Can Christians Do Good For Goodness Sake?

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GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,284
1,998
126
We see the same things. There is no god, no life after death, life is totally meaningless and empty.

Uhhhh, no. You have it completely backwards.

Life is meaningless and empty IF you're stupid enough to believe in eternity. If you do then life is just a short audition for the "show". Your entire purpose it to kiss ass enough so that the invisible thug in sky gives you a thumbs up and lets you through the velvet ropes so you can lie on a cloud dry-humping angels forever.

If you're smart enough to dismiss fictional, impotent mass-murderers who create you broken and then hate you for being broken, life takes on an entirely new meaning. Life is everything. You have x time, get out there and freaking LIVE LIFE rather than spending it in fear that you're pissing off somebody who can't even be bothered to tell you what he really wants.
 

interchange

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,026
2,879
136
Humans are interesting creatures. We find what we believe to be true. Then we are compelled to extend our beliefs to others and get passionately angry when we are confronted with someone trying to do the same (but with different beliefs).
 
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bshole

Diamond Member
Mar 12, 2013
8,315
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Humans are interesting creatures. We find what we believe to be true. Then we are compelled to extend our beliefs to others and get passionately angry when we are confronted with someone trying to do the same (but with different beliefs).

The problem is that there are consequences to beliefs. If you believe that God will cure your child and that doctors are evil, your children will suffer. If you can get enough people in your society to believe science is a conspiracy from the devil, your society will suffer. One need only look to the Middle East to see what happens when faith is revered more than rationality.
 

hal2kilo

Lifer
Feb 24, 2009
26,150
12,357
136
Uhhhh, no. You have it completely backwards.

Life is meaningless and empty IF you're stupid enough to believe in eternity. If you do then life is just a short audition for the "show". Your entire purpose it to kiss ass enough so that the invisible thug in sky gives you a thumbs up and lets you through the velvet ropes so you can lie on a cloud dry-humping angels forever.

If you're smart enough to dismiss fictional, impotent mass-murderers who create you broken and then hate you for being broken, life takes on an entirely new meaning. Life is everything. You have x time, get out there and freaking LIVE LIFE rather than spending it in fear that you're pissing off somebody who can't even be bothered to tell you what he really wants.
You must be reading my mind.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,767
6,770
126
Uhhhh, no. You have it completely backwards.

Life is meaningless and empty IF you're stupid enough to believe in eternity. If you do then life is just a short audition for the "show". Your entire purpose it to kiss ass enough so that the invisible thug in sky gives you a thumbs up and lets you through the velvet ropes so you can lie on a cloud dry-humping angels forever.

If you're smart enough to dismiss fictional, impotent mass-murderers who create you broken and then hate you for being broken, life takes on an entirely new meaning. Life is everything. You have x time, get out there and freaking LIVE LIFE rather than spending it in fear that you're pissing off somebody who can't even be bothered to tell you what he really wants.
Well that's what I get for talking to a person of faith. My faithless meaningless life is of value because I don't believe in eternity. Sorry, I don't share your faith. My life, like yours, is quite meaningless. I don't blame you though, for your faith your empty life has meaning. You have not experienced the fact that the need for meaning is as meaningless as everything else.
 

FelixDeCat

Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
31,036
2,688
126
I can illustrate the problem with your thesis by example.

You and I both agree that it is immoral and disgusting to torture an animal for your own personal pleasure. The problem is that the Bible has no injunction against such an act. The question arises, where did you get your belief that it is a moral evil to torture animals for pleasure? My answer is that you and I both got our morals from the societies around us.

You believe that God is against animal torture because you are against animal torture. You PROJECT your already existing morals onto your God. Do you really think it is a coincidence that your God has the exact same moral code as yourself? Do you think it is a coincidence that every person of faith has a God with the exact same moral code as themself?

This gets really sticky when a Christian PROJECTS a 21st century moral code onto a 2000 year old God. Then the apologetics have to be pulled out as the Christian defends slavery, genocide, human sacrifice, etc..... ie. a moral code that is completely anathema to them. The cognitive dissonance is absolutely painful to watch.

wat?

Silly boy, the sacrifice of animals was done away with in the New Testament. You are taking sections of the Old Testament which was has its roots in the Hebrew Bible which began around 1000 years before Christ was born. The things you mentioned existed then and they exist now, to this day.

Surprise! Things change! Its called the NEW Testament for a reason.

But you knew all this already.

This is the game atheists play.

They run around chasing their tails and love arguing to no useful end, but in the end, they gain nothing from it.

The End.
 
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greatnoob

Senior member
Jan 6, 2014
968
395
136
wat?

Silly boy, the sacrifice of animals was done away with in the New Testament. You are taking sections of the Old Testament which was has its roots in the Hebrew Bible which began around 1000 years before Christ was born. The things you mentioned existed then and they exist now, to this day.

Surprise! Things change! Its called the NEW Testament for a reason.

But you knew all this already.

This is the game atheists play.

They run around chasing their tails and love arguing to useful end, but in the end, they gain nothing from it.

The End.

You didn't even read what he wrote.
Reading comprehension and interpretation skills = non-existent.
 

GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,284
1,998
126
...if you think atheism will save you.

Unlike you, I have nothing to be saved from. I don't have an invisible man stalking me because he thinks I'm a giant piece of shit who must be sent to eternal suffering to show that he loves me.

In between laughing my ass off at how delusional you wannabelievers are, I actually feel sorry for you. What happened to you as a child that convinced you that you're so awful, so worthless, so utterly without merit that you have to spend your entire life trying to be saved from the person that created you that way? That's just a horrifying way to live. Why didn't you Christians invent a god that you don't have to be afraid of?
 
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GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,284
1,998
126
My life, like yours, is quite meaningless.

Speak for yourself. My life is seen for the truth that it's a single trip around the merry-go-round and that I should enjoy the ride.

Yours is meaningless because you make it that way. Your invisible man has convinced you that you're broken and worthless. It's heartening to see that you're so committed to staying broken and worthless, you wouldn't want to disappoint him.
 

Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
11,684
5,228
136
The problem is that there are consequences to beliefs. If you believe that God will cure your child and that doctors are evil, your children will suffer. If you can get enough people in your society to believe science is a conspiracy from the devil, your society will suffer. One need only look to the Middle East to see what happens when faith is revered more than rationality.


Hell, you have to look no further than our, the U.S.'s history, to see how Christianity is used/perverted to justify actions. Christianity was used as a moral basis/justification for slavery here in the U.S. I guess you can get more perverse/morally bankrupt than that, but it'd be difficult.
 

Cerpin Taxt

Lifer
Feb 23, 2005
11,940
542
126
...if you think atheism will save you.
There's your problem. You believe because you're a coward; afraid of the angering the big bad imaginary bully. You believe because you think it's safer this way. You're in a mind trap, and you aren't smart enough nor strong enough to figure your way out.
 
Nov 25, 2013
32,083
11,718
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Hell, you have to look no further than our, the U.S.'s history, to see how Christianity is used/perverted to justify actions. Christianity was used as a moral basis/justification for slavery here in the U.S. I guess you can get more perverse/morally bankrupt than that, but it'd be difficult.

To be fair, Christianity was also used as a "moral basis/justification" for ending slavery as well.
 

Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
11,684
5,228
136
To be fair, Christianity was also used as a "moral basis/justification" for ending slavery as well.

That's completely fair to mention, and it's that fact that led to the splits between the northern and southern branches of the Baptists, Methodists, and I believe the Presbyterians.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,767
6,770
126
There's your problem. You believe because you're a coward; afraid of the angering the big bad imaginary bully. You believe because you think it's safer this way. You're in a mind trap, and you aren't smart enough nor strong enough to figure your way out.
It's your problem too. To know God requires that transcendence of ordinary reason. It requires the ending of thought and the miracle of altered consciousness the ending of thought brings. You are also a coward because you cling to reason and are afraid to let go of it. You see only madness in that direction. That is why the truly wise, those who are invisible to men, refer to their knowledge as the wisdom of idiots.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,767
6,770
126
Religion is a bridge to reality. Humanity is stuck on the bridge worshiping it or scoffing at it. There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who have crossed the bridge, they leave our story here because only those who have crossed know what the other side is. They are invisible and do not exist for the rest of us.

The second category is made up of the believers and those who do not believe based on a lack of evidence. They argue with each other and among themselves. These are the folk you see in this thread. None of us know a damn thing.

To put it differently, there are two kinds of people. Those who know and those who only have faith they know or have no faith there is anything to know.
 

Cerpin Taxt

Lifer
Feb 23, 2005
11,940
542
126
It's your problem too. To know God requires that transcendence of ordinary reason. It requires the ending of thought and the miracle of altered consciousness the ending of thought brings. You are also a coward because you cling to reason and are afraid to let go of it. You see only madness in that direction. That is why the truly wise, those who are invisible to men, refer to their knowledge as the wisdom of idiots.
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use" -Galileo Galileo

Thank you for conceding that god-belief is irrational. Why you would maintain an irrational belief on purpose defies explanation, but nobody really expected anything rational from you in the first place.