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Topic: First church to accept bitcoins - page 2. (Read 4346 times)

hero member
Activity: 588
Merit: 501
October 19, 2014, 10:14:16 AM
#70
hahahahaahahahaaaa, you're worse than the other guy, are you his dad?   Your username explains your sexuality 'position'.

Got to put you on ignore

Ah, some people(Armis) will forever dwell in their ignorance. Stupidity surely is a hard thing to change.
It's not his fault and it's not stupidity. This person - like most religious adults - was indoctrinated during their formative years, long before they had developed the critical thinking skills necessary to discern truth from falsehood,  long before they would ever hear the phrase scientific method".

There's a reason every religious group forces their bullshit down the throats of young children. It's the only time they can. By the time any modern teen has been educated about science, getting them to believe in a god would be as difficult as getting them to believe in santa claus.

IMHO indoctrinating children into anything is a form of child abuse, and should be treated as such by the law.

God issued mankind 'conscience' as well as a 'conscious', between the two mankind inherently has a sense of good and bad, as well as right and wrong -- morality.
Goodness, what is good,  and righteousness, what is right is born from mankind's inherent moral foundation.   It is on that foundation all of mankind's laws were
conceived.

Here is how you know smoking is naturally not good, and also naturally the wrong thing for humans to do:
- smoking irritates your eyes, that is one of your senses telling you to move away from the smoke,
- smoking taste nasty (it becomes an acquired taste to abused taste buds), a second way your body is telling you this is not good,
- smoking irritate your nose, deadens your nasal receptors, and weakens your sense of smell, a 3rd way your body says stop,
- smoking irritates your lungs, resulting in coughing, a 4 way your body is tell you this action is wrong for it.
all of the above smoking reactions are AUTOMATIC responses, they were installed with mankind's initial programming  
as an early warning system to move away from potential harm or danger.

Long before cancer comes into the picture your physical body told your invisible mind that smoking was not good and likely wrong,
it was then for the mind to make an executive decision.   If you was in a burning building rescuing your family it would make sense
to override your body's automatic responses, but that was not the case.   There is no naturally good reason for smoking.  Since it harms
the body in multiple ways it should be considered wrong or bad activity.  

Indoctrination (aka brainwashing) is used to encourage, train, induce, coerce, or otherwise force someone to do, or not do, something that s/he would otherwise be expected to do, or not do, naturally.  If an action is naturally good, like eating food you may need to train someone to eat properly, that would not be indoctrination;  however to train a carnivore (like all humans) not to eat meat would take indoctrination, even though it is for the betterment of the person.  Not all indoctrination is wrong, however any indoctrination that results in the degrade of the overall quality of life of the community is not good for the community.

Indoctrination is the only way a society of any size would accept notions that are inherently bad or have no good natural purpose like homosexuality.  

Homosexuality has no good natural purpose.  Heterosexuality has an inherently good natural purpose -- to perpetuate the species.  

Indoctrination is the only way a society of any size would accept the notion of abortion as a 'choice'.  They tell you that it is 'only tissue',
they call it an embryo, as if it is not human at that point.   Two humans that naturally conceive can ONLY produce another human, as such
the "embryo" is really a 'human embryo'  not a chicken embryo, or a cow embryo, or a dog embryo.  

Indoctrination is the only way a society of any size would accept the notion that the "rule of law" trumps truth, that the ruling of one district judge
can override the known wishes of the tens of millions of people in that district, and that a national referendum on all of the issues of major national concern is not
the most sensible way to decide major national issues.  

Indoctrination is the only way a society of any size would issue foreign aid to nations while many of its states are in various states of financial crisis.

Indoctrination is the only way a society of any size that has such a poor overall public education system not give serious consideration to the
education sectors within the country that have an exceptionally long history of educational excellence.  

  
All responsible religions teach you to 'train up a child in the way he should go', a wise parent will teach their children to know good and bad, right and wrong,
without them necessarily needing to experience it all.  

The deeper you delve into the various levels of righteous consciousness the closer you will get to God.  If 'the plan' and 'the ingredients' are before a time science has discovered on one side and infinity is beyond a time can appreciate on the other side,  consciousness would represent that major hole in the middle that we live with every day that science has no true clue about.   There are many levels of consciousness from embryonic consciousness to fetal consciousness to infant awareness, to normal brain adult awareness,  to the daydream, to the groggy, to the light sleep, to the deep sleep, to the about to wake, to the boxing knockout, to the faint, to the coma, to the vegetative state, to the clinically brain dead, and so on ...

You don't know the beginning, the end, or the big doughnut hole in the middle, because you are on the merry-go-round called modern science.  
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1001
October 19, 2014, 09:41:14 AM
#69
hahahahaahahahaaaa, you're worse than the other guy, are you his dad?   Your username explains your sexuality 'position'.

Got to put you on ignore

Ah, some people(Armis) will forever dwell in their ignorance. Stupidity surely is a hard thing to change.
It's not his fault and it's not stupidity. This person - like most religious adults - was indoctrinated during their formative years, long before they had developed the critical thinking skills necessary to discern truth from falsehood,  long before they would ever hear the phrase scientific method".

There's a reason every religious group forces their bullshit down the throats of young children. It's the only time they can. By the time any modern teen has been educated about science, getting them to believe in a god would be as difficult as getting them to believe in santa claus.

IMHO indoctrinating children into anything is a form of child abuse, and should be treated as such by the law.




The indoctrination by the "scientific community" is more rampant in the US than any other religion at this point.

But I am off topic.  Sorry.  Please go to the "off topic" section for more discussion.
member
Activity: 84
Merit: 10
October 19, 2014, 08:57:49 AM
#68
We should refocus the discussion discourse towards increasing bitcoin's exposure among the general public.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
https://youtu.be/PZm8TTLR2NU
October 19, 2014, 08:41:40 AM
#67
hahahahaahahahaaaa, you're worse than the other guy, are you his dad?   Your username explains your sexuality 'position'.

Got to put you on ignore

Ah, some people(Armis) will forever dwell in their ignorance. Stupidity surely is a hard thing to change.
It's not his fault and it's not stupidity. This person - like most religious adults - was indoctrinated during their formative years, long before they had developed the critical thinking skills necessary to discern truth from falsehood,  long before they would ever hear the phrase scientific method".

There's a reason every religious group forces their bullshit down the throats of young children. It's the only time they can. By the time any modern teen has been educated about science, getting them to believe in a god would be as difficult as getting them to believe in santa claus.

IMHO indoctrinating children into anything is a form of child abuse, and should be treated as such by the law.


sr. member
Activity: 308
Merit: 250
October 19, 2014, 02:41:13 AM
#66
hahahahaahahahaaaa, you're worse than the other guy, are you his dad?   Your username explains your sexuality 'position'.

Got to put you on ignore

Quote
Here is my plan,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theogony
Disprove it.

Waiting...
full member
Activity: 182
Merit: 100
October 19, 2014, 01:35:35 AM
#65
hahahahaahahahaaaa, you're worse than the other guy, are you his dad?   Your username explains your sexuality 'position'.

Got to put you on ignore

Ah, some people(Armis) will forever dwell in their ignorance. Stupidity surely is a hard thing to change.
hero member
Activity: 588
Merit: 501
October 19, 2014, 01:27:18 AM
#64
hahahahaahahahaaaa, you're worse than the other guy, are you his dad?   Your username explains your sexuality 'position'.

Got to put you on ignore
full member
Activity: 182
Merit: 100
October 19, 2014, 01:02:03 AM
#63
hahahahaa, I didn't bother to read past the first sentence because by thing it was clear to me you didn't write it
Of course you didn't. Whenever a theist faces an impassable logical challenge, they reveal their intellectual cowardice almost instantly.

Here, learn how to create a universe.

As for the "zero-sum game" since the subject subject of your material had absolutely nothing to do with gaming, the phrase "zero-sum game" was dead wrong.
LOL it's called game theory, look it up on the internet. You won't find it in bronze age books of fictional allegory.

Religion is on the decline, and that's not going to change. In fact it will almost certainly accelerate now that we are firmly in the information age. Sooner or later you're going to have to face reality.



hahahaha, you are going from dumb to "dumber".

I ask you to find an article that tells you who created all of the ingredients of nature, you go for a video that purports to describe how to create a universe.  
Again, that goes back to the baking of a cake, just because you know how to bake a cake doesn't mean you know how to make the ingredients (flour, milk, eggs, etc) used to make the cake.  You know the ingredients to create the universe, now find a video to show how those ingredients are made without any other earthly ingredients?


A scientist says to God, "Lord, we don't need you anymore. Science has finally
figured out a way to create life out of nothing. In other
words, we can now do what you did in the beginning."
"Oh, is that so ..." replies God.
"Well," says the scientist, "we can take dirt and
form it into the likeness of You and breathe life into it, thus
creating man."
"Well, that's interesting.  Show me."
So the scientist bends down to the earth and
starts to gather soil ...  
"Oh nooo..." interrupts God, "Get your own dirt."


The earth as we know it breaks down to six essential elemental ingredients: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur.  So using ingredients exclusively created by man that have nothing to do with any of the mentioned items, make any of these items mentioned -- show me you can 'make your own dirt' from nothing.

As for your claim 'religion is on the decline', there's no poll on earth sizable enough to accurately reflect the worldwide view of religion.  But given that it was a Gallop reference, my guess is the survey focused on the USA, given the state of the USA (homo/marijuana/education/war/prison/removal of religious expression from much of American life)  I'd say that number is still much too high.  It's because of idiots like you why our country is going down as you believe.  

Look at all of the countries where religion is highly valued then compare them to countries where religion has little value you will see a meaningful difference in the quality of life.  

Nevertheless, the subject is theists vs atheists, remember the 90+%[?] that was about theists not about religion, nor about Christians, your ADD/ADHD is ridiculously obvious -- get help.

BTW, how's it going on the article that explains 'the start of time' not simply 'the beginning of time', or the article that explains how the invisible mind can control the physical body.   Explain in a rational, logical, reasonable, and responsible way how something with such great sophistication as a universe or human be created without a plan?




Sir, if you take that route, comparing religious states to mostly non-religious states, the non-religious will win.

America, btw, is still mostly Christian, so you're statement, " given the state of the USA (homo/marijuana/education/war/prison/removal of religious expression from much of American life)" is horrendously wrong.

Homosexuality, or those(men) that are predominantly homosexual(I agree with Kinsey on the statement that mostly everyone has some degree of bisexuality), it is caused by factors beyond their control, such as hormonal changes within the womb, as well as genetics(epi-marks), based upon recent findings. With women, it's more diverse in the sense that even self identified lesbians are aroused by scenes depicting men according to a recent study done by the sexologist, Meredith Chivers. For the most part, that plays into the theory that women are more sexualiy fluid than men(have greater degrees of bisexuality). Again, those things are out of their control, and what gives you the right to deny them love?

Sorry, just wanted to explain a bit to on sexuality........

To the part about non-religious countries standard of living vs religious countries. The less strict religious democratic countries will always win(since the biggest exclusively non-religious countries are communist and would make no sense to compare them).

Compare India's extreme sexist view towards women, along with their caste system, leads to an overall depressive state of affairs. Have you not seen the countless rape and murder committed in India by men taking advantage of women because they are physically stronger and believe themselves to be more entitled? Have you not seen the deprived state of being some people live in according to India's caste system i.e Untouchables? India's entire backwards and twisted manner of being is due to it's strict religious outlook. Take that away and you'll get a much freer and overall less repressive state.

The United States may have it's problems, but thankfully over the years, it's people have begun to become more acceptable of what was previously viewed as wrong or backwards i.e (true)homosexuality. That's a luxury to have considering that many(strict,religious) countries around the world are repressing it's citizens in the sake of their religion.

Religion has been used to unify people and provide for them a moral code to live by. But as the times are changing, so is our "need" for religion. Don't let your religion/religious beliefs cloud your judgement(as it does to so many people). Remember that as the centuries have passed, mis-translations of text may have occurred along with outright lies, so it's my belief that one should know when to go by their religion's beliefs, but have their own individual judgement in matters as well.

I personally don't believe in any one religion as being the right one since they all have long histories of horrible atrocities committed in their name as well as overall, sometimes, very inhumane rules(concerning the laws of moses in the old testament, a lot of which were absolutely horrible) . I believe in "something", like a nagging thought on the back of my mind, or a cushion of air that I don't know exists, but I partly believe it does...if that makes any sense at all..
sr. member
Activity: 308
Merit: 250
October 18, 2014, 11:47:30 PM
#62
Explain in a rational, logical, reasonable, and responsible way how something with such great sophistication as a universe or human be created without a plan?

Cite peer reviewed, independently verified,  falsifiable evidence for a plan and the architect of the plan.
Also cite the plan itself.

Here is my plan,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theogony
Disprove it.
hero member
Activity: 588
Merit: 501
October 18, 2014, 09:49:02 PM
#61
hahahahaa, I didn't bother to read past the first sentence because by thing it was clear to me you didn't write it
Of course you didn't. Whenever a theist faces an impassable logical challenge, they reveal their intellectual cowardice almost instantly.

Here, learn how to create a universe.

As for the "zero-sum game" since the subject subject of your material had absolutely nothing to do with gaming, the phrase "zero-sum game" was dead wrong.
LOL it's called game theory, look it up on the internet. You won't find it in bronze age books of fictional allegory.

Religion is on the decline, and that's not going to change. In fact it will almost certainly accelerate now that we are firmly in the information age. Sooner or later you're going to have to face reality.



hahahaha, you are going from dumb to "dumber".

I ask you to find an article that tells you who created all of the ingredients of nature, you go for a video that purports to describe how to create a universe. 
Again, that goes back to the baking of a cake, just because you know how to bake a cake doesn't mean you know how to make the ingredients (flour, milk, eggs, etc) used to make the cake.  You know the ingredients to create the universe, now find a video to show how those ingredients are made without any other earthly ingredients?


A scientist says to God, "Lord, we don't need you anymore. Science has finally
figured out a way to create life out of nothing. In other
words, we can now do what you did in the beginning."
"Oh, is that so ..." replies God.
"Well," says the scientist, "we can take dirt and
form it into the likeness of You and breathe life into it, thus
creating man."
"Well, that's interesting.  Show me."
So the scientist bends down to the earth and
starts to gather soil ... 
"Oh nooo..." interrupts God, "Get your own dirt."


The earth as we know it breaks down to six essential elemental ingredients: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur.  So using ingredients exclusively created by man that have nothing to do with any of the mentioned items, make any of these items mentioned -- show me you can 'make your own dirt' from nothing.

As for your claim 'religion is on the decline', there's no poll on earth sizable enough to accurately reflect the worldwide view of religion.  But given that it was a Gallop reference, my guess is the survey focused on the USA, given the state of the USA (homo/marijuana/education/war/prison/removal of religious expression from much of American life)  I'd say that number is still much too high.  It's because of idiots like you why our country is going down as you believe. 

Look at all of the countries where religion is highly valued then compare them to countries where religion has little value you will see a meaningful difference in the quality of life. 

Nevertheless, the subject is theists vs atheists, remember the 90+%[?] that was about theists not about religion, nor about Christians, your ADD/ADHD is ridiculously obvious -- get help.

BTW, how's it going on the article that explains 'the start of time' not simply 'the beginning of time', or the article that explains how the invisible mind can control the physical body.   Explain in a rational, logical, reasonable, and responsible way how something with such great sophistication as a universe or human be created without a plan?

hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
https://youtu.be/PZm8TTLR2NU
October 18, 2014, 07:50:11 PM
#60
hahahahaa, I didn't bother to read past the first sentence because by thing it was clear to me you didn't write it
Of course you didn't. Whenever a theist faces an impassable logical challenge, they reveal their intellectual cowardice almost instantly.

Here, learn how to create a universe.

As for the "zero-sum game" since the subject subject of your material had absolutely nothing to do with gaming, the phrase "zero-sum game" was dead wrong.
LOL it's called game theory, look it up on the internet. You won't find it in bronze age books of fictional allegory.

Religion is on the decline, and that's not going to change. In fact it will almost certainly accelerate now that we are firmly in the information age. Sooner or later you're going to have to face reality.

hero member
Activity: 588
Merit: 501
October 18, 2014, 06:00:04 PM
#59
My husband and I asked our church if they would take Bitcoin.  They said they would look into it.  

We have been holding our coins for the past year though so haven't sold them yet.  If and when we have another bubble, we will sell a few though and we will want to give a portion to our church.  At this point the conversation will hopefully go like this. "We would love to donate a few thousand to the church but we want to do it in Bitcoin.  Can you set up an account at Coinbase or Circle and we will send those funds immediately?"  

I think they will decide to take Bitcoin. Wink  We will see though.  

Also, while I am in India in a few weeks I am going to see if the organization I am working with will set up a Unocoin account so I can send them some too.  It is such a great way to donate internationally because it can save so much on fees. 

that's an inspiring story, wonder if you would write a little article for us so that we could publish it in our new online publication expected to launch in a few days.

I'm trying to aim it towards the good news of the CC industry: stories that make you feel good you got into CC, motivate you to stay in CC, and inspired you to do something great to improve the CC industry.

let me know if interested

The story will be more "inspiring" after we actually sell some coins. Wink  Maybe we can wait until then?

I am looking forward to seeing what opportunities arise if and when Bitcoin grows in value.  There are so many amazing organizations out there.  I used to joke that my dream job was to be a "philanthropist."  Hopefully that desire can become a reality at some point down the road.  Sure, I give on a small scale now and I am doing some mission work here and there, but there is so much more to be done to help the world.

Btc has very little up/lift/rise left in her.  There are simply too many scams and scam artists destroying the CC industry.  When I look at such a fine company as Mintpal just get blindsided by a hack then taken over by pure evil just hurts me to the core.  All that the original Mintpal developers created just flushed down the toilet.

Without a more secure BTC the coin will continue to drop in value. 

One of the things that can help a lot is the multi-sig wallet, people just have to use it.


As for your ambition to do philanthropy you can get some practice at EMC2, EMC2 is a cause-coin our mission is to find science endeavors to donate to; 2% of the coins mined are put in a fund that is specifically budgeted to make donations to science.   Help us find some science research causes to donate to.

hero member
Activity: 588
Merit: 501
October 18, 2014, 05:38:17 PM
#58
I dare any intellectually honest theist (don't laugh, they exist!) to watch this 7 minute video.

That, my friend, is moronic verse.  

It is clear by the usage of the term: "zero-sum game", your knowledge is extremely narrow, the term you meant is "zero-sum gain".
Fail! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-sum_game

How in the world can you compare or contrast "reason" and "violence"?
Like this.

Dear Christians,

In the following argument of nine premises, I will aim to convince you that Jesus of Nazareth was a fictional character, and not a real person. I do not intend to sway the beliefs of many of you, nor even budge them - I know this to be an impossibility, for if the religious mind is well-trained at anything, it is circumventing rational argument. I only intend to sew seeds of doubt, in the hopes that perhaps some of you will nurture them and let them grow. Here goes.



hahahahaa, I didn't bother to read past the first sentence because by thing it was clear to me you didn't write it, it was above your mentality. So I just googled a paragraph to find the same material posted 5 years ago http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/1104940994.html   "Originally Posted: 2009-04-03 5:02am"; perhaps about the time of your birth?

If you don't believe Jesus existed then work for regular pay on Christmas day, and don't bother using the worldwide calendar because this 2014 years thing pertains to 'since Jesus' died.

So Mr. Cut-N-Paste Guy go find an article that explains who drew up the plans for this thing often referred to as the multi-verse, find an article that tells you who created all of the ingredients of nature, find an article that explains 'the start of time' not simply 'the beginning of time', find an article that explains how the invisible mind can control the physical body.

Also, when the argument is about 'theist' vs 'atheist' grabbing an article on 'Christians' misses much of the point.  

As for the "zero-sum game" since the subject subject of your material had absolutely nothing to do with gaming, the phrase "zero-sum game" was dead wrong.  Your usage of that term was wrong furthermore the only logical correct usage for your material was "zero-sum gain" not "zero-sum game"; again your context was clear, that's why your  phrase usage was wrong.   Go ask your 3rd grade teacher which is the right phase for that comment.



hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
https://youtu.be/PZm8TTLR2NU
October 18, 2014, 05:00:24 PM
#57
Look Jesus has broken out of off topic.  Roll Eyes

Dear nut jobs, get back in your hole.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartarus
Cheesy rofl
hero member
Activity: 686
Merit: 500
October 18, 2014, 03:25:16 PM
#56
I can't believe I'll be the first to say this..
Amen.
sr. member
Activity: 308
Merit: 250
October 18, 2014, 03:23:41 PM
#55
Look Jesus has broken out of off topic.  Roll Eyes

Dear nut jobs, get back in your hole.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartarus

Mods move or lock the thread or it will be 100 pages of insanity.
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1001
October 18, 2014, 03:16:37 PM
#54
Church accepts bitcoins? Nice. But I don't donate to any organisation who wants to tell my that prostution or sex before marriage is wrong. I don't think that way.

Dude prostitution is bad if a pimp is involved! Why because he will take most of the money and the girl will barley get anything! Choose wisely your next girl!
Sex before marriage is also bad! When? When you find the true love of your live and you just wished that you could be a virgin again and only have sex with here! True love is hard to find, if you don't have this regret than it's not true love!

Yes.  I agree with Serje.

People perceive God, and His laws, as ruining their "fun."  However, the "rules" are really just to protect us from harming ourselves and others.

I can say that the fact my husband and I waited to have sex until marriage is why we have so much trust and respect for each other.  I never worry about him cheating on me because he proved he had enough self control to wait for me and he showed me he loved me by waiting for me too!  Regardless of if you believe in God, or want to follow God's laws or not, there are benefits from doing so.   At least try to understand why these values are important for some of us.
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1001
October 18, 2014, 03:12:01 PM
#53
My husband and I asked our church if they would take Bitcoin.  They said they would look into it.  

We have been holding our coins for the past year though so haven't sold them yet.  If and when we have another bubble, we will sell a few though and we will want to give a portion to our church.  At this point the conversation will hopefully go like this. "We would love to donate a few thousand to the church but we want to do it in Bitcoin.  Can you set up an account at Coinbase or Circle and we will send those funds immediately?"  

I think they will decide to take Bitcoin. Wink  We will see though.  

Also, while I am in India in a few weeks I am going to see if the organization I am working with will set up a Unocoin account so I can send them some too.  It is such a great way to donate internationally because it can save so much on fees. 

that's an inspiring story, wonder if you would write a little article for us so that we could publish it in our new online publication expected to launch in a few days.

I'm trying to aim it towards the good news of the CC industry: stories that make you feel good you got into CC, motivate you to stay in CC, and inspired you to do something great to improve the CC industry.

let me know if interested

The story will be more "inspiring" after we actually sell some coins. Wink  Maybe we can wait until then?

I am looking forward to seeing what opportunities arise if and when Bitcoin grows in value.  There are so many amazing organizations out there.  I used to joke that my dream job was to be a "philanthropist."  Hopefully that desire can become a reality at some point down the road.  Sure, I give on a small scale now and I am doing some mission work here and there, but there is so much more to be done to help the world.
legendary
Activity: 1232
Merit: 1002
October 18, 2014, 02:47:14 PM
#52
Church accepts bitcoins? Nice. But I don't donate to any organisation who wants to tell my that prostution or sex before marriage is wrong. I don't think that way.

Dude prostitution is bad if a pimp is involved! Why because he will take most of the money and the girl will barley get anything! Choose wisely your next girl!
Sex before marriage is also bad! When? When you find the true love of your live and you just wished that you could be a virgin again and only have sex with here! True love is hard to find, if you don't have this regret than it's not true love!
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
https://youtu.be/PZm8TTLR2NU
October 18, 2014, 02:38:46 PM
#51
I dare any intellectually honest theist (don't laugh, they exist!) to watch this 7 minute video.

That, my friend, is moronic verse.  

It is clear by the usage of the term: "zero-sum game", your knowledge is extremely narrow, the term you meant is "zero-sum gain".
Fail! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-sum_game

How in the world can you compare or contrast "reason" and "violence"?
Like this.

Dear Christians,

In the following argument of nine premises, I will aim to convince you that Jesus of Nazareth was a fictional character, and not a real person. I do not intend to sway the beliefs of many of you, nor even budge them - I know this to be an impossibility, for if the religious mind is well-trained at anything, it is circumventing rational argument. I only intend to sew seeds of doubt, in the hopes that perhaps some of you will nurture them and let them grow. Here goes.

1. Much, if not most, of the Bible is arguably fiction. Quit being so intellectually dishonest, Christians - this is the twenty-first century. That means the burden of proof is on YOU. If you make a claim about the universe, it is up to you to prove it is true, not the other way around. It is not up to us, the rest of the world, to prove your claims false - that is not scientific thinking, that is anti-scientific thinking. Because I am a man of my times, and believe in correcting ignorance, what I am doing here is out of courtesy to YOU, just as if I were to argue publicly that there is a Flying Spaghetti Monster orbiting Venus preparing to blow up Planet Earth, one of you would probably, out of simple human decency attempt to correct me and point me towards the truth. This is my way of doing that. Now, back to the Bible being fiction... that part's easy. Find me a snake with vocal chords, water that is dense enough for a human being to walk on, or a chemical process that converts complex carbohydrates to fish. Until then, you're out of luck, sucker. The evidence wins, and the evidence sides with me. These are invented stories... fictional dramas meant to impart some moral lesson. They are not real.

2. Following point two: from an objective, scrutinizing view, there is no reason to believe one story in the Bible over another. We cannot honestly engage shades of truth here - either the books in the Bible are historically true or they are not. Since they almost ubiquitously contain material to make the scientific person skeptical, we can chance to say the same is true of the entire book: either it happened, or it didn't. Therefore, it is no less plausible to disbelieve the Jesus myth than the myth about Enoch the nine-hundred year old man or the creation myth wherein God pats the first humans out of clay. Here's a hint: humans, like all other complex organisms, reached their present condition by millions of years of natural selection through the self-preservation of certain greedy genes. We can observe this happening today; anti-biotic resistant bacteria are a good example. Plus, we've mapped the human genome - we know our ancestry, and it's simian. Even Pope John Paul II said evolution is a historical fact. People did not come from clay.

3. By definition, intellect, or "reason" is the ability to revise one's beliefs in light of better argumentation. Taking simple, empirical data from the the world around you should make it easy to determine that the physical laws of the universe DO NOT CHANGE. It therefore stands to reason that "miracles" can only possible be one of two phenomena: A, an outside agent actually interfering with the laws of the universe; or B, hyperbolized coincidences. Considering the Bible was written in a time when allegory was the most common form of journalistic reporting and most people still believed spitting on a wound was an appropriate way to cure it, it is far more reasonable to assume the latter.

*Side note: Seriously Hoss, let me clue you in on something: things that are impossible to do now - like walking on water, resuscitation after days of biological death, and wine magically turning into blood - were just as impossible 2,000 years ago. There's a much greater power in the universe than "belief." It's called "observation."

4. To believe these stories, you must create strange rationalizations that do not hold up to true intellectual scrutiny. This brings us to the issue of honesty. Without deluding yourself, can you honestly answer the following questions? Such as, why doesn't God heal amputees? He heals everyone else miraculously, right? But neither you nor I have ever seen an amputee grow back a leg. Oh wait, God has a special plan for them. But isn't he supposed to be loving and just? What's with the discrimination, man? Or how about Jonah surviving in the belly of that whale? Wouldn't he be partially digested after three days? Maybe Baby Balooga had a slow metabolism?

5. Following four, and this one is my favorite: if Jesus is the one true messiah, the only God, whom you shall hath no other gods before him, yada yada, how come so many gods DID come before him having nearly identical biographies? There are no less than two dozen god-men of the ancient Mediterranean whose birth was heralded by a bright star in the East (Sirius, for those who don't practice astronomy), who were also adored by wise men, walked on water, fed the hungry, resurrected the dead, were crucified and rose again, etc. Many even had the same birthday as Jesus - December 25th! Not coincidentally, this was the Roman Holiday of Saturnalia centuries before the clergy decided to call it Jesus' birthday. Surprise! Christians plagiarized earlier religions. I cannot spell it out any clearer than that. Knowing that, how can one believe anything Christian doctrine teaches? How do you even begin to separate what was invented from what was borrowed? You don't. The cold, hard truth is, it was an old story then, and it's an old story now. These messianic archetypes - the man that is god, the man who conquers death - existed long, long before Jesus came around. They were old news when soap was a cutting-edge technology, before written language was even invented. They are ancient fucking history. Jesus was not the antitype of these messianic figures, he was their distillation.

7. Following point 6. If you are skeptical of this information (and you should be, as doubt is the seed of all knowing), investigate the matter for yourself. One hugely recurring problem I find when debating with Christians is that they either know very little about other religions or are ignorant of their existence entirely. This is counter-intuitive to me, and perhaps my own fault in failing to understand the religious mind. Shouldn't it be fairly crucial to make the most educated decision in choosing a religion, if practicing the "right" one is important to you? For example, you wouldn't want to choose a religion based on plagiarism, would you? Or one that literally absorbed every earlier belief system it encountered through endless politicizing or the diplomacy of the sword? Well, better crack those books then - there's a whole heap of gods who fit the Christ mold long before Christ. I suggest you begin by researching Mithra of Rome, Attis of Frigia, Dionysis of Greece, Krishna of India, and Horus of Egypt. The last should be of particular interest to you, as his mythology is almost an exact carbon copy of Jesus', right down to the twelve apostles and three-day rebound time after being murdered by jealous clergy. Though, I should point out that Horus was worshipped nearly 1000 years BEFORE Christianity began spreading through the Hebrew-populated Roman colonies. This should come as no surprise to you, as it's written right in the bible that the Hebrews came out of Egypt.

8. On a more serious note. Western civilization may have been "built" on Judeo-Christian values (at least the "don't kill" and "don't steal" parts), but we have become a modern society and have adopted the scientific way of thinking. While the aforementioned values have indisputable merits, maintaining the dogma in its entirety is no longer necessary, especially when we consider the violence and segregation it has caused throughout the ages. Furthermore, philosophically speaking, Christian ethics are severely outdated. Since the Enlightenment, the Western World has seen far superior ethicists to Jesus of Nazareth. Kant and Mill, for example, created life-affirming ethical systems that can be applied to a wider range of people without destroying their culture or beliefs about where the universe came from and what kind of sex they should consider perverse. Truly, there is no reason to cling to the old way any longer. We have adopted science and reason in every other aspect of our lives... yet somehow we have retained Bronze Age ethics? It makes no sense. Why should we continue to believe it is better to be tribalists than to be humanists? This mentality is not compatible with a just, egalitarian society. Besides, Jesus may tell us to love one another, but he also says we should maintain the Old Testament in its entirety - no cherry-picking - which means we technically must condone rape, incest, slavery, and genocide (!). If we can do away with these parts (and we have), why not do away with the whole thing?

9. In the grand scheme of things, it would be generally permissible for one to believe in Christian ethics if it were readily understood that Jesus was not a historical person, and the story is allegory. However, if you are a Christian, you probably do believe that Jesus was a real human being. This is a threat to both the advancement of science and the absolution of religious conflict in the world, two issues that are paramount to our survival as a species as our planet nears carrying capacity and is dangerously on the brink of overheating. It creates too slippery a slope for other theocratic nonsense to take hold; for example, tthe mindset that human beings can literally live after death (how many soldiers would we send to die if everyone believed this is the only life?); or that preserving the existence of cell clusters which bear no conceivable human traits is somehow a better aim than alleviating actual human suffering; or that sex is harmful, but killing, bigotry, and total obedience to clandestine authority are healthy practices; or that blood sacrifice is a value modern societies should endorse. But Jesus WAS a real person, you say! There's a plethora of evidence! No, not really, outside of the gospels. And those hardly count as "evidence." They are secondary sources at best. Here's why: if a historical Jesus really lived and died between 0 and 33 CE, then we know beyond a doubt that at least forty years passed before the earliest gospel - the one written by Mark - was scribed. Because the aforementioned gospel discusses the destruction of Solomon's temple, we know it was written in or sometime after 70 CE. Given the lifespan of the period, that means the author or authors were at best infants or young children when Jesus of Nazareth was supposed to have been crucified. Moreover, the gospel writers are not themselves mentioned in the gospels, and they make no claim to actually having met Jesus. None of the apostles who walked with Jesus nor anyone who even met him wrote accounts to that effect. Granted, there are certain mentions of a "Christ" in the writings of Mediterranean historians from that period (not Justin Martyr or Pontius Pilate - sorry, but those are proven forgeries). However, if are a serious Christian, these should be of little consideration to you, as you know "the Christ" is really a title that simply means "the Anointed," and was taken up by many rabbis of that time. In not ONE of these documents is a man named Jesus, or Yeshua of Nazareth mentioned.

In conclusion, the gospels which discuss the life of Jesus of Nazareth are at best hearsay, almost certainly hyperbolized, and at worst complete fabrications. What we can determine beyond a doubt is that for at least four decades after his death, everyone in the world, including his sworn followers and students, simply forgot their messiah existed. If that doesn't cast on you a serious shade of doubt, then nothing will, and perhaps I'm not "the fool".

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