Why I’m no longer a Christian

[water_nymph]

Doctor Reality wrote:

<quoted text>And when the Lord returns to this earth at His glorious Second Coming,you'll be saying "Those ignorant christians tried to tell us". Ignorance will suddendly take on a whole 'nother meaning.

I think for you fundies ignorance HAS taken on a whole 'noter meaning.
Won't you be surprised when there is no pie in the sky for you after representing your god so badly?

[water_nymph]

Disambiguity wrote:

<quoted text>Condoms, Chapstick, and curlers?

You becha.

[TheBlackSheep]

NoStress4me wrote:

<quoted text>
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
;)

That is just so sad.:( But you know from doctor reality that true believers are not smart and not brave! God likes them that way.

By the way; To all who served their country and truly sacrificed for their country; Happy Veterans' Day!

[TheBlackSheep]

oneness wrote:

<quoted text>
The true believers squirm around on this clearly worded scripture, Saying things like " oh, that was fulfilled at His transfiguration", or "He meant the establishment of the church", or...and so on. They have no single satisfying answer to this obvious contradiction.

As DR said, you must be stupid to believe! God likes them that way.

To all who served their country and truly sacrificed for their country; Happy Veterans' Day!

[TheBlackSheep]

I am just saying wrote:

<quoted text>
So, if death doesn't taste like cupcakes, what does it taste like?

You didn't understand my post! Replace the word "Death" with the word "Cupcakes".

Some who were standing there with jesus would not taste Cupcakes!

The bible is 100% accurate!! There are just a few 1000 errors in translation in it, but that does not make it inaccurate!

[freeman4]

DearthOfCouth wrote:

Why I’m no longer a Christian, Part Four
Finally, struggling with my private predicament in that pew during prayer service, I knew what it was that I had to do. I came to the realization that there was only one possible course of action that seemed to offer me any degree of self-respect, and there was no other course to take, so at long last I took it. I stood and walked out.
I did not look anyone in the eye as I passed and I have no idea whether anyone registered surprise, hostility, concern, or anything at all. For all I know they all faced forward and ignored me as I turned left at the end of the aisle and made my final exit from the building. The moment I reached the open air outside I was astonished to find that I was finally, after all this time, experiencing something that was vivid and genuine and undeniable. In fact it was nearly overpowering. It crested over me like a breaker:
Relief.
From now on, I resolved that day, I will not stop and examine my innermost thoughts and evaluate, whether they are appropriately reverent and sanctimonious. I will admit my doubts and reservations and when people ask me for my thoughts I will express them respectfully but openly, as I am doing now.
If everyone around me seems confident and secure where I am irresolute and sceptical then I decline to acknowledge this as a problem, for me or for anyone else. That’s just the way it is.
Leaving the prayer meeting that day was a liberating, exhilarating, and truly life-changing experience for me. It was my “baptism” and I will never forget it.
I’m free.
If I have to account someday for the decisions I’ve made and the actions I’ve taken, then I will. But I won’t again lie to anyone that I’m feeling something or sensing something when I’m not. I won’t try to deceive anyone around me but most importantly I won’t lie to myself. Life is too short to waste it that way.

Greetings to you:

I will not tell you you should do this and you should do that.When I was a young man I was not really receiving anything out of going to Church. And after I got older I would read my Bible feverishly but to no avail. Oh, it felt good to read Scriptures but nothing came from them.So one day I began to understand that the Bible is exactly the opposite from what I was taught. And when I began to read and put it together it made a lot of difference in my life. Believe me, this is the problem with many individuals. Let me give you a for instance. Ministers teach that one will burn in Hell forever. That is NOT the truth. Many scriptures show that one will be ashes under the feet of the saints. 180 degrees from what is being taught. And yes, I will get a lot of responses about I don't know what I am talking about, but that is the way it will be. Please go to- www.propheticnewsforamerica.com

freeman4

[_Fish_]

NorCal88 wrote:

<quoted text>How about this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch...

Ugh! Forgot about that horror. Why must you dredge up such evil?

:)

[_Fish_]

In 1986, we saw The Cars in concert. We had the misfortune of having to sit through this opening act:

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

*shudder*

[Faith is Crazy]

Doctor Reality wrote:

<quoted text>Better EDUCATED?????????? Atheists haven't even "graduated" the spiritual equivalent of kindergarten when it comes to understanding,and believing,the true origins of life. Which is that the Lord Christ Almighty is responsible for that. Through Him(the Lord Jesus Christ)all things were made. And without Him,was there not anything made that was made. Once you atheists get that through your brick heads,maybe you won't have to worry about reporting before the Lord with an "F" on your "report card" because you wouldn't accept REALITY. Have a great day!

Uh, that's education, not edukashun.

Doctor Reality wrote:

<quoted text>And without Him, was there not anything made that was made.

Huh? Care to restate that?

Doctor Reality wrote:

<quoted text>Better EDUCATED?

Yes, and more intelligent. In 2008, intelligence researcher Helmuth Nyborg examined whether IQ relates to denomination and income, using representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, which includes intelligence tests on a representative selection of American youth, where they have also replied to questions about religious belief. His results, published in the scientific journal Intelligence demonstrated that on average, Atheists scored 1.95 IQ points higher than Agnostics, 3.82 points higher than Liberal persuasions, and 5.89 IQ points higher than Dogmatic persuasions. "I'm not saying that believing in God makes you dumber. My hypothesis is that people with a low intelligence are more easily drawn toward religions, which give answers that are certain, while people with a high intelligence are more skeptical," says the professor.

Nyborg also co-authored a study with Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Ulster, which compared religious belief and average national IQs in 137 countries.[6] The study analysed the issue from several viewpoints. Firstly, using data from a U.S. study of 6,825 adolescents, the authors found that atheists scored 6 g-IQ points higher than those adhering to a religion.

Secondly, the authors investigated the link between religiosity and intelligence on a country level. Among the sample of 137 countries, only 23 (17%) had more than 20% of atheists, which constituted “virtually all the higher IQ countries.” The authors reported a correlation of 0.60 between atheism rates and level of intelligence, which is “highly statistically significant.”

In 1975, Norman Poythress studied a sample of 234 US college undergraduates, grouping them into relatively homogeneous religious types based on the similarity of their religious beliefs, and compared their personality characteristics. He found that "Literally-oriented religious Believers did not differ significantly from Mythologically-oriented Believers on measures of intelligence, authoritarianism, or racial prejudice. Religious Believers as a group were found to be significantly less intelligent and more authoritarian than religious Skeptics." He used SAT's as a measure of intelligence for this study.[10]

In the US, according to raw data from the 2004 General Social Survey, those with graduate degrees were the least likely to believe in the afterlife or the Bible as the word of God, suggesting a link between religious belief and lower educational attainment.

http://www.answers.com/topic/religiosity-and-...

[_Fish_]

NorCal88 wrote:

<quoted text>Have you heard from Fundie Smacker lately? I am having fun with Lawest100 and the poster that used to go by James from Charlotte on the WSJLM thread. Both are the biggest POS's on Topix. They make JC and Thumper look like kittens.

FS is a regular on the There is Everything Wrong with Abortion thread, where James and Scottie-poo (LaWEst) post as well. I also received an e-mail from FS yesterday.

[Faith is Crazy]

Mock26 wrote:

<quoted text> The fundies will just trot out the "they are not real christians" to explain those prisoners.

Ah, but the statement that was being refuted so ineloquently was that Christians are overrepresented in the prison population compared to their prevalence in the general population and Atheists were way underrepresented in prison. That "not real Christians" argument is used for the outside population as well, so in this instance would be inapplicable.

[_Fish_]

love_spell wrote:

<quoted text>
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE.

Long thought to be a reference to L.S.D., it was revealed to actually be a song about a school girl named Lucy who attended school with Julian Lennon. He drew a picture of her with stars in her eyes. Sadly, Lucy recently passed from cancer. She was only in her 40's.

[_Fish_]

HipGnosis wrote:

<quoted text>Well there ya go. I'll bring the Zep. Problem solved.
Was that slippery? Yeah, well, I was a Christian once, remember? Damned good one. Now I'm just damned.
eh.
whaddyagonnado....

If we're on the same island, that'll work out really well for both of us.

Do you take requests? How about Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You? The first album is my favorite as it has such a heavy blues influence.

[Sunstreaked]

Hagen wrote:

<quoted text>
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
That's all I got. Lol

Is it bad I still know the words to these?

[Sunstreaked]

Hagen wrote:

<quoted text>
Got another one ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch...

ROFL!!! OH NO! I have to draw the line at this one!

[_Fish_]

HipGnosis wrote:

Desert Island Records
For variety, I'm not going to include the obvious ones, such as DSOTM, Sgt Pepper, or Electric Ladyland. One of the things I enjoy about these kinds of lists is I've been turned on to some great music due to some undiscovered treasure on someone else's list.
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding/Goodbye Norma Jean side is as perfect as anything out there.
Santana - Moonflower
Live, with a gorgeous version of Europa
Pink Floyd - Meddle
Hear things here they're noodling with, that you'll see refined and incorporated into DSOTM
Billy Cobham - Spectrum
Jazz-rock. A session guitar sits in, Tommy Bolin, who goes onto have his own success in the late 70's.
Van Morrison - Wavelength
This guy is just on another plane whatever he does, but this one I think is special.
Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus
Fish talked about wry lyrics - Lowell George has that gift of turning a phrase. Tower Of Power provides the brass.
The Band - The Band
The real American Band (Grand Funk nothwithstanding)
The Greatest Songs Of Woodie Guthrie
The real American Songwriter
Yes - Fragile
Who else can build a tune around Schindleria Praematurus, and make it work?
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
At their creative peak.
Loreena McKerritt - Book of Secrets
What can I say? I like ambience.
Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street
I think this two or three record stretch is the Stones on top of the pile.
Supertramp - Crime Of The Century
Concept album about realizing human potential.
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
A complicated but passionate man.
Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
Their whole catalog would be a fine pick but this was my intro.
Joni Mitchell - Court And Sparks
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Appalachian roots, bluegrass, and gospel with lots of well-known guests sitting in.
Ok that's a couple more than 10, but hey! it ain't rock if it don't break the rules, and really, these are indispensible. You should hear what I had to leave off........
Thanks. Love to talk about music. I'd also like to expand into classical but don't know where to start. I like the music that comes the rebels and rulebreakers - wonder if any classical composers would fit?

Outstanding, Hip. I had the same problem, the pain of leaving great artists off my list, but being stuck on that deserted isle, had to get in some variety, so I brought in my Marley and Armstrong over Rush, Little Feat, AC/DC, Marshall Tucker and numerous others.

Speaking of Little Feat, we saw them two years ago in Lakewood, New Jersey at the annual Wingstock which also featured local bands, Foghat, Paul Rodgers and Marshall Tucker. Foghat was surprisingly disappointing, though it was the fault of the sound board techs, who played the amps at such a low volume that it rendered the stirring riff of Slow Ride impotent, leaving the audience members looking at one another in disbelief. Little Feat and Marshall Tucker....goosebump-inducing jam sessions!

I'll have to come up with a ten-album list later.

[Faith is Crazy]

Hagen wrote:

<quoted text>
“God give me the detachment to accept those things I cannot alter;
the courage to alter those things I can alter;
and the wisdom to distinguish the one thing from the other.”
Isn't that their mantra? And they still have the balls to say they aren't a religious organization?

Faith is Crazy.

[_Fish_]

Doctor Reality wrote:

<quoted text>Better EDUCATED?????????? Atheists haven't even "graduated" the spiritual equivalent of kindergarten when it comes to understanding,and believing,the true origins of life. Which is that the Lord Christ Almighty is responsible for that. Through Him(the Lord Jesus Christ)all things were made. And without Him,was there not anything made that was made. Once you atheists get that through your brick heads,maybe you won't have to worry about reporting before the Lord with an "F" on your "report card" because you wouldn't accept REALITY. Have a great day!

Speaking of not accepting reality, you concede an inability to refute the post by launching directly into a tirade of religious propaganda.

[_Fish_]

Doctor Reality wrote:

<quoted text>And when the Lord returns to this earth at His glorious Second Coming,you'll be saying "Those ignorant christians tried to tell us". Ignorance will suddendly take on a whole 'nother meaning.

You sure do fantasize about men coming a lot. You guys have been saying this for 2000 years. Your date stood you up.

[Sunstreaked]

Mommy and Dave wrote:

<quoted text>
I agree. I try to put myself up here as I am. Just a person who likes to laugh and be friendly. I was raised that a stranger is just a friend you have not met yet. In recent years, I've needed to use a bit of caution, as many are just over the top with anger and agression.

I agree with this. Always wondered why some of the posters don't think that we can literally see what kind of people they really are inside, the face they don't show in public.