the point of Heaven if there won't be dogs* in it**?

Now imagine if that nun had told me my beloved grandparents were being tortured by demons for all eternity. Only the nun is your mom. And she says it like it's a good thing.

I know many of us have many unsaved family members, spouses, parents, sisters, brothers, etc.

But, as a parent, I think having an unsaved child(ren), no matter how old they are, is heartwretching and I am having a very difficult time with this.

As a parent we have tried to protect our children since birth and now when they don't know Jesus, it is like watching them die a slow death.

I have 2 children, a son 44 and a daughter 43.

My daughter is not saved, lives in Florida, never married, no children, beautiful, but is a party girl. She doesn't talk to me much or to the rest of the family either. I think deep down she is not as happy as she pretends to be. If I mention Jesus to her, she tells me to have fun thinking about my "afterlife" while she does everything she can to enjoy this one.

Yeah, she sounds miserable.

My son wa saved over 20 years ago during a relationship with a born again believer. All 3 of us attended church together. He was a changed man. But the relatioship ended and my son didn't show alot of fruit in later years, But, he always assured me he knew Jesus and would be in Heaven with me. Always! A couple months ago he told me he changed his mind and he thinks there are many ways to Heaven as he can't fathom the thought that his paternal grandparents whom he adored (but were as Catholic as they come) are in Hell.

I like him. Poor guy. Can you imagine being raised by this woman. "You know your grandparents, sweetie? Yes, they loved you very much. They played with you and hugged you and got you great presents and they're screaming their lungs out while being tortured by demons right now. Right now! Isn't that great?" Srsly.

I have to admit that knowing the Rapture is upon us, I am already grieving for my children. I can't stand the agony, even though I know in my heart that if God wants them for His own, He will find a way.

This may sound awful, but I think I could deal better if they died KNOWING Jesus (prior to the Rapture) then knowing that they could die without knowing Jesus or that we could be taken at any time and they will be left behind.

Wow. That's . . . um . . . I dunno, maybe German has a word for that? English sure doesn't. I have never ever looked at any of my loved ones and thought, "You know, I'd feel better about things if you were dead. Right now. Yeah, that would make me more comfortable." That's . . . O.o

How do you find joy when you are a parent of lost children and you never know when the phone will ring with bad news with an accident or we never know when we will be raptured when things appear that it will likely be soon?

See, now I can answer that question: Take a lesson from your son and your daughter and stop believing silly shit like this and enjoy the life you have with them now, before it's too late.

*Or cats or horses or bunnies or hamsters, etc.

**I can't remember who came up with this idea, but I read once that Heaven and Hell are the same place, it's just that two different people will find the same thing to be both pleasing and displeasing, so for me, Heaven is endless fields of puppies, but for someone who is scared of dogs, that's simultaneously Hell. It's really quite a clever idea.

Kill All the Sheep

This is the face of evil.

The Slacktivist has made this point before, but it's worth repeating:

According to LaHaye, the foremost responsibility of Christians is to be on guard against the coming Antichrist. Since that Antichrist, he says, will present himself as a wolf in sheep's clothing, LaHaye advises his readers to be wary of anything sheeplike. A vigilant shepherd, the authors insist, should kill all sheep on sight, just to be safe.

If someone comes along speaking of peace, unity, love or justice, that person might be just using those things as a mask for evil purposes, so presume they are guilty. If someone talks like Christ, they might really just be a lying Anti-Christ, so anything that smacks of loving your neighbor, or loving your enemy, or blessed are the poor or the peacemakers should be carefully avoided.

You want to see this in action outside of the Left Behind books? Just hop on over to the crowd that made them such a success, and see what Kill All the Sheep theology has done to its adherents, in a thread about the Dalai Lama. A few select tweets from HHDL (His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Every time I see it, I am reminded to have my cholesterol checked. I'm sure HHDL wouldn't mind.) to remind you just how unabashedly sheepy the man is.

If you use violence, you may get some temporary satisfaction. But the nature of violence is unpredictable - unexpected results often happen.

Anger may bring extra energy, but it eclipses the best part of our brain: its rationality. The energy of anger is almost always unreliable.

In human relations, compassion contributes to promoting peace and harmony.

We need to make a concerted effort to develop compassion; we must use all the events in our daily life to transform out thoughts & behavior.

True compassion is impartial and bears with it a feeling of responsibility for the welfare and happiness of others.

When we ignore the question of the impact our actions have on others' well-being, inevitably we end up hurting them.

I wonder if it's forbidden to hug the Dalai Lama. That's the terribly dangerous individual devotees of Left Behind feel compelled to fear and hate.

No, the Dali Lama is not the Antichrist*.

I was reading a thread concerning the Dali Lama's appearance in New York and the apparent reverence of the crowd.

Now, I have seen the Dali Lama interviewed numerous times. He is a humble, funny, entertaining man.

He seems like a nice man, a likable guy.

He is a apostate of hell. Sad, isn't it.

What will the world think when they see a likable, humble (false appearance), funny, caring (or so it seems), brilliant emerging world leader. He will seem to have all the answers but is really empowered
by satan.

They will follow him hook, line, and sinker.

Those of you who are reading this who are not saved, I implore you to consider the above. The time is growing short and today may be the day your life will end. I am not trying to be melodramatic, I am trying to tell you the truth.

Wow. "Hey guys, be nice to people!"- the same message of the Christian savior- is a sign of the apostate of hell.

And when HHDL attended an Interfaith Hunger Initiative (you know, feeding the poor, I think somebody had something to say about that)

Miner said it himself: It's all about him and his publicity and not about The Lord. Beware of those who want to bring glory to themselves and not The Lord.

Yeah, that's HHDL, always about himself. Such a selfish man.

Good is evil, evil is good. A man who devotes his life to compassion and peace and understanding is, quite possibly, the greatest evil the world has every known.

I used to find the Left Behind posts amusing. Now they scare me, a lot.

*Rapture Ready strictly forbids what they call "pinning the tail on the Antichrist", probably for the same reason they forbid predicting a date for the Rapture- when it fails to happen, you look very, very foolish. So anytime they suggest someone is the Antichrist, they always deny that he's actually the Antichrist.

Man Was Not Made for the Sabbath

The Slacktivist has inspired me again, as he frequently does, with his third post on Sex & Money.

You should read the entire post, well, the entire series- fuck it, the entire blog! (we'll wait)- but here is the money quote for me:

I've been describing this as an evangelical Christian dilemma because that's who I am and where I'm coming from. But this is a human failing, not a peculiarly evangelical one. We all have this tendency and temptation to approach whatever we regard as holy writ as though we were paralegals, compiling citations and precedents for a moral indictment of other people. Every religion or ethical framework ever known has had some variation of the Golden Rule, and the adherents of every such system have at some point been tempted to regard that imperative as insufficient and inadequate, seeking and finding additional rules until those rules eventually come to conflict with and supersede that central principle.

"Love is the fulfillment of the law," the Bible says. When love is perceived as a violation of the law, something has gone horribly amiss. When the rulebook is telling you that more affordable, decent housing for seniors is wrong, then something is wrong with the way you're reading the rulebook.

Yes. Of course. If you're an atheist, you go a little further: if the rulebook really does tell you that, ditch the rulebook entirely.

Rules exist for a purpose, to guide and protect the people who live under them. 25mph isn't arbitrary, it's the fastest speed that safely allows one to traverse neighborhood streets. We don't punish driving while intoxicated because we are killjoys, but rather because innocent people die when others choose to drive under the influence. Rules are a good thing, I agree. Utter anarchy only serves the wealthy and well-armed, so I'll suffer a few misapplied rules. What I will not suffer is the worship of rules over people, the very definition of fundamentalism.

The reason I can't be a fundamentalist is that the rules will never mean more to me than the people. "No abortions ever!" they cry, and I weep for a raped 9-year-old, impregnated with twins, saved from certain death by an abortion. "It says right here that gay is wrong!" they rage, but all I can see is a gay man prevented by lack of marriage from seeing his love of 40 years one last time before he dies.

I don't understand you, fundamentalist. I don't. I try, harder than you can realize, I really do, but your rules, your words on a page, will never- not ever- mean more to me than the people they affect. You see principles, I see people. You tell me I am evil, and I wonder what part of love for my fellow man is evil. The further I move from faith, the more I understand that the greatest of these is love.

I Totally Told You So

note: I am going to deal with the Boobquake Troll (I didn't even participate in the BQ. I have no idea what his issue is), but I feel I need a new picture of my breasts. It's like a special occasion- for my breasts! Probably tomorrow.

On to the actual post:

Nothing says "I care about your immortal soul" quite like a poorly written, mean-spirited, I-told-you-so poem, right? Um, no. Look, nobody likes to hear "I told you so". Nobody. Nothing will make you that person I used to talk to, but now I can only regard with seething revulsion quite as quickly as "I told you so". Unless you're a fundy, apparently, in which case "Nyah, nyah, nyah!" is a valid form of evangelism.

"Salvation Contingency Plan"

If you find yourself left behind,
when you see me go.
Understand, and do take heed,
for I did tell you so!

What if I don't see you go? Do you still tell me so?

You should have listened, you were warned!
All the facts laid right on out,
but you did laugh and you did scoff
and all the time, you did doubt.....

Well, I'm sure I occasionally ate and slept. I probably also stopped doubting long enough to watch Lost and go to work. I dunno. I'm guessing no more than 5% of my time is really devoted to doubting, and that's including the 1% for scoffing. Heck, I Can Has Cheezburger is at least 7% by itself!

Now, you want to ask all things
And I'll tell you as best I can,
this is truly your last chance....
Your Salvation Contingency Plan!!!

All the things? All the things what? This is rising to the level of Engrish.

Turn to God right straight away
Do not dare hesitate.
Confess your sins, that he is Lord,
And do it before it's too late!

The Lord is not a 24/7 provider.

Get a Bible, study and pray.
Do not trust the news or TV....
They will lie and tell you things,
Warning: You could be deceived...

These things again! What things?! Will they also tell me stuff?

Remember what I shared with you?
"In the Twinkling of an eye"...
That song I played all time... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoWKA...eature=related
"I see him coming in the sky"...!

I lost a perfectly good keyboard to the line "I see him coming in the sky" because I am secretly a 12-year-old boy.

He called our names, each one of us.
Christians from all over the world.........
We are in Heaven with Jesus now,
that is the truth they won't tell...

So, you're dead?

No, we're not dead!

In Heaven with Jesus- dead.

No, we're raptured not dead!

But, what did my mother tell me about Grandpa and pets? In Heaven with Jesus.

This is totally different!

How?!

I told you so, that's why!

Go to this website: http://www.raptureready.com
Print all that you can,
The Internet won't last for long....
"Left Behind-- what do I do"?
Read that and you can't go wrong.

Find a Church, hidden away....
But remember, don't trust any man.
I know-- it will be very hard;
Your Salvation Contingency Plan!!!

Wait, I have to find a hidden church, but I can't trust anyone? Is this the fundy equivalent of imagining the sound of one hand clapping?

DO NOT take any marks,
no tattoos, chips or scans...
You'll not be able to buy or sell,
so store all the food that you can.

The food that I can't buy. Um, okay. Oh, and $5 that the Mark of the Beast is a tribal tramp stamp. That evokes barbed wire. And references Kid Rock.

The Antichrist, much you will hear....
He is not God, you should know.
I don't care what they say he does.
I am telling you what is so!

And I'm using exclamation points! That's! How! You! Know! It's! True!

You will be asked, who is your Lord?
Your answer will cost you your life,
But do not fret, for you will be saved,
and return with Jesus in flight.....

This death will be entirely different from the Rapture. Totally different. You know, since I'm going to end up dead and in Heaven anyway, why shouldn't I just say the sinner's prayer and then kill myself right after the Rapture? Doesn't that seem a teensy bit more efficient?

There is so much more in between....
but you'll have to learn as you go.
The Lord will give you wisdom and peace,
but you'll be in a world you don't know.

I could tell you all about this, but the point of this poem isn't useful information, it's "neener, neener, neener!"

I really wish you were with me now,
Thus, I've done all that I can.......
Now the only way to survive;
Your Salvation Contingency Plan!

The End

Coco
4/30/10

That's how you know there isn't a god. If there were, ending writing with "The End" would have been addressed in at least in the top 3 of the Ten Commandments.

There'll Be Polygamy in the Streets

gay, marriage, traditional, polygamy, mormon, lds, fundamentalist,

About every other post from a "traditional marriage" blogger invokes the scare tactic of polygamy, and it didn't strike me why until last night, while I was doing the dishes. My reaction to this scare tactic has always been "and? how many people even want to do that, anyway?"

Then it hit me. A lot of the most "traditional marriage" bloggers are mormon, and like all religions, the LDS has skeletons in its closets and embarassing family members that show up at the most inconvenient of times. LDS's biggest skeleton is the polygamy practiced by the religion's founders, and still practiced today by fundamentalist splinter groups*.

I think the mormons fear that as soon as same sex marriage becomes legal nationwide, their spiritual cousins will come crawling out of the woodwork to demand that polygamy be made legal, which would be quite an embarrassing scene, indeed. It's like holding a family reunion, planning for a year to make everything perfect, and then Uncle Norman shows up, punches Grandpa Fred, pukes in the potato salad and passes out. Although in this particular analogy, Uncle Norman shows up with his 6 wives, the youngest his 14-year-old niece/cousin/half-sister.

I suggest that the next time a "traditional marriage" blogger invokes polygamy as a natural consequence of same sex marriage, you should ask them why they think that, and then end with "oh, yeah, mormons were into that at the beginning. I get it."

*LDS does not currently support polygamy, and has not for quite some time. By no means am I suggesting that mainstream mormons engage in polygamy, nor are they responsible for the abuses of fundamentalist splinter groups.

Good for Me, but not for Thee

evangelism, fundamentalist, fundamentalist, evangelical, christian, reiki
And the winner of the Most Clueless Fundy Award goes to scrappergirl for this comment on her friend who is into reiki:

funny story, though. one of my friends went to a Reiki thing and became a certified Reiki practitioner a couple of years ago, and shortly thereafter she came over and was gushing about this Reiki thing (i knew very little of it at the time) and it was shortly after I was in a car accident (that i still suffer from the effects of today) and was in pain. She tried SO hard to let me let her Reiki me. She was like "I don't even have to touch you" and i was like, "well then how will that help me?" and she was talking about the energy, etc, and i was like "well, where does that energy come from?" and she was like "from God". I go, "well how do YOu know that?". It was the craziest thing, bc she was so adamant about how it would make me feel better, etc, and i was not going to let her reiki me! It was practically like she was trying to pressure me into it...kept bringing it up.

Would that be in any way similar to the way evangelicals just won't let the whole Jesus thing go, scrappergirl? Just a teensy bit? Not even a little?

It's Illiterate and Ignorant

atheism, atheist, christian, christianity, fundamentalism, fundamentalist, fundy, funny, god, ignorance, jesus, poe, religion
From the Rapture Ready message boards, WarrioroftheFather (the truth reveils[sic] itself) declares the War on Athiesm[sic]!!! Behold the random cApiTalizatiOn, bizarre grammar, humorous misspellings and amazing ignorance that is Wisdom and Truth:

I think we should all work together and Bring out the true Flaws of their False Religion. atheism. is. not. a. religion. Atheists Believe in Nothing more than flawed scientific theories. you'll see.

I thought of a couple questions that should need explaining on from their Opinion/Side of the Conflict. wait for it.

1) If the Big Bang did occur form a single point of energy or heat, exploded like a Supernova does. please, please, just a damn verb! Why didn't it implode and just turned into a Giant Black Hole? Distorted Space? aaaahhh! why doesn't your head just implode into a tiny black hole? Anyway, a concise explanation of Big Bang Theory.

2) What explains why we are more Logical, Understanding, and Reasonble than any other Creature on Earth or it's history, if we Developed during the same time frame? a concise explanation of evolution After this supposed Meteor crash now he's moved on to the fact that man and dinosaurs did not coexist. and made the planet desolate. Did Dinosaurs own shops and drive cars? i can't even imagine wtf he's talking about here. apparently somebody found dinosaur bones right next to the fossilized remains of giant cars?

3) What explains Genders? sexes is the word your looking for. gender has to do with societal expectations. Why do we only have two? realistically, we have more than two. there's hermaphrodites, XYY, XXX, XXYY, etc. Why would energy create a species that requires Birth? yeah. wow. Why is it unscientific that Cats and Dogs cannot mate? is this a poe? They still forms of Life. what do you have against verbs?

See where this is going... not really, no.

I Urge Everyone here to think of Questions that would reinforce or pose Real Questioning actual intelligent questions would be nice to Atheists and Such and such? agnostics? unaffiliateds? why they are so Flawed in Believing why we are Deluded or Holding on to Fairy Tales. stop it! just stop abusing the english language. it did nothing to you! Their Belief in Flawed Science will get them Nowhere.

If I get Enough Support from Most Christians here we can Truly Save some Lost People before it's too Late, before Judgement is upon them! not with those arguments, you won't.

I want us together to build up on this, then with Mods permission post it as a sticky.

Pray for New Found Wisdom! And Show them Truth! the truth of what? catdogs? car driving dinosaurs?

Comparing Fundamentalism and Abusive Relationships

fundamentalism, fundamentalist, religion, god, jesus, bible, sex, sexuality, abuse, women, misogyny,
I started thinking of this after reading a post by the Accidental Historian. For some reason, the post hit me hard, way harder than it should have. Then it struck me- I'd been triggered. I'd suddenly seen a connection between fundamentalism and abuse, and that got me thinking: What is the difference between religious fundamentalism and an abusive relationship? As far as I can tell, not much.

[trigger warning- abusive relationships]

Fundamentalism: Humans are depraved and hopeless without god.
If you've ever been in an abusive relationship, this will sound familiar, only you've probably heard it put this way: You're nothing without me. You're ugly, stupid and nobody but me would ever want to be with you. I don't even know why I stick around.

Fundamentalism: Do what I tell you, or you will spend forever in hell. God doesn't want people to burn for all eternity, but if you don't follow the rules, he has no choice.
Again, this should sound familiar. If you would just do what I tell you, I wouldn't have to punish you. You burned the toast, it's your fault. It's not like I like want to do this, but I have to- otherwise how would you learn?

Fundamentalism: Watch your every though, because god knows and judges all of them. And they're really, really bad.
An abuser doesn't just want to control your every move, they want to control your every thought, as well. You can never admit to liking a movie or TV show your abuser doesn't, and forget about having your own hobbies. Just say what will make your abuser happy- until one day you find that you really just can't think of anything they don't want you to.

Fundamentalism: Chastity and purity demand that you where these clothes- not those stylish clothes or those comfortable clothes you might actually want to wear.
Sound familiar? If you've ever been berated for wearing a pretty new blouse that shows, well, nothing much, or had someone cut into pieces the clothes they don't like, it should. What, do you want people to think you're a big slut? Or maybe you are a big slut . . .

Fundamentalism: A woman's sexuality is not her own. It first belongs to her father, and then she "gives" her virginity to her husband. She should please him on demand, but not really enjoy it all that much.
If you've ever been in an abusive relationship, you know exactly how demeaning all of this is. And that's exactly what it's supposed to be.

Fundamentalism: You can only associate with others who believe as you do. Nonbelievers are depraved sinners and you should have nothing to do with them.
This is the abuser's most potent weapon: making absolutely certain their victim has no one to turn to, nowhere to run, by isolating them from everyone who cares. If all you ever hear is the same opinion, the same commands, the same thoughts, it's hard to conceive of any other way to think.

I think this is why fundamentalism, and the willing embrace of fundamentalism, is so hard for me to take. It's like watching people march eagerly towards what I worked so hard to escape. And there's me, watching the parade, shouting, "Hey! You'll never entirely get out of this. It will scar you forever in places you didn't even know could be hurt. Stop!"

A Sad Way to Live

religion, religious, atheism, atheist, rapture, premillenial, dispensationalism, fundamentalism, fundamentalist, fundy, jesus, god,
The following discussion on the Rapture Ready message boards really makes me wonder if there is some sort of correlation between fundamentalism and depression. Their view of life is just so . . . sad. Life has become for them (or perhaps has always been) this arduous journey through a hostile land, filled with hardship and despair, best over soon. It seems that the wonder and joy that I find in life is entirely absent theirs. Reading their posts is very much like talking to someone suffering from depression.

Aby777: please!!!! Lord come in 2009 !!!!!
im so tired of this nasty world!! what else JESUS just RAPTURE US!!!!!
do bad things happen in this world? yes. is there no beauty and wonder and joy? apparently not for Aby777.

kgreen20: Yes, God, please!!!!!!!!!!!Amen.
can I make fun of the mentally ill for overuse of exclamation points?

JABowman: Yeah, this world is getting worse by the nano second, I'm ready to spend eternity with my Savior!
imagine feeling that with every passing fraction of a second, the world is getting worse. that's . . . bleak.

chadishere07: I'm with ya'll Im tired of sinning and screwing up I just wanna praise Jesus being perfect
i'm honestly unsure if he means he wants to praise jesus for being perfect, or if he want to be perfect by praising jesus. either way, that seems like a seriously boring way to spend ETERNITY.

Jesuslover 2002: dont worry it wont be longer.. Scripture He who is coming will come and will not tarry. it wont be much longer... so hang in there its almost over "so hang in there, it's almost over" is what i tell myself during dental work. these people regard life the way i do dental work. i've had a tooth pulled instead of getting a root canal done, that's how much i hate dental work.

Waiting4Jesus regards life the way I regarded high school (somewhat more positively than dental work): My soul is so weary and I'm so sick of this place. I pray every single day to the Lord to come quickly.

InHis Service: I used to pray "Lord call us home soon" but now I pray "Lord call us home today and at night it's Lord call us home tonight.... soon is too long now!! what is going on in these peoples' lives? seriously.

Not Perfect, But Forgiven sums it all up: second that. This world loses its flavor everyday. If Heaven is a lush jungle teeming with activity, then earth is a barren field with weeds and pot-holes scattered throughout. There's just nothing here. Our minds are so focused on home, no material wealth is desirable at this point. We are too close to our blessed hope. It's all about listening to the Holy Spirit and moving forward to that day.

life is a "barren field with weeds and pot-holes scattered throughout"? no beauty, no wonder, no pleasure, no love, no laughter, nothing worthwhile at all? i'm not even talking about "material wealth", i'm talking about the basic joy of being alive. how can anyone celebrate losing that?

It would be entirely unethical, I'm sure, but I would love to dose each and every one of these people with Prozac, lots of it, and see if they remained rapture obsessed fundamentalists. I think some of them would not.

Rapture Ready Continues to Prove that Fundamentalism Makes You a Bigoted Asshole

religion, religious, fundamentalism, fundamentalist, fundy, christian, christianity, jesus, god, bigotry, gay, homophobia, homosexual, buttars
Senator Chris Buttars of Utah (of course) has yet again stepped outside the lines to say the most hateful things anyone can think of. I've reading about this all day, but the folks at Rapture Ready added their special little spin to it.

Ron4Jesus: Gays 'greatest threat to America'

Buttars: He called the gay-rights movement "probably the greatest threat to America," likened gay activists to Muslim radicals and dubbed same-sex relationships "abominations."

Now Sen. Chris Buttars finds himself in a familiar place: under fire amid demands he step down.Last year, the NAACP called for Buttars to resign after comments he made on the Senate floor about a complex school-funding bill, saying, "This baby is black . . . It's a dark, ugly thing."

But Buttars kept his seat and won re-election in November."It is obvious that he believes he can say and do anything that he wishes without any consequences," said Jeanetta Williams, president of the NAACP's Salt Lake branch. "His words -- as before --are despicable."

Buttars' latest remarks come from an interview with documentary filmmaker Reed Cowan that aired on ABC 4 this week. Buttars told Cowan the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community doesn't want "equality, they want superiority.""It's the beginning of the end," the West Jordan Republican said. "Oh, it's worse than that. Sure. Sodom and Gomorrah was localized. This is worldwide."

That's right, kids. Gays are more dangerous than muslim extremists, all other brands of terrorists, nuclear warfare, global warming, drugs, gang violence, disease, the economic crisis, war and tainted products from China. I'm not sure why I haven't noticed this before. Apparently, I'm blind.

Anywhere other than Rapture Ready, or within the DNA, this sort of thing brings outrage and condemnation.

Candlelight responds: I pray he stands his ground. Because Jesus loves the bigotry.

Luke 10:27 (KJV)

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

His Bride chimes in with: Sexual sin and abortion have proven to be great threats to our country. I guess I would have to say that Idolatry is our greatest threat. It is the sin that is behind each of these other sins. We have worshipped the creature instead of the Creator.

That's right. Me having sex before marriage was way worse than 9/11. Clearly. In fact, it may even have caused 9/11.

John 8:1-11

1Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
2And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Gabby (under the fig tree) couldn't agree more: I agree, His Bride. I personally believe that Pride is behind these other sins, also. Pride and Idolatry are closely related.

Matt 5:7

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy

Ron4Jesus (OP) find teh evul in the most unlikely of places: Yes this country has [been worshipping the creature, not the Creator]!!!!!!!!! if you use that many exclamation points at once, you probably don't have a valid point. Just look at American Idol the name says it all. i'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with idolatry. i hate the show, but i don't think it qualifies as idolatry. I am no fan of it at all, but some people get so attracted to it like a daytime soap opera. daytime soaps are idolatry also?

Matt 5:9

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

4GodIsJust is all about the judgey: I too, think that worshiping the beast rather the Creator is our greatest threat... This leads to well all sin, Sexual sin, abortion and Idle is he referring perhaps to sloth? also a deadly sin, but since deadly sins are a Catholic invention, you wouldn't think a bunch of fundys would be into that. worship.. Blasphmey of the Holy spirit is the unforgiveable sin, which for some reason when I think of this I see Idle worship what? that's so confused, i can't even make fun of it. but mainly Homosexuality (gays, and Lezbienism thanks for clearing that up. and, lesbianism.) I think because it is so preverse as opposed to reverse, perhaps? and it degregates well now we'll have to regregate it! the soul so badly and it is slapping the Almighty in face now i imagine gays beginning sex by slapping a lifesize buddy christ statue in the face. kinky!and saying You did not make me good well enough, WHY?? you're the one saying gays weren't made right. gays are fine with the way they're made. I pray too, that he stand's apostrophe abuse his ground, and he stays safe... but fuck the gays.

Matt 6:6

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Gabby (under the fig tree) seems most upset that gays are out of the closet: What I've noticed about homosexuality is it seems to be an 'in your face' sin. as opposed to murder, which is so quiet, and hard to notice. asshat. It seems that that life-style promotes open rebellion against God's order. unlike murderers and thieves, which are right in line with what god commanded. Most sins aren't something that people brag and boast about you people are boasting about disobeying christ's direct command to love thy neighbor, aren't you? ~ but homosexuality seems to be one in particular that results in an open and boasting attitude. again. In Sodom and Gomorrah it was the same. The more rampart rampant? the sins becomes either sins become or sin becomes, but not sins becomes, the bolder the people who practice it seem to become. goddamn them for not hiding in the closet! Even non-Christians are, at the very least, ashamed of most sin. really? what an odd statement. i don't even believe in sin. i believe in morals and ethics, but that's a whole 'nother issue, now isnt' it? What I mean by this is they don't publicly boast about them. i'm pretty sure living an openly gay lifestyle is not "publicly boasting", unless wearing a wedding ring and walking in public with your spouse and children is publicly boasting. But homosexuality doesn't seem to be one of those. As in it makes the very heart of those who practice it openly, boldly rebellious and encourages society to partake of it. this lady is just nuts. When's the last time you saw a protest with people out applauding say lying, or cheating...or stealing? maybe because lying, cheating and stealing are entirely unlike being gay? Yet, homosexuals take this sin take it? and it seems to make one bolder in practicing it ~ like I said, an 'in your face' sin. poor gabby, having to look at the gays. It just seems to me that this particular sin stands alone as far as rebellion against God. yeah. uh huh. you think about this WAY too much, babe. Just thinking out loud on here... i'm not sure "thinking" is the word you're looking for. I've noticed that homosexuality seems to bring people to openly shake their fists at God. another terribly amusing image, if incredibly inaccurate and based solely in one twisted moron's imagination.

so there you have it: proof positive that fundamentalism makes you a bigoted asshole, and fundys have no fucking idea, or just don't care, what their lord and savior actually said.

Matthew 7:1-5

1Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

In Which I Do Not Commit Suicide

suicide, atheism, atheist, pagan, paganism, neo-paganism, neopaganism, religion, christian, christianity, god, bible, fundamentalism, fundamentalist, fundamentalism, darrow, miller
Becoming an atheist does not inevitably lead one to suicide. (Unless every atheist blogger is posting from beyond the grave, that is.) What many theists consider to be the most terrifying thoughts possible- there is no god, there is no afterlife, it's all up to us- the atheist considers to be the most hopeful of thoughts. (Simply put, just because you don't like something, doesn't mean other people don't like it.)

Why do I mention this? Well, Disciples Nations Alliance is at it again. (Oh my blog, it's another DNA!)

This was written as a response to numerous comments that Darrow received on his last post.

Basically, Darrow stated that atheism is dying. A number of commenters, including yours truly, pointed out that not only is atheism not dying, it's gaining a greater percentage of the population. Apparently, Darrow is one of those fellows who just can't bear to be proven wrong.

It seems that this blog struck a chord with some people who are Atheists in their belief/faith system no, we're just atheists. and, atheists don't have a belief/faith system. we just don't believe in god. that's more of a lack-of-belief system. A number have called me on my assertion that Atheism is dying me! and they have stated that it is growing true. Let me respond with a few points:

1) When I say that Atheism is dying, I mean that the systems that were founded upon the Atheistic (and materialistic) set of assumptions - Communism, Fascism and Hedonistic-Capitalism have died or are dying. These system have fallen (or are falling as we witness the current global economic crises) because the Atheistic mental infrastructure upon which they were founded has proven insufficient for human life, liberty, justice, happiness, and the deepest longings of the human spirit.

I was wrong about what I said, so I really meant to say something else. Yeah. He just can't admit that a bunch of atheists proved him wrong. We couldn't possibly know more about atheism than him.

I also enjoy being blamed for communism, facism and hedonistic-capitalism- whatever that is. (I assume that he means that unfettered capitalism is the highest good, and if it screwed up the freakin' world (see: current economic crisis), it's not that regulations are necessary, it's that we were practicing the wrong kind of capitalism. yeah.

Nazis and Atheism, a quick review. In the belt buckles of elite Nazis SS troops was inscription "Gott mitt uns" of "God with us", which is not an atheist slogan.

On taking power, Hitler banned freethought organizations like the German Freethinkers League and launched an "anti-godless" movement.In a 1933 speech Hitler declared: "We have… undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out."

Hitler hated atheists. Hitler hated practically everyone, and he certainly didn't hate atheists like he hated jews, but atheists were on the menu.

2) While Atheism is in its death-throws, Atheists are not. ummm . . . how can the number of atheists be increasing, while atheism decreases? atheism and atheists are indistinguishable in this context. Modern Atheists have become militant i want my damn jackboots! or dogmatic in their assumptions. hehehehehehe. this from a fundy. who doesn't love a good dose of irony? In the past, Atheists were happy to engage with reason with Agnostics, Christians, Hindus, or anyone from another school of thought. The militant Atheists of today no longer want a level playing field and discussion provided by the Judeo-Christian concept of the freedom OF religion. They are fighting for the freedom FROM religion. judeo-christian concept of . . . what? why don't i just call abortion a judeo-christian ideal and call it a day, if we're just saying anything we want. They want to move any discussion of religion from the public square.

Oh, I see. The War on Religion. (For those of you who lost your atheist calendar, the War on Religion falls between the War on Nurses and the War on Christmas.) You see, I pay for public land. Therefore, putting religious displays on public land has me paying to support a religious display for a religion I am not a member of and don't support. There has got to be a better use for my money. I also pay for the printing of money, therefore, I would like "In God We Trust" removed. (Until then, I will continue to cross out the "God" and replace it with "Gay".)

However, you are perfectly welcome to believe in whatever you wish. I don't wish to close down churches, private people/groups are welcome to display whatever they want, and anyone who wants to can keep right on trusting in god. Please feel free to pipe in, my pagan friends: have I ever tried to defaith you?

I think this is another sign of the desperation of the modern Atheist. The fact that I don't like being forced to pay for religious displays is "desperation"? I love redefining words for no good reason. The militant Atheists jackboots!, unlike more honest Existentialists of an earlier generation lying jackboots!, do not want to look at or be confronted by the logic of their assumptions. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! from a christian, no less! After all, if there is no God, then everything that has its basis in his existence is gone. wait for it. Love, beauty, morals, truth, and the significance of human life all disappear.

That's right: you can't love, see beauty, have morals, tell or recognize the truth or value life without god. The fact that I do all of those things, as does every other atheist on the planet, is irrelevant. We're all liars. Psychopathic, murdering, lying liars. In jackboots.

The logical consequences of Atheism is suicide. no, it's not. after all, i believe there is no afterlife. therefore, the logical consequence of atheism is to cling to life for as long as possible, because when it's over, it's over. the christian, on the other hand, believes that the afterlife will be infinitely better than this life. therefore, the logical consequence of christianity is not getting out of the way of a speeding train. Or, if one does not have the courage for suicide wait, suicide is courage now? somehow not the tack I expected this asshat to take., then there is a step away from reason. stop abusing logic. that doesn't even make sense. If I escape from reason, I no longer need to live faced with the reality of my Atheistic assumptions. oh, so we're delusional, psychopathic, murdering, lying liars. in jackboots.

3) As some have indicated, many people in the West are fleeing from a Christianity that no longer seems relevant. i'm not running away from, i'm running towards. towards logic, reason and the end to hatred in belief's name. Tragically happily, this is true. Europe is certainly post-Christian i'd move to england, but there's the food. oh, and i can barely understand the average briton. i know, it's your language, which makes it my problem, but what are you saying? and the USA has reached a tipping point. everybody, one step to the left! But people who are fleeing Christianity are not becoming Atheists. ummmmm . . . is this an exercise in verbal ADD? They are moving towards alternative forms of spirituality. Whoo, pagans! They cannot stand the emptiness and spiritual vacuum of Atheism. we are neither empty nor spiritually vacuous. stop that. At the same time, they do not want the costly faith is that supposed to be a selling point? it's expensive- buy some! of a God who is Lord of their life or not and a faith that has a solid meta-physic wtf is a "solid meta-physic"? and a set of moral absolutes. sorry, pagans, you're morally bankrupt. want some jackboots? Those who are leaving “traditional faith” are, with few exceptions, wanting a spirituality without content and morals. ouch. well, you can't be surprised. people who hate atheists don't like pagans, either. They want a feel-good faith insert your own masturbation/sex joke here that lets them live life on their own terms. Perhaps this is a new form of Atheism. I prefer to call it post-modern, neo-paganism. repeat after me: paganism is not atheism.

-Darrow L. Miller you know, for an attempt to fix his first post, this was a complete failure.

Why Do Atheists Hate America?

god, gay, atheism, atheist, atheophobia, theocracy, theism, religion, christian, fundamentalism, fundamentalist, fundy, jesus, pledge, allegiance
Now that we've dealt with the fact that I don't hate god, we've got the asshats at In God We Trust* asking why I hate America. South American, Central America, North America? Mexico, Paraguay, Panama?

I think what they're trying to ask is why I hate the United States. We'll go with that.

The nation's largest atheist group who? the American Atheists? Freedom from Religion Foundation? My friends and I? wants you to imagine a world without the Pledge of Allegiance, without faith, without patriotism, and without America [the US] as we know it.

Well, yes and no. I don't care whether or not you have faith or you don't. Nor do I care what you have faith in. (If you simply must have faith in something, I suggest the Flying Spaghetti Monster.)

I would like actual separation of church and state, however. That would be fun. Simply put, get your religion out of my government.

I'm fine with the Pledge of Allegiance- which was written without the words "under god". In fact, the pledge was written by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, in 1892. Under god was added in 1954. That's right, kids, for 62 years, we were not a nation under god. We were just a nation.

As for patriotism, what does loving my country have to do with loving god? Nothing.

However, In God We Trust is standing up to them with a new advertising campaign that exposes how much the radical Atheist movement jackboots! hates America and everything our nation stands for. that's right, I hate mom and apple pie. (no, mom, i love you very much and you know how i feel about your apple pie. just making a point here.) The Freedom from Religion Foundation so that's who it is! has begun posting their "Imagine No Religion" billboards all across the country. because christians can go door to door proselytizing, can bother people in malls, can litter world with tracts, but how dare atheists get a few billboards? It's outrageous!

So, In God We Trust has created our own billboard campaign asking "Why Do Atheists Hate America?" that's right, our billboard, "Imagine No Religion" accused theists of treason, just like your si-- no, wait . . . Why does this particular atheist group seem to want to banish people of faith? we don't. we'd just like our voice out there, too. what's wrong with that? or do you not love the First Amendment? why do you hate the constitution? Our sign doesn't say, ‘Imagine No Atheists.' no, it just asks why we hate the entire fucking country. that's so much nicer. All we want is a public debate. yeah, that's why you accused us of feeling the same way about the US that al Queda does. We want the atheists to defend some of the Anti-American statements they've made. what Anti-American statements? Not only that, but we would like to know how ‘Imagine No Religion' is different than ‘Imagine No Christians' or ‘Imagine No Jews'? cause religion as a term isn't very specific, is it, asshat? Think about what these atheists are really saying. ‘Imagine No Mother Theresa?' ‘Imagine No Martin Luther King, Jr.?'

yeah, because "imagine no religion" means "we want to kill civil rights activists". who cracked the code?

I guess that's the kind of world in which these atheists think we would all be better off living. i'd like a world without you. that would be better. We disagree, and we think most Americans feel the same way. To learn more about the Freedom From Religion Foundation's views on patriotism, America, and religious freedom in its leaders' own words, click HERE. asshat linked you to some quote mining, most of which he clearly did not understand, but if you want to know what the FFRF said, go to the FFRF. To help in the fight to defend America's religious heritage you may make a contribution to In God We Trust or sign up for periodic email updates by clicking on the appropriate icon below. GIVE US MONEY! We spent it all on the stupid billboards and now we can't buy coffee!

what's sad is, this is what passes for serious debate in this country.

*I cross out the "God" on every bill I get and write "Gay" above it. I'm starting the revolution!

The Atheist Stooge Gets Spanked - Part II

god, religion, christian, satan, jesus, bible, atheism, atheist, fundamentalism, fundamentalist, fundy,
The Atheist Stooge's spanking didn't stop at God's Hit List- I just needed a moment to catch my breath.

I would like to repeat, however, that God's Hit List includes Marcel Marceau. Yes, the mime.

Next up from Atheist Stooge is The Origins of Atheism.

Do you know that if you make an endeavor to find out when and by whom atheism was authored you will not be able to find such information from any source? Why would a lack of belief in a supreme being need an author? We don't have a holy book, we don't hold services, we're not out converting people or handing out leaflets, why would . . . look, atheism is the sort of thing you come to on your own. A book or a conversation might provide the tipping point, but if you strongly believe in some sort of god, I can't talk you out of it, nobody can. Not even the most “educated” i like the decorative quotes on edu . . . oh atheists - particularly those associated with the most elite universities throughout the world can truthfully inform you when and by whom atheism originated. cause it didn't just start with one person. They can enlighten you as to who were its main perpetuators you know, like crimes. in different cultures; but they cannot identify its founder and when it actually originated. there is no founder of atheism, it did not originate in any one place. atheism is not a religion.

The absence of a known author and time of origin of such a highly embraced philosophy is a strange phenomenon. no, it's not. But this phenomenon is highly indicative. of what? It suggests that atheism is not of earthly origin - that it had its birth in another sphere before this state of time. WHAT?! A=B therefore P = 3.4579? what? Atheism is not a manmade doctrine but a doctrine of the demons. there are no demons, but thanks for that. Its originator is none other than the old serpent himself, namely, satan. of course. we're not just god haters, we're satan worshippers, too. of course the fact that we don't believe in satan, either has nothing to do with it. It had its origin from the very one it deceptively denies exists. It is a doctrine which denies the authorship and existence of its own author! that was exhausting. This accounts for the absence of information in any literature embraced by atheists that identify both a human author and earthly time of origin for atheism. a lack of belief doesn't need an author, but thanks for making me follow that particularly torturous bit of illogic.

what follows next is a willing embrace of both calvinism and god as sadist.

The process by which atheism originated was much more involved than can be explained here he can't explain it, so he won't. a student of the Sarah Palin school of debate, I see., so a simple presentation of the basic principles that gave it birth must suffice. I will endeavor to explain how atheism had its origin by first directing your attention to a principle in the Bible found in Romans Chapter 9, verse 14.

This is Romans 9:14

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! What the hell does that have to do with atheism at all? Is this just random quote day?

The Holy Spirit who spoke through the pen of the Apostle Paul, drew a conclusion from what is presented in the previous verses. In the entire chapter, He teaches that God is sovereign over the salvation and reprobation of humans - that God does not love everybody and this is wonderful news! worship the one who may hate you and throw you into hell for all eternity. - that He decreed that some should be the objects of His eternal love and the rest should be the objects of His eternal wrath - that God, from His own will, has mercy on some humans while He hardens the rest. i can't figure out why this makes god someone i would want to worship, or even should be worshipping in good conscience. He has done this apart from anything they do good or bad. god loves the child molesters and hates ghandi. He teaches that humans are not truly masters of their destinies, but God is - that the details of their lives and destinies were foreordained by God in eternity past so, my atheism was something god did, and will punish me forever for? why even bother trying to convert people if that's the case? why be so pissed at atheists? it's not our fault, god made us that way - before He brought any of them into existence. Then He asked the question: “…There is no injustice with God, is there?” We are then very emphatically given the divine answer: “May it never be!” wait, god thinks god is fair despite punishing people for being exactly the way he made them? okay, then.

The Holy Spirit implies from the question that graceless humans who are informed about the truths of God’s sovereignty over the salvation and reprobation of humans will falsely conclude that God is unjust for loving some and hating the others - for decreeing that those He love should spend eternity in heaven and decreeing those He hates to spend eternity in the lake of fire, both apart fom anything they do good or bad in this world. A false conclusion that God is unjust why would that be the false conclusion? for His actions is what began the birth process of atheism. It is very important to keep that fact in mind. very few people come to atheism for that reason. in fact, most people just can't handle the thought of worshipping something there is no logical reason to believe in. none of it makes any sense. i'm not going to spend my life fearing the skydaddy that doesn't exist.

this goes on for a while like this, and most of it is the sort of tortured reasoning sane people can't follow, until we get to this gem:

The birth of atheism deceptively made satan feel free from his responsibility to obey and worship God, even though he also knew he wasn’t free.

so, it wasn't satan that created atheism. satan just took advantage of atheism to feel better about himself, though atheism doesn't believe in satan, and satan had stood in the presence of god. does this make any sense at all? to anyone?

It made him deceptively feel he had the freedom to think and speak whatever he wanted without the feeling that it was sin, even though he knew this was not so. It made him deceptively feel that there is no punishment from God awaiting him, even though he knows full well there is. With God supposedly out of the picture, satan could establish all of the various erroneous manmade and demonic philosophies, religions, opinions and etc. in the world and none of them would be wrong in the eyes of his atheism. Democracy could be established to give all these the right of existence. Hence the birth of demonic democracy. so, democracy is the devil, too. you do know that christian theocracies have the highest rates of atheism, right?

The conclusion that the One and only True God doesn’t exist cannot be derived except through deception. or you could just read the bible. Atheism didn’t receive its origin by a true absence of proof of God’s existence, yes it did, unless you've got some truth in your pocket that i haven't seen because there has always been and always will be overwhelming proof to the contrary. fine, show it to me. bible doesn't count. Atheism had its origin by the expression of satan’s depravity towards God prove that, asshat, and it is embraced, maintained and perpetuated among graceless humans as a result of their total depravity. yes, that's me. utterly depraved. completely and utterly depraved. In other words, atheists follow in the footsteps of their master, the devil. stop that.

It was pointed out earlier without any proof that “The negative expression and opposition of the depraved natures of humans and demons towards God in regards to any of His actions are always wrong”. It can’t be any other way, because God is perfectly holy and therefore incapable of performing evil in any of His actions. or there is no god. or god is a sadistic asshole. see, there are always other options. Thus, in every case wherein humans or demons judge God to be wrong, it is done through the total depravity and deep hatred of those who are evil and already condemned because of being evil. uh, yeah. sure. Evil can never rightly condemn the righteous or the innocent. so, if i've murdered someone, i can't say that raping children is bad? really? Any attempt to do is nothing but injustce. i think you misunderstand this word, injustice. The perfect holiness of God, His inability to sin and the impossibility of any creature or thing to condemn Him is clearly understood by those who express their foolish wrath towards God. what the fuck is this asshat talking about? i don't express wrath towards god, any more than i express wrath towards the easter bunny. is asshat using the word "atheist" to describe something entirely different? is that the problem here? This understanding adds to the heinousness of atheism. worse than kiddy porn and child sex slaves. that's atheism all right Atheism was born out of the deep depravity and deceptive wrath of the lowest creature that ever existed. please, stop it. His anger towards God amounts to a deep desire to murder the Most High God, to get rid of all righteousness and establish evil as if it is good - in the midst of his knowledge that such is impossible. satan or the atheist? Thus, the wrath that he has towards God - his desire to murder and annihilate Him, has fallen on his own head. you know, none of this crap about satan is in the bible. i have no idea where asshat's getting it from. although a lot of people do conflate the bible and paradise lost. That is, the deep wrath of the Almighty God is upon him. He cannot carry out his wrath upon God, but there is nothing that can stop God from pouring out His wrath upon him. All who are of like mind as satan - who embrace his atheism also has the wrath of the Almighty God against them. If God doesn’t grant them His grace so, again, we have proven that it doesn't matter whether i worship or not. i can entirely disbelieve and he may grant me grace. fuck it then, let's pillage., they shall suffer eternal punishment in the lake of fire with satan. “…There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!”

Forward Looking Prophecies

conversion, fundamentalism, fundamentalist, fundy, atheism, atheist, religion, bible, prophet, prophecy, christian, jesus,
I haven't dealt with the "but the prophecies all get fulfilled" argument in favor of Christianity before, and this post gave me the perfect opportunity to do so.

I think Atheist do not understand what they are criticising oh yes we do. generally better than the people who believe in it, they are deceived into thinking they do oh, that's right, i need to read the bible to get faith, but i can't read the bible right without faith, and round and round we go but that is pure deception hmmm?

1) I have offered to stop being a Christian I don't want you to stop being christian. you are entirely welcome to your faith. just stop bashing me over the head with it, and we're fine. if any of the Atheist were to give me a failed prophecy from the old or the new testament? oh noes! the prophecies! they prove everything!

There are literally thousands of prophecies in both books and most of them are forward looking yeah, it's not a prophecy if it's not looking forward. at that point, it's a history lesson, but everyone every space one of them has been proven true sooner of or later. eventually, in the infinity that is the universe, anything is bound to happen. just wait for it.
For my misunderstanding Atheist friends, people like Jeremiah, Daniel, Moses etc. were called prophets for a reason, they were predicting the future. yes, we all know what "prophet" means. i am also quite familiar with Jeremiah, Daniel and Moses. I am not your friend.

2) Many modern so called sciences like Economics were they have tried to predict the future and look at their records despite their computer capabilities. We can put bible prophecy against every econometrics model and it still wins out, what does that even mean?

3) Books like Daniel send shivers up the spines of secular scholars that is why they try to attack that particular book. no, the book of Daniel does not send shivers up the spines, or legs, of any secular scholar. sorry.

My offer stands, show me the money! that was played out 10 years ago, and i don't think atheism wants you.

Some people have claimed that the claims of Christianity cannot be proved, I disagree I think you can test the validity of the claims. There is no such thing as blind faith in Christianity. yeah, there is

Take a book like psalm 22 - it predicts the death of the Messiah a thousand years before the event

okay, this almost sounds reasonable until you stop to consider one thing: the most recently written book of the bible is almost 2,000 years old. The Old Testament is significantly older than that. We don't have the original manuscripts of any portion of the bible. The bible has been translated many times by many different translators, most of them working off of copies of original manuscripts or previous translations.

It is not beyond reason to consider that, at some point, either the old prophecies were changed to matched the life of jesus, or the life of jesus was changed to match the old prophecies, or some combination of both. We'll never know, because there are no original manuscripts left.

And, really, this argument boils down to the statement that "my special book is internally consistent". So what? Harry Potter is internally consistent. So is the Lord of the Rings. Any book with a halfway decent editor is internally consistent. This is hardly convincing.

I give this a conversion fail.

Why Atheists Blog

Why do I blog about atheism? Why do I call people on their antiAtheist bullshit?

This is why.

Brookeland High School [Texas] teacher said he is not sure what his next step will be after resigning from his job of six years.

Richard Mullens, a teacher for more than 30 years, resigned his position as history teacher after being placed on paid administrative leave by the Brookeland Independent School District.

...

He said that a pregnant student had gotten into a discussion with her former boyfriend about "whether he believed in love or not."

Another student, who was not involved in the conversation, got up and left the class, saying she was uncomfortable with the conversation.

That student's mother later came to the school, spoke to the principal about the situation and verbally threatened Mullens. In a subsequent conference with Mullens and the principal, the parent accused Mullens of calling her daughter names and being an atheist. She said that several board members wanted him ousted because he was too liberal and an atheist, he said.

...

Mullens said in his six years at the school, he has never received a complaint from a parent or administrator. Turner, who is in his second year as principal, said that Mullens file has no record of infractions.

...

For more on the story, please go here.

Immoral Atheist Elitists

conversion, convert, fail, religion, religious, god, jesus, bible, fundamentalism, fundamentalist, fundy, creation, creation, atheism, atheist, atheophobia,
I'm starting to think that maybe I've been doing this for a little too long. I was actually happy to find the below article. Honestly, when will people learn?

There Is a God

In the world today there exists a class of people who call themselves atheists. no, There are atheists. We don't say "In the word today there exists a class of people who call themselves Christians," do we? I can't decide if that is just really bad writing, or some sort of slam on atheists. "They're not really atheists, they just call themselves atheists" or something. These individuals believe that there is no God. no, we don't believe in god. one is actively disbelieving, one is simply disbelief. bad writing or conspiracy? While not all atheists are the same in their reasoning, how nice of you to notice! they all confidently assert that God does not exist. actually, i confidently assert that I have not seen any proof of god, but, if i did, i would believe. i'm not being willfully stupid over here. Consider the three major types of atheists that's odd, atheists don't refer to three different kinds of atheists:

1. The intellectual atheist. because knowing things and thinking is bad! elitists! This person honestly feels that there is a lack of sufficient evidence to demonstrate God's existence. so true. The intellectual atheist claims that he cannot put faith in anything that he himself cannot see, feel, nor touch with his physical senses. claims? we have to take people on their word with this sort of thing. besides that, um, faith? the "intellectual atheist" probably has a large enough vocabulary to understand what "faith" means. if you can see, feel, touch, taste or hear something, faith is not necessary. duh. (This, of course, is not a valid argument, for there are many things we all take by faith that we haven't seen for ourselves. and let rip with a totally specious argument For example, most people believe that asteroids exist, even though they may have never seen one except that you can show me pictures of asteroids, you can show me asteroids that have hit the earth, i could go to a telescope and see one myself. i accept that australia exists not because i've ever been there, but because lots of other people have.). Hence, the intellectual atheist uses many arguments of reason and logic to defend his position. yes, intellectual elitists are known for their reason and logic.
Most intellectual atheists, however, have never really examined the evidence that demonstrates God's existence. yes, we have. over and over and over again. probably more than you. sorry. Since many of them are open to reason yes, intellectuals are indeed open to reason, most intellectual atheists reject their atheistic position upon hearing the evidence which supports that there is a God. and what, pray tell, is this amazing evidence that automatically converts intellectual atheists? if it's that good, why not bring it up here and convert unsuspecting atheists on the spot?

2. The immoral atheist. didn't i just do a post on this? oh, yes. here we are. atheists and christians act exactly the same. neat. This person denies God's existence because he loves his sin. find me this person. i've never met one, and i am an atheist. He is basically a selfish individual, and delights in practices that offend God's law why, yes, i do quite often eat shrimp, wear clothes made of two different fabrics and sit in chairs that menstruating women have sat upon. just to piss of a deity i don't believe exists. The immoral atheist rejects the notion that God exists so as to make himself feel that he is not accountable to anyone for his actions. that wouldn't make him an atheist, that would make him a person with serious issues. His moral state prevents him from acknowledging God's existence. sure. He surmises that if God exists, then he will be accountable and will have to face judgment for his unrighteous deeds. uh huh This person can be likened unto a criminal. likened unto? was this written in 1625? A criminal would like to believe that law enforcers do not exist. a smart criminal, on the other hand, would learn as much about those "enforcers" as possible, in order to avoid being caught. In like manner, the immoral atheist would like for God not to exist. i'd like for malaria not to exist, does thinking it away actually work? This, then, is the underlying reason for his belief. or lack thereof. So in order to appease his conscience and disregard the fear of judgment, the immoral atheist persuades himself that there is no God. that's just silly.

3. The emotional atheist. Probably most atheists today are of this type. really. because i doubt the writer of this has ever once interacted with an atheist, much less a lot of atheists. Unlike the intellectual and immoral atheist, the emotional atheist does not reject God's existence because of reason, nor because he loves sin. Instead, the emotional atheist denies God's existence because all he has experienced in his life has been pain, sorrow, and heart-break. the bad-daddy theory of atheism. very few people turn to atheism after heart break. in fact, most people turn to religion after heart break. i actually do interact with other atheists on a regular basis, and i don't know anyone who went from christian to atheist after a tragedy. sometimes, the tragedy is the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak, but not the only factor, or even the most important one. This person cannot see any sense nor purpose in life; atheists do have a purpose in life- to live it. as fully as possible, as long as possible. it all makes no sense to him. yeah, we're just walking around broken, looking for a new, not-so-bad-daddy. the sky-daddy! He has never experienced true love and concern from others. stop that. we have all experienced true love and concern from others, at least once. atheists are not psychopaths. Hence, he can only conclude that if there was a God, life would not be so painful. yeesh. Out of all of the different types of atheists, the emotional atheist is most open to see the truth that God exists. good luck with that. For once he sees the love of God and experiences it, he abandons his atheism. the love that allows terrible things to happen to innocent people, or the love that condemns people to an eternity in hell for no reason. remember, to the writer of this article, a child molester who accepted jesus in in heaven, but ghandi is burning in hell. that's love.

now we will be subjected to poorly reasoned "proofs" of yhwh:

In examining the evidence for God, it is interesting to note that the Bible never seeks to prove His existence. what?! Rather, the Bible assumes God's existence from the very start and affirms that God's existence is an unshakable fact that need not be explained. so do the harry potter novels, the lord of the rings series and the wheel of time series. so what? According to the Bible verses cited at the beginning of this article, God has given man sufficient evidence to believe in Him. and i should trust this book over a harry potter book because? For this reason, the Bible simply states that atheism is foolish (Psalms 14:1). wow, a book about a religion that states that other beliefs are foolish? that's amazing! you've convinced me! conversion fail. The foolishness of atheism is exposed when we consider how utterly small, finite, and limited man is in this universe. what? according to asshats like these, the entire universe was made just for man, and you think this proves your position how?

When a person claims that he absolutely knows that God does not exist, he is essentially saying, in effect, that he has all knowledge and all power. i've dealt with this before. I haven't met any atheists who claim that they absolutely know that god does not exist. we say that, given what we've seen so far, we do not believe in god. if something changes, we'll reevaluate. This may sound strange at first, but let us discuss it for a moment. Consider how you, as a mere human being, compare with all that is around you. You are one person on planet earth where 6 billion other people, like yourself, reside. Have you been to all parts of this planet to seek out and search whether or not God exists? Have you been to every continent, every country, every state, province and city? Have you explored every ocean, sea, river, and lake? Taking it a step further, although planet earth is incredibly large, the sun is far larger. If the sun could be excavated, you could fit hundreds of thousands of earths inside of it! And the sun is only one medium sized star among millions of other stars in the universe. In fact, some stars are over 500 times larger than the sun! Furthermore, there are literally hundreds of millions of other solar systems besides ours! Is this not breathtaking to consider? Have you been to all of them to seek and to search God out? no, i don't have that kind of time on my hands, but, conversion fail.

Concerning the size of the universe, astronomers tell us that some stars are so far from us that the light from them has been traveling for thousands of years, and it still hasn't reached the earth yet! Finally, we live in the dimension of space and time; can you be absolutely certain that there is not another dimension beyond time and space wherein God may exist? If a dimension outside of time exists, which is quite likely, have you investigated it through and through to see if God is there? In sum, are you, as a mere mortal who has not even walked through the whole earth, qualified to declare that God does not exist? Are you, who stand under 7 feet and only take up several inches of ground in this enormous universe, competent to say that God does not exist? let me say it again: we say that, given what we've seen so far, we do not believe in god. if something changes, we'll reevaluate. conversion fail. (ray comfort is fond of this type of "logic", too.)

Perhaps by now you have seen my point. i saw it 3 paragraphs ago. Since you and I are so utterly small, restricted, and limited in our knowledge, being, and power compared to the breath-taking vastness and enormity of the universe, it is utter arrogance and nonsense for any of us to declare with confidence that God does not exist. i can, however, say with confidence that i have seen no proof thereof.

Man is incompetent to make such a judgment. so, i have to belief, whether i do or not? will we be moving on to Pascal's Wager next? By doing so, he is basically saying, in effect, that he himself is God! logic fail. A = B, therefore C = Q? In other words, to state that God does not exist is to indicate that we have all-knowledge and all-power, that we have investigated every corner and curve of the universe, and that as a consequence, we can be sure that God does not exist. How can you or I, who cannot explain how our hearts beat, or if it will rain tomorrow, or what will happen to us next year, dare say that God does not exist? If you cannot know such simple things, what makes you an authority on the question of God's existence? Therefore, the position of atheism, when carefully examined, is truly foolish and presumptuous. beating a dead horse may or may not be useful, but i can you that beating a dead conversion attempt is just annoying.

Let us briefly consider just a few facts that evidence God's existence finally!

1. The complexity, order, sophistication, and intricate design of the universe, ecosystem, and all biological and botanical life attest to an intelligent Creator, which is God at what point does complexity, order, sophistication and intricacy demand a creator? who's to say that we are just not quote complex or intricate enough to demand a creator? who's to say that a creator is necessary for this? no one.(Romans 1:19,20, Psalms 19:1, 139:14-17).

i separated these two sections because they are different ideas. the first one is the argument of complexity, the second is otherwise stated as "creation proves the creator proves the creation proves the creator"

There are only three alternatives to explain the origin of the universe: 1) it always existed, 2) it was created by chance, or 3) it was created by God. It is utterly inconceivable to believe that the universe and all it contains could exist apart from a Supreme Designer. The universe could not have always existed, for it is expanding and contracting. This suggests that it came into existence at a certain point in time. Furthermore, the universe could not have been created by chance for it is too orderly and complex. It is a basic principle that the things that chance creates are always unorganized, irregular, inconsistent, and partially integrated. Moreover, whatever chance creates, it almost instantaneously destroys.
For example, if I continue to throw a chair up in the air, by chance, the chair will eventually fall to the ground on its four legs. However, the next time I throw it up, it will land once again on its back or side. Consider another example. Suppose we put a monkey at a typewriter. If a monkey stays at a typewriter long enough, he may eventually produce a coherent sentence (maybe after a few hundred years of typing). However, with the next few strokes that the monkey makes after completing this coherent sentence, he will have made the sentence incoherent through his arbitrary typing. Hence, whatever organization chance can create, it almost instantaneously destroys by the same mechanism that it utilized to produce the organization. It is inconceivable, then, to believe that chance could create anything complex and sophisticated, whether it be a watch, a car, or a computer. All of these things require a designer. Therefore, the consistency, organization, symmetry, form, and purposefulness of the universe speaks very strongly to God's existence.

actually, Steven J's response to a typical Ray Comfort post explains this very well. (Ray's a heck of a moron, but readings responses to Ray's inanity is about as good as a graduate level course in science, and free!

2. A natural and inborn desire for God in the heart of man attests to His existence. we also have natural inborn desires for sex, society, music and art. what does that prove?Virtually every religion in the world affirms a Creator. so Hinduism is as valid as Christianity is as valid as Shintoism is as valid as Islam? really? I don't think this guy meant to say that. There is no culture on planet earth that does not have a religion as a part of its tradition. so? most cultures include a tradition of slavery, misogyny and child abuse. should we bring those back, too? The belief in a Divine Person, then, is universal this is an appeal to popularity: it really doesn't matter how many people believe in a thing, that doesn't make it true.; it can be found in all cultures, nations, and tribes. Desire always implies and indicates the existence of an object in the world. or the existence of an idea. "freedom" is not an object, yet people desire it. the desire for a sky-daddy to make it all better does not prove the existence of a sky-daddy. If a person desires something, it affirms that the object desired exists. If, for example, I desire a car, a family, a house, or a particular job, then my desire for these objects demonstrates their existence. Moreover, orphans, by nature, desire parental love, even though they may have never seen their real parents. All orphans have this irresistible yearning. Hence, every desire of the heart arises out of an existing and real object.
Seeing that people in all cultures have a capacity and a desire to believe in, to know, and to fellowship with God, then God must exist. The explanation for this, of course, is that God created man with a capacity to know Him and to fellowship with Him. Interestingly, the Bible teaches exactly that, thus confirming human experience. wow, writers in the bible noticed the same thing about people that this guy did. must be divinely inspired. conversion fail.

3. The multitudes of answered prayers confirm God's existence. do the multitudes of unanswered prayers disprove god's existence? seriously, this is just silly. you cannot prove to me that god answered any prayers. think about it. your mother is in the hospital, desperately ill. one of three things is going to happen: (1) she will die, (2) she will get better, (3) she will stay the same. if you pray to god and she gets better, that's something that would have happened anyway. All who have known God throughout the span of time, know that He exists by His response to their prayers and the specific guidance that He affords them in life. Neither coincidence nor chance can possibly account for the thousands upon thousands of answered prayers that servants of God in the past and present have received. prove it. you can't. Although atheists try to dismiss and brush aside all of the answers to prayers that people throughout the centuries have reported, so, some guy said something happened, that he can't prove happened and couldn't be duplicated even if we do believe it happened? wow, sign me up for some jesus! can any one of them prove that such reports are not genuine? if you assert a thing, it is up to you to prove it to be true. it's not my responsibility to disprove it. that's how logical argumentation works. Time and space would not permit me to describe the countless answers to prayer that I myself have received thus far in my life, yeah. god loves you, but not the little girl being raped by her father and his friends every night. that god, he's a great guy. see how ugly this sort of thing gets if you think about for more than 0.2 seconds? not to mention the millions of others who have had the same experience. name them. Although this evidence is a subjective one, it still must be included for it is quite significant. no, it doesn't. conversion fail.

4. The sense of God's presence by those who serve Him attests to God's existence. no, it doesn't. i can attest to the presence of tiny pink unicorns, it doesn't make them real. asshat. Although this is a subjective fact therefore not a fact, it nevertheless remains a reality for those who know the Lord. i'm sure it's real to you, that doesn't make it objectively real. you know, like proveable? God's presence can be sensed within man's spirit. Even though this is rather difficult to explain, it is quite real.

God is real, and He truly does love you. does he love 6 year old sex slaves? child soldiers? cancer victims? He desires to reveal Himself to you as your Father. He cares about you and has created you for a purpose. Whether you believe in Him or not, you will stand before Him laid bare one day. why is it always with the naked with these people? And on that day, atheist, agnostic, and theist alike will see God face to face before His throne of judgment. wait for it Since God exists we didn't even prove that yet!, then we must be prepared to meet Him; the Bible declares, "prepare to meet your God" (Amos 4:12). wow, a book that holds no significance for me says something. Therefore, it is foolish and dangerous to imagine that He does not exist. severe misuse of the word "therefore".We must not only acknowledge His existence, but we must prepare to meet Him. yeah, you prepare to meet the nonexistent sky-daddy, i'm getting some coffee.

If you are an atheist, I hope that you will be responsible and sober in this matter and reconsider your position. wait, i shouldn't read this after drinking a fifth of vodka? you need to be more clear on that from the beginning! If you are an intellectual atheist, I exhort you to consider the evidence of our immense, orderly, and complex universe, for God's footprints are all over it. In a word, the universe is the undeniable handiwork of a Divine Designer. no, the creation does not prove the creator. sorry. ray's still trying to sell that, too.
If you are an immoral atheist, I challenge you to get honest with yourself, and face the fact that you will never be happy in continuing to live a lie and in offending your conscience. Repent of your wickedness and selfishness, and acknowledge God as your Creator and Ruler. Quit lying to yourself and to others. stop with the sinning, it looks like fun!

Finally, if you are an emotional atheist, I want to encourage you to ask God to reveal His wonderful love to your heart. may as well dance for rain in the desert. that might even happen. Ask Him to make Himself real to you, but don't limit Him in the way that He chooses to do this. if he gives you cancer, it's for a good cause. quit whining. Don't be afraid to talk to Him, even though you may not be sure He is there. I tell you, if you seek Him with an honest and open heart, He will surely hear you, for He has promised, "And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). bible quotes are pointless with atheists.

Acknowledging God's existence will naturally lead you to find His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. oops, i accidentally converted to hinduism, was that not the goal? When you accept the Lord Jesus, a life filled with purpose, joy, and peace will begin for you. my life is already filled with purpose, joy and peace. can he give me something else? i dunno, like perfect skin, or awesome hair? It is the abundant life that Jesus promised to all who follow Him - a life of knowing God today and being assured of eternal life tomorrow. you know, eternal life isn't really attractive to everyone. just so you know. Yet, such a new life begins with first believing that God exists, for "without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). May we all acknowledge God's existence and accept Christ into our hearts. In this way, God shall no longer be a Judge, but instead be a loving Father to us. is this some sort of weird definition of love i am not familiar with?

anyway, great big CONVERSION FAIL.