Why has Christian Fundamentalism been making a comback?

The Original Nex · Post by **The Original Nex** » 2005-08-30 06:43pm

I'm sorry that you feel that way. But what do athiests have hope for when they die? I have found that people who are athiests worry much more about dying than someone who knows that they will go to heaven when they die.

I'm pretty sure that when I die, my energy will be scattered across the universe. There's a remote chance that some it'll be retained in the form of some sort of ghost, but probably it just scatters across the universe. I find that much more comforting that either Heaven or Hell.

boc120 · Post by **boc120** » 2005-08-30 06:56pm

Well, we are to be stewards (protect from harm) of the earth that God gave us mastery over. The Apostle Paul wrote that we should follow the Christ-like policies of helping other people. And why would someone expect God to be loving to someone who doesn't believe that He even exists? Yet he still does love you, and wants you to accept him.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-08-30 06:59pm

boc120 wrote:Well, we are to be stewards (protect from harm) of the earth that God gave us mastery over. The Apostle Paul wrote that we should follow the Christ-like policies of helping other people. And why would someone expect God to be loving to someone who doesn't believe that He even exists? Yet he still does love you, and wants you to accept him.

Except for the whole part where he destroys entire cities and generally throws temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way (Soddom & Gammorah?), to say nothing of torturing 'faithful' subjects on dares (Job, anyone?). Then there's the whole bit about putting people through an eternity of torture for simply not wanting to do everything he says. . . .yeah, real loving.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2005-08-30 07:00pm

boc120 wrote:Well, we are to be stewards (protect from harm) of the earth that God gave us mastery over. The Apostle Paul wrote that we should follow the Christ-like policies of helping other people. And why would someone expect God to be loving to someone who doesn't believe that He even exists? Yet he still does love you, and wants you to accept him.

If there was such as a thing as god, history does nothing but prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that god hates us.

All powewrful?

All loving?

All a lie.

If an entitiy that knows everything, and can do anything, allows a single baby to burn to death it proves that this so-called god is either incompetent, sadistic, or the only reasonable explantion, non-existant.

Duckie · Post by **Duckie** » 2005-08-30 07:28pm

You know what? According to This Guy, who bothered to actually count the slaughters in the OT, the Old Testament gives a Casualty Total of 1,283,000 People. Over 1 Fucking Million People. I don't even know if there were 1 million people in the world let alone Judea at that time, so they're probably lieing, but let's assume there are.

If we take out the battles we know didn't happen (Like Ai, which despite being "Utterly Destroyed" forgot to cease to exist when the Israelites supposedly cleansed it), there's still 1.055 Million. Not even counting The Flood, or anything that was from the civil laws of Leviticus that demanded death for things like cussing or disobediance.

All Loving My Ass. Either your God is a deranged murderer, the Bible isn't true, or he doesn't exist. Deal with it. If God exists, I would gladly go to hell rather than accept peace with such a monstrous creature out of principle.

To supplement that, Paul contradicts the teachings of Jesus numerous times. Hell, he actually contradicts God himself at most points. Christlike? In the same way Democratic Politicians are Republicanlike.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-08-30 07:55pm

boc120 wrote:As to the reason that the numbers of evengelicals are increasing, people today are faced with things like terrorism, gay marriage, and a lack of certainty about the future.

You're an idiot. When I was growing up, we lived under the shadow of nuclear war between the US and the USSR. We had fucking prime-time TV specials showing us what the aftermath of nuclear armageddon would be like, and our teachers encouraged us to watch the fucking things.

The only kind of person who could possibly think that society is soooo much scarier today than it was in generations past is one who flunked History class. Moron.

Then they see people who know the score, who are in possesion of absolute truth (the Word of God) and want some of that certainty for themselves.

Let me rephrase that for you: "then they see people who give them easy answers. Simple solutions that make those throbbing questions and uncertainties go away. They take the shades of gray of reality and replace them with simple-minded black and white answers, and you can't help but fall for it because you are a simple-minded fool yourself.

We proclaim the good news of Jesus and how they need not fear death, as those who are without hope (athiests) do.

In other words, you do not value human life as we atheists do.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2005-08-30 07:59pm

boc120 wrote:Attitudes like mine do not lead to suicide. Evangelical Christians do not kill people with suicide bombs, I'm afraid you are confused, you are thinking of Islamic terrorists. While it was necesarry to clear the promised land for the Israelites after they left Egypt, the Jews have their homeland back in modern times now, just as God promised them that they would be returned to their land. It is not the policy of (real) Christians to kill people.

I guess Pat Robertson isn't a real christian, advocating assassinating someone for the savings...

...unless he used it as a verb and not a noun.

Whatever. You're not even responding to posts made poking holes in your logic.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2005-08-30 08:03pm

boc120 wrote:Well, we are to be stewards (protect from harm) of the earth that God gave us mastery over. The Apostle Paul wrote that we should follow the Christ-like policies of helping other people. And why would someone expect God to be loving to someone who doesn't believe that He even exists? Yet he still does love you, and wants you to accept him.

If God loves me, why doesn't the bastard ever phone?

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2005-08-30 08:35pm

Didn't God promise the Hebrews a swath of land from the Nile to the Euphrates? I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Death is simply sleeping without the whole dreaming and eventually waking up part.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2005-08-30 09:19pm

boc120 wrote:I'm sorry that you feel that way. But what do athiests have hope for when they die? I have found that people who are athiests worry much more about dying than someone who knows that they will go to heaven when they die.

Death is quite possibly a cute Goth chick, with a great sense of humor and a couple of cute goldfish. Oh yeah, and a closet full of junk.

To be on-topic (sort of), why do you assume that a God is necessary for an afterlife? Buddhism manages to believe in a wheel of reincarnation without any central deific figure. If the soul is a fundamental function of reality, God is unnecessary.

boc120 · Post by **boc120** » 2005-08-30 09:33pm

I choose not to respond to some things because I have a life besides this silly forum. It is something to do both to try to spread the word of God, and as entertainment. Its not like I would even care if I eventually got banned for whatever reason. But I don't feel like arguing in this way, it is not focused enough. Now, perhaps I will start a more focused thread to argue certain points but not this super broad topic.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2005-08-30 09:39pm

boc120 wrote:I choose not to respond to some things because I have a life besides this silly forum. It is something to do both to try to spread the word of God, and as entertainment. Its not like I would even care if I eventually got banned for whatever reason. But I don't feel like arguing in this way, it is not focused enough. Now, perhaps I will start a more focused thread to argue certain points but not this super broad topic.

*Dons Staff hat. Shines his nice, new, Supermoderator badge*

If you don't feel like debating the way set forth in this forum, leave. If you don't, but continue to simply be a smart ass, we can remove you.

*Removes his Official getup*

boc120 · Post by **boc120** » 2005-08-30 09:41pm

Just to note: I have been disallowed to send private messages by the administrator so I won't be able to respond to any sent to me. Sorry.

The Silence and I · Post by **The Silence and I** » 2005-08-30 09:41pm

boc120 wrote:I choose not to respond to some things because I have a life besides this silly forum. It is something to do both to try to spread the word of God, and as entertainment. Its not like I would even care if I eventually got banned for whatever reason. But I don't feel like arguing in this way, it is not focused enough. Now, perhaps I will start a more focused thread to argue certain points but not this super broad topic.

I suspect this is an indication you are unable to counter the points leveled against you. As long as the topic was nebulous (i.e. why has fundamental christianity become so popular as of late) you had plenty to say, but as soon as specific questions are asked concerning the validity of your beliefs, you suddenly are too busy to respond.

Oh, but you might make a more specific thread later on...

Duckie · Post by **Duckie** » 2005-08-30 09:42pm

boc120 wrote:I choose not to respond to some things because I have a life besides this silly forum. It is something to do both to try to spread the word of God, and as entertainment. Its not like I would even care if I eventually got banned for whatever reason. But I don't feel like arguing in this way, it is not focused enough. Now, perhaps I will start a more focused thread to argue certain points but not this super broad topic.

So basically "Lalala I can't hear you... You can't fire- erm, defeat me, I quit!"

Zero · Post by **Zero** » 2005-08-30 09:55pm

boc, you know what makes you a moron? The fact that you'll dismiss this statement out of hand without ever considering that you're wrong, just like you've done with every other post here. If you actually want to discover anything about the real world, you can't simply take things at their word. Have you actually seen any real evidence of any kind of God, let alone any notion of a human soul?

The difference between you and most everybody else on this board is that no matter how great the evidence against your belief is, no matter how illogical and stupid your arguments and ideas are, you won't abandon them, no matter what. And worse, you'll believe you're acting righteously by ignoring reality. These attitudes may lead you to many stupid decisions, and each time you make such a decision, you'll see it as an act of extreme "faith" instead of extreme stupidity and irrationality.

I suggest you read the entire bible before you decide that you're a christian, because without reading the entire thing, you don't even know the claimed history of your own faith. I also would suggest you read other religious texts and look at them all with a bit of skepticism before you actually decide what to believe, or before you perhaps decide to believe nothing, as many a logical man has done. If you're unwilling to do this, then you're either lazy, and your God won't love you, or you have no conviction about your faith at all.

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2005-08-30 10:16pm

I think fundamentalism and all the insane stupidity that goes with it are the last thread of a rope that has been breaking for a certain group of people in this country.

In the last hundred years the privileges that came with being a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Male have been whittled away, bit by bit. Being white or of English descent is no longer a guarantee you'll beat the others for that job. Blacks don't have to call you "Sir" while you call them "boy" or "girl". Hispanics, Asians and all other minorities are getting "uppity", too. Women have also gained rights. Add to this a decline in real wages since 1973 and the only thing Mr. Cracker thinks he has left is his religion. Since all the other threads in the rope of White Christian Male indentity snapped or were cut, Mr. Cracker holds onto that last one for dear life.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2005-08-30 10:29pm

boc120 wrote:I'm sorry that you feel that way. But what do athiests have hope for when they die? I have found that people who are athiests worry much more about dying than someone who knows that they will go to heaven when they die.

So the difference between atheists and delusional fundies like you, is that while the atheist realizes how precious life is, the fundie doesn't care, because he thinks the real reward comes when he dies.

Thank you for clarifying that. Do you have anything original to contribute? Or do you intend to regurgitate every tired, overdone, pre-packaged fundie "argument" that's good for little more than flamebait?

FedRebel · Post by **FedRebel** » 2005-08-30 10:33pm

boc120 wrote:I choose not to respond to some things because I have a life besides this silly forum.

We all do, but quess what? message boards like this allow you to resond at your leisure (with in a reasonable amount of time of course)

In what little time you have you can compose parts of a rebuttal in Word and then in a day or so post it

It is something to do both to try to spread the word of God, and as entertainment.

Okay, on that note...I'm off to spread the word of Santa Clause!

Its not like I would even care if I eventually got banned for whatever reason.

...after all, all us heathens will be cast into the firey pits of Hell after 1,000 years of holy war which our "kind and forgiving Lord" has instored for everyone devote follower and heretic alike

But I don't feel like arguing in this way, it is not focused enough. Now, perhaps I will start a more focused thread to argue certain points but not this super broad topic.

So you can't 'win' a debate on multiple fronts?

When you make this new thread remember this...

In a debate you must accept the possibility that you might be wrong.

FedRebel · Post by **FedRebel** » 2005-08-30 10:35pm

Ghetto edit: spelling errors corrected

FedRebel wrote:
boc120 wrote:I choose not to respond to some things because I have a life besides this silly forum.
We all do, but guess what? message boards like this allow you to respond at your leisure (with in a reasonable amount of time of course)

Morilore · Post by **Morilore** » 2005-08-30 11:18pm

We are called to proclaim the good news because we don't want to lose people to hell. Say a friend of mine did not believe, I would tell him the good news, and if he never repents of his sins and accepts Jesus, then he will be eternally separated from God. (end up in hell) Which is why I pay attention to these forums, so that, even though I have been nothing but ridiculed, God doesn't want to lose even the people on this forum.

You may or may not read this, but do you realize that some of us atheists may have similar attitudes? If this is the only life you get - the only chance you get - than to waste it doing something stupid or unhappy is the most shameful waste of a rare gift that can possibly be conceived.

I despise this nihilistic attitude that what we have now is worthless compared to "what lies beyond." It's utter trash that devalues life and provides justification for murderers (or in case you can't tell, it's not that far to go from "God is more important than my life" to "God is more important than everyone else's life").