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Post by Distind on Apr 6, 2009 17:24:09 GMT -5
Now, I'm already thinking of point out our casual christian members who are already well aware of this, but I need to actually read it rather than skim. But I had to share.
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Post by The Lazy One on Apr 6, 2009 17:31:19 GMT -5
That's not actually too bad... sounds a lot like what my grandma told me when she found out I was an atheist. "Lazy, I'd be an atheist too if I thought that all Christians were like the Westboro Baptist Church or Ann Coulter [snip] All that matters is that you try to be a good person."
While they left out the "be a good person" part and replaced it with trusting Jeus, it read a lot like something my grandma would say.
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Post by John E on Apr 6, 2009 17:33:17 GMT -5
He lost me after "I think you may not know what real Christianity is." EVERY fundie and many non-fundies assumes that if you have a problem with Christians or Christianity, it must be because you're just ignorant of what "real" Christianity is (the funny part is, each sect thinks theirs is the "real" Christianity and all the other one are giving us non-Christians the wrong idea). And then of course, the email goes on to parrot the same "everyone's a sinner, blah blah blah" diatribe we've all heard a million times.
Nothing new here. It's not even original enough to be funny. Still, your first "love" letter is a pretty cool milestone.
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D'Coke
Full Member
In the service of the Church of Darwinian Materialism
Posts: 106
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Post by D'Coke on Apr 6, 2009 17:35:52 GMT -5
I don't know why I can't be my own Savior. It isn't very hard, you know...
These are the Christians I hate the most. They project their weaknesses upon the rest of the human race.
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Post by Vene on Apr 6, 2009 17:39:54 GMT -5
Needs more crazy. Like, a lot more crazy. It's a start, but I hope that these types of e-mails show improvement soon. Because this is the first one, I'll give it a C, but that's me being very lenient. It really deserves a D.
Sorry, Andrew, you've got a lot of work to do. If you need tips read PZ's "I get email" blog posts.
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Post by The Lazy One on Apr 6, 2009 17:47:21 GMT -5
I don't know why I can't be my own Savior. It isn't very hard, you know... But you know, they think we're all too stupid to run away from wildfires, runaway trains, or falling pianos on our own. Or is that the other kind of savior?
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Post by Distind on Apr 6, 2009 17:48:17 GMT -5
It's not exactly fundie, which is one of the reasons it actually interests me. But this chunk:
Is what always gets me. Sounds like an abusive parent more than a loving god.
Clean your room like I told you or die and burn in hell.
I'm far less than impressed with that concept.
Then we get to this:
So god loves us to kill someone, and keep killing us. But now we get to go to heaven if we do nothing but worship him and follow his rules.
Again, sounds pretty damn abusive to me.
But that said, I do have to agree we aren't aruging theology all that often around here(Typically mormon theology if anything), we're mostly pointing and laughing. Which given the source material, is about right.
I'm going to go read some normal bob responses and see if I can cook up something other than a few bad jokes at his expense, something along the lines of an acutal arugment. I have something budding, it's just not quite moving yet.
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Post by antichrist on Apr 6, 2009 19:18:05 GMT -5
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Post by Old Viking on Apr 6, 2009 19:30:09 GMT -5
They can't grasp a simple fact: a great many atheists come from thoroughly Christian backgrounds, and know more about beliefs, dogma, history, apologetics, the Bible, and anything else they want to throw into the gumbo, than they do. I think the Carlin quote about how God loves you so much he's going to torture you for eternity might be appropriate here..
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Post by wackadoodle on Apr 6, 2009 19:54:39 GMT -5
only one of those groups is going to a nice place 2 are maybes according to mainstream christianity 4 of them will be brutally tortured for eternity 2 of them for something they cannot change
But yeah, all sinners are equal...
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Post by Sigmaleph on Apr 6, 2009 20:02:43 GMT -5
1) The 'real' Christianity sounds suspiciously similar to most of the things we mock here 2) If the 'real' Christianity is different from the one portrayed in the quotes, then we aren't attacking it. We are attacking the misrepresentation. So no need to defend it 3)Can we plz get a hate mail section? Or "love" mail section, whatever you want to call it.
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Post by John E on Apr 6, 2009 21:26:35 GMT -5
3)Can we plz get a hate mail section? Or "love" mail section, whatever you want to call it. I was just thinking that.
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Post by ironbite on Apr 7, 2009 0:07:51 GMT -5
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW...that's adorable!
Ironbite-we should adopt him then pick away at his morality with Cait and Madam Scarlet pictures.
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Post by antichrist on Apr 7, 2009 1:31:47 GMT -5
Wait until you get the ones that are nothing but FUCKYOU! over and over again, signed with an "I'll pray for you're sole|" (spelling intentional).
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Post by Lady Renae on Apr 7, 2009 1:40:20 GMT -5
I agree with other people here who say to look to PZ for direction here. Allow me to inadequately demonstrate.
*ahem*
Hi there!
Because that's supposed to be some kind of meritorious qualifier, you know. Christians (with capitals no less) only have the best advice. *nodnod*
Ah yes... the always reliable "No true Scotsman" approach. Well played. Incidentally, do you have anything to say about the people quoted who aren't even talking about Christianity in the first place? No? I didn't think so. That would fall outside of your pre-conceived agenda now wouldn't it? However, I interrupted. You were pontificating saying?
Actually, we make sure to provide the full picture by means of source quotes, and our PubAd moderators work very hard to ensure that anything that refuses to provide adequate context or is quotemined gets removed as soon as it is discovered. That, however, would require you to actually research the subject of your scrutiny before you went on the offensive, which you obviously aren't willing to do.
Yes because that's obviously what we're trying to do. We're attacking something we don't believe in rather than pointing out some of the hilarious, disturbing, and downright silly foot-in-mouth moments of various people, some of which DO believe in this thing we don't believe in. Oh wait, I forgot. All atheists live only to mock the Judeo-Christian god. Actually that would be the Islamo-Christian god since I've yet to hear any Jew bitch at us for any reason. Hmmm... Maybe those folks in CSTDT are on to something...
I will only partly argue with you here. Yes, people need to be led into a lifestyle that is better for them and for humanity as a whole. No that person is not the mythical descendant of a sky daddy. In fact, that person is not even a single person. It will take many, many people to change the course of humanity into something even remotely resembling our finest potential. That will likely not happen for ages upon ages, and it certainly won't happen when people are going about preaching a lack of personal responsibility and the necessity of us-verses-them mentality. Granted, we partake in a little of that here, but in all honesty if you just shut up and left us alone this place might not have ever existed for you to bitch about. You don't seem to recognize that a lot of what we display here... oh I'm sorry.. you were still proselytizing. Do carry on, and we'll see if maybe you can arrive at the point on your own, unlike many of your predecessors on various boards.
I love how you think you're giving me a choice in the matter. If you were REALLY giving me a choice, you would tell me you wanted to say something and invite me to respond with my interest, reserving your opinion and preaching until AFTER receiving my response. Otherwise, you're not really wanting me to have a choice, now are you?
Wait, what? Christian sinners are WORSE than normal sinners? Well I'll be... that's quite possibly the most honest thing you've said yet. Will there be more, or are you just teasing me?
Just for your own usage, this was not the best way to make your transition... "God wants to punish us for all eternity, but wait! There's more!" It sounds like you're setting us up for detailed descriptions of horrific punishments that we're going to receive when he stops counting to five and our hands are still in the cookie jar. A little transitional skill goes a long way when conveying a message convincingly.
Oh yes, for it is an empirical truth that we all deserve to die. Would your last name be "Lovett", by any chance? Do you bake pies? Or are you the man upstairs with the bad hair and the wayward daughter?
This is the basic party line. In and of itself, it's pretty harmless. If this is as far as it went, there wouldn't be an issue. It's the problem of what exactly is expected of followers that tends to create such vocal opposition and such outrageous internal cries for bloodshed to appease the great sky daddy. Honestly, the rules created to ensure the safety, longevity, and peace of a wandering and eventually rather agrarian people simply aren't necessary in this day and age other than to create an ideological divide behind which it is easy to see who is and is not on which side of it. It serves no real purpose other than to create conflict and a sense of belonging. If that's all you're after, join a book club whose extracurricular activities don't include government crashing, denial of reality, and generally interfering in the private lives and thoughts of others as if it were your right, nay your mandate to so do.
Oddly enough, that is the only instance in which most people of Christian persuasion will ever believe that everyone outside of their club is equal to those inside it. I'll bet you don't even realize the fallacy of such a mentality, do you?
Again you've missed the point, but at least you're getting a bit wider now.
YES! Yes that is EXACTLY what it does! In fact, that's what it is SUPPOSED to do! Congratulations for nailing the point of the site, even if you completely missed the fact that you finally got it. Bravo.
You must be kidding yourself if you think we are arguing theology on the mainpage. If argument of theology is what you're looking for, feel free to hop on the forums. I'll warn you though, the logic there is pretty brutal in its use of thought and reasoning, and bullshit tends not to be tolerated in more than moderate quantities. Still, if you feel you're up to it, go for it. Nobody is stopping you from giving it a try.
That probably isn't going to happen, but it's nice that you're willing to accept further communication.
It always ends with Love, isn't that nice? It's Love or Fondest Regards or something similar, but they try so hard to be very nice when they stop talking. Now, if only one of them would end with My Sincerest Apologies.....
First try, so be gentle, but how'd I do?
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