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Permalink Reply by Rosemary LYNDALL WEMM on August 7, 2011 at 3:14pm

If you were better educated you would realize that their are thousands of often mutually exclusive interpretations of biblical text.  They cannot all be correct but they can all be wrong. There is no reliable way to know which one, of the many, is closest to "god's" meaning.  I have heard the bible referred to as The Big Book of Multiple Choice. 

 

There are even different canonical versions of the Bible.  Do you accept the Catholic Canon, the Coptic Canon or the Protestant Canon.  They all have different books that factions of the faithful think are, or are not, divinely inspired.  If Christians can't even agree which books are "inerrant scripture" then your argument is dead in the water before you even try to make it swim.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Walski on August 7, 2011 at 2:27pm

Whats funny is you think there is a need to explain to Atheists about christian beliefs.

 

Many if not almost all of us are quite familiar with not only christian belief system but also like in my case the belief systems of many of the worlds religions. 

 

Her immediate reaction to atheist symbols shows her complete lack of understanding of our non belief.

 

Maybe you should be learning that and passing along about our attitudes not preaching to us things we quite clearly understand and still disagree with.

 

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Permalink Reply by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on August 8, 2011 at 2:49am

Reo - I have seen mothers like this. Just because a female produces children, does not make her a mother.She is a mother in name only. A mother wants the best for her children, this ex just wants revenge, and make the husband's life a misery. Your truth is evil and vengeful,just like your bible -  just like this ex. This father was going about his business, and having a life. It was the ex-wife that went on the attack - this is what xians do? Very unhappy lady this one.

 

And you, my dear, are just like your god, sit on your hands and look the other way, There you go again - fear mongering rubbish - if you don't believe in god, you are going to hell. The arrogance, the disdain, the hatefulness of your statements, and that of your bible.

 

Sorry, darling heart, not going to happen. Nobody on any atheist site was taught to cast aside the bible as foolishness, hogwash claptrap etc.  we ALL came to our own conclusions, because we have actually read more than one book. WE have all STUDIED the bible. I am glad your life has changed - what was it missing before. Atheists life also changes, once they get rid of the shackles, and hate - and come into the light of loving your fellow human beings. It is a really nice place to be. Nothing missing now.

Todd, remember what a nice bloke, you are, probably too nice. Teach the kids all about other religions, the geography where they come from - Tibet is just lovely, their culture etc. - and where these myths come from. Do your research before your time with the kids - and viola, you will become the best teacher these kids could get - your ex will still bitch, no matter what you do. You be happy, and enjoy the time with your kids.

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Permalink Reply by matt.clerke on August 8, 2011 at 2:55am

Nobody on any atheist site was taught to cast aside the bible as foolishness, hogwash claptrap etc. we ALL came to our own conclusions, because we have actually read more than one book. WE have all STUDIED the bible.

Actually that's not a fair statement... I was raised without religion(as in, I had no idea and there was zero influence either way). I just assumed the bible was like a story book... it certainly seemed to be filled with fanciful tales. No more thought involved in rejecting the bible than in rejecting superman, spiderman, batman, w/e-else-man.

EDIT: had to lol at the thought of Jesus-man :P

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Permalink Reply by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on August 8, 2011 at 3:17am

Yeh, I know, got a bit carried away there. Sorry  -But I am curious, how many people were brougth up with virtually no religion, and how many had a real fight to get over it.

I am in the middle, did the catholic thing, but not brainwashed.

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Permalink Reply by matt.clerke on August 8, 2011 at 3:21am

how many people were brougth up with virtually no religion

Probably not many... We went to Christmas carols at the local church but they were just singing songs in celebration of Christmas(to me at least).

EDIT: Adelaide is known as the city of churches btw...when I say local I mean it was the one within 2 minutes walk.

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Permalink Reply by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on August 8, 2011 at 4:07am

We sometimes went to midnight mass - it was the only time the kids were allowed to stay up that late - and drink hot chocolate when they got home - I actually think it was the drinking of chocolate that got them in. HaHa

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Permalink Reply by 3equ3cp1fsw0n on August 8, 2011 at 11:59am

My parents never had any interest in religion, however my grandparents and a neighbor did, and between these two parties, I wen to church quite a bit growing up, until I got to be a teenager and lost interest.

 

Then it became just something you do when you are old so that you will go to heaven when you die (and just hope like hell you don't die before).

 

Then in my late teens I got sucked back into it for a few years and it was HELL getting out of it. I still remained a theist for many years, even though I belonged to no religious organization. I finally broke away and became an atheist at age 45, that process was HELL also.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Frank Hamilton on August 7, 2011 at 12:28pm

I think there is a danger in symbols because they often hide the thought that are behind them, a one-size-fits-all approach. One of the duties of a father is to talk to your children about what they would be exposed to by taking them to church. They need to be armed with another point of view.

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Permalink Reply by 3equ3cp1fsw0n on August 7, 2011 at 3:39pm

But she knows she was with God :) She knows He's real.

That's how us Christians feel all the time.

 

@ Reo Avila - Yes, you are right. I used to be a Christian that felt like that all the time... until.... dum dee dum dum... I took a good look at the suffering in some of my fellow humans' eyes and realized no loving God would have created a capacity for such suffering.

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Permalink Reply by Rosemary LYNDALL WEMM on August 8, 2011 at 4:43pm

I assume that you are referring to work by Michael Persinger and others.  Persinger developed a "god helmet" that aritifically stimulates certain sections of the subject's brain and leads to experiences of a shadowy "other presence" in the room with them.  People label the entity in line with their personal background, religious teachings and cultural beliefs. Catholics see Mary and Catholic saints, Protestants see Jesus, Muslims see Allah, Budhists feel at one with the universe, and so on.  Nobody has an experience of the supernatal with which they are not already familiar;  they all see one for which their brain is already primed.  

Other researchers have shown that the areas stimulated by Persinger, and other specific areas in the brain are activated in any experience of the divine, no matter what religion people have or what brand of meditation or focused trance induction is used. People who experience transcendental and religious visions in conjunction with temporal lobe epilepsy also show the same pattern of over and under stimulation in specific areas of the brain.

 

In other words, the profound feelings that are caused by known defects or known stimulation of the brain cannot be distinguished from the same type of feelings that people experience when they report having a "personal relationship with Jeus" or a saint or another god.  Ergo, all these feelings of sublime peace, ecstasy and certainty arise as the result the accidental or deliberate stimulation of certain brain areas and are interpretated in line with the left temporal lobes symbolic library.  No god required.

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Permalink Reply by John Voss on August 7, 2011 at 5:11pm

Ignore her.  Don't feed the crazy.

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