legov Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 I think I've mentioned this on here before but heck it's Villatalk so I'll just get it off my chest again. My best friend is a Christian who converted to his present religion about 3 years ago IIRC. Sometime ago I asked him whether he truly believed in the truth of his religion. After many seconds of "ummmmm" he said "No." A few months after that I posed more questions about religion to him again. This time our discussion was more extended and I told him about a lot of the arguments against the existence of the Christian god (as well as examples from the Bible that showed the gut-churning moral depravity of "H"im). At the end of the conversation I asked him this: "So, everything I've told you.....do they make sense?" "Yes." "Then why do you still believe in Christianity?" "......I think there is a God. (something about first cause)" "I understand, but why does it have to be the Christian god?" Long pause. "...........................I still think there's a God." :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted May 8, 2012 Moderator Share Posted May 8, 2012 Gee blandy you sure do use your mouth purdier'n a twenny dollar whore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Noone should be subjected to a single way of thinking under the age of 16, if they want to believe in a sky fairy after a well balanced education, then fine. But I consider it morally repugnant that we allow kids to be told to believe one thing or the other before they have a choice in the matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted May 8, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted May 8, 2012 There was a godbotherer in Inverness city centre this afternoon. I had to turn away in disdain as he chatted to a severely disabled woman in a wheelchair, I caught the end of the conversation. God'll be with you, he loves you. Clearly. The woman was paralysed. I was reminded of the song by A Perfect Circle (NSFW). Religion is a disease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted May 8, 2012 Moderator Share Posted May 8, 2012 I think I've mentioned this on here before but heck it's Villatalk so I'll just get it off my chest again. My best friend is a Christian who converted to his present religion about 3 years ago IIRC. Sometime ago I asked him whether he truly believed in the truth of his religion. After many seconds of "ummmmm" he said "No." A few months after that I posed more questions about religion to him again. This time our discussion was more extended and I told him about a lot of the arguments against the existence of the Christian god (as well as examples from the Bible that showed the gut-churning moral depravity of "H"im). At the end of the conversation I asked him this: "So, everything I've told you.....do they make sense?" "Yes." "Then why do you still believe in Christianity?" "......I think there is a God. (something about first cause)" "I understand, but why does it have to be the Christian god?" Long pause. "...........................I still think there's a God." :| Welcome to the world of the atheist when trying to get reason from most religious people. There is rarely sense because they have that magical get-out-of-jail-free card called 'faith'. Basically I can say "Show me why you discount all other Gods and I'll show you why I discount yours". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legov Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Well, he never once mentioned the word faith. He's a recent convert after all, who by his own admission still (during that period at least) did not really believe the whole baloney was true - he has no faith-based ideological loyalty to the religion from what I can gather (which is quite a bit because after all we are best friends). FWIW, he hasn't been to church in months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted May 8, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted May 8, 2012 Religion has given me a slight giggle today, I must admit. The church not far from we're saying has an advert outside, a bit like those 'MILLENIUM - CHRISTS 2000th BIRTHDAY' signs. Except this one just says 'Church - Something for everyone' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted May 8, 2012 Moderator Share Posted May 8, 2012 I accept that sometimes it can be nothing more complicated than peer pressure and the desire to be accepted by others (which I suspect is the case with Legov's friend). On one hand that's the wrong reason to get involved specifically with religion, but on the other hand you can kind of see why they do it. I mean, it's no different to why kids start to smoke in school or join gangs etc. The basic human desire to be accepted by someone or something and the things we will do to make it happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 There was a godbotherer in Inverness city centre this afternoon.Whatever you do, don't go on a dolphin cruise. I didn't think I was ever going to see dry land again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted May 8, 2012 Moderator Share Posted May 8, 2012 Welcome to the world of the atheist when trying to get reason from most religious people... You can't use reason to persuade someone away from a position that they didn't get to via reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaajax Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Can you imagine a World without religion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted May 8, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted May 8, 2012 Athiest I may be, but I do hope there's some sort of afterlife-type thing. The concept of an eternal nothingness terrifies the crap out of me. I'm quite the opposite. If when I die, I then wake and have to keep on living in some way shape or form i'm going to be seriously pissed off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted May 8, 2012 Moderator Share Posted May 8, 2012 Welcome to the world of the atheist when trying to get reason from most religious people... You can't use reason to persuade someone away from a position that they didn't get to via reason.A good point succinctly made. Which I suppose is why using their own scepticism of rival religions might be the only 'rational' way of explaining why people are sceptical of theirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaajax Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Athiest I may be, but I do hope there's some sort of afterlife-type thing. The concept of an eternal nothingness terrifies the crap out of me. I'm quite the opposite. If when I die, I then wake and have to keep on living in some way shape or form i'm going to be seriously pissed off. You might come back as a bra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted May 8, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted May 8, 2012 Athiest I may be, but I do hope there's some sort of afterlife-type thing. The concept of an eternal nothingness terrifies the crap out of me. I'm quite the opposite. If when I die, I then wake and have to keep on living in some way shape or form i'm going to be seriously pissed off. You might come back as a bra. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheltenham_villa Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 My grandad recently passed away, he was a christian and involved in the church for most of his life. At his funeral (attended by about 180 people, not bad for an 87 year old man) a lot of people said a lot of good things about him. The one that stuck with me was that he didnt need to preach about it, he lived it. To meet him you may have not known him as a religious man. You would have liked him though. He had a set of values that he lived his life by, his beliefs were his though. If you wanted to know about them, he would happily talk about them but he wouldnt have felt the need to justify them to anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Did you know that dinosaurs were killed off by their own farts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted May 8, 2012 Moderator Share Posted May 8, 2012 Religion has given me a slight giggle today, I must admit. The church not far from we're saying has an advert outside, a bit like those 'MILLENIUM - CHRISTS 2000th BIRTHDAY' signs. Except this one just says 'Church - Something for everyone' That so needs defacing with the word Charlotte above it ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 There's some pretty good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted May 8, 2012 Administrator Share Posted May 8, 2012 Did you know that dinosaurs were killed off by their own farts? No they weren't. Dinosaur farts may have raised global temperatures. Dinosaurs didn't get "killed off" by anything, although many animal species were made extinct in a very short time at several points in the past. None of these extinction events were caused by farting. However this is a religion thread so this purely scientific stuff is off topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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