Accuracy- It Matters

leprosy, hansens, hodgkins, pat boone, asshat, christian
I don't consider Pat Boone to be a reporter, nor do I particularly care about his opinion on anything, but I do expect him to be vaguely accurate if he is going to inflict his opinions on the world.

From WorldNetDaily (where else?), we are treated to this:

The beautiful island of Molokai used to be called the Leper Island. Actually, one tip of the island still houses a "leper colony," a treatment center and refuge for people afflicted with Hodgkin's disease – which has for centuries been called leprosy.

Leprosy is called Hansen's Disease, asshat.

Let's Play!

Biblical Prophecy 100% Accurate?

prophecy, bible, god, religion, christian, atheism, atheist, skeptic, annotated, fail,
Thank you, oh, thank you, Beamstalk for this reference regarding biblical prophecies. I got a troll who seemed to think I would be overly impressed with name calling and biblical prophecies. The troll claimed that biblical prophecies are 100% accurate. That's quite a claim, there. And not quite true, either.

Let's review just a few of the biblical prophecies that did not come true (from the Skeptic's Annotated Bible):

As a punishment for killing Abel, God says Cain will be "a fugitive and a vagabond." Yet in just a few verses (4:16-17) Cain will settle down, marry, have a son, and build a city. This is not the activity one would expect from a fugitive and a vagabond. 4:12

God says that the Israelites will destroy all of the peoples they encounter. But according to Joshua ( 15:63, 16:10, 17:12-13) and Judges (1:21, 27-36, 3:1-5) there were some people they just couldn't kill. 7:24

God promises to give Joshua all of the land that his "foot shall tread upon." He says that none of the people he encounters will be able to resist him. But later we find that God didn't keep his promise, and that many tribes withstood Joshua's attempt to steal their land. 1:3-5

God says that Solomon's kingdom will last forever. It didn't of course. It was entirely destroyed about 400 years after Solomon's death, never to be rebuilt. 7:13, 16

In Jeremiah (34:4) God tells Zedekiah that he will die in peace and be buried with his fathers. But this verse and Jer.52:10-11 say that he died a violent death in a foreign land. 25:7

These verses falsely predict that Babylon will never again be inhabited. 13:19-20 (Babylon is now in Iraq. In case you haven't noticed, there are an awful lot of people living in Iraq right now. In fact, we're involved in a war with them.)

This verse prophesies that Damascus will be completely destroyed and no longer be inhabited. Yet Damascus has never been completely destroyed and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities. 17:1

This verse predicts that there shall be five cities in Egypt that speak the Canaanite language. But that language was never spoken in Egypt, and it is extinct now. 19:18

These verses predict that there will be an alliance between Egypt, Israel, and Assyria. But there has never been any such alliance, and it's unlikely that it ever will since Assyria no longer exists. 19:23-24

We'll end with an elementary science fail:

"The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold." Well, this is one prophecy that will never come true. Since the moon has no light of its own, but only reflects that of the sun, it could never shine like the sun. And the sun will not, at least not while there are humans to see it, shine 7 times as bright as it does now. 30:26

See, 10 prophecies, and not a one of them came true. If you're basing your faith on the perfect accuracy of biblical prophecy, then I'm sorry, but there it is.

longing for a better time in the past that never actually existed

abortion, prolife, prochoice, marriage, gay, tradition, feminism,
Emissary, in Changing Society's Backdrop, commits a classic history fail: longing for a better time in the past that never actually existed.

For example:

Abortion

Before backdrop*: Human life is precious and valued at every stage.

Decision: Abortion is a constitutional right; the right to privacy.

Assumed impact: Human life will continue to be seen as precious and valued at every stage, so abortion will be the rare exception. It will only be done in terms of greatest need or criminal behavior.

After backdrop: A fetus isn't really "human life", so women have the right to kill their baby as long as it's unborn.

Result: Abortion is treated as birth control by too many.

What's wrong here? Human life was not seen as "precious and valued at every stage" from the beginning of time until 1973. In fact, unwanted babies, not fetuses- real, live, breathing babies-were routinely left to die outside of town in the ancient world. It's why there are a lot of stories from the classical period built around the "abandoned baby raised by farmers comes back to fulfill some sort of weird prophecy" motif (Oedipus, Paris, and Romulus/Remus spring immediately to mind).

Fail.

Often, too, the children were born so that the family would have extra workers on the land. Prior to modern medicine, people died young, and not all of your children would make it past the age of 5, and nobody expected them to. Plus, without birth control, it's kinda hard to decide how many children to have.

Fail.

And if life was considered sacred at every stage, what about war? What about executions? During the French Revolution, for example, public executions were considered wholesome family entertainment.

Fail.

Also, just because abortions performed by doctors were not legal in the US prior to Roe v. Wade, that doesn't mean women weren't attempting to give themselves abortions for millenia before that. In fact, there is a book listing all the home abortion methods used by women throughout history.

Fail

Edited for additional information:

Abortion was frequently practiced in North America during the period from 1600 to 1900. Many tribal societies knew how to induce abortions. They used a variety of methods including the use of black root and cedar root as abortifacient agents. During the colonial period, the legality of abortion varied from colony to colony and reflected the attitude of the European country which controlled the specific colony.

In the British colonies abortions were legal if they were performed prior to quickening. In the French colonies abortions were frequently performed despite the fact that they were considered to be illegal. In the Spanish and Portuguese colonies abortion was illegal.

From 1776 until the mid-1800s abortion was viewed as socially unacceptable; however, abortions were not illegal in most states. During the 1860s a number of states passed anti-abortion laws. Most of these laws were ambiguous and difficult to enforce. After 1860 stronger anti-abortion laws were passed and these laws were more vigorously enforced. As a result, many women began to utilize illegal underground abortion services.

Although abortion was legalized in 1970, many women are still forced to obtain illegal abortion or to perform self-abortions due to the economic constraints imposed by the Hyde Amendment and the unavailability of services in many areas.

Throughout the colonial period and during the early years of the republic, the abortion situation for slave women was different than for other women. Slaves were subject to the rules of their owners, and the owners refused to allow their slaves to terminate pregnancies. The owners wanted their slaves to produce as many children as possible since these children belonged to the slave owners. This situation persisted until the end of the slavery era.

*I'm not really familiar with this use of the word "backdrop", but I think emmisary means "change" or "decision".

Go Iowa!

obama, gay, marriage, iowa, homophobia, homosexual, tradition, traditional,
From the Wall Street Journal:

The Iowa Supreme Court says the state's same-sex marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples, making it the third state where gay marriage is legal.

I figured out what's going on. See, when Obama was elected, the entire country took a step to the left. This allowed Iowa (Iowa!) to stop treating gays as second class citizens, but a step to the left for California pushed them all the way around into conservatism.

Win some, lose some.

Okay, did you see the title of the blog?

religion, religious, troll, intolerance, jesus, god, bible, prophecy, witness, evangelism, atheism, atheist, stupid,
Dana (of the no profile profile) is really concerned about us, guys. Really deeply concerned about the state of our souls. Really, really, deeply sincerely concerned.



Well, maybe "concerned" isn't quite the word I'm looking for here.



Lovely people, well, now isn't that a nice change? usually, fundys don't think so highly of me.



It's interesting to me that folks who identify themselves as "progressive nope, never identified myself as progressive, tolerant you're being intolerant of my intolerance!, liberal, secular i am, but i never really use that word, rational now it's an insult!, intellectual hey now, that stopped being an insult after obama was elected, lover' no apostrophe s of the creation what? (instead of the creator can't love what i don't believe in)," take so much pleasure in distorting and spinning the words and belief' no freakin' apostrophe s of their counterparts. "distorting and spinning", huh? this was in response to my picking apart of the odd belief that were the rapture to happen, unbelievers actually would be upset at losing their children. just don't like what you see in the mirror, do you?

So much so, that they begin the name calling..."fundy to separate you from perfectly normal religionists, weird it is weird from my point of view, out-of-touch i didn't use that, retarded i definitely didn't use that word, demagogue you have no idea what that means, do you?," and so on. Real "tolerant" guys. again, yes I am intolerant of your intolerance. "tolerance" does not mean "accepts absolutely anything anyone says as true and perfect." Where do you get off anywhere i can, my dear?

The way I see it, the opposing world views have an obvious ocean between them. One can look at that diversity in view point as a table for discussion, oh, you mean like the "discussion" where you tell me i'm wrong and i will burn forever in hell? that one?or...like the folks here...a battle ground. when was the last time you had an atheist stop you on the street to evangelize? Hypocrisy takes the latter position. oh, noes, i'm a hypocrite, too!

How can those who claim the mantle of "tolerance, liberal, accepting" do so, when in reality, they mock and shout down those of a different opinion?on my own blog, mind you. i didn't go to her house and start preaching atheism. Bottom line is this. Two plus two equals four, no matter if any of you say it equals five. i'm an atheist, not an amathist. and your argument isn't that 2 + 2 = 4, your argument is that anything + anything = GOD. Your argument might be that "well, that is my truth, therefore it is just as valid as your truth." no, that would be your argument.

Guess what? You're flat wrong. Truth is truth. It's not relative. Truth is absolute. Christianity is about truth, not tolerance. mind you, the same person who spent paragraphs ranting at me about my lack of tolerance is now going to tell me that christianity and god are intolerant and that's wonderful. yeah. And, it's not the Christian who is intolerant. It's God who is intolerant. it's not me, it's god is exactly the excuse suicide bombers use, btw. God is intolerant of sin, because He is pure and Holy. when you are linking two ideas with "because" they need to be freakin' related in some way. I challenge you to wrap your mind around that concept. the concept that the imaginary skydaddy is so pure that he must necessarily torture people forever and ever and that's justice?

He cannot abide the evil in this world. then he needs to get rid of it. If you have a problem with that, can't wait to see you argue it with Him, when your turn comes to do so, kneeling (and you will) before the throne of the God of this Universe. but not all universes, just this one. It's about God's Word, not the words of His believer's, who are nothing more than broken people, doing their best to come to Christ, in the midst of their brokenness, and to tell the other's about salvation, no matter how feeble that might look to you. this isn't even fun any more, it's pathetisad. please, learn some apologetics. ranting at and threatening people will never lead to a conversion.

And yes, there is division within the church, just as it was prophesied, and folks, it's going to get much worse. so, which church should i choose. to paraphrase the immortal Homer Simpson, if I pick the wrong church, I'm just making god madder and madder. Apostacy has been prophesied and we're seeing it now.The division gives fodder for those of non-belief, as witnessed by this thread. i kinda fail to see how apostacy was the problem inherein in the rapture post. To be on that side, reveling in the dissension, is nothing to throw a party over. can i hand out cookies? In the end, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess...that Jesus Christ is Lord. proof? That goes for believer's and non-believer's alike. stop it with the fucking apostrophes! It has been prophesied, and to date, the Bible has been 100% accurate in each and every one of it's prophetic predictions (some 688), in hair-splitting detail. really? prove that. This fulfillment of prophecy goes from the rise and fall of earthly kingdoms and empires, there will be war in the middle east. it will involve sand. to the tiniest details of the lives of individuals, from shepherds to Kings.

Doubters might talk to University professors in archeology, theology, geology, and so on. ya know, scientists and other such people that know things. don't talk to them! These fulfilled prophecies have been substantiantied by secular folks from every walk of science. link? anything? So, look it up and laugh it up.

And, go ahead with the mocking and ridiculing of the faithful. Just make sure you have an ice cold brewski to wash down the locust, and a naked chick to violate i'm a girl, dude. when those days come because the King of kings, and the Lord of lords is coming, and very soon. um, i get to drink beer and rape people when jesus comes back? Hope you'll be able to look Him in the face, without shame, when that day comes.

Maranatha,

Dana

I Joined the Atheist Blogroll!

atheist, blogroll, mojoey, deep thoughts, atheism,
I can't imagine why this took so long. No, I can. I hate messing with the html of my blog, and adding blogroll thingies requires me to do that. Anyway, if you load Forever in Hell and it looks weird, I'm probably working on it. Feel free to let me know if it stays weird.

And now the recommended language:

Forever in Hell has been added to The Atheist Blogroll. You can* see the blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information.

*or will soon be able to