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Permalink Reply by Nelson on February 7, 2010 at 2:45pm

it seems to me that the best verses to use to counter John 3:16 would be verses that contradict John 3:16's view of salvation, i.e. all you must do is believe in Jesus and you are saved.
check out the SAB page on salvation to see the bible's inconsistencies in this regard.
after all, the Christians who cite John 3:16 do so because they believe that that's what the NT uniformly says is all that is necessary for salvation. so why not quote verses that demonstrate that they are mistaken?

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Permalink Reply by David Cardoso on February 7, 2010 at 2:54pm

thanks, I like this one in particular: "he man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life"- John 12:25

This is a good one too : If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. -- Luke 14:26

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Permalink Reply by Wesley on February 7, 2010 at 2:53pm

"You can talk about your Psalms and your John 3:16. Well, Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your *ss." - Steve Austin

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Permalink Reply by Reggie on February 7, 2010 at 3:26pm

Haha! I like that one.

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Permalink Reply by Misty: Baytheist Living! on February 7, 2010 at 3:26pm

How about the fact that if god was so loving and almighty and powerful, why did he make up some stupid ass rules that demanded a blood sacrifice?

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Permalink Reply by David Cardoso on February 7, 2010 at 3:52pm

I know, the idea behind the verse itself is ridiculous as it is, but I just want an actual verse that atheists can use which is directly opposed to John 3:16. We need some ammunition for nonbelievers.

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Permalink Reply by Misty: Baytheist Living! on February 7, 2010 at 4:03pm

Wait a minute. "My reference to this book written by goat herders 2,000 years ago totally trumps YOUR reference!" seems a little absurd.
I mean, seriously. Let's ignore the glaring stupid behind the idea that some almighty but all-loving god created people, put them in a garden and told them if they ate fruit from this one tree, they would die. (Shh.. don't mention the fact that if god were a god, he wouldn't 1)have had to put the fucking tree there to begin with, or 2) even created said tree, or 3) made it a death sentence to a few naked, ignorant humanoids. ) Once mankind falls, instead of 1)forgiving us without strings attached. or 2) Not hold us responsible for something our ancestors did that we had no say over or 3)NOT creating a huge pit of fire and agony (WTF is up with THAT? anyway) he instead takes another innocent, seemingly pretty sound guy and sets up a series of events that will make this dude be nailed to a few planks of wood, raise from the grave under pretty damn suspicious circumstances, NOT document it for a generation or so, and then damn to hell any person that questions this so called path to salvation.
Yeah. Let me off at the next stop, huh?

But right. If you want to play fairy tales with the crazies, and you don't want to use things like logic or rational thought, a few good verses would be those demanding that you kill your own offspring when they misbehave. (I think someone already listed it here.)
I mean, that pretty much proves that killing your own son isn't that big of a deal, right?
Or how about them thar gays? If THEY believe in Jesus, do they get to go to heaven?
And how come John 3:16 doesn't say anything about repenting your sins first?
I thought that was a pretty big deal in Christianity. Seems like they are saying you get saved by believing.. no strings attached.

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Permalink Reply by Wesley on February 7, 2010 at 6:24pm

How about 2 kings 2:23 and 24

:23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
2:24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

so here's a guy with a direct line to god......but is so insecure about his baldness that he calls down the wrath of god on children... And even worse instead of rebuking this so-called prophet for his insecurity...God takes over the mind of a female bear and uses this poor creature to maim and or kill 42 of them.

What great justice, compassion and understanding......sheesh!!!!!

What a petty person and petty god.....

There are many more verses. Numbers 5:11-31 Where a husband can just accuse his wife of infidelity and make her take a test by drinking bitter water..and if she gets sick she's guilty...

The kicker is this... even if she's innocent he gets off scott free... WTF? Its crazy.

Ok... here's absurdities in the new testament from the skeptics annotated bible.

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/abs/nt_list.html

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Permalink Reply by zoolady on February 14, 2010 at 10:24am

GREAT post!

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Permalink Reply by David Cardoso on February 15, 2010 at 3:12am

yeah, I think I like these two the best...I had them in mind, but now that I see the simplicity and ridiculousness of these verses, I think it's a tie between these two...especially since they're from Jesus.

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Permalink Reply by pat on February 14, 2010 at 11:21am

mark 10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
I like this one especially on sports people making six & seven figuare salaries

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Permalink Reply by David Cardoso on February 15, 2010 at 3:11am

yeah, love that one...it'd be great to combat someone like Tim Tebow who's super religious and the fact that he's going to make craploads of money.

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