|
November 13, 2003someone askedI was raised attending a Methodist church. I didn't like going there. I liked to sing, but they always picked shitty hymns to do. Just look at some of John Wesley's work. NOBODY CAN SING THAT SHIT! I was baptised in The First Independent Church Of Christ, which is not far removed from foot-washing, snake-handling fundamentalist Christians. I was dating a member of the church at the time. It seemed like a good idea to join her church and to go get dipped there. So, I did. I was in college at the time and well on my way to becoming an English Major. That's when I started studying the Bible. I've read it front to back four times now. I see nothing in there but the superstitious ramblings of a primitive people. God is not consistent all the way through. Jesus is not consistent. I am a heathen unbeliever. But I did my homework before I came to where I am today. I'll be delighted to explain my beliefs in detail if anyone wants to challenge me. But read the entire Bible first. Don't give me quotes out of context. Read the whole thing. Read it four times. Then ask me why I am not a religious man. Comments
Sinner! You'll burn in Hell! Posted by: "Ralphy" on November 13, 2003 09:58 AMMethinks that Ralphy has a problem, eh? Posted by: The Parson on November 13, 2003 10:24 AMI don't believe in the Bible, but I don't let that stop me from believing in God. Posted by: Lee on November 13, 2003 10:53 AMI think we'd all be delighted to hear you explain your beliefs. Not a challenge, just would like to hear your take on things. Posted by: Rick on November 13, 2003 11:33 AMYou hit on a big one there, you think Methodists have bad music? Spend a Sunday in an RC church. It's beyond comparison, I can't even describe it, it's so bad. You'll just have to go and hear it for yourself. Posted by: terry on November 13, 2003 11:34 AMMy brother, remind me not to stand next to you in a lighting storm. Posted by: ken on November 13, 2003 01:14 PMIf I said that on my weblog, I'd have a shit storm of comments quoting scripture. Someone out there has some scrap of hope that I can be "saved". Posted by: sugarmama on November 13, 2003 02:18 PMI went to church to get pussy. My Mama and Daddy made me go, until I was 16 years old, Then I stopped going, Catfish. Posted by: Catfish on November 13, 2003 02:44 PMI went to church to get pussy. My Mama and Daddy made me go, until I was 16 years old, Then I stopped going, Catfish. Posted by: Catfish on November 13, 2003 02:44 PMI went to church to get pussy. My Mama and Daddy made me go, until I was 16 years old, Then I stopped going, Catfish. Posted by: Catfish on November 13, 2003 02:44 PMI went to church to get pussy. My Mama and Daddy made me go, until I was 16 years old, Then I stopped going, Catfish. Posted by: Catfish on November 13, 2003 02:45 PMCatfish, Click on the POST button only once, please. Be patient. If you want to know if the computer program is working on posting, move the arrow with your mouse to the top corner X, but don't click. The arrow will change to another object, dependent upon which program or desktop scene you are using. This change into another object is to let you know that the computer is processing your POST request. Upon the completion of the POST instruction, the object will change back into an arrow and you will see your post appear under the Comments section. Posted by: Ms Anna on November 13, 2003 03:59 PMSorry, Acidman. Far more educated and intelligent people have come before you to challenge whether or not the text of the New or Old Testaments were true or not. You seem to suffer from the "Whatever I see on TV or in TIME magazine must be the truth" syndrome. I've spent years researching evidence in depth. The Old Testament has been shown to be trustworthy by such respected archaeologists as William F. Albright, et al. The evidence from micro-biology and astro-physics is repleat with evidence that intelligent design is absolutely required to explain the existence of everything around us. If you want to argue these points one at a time and in an intelligent and rational manner, then bring it on. Would you like to start with palonium haloes in granite? The irreducibly complex structures in paramecium? The probability of amino acid bases in DNA structure? Posted by: Will Coffman on November 13, 2003 04:54 PMI wasn't raised as a Budhist, though my grandmother is sort of one. I don't have the strength, patient (and now Chinese reading comprehension) to read through the text to make sense of it. Spiritually speaking, I'm just plain lazy. Posted by: BigFire on November 13, 2003 05:28 PMRob, An atheist must believe the following: 1) Where does information in the DNA molecule come from? This molecule contains the complete instructions that a cell needs to build a human being like Quinton. Athesis believe this information came about by chance, kinda' like leaving your laptop out in a hail storm and returning to discover that the hail stones hitting the keys had completed your novel. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT COULD HAPPEN? Do you feel the weight of that argument? 2) Where does life come from? Atheist believe that , once upon a time, there was a sterile mud puddle and , suddenly, there was life in it. Science says that lile can only come from other life. Do you feel the weight of this argument? God is the giver of life. He cares about you and he cares about SM. Posted by: Jim Long on November 13, 2003 07:02 PMWhy must there be a God in order for there to be life? Couldn't life just be a property of the universe, like matter/energy and the four fundamental forces? Rob you are confused. John did the preaching and his brother Charles Wesley wrote the poems that were made into hymns. John is listed as translating some hymns, but not as author. Just be glad that you never attended Methodist worship in England. They take John Wesley's "Directions for Singing" seriously: Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please. The Methodist hymnals in England expect you to know the tunes. All they list are the words and the tune name, such as Diademata or O Stor Gud (How Great Thou Art). After the Carols and other Christmas songs I like the Passion/Resurrection ones best like:
Posted by: The Thomas on November 13, 2003 09:05 PM To Daniel Day: The best scientist in the world in the world do believe that life is a property of the universe but when they test this belief using the scientific method their belief is proved false. Experimentation has demonstrated life never comes out of non-living matter. It comes only from something which is already alive. If life were a property of the universe it should be easy to demonstrate this property by getting life to arise out of some chemical soup. These scientist continue to promote their dogma because they have built their careers on it ( and they've got a very nice living). The scientific method is a tool for determining truth and it says "There must exists a Life Giver. Posted by: Jim Long on November 13, 2003 09:44 PMJim, much of what you say is reasonable except this: "If life were a property of the universe it should be easy to demonstrate this property by getting life to arise out of some chemical soup." It is interesting what people do and do not believe. I believe in wrong and right, good and evil. I believe in the persistence of the soul, as it were, although I do not believe in "heaven" or "hell" per se. I've never seen any ghosts or "ha'ants" (and I don't wanna see any, thank yew verrrry much) yet my mama has seen folks in stores, etc. and tried to catch up with them and never succeeded only to find out later that, unknown to her, they were dead at that point, and she never actually "saw" them at all. (Yeah, I know, this is one of those stories that you don't let get known outside the family, but she is actually a very normal person other than that little quirk.) We (the younguns) get a little nervous whenever she mentions seeing one of us somewhere, though. Surreptitious checking of pulses all around. Posted by: SwampWoman on November 13, 2003 11:03 PM Reading the Bible has taught me what a truly irrelevant book it is, and should be. Not only is it the superstitious ramblings of a primitive people, it is some of the worst, most vengeful human psychology ever paraded before the world. No wonder it has taken such a hold! The judeo - christian "god" is not worthy of the name. The universe is far too brilliant to have been created by the "god" of the Bible. If there is a god of some kind - he, she, it is far beyond anything ever dreamed up by any of the religions. And dont believe that shit about "an atheist has to believe..." because you dont. You dont have to "believe" in anything. Some things you can actually know. Jim Long-- The answer to both your two questions, once the extraneous straw men are burnt away, is the same: I don't know; you don't either. Posted by: Brett on November 14, 2003 07:28 AMMy opinion, There is a Creator, but He doesn't intervene in our lives unless He feels like it. (Alternatively, either He can't, or everything really is preordained, and things happen like they happen.) What's on your mind, if you will allow the overstatement? Posted by: Haider Asad on December 10, 2003 08:52 PMHe does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing. Posted by: Jeon Aeli on December 20, 2003 11:56 PMWhen prosperity comes, do not use all of it. Posted by: Maisel Mel on January 9, 2004 11:22 PMReality is not affected by our apprehension of it. Posted by: Bowman Rob on March 17, 2004 10:03 AMJohn Bradford, Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins Posted by: Grindle Alex on April 28, 2004 01:37 PMPost a comment
|
|
All content © Rob Smith
|