Is this the Atheist Fanatics Forums Off-Topic?

[Nylan]

But who decides which are metaphors and which are not?

The author, obviously. The difficulty comes in figuring out what the author meant.

That, of course, leaps into a discussion on authority that is quite a tangent and perhaps deserving of a separate thread. However, the claim that purely because certain Christians interpret parts of the Bible literally and other parts metaphorically, they are hypocrites is not a good one.

 

[Nylan]

The Bible, I was told, is the true word of God. Therefore all of it needs to be taken literally... God doesn't use metaphores, people do whan they can't understand things.

I'm not seeing the connection between sentences 1 and 2.



EDIT: Sorry for the doublepost.

 

[Aegis]

No need to prove negative. Religious people claim their God/Gods influence the Universe in a meaningful way, so they either prove it, or their claim is false. The burden of providing evidence is on them, not on me.

What if God does not interact with this plane of existence?

 

[Kerozine]

Yes,

I wholly agree with you.

and that moderate Christians that choose to interpret some texts literally and others not are pretty hypocritical...

Sounds like they mean to emphasize Jesus' teachings rather than the umm.. stories about the origins of this world.

I don't know what you mean by moderate Christian.

 

[Moss]

Why cannot you know? When you say you cannot know, you give up on the concept of rational, scientifically explainable Universe. That's not acceptable and it's dangerously close to a religion.

Huh?

Just because you don't know or don't think we will ever know who created the universe doesn't preclude that we wouldn't want to find out everything about that universe.

 

[J-man]

The author, obviously. The difficulty comes in figuring out what the author meant.

That, of course, leaps into a discussion on authority that is quite a tangent and perhaps deserving of a separate thread. However, the claim that purely because certain Christians interpret parts of the Bible literally and other parts metaphorically, they are hypocrites is not a good one.

It's practically impossible to figure out what the author meant and sometimes we don't even know the author. Besides, the authors them selves were human and there should back up there claims about what God wants with evidence.

 

[Fr8monkey]

Deeply religous people rarely do. They think with belief not with what they see.

 

[LucyDuke]

Well, as long as we're derailed...

Why cannot you know? When you say you cannot know, you give up on the concept of rational, scientifically explainable Universe.

Not at all. You embrace the concept of the rational universe. We can't scientifically prove Hansel and Gretel weren't kidnapped by a witch. We can still disregard it as a fairy tale, as you like.

See, that's what I am talking about - agnostics are believers in their hearts, they pretend to be neutral to keep their chances, that if there's something after life, they'll be eligible.

Absolute nonsense! If they're believers, why do they pretend otherwise? If there were something after life, wouldn't the speech against god stuff and the pretense disqualify them? Some kind of half-hearted Pascal's wager wouldn't likely buy much. Most agnostics are folks that admit they don't know everything. Disbelievers in their hearts that recognize the limitations of their brains.

 

[Nylan]

Of course, but does the Bible say anything which tests are meant to be taken literally or not?

Do you consider that necessary or reasonable, given the nature of the book?

It's practically impossible to figure out what the author meant and sometimes we don't even know the author. Besides, the authors them selves were human and there should back up there claims about what God wants with evidence.

Hence my second paragraph.

 

[LightFang]

Yes, this is the Atheist Fanatics Forums Off-Topic. Flawless logic:

1. People who play video games tend to be nerdy.
2. Nerds are smarter than average.
3. As intelligence increases, religiousness tends to decrease.

Also, I used to think that agnostics were just stupid fence-sitters, but that was back when I was like 13. I think it's genuinely okay to just say that you don't know everything. That's a legitimate position, and trying to corral people into one side or another is dishonest.

 

[Death_Machine]

Or has religious persons tired of the many atheist provokations and left this place?

In addition to the number of souls condemned to hell in here I would say that this part of your question is closest to the mark.

Well, I have a fellow Biology student, that after a completed Master in Biology still believes in Biblical Creationism. It feels kind of weird and incredibly arrogant that she thinks she is so much smarter than all the teachers and scientists at the university, and that all the biology books basically is just nonsense since all modern biology has evolution as the basis of pretty much everything...

This would have been so great in a recent thread. Damn, you were totally predictable & textbook in your response too!
1. Since you can't deny the the woman's credentials you have to attack her attitude, because you are unable to disprove her faith.
2. Continue to obscure the difference between evolution within a species & the Theory of Evolution pertaining to where man came from.

Also bear in mind that to have a nice debate, you truly only need 1 or 2 good fellows. The forums could have 1000 atheists and 5 theists, but it would still be nice if the theists are competent at debating and do so whenever religious threads pop up.

This is the best post in the thread methinks. By shear volume there are going to be many more atheist idiots than theological ones & the few believers will just have the life force sucked out of them via the dog pile by the morons on the board. There are very few Big Dogs in here, but tons of ME TOOS!

If it's a problem, there's other forums, you know.

Most useless response ever......... except for what I maybe just wrote in response to it.

While the above is usually true, Definat, there are people who fall for it in adulthood. IIRC, thats what happened to MobBoss, and my stepfather converted to Judaism despite being brough up with no religion.

I think the one faction of Christianity that bucks that trend is the Mormons. They have a hell of a lot of converts.

Of course, my analysis cannot encompass all religious people. But I do think it sums up quite nicely why it is hard for most to... deconvert (for a lack of a better word).

I think you over value how hard it is to stop going to church or to not believe.

I was jumping from 'thinking' to 'thinking'.
And contrasting the opposites of thinking and feeling.

And not doing any of it well. The statement was so utterly flawed that I couldn't work up the willpower to shred it.

Every one is of course entitled to believe whatever they want, but I dislike religion so passionately that I have real difficulty to just shut up.

A weak/poor Christian like myself could help you with that in rapid fashion. I say this because I have as much tolerance for the likes of you as I do for your religious counterparts.

Yes, the block is pretty strong. It is not only a social construct, but also a disturbing existential one. Consider you have believed all your life that death is not the end, that your soul is eternal and that deceased friends and family family members are still "alive" in Heaven, and that you will be reunited with them after your death. And then you as malevolent atheist pull that naive safety blanket away from them and makes them see the grim truth. Of course, that could lead to a deep personal crisis and depressions...

I like how you start off like you're going to be rational, but then the part I bolded for you showed up & any traction the post had was lost.

Up until your post I was enjoying reading this thread. Congratulations starting a flamewar!

I do not believe you know what a flame war is , nor do I think you are likely to see one erupt now.

What would you expect? What believers hate the most about atheists is that they don't feel so bloody insecure about their views. It's religious people who constantly need to prop each other in their delusions, which is why the natural confidence displayed by the atheists irks them so much.

Funny, it seems to me that the Christians are perfectly secure & content in their views even in the face of an onslaught by bigots who claim to be open minded & respectful of others' views.

 

[Seon]

Funny, it seems to me that the Christians are perfectly secure & content in their views even in the face of an onslaught by bigots who claim to be open minded & respectful of others' views.

Yes. I observed that aswell . Some atheists just give a bad rap on some of us here...

 

[Fr8monkey]

In addition to the number of souls condemned to hell in here

At least I'll be in good company!

 

[Lillefix]

Yes, and that moderate Christians that choose to interpret some texts literally and others not are pretty hypocritical...

In my opinion, Christians who do this(most of them hopefully) cannot claim that they get their ethics from the bible.

 

[LucyDuke]

2. Continue to obscure the difference between evolution within a species & the Theory of Evolution pertaining to where man came from.

Biologists are a better authority on this topic than priests, don't you think?

(Are you a Creationist?)

 

[PaulusIII]

In the end, I just think that the question of whether a deity exists or not is too difficult for mankind to answer. We're trying to understand something which if it exists, we cannot understand.

So yeah. Agnostic here.

 

[Nylan]

In my opinion, Christians who do this(most of them hopefully) cannot claim that they get their ethics from the bible.

Why is that?

 

[warpus]

I've always seen agnosticism as a sign of hypocrisy and cowardness. Being an agnostic is like "OK, I don't believe in God, but I hope there is one".

For a lot of agnostics and weak atheists such as myself, it's more a case of "I don't know and I usually don't care"

 

[Aegis]

I think you over value how hard it is to stop going to church or to not believe.

Sleeping in on a Sunday morning is easy!

 

[Miles Teg]

This would have been so great in a recent thread. Damn, you were totally predictable & textbook in your response too!
1. Since you can't deny the the woman's credentials you have to attack her attitude, because you are unable to disprove her faith.
2. Continue to obscure the difference between evolution within a species & the Theory of Evolution pertaining to where man came from.

DM, this isn't a creation/evolution thread. Take it outside.