I had these 2 coworkers that I worked with in my last work center who one is fundamentalist and the other is only slightly less so. Of couse me as the athiest, I was regularly engaged in theological debates. When I moved work centers, they basicly stopped talking to me, but I would keep sending them things. Most of the time, I would get back deleted responces from my Microsoft Outlook email. Today I got a responce back from the fundie. This will be what I sent, his responce and my reply back. Have fun reading.


http://www.11points.com/Books/11_Things_The_Bible_Bans,_But_You_Do_...


11 Things The Bible Bans, But You Do Anyway

1. Round haircuts. See you in Hell, Beatles. and/or kids with bowl cuts,
surfer cuts or (my favorite) butt cuts. Leviticus 19:27 reads "You shall not
round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard."

2. Football. At least, the pure version of football, where you play with a
pigskin. The modern synthetic footballs are ugly and slippery anyways.
Leviticus 11:8, which is discussing pigs, reads "You shall not eat of their
flesh nor touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you."
And you're doubly breaking that if you wake up, eat some sausage then go
throw around the football. Or go to the county fair and enter a greased pig
catching contest.

3. Fortune telling. Before you call a 900 number (do people still call 900
numbers, by the way?), read your horoscope or crack open a fortune cookie,
realize you're in huge trouble if you do.
Leviticus 19:31 reads "Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek
them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God." The penalty for
that? Check Leviticus 20:6: "As for the person who turns to mediums and to
spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against
that person and will cut him off from among his people."
Seems like a lifetime of exile is a pretty harsh penalty for talking to
Zoltar.

4. Pulling out. The Bible doesn't get too much into birth control. it's
clearly pro-populating but, back when it was written, no one really
anticipated the condom or the sponge, so those don't get specific bans.
But. pulling out does. One of the most famous sexual-oriented Bible verses.
the one that's used as anti-masturbation rhetoric. is actually anti-pulling
out.
It's Genesis 38:9-10: "Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so
when he went in to his brother's wife, he wasted his seed on the ground in
order not to give offspring to his brother. But what he did was displeasing
in the sight of the Lord; so He took his life also."
Yep - pull out and get smote. That's harsh.

5. Tattoos. No tattoos. Leviticus 19:28 reads, "You shall not make any cuts
in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the
Lord."
Not even a little butterfly on your ankle. Or Thug Life across your abdomen.
Or even, fittingly enough, a cross.

6. Polyester, or any other fabric blends. The Bible doesn't want you to wear
polyester. Not just because it looks cheap. It's sinfully unnatural.
Leviticus 19:19 reads, "You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed
together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two
kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed
together."
Check the tag on your shirt right now. Didn't realize you were mid-sin at
this exact second, did you? (Unless you checked the tag by rolling off your
neighbor's wife while you two were having anal sex in the middle of robbing
a blind guy. Then your Lycra-spandex blend is really the least of your
problems.)

7. Divorce. The Bible is very clear on this one: No divorcing. You can't do
it. Because when you marry someone, according to Mark 10:8, you "are no
longer two, but one flesh." And, Mark 10:9 reads, "What therefore God has
joined together, let no man separate."
Mark gets even more hardcore about it a few verses later, in Mark 10:11-12,
"And He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman
commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and
marries another man, she is committing adultery.'"

8. Letting people without testicles into church. Whether you've been
castrated or lost one or two balls to cancer isn't important. The Bible
doesn't get that specific. It just says you can't pray.
Deuteronomy 23:1 reads (this is the God's Word translation, which spells it
out better), "A man whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off
may never join the assembly of the Lord."
Oh, and the next verse says that if you're a bastard, the child of a
bastard. or even have a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchild
of a bastard, you can't come to church or synagogue either. Deuteronomy 23:2
reads, "No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the Lord;
none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the
assembly of the Lord."

9. Wearing gold. 1 Timothy 2:9 doesn't like your gold necklace at all. Or
your pearl necklace. Or any clothes you're wearing that you didn't get from
Forever 21, Old Navy or H&M.
"Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly
and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly
garments."

10. Shellfish. Leviticus 11:10 reads, "But whatever is in the seas and in
the rivers that does not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of
the water, and among all the living creatures that are in the water, they
are detestable things to you." And shellfish is right in that wheelhouse.
Leviticus 11 bans a TON of animals from being eaten (it's THE basis for
Kosher law); beyond shellfish and pig, it also says you can't eat camel,
rock badger, rabbit, eagle, vulture, buzzard, falcon, raven, crow, ostrich,
owl, seagull, hawk, pelican, stork, heron, bat, winged insects that walk on
four legs unless they have joints to jump with like grasshoppers (?), bear,
mole, mouse, lizard, gecko, crocodile, chameleon and snail.
Sorry if that totally ruins your plans to go to a rock badger eat-off this
weekend.

11. Your wife defending your life in a fight by grabbing your attacker's
genitals. No joke. Deuteronomy actually devotes two verses to this exact
scenario: Deuteronomy 25:11-12.
"If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife
of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is
striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, then you shall
cut off her hand; you shall not show pity."
That's impossible to misinterpret. Ladies, if your husband is getting
mugged, make sure to kick the mugger in the pills. Do not do the grip and
squeeze (no matter what "Miss Congeniality" might advise). Or your hand
needs to be cut off.
As a final note, I know that nine of these 11 cite the Old Testament, which
Christianity doesn't necessarily adhere to as law.

To which I say: If you're going to ignore the section of Leviticus that bans
about tattoos, pork, shellfish, round haircuts, polyester and football, how
can you possibly turn around and quote Leviticus 18:22 ("You shall not lie
with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.") as
irrefutable law?

But that's me trying to introduce logic to religious fanaticism (or, at
least, trying to counter some mix of ignorance, bigotry and narcissism with
logic). And I should probably know better.


Matt,
The gist of it all is yes, although we may say it's okay to do some things
and denounce other things...well they are still wrong in the eyes of God.
The bible says that very few will enter heaven not because heaven says so
but, because of the choices we make that reputes God's commandments. We all
have an equal opportunity to make it into heaven or live in paradise on
earth. And yes Maxon, although some of us might not get to heaven...some of
us will see paradise on earth.

You can't deny that your atheistic thoughts are discerning and are not
welcomed. I hope that you can at least respect our Christian beliefs and
not try and tarnish or belittle them in any way or shape. It has been
reported that some of Satan's greatest advocates are atheists and
non-believers (Satanic cult members serves his will but are too loud in
contrast for his master plan). For his greatest trick was to trick the
world into believing that he doesn't exist. So, be careful that the work
you do won't benefit the evil doers (Does evil exist?). Extreme fanaticism
for any cause is foolish whether in the name of religion or whatever.

I know you have some conspiracies views on the world and the powers that be
but, for the life of me you can't see that it's very possible for a being or
entity as ancient as the oldest star, whom has eons to perfect his craft of
lying and plotting the destruction of the human race does exist. Question:
Does it make it less possible or dangerous for viruses or bacteria to exist
eventhough we couldn't see them just a few short decades ago without the use
of microscopes? Just imagine what we will be able to prove a few more
decades down the road! Perhaps remote viewing into other dimensions or some
other unknown.

In short, I don't mind corresponding with you just as long as it doesn't
infridge on my religious views. I shall show you the same respect. Thank
you for your time and eventhough you don't believe it my God still loves
you!

Tony

Hey Tony,
I am not saying you cant believe at all and believe it or not, I am not
trying to put down God or your beliefs at all. What I AM saying is to think.
I see the bible and all other "Holy" works and books as arbitrary rules, and
just invented by people trying to make money and get power over people. Same
can be said for politics as well in the "Left/Right paradigm". As I see it,
religion is a byproduct of our evolution. As a species and people, we need
to break out of the evolutionary programming, as we are the only species on
Earth able to do so, and think about what we are doing. We should be
breaking away from the religious dogma that is holding us back in
superstition and ignorance. One of the main reasons we have the wars we have
right now is over religion. Science makes you able to build planes to fly,
religion flies those planes into buildings.

If you REALLY believed in your bible, you would see things differently than
how you are thinking now. The bible is violent, hateful to people outside of
your own religion and not to nice to women in your own faith. I also don't
understand how you as a Black Man can believe in the White Man's God at all?
This book advocates slavery which brought Blacks from Africa to the US as
slaves. Abhorrent to say the least! Made people change God's and

There is no God, Satan, Angels, Demons, Spirits or after life. You only have
this one life, so live it the best you can. Try to be a good person,
conserve resources as best you can, teach your kids to be contributing
members of society, and treat others on how you want to be treated, don't
infringe on other people.

The first part to your question is moot. Virus' just are. No different that
any other creature or life form existing on this planet. The invention of
the microscope is not relevant. And we as a species only started flying 100
years ago, electricity wasn't common in homes until the 1920's. Religions
wants people to be ignorant, the Bible said this in Genesis 2:17 with the
"Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil". "The day you eat of this tree you will
surly die." Does that sound like someone who is interested in science?

I don't like to use the terms "Good and Evil" if I can help it because of
the religious implications they have, but I also don't have any better words
to use that I can think of off the top of my head. That is why I don't like
to use the term Morals is the same way. Morals is more used in the religious
sense. That is why I like to use the term Ethics. The writers of the Bible
were Bronze Age (between 3300-1200BC) sheep herders in a desert of the
Middle East. You are basing beliefs and how to live your life from what
these people are saying? The authors of the New Testament were not
contemporaries of Jesus (If he existed. There is no proof of his existence
outside the bible.). The closest the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
were written was at least 40 years after the supposed death of Jesus. Also
if these were "Eyewitness accounts", then why are they so different from
each other?

Question 1. Why are the genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 different?

Question 2. Why didn't God give Mary a choice in giving birth to Jesus in
Luke 1:27-31?

"for the life of me you can't see that it's very possible for a being or
entity as ancient as the oldest star, whom has eons to perfect his craft of
lying and plotting the destruction of the human race does exist." If your
talking about Satan in this, Satan was an Angel who "Fell from God's grace".
So, that means that Satan was with God before the Universe and Earth right?
This is implying that your beliefs are the right ones. What of the other
God's mentioned in the Bible or other societies Gods?

FYI-We know the Earth is about 4.5 Billion Years old and the Universe to be
between 13.5 and 14 Billion Years old. "Forget about Jesus Dying for you.
Stars Died so you can live" Lawrence Krauss Physicist. As all the heavier
elements are here because of stars going supernova and spreading these
heavier elements throughout the expanding universe.

While I am not trying infringe on your religious views at all, I am just
using other Christians example of "Evangelizing". Why not? Just a month ago,
I had some Jehovah's Witness' at my door. I invited them in and we talked
for a good 2 hours on religion and God of the bible. I am trying to spread
the "Good Word" of reason to people who want me to believe in a "Sky Spirit"
who watches every move I make, knows my every thought, wants me to believe
in him and follow him without question and be a part of his group, follow
his many rules. But if you don't do any of the above you will spend eternity
in a "Lake of Fire" (Which as described is impossible, like many other
things in the bible.), but he loves me? I am not even going to talk about
the discrepancies between "Free Will" and "Predestination". That would just
take WAY too long.

I still consider Tim and you to be my friends even if we don't agree about
religion.

Matthew