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Confessions of a Lapsed Atheist
American Thinker ^ | 6/21/2009 | Jenn Q. Public

Posted on 06/22/2009 5:33:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

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To: MarkBsnr
If not God, who endows?

I had posted an excerpt from the Bhagavad-Gita above. Please read it, carefully.

If that is a source of morality outside the Judaic idea of God, then it implies that morality is not a monopoly of one religion alone. And according to the followers of the Judaic God, the Hindu one is a false, man-made one. The Hindus would say the same about the Judaic God too, although I'm not so sure about this. Basically one cancels out the other.

241 posted on 06/22/2009 11:35:17 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: netmilsmom
Or is it that a troll has come to us?

Hold on to your horses, now.

242 posted on 06/22/2009 11:38:06 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Your comment history, from the beginning of the link to the FR thread provided, to your admission of atheism, after repeated questioning from me, tends to disagree, MyTwoCopperCoins. You were clearly misrepresenting yourself as Hindu.

A novel tactic, for sure. Most fundie atheists on FR disguise their evangelism by claiming to be Christian.


243 posted on 06/23/2009 3:14:57 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: metmom
Must be some good stuff they’re smoking to rationalize that one.

Must be. Another recent oddity in repitition would be "flux capacitor."

All spawned around the same bong, it would seem.

244 posted on 06/23/2009 3:46:43 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins; RegulatorCountry; netmilsmom; MarkBsnr; ClancyJ
Moreover, I've even declared that I pit one religion against another to prove each one of them wrong.

Trolling by your own admission.

But just for kicks, you can't prove anything wrong when you don't even know what *wrong* is. Since you have no basis for truth, you have no basis for making the determination of *not truth*.

245 posted on 06/23/2009 5:50:13 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: RegulatorCountry

MyTwoCopperCoins
Since Sep 13, 2008


246 posted on 06/23/2009 5:50:32 AM PDT by netmilsmom (Psalm 109:8 - Let his days be few; and let another take his office)
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To: metmom

That’s why I never deign to answer the “gotcha” questions (like “why did God create a man that could fall”) from a heel nipping chihuahua.

Anyone that truly wants answers to questions like that will receive my honest, apologetics research based answer.

If he’s just a heel nipper, talk to the hand.


247 posted on 06/23/2009 5:52:15 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins; RegulatorCountry; netmilsmom; MarkBsnr; ClancyJ
If any faith allows a spectrum of devotion to be a member of its flock, then this is the mos obvious sign that the religion is a man-made invention.

Christianity doesn't allow for a spectrum of devotion. You don't know a persons heart and judging their devotion by a system of standards that you set up to judge them by, that has no connection to what God uses, is disingenuous.

I don't doubt it makes you feel real good to set up conditions for others, judge them by it, and find them wanting, therefore hypocrites. I also don't doubt that you feel that it gives you plenty of justification to not believe yourself.

Been there, done that.

The only problem is that it's a house of cards. It's not going to stand when you finally come face to face with God.

248 posted on 06/23/2009 5:56:34 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
what's good and bad in your book.

"...I’ve posted something about it in comment #161"

What I got from there is you accept the golden rule that's pushed by virtually all religions and is hard wired into us because because of an evolutionary need for the propagation of our race. 

"...different cultures are able to come with more or less the same morality, it reveals only one thing: that the concepts are all man-made."

Wait a second.  If different people make their own observations and arrive at the same description independently, then we conclude that neither is making it up and that they're all seeing something that actually exists outside their imaginations.  That means if the golden rule came about as an evolutionary necessity, then it's the rule that made the race, not the other way around.

 fwiw, I like humanity as much as the next guy, but off hand I can think of some other ideals that you and I would hold in even higher esteem.

249 posted on 06/23/2009 5:58:29 AM PDT by expat_panama
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To: RegulatorCountry

What nonsense. Show me exactly where I’ve admitted to being a Hindu. Don’t make your inferences into my declarations.

As for the Wiki site, I thought that was already clarified on that thread itself, where I had clearly indicated to you that Wikipedia was merely a container page for the contents, which were from another source, altogether.


250 posted on 06/23/2009 6:16:36 AM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: metmom

We specifically are proscribed from judging another’s salvation.

We may judge their behaviors against the standard of God’s Word,

but the judgement of salvation is up to God/Jesus, as He is the only One that knows the heart of the individual and what that individual was given to work with.


251 posted on 06/23/2009 6:20:37 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)
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To: metmom

Creationists and believers tend to club various religions together in their fight against Atheists, and then complain when I rightfully remind all of you that if it were not for Atheists in the mix, you’d be arguing with each other about whose religion is the “truth”. Logical dissonance, some would say.

Oh, * YAWN * you’re back to your old habit of trying to argue through sloganeering. I have no basis for truth? What’s yours?


252 posted on 06/23/2009 6:21:30 AM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: MrB; metmom
"If he’s just a heel nipper..."

That's a judgment call, but the important thing here is what he's saying.  He points out that the Golden Rule made humanity's appearance possible.   The Word is at the beginning and the Word creates man.

Neat!

253 posted on 06/23/2009 6:26:16 AM PDT by expat_panama
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To: expat_panama

Please indicate how the Golden Rule, following which allows societies to become more stable, has anything to do with the Word, or whatever, written on animal skins by humans millenia after they began adhering to the Golden Rule?


254 posted on 06/23/2009 6:28:54 AM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

But if you think that they’re wrong, then you must think atheism is truth.

On what basis?


255 posted on 06/23/2009 6:43:33 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
indicate how the Golden Rule, following which allows societies to become more stable, has anything to do with the Word

We're in agreement here; let's work on it together.  We got the Golden Rule which is a set of written or spoken words and which presents a reciprocal ethics necessary for our existence.  From your post 161:

So, when the majority of human beings want to live through life and pass on their genes and experiences through their offspring, it becomes imperative that they create a climate that favors this. I won’t go on a killing spree, because I don’t prefer chaos. The vast majority of human beings don’t prefer chaos, either. In order to guarantee a climate of reasonable security, the principle of reciprocity is paramount, which is, the power to empathize.


256 posted on 06/23/2009 6:51:28 AM PDT by expat_panama
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To: MrB

[[How many Christians LIVE as if every aspect of what we profess to be true - God’s Word of the Bible - is actually true?]]

MOST do- We don’t worship idols, we don’t sacrifice our children to gods, we don’t constantly engage in direct opposition to God as the heathen do- MOST are there when their neighbor needs help, when the starving need assistence, when the sick need caring for. That’s ALL Christ asks- He doesn’t ask us al lto becoem super sinless saints

[[Your first discipleship responsibility is in your family.]]

Exactly. One of hte lessons of hte bible is that we shouldn’t be spending capital outside of hte family IF it’s goign to be hurting the family at home- that includes not only monetary capital, but physical and emotional as well.

[[I mean, really, wouldn’t we all live differently if we lived like we TRULY believed in the all powerful, all sovereign God?]]

we DO live differently- much much differently- peopel have htis mistaken notion that in order to be a ‘real Christian’ a person has to polish their halo every day, wear robes, lash htemselves 30 times each morning, and stand on the street corners preachign hte word till our voices are hoarse. That’s NOT What God expects, infact very few are called to be hte super saints non Christians think we should be. MOST are just called to be in the world, but seperate from the world (ie: NOT to worship false gods, not to actively engage in evil, and just to be aroudn if or when someone shoudl truly NEED a hand or help- even if that opportunity never arises- it is God and God ALONE who directs our paths, and if it’s His good pleasure to bring one opportunity after another our way, then al lthe better, but if it’s not His good pleasure, then we are NOT to force hte issue because we ‘FEEL’ irrelevent in His work, and htink we need to be ‘doing somethign for Him’ when He Himself has NOT called us to do so.

Beign a Christian doesn’t mean one automaticlly bcoems an ouitspkoen missionary, street corner evangelist, missionary to the downtrodden etc. Remember, The two women in the bible- one just sat doign nothign but listenign to Christ speak, while hte other worked furiously trying to make sure all the guests were taken care of- running herself raggad- she complained to Christ about it, and remember what Christ told her?

“”Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42).”

Those criticising Christians for supposedly not ‘being Christian enough’ simply haven’t a clue about what it really means to be a Christian. They, like Martha- simply don’t udnerstand that God simply wants us just to BE- instead of always beign so busy we can’t see the real message, nor udnerstand the truth of life. In some people’s eyes, unless Christians are cosntantly preachign hte gospel, laying down hteir lives, givign up every modern convenience, then by golly, they must not be true Christians at all.

As Christians we ARE proclaiming hte truth by how we live- the world sees us- they see that we don’t revell in evil, they see that we don’t worship the same htings they do, and htey see that we ARE set apart- we ARE proclaimign His word without ever havign to utter one word- whiel some are called to missions, most are not- whiel some are called to feed the poor- most are not- while some are called to minister to hte sick, most are not. Most are just called to be set apart, and htis is NOT an all or nothign situation either- being set apart is a process- a prcoess worked by hte Holy spirit- some being more mature than others- but hte great majority being not as mature as the few- but ALL are wholly right where God has called them to be at that particular time-

http://gbgm-umc.org/UMW/jesusandwomen/marymartha.stm


257 posted on 06/23/2009 8:04:14 AM PDT by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

***See post 161.***

That doesn’t really answer the question unless you consider mankind as just another species scrabbling in the dirt.


258 posted on 06/23/2009 4:06:03 PM PDT by MarkBsnr ( I would not believe in the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

***If not God, who endows?
I had posted an excerpt from the Bhagavad-Gita above. Please read it, carefully.

If that is a source of morality outside the Judaic idea of God, then it implies that morality is not a monopoly of one religion alone. And according to the followers of the Judaic God, the Hindu one is a false, man-made one. The Hindus would say the same about the Judaic God too, although I’m not so sure about this. Basically one cancels out the other.***

Interesting concept. I would say that an equivalent would be a debate between, say, Einstein, and an English major in Papua New Guinea.

Einstein would say that E=mc**2; the English major might say that E=turning on a light switch. In your example, the two would merely cancel out, regardless of the validity of one over the other.


259 posted on 06/23/2009 4:10:00 PM PDT by MarkBsnr ( I would not believe in the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so.)
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To: CottShop

Well stated (although the preview button is our friend 0;^)


260 posted on 06/24/2009 2:04:58 AM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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