September 2005
screwballs of the month
There was a
lot of LONG mail from Screwballs this month, let me tell you. Who put something
in the water?
from the mailbag
There
seemed to be more than a few large egos parading around with knowledge made of
fig leaves this round. For example:
Dear Sirs/Madams:
I read your treatise on Hyam Maccoby
and I must say, that I a Catholic, an entrepreneur and
later a professor, theologian, do not entirely disagree with Maccoby. It is difficult when encountering people with
little unbiased academic background to bring them up to speed, so I scarcely
know where to begin. But your writings begin with a bias, my research does not.
There is a vast chasm between academic reality and unsupported faith. I have
faith that a Creator exists and none in human truthfulness. Are you aware that
Roman and Hebrew State historical documents contain information about the era
in which Yeshua-Jesus lived that show the four
gospels to historically incorrect? Are you aware that during Jesus’ lifetime
there were dozens of gospels floating around, many written by his disciples,
which the church after it sold out to Constantine, a thing Jesus avoided,
refusing to sell out during the temptation in the dessert, refusing the glory,
wealth, power, both civil and military of Kings and governments? Were you aware
that Herod died in 4 BC, so if Jesus, as reported in the gospels, was born
during the reign of Herod the Great, had to be living somewhere between 8-4 BC?
Meaning he died between 25-29 AD, not 33 AD. That
historical documents show John The Baptist being
executed in 37 AD, long after Jesus’ death.
And on it
went, with piles of questions and objections I had answers to all over the
site. Come on, guys – check my whole site before sending me this junk, eh? When
I gave the man his medication, he said:
Apparently you are incapable of learning. Continue in you stone headedness, but
if your IQ is obviously well below 160, so I am wasting my time. In future, if
you act less like the Chief priests you may be able to recognize a prophet.
I am wasting my time have a good day in
And
naturally, we have an Acharya S fan adding to the mix
with this letter:
You are so incredibly off base with
your comments regarding Acharya S and
her ideas. It is painfully apparent you have read none of her books beyond
skimming through and picking a paragraph here or there. Had you actually
read the book you would have discovered to your horror that the majority of
her evidence is gleaned from the records of the church itself and the words
of the christian apologists.
The sad truth is most christians
wouldn't know the truth if it slapped them
in the face. And if it did, I sincerely doubt they would turn the other
cheek. Look at what christianity
has become, for you yourself are evidently
a prime example: adults that choose to believe in fairy tales over reason,
reality and the true evidence of intelligence behind the universe. Most so
called christians have no
idea how far their religion has strayed from the
teachings of Jesus. You voted for Bush, correct? You support war even though
it is a sin to kill. This imaginary war on terror has killed, maimed and
destroyed the lives of countless innocent men, women and children. Where is
the outrage? What would your god think of your inaction? Or do non-christian
lives not matter other than as potential converts in your view of the world? ….
Your world, your church revolves
around money. Is this not the very root of
all evil? Your religion has been usurped by corporate "bottom
line"
thinking. Jesus has gone from logos to corporate logo. You and your kind are
snake-oil salesmen hawking a dishonest product with a smiling Jesus on the
bottle.
The Bible is a book of parables and
allegory. Look those words up. They do
not describe historical fact. Therefore,
if you do not understand the
symbolic content of the allegory, but,
rather, take it literally, any
potential wisdom is rendered moot. It
becomes a book a silly stories that
make no sense in the real world, which
is sad. Those who claim the Bible is
so important to them do not even really
understand its terminology.
Can you please explain the meaning of
the symbols used in Ezekiel's vision?
Can you make any rational sense from the
book of Revelation? Can you not see
that these are not descriptions of
literal beasts and beings? So what are
they? Do you have the answer? If not I
suggest you read these books you
choose to criticize because Acharya does have the answers, they are logical
and do not require you leave your
faculty to reason at the door.
I am your wake up call, James. I am
here to expose to you the fallacy of
your existence. God has sent me to offer this chance at redemption from
voluntary ignorance. Don't believe me? Would you believe me
if I were an
anonymous Arab that lived 2,000 years ago? What if I told you I was the
son
(sun) of God? (Because I am.) Would you believe me
then? What if I told you
I was born in
it take? You believe these things about a fictional composite character that
never existed. I am real and speaking to you now, and I can prove the things
I say.
Mind you,
this is a fan of Acharya S who claims to be one who “uses his
mind”. No one told him that using it for a handi-wipe
doesn’t count. Meanwhile we also had a couple of deluded fans of the 18th
century school write in, such as this fan of David Hume:
Just what I thought; an immature,
neuron-deprived Xian. At least my hero really
existed.
And
likewise, a fan of Thomas Paine whose entire letter was just like this, as for
example, my corrective to Paine’s claim that there were no biographies of
Jesus, noting that the Gospels WERE biography in the form such were written in
the Greco-Roman era:
Whether "detached
anecdotes" constitute a biography as construed in the
time they were written is of no consequence; they certainly did not
constitute one in the time of Paine, nor do they now. They are what they
are. Disjointed anecdotes about the life of Jesus (with an entire segment
of his life missing) from which one can discern what he may.
In other
words, it is of “no consequence” that Paine made a boneheaded error. Oops, time
for that medication that cures postmodernism.
And then we
have this babbling diatribe of conspiracy:
Up until 4 years ago, I would have swallowed whole anything white
evangelical "Christian theologists" told me
about my own religion.
After the OJ Simpson, and Michael Jackson trials, after
September 11, and New Orleans with Katrina I am glad that in my own mind's eye,
even as a little girl I had envisioned Jesus as a black man - or to be more
specific cafe au lait, which is my own complexion….
Pastor John Hagee sent me ( I sent a donation once) a leaflet inviting me to be a Salt
Covenant Partner. However, his rhetoric asked" Who are
He was distraught that several persons supported both individuals
in their time of pain.
Did Pastor Hagee feel that way
about any of the several thousand black people burned at the stake in your
Southern States before the Civil Rights movement in
Did he question how Judge Rhenquist
could come to be a Supreme Court Judge? A Hero?
Of course not - only BLACK men and women are not permitted
to be HEROES.
As a black woman in a third world country (western world's emphasis, not mine) I
would rather contribute to my own black brothers and sisters and build my own
country - since GOD put me here, I find it inconceivable he would not want me
to spend his money here, rather than in supporting a network whose primary but
covert aim is to promote white supremacy.
Having read [L. Ray Smith], I am now just about to
re-embrace my religion, as his defining of it makes sense.
The Christian religion is not for a bunch of White Religious
supremacists who want to be the HAND OF GOD - just as Lucifer wanted to be GOD.
The WHITE RELIGIOUS SUPREMACISTS enticed
Like Ray, I believe all will be saved, eventually, and
therefore am now free to see all my fellow men, even WHITE RELIGIOUS
SUPREMACISTS as my brothers - maybe persecuting me now, as Joseph's brothers
did, but coming to full knowledge at some point in the infinite future ( I am
ALPHA and OMEGA, which was and is and is to be) and therefore worthy of my
forgiveness - Vengeance is mine, saith the LORD, I will repay...God does not need America to
help HIM punish or reward his Children. HE would have dealt with Saddam, in his
own time. Wait, I say on the LORD…
And, hey, I guess this is a bit jumbled - no need to
discount it as rantings - the simple fact is that Ray
Smith is the first writer apart from CS Lewis to open my eyes to the purpose of
a LOVING GOD - and frankly the church today is selfserving
and full of fallen angels who want to run things. Thankfully, they will all be
saved at some time in the future.
Finally, The very purpose of your site seems to be
confrontational, as indeed Ray's is - and established to prove your
superiority in religious thought - and to both of you I send a reminder - Him
that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
It seems to me that those of us who do not have the time or
mind for religious scholarship might as well give up and go to hell as only you
intellectuals will be able to understand the word of God, even though Christ
said e even babes could...
Up next, the man who sees visions said to me:
your tone distracts readers from your case, weakening its credibility. i found your logic helpful, even
brilliant, your hectoring tone offensive and revealing of your own
relationship with God
an example of your tone is
Ahmed, Nadir
Another Muslim apologist with an obnoxious challenge. Loud mouths galore over there, huh.
this was but one example. i
found many more
how do you claim that, even if what you say is true, which i do not doubt, that it is said in love?
you call it "decisiveness", but would you speak so blisteringly
of friends, family, or people you approved of?
scripture says "the mouth speaks the fullness of the heart",
"bless and do not curse" " offer a reasoned defense of the hope
in you in gentleness and respect"."any who
calls a brother raca [ any
terms of contempt] is guilty of hell fire", "life
and death are in the power of the tongue", "let your
speech be seasoned by grace" "blessed are the merciful"
" to those who do not show mercy God will not give mercy"
It also says "you know them by their fruit", and "the fruit of
the spirit is . . . kindness . . and
gentleness"
as for stern rebuke, that is God's prerogative. do
we dare arrogate it to oursevles when our fruit indicate
that our use of rebuke is abuse and therefore sin.
Did Jesus say of Israel "loud
mouths galore over there, huh?" or did he while calling them brood of
vipers (a phrase certain preachers like to appropriate as it justifies in their
own eyes their own venomous spleen) not
also say "Oh jerusalem who kills the prophets
how i would draw you under my wings as a mother hen
does her chicks". Jesus wept over his enemies and
forgave them from the cross.
you weep over moslem apologists with comments
like "loud mouths over there, huh"?
If your fruit is clear, and i think it is, then you come across as arrogant and a
bigot, indeed i hold it inescapable that you are
these things. And what does such do? - it helps
discredit the perfectly sound things you say. It also shows that you are
conceited with your knowledge, for "knowledge puffs up but love
edifies". the meanest illiterate factory
hand with love in his heart is more spiritual than you are
your writing is burdened with unnecessary comment. It is uneconomical,
to say the least Why tell the readers that
"loud mouths galore [are] over there"? what
comes from this other than a need to vent some self righteous spleen all the
more amplified by a contemptuous "huh".
And rather
oddly, the man went on for several more pages of this apparently “necessary”
comment, of which we present now only highlights:
your fruit is clearly carnal, therefore you do not know and love the lord
and walk in the flesh, and moreover your sarcasm presents opponents with every excuse
they ever wanted to reeject what you say. Give them a
chance to do an ad hominem fallacy and they wil take it. Why present them with such? why
hide brilliant logic behind ill temper and self righteous sarcasm? do you want to be ignored?
where is your sensitivity of conscience and your knowlege
of the Law of God?
I do not want the truth discreditted by arrogant presentations of it, for it is written "the name of God is blasphemed
among trhe gentiles because of [us].
do you revere (fear) the Lord? then consider what
I say, for truth is not a weapon to be wielded by those intending to ridicule
and hurt
you have a brilliant mind as an apologist, but your zeal for truth is
ungodly, being without mercy (I have been there ,myself, and God had me repent
thereof).
it is clear your like winning arguments, making you a young lion as descibed in the OT, out to devour people.
bear the fruit of the spirit and become a marvellously
powerful witness to the living Christ. be carnal and
be nothing but a religious person, a bigot and a cause for blasphemy by
unbelievers and thus a stumbling block.
The Lord God Almighty is Holy and Terrible. Heed his words in scripture about the
words we speak, or our words will damn us, as scripture says "by your
words you are justified".
I beleve
myself capable of justifying everything written herein, but would keep this
missive brief
Yep. It’s
this sort of “turn or burn” drivel that really encourages me to convert.
Last funny
letter for this round:
What you wrote is not a critique. A
critique reviews alternate
viewpoints in an semi-unbiased fashion and balances
out from other
viewpoints other than your own and the one being assessed. You have an
obvious agenda and are just as narrowminded as Mr. Harpur. You're
ideology stems from your experience and social backgroud
as does Mr.
Harpur's and does mine. You are no more right than
anyone else.
golden duh
award winners
God is a rush, dude
Ormly on TWeb wins Gold
for comments in reply to ApologiaNick. Nick said:
I even have his "My Utmost for his
Highest." I prefer exegesis
to experience though.
And Ormly said things like:
His experience is an experience. You choose to ignore
that.
Exegesis be damned! Learn the big picture then re-examine your own
journey in Him.
Giver
on TWeb shares the award for similar sentiments:
Words said to me by Jesus: “----, Quit
trying to figure me out and just follow me.”
Also my relationship with Jesus
isn’t feelings, much physical evidence was given to me,
accompanying His voice and Words. The reason I’m sharing all this is to refute
the erroneous idea that Jesus doesn’t speak to His people. I know Satan does
also, but believe me it doesn’t take long to know the difference.
What if I told you I was taught by
Jesus that Christians who know God don’t sin, that we are not to hurt (harm)
anyone for any reason, that the Eucharist
is truly Jesus body and blood, would you believe me? OK! Now believe this:
Jesus told me He is God and the Bible is His Word. What greater sign could there
be, to have been taught the truth,
that it is Jesus who talks to me? Now maybe if you
could accept what I just shared, I would share the supernatural healings,
miracles, and visions, which Jesus has used to teach and guide me over the last
thirty years
You all seem so afraid of Satan, as
if he has more power than God. Keep your eyes on Jesus and Satan can’t get near
you. Satan doesn’t teach us that we don’t sin,
or that we are to love our enemies, or that we are to
worship God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). Satan wants to be worshiped and his
fruits are not love
They got them hands on the by-bull early
Jude3b
earns
Gold for numerous comments like these:
The Old Testament was accepted as
one Book. And though the New Testament letters and Gospels were only recently
written, the churches of God - the body of Christ traded and copied them. And
these scrolls were all gathered together in one important city:
But there was another city, 317 miles southwest of
It was also the language of philosophy. That means every person who thought he
was smart would read the Greek Philosophy of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Stoicism
or Epicureanism. These philosophers
all wanted to be "scholars." And guess what city turned out to
be a philosopher's paradise? That's right!
The so-called "Scholars" from
Origen didn't like God's Preserved Bible. Why? Because he was a "scholar," or course!
During his life he wrote hundreds of books, all infected with Greek philosophy.
Origen was NOT a Bible-believer. Origen
didn't believe in the Old Testament miracles. Origen
didn't believe many of Jesus' words or stories. Origen
didn't believe the Holy Spirit was eternal. Origen
didn't believe that Jesus Christ was Almighty God!
The Apocryphal books were folk tales in circulation during the time that ORIGEN, and Alexandrian
"Scholars" made up his strange and perverted Greek New Testament. Origen added the Apocrpha to his
counterfeit Bible. He also added New Testament passages to Old Testaement texts. He put the Old
Testament and Apocrypha together and then called it the "ancient"
Septuagint! Origen gave the world his Bible, not God's: It contained a Modified Old
Testament, plus the folk tales called Apocrypha, plus a perverted New
Testament. This is the basis of Origen's
Alexandrian "Bible."
By 405 AD Jerome
had finished a latin
perversion based on the counterfeit Bible of Origen.
It was called the "Roman Catholic Latin Vulgate!!"
There were still many copies of the preserved Word of God in Old Latin and many
faithful believers hid their Bibles. Counterfeit Christianity was coming into
full bloom now - and starting about 413 AD - in the form of Roman Catholicism,
it would control most of the known world for the next 1000 plus years, and the church of God - the body of Christ, fled into the
wilderness, as is shown in the book of Revelation.
The
Then just eat rocks from now on
TealTerror wins Gold for a collection of comments:
If God didn't want sex to be abused,
He shouldn't have made it feel so good.
God could've prevented a lot of
suffering by making sex not feel good, or making sugar not taste sweet
There are many sins Christians could
do that would incur no consequences on Earth...such as lusting after someone,
for one. "Committing adultery in your head," right? Yet it seems that
no negative consequences turn out from it...hmm...
I think most Protestants don't
believe in engaging in sex for pleasure, either.
What was the purpose of making sex
feel good and sugar taste good? What was the point, other than to tempt people
to make stupid choices?
However, the NT writers are very biased,
especially when it comes to the resurrection, since they have an obvious stake
in it.
You see, we don't doubt most things written by Tacitus
because he doesn't have much of a reason to lie. Why would he? Same with
Josephus...
The NT writers' faith
would have been shaken significantly if Jesus was not resurrected. Doesn't it
make sense that I'm a little suspicious about their claims as to his
resurrection?
The good reason I have that parts of
what Luke wrote are fictional or untrue is because those parts are
unbelievable.
The only record we have of someone
converting because he saw Jesus after the crucifixion is Paul... Therefore, we
have no records of people converting after seeing the risen Jesus, which puts Holding's
theory that people would only convert if they saw the risen Jesus into doubt.
Even if your theory was true, why
would the resurrection erase the social stigma? He was still crucified, right?
Why would undeniable proof of his resurrection make people say "Oh, then
the crucifixion was fine, then"?
The John Loftus House of Piffles
John Loftus
(aka DoubtingJohn) wins
Gold for many things this time:
What? I'm a sliver away from putting
you on ignore for that one, stupid. So, if there is one whisker left, that man
has a beard? I seriously think that you should reconsider before wasting your
money to become an apologist for Christianity. You haven't got a clue. You
haven't got the needed smarts to be one even if you did read quite a bit more
than "See Spot Run books. I cannot imagine why Jaltus
said that you were pretty intelligent. This has nothing whatsoever to do with
the fact that we disagree on our control beliefs, either. You need to consider
being a garbage collector. That requires few brains, and it pays well, and
serves a needed function in society. And to think a critique by you of me is
posted on JP Holding's website. All I can think is that you must contribute
some money to him.
So, history is objective? Then tell
me if O.J. Simpson is a murderer, or whether Michael Jackson is a child
molester. Tell me who killed President Kennedy. Tell me who build the Pyramids
and why? Tell me also whether or not we needed to fight the American civil war,
or whether the South could've won the battle of
Intelligence is in short supply
here. You get the Gold for not being able to read what I write, if that's the
sum total of what you understand of it all.
Anyone who thinks 1) one whisker is
a beard; 2) thinks I am wrong if I cannot exactly specify which straw (of evil)
will break the camel's back, who thinks 3) natural evil poses no problem for
his faith, and 4) history is objective evidence for Christianity, is simply not
worth my time.
Oh, and as far as me nominating so
many here. I guess it means that intelligence is in short suppy
here, that's all.
The devil does not
exist, buddy.
What idiot, knowing full well the awesome power of God, would knowingly rebel
against him?
DJ
didn’t read his own book, apparently.
You're whole discussion
assumes what needs to be shown; that Satan exists.
In one passage it was God himself who sent a lying spirit into the prophets.
Apparently evil spirits are sent by God and are used by him to bring up charges
against believers much like they do today.
Vance, even Holding said he understands why I'm a
doubter after reading the book.
Yep
-- he even plugged his book again!
So you go out there right now
to the fetish festival
Diamond
So if
one lives by the rules set down in the Bible, why only pick and choose which
ones you like, such as Homosexuality being a sin? In order to be a good
Christian, one has to abide by all of God's laws, not just pick and choose
which ones you like., the ones which coincide with your personal interests. God
is not about serving your personal interests. If you want to abide by one of
God's laws, then you have to abide by all of of God's
laws.
In fact, one of God's laws says you must not oppose evil:
"But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall
smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also"--Matt. 5:39
Which means if you consider homosexuality
evil then you must not resist it.
And if you don’t wear a robe and sandals
you’ll go to hell
Bagger_Vance wins Gold again for:
Jesus is unchanging.
Jesus is in the heart of every christian.
Christians should therefore all have the same values
since all have the same Jesus.
That seems pretty straightforward to me. If Jesus is indeed in all christians then they should have no differences about the life, nature, and
teachings of Jesus. After all for the christian it isn't a matter of interpretation anymore
but a matter of divine inspiration. Jesus is actually in them and the Holy
Spirit is moving within them so why is he telling them all different things? Is
Jesus a skitzo?
Since it isn't possible for Jesus to be a hippie socialist revolutionary,
capitalist legalist, ardent pacifist, and supporter of putdowns(Hey JP!) etc
the only logical answer the christian can have to the
conundrum is to say that some people just are lying about their faith. In fact
the christian must say that
most other people that claim to be christian are
lying about their salvation.
Let's say we have 10 people that read the Bible, believe it, and get saved. Now
after that all 10 have different views about what the bible really says and how
one should live the christian
life. They all agree that Jesus is in them personally and that he is the way,
truth, and life but if Jesus is the tie that binds why do
they still not all through Him see the same path? Wouldn't it logically
follow that if we all were looking through the same telescope pointed at the
same place we'd see the same object?
Again if all 10 say that Jesus is revealing different things to them then
either Jesus is really telling all of them different things, some are lying, or
Jesus doesn't exist and they are all hearing what they want/need to hear.
So explain this to me. You all claiming to hear the
same voice but all have drastically different claims to what the voice
is. How is that possible? If the same Jesus is saving you all then there should
be no disagreements no matter how small because Jesus is telling you and
guiding you all the same way. Even the feud between JP and other christians on the merit of
courteousness to doubters should not be happening because Jesus has to have a
definite opinion and he is in the heart of both sides.
Mein kampf was a chick tract
Emesshalom takes paranoia to new levels with this Gold
commentary:
Hi, I am a Jew and targeted missionary work at Jews is nothing more or less
than a continuation of the Holocaust. It is an
ongoing act of terrorism. It dehumanizes, degrades and desensitives
the missionary and ultimately leads to the persecution, torture and murder of
the Jews. The evangelic drive of Christianity is the single most evil
part of its philosphy and has lead directly to its
bloody and vicious history. Becuase of it,
Christianity is its own S'tan.
Typical arrogant
Missionary reply. To be expected. For
2000 years, Christian missionaries have persecuted, tortured and murder Jews
and gotten away with it because govt and church
organizations of Christendom have supported such evil behavior. The evangelic
claim of Christianity and its various mutations are the basis for multiple acts
of Christian terrorism.
As
an aside, this last was a reply to a Wiccan (not a
Christian) who corrected his paranoia in the first comment.
Moe, Larry and Curly after brain surgery
The
trio of AutoMaton, whoweepsforkirk,
and God of Gorns
share
Gold for a series of comments, including many about their experiences on TWeb. Starting with Moe (AutoMaton):
I posted the same post over at TheologyWeb that I posted here...
Why Christianity is complete and total [censored]!
Although I used nonsense in place of [censored] because they're big
babies about cursing there.
There were 9 pages of replies, all at the intellectual level of a three year
old. Not only did they reinforce my belief that god does not exist and the
whole of religion IS [censored]....but I only got 5 replies that even
attempted to answer the post.
If there ever was a worst site, and a worst example of
religion nutbags...TheologyWeb
takes the cake!
-
Oh yeah...9 pages of smart [censored] comments in about 3 hours...
It says a lot for the quality of that website and the [censored] on it.
And yes, I noticed the two or so
atheists that posted against me as well. I guess
they've just been brow-beaten so badly by the overwhelming population of
pimple-faced, college kid bible-thumpers on that site, that
they might want to rethink their whole atheist position.
Now Larry
(God of Gorns), with his own comments on Moe’s posts:
Thank you for the link
Hebrews. I made it to the second page & it was like an army of Hams with no
answers, looking like fools. Seasoned debaters my Edited by a moderator.
Spouting gibberish is not a debate skill moo-heads! HAHA! Every point Automaton made is correct. Thank the FSM we have a
non-biased forum here where we can actually discuss things. Kirk &
Automaton are correct. TWeb does not want debate,
they want reassurance that their beliefs are true, as they themselves know deep
in their minds that they believe in something without proof. A
real waste of time that board.
1.) There is no proof that God
exists.
Absolutely true. No reason to go into this as personal feelings do not count as
proof & that's all Christians have. So, 1 point Automaton.
2.) There is no proof that Jesus
ever existed...
Also true. The bible was written many years after Jesus' supposed death. Historical documents make no mention of Jesus at all.
So unless you count the bible as a history book, which it isn't as it's full of
supernatural nonsense, Automaton is correct again.
2 points Automaton.
3.) The whole of Christianity is
based on a work of fiction, and personal recollection as its primary
foundations...
Well, yes the bible is
a work of fiction with some historical facts thrown in. Since the entire book
is not 100% accurate, there's no logical way to defend
anything in it.
3 points Automaton.
4.) Religious people are addicted to
faith and belief in the supernatural.
No reason arguing this. Even Christians know
this.
4 points Automaton.
I now give Automaton an award for "Most Intelligent Post Made At Tweb!" Congratulations!!
Here are your pearls!
LOL!
Now
Curly (whoweepsforkirk):
Hosea 13:16 Samaria shall become
desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword:
their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their
women with child shall be ripped up.
"Their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall
be ripped up."
Because the Samaritans chose to worship another deity, God will dash their
infants to pieces and their "women with child shall be ripped up."
to me, this is god sanctioned abortion.
i know you all will come up
with verbally deft ways of defending this, but it seems pretty clear-cut and
transparent to me.
By the way,
kirk does get rather agitated at those who fail to
respect context when it comes to, uh, Star
Trek:
a big point is that ENT is a prequel. the other
shows, that many of us love, are all dependent on it, because it is their
history. when it changes history, it affects the later
shows which have already established a connection to the fans. this places upon the writers a responsibility to be
faithful to established plotlines and beloved characters.
they chose to disregard this responsibility and do
what they wanted. this was disrespectful to those of us who have been
faithful trek fans since before braga came along,
many years before, a lifetime before.
this is why this show has less latitude. anyone who makes a prequel to some piece of fiction knows
this.
i was looking forward to ENT
at first. i was excited to
see the birth of the federation. but then they started
changing things arbitrarily, just because they could, never out of necessity. this has upset many trek fans, and it basically cost
But anyway,
on TWeb and his experience there:
at TWeb, if you post a link during a debate, you
get a warning and the post gets erased. links are only allowed on the [butt]-smoochio christian boards where
everyone is in agreement.
yeah, they foster debate there. NOT!
that site is about christians
sitting around [censored] each other.
[BIG FREAKING CENSORED!]
Finally:
Gold to Stephen Van Eck
for sending me more stupid junk mail. He responded to my latest detailed
article on him by claiming "little effort" was made to address his
arguments and then repeating them again.
Silver duh
award winners
Bagger Vance earns the Handy Self-Refutation Award:
The question isn't the existence of
absolutes but whether or not we can know them.
Moral relativism is not simply saying that no truth exists or that absolutes
don't exist. I believe that we know of
absolutes that exist. However we do not know the whole of the universe
and the knowledge therein so we cannot know the absolute truth.
Popey earns the Sermon of the Week Award
for this performance as part of his effort to “shut down the Bible”:
Today we live and breathe in a
society that is very much a result of scientific advancement, and human
evolution (in the general sense). How can people still require religion to help
explain our existence? This is what really frustrates me. It is an illogical
explanation for existence! It is filled with contradiction! And it is
completely outdated!
The problem with Christianity (and most other religions) is that it bases its
belief so broadly in a text that is meant to be the (concise) word of God.
**You would also think that if it is the word of God, it would be in a
universally understandable form**
Most believers know very little about the history of their religion, they go to
Church every week and they get spoon fed quotes from the New Testament (NT) - a revised edition of the Old
Testament (OT). The
famous Ten Commandments are underlying proof of both the inconstancy of the
Bible and the convenient selection of the NT. For your convenience I will bring the evidence to
you:
i. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out
of the
ii. Thou shalt not make unto
thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them
that hate me. And shewing mercy unto thousands of
them that love me, and keep my commandments.
iii. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh
his name in vain.
iv. Remember the sabbath
day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt
not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy
maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in
six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and
rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath
day, and hallowed it.
v. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days
may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth
thee.
vi. Thou shalt not kill.
vii. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
viii. Thou shalt not steal.
ix. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
x. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's
house, thou shalt not covet
thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his
maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
At a simple glance, you would probably think nothing of it. But look what the
word of God is actually saying. The first four commandments condemn our own
religious freedom, and freedom of speech.
i. states that we must bow
down to worship him
ii. condemns the creation and worship of other Gods
iii. states we can’t take his name in vein
iv. commands us to worship his Sabbath day
Pythagoras
wins
the Two-Headed Cockroach Award, first for cluelessness
on the Trinity:
(A)Do you agree
Christ's soul died?
(B) How can the soul of God(Jesus) die?
(B) How can God("the Father") forsake
himself("the Son")?
Then for these comments on my “Patriot Analogy” article:
The only problem is Osama Bin Ladin has never said in any of his speeches that he is a
patriotic American . Quite the contrary!
You cannot conclude Hitler was not a
"true Christian" just because you believe he hated "Christians
and religion in private". That's your personal opinion, and a poor one.
There is no way to know for certain what Hitler actually believed..
Stevie Carr wins the Psychoanalysis Award for:
The silence of Christians defending
the 'testimony' about God in the links I gave, speaks volumes for the fact that
deep down, everybody behaves like an atheist, when it comes to the crunch.
Soundsurfr wins the Displaced Scholarship Award for these
comments:
Newsflash - communism does not equal
atheist ruled state. Even if it did, you have provided no causal tie between
the economic demise of a communist system and the atheistic component. Wanna give that a try?
Japan is a primarily atheist society
with a totally secular government that is neither in chaos, nor "going
backwards" whatever that means. I.e., it is a prime counter-example
to your bogus assertion.
As Johnny EC, a TWebber with an interest in
Colossians
earns
the Uncontrolled Egomania Award for:
My writings are highly structured,
scholarly in approach, and weighty in content, and should therefore provide
enough background information for you to answer your question. Each post I have
made does not cover all issues, so you will have to read them all.
Of course he uses the word “pistis”, that is why we translate is as “faith”. The word
is irrelevant, it is the context which determines its
use.
BibleWheel wins the Mike Drosnin
Gimmick of the Week Award for his “Bible Wheel””
The first thread is the Bible Wheel. It is
simply a view of Scripture from a higher dimension. All I did was roll up the list of 66 Books in the Bible like
a scroll on a spindle wheel of 22 Spokes corresponding to the 22 Hebrew
letters, which God Himself embedded in the Alphabetic Verses, such as
Psalm 119. Everything about the Bible Wheel follows from that one simple act.
This generates a two-dimensional view of Scripture from the one-dimensional
list and thereby reveals a host of correlations that otherwise may be
unnoticed. As such, it has nothing to do with structures derived from the
alphanumeric values of the Greek and Hebrew languages. That's topic is covered
under the third thread,
called Biblical Holographs
Shunyadragon wins the Delorean
Accident Award for:
Determined by
Iwayne wins the Fingers in the Ear Award for:
I won't waste my time
with any evangelically-based drivel titled Jesus and the Victory of God. Give me
a break.
And, some website awards for”
http://www.thebricktestament.com/
-- the usual decontextualizations, illustrated with Legos
http://www.venganza.org/ -- the latest strawman permutation from the Invisible Pink Unicorn school of atheism
http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance40.html -- features a
“have you stopped beating your wife” test for Christians in which you are asked
to say true or false to such things as:
Bronze duh award winners
1. What do you imagine the Christian heaven
to be like? Please be as descriptive as possible. Consider not only its
"physical" appearance, but its temporal nature, how it will affect
one's individuality, how it will sublimate or accentuate one's personal needs,
and how the time spent on Earth may impact one's stay. And, what do you imagine
you're actually going to be doing all live long day and night?
2. What do you imagine the Christian hell to be like? Please be as
descriptive as possible. Consider not only its "physical" appearance,
but its temporal nature, how it will affect one's individuality, how it will
sublimate or accentuate one's personal needs, and how the time spent on Earth
may impact one's stay. And, what do you imagine you're actually going to be
doing all live long day and night?
As I see each, unless some kind of radical lobotomy is preformed, both are
going to be incredibly boring, particularly heaven.
Bright1Raziel
[Bright... what a misnomer]Jesus wasnt even crucified on a cross. The Romans didnt start ussing the cross untill around 120AD. Up until that point, a simple wodden stake was used and the prisoner was tied by thier hands (not nailed as this was a waste of good Iron)
to the top and left to starve to death. If the crime was particularly nasty,
then the punishment was even nastier, the criminal was not tied to the stake
but rather pushed onto from above. (sort of like a ventriloquests dumy) so the t
shaped cross is a total fabrication to begin with.
As for people not survivng (modern) crucifiction, well it happens all the time. It is very
common in malasia and parts of
dredgtone
no offense but it bugs me to see how hard theists will try to justify the
actions of a supposedly loving God in the face of his actions which speak
otherwise. He killed women and children!!! Even man has an unwritten
understanding that killing women and children is a nono,
but God did it. And if God did it, it must be okay! . . .
The bottom line is, God's word in Leviticus doesn't
sound like God's word at all. Instead, it sounds to me like the word of man in
the infancy of his moral intellect. God on the other hand is perfect and
therefore his morals, which should reflect this perfection, should be perfect
themselves. In other words, God shouldn't be telling man to kill whores and
their children, endorse slavery, condemn homosexuality (his very own creation i might add) etc...
Xavier86
Let's say you have two opposing armies, both
comprising Christian soldiers, and both sides pray for God's guidance.
What's God supposed to do there? The winner of the battle is the side God
favored?
MrTulip
The Christian Right in a Nutshell
1) Bush mocking Karla Faye Tucker - "please
don't kill me!"
2) Bush smiling while declaring "Shock and Awe"
3) Bush "The War President"
4) Christian Coalitions reoccuring support of racism.
Amendment 2 in
5) Bush appointing homosexual after homosexual to
office.
6) Bush administrations relabeling of Torture as
"aggressive interrogation".
And this is just for starters. Christian right - I double dog dare ya - take me on and be exposed.
rase
Christians are bad people because
they condone murderous acts of their "psycho god" Jehovah, who
indiscriminately kills at, what he considers it to be, slightest provocation.
Not only do christians condone such murder but they
actually worship such a "psycho god" !! What
is even worse is that these christians
would do just about anything to get to Heaven to be with their "psycho
god".
Dear christians, you need
saving big time, otherwise all of you are going to end up in Hell. Lucky for
you, I am here to instill some MORALS into you, so that you will be saved from
the clutches of your "psycho god."
Cognos on Hebrew grammar in Gen. 2:19:
You, yourself, point out that
"the NIV (but no
other version that I know of)" uses the pluperfect. (BTW, before you mentioned it, I had
never heard of the pluperfect ... right?)
And you say: “The insistence of the critics upon a plain past is partly the
result of the attempt to make chapters one and two clash at as many points as
possible.”
What is your explanation for the use of a plain past by the Biblical scholars
who translated the KJV, NKJV,
ESV, ASV and NASB?
Nothing like an appeal to faceless, nameless translators who
give no reasons for their translation as an argument against a detailed argument
by named sources for a given translation.
Trimibeky
I consider a Jew to be someone who practices Jewish culture. That means a Jew
can have almost any sort of religious belief except for Christianity. To be a
Christian is to denounce your Jewry, because Christianity basicly
trounces on everything Jewish, because it says that Jewish culture isn't
allowed.
A Jew can be Hindu, atheist, Muslim, Pastafarian,etc. and still be considered a Jew. But the moment
they become a Christian is their loss of Jewish identity.
heidegger
Rather than explaining that Jesus
existed, Tektonics.org states that there were many people like Jesus. During
those times, there were indeed many people who preached other religions. That's
why Jesus was considered "just a blip on the screen". Jesus was just
another one of the many preachers or spiritual healers. Tektonics.org has
failed to convince me or anyone else that Jesus Christ existed,
therefore, it attempts to confuse us all.
MichaelCadry
The 3 frogs that gathered the kings
in the
PHIL121
I'm simply stating what the Holy
Spirit has reveled to me.
One of those things is that preterism is blasphemy, because it is inherently
anti-semetic.
Kenite
I don't. Satan has those. There is
only one gospel, and Prot denoms, the Romans and
Orthodox don't have it. They are all inspired by Satan, whose ruses get
tumbled. Romanism and Orthodoxy are his early, unsophisticated attempts to
mimic the church. The Brethren under their various brand names get far closer.
As I have said before, there is only one church.
DBC67 on why Jesus died by crucifixion and
not something else:
But he's GOD! He can take on our shame by wiggling a finger, or he can erase
the shame by wrinkling his nose. Any constraint you put on him undermines his
omnipotence, omniscience, benevolence, or role as creator.
Faithful
nonbeliever on OT laws in context:
So do you think those laws were acceptable
at the time then? Sounds like those are words of a lunatic to me. I guess they
were "re-worked" when people realized how unacceptable that was.
Bettenoir on Jesus:
He has stolen a Donkey
and he had aproblem with honoring his mum,he also has a habit of being
angry at people wich is not very loving
I don't agree with you that it's perfect,i think it's ok but not perfect.I
don't see how event's that happend so long ago can be
acuratly protrayed.Especilly
since it was written by human's and we as a speices
are flawed.
Finally,
Brooks Trubee and Johnny Skeptic share for their
rehashes: The former returned with "Are all Jews
going to hell? Yes or no” attempting to pretend that none of the previous
discussions of Hell that he had with the apologists on TWeb
ever took place; and Johnny, for signing up illegally after being banned from TWeb again – and giving it away by plagiarizing
himself, copying and pasting the same arguments he used on other forums under
the name Johnny Skeptic!