Comment by Lisa on March 26, 2011 at 11:28pm

Know how you feel.  You just described a large portion of my extended family.  :(     Welcome to the world of sanity.

Comment by Jeremy S on March 26, 2011 at 11:40pm

How do you deal with it? This same guy I mentioned has burning heretics on his likes.

Comment by Heather Spoonheim on March 26, 2011 at 11:52pm

Get used to pounding your head against a brick wall and learn to take breaks before you lose consciousness.  As for facebook, I usually just post some really well thought out videos.  I posted one where a guy asks for video responses from people who claim to have heard God speak to them, asking for a description of God's voice.  No one has yet replied.  Little things like that can get people thinking, but sometimes it will take years for them to finally address the question with any more than a, "Dumb liberal Atheists," sort of thought.

 

Other people like a more confrontational approach, I just haven't had any luck with that.  For the most part, I highly recommend avoiding arguments based on the bible having contradictions because they tend to just rationalize those away.  I like containing the discussion to asking them why they think there is a god, let alone why they think that god backs their religion and not others.  Best of luck to you - I think you represented yourself in a dignified manner and will only continue to find confidence in your position.

Comment by Scarlette Blues on March 27, 2011 at 11:44am

Great job defending your beliefs and standing up for yourself. I love it when Christians say that god doesn't believe in Atheists. I like to say, "Does God believe he has a God?" "NO! OF COURSE NOT! That's just silly!"

Well, wouldn't that mean that god is an Atheist? So, god doesn't believe in himself? Does that mean we can stop capitalizing his pronouns?

 

I do like to throw some confusion their way sometime hahaha

Comment by Jeremy S on March 27, 2011 at 7:04pm

I try to be non confrontational and usually just let stuff slide. Especially on FB. But this one just got under my skin. To have someone that refuses to even examine their own "holy" text basically call me a fool was just too much. They make it seem like believing in this magic guy is just plain commen sense and that any one that doesnt has to be dumb or insane is just insane. And it's not even worth arguing with them because they refuse to even examine the bible for mistakes and they just make up nonsense to fill in the holes. I defenitly need to get used to beating my head on a wall because it sadly seems like it's more useful than talking to these people. I am glad that I was able to reason my way out of the never ending circle of lies. I feel I was fortunate to have never really believed it. I tried for a long time just because of the fear of hell. They sure do spin that up to be a scary place.

Comment by Jeremy S on March 27, 2011 at 7:07pm

I am still learning more and more. Debating has never been my strong suit in the first place. I like the idea of throwing out confusion for them though. Hopefully some of them would be confused enough to actually try to figure things out. I doubt it but I think that would be the best way to make them think. I almost wish I would have kept my atheism to myself a little longer just so I could ask questions as a fellow theist and see if I could have jump started their reasoning.

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