Christian apologist, Tyler Vela, has observed that atheists like to define “atheism” and “belief” in very nontraditional ways, and these definitions lead to an absurdity. Consider the following: “Atheist” is redefined as someone who merely lacks the belief that God exists (rather than someone who believes God does not exist), and “belief” is redefined as holding something to be true without evidence (rather than a mental disposition concerning the truth of some proposition). Given these definitions, if God did something by which all people had direct and incontrovertible evidence that He existed, then no one could believe in God (since His existence is no longer an opinion without evidence). If no one believes in God because they know God exists, then they are atheists (because atheists lack a belief in God’s existence). Ironically, then, everyone would be an atheist precisely because they know God exists.
When something ends that badly, you know you’ve gone wrong somewhere. In this case, what’s wrong is the redefinitions of “atheist” and “belief.” Clearly, defining these words in these ways leads to absurdity, and for that reason, these redefinitions should be abandoned.
For further reading:
• What exactly does it mean to be an “atheist”?
• The New Definition of Atheism is Compatible with God’s Existence
• Atheists may lack belief in God, but they do not lack beliefs about God
Thinking to Believe 
April 12, 2015 at 10:54 pm
but you did not offer a definition .. what is your definition of these words then?
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April 13, 2015 at 2:58 am
My,
The answers to your question in the author’s own words:
“Atheist” is redefined as someone who merely lacks the belief that God exists (rather than someone who believes God does not exist), and “belief” is redefined as holding something to be true without evidence (rather than a mental disposition concerning the truth of some proposition).
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April 13, 2015 at 3:03 am
Great post!
And even though you define terms clearly, the atheist response is a big DUH-zilla.
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April 13, 2015 at 5:12 am
God has provided incontrovertible evidence that He exists. Creation is incontrovertible proof that God exists. Of course, many deny that the beautiful and intricate design in this universes proves there is a Designer, but all those arguments demonstrate a blindness that is almost as amazing as the universe we can see, smell, touch, taste and hear. Randy
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April 13, 2015 at 6:50 am
So because we believe He lives or exists we are holding onto to something that has no evidence?
And if a person doesn’t believe they are an Aetheist?
I see through history that scientist have proven over and over and over again God does exist rather than the opposite
Who shall we say created the heavens and the earth who shall we say created life who then shall we say performs miracles daily and to what end or purpose
If God does not exist why bother or if you believe in some other supernatural power where does that come from?
It’s obvious that people minds have been twisted they will believe a lie before they will consider the truth
Thank you for your posting Jason I think you do a fabulous work breaking down and placing it in and it’s right perspective but to be honest with you this post left me shaking my head I guess the age-old question is to believe or not to believe!!!
God bless
I choose to believeAnd I think people around me prove it daily that he lives. Many scientists and doctors Have seen irrefutable evidence that something far beyond their medical practical understanding is, that many miracles that otherwise could not of ever happened, have taken place without their intervention.
Amazing to me!!!
Darwin on his own deathbed said he regretted his own theory ….it. just became an out for some people to choose to believe that rather than believe in GodI think it takes more effort to not believe than it does to hold fast to the belief that he he died he rose again and he lives and every fiber of my soul demands that I declare it rather than deny it!
Keep up the fm good work.
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April 13, 2015 at 8:43 am
That’s a fine definition of ‘atheist’. That’s a horrible definition of ‘belief’.
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April 13, 2015 at 8:43 am
If these redefinitions were valid, that would put me in the unusual position of having been an atheist according to the classical definition of the word for 43 years, and having continued to be an atheist in the “redefined” sense of the word for the following 39 years!.
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April 13, 2015 at 4:10 pm
“Belief” gets a bad wrap in a 2+2=4 world, but not everything is as straight forward as mathematics.
The “new definition” of Atheist doesn’t bother me now. I just wish I became aware of it sooner in my first conversation with an Atheist that held to this “new definition.” I now ask them to define what “I’m an Atheist” means and haven’t had any further miscommunications. I take Atheist’s at their word that this “new definition” isn’t “doublespeak.”
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April 13, 2015 at 8:42 pm
An atheist is someone that rejects the Almighty; i.e., refuses to believe, accept or consider His existence.
Belief is conviction; i.e., the state of being convinced.
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April 13, 2015 at 11:18 pm
THE TAKEAWAY:
An Atheist is someone who does not believe in a personal, supernatural God.
PREFACE:
The Corporate RELIGIOUS Collective serves only ITSELF & has no real life of ITS OWN. ITS minions, proxies and proselytes, are like robots of Protocol without discretionary insight or common sense. “IT” has no innate capacity for moral or ethical action of independent volition & has no capacity to respond truthfully to the moral & ethical concerns of real human beings. To the CORPORATE RELIGIOUS COLLECTIVE, the people are viewed as inventory to be managed and cattle to be prodded.
THE GENESIS OF ATHEISM MANIFESTO:
sets forth the Principle Statements of Understanding.
The MISSION Statement of The Order of Worldwide Reverence (OWR): Humanity Uniting Humans (HUH)
“OWR WORLD”:
When you are wrong be quick to apologize; when you are right, be quick to forgive for it is the Sanctity of Life at Peace in a Clean Healthy Environment for Everything and Everyone, Everywhere on Earth that we strive to attain; bringing heaven to earth fulfills the Proverbial Prayer: “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven”, Matt 6:10 for “the Kingdom is within you”, Luke 17:21; bring it out in the open where it can be seen and be a benefit to others in humanity who are of peace, good will and like mind. It is the dream of every man, woman and child.
CHAPTER 1:
THE DAWNING:
[1] MAN created God in his own image and gave Him the Perfect Attributes of Deity.
[2] THESE are those attributes which Man aspires to but the likes of which Man has also determined to be impossible to achieve
[3] MAN sets the highest standards for his God and then pre-ordains those standards to be unreachable by Man using the phrase “God Willing” thus insuring
[4] THE justification for Man as he goes about his business of being just the opposite of the attributes he has given to his God
[5] BEING stupid, unforgiving, greedy, a liar, a cheat, a stealer, a killer, a deceiver and a most hateful and
[6] MURDEROUS character of which even among his own kind many cannot believe
[7] HE IS capable of the worse acts of atrocity on his fellow man, the environment and the life forms which support him
[8] PRAYING to a myth is as useless as teats on a bull.
[9] PRAYER works only when one prays to some one, a person, who can answer prayer: when you have a toothache you pray to the dentist to relieve your pain
[10] YOU pray to the judge to give you justice, to your family or the bank for a financial loan; you call 911 for help
[11] THOSE are prayers that have effect, prayers to a reality capable of answering them, not a caricature concept myth named God
[12] THOUSANDS of gods have been created since before time and events were recorded and they are all relegated to the failed gods of mythology and
[13] LUMPING the failed gods into the one true God, Allah, Jehovah, Yaweh is worse than merely useless
[14] AS mankind fights and kills in the name of their pet myth and cannot get on with living for a cause rather than dying for a cause
[15] EVERY society has it’s religious, mythical symbols and entities
[16] MANY wasted talents have been snuffed out by false religious fanatacism and teachings and
[17] HAVE deceived many throughout the centuries, continuing unto this very day and that’s what’s wrong with mankind
[18] GET prayer to the supernatural out of the mindset along with witchcraft, voodooism and rain dances
[19] SANTA and SATAN are variable spellings of each other but do not exist outside the metaphorical mind concepts .
[20] THEY merely satisfy an emotional crutch, a thumb sucker for adults
[21] THERE is no god but that which was created by man
[22] WE DID NOT understand why it rained, so we created a Rain God. When we came to understand meteorology, the Rain God was sacrificed on the alter of science
[23] WE HAVE abandoned our Gods in the name of progress. Now we have but one left, and when we are a stronger species
[24 WE Will abandon the Singularity too without abandoning the metaphorical concepts it represents
[25] HIGHER POWERS? Almighty powers? Sure! stardust and forces, gravity and electricity, light, magnetism, big matter, small matter, black holes, dark energy, dark matter, no matter.
[26] BUT, personal supernatural gods that intervene in human affairs, occasionally, by prayer, hope, wish, dream, supplication, entreaty, petition, plea, request, do not exist except in the minds of men put there by religious magicians and perpetuated by clergy wannabee mediators.
[27] “OKAY, “OKAY”, you might say, “we get it. You don’t believe in god but at least religious organizations do a lot of good work especially in the third world. Surely you can’t knock that?
[28] SO WHAT are you telling me? If they weren’t religious, they wouldn’t be doing this work? It’s not really coming from their hearts? They’re just doing it because they’re following orders? Is that what you’re saying?
[29] NO, THERE IS GOOD in the world; we know Good, we see and understand Good because there are Good people in the world and these “Good” people are Good despite religion; we know Good by its demonstration and that is the closest metaphor to God you can know, the human spirit as close to a personal god as one can be and children the closest to godlike purity humanity can observe.
[30] RELIGION ALWAYS claim “Good” people as their own and by that association take credit for the Good.
[31] ALL RELIGIONS derive from a person. Jesus said: “The Sabbath was made for Man, not Man for the Sabbath, therefore Man is Master of the Sabbath” Mark 2:27. Thus is it that Religion falls within this parameter.
CHAPTER 2:
THE TEN OBSERVATIONS:
To be or not to be con’t…………..
gltg
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April 13, 2015 at 11:31 pm
I’ve learned that the greater a person’s sense of guilt, the greater
his or her need to cast blame on others.
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April 14, 2015 at 12:07 am
Myatheistlife,
Silenceofmind is correct. I offered my definitions within the post. An “atheist” is someone who thinks the proposition “God exists” is false. “Belief” is the mental disposition of holding that some proposition is true.
Jason
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April 14, 2015 at 12:14 am
Paul,
While I would agree with you that we need to clearly assess what someone means when they say they are an atheist, I don’t think we should accept the attempted redefinition because it doesn’t make sense. Atheism is not about someone’s psychological state (if it were, then cats and babies are atheists too, which makes the moniker “atheist” rather uninformative), but about someone’s negative assessment of the truth value of the proposition, “God exists.” I think we should challenge atheists on this redefinition, in the same way that they would challenge us if we tried to redefine theism to mean something like “someone who does not claim to know God does not exist.” After all, that definition could likewise apply to cats and babies, and says nothing about the truth value of the metaphysical question at hand.
I have written about this in a few posts. Some of them were included as additional reading links in this post. I would also direct you to my article on IBS: http://onenesspentecostal.com/presumptionatheism.htm
Jason
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April 14, 2015 at 11:21 am
This is all very interesting. Sort of. Forgive me if I don’t lose any sleep over how someone else wants to define my lack of belief in supernatural beings.
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April 15, 2015 at 12:39 pm
Perhaps Pontius Pilate was a presumptive atheist. He found no evidence of claims to Christ’s Deity; so he washed his hands of the whole matter. “Ecce homo!” (John 19:4, 5; Matthew 27:11-26)
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April 15, 2015 at 1:34 pm
Frank:
I think differently about Pontius Pilate’s interview. Pilate did not look for evidence of Jesus’ Deity; he wasn’t even concerned about such; all Pilate wanted to know was what Jesus did that infuriated the clergy so much to want to kill him nbut found nothing in his interrogation that made him worthy of death charges and he told the religious community so. I don’t know how you can extrapolate Pilate looking for evidence of deity out of that!
Matthew 27:11
Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. In other words as he often retorted in answer to these idiotic questions: “It is you who says it”.
Mark 15:3
The chief priests accused him of many things.
Luke 23:2
And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”
John 18:29
So Pilate ………… asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.”
Pilate said, well judge him yourself under your own laws. They answered “But it is not lawful for us to kill him” (and he deserves to die)
Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”
35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world.
John 18:37
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You (the Governor, the Clergy, the religious, they, ) say that I am a king. But the fact is, the reason I was born and came into the world is but to testify to the truth.
John 7:7, The religious world ……hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.
(That does not make me a King, but) Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all”.
“”Waaahh, whine…… naaay, aaarrrgghhh, cry, whinoper,, whine, sigh loudly, waaaah. bawl”
“OMG what cry babies” said Pilate. “Do you want me to release the King of the Jews”, Pilate mockingly chided the Chief Priests….who yelled back, “No, not him, release Bareass Barabass!”
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April 15, 2015 at 2:47 pm
Since the Believers are not satisfied with the Atheist definition of an Atheist I shall drop that term and refer to myself as an Existentialist instead of an Atheist.
Existentialist seems more fitting since theists can’t even properly define Theism let alone Atheism. And since that inability to define Theism properly tends to rub off onto the definition of Atheism quite naturally as a result, believers try to comparmentalize Atheism like their own belief system, which belief system has been bastardized by believers; believers therefore want to draw Atheism therefore down into the indefinable abyss that tries to claim that “belief” is actually “knowledge” and therefore that “knowledge”; AKA “Belief” is evidence sufficient for the existence of the God they cannot define.
In case you can’t quite swallow that mouthful of sensical rationale here is the new stance for my position, a new position as an ex-Atheist who has had an Epiphany advancing him to the next Level of Atheism, an: EXISTENTIALIST and I will take this opportunity to define the position of an Existentialist lest there be any doubt among believers about what it means, in all its sheer simplicity: non believers are free to do that, believers, not so much.
Existentialist: The concept of an Existentialist is one that espouses “a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one’s acts.”
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April 15, 2015 at 3:07 pm
When the most liberal country in Europe pulls the plug on Islam, the world is beginning to see the light…Wow.
Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands attended a concert in the capitol, The Hague. The Conductor, who just happens to be Muslim, proceeds to give the Queen a lecture on the “beauty” of Islam. The entire orchestra got up and walked out, refusing to be associated with someone lecturing their Queen. Staff of the music hall escorted the conductor off-stage and after questioning, out of the buiilding.
Now that took courage. Good for the people of Holland. Watch the walk out.
Bet you didn’t see this on your local news.
Here’s the link:
http://safeshare.tv/w/cqjiYhtiXs
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April 15, 2015 at 3:08 pm
http://www.safeshare.tv/w/cqjiYhtiXs
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April 15, 2015 at 3:10 pm
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April 15, 2015 at 9:21 pm
TA:
Looks like you’ve extrapolated up a storm.
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April 15, 2015 at 9:35 pm
Pilate knew what the actual charge was [Matthew 27:18]: blasphemy for claiming to be the Son of God.
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April 15, 2015 at 11:44 pm
Frank: I don’t know where you get the Blasphemy thing from 27:18?
Matt 27:18 KJV
For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy
NIV:
18 For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.
MSG:
He knew it was through sheer spite that they had turned Jesus over to him.
AMB:
18 For he knew that it was because of envy that they had handed Him over to him.
ASV:
18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him up.
CJB:
18 For he understood that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over.
PHILLIPS:
For he knew very well that the latter had been handed over to him through sheer malice.
NRSV:
18 For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over.NASV:
18 For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over.
OJB:
18 For Pilate knew that because of kinah (envy) they had delivered Yehoshua up.
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April 16, 2015 at 7:23 am
Bob Mason, it’s not how theists want to define it, but how your fellow atheists want to define it. That’s what this post is about – showing how those redefinitions don’t work.
Jason
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April 16, 2015 at 7:34 am
Jason, I figured that part out. I care little for obnoxious, in-your-face atheists. For the most part, I prefer to keep my beliefs to myself. More peaceful, for everyone, that way.
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April 16, 2015 at 10:37 am
THE NEW ATHEISM AVOIDS THE GOD CONCEPT ALTOGEHER and gives more meaning to an individual’s life than Theism ever could: Enter Existentialism.
EXISTENTIALISM is a term applied to the work of certain late 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual. In existentialism, the individual’s starting point is characterized by what has been called “the existential attitude”, or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. Many existentialists have also regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophies, in both style and content, as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience.
Søren Kierkegaard is generally considered to have been the first existentialist philosopher, though he did not use the term existentialism. He proposed that each individual—not society or religion—is solely responsible for giving meaning to life and living it passionately and sincerely (“authentically”)
There has never been general agreement on the definition of existentialism. The term is often seen as a historical convenience as it was first applied to many philosophers in hindsight, long after they had died. In fact, while existentialism is generally considered to have originated with Kierkegaard, the first prominent existentialist philosopher to adopt the term as a self-description was Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre posits the idea that “what all existentialists have in common is the fundamental doctrine that existence precedes essence”, as scholar Frederick Copleston explains. According to philosopher Steven Crowell, defining existentialism has been relatively difficult, and he argues that it is better understood as a general approach used to reject certain systematic philosophies rather than as a systematic philosophy itself. Sartre himself, in a lecture delivered in 1945, described existentialism as “the attempt to draw all the consequences from a position of consistent atheism”.
A person can choose to act in a different way, and to be a good person instead of a cruel person. Here it is also clear that since humans can choose to be either cruel or good, they are, in fact, neither of these things essentially. This is as opposed to their genes, or human nature, bearing the blame.
As Kierkegaard defines it in Either/Or: “Let each one learn what he can; both of us can learn that a person’s unhappiness never lies in his lack of control over external conditions, since this would only make him completely unhappy.” In Works of Love, he said:
When the God-forsaken worldliness of earthly life shuts itself in complacency, the confined air develops poison, the moment gets stuck and stands still, the prospect is lost, a need is felt for a refreshing, enlivening breeze to cleanse the air and dispel the poisonous vapors lest we suffocate in worldliness. … Lovingly to hope all things is the opposite of despairingly to hope nothing at all. Love hopes all things – yet is never put to shame. To relate oneself expectantly to the possibility of the good is to hope. To relate oneself expectantly to the possibility of evil is to fear. By the decision to choose hope one decides infinitely more than it seems, because it is an eternal decision. p. 246-250
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April 16, 2015 at 11:39 am
I haven’t heard about the redefinition of atheism but let’s put it into context.
A lack of belief because there is no evidence for the object of the belief equals no belief
A lack of belief because there is evidence; also equals, no belief but while there is no belief there is also no object to have a belief in because evidence (knowledge) cancels out belief in support of the object
Therefore one lacks belief without evidence and one lacks belief because evidence cancels out belief.
On the other hand there would be no Theism either if evidence confirmed that God exists so if Theism, Belief in a God, no longer exists because of the knowledge that God exists, both Theism and its opposition, Atheism, would be obsolete.
This logical fallacy is how semantic nigglers play verbal marbles.
This is also called The irresistible force paradox: “What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?”
The paradox arises because it rests on two premises—that there exist such things as irresistible forces and immovable objects—which cannot both be true at once. If there exists an irresistible force, it follows logically that there cannot be any such thing as an immovable object, and vice versa.
Therefore belief/lack of belief and evidence/knowledge cannot both be true at once and follows logically that there cannot be any such thing as belief and evidence and vice versa.
That evidence for an object and belief about the same object can occur at the same time is imaginary, if accepted as real, delusional and if argued for is absurd.
That’s The Takeaway.
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April 16, 2015 at 4:27 pm
TA,
For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy. (Matthew 27:18 NKJV)
For he [Pontius Pilate] knew that they [Caiaphas, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people] had handed Him [Messiah] over because of envy [driven by Yahshua’s/Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God which by the Sanhedrin was considered blasphemy (Matthew 26:57-66 NKJV). Pilate’s direct knowledge of this claim [John 19:4-9 NKJV] mandated that he consider in his ruling Christ’s claim to Deity vs. the Roman deification of Caesar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontius_Pilate#Responsibility_for_Jesus.27_death. Pilate chose freely to resolve the issue by renouncing responsibility for Messiah’s execution sentence; surrendering Yahshua to the will of the mob & delivering Him to be crucified [Matthew 27:24-26 NKJV]. If Pilate had truly believed Christ was the Son of God then he never would have participated in crucifying the LORD of glory [1 Corinthians 2:4-8 NKJV]. Perhaps he was a presumptive atheist.
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April 17, 2015 at 10:11 am
“That evidence for an object and belief about the same object can occur at the same time is imaginary, if accepted as real, delusional and if argued for is absurd.”
There is historical evidence that George Washington was the first President of the United States.
I believe the that George Washington was the first President of the United States.
How is this absurd ?
I wasn’t there and have no proof other than the historical records. How do I know the books are not fudged ? I can choose to believe it or choose not to believe it.
Naz
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April 17, 2015 at 12:25 pm
Here’s The Takeaway:
It is easy for non-nigglers to understand the absurdity that evidence and belief can exist at the same time because belief flees evidentiary knowledge like darkness flees the light.
“There is historical evidence that George Washington was the first President of the United States.” is a stand alone statement; when one inserts the logical fallacy of belief in the face of that stand alone statement of evidence proves the niggler both delusional and absurd.
Introducing the possibility of “fudging” of the historical record in support of the absurdity only doubles the niggler’s absurdity by destroying the evidence of the first statement, trying in vain to have it both ways. A niggler, try as he may, cannot eat the imaginary cake he bakes.
Who has ears let him hear the Parable of the Rooster:
Niggling believers dread the advance of knowledge as vampires do the approach of daylight, and scowl at the rooster heralding the fatal end of the darkness of the deceptions on which they feed.
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April 17, 2015 at 5:25 pm
Jason,
“Atheist: There is no way that a god can exist. Agnostic: Prove it.” I’ve never meet an Atheist who I wouldn’t consider an Agnostic by my understanding of the definitions of these words. But they insist they are not Agnostic but Atheist and then define what an Atheists is,
so what’s up with that? They insist this is not a trick. I agree with you, but shouldn’t we just come up with a new term like “Agnostic Atheist” to speed things up?
Paul
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April 17, 2015 at 6:13 pm
I did a read through of “Atheists may lack belief in God, but they do not lack beliefs about God”. Now, I know strong evidence exists for belief in the claim:
That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
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April 17, 2015 at 8:46 pm
Frank,
I take their “beliefs about God” as just part of their argument. My understanding is: as far as they (Atheists) are concerned there is no evidence for the existence of God, therefore they can’t really have any beliefs about God.
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April 18, 2015 at 4:35 am
Paul VV:
And the new term….dunh, dunh, dunh, dunh…………..ddunnnnn!!!!!!!!!!
EXISTENTIALIST:
“a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one’s acts.”
Morality: wounds from having done something, or failed to stop something, or helpless to stop something that violates their moral code, wells up from deep humanity is expressed as “moral injury”
This “moral affliction” projected onto others can elicit similar sorrow suffering as a cloned empathic response from people close to the situation, especially loved ones. The inner conflict of moral code affliction often presents in weeping (expressed biblically as moaning and groanings) and can occur with inexplicable passion for someone you do not know or have never met.
You may not have actually done something wrong but by your own humanity you feel a sense of guilt, helplessness and sorrow. A feeling of inadequacy for example, when trying to comfort a loved one grieving over the death of a co-worker, a friend or a distant loved one.
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April 18, 2015 at 5:36 am
Evidence dispels belief:
When evidence is available, beliefs vanish. If evidence was available for the paranormal, superstition, god; there would be no need for beliefs; however, without evidence, beliefs are boundless across continents with imaginary caricatures running rampant among believers, clergy, magicians, psychics and astrologers. Let yourself be fortified with the ample supply of intelligent common sense you were born with, that you exist by.
Unfortunately the civilizing process has been slowed by a lack of intelligent common sense, the purpose of which is to unglue religious insanity from humanity that includes: war, conflicts of ego, nationalism and causes that spawn fanaticism, lust for money, power; and, desires for the death sacrifice to solve problems but evil to fight evil is so last millennia.
If the expense and talents and wasted lives, gone to the grave for the death machine of war, armaments and bombs; if those elements of treasure was invested in efforts toward the defeat and demise of disease, eradicating pathogen afflictions, hunger, pain and human suffering around the world, mankind would be so much closer to “heaven on earth” than religious superstition can ever allow anyone living today, to imagine. And if you want to imagine THAT immortal heaven, do yourself and the world a favor; take responsibility for your existence; fly higher than the imaginary gods, go Existential.
Be the Be-ing you were meant to be. See.
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April 18, 2015 at 11:05 am
As to evidence, I’ll take Yahshua our Messiah at His word:
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;” (Matthew 12:38, 39)
“If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign.” (Exodus 4:8)
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April 18, 2015 at 11:50 am
As to existentialism: any philosophy that “regards human existence as unexplainable” proves completely powerless & worthless. You might as well be a frog or a lump of dung. How can you think as a sensible human being? I’d even advocate nihilism; i.e., a doctrine or belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility, before existentialism. At least nihilism presents a rational objective. Everything’s a mess; let’s get rid of it and start over. Existentialism is the narcissist’s fanciful delight. It’s all about me & my will, egoistic self-gratification at its most inane; truly a ship without a mariner pilot; self-absorption to the point of annihilation.
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April 18, 2015 at 1:22 pm
The way believers skirt around the issue of a metaphor, like children charmed by a candy. Taking a verse from Exodus as though it was speaking about a time thousands of years later is pathetic poetry trying to make a clever academic wittcism of imagination.
If you cannot take responsibility for the actions of your own existence you wallow in the darkness of an ego looking to superstition to set your course and save you from the afflictions of disease. Your life is blissfully ignorant and filled with unhappiness because your reason has been extracted and given in tithe for a life based on nosense.
When your religion says to kill the doctor who wants to administer vaccines to save you from debillitating disease, you kill the doctor; then, set your eyes on high as you bow your head and pray to the supernaturalism of your imagination, and not your imagination but the imagination of the ancients you follow in the Book.
There’s nothing about electricity, there’s nothing about DNA, there’s nothing about infectious disease, about the principles of infectious disease. There’s nothing particularly useful and there’s a lot of iron age barbarism in there and superstition. This is not a candidate book to follow.
“At least nihilism presents a rational objective.” Now that is a funny rationale and makes as much sense as your sense that spending your life on your knees praying to a figment of an imaginary creature of fiction.
But there’s no reason to be unkind and so I continue to send wishes and hope to open your eyes to reality as these words filter through your nightly dreams and begin the process of healing your distorted neuron pathways, scarred by the Religious Corporate Collective that cares nothing about real humans but serves only itself.
Everything is unexplainable until one takes control of one’s existence and seeks to find, knocks to open and asks for answers…then we understand, then we explain, then we discover neurology and the demons of ignorance flee from the vocabulary of delusional men who pray to imaginary caricature concepts they call gods.
But Frank-ly if there is a God I would love to meet her.
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April 18, 2015 at 1:24 pm
OMG Friday evening to Sunday morning is three nights and three days? Can’t you accept the metaphor without dancing around the issue and skirting reality; this is not complicated math.
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April 18, 2015 at 1:28 pm
Frank if you want to take Jesus at his word I’ll have to explain Jesus’ word to you first because everything you’ve said so far about Jesus is wrong; not only wrong but what you think you know is worse than merely useless.
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April 18, 2015 at 5:51 pm
THE TAKEAWAY,
I also thought the new term was a done deal, apparently not. I don’t care what definition of Atheist anyone has as long as they tell me up front if it isn’t along the lines of: “believes that God does not exist.” Agnostic seems to be an excellent term IMO but to each his own. But words have meanings and you can’t have a discussion if you don’t know what they mean to the other person. Now you have to spend the majority of the discussion defining terms.
If believing God does not exist makes a person happy good for them. Being a Christian helps me so I’m a Christian.
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April 18, 2015 at 8:28 pm
PVV:
I think no matter what the terms are defined as if they do not conform to the believers indoctrination, they will not make any sense. However for me it was never a question of whether god existed or not, it was simply that I did not believe in any supernatural god. On the other hand I can accept the God that Jesus described as being within you; that makes sense in light of the brain, sensory perception, bundles of experiences and memory. And in that sense it would even be a “personal” god (The Father). Anything other than that and I’m not buying what the clergy is selling so Existentialism is perfectly suitable from where I sit.
Existence is unexplainable, humans are responsible for their own actions according to the existence they were born with. Furthermore humans cannot rely on a universal champion to intervene in an environment that is hostile or indifferent to the human experience just as the universe is hostile and indifferent to the gazelle fleeing the jaws of the lion or the mouse feeding along the path of a viper.
Existence may have a perfect explanation but until we know what it is, how it operates and why it seems so elusive, the myth of imaginary beings are fabricated fairy tales of ancient men who knew less than any elementary school child in today’s age and that just doesn’t cut reality.
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April 19, 2015 at 9:14 am
FA:
Shrugging off the shackles of religion will defeat the tyranny that binds believers to look for something that does not exist to account for something that does exist.
Existentialism allows one to accept responsibility to own one’s existence by common sense to understand this: it is an indifferent universe that has allowed life forms to be born into a world ready, willing and able to sustain the life form composites of the universe itself. All life forms utilize the endowment of adaptation which enable myriad life form spores to spontaneously generate.
That is the universe and we’re living in it.
Religion on the other hand looks for something non existent to explain the reality before our very eyes. It reminds me of the silliest of questions that people ask, “Do you believe life exist in outer space?”
Well of course life exists in outer space; where do you think we live?
Humanity needs to look for answers within the universe that gives and sustains all life within itself before trying to scratch the itch of one’s own vanity by inventing a creator without, for the purposes of ego glory self-aggrandizement. Just remember this: all religions derive from a person and no religion, ever derived from anywhere else.
The Takeaway is this: Existentialism is the means to discovering the answers; it is the logical path to follow in the civilizing process; albeit, the many interruptions from religious contention and warring factions thereof in the clash of egos throughout history shows little abatement even today with ongoing religious, read “ego” insanity conflicts, which is the focal point of every contentious issue on planet earth.
A boatload of people all fleeing the religious war in Libya have one thing in common: “they want to live” but what happens because of their uncommon difference, religion?
And you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to know this:
When a rubber dinghy carrying around 100 African refugees across the Mediterranean began to sink, a Nigerian Christian prayed for his life in an innocent act that would end in the deaths of 12 fellow migrants.
One of the Muslims on board the rickety craft ordered him to stop, saying: ‘Here, we only pray to Allah.’
When he refused, a violent fight ensued and 12 Christians drowned when they were thrown overboard by the Muslim refugees. Others were spared because they formed a human chain to prevent themselves being thrown over as well until they were rescued by Italian Coast Guard.
Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3044584/Pray-Allah-ll-throw-overboard-Muslims-ordered-Christians-punctured-dinghy-African-migrants-sank-Mediterranean.html
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April 19, 2015 at 1:56 pm
THE TAKEAWAY,
Many Sheeple will turn their “mind, body and soul” (just a figure of speech) over to the collective and do as they are told. Doesn’t matter if it’s: stone the guy picking up sticks on the Sabbath, burning the heretic/witch at the stake, beheading the infidel or future beheading of one who won’t take the mark of the beast. If all people became Atheists our problems won’t be over. We’ll just find another way to pick sides. We have a animal nature and although we have the capacity to overide it we often don’t. Bad people do bad things.
I agree we can’t explain our existence. You have your hypothesis and I have mine. Could I be wrong? Yes, I could be wrong. Your hypothesis sounds as implausible to me as the Genesis account does to me and probably as mine does to you and others.
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April 19, 2015 at 2:57 pm
Yes Paul:
I certainly understand what you say. It’s not just religion; we see everyday other radical challenges like nationalism, one of the worse offenders of humanity simply as a matter of geography and OMG sports fanaticism, forget your religon if you are not on the “right” side your life is not secure.
On the other hand, as globalism takes hold and people travel abroad such as the European Union, looking for work and a better life, I think eventually we will civilize toward a common humanity not without the pitfalls of skin colour, language and cultural biases.
But I don’t think we can chalk it up to animal nature, that’s akin to taking sides or the devil made me do it.
But spontaneity of life is very intriguing. Take for instance decomposition of organic matter; where do the organisms come from that suddenly appear on the decomposing of a tidbit of orange or a piece of discarded bread? I noticed the dos poo on the side of the concret sidewalk and it was swarming with flies. I though flies could be caught more readily with sugar but it seems it is more inclined toward the sh… than sugar.
And mould seems to appear out of nowhere; it almost seems that5 spnataneous generation is the way of the world. But then we get into the microscopic that we can’t see and it isnt any wonder that the Ancients were totally perplexed about that; why, the microscope:
During the 1st century AD (year 100), glass had been invented and the Romans were looking through the glass and testing it. They experimented with different shapes of clear glass and one of their samples was thick in the middle and thin on the edges. They discovered that if you held one of these “lenses” over an object, the object would look larger.
Someone also discovered that you can focus the rays of the sun with one of these special “glasses” and start a fire. These early lenses were called magnifiers or burning glasses.
Sometime about the year 1590, two Dutch spectacle makers, Zaccharias Janssen and his father Hans started experimenting with these lenses. They put several lenses in a tube and made a very important discovery. The object near the end of the tube appeared to be greatly enlarged, much larger than any simple magnifying glass could achieve by itself! They had just invented the compound microscope (which is a microscope that uses two or more lenses).
And so on and so on……..Galileo The Grater of Galilee described the principles of lenses and light rays and improved both the microscope and telescope. He added a focusing device to his microscope and of course went on to explore the heavens with his telescopes.
We are but chicks in a universe of other chicks who think they are the roosters of civilization and will fight to the finish to prove it.
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April 20, 2015 at 3:48 am
If you want to understand human existence then start with the elemental:
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April 20, 2015 at 1:38 pm
Frank:
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that I am much more elemental than you can even imagine or understand and I do not need to watch 3 hours of video to tell you that.
I will say however; with everything I have written and everything to which you have responded, how you fail to understand just how elemental I am is somewhat amazing and perplexing at the same time. You prove that you have never understood anything I have written, nothing, so I will put it in a single sentence and perhaps you can reflect on the simplicity of just how elemental you have failed to grasp about myself and about the one who you constantly try sounding academic about by using a name that is basically meaningless to the rest of the world and you fail even that simple task to talk about the real Jesus.
So then; the first phrase in the Bible that you think you understand and know and believe you have peculiar insight about says: “In the beginning…..”.
SINGLE SENTENCE:
There is no beginning and there never was a beginning.
This statement is affirmed by Jesus “…..before Abraham was, I am”. Now you can run with that to any supernatural mythological figure your ancestors invented, but that will never change.
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April 21, 2015 at 9:11 am
Understand the Mystery of Messiah:
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1-11)
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April 21, 2015 at 9:19 am
SINGLE SENTENCE:
There is no beginning and there never was a beginning.
Leo, I agree in your statement as it applies to Almighty God which is the only logical explanation of how this could be true.
On the other hand, if you apply this to the universe itself, then the Universe is without cause somehow and is your god essentially. But you don’t want a god, except yourself, so the Universe just is and always was.
Believe what you want, but bottom line is that it is nonsensical to have a Universe without a primary cause.
Since we can all agree that the Universe is awesome, you can choose to believe by blind faith with no scientific or logical explanation that it just always was or you can choose to logically deduce that there must be an even more awesome God who created it.
You actually affirmed what I just said by quoting the statement by Jesus …
“…..before Abraham was, I am”
Yes, Jesus is God Almighty….in the flesh.
Naz
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April 21, 2015 at 10:34 am
After reading my previous post, I thought I may have been a bit harsh…
I’ll quote what the scripture says instead,
“…the fool has said in his heart there is no God.”
I looked up the word “fool” in Websters dictionary online and cut and pasted it :
Full Definition of FOOL
1
: a person lacking in judgment or prudence
2
a : a retainer formerly kept in great households to provide casual entertainment and commonly dressed in motley with cap, bells, and bauble
b : one who is victimized or made to appear foolish : dupe
3
a : a harmlessly deranged person or one lacking in common powers of understanding
b : one with a marked propensity or fondness for something
4
: a cold dessert of pureed fruit mixed with whipped cream or custard
Naz
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April 21, 2015 at 11:18 am
Continuing in our exercise to understand matter, energy, space, & time:
http://www.reasons.org/articles/has-the-big-bang-gone-bust
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April 21, 2015 at 11:22 am
Understand the mystery of Messiah
I believe what you said is taken from Philippians and not from Jesus. Tell me what Jesus says about what you are quoting please.
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April 21, 2015 at 11:42 am
Galileo’s championing of heliocentrism was controversial within his lifetime, a time when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system. He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism due to the absence of an observed stellar parallax. The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism was FALSE AND CONTRARY TO SCRIPTURE, placing works advocating the Copernican system on the index of banned books and forbidding Galileo from advocating heliocentrism. Christians kept a Fool’s Ban in place for 200 hundred years
CHRISTIAN FOOLS USE SCRIPTURE for unreasonable, false and absurd claims:
In the CHRISTIAN world prior to Galileo’s conflict with the Church, the majority of educated people subscribed to the Aristotelian geocentric view that the earth was the center of the universe and that all heavenly bodies revolved around the Earth, despite the use of Copernican theories to reform the calendar in 1582. Biblical references Psalm 93:1, 96:10, and 1 Chronicles 16:30 include text stating that “the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.” In the same manner, Psalm 104:5 says, “the Lord set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.” Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that “And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place.
CHRISTIAN FOOLS AT THE APEX OF THE BIBLE FOOD CHAIN:
Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII, thus alienating not only the Pope but also the Jesuits, both of whom had supported Galileo up until this point. He was tried by the Holy Office, then found “vehemently suspect of heresy”, was forced to recant, and spent the last nine years of his life under house arrest.
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April 21, 2015 at 12:47 pm
The date scholars conclude Genesis was completed is approx 1513BCE
Scholars also conclude that Moses is the likely author of Genesis.
The Takeaway is:
That the opening phrase in Genesis written by Moses “IN THE BEGINNING……”, that phrase, in the beginning” actually began exactly at the time as Moseswrote those words and the “in the beginning” phrase did not exist one second before that time.
Now how anyone can extrapolate from 1513BCE and go backward to claim that is how creation took place is as foolish a logic as the Christians who persecuted and prosecuted Galileo who disagreed with the interpretation that Christians rendered about the earth being immoveable and arrested him for heresy.
All effects we see within the universe are from prior causes; but the universe must necessarily have existed in order for the cause and effect order to be; the garden, AKA the universe, had no natural or unnatural beginning except in the minds of supernaturalists, otherwise cause and effect would not exist and we know it does exist.
Why this is so we do not know because it is unexplainable at this time in mankind’s civilizing but be assured neither theology nor science explains it by their imagination or speculation.
If either one or the other was true the debate would be over and it is not.
Until then
UNI-Verse has always been here and there and everywhere! Why can’t people believe in that God? Maybe because Humanity would unite humans and that would just never do? maybe the egos all need their own brand of Absolute Certainty?
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April 21, 2015 at 2:27 pm
And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.” (John 3:26-34)
Our Messiah Yahshua declared by His own Mouth, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” (John 12:32) [Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:9-21]
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April 21, 2015 at 3:01 pm
The people need a symbol to convey the abstract; that was the serpent Moses made: something set up as an example against which others of the same type are compared to remind people that where there is life there is hope and vice versa.
Jesus became that symbol of hope for life as the serpent became the symbol to remind the followers not to worry about the poison spread by people of malcontent.
And so the cross became symbolic like the bronze serpent.
And you say?
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April 21, 2015 at 4:23 pm
Two witnesses to Messiah’s Sacrifice:
http://jesusplusnothing.com/messiah/messiah.htm
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April 21, 2015 at 8:53 pm
THis talk is so much typical rhetorical nonsense; at first it is against human sacrifice quoting scriptures to support it; then, it is FOR sacrifice as god demands human sacrifice AND again quoting scriptures to support that statement. Once against and then once for.
The whole point of scripture is that there’s nothing you can’t read into it or take from it. So whatever nasty little attitude you harbour toward your fellow man, you will find justification in scripture because, like the sands of the desert, fixed and immutable, yet, ever shifting the words of god are infinitely versatile. Open that book and watch them dance across the page like ninjas, each one a soldier for you and your petty prejudices.
It’s actually disgusting listening to ridiculous pros and cons about the same question, in one instance for the question and ijh another instance against the question. That’s the nature of religious versatility; they can say anything supporting a matter and anything against the matter AND STILL FIND SCRIPTURAL SUPPORT FOR both.
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April 22, 2015 at 7:56 am
The writer says:
I’ll quote what the scripture says instead,
“…the fool has said in his heart there is no God.”
Definition and Demonstration of FOOLS:
The Next Generation Bully Christian Fools get their BIGOT Boots wet early in life.
By Jamilah King | Takepart.com
April 21, 2015 9:46 AM
A group of students at a suburban Pittsburgh high school have made national headlines for organizing an “Anti-Gay Day.” The event happened last Thursday in response to other students at McGuffey High School observing a Day of Silence for dead lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The students who organized the Anti-Gay Day wore matching flannel shirts, wrote “anti-gay” on their hands, and reportedly hung homophobic posters on LGBT students’ lockers. Arguably more disturbing: They passed out a “lynch list” of students who participated in the Day of Silence, and tied a noose to a flag in a classroom, according to BuzzFeed.
One student recalled the scene to local reporters. “Yesterday, there was pushing, posters hung on homosexual students’ lockers,” Zoe Johnson, a bisexual student at McGuffey, told news reporters on Friday. “Teachers were having to run out and take them down.” Johnson also said the so-called anti-gay students uploaded Bible verses to social media and tagged their LGBT classmates.
The Day of Silence was organized with the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. Johnson estimated that between 30 and 50 students participated. Kathy Cameron, chair of the board of directors of the Washington County, Pennsylvania, Gay Straight Alliance, told BuzzFeed that the Day of Silence was a touching event. “They had a very silent, respectful day of action,” Cameron said. “And then they came to school on Thursday to an organized backlash.” She added: “The instigators, the bullies, seemed very proud of their efforts, and posted many smiling pictures online.”
source: http://news.yahoo.com/anti-gay-day-students-made-lynch-list-hung-134630827.html
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April 22, 2015 at 11:19 am
These people are more than foolish, they are mean spirited and harsh. This is no way to treat anybody regardless of their sexual lifestyle or beliefs.
While their behavior does not exemplify what they claim to believe, be aware that this thing we call Christianity is not a behavior improvement program. There will be and continue to be many mess ups by a lot of Christians, myself included.
Naz
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April 22, 2015 at 10:08 pm
Anyone who acts in bigotry and hate in no way lives his life in Christ. Remember, it was Messiah who said, the greatest commandment is love Yahweh your God with all your heart, soul and mind. And the second is likewise: love your neighbor as yourself. All the law of God and the prophets hang on these two commandments. [Matthew 22:34-40] He taught these principles during His ministry over and over again through parables such as The Candle Under a Bushel, The Good Samaritan and The Prodigal Son, the story of The Rich Man & Lazarus and most important of all by His own example. The carnal impulse of our fleshly nature drives us to act in enmity towards God and each other. That’s why we all must be born again; become new in Messiah with a new heart and a new Spirit. He writes His law in our minds and hearts to free us from sin’s dominion [Isaiah 58:6-11].
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April 23, 2015 at 10:48 am
Know God and Make Him Known:
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. (Proverbs 25:2)
http://www.reasons.org/articles/the-proton-neutron-mass-difference-illustrates-fine-tuning
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April 23, 2015 at 3:16 pm
THE TAKEAWAY,
“Imagine all the people …” John Lennon’s song sums up the New World Order dream nicely. But this dream has a dark side. Only a totally authoritative government ruled with an iron fist that would crush and kill any and all opposition could rule this world. I don’t believe in compromising my principles but we can’t even agree to disagree. You’d think we’d learn from our mistakes but it doesn’t appear so. We grow up but many don’t mature. We’re still like little kids on the play ground: saying mine, stronger taking from weaker, breaking a toy instead of sharing it, teasing the child that’s different, etc… No matter what type of government, legal system, etc… we have or don’t have there is always going to be an abused group(s) of people.
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April 24, 2015 at 2:51 pm
“God is a Spirit: and those who worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)
And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3)
Commit to the Spiritual.
Discard the ritual.
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April 24, 2015 at 4:40 pm
In context, the Takeaway is this:
Forget the Mosques call to prayer; forget the church masses, the Mega Church for inner sanctum, once on Wednesday and twice on Sunday, the Wailing Wall, the Vatican Dedication none of this matters because the essence is…..as told to the woman of Samaria, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Said she: Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
The curious remark though is this:
…..for salvation is of the Jews….. what does this mean? what do you perceive it to mean since it is vague and one must reason diligently to attempt an answer.
Rememeber the saying the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak; well where then is the spirit willing? where is this spirit residing that is strong and willing but for its old adversary the flesh desires, of want and need and ego and pleasure and all worldly sensualities?
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April 26, 2015 at 8:07 pm
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the LORD (Yahweh) appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the LORD (Yahweh) saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father-the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. (Exodus 3:1-6)
Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do your will, O my God: yea, your law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:7, 8)
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April 26, 2015 at 9:26 pm
A typical example how magic tricks inspired the people of influence.
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April 27, 2015 at 9:41 am
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April 27, 2015 at 12:15 pm
Paul V V:
Indeed I am surprise at the way you see a dark side but it seems to me that your account of the dark future days are being viewed through the lens of present day (China, North Korea and a few other despots) and the way dictators act generally. A World Government will not act that way for those government officials will have reached the pinnacle of human success in charity, compassion, forgiveness and understanding of the human experience.
Children will always have the propensity to express their ego but if you consider that 75% of the world express some kind of belief in the superstitious nature of the supernatural you can easily see how people can be manipulated to follow a supernatural shepherd; however, from where I sit I say to my fellow climbers but for the Grace of Gravity, go I.
The Real G Force in the universe.
When I hear people saying that the Universe is speeding up I chuckle and think, what does it mean : this speeding up? Well, the universe is in its expansive cycle, its not speeding up; it is in its expansion cycle and so in due season it shall come to pass that G ravity will slow, stop and the process will return unto its contraction cycle and vice vera ad infinitum.
Remember the kids ping pong bat with a small ball attached to it by a rubber band? it goes out and the elastic band eventually pulls it back unto itself, the ball is no unlike the universe and the rubber band is not unlike gravity. Now just to theorize for a moment, Gravity is like magnetism with respect to having two sides to it like a positive and a negative; well, Gravity has two sides too but the sides of Gravity are called the Push and Pull Axis. In its Push Cycle, the phase that the Universe is currently experiencing and the only one we can observe at one time, the universe appears to be speeding outward seen as the redshift effect; notwithstanding the gravity influence as we know it seems to be the pull effect; when the contraction Phase begins we will then be able to observe the contraction, or Pull Cycle as it will then be observable as the blueshift doppler effect.
In one instance the doomsayers will claim that at the expansive rate, the dark side, the universe will tear itself apart and dissolve into oblivion; in the contraction cycle doomsayers will say that the dark side will collapse in and upon itself crushing all matter into oblivion but is your sphere dwelling in the Dark Side or dwelling in the Light Side? Half empty or half full. Light side and half full side is so much less terrifying nest ce pas?
Longevity or lack thereof has prevented us from observing the cycles in much the same way that the reversal of the earth magnetic poles are not observable during short life spans. Ages and distances measured in light years are beyond our reaches, for now except in theory, but for the power of thought. And even as I think, so shall it come to pass. I must have read that somewhere. lol 🙂
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April 27, 2015 at 12:26 pm
“Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand.” Isaiah 14:24
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April 28, 2015 at 11:21 am
Paul V V:
Most of your comments have been positive and powerful if not profound and for that reason it seems out of character for you to see that dark side and disparage accordingly. You are too less dogmatic to be counted among the doomsayers so whats u with that? Are the tar sands getting you down, the carbon emissions too overwhelming, life too ambivalent? You remind me of Jesus actually when he also saw a dark side and exclaimed in Luke 18: to 8: and dont stop reading until the end of this quote because it is the end of this quote that speaks directly to you and me to stay in there and stick it out:
18 1-3 Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’
4-5 “He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black-and-blue by her pounding.’”
6-8 Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”
IN otehr words rendered slightly differently in KJV: 8 …… Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Paul thats where you have to be, where we all have to be otherwise we will never walk in the water but sink where we stand. (Remember the metaphor of the walking on water story?) Its the same thing applied now and beyond. Jesuspeake but not Christianspeake do I utter these words to you.
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April 29, 2015 at 5:54 pm
Son of Man,
I’m pessimistic in a good way. Some of our problems can be fixed and some are possibly exaggerated because of the 24 hr news cycle. Doesn’t seem to be the will to address them though, so they continue to grow and fester. I agree, based on the situation humanity will form a New World Order (NWO). Based on what I’ve observed, the NWO dream is likely to end up being a nightmare. I’m surprised at the optimistic outcome many have for the NWO. My belief the NWO will fail is not solely based on Biblical prophecy though, it is mostly based on my observations of humanity. There always is an us and them and eventually it’ll go bad. People can live together for awhile but eventually bad feeling creep in, it’s just human nature.
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April 30, 2015 at 8:04 pm
An often posited hypothetical has been: What happens if we make contact with extraterrestrial intelligent life? Will they be in the image and likeness of God? Are we to consider them “saved”? What would that discovery do to humanity’s conception of the Almighty and our relationship with Him?
The answer may well be found in our ever-growing understanding of the fundamental building blocks of life right here on planet Earth: http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/non-carbon_life.html
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January 25, 2016 at 2:07 am
[…] who have evidence to believe in God are […]
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