not so crazy christians:Why We Must Reclaim The Bible From Fundamentalists

[Ricter]

Quote from Free Thinker:

one step at a time. we need to establish what you believe. do you believe:
"that a star can wander through the sky so slowly that wise men can keep up with it, that God actually dictated the Ten Commandments -- all three versions, no less -- or that a multitude can be fed with five loaves and two fish. No modern person understanding genetics and reproduction can believe that virgins conceive, nor can those who understand what death does to the human body in a matter of just minutes still view the resurrection as the resuscitation of a deceased body after three days."

can we agree these are primitive myths? once we can agree on that we can debate weather or not believing in these myths is good or bad as a means of population control

There's no immortality here for you, either. I'm sorry.

 

[Free Thinker]

Quote from Ricter:

There's no immortality here for you, either. I'm sorry.

lets take a more specific bible story. the bible claims that god picked up a hand full of dirt and made man. after man was made he noticed man was lonely so he put man to sleep and took a rib out of a man and used that to make a woman.

do you believe that is a factual description of how man was created?

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from Ricter:

Stranded on a desert island with a deficiency of food, and compelled to share the island with one of two people (I choose), either a sincere Christian or a sincere atheist, I'd choose the former in an instant. I may have to suffer through grace when we sit to eat our meager supply, but at least I'd know I get a portion, and I could sleep with both eyes closed.

A very rare instance when I agree with you.

 

[peilthetraveler]

Quote from Free Thinker:

lets take a more specific bible story. the bible claims that god picked up a hand full of dirt and made man. after man was made he noticed man was lonely so he put man to sleep and took a rib out of a man and used that to make a woman.

do you believe that is a factual description of how man was created?

You believe man came from dirt also. Just in your version it happened over billions of years.

 

[peilthetraveler]

Quote from Free Thinker:

one step at a time. we need to establish what you believe. do you believe:
"that a star can wander through the sky so slowly that wise men can keep up with it

A comet or nova, was seen by Chinese and Korean stargazers in about 5 BC. This object was observed for over seventy days with no movement recorded. Ancient writers described comets as "hanging over" specific cities, just as the Star of Bethlehem was said to have "stood over" the "place" where Jesus was.

 

[Ricter]

So what do I believe...

I believe the stories in the Bible are oral stories passed down, embellished the way humans do that, and I believe the better stories are metaphor.

I believe atheism would very probably make human behavior worse, as hard as it is to imagine Mankind acting more badly.

I believe there is something vastly, vastly greater to the universe and its origin than what we've imagined so far, that the random (within the matrix of the laws of physics, of course) vibration of hydrogen atoms over millennia could not possibly have produced the transcendent horror that is:

<img src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTTOtB0Qj6Yy3AXRJhuhlzY3mTS_xpimOFgwJAGEwYOiBdg7YiQ">

the polyester leisure suit.

 

[Free Thinker]

Quote from Ricter:

So what do I believe...

I believe the stories in the Bible are oral stories passed down, embellished the way humans do that, and I believe the better stories are metaphor.

fair enough. then explain to me what is the value of teaching kids that these metaphor/myths are historical fact?

 

[stu]

Quote from Ricter:

Stranded on a desert island with a deficiency of food, and compelled to share the island with one of two people (I choose), either a sincere Christian or a sincere atheist, I'd choose the former in an instant. I may have to suffer through grace when we sit to eat our meager supply, but at least I'd know I get a portion, and I could sleep with both eyes closed.

You would feel more comfortable with someone who genuinely believed it is good to revere as an invisible sky friend the main character in a set of stories who is a murderous genocidal tyrant who killed himself pretending to be his own son but didn't really so that he could play both good-god bad-god whilst all the time supposedly being a ghost.
Rather than choosing to be castaway with someone not exhibiting that psychosis?
How strange.

 

[Ricter]

Quote from stu:

You would feel more comfortable with someone who genuinely believed it is good to revere as an invisible sky friend the main character in a set of stories who is a murderous genocidal tyrant who killed himself pretending to be his own son but didn't really so that he could play both good-god bad-god whilst all the time supposedly being a ghost.
Rather than choosing to be castaway with someone not exhibiting that psychosis?
How strange.

You are so terrified it almost jumps off the screen.

 

[stu]

Quote from Ricter:

You are so terrified it almost jumps off the screen.

Lol. Now you mention it perhaps you are terrified .
Purposely choosing someone to be marooned with only because they would actually profess to worshipping the concept of a cruel dictator over someone who does not, suggests you are at least afraid of something.