Posted on 12/23/2006 7:01:57 AM PST by Clive
Steven should have consulted me on this pont also, before maundering on. Such a chatterbox.
Anyway, I would have told him, "The Universe matters, or else we'd never mind."
I say "Merry Christmas" to them because I'm extending them greetings because of my holiday, not because I'm trying to convert them. If they interpret that the wrong way, they're just looking to pick a fight anyway.
Absolutely correct.
The only problem I have with that possibility is that most of the accounts of his life were written within the lifetime of the eye-witnesses.
It's the same problem today's "holocaust-deniers" have - too many eye-witnesses - too many people that can attest to the facts...
It's also very difficult to believe that his disciples - to a man - would accept a gruesome death (or banishment to an isle prison in the case of John) in support of known hoax.
This loosely ties in with what C.S. Lewis was writing about decades ago. His thesis was that all people are "hard-wired" to believe in more than the existential world, in something larger than one's self.
But when God is removed from the equation, this can take many, perhaps bizarre, forms.
In true atheism, one's self becomes one's God (this also works for Communism,) which explains why such believers take perceived insults so personally, even when no insult is present or implied.
If environmentalism is the adopted religion, then God is "Gaia," even if not accompanied by ceremony.
In Nazi Germany, the State was God.
With little expansion, this expands to Druidism, Wicca, animal-rights activism, a host of other things.
The common thread is "fervor." The "annointed" have the same zeal as any traditionally religious person, but it guides their actions into sometimes unrecognizable realms.
But without the moral compass of a God-based faith, things quickly spin out of control. Just look at the headlines on any given day.
Public whipping of the protesting atheist would work wonders. However- Sigh!-that would take more strength of character than our society presently exhibits.
Yeah, we could import some Mutaween from Saudi Arabia where they really know how to whip unbelievers!
S'matter with you!?
I had not thought of importing people to fill the necessary function of administering the whippings. However, that may be a good stop gap measure until Americans regain their health and strength and then take over the job. Good Post!
Just doing the public humiliations and punishments that Americans won't do.
I disagree that you would need to import Christian Protectors of Vice and Virtue.
I see plenty of potential recruits every day. The Prince of Peace would be proud.
You got it! Like the time he whipped the trash out of the temple.
I would definitely support more of that.
If his followers lied about Christ why did they not recant. They were persicuted, humiliated, hunted down and killed. I wouldn't die for a lie, how about you?
It must be a sad existence not to believe in anything meaningful, and to enjoy casting doubt on anything that might lead to meaning.
You are denigrating meaning, my friend. May you find truth before you die.
Not just that, but Merry Chrismas is at its heart a Christian Holliday, but it has ALSO become an American/Western secular Holliday so wishing someone a happy Christmas Holliday shouldn't offend Anyone!
"But, as evolutionists, they can't credibly explain why hundreds of different civilizations across the globe have felt the need to believe in a divine force."
The fact that different civilizations worshipped bulls, snakes, the sun, and invisible men in the sky provides no proof that any of them were correct. The only explanation needed is man's proclivity for superstition, which is probably already out there somewhere.
I agree with you, and that's part of the reason I go around saying "Merry Christmas" to everyone with a big smile. And I am not afraid to get into a fight with anyone, though I don't tend to fight with fists but with cold, clear, British-style words. But I can understand that in a community in which christians are a minority, it might be an understandable decision to tell employees not to have fights with customers. There are a lot of them around here who would sue at the drop of a hat.
You've got a spanking fetish.... It's OK--lots of people do.
I used to say "Merry Christmas" until Bill O'Reilly annoyed me enough to switch to "Happy Holidays".
Do you find it equally difficult to accept that nineteen people would crash the planes they had taken over into skyscrapers?
If not, how do you differentiate between one suicide and another?
If so, how do you avoid the conclusion that Wahabi Islam is the true religion?
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