The Sword of Christ

[Dancefortwo]

Charlie, "sin" is a creation of crooked priests invented to keep the commons in line.  It is no more real than your god.  Wake up and smell the coffee, lad.

Doesn't look like Charlie converted anyone.  He's batting zero.

Christians come here with the assumption that we know nothing about Christianity and that's why we are atheists.  Christians are so self absorbed and Christian-centric.  It's one of many reason's I don't like Christianity.  A bunch of religious egomaniacs.   

Hinduism is wacky too but they're more relaxed about stuff.  It's not such a, "them vs us" religious thinking and sin isn't such a big thing with them.  From my limited experience with Hindus here in Portland, OR they are quite willing  and happy to accept Jesus as one of their many gods, but this really horrifies Christians.  How dare they, the Hindus, place Jesus amidst other gods.   It's really kinda funny.

[Minimalist]

Doesn't look like Charlie converted anyone.  He's batting zero.

Their batting average went way down when they lost the power to burn people at the stake.

Funny how that works.

[Szuchow]

Charlie, "sin" is a creation of crooked priests invented to keep the commons in line.  It is no more real than your god.  Wake up and smell the coffee, lad.

Doesn't look like Charlie converted anyone.  He's batting zero.

I doubt that he can convert .doc to .pdf much less atheist to christian.

[pattylt]

Doesn't look like Charlie converted anyone.  He's batting zero.

I doubt that he can convert .doc to .pdf much less atheist to christian.

As has been said a lot…

People feel their way into religion, they think their way out.

[Bucky Ball]

So, his being/ having a sword is a good thing you say?

NO, it's not a good thing, but necessary to accomplish the will of God.

So it's not a good thing, but your god is too stupid and lacking in imagination and power that he is reduced to bad things to get his will done.
Not mush of a god there, is he ?

[Cranky]

I've read the bible. I've also read a couple of books on comparative religion.  I've considered religious claims both analytically and emotionally.  Have you ever read a book discussing the arguments for atheism?  

I have considered the differences among sin, morals, and ethics.  The first 2 are just from scriptures.  The last is actual human thought about what works for humans.  I am very "ethical".   I seldom lie (no one is perfect) and I don't cheat or steal.  I follow some human-based rules (which were incorporated later into the 10 commandments you worship) that relate to actual human society (respect elders, don't covet, etc).

I dare say I am a "better" person than you are (in a very sort of philosophical way) .  I follow some good rules by choice.  You follow some rules because they are commanded by your superior power deity on threat of punishment.

Charlie, "sin" is a creation of crooked priests invented to keep the commons in line.  It is no more real than your god.  Wake up and smell the coffee, lad.

Like you I have read and even chanted most of the Bible (I sing in a choir specializing in Gregorian chant, something I still enjoy in spite of no longer being a believer, and most of Gregorian chant consists of sung Bible and psalm verses).  And for too long I have let my emotional response to religion cloud my analytical response.  The COVID break from church-going and the increasing scandals in my religion (Catholicism), caused a negative emotional response and allowed me to recover my critical thinking.  A recovering cathohaulic as it were...

I haven't really compared religions that much except the different branches of Christianity and eventually the comparison became an exercise in "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" arguments.  

I think you can distill any religion's morality down to the Golden Rule.  It's the only part that matters and you don't need religion for it.  Do unto others... the rest of religion is all BS from the flying prophets to the conceiving virgins to the obscure peasant that his followers tried to deify based on second- and third-hand stories written 100 or so years after the alleged facts.  

To me the Bible is a collection of fables.  I'll concede one thing, I believe that both science and religion started with the same foundation: humanity's need for answers for everything.  Until we developed the tools to start doing real science, religion probably was the only thing that could provide answers, even though they were mostly the wrong answers as the Vatican found out trying to punish Galileo.  As we evolve as a species, I hope we evolve beyond needing religion.  However I've been hugely disappointed in the last few years during the COVID epidemic and watching the evangelical shit show south of the border (I'm Canadian), where the Golden Rule seems to have manifestly been forgotten.  Maybe with luck Darwin will weed them out, or it's just a case of two steps forward, one step back as we evolve to the inevitable post-religious world.

As for sin, all that notion has succeeded in doing is make those disposed to obsessive-compulsive disorder suffer much much more than they need to.

[1Sam15]

Just for the record Charlie,

jesus=yahweh 

ghost=yahweh 

yahweh =jesus=ghost


Correct me if I’m wrong

As you probably well know the Trinity is a very hotly debated issue among the Christians.

I'm in the camp that believes there is one God manifest in 3 persons. 

That means there is a Father, Son, and Holy Ghost that work independently of each other but agree on all things.

As opposed to one God that takes on the role at any given time as the Father, or as the Son, or as the Holy Spirit.

The controversy is the "one God" part that the apostle John spoke of.

So to sum this up, yahweh has jesus sock puppet on its right hand and ghost sock puppet on the left 

[Minimalist]

Charlie thinks 1+1+1 = 1

Math is not his strong suit.

[Szuchow]

I doubt that he can convert .doc to .pdf much less atheist to christian.

As has been said a lot…

People feel their way into religion, they think their way out.

So Charlie will not leave it any time soon, if ever.

[1Sam15]

Chuck won’t be back.

He’s a coward telling his buddies he kicked the atheist ass

[Minimalist]

They lie all the time anyway.  They spend their lives lying to themselves.

[1Sam15]

And to their children with that brainwashing xian reward the good punish the bad training tool Santa

[Minimalist]

Had Charlie been born in the third century he would have known fuckall about this trinity bullshit as it was not codified at all until Nicaea in the 4th century and even then

The Council of Nicaea in 325 stated the crucial formula for that doctrine in its confession that the Son is “of the same substance [homoousios] as the Father,” even though it said very little about the Holy Spirit.

it took them another 75 years to flesh out Casper the Holy Ghoster to fit in!

All of which touched off tremendous animosity between various xhristard groups who then, as now, hated each other!

"Christians, it is needless to say, utterly detest each other.  They slander each other constantly with the vilest forms of abuse and cannot come to any sort of agreement in their teachings.  Each sect brands its own, fills the head of its own with deceitful nonsense, and makes perfect little pigs of those it wins over to its  side." 
Celsus late 2d century

[pattylt]

Christers….annoying the hell out of each other for almost 2000 years and counting! They remind me of the seagulls in Finding Nemo….mine mine mine mine…

[Dom]

I assume that Charles left us heathens?

[Bucky Ball]

NO, it's not a good thing, but necessary to accomplish the will of God.

So it's not a good thing, but your god is too stupid and lacking in imagination and power that he is reduced to bad things to get his will done.
Not mush of a god there, is he ?

Good to know. Your gods endorse "the ends justify the means".

[Astreja]

I assume that Charles left us heathens?

Sure looks like it - he hasn't been by since Tuesday evening.  in the 4-5 days he was here, though, he managed to rack up over 24 hours online.  That's a lot of effort for zero results, so maybe he came to his senses and decided to stop banging his head against the wall.

[Minimalist]

I don't know that those people ever learn.

[adey67]

Chuck won’t be back.

He’s a coward telling his buddies he kicked the atheist ass

Well, he certainly won't be back today, it's Sunday so he's off "god-bothering" somewhere.

[Dancefortwo]

I assume that Charles left us heathens?

Sure looks like it - he hasn't been by since Tuesday evening.  in the 4-5 days he was here, though, he managed to rack up over 24 hours online.  That's a lot of effort for zero results, so maybe he came to his senses and decided to stop banging his head against the wall.

I think he said that he was 60 or something.  Probably retired.  Instead of going out and helping the homeless and taking them food and making their lives a tiny bit better, he spent all that time trying to convert us.  Geesh.

[1Sam15]

Sure looks like it - he hasn't been by since Tuesday evening.  in the 4-5 days he was here, though, he managed to rack up over 24 hours online.  That's a lot of effort for zero results, so maybe he came to his senses and decided to stop banging his head against the wall.

I think he said that he was 60 or something.  Probably retired.  Instead of going out and helping the homeless and taking them food and making their lives a tiny bit better, he spent all that time trying to convert us.  Geesh.

He most likely had that covered with thoughts and prayers

[Minimalist]

[Cavebear]

I doubt that he can convert .doc to .pdf much less atheist to christian.

As has been said a lot…

People feel their way into religion, they think their way out.

Along that same line, you can't reason a person from a thought they didn't establish by thought. If it is emotional or taught, reason does not seem to work.