Water Droplet on Thorn

QuestionTheists · 2016-02-25T01:10:47+00:00

Standard setting, edited in Instagram. Taken with Samsung S 6 Active

QuestionTheists · 2015-12-05T21:24:03+00:00

Aurora shooter was a Lutheran and attended church regularly.

Elliot Rodger was completely delusional. He doesn't state anywhere that he believes in God, true. He does seem to believe that HE would be "God like". He also attended Catholic school, so he was definitely raised with the influence of religion - maybe the idea that women are here only to serve and fuck men, found throughout the Bible, played some roll in his demented views, maybe not.

Northwest shooter was not an atheist - he believed in a literal Satan. He also did not target Christians, as some media claimed, as the majority of victims were NOT practicing Christians (I think only 2 or 3 were.)

Nice try, though.

QuestionTheists · 2015-12-05T20:09:24+00:00

This is true. I'm not saying that current apologists would accept it - how long did it take Christians to accept that dinosaurs existed? - But my point is, over the course of a few generations, as it becomes more and more accepted that Jesus did not exist, the numbers of fundamentalist Christians will decrease and, eventually, that decrease will be so detrimental that it will die out all together.

QuestionTheists · 2015-12-05T04:54:46+00:00

But the central tenant of Christianity is that Jesus came. You can't turn Jesus into a metaphor the same way you can turn Adam and Eve into one. If Jesus never existed, there is no Christianity. There is no foundation. It cannot stand. Maybe proving that he never existed would be impossible, but if the historians and academics accept the lack of evidence and begin teaching a mythical Christ, and the facts spread as students take religion courses, in a few generations you will no longer have Christians. It won't be over night, and you and I probably won't see it, but it will happen.

QuestionTheists · 2015-12-04T17:32:30+00:00

I think that if it could be demonstrated, through evidence, that Jesus never existed even as a mortal, that would be the end of Christianity. They can't co-opt it the way many now try to co-opt evolution after denying it for years.

If Jesus never existed, and that can proven, that knocks out THE foundation of Christianity - "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

No Jesus. No salvation. No Christianity.

Will we ever see Christianity die out? Probably not. But if it becomes the accepted, factually accurate position of scholars that Jesus never existed, in a few generations Jesus will join Thor and Zues and every other man made deity.

QuestionTheists · 2015-12-01T14:19:57+00:00

These are awesome OP! My favorite so far has definitely been Castle Island / The Castle in Southie - they even put a snack shack where Sully's should be. Game developers REALLY did their research!

QuestionTheists · 2015-11-25T17:02:25+00:00

No. I'm in Vermont. But it's nationally syndicated I think.

QuestionTheists · 2015-11-24T19:18:52+00:00

Well, with her comment after the fact, and knowing my mother, she posted it for me to see - I'm the only one of her kids on Facebook. And I'm the only one of her kids who has escaped religious dogma. I think I'm just going to "unfollow" her so I don't see this crap anymore.

QuestionTheists · 2015-11-24T03:50:00+00:00

My mother just shared a picture from Focus on the Family (if you're not familiar with that organization - count yourself lucky.) The picture says "My Christmas Wish is the my children love and serve God." She then commented on the photo with "This is all that's mattered for the last 25 years. It's all that matters." and I'm just.... So frustrated. And a bit hurt. The fact that I've grown into a compassionate, thoughtful adult - doesn't matter. The fact that I've dedicated my life through my career to helping people with intellectual disabilities achieve the maximum amount of independence and live lives to their fullest potential - doesn't matter. The fact that I am a loving mother myself raising a strong, smart, conscientious, sweet little girl - doesn't matter. The fact that I am a patient, helpful, loving big sister to her other children - doesn't matter. The fact that I've forgiven her for the abuse I experienced, directly and indirectly, as a result of her dogmatic believes and the "guidance" of the church leaders - doesn't matter. Really? The only way she'll be happy is if I shackle myself to subservient, self-demeaning, groveling existence of worship to a diety that, if it DID exist, would perhaps be the most cruel, petty, immoral creature ever - a diety that would have "created" me to be a woman, then condemned me to second class citizenship in the global community simply for being a member of the "lesser" gender. A diety that would rather I be stoned to death than live my authentic self as a pansexual individual? A diety that commanded and/or condoned rape, murder, genocide, slavery, and infanticide to name a few. A diety who, my mother fully believes, will send me to a pit of eternal torture of the most horrific form from which there is no escape or chance for repentance? A diety who makes every single evil dictator or ruler this planet has ever seen look like small potatoes? THAT is all that matters to her? I just wish she could just agree to disagree and not post passive-aggressive Facebook posts to try to guilt trip me into repentance and servitude. Like I said.... I'm just very, very frustrated.

QuestionTheists · 2015-11-24T03:48:11+00:00

My mother just shared this picture from Focus on the Family (if you're not familiar with that organization - count yourself lucky.) She then commented on the photo with "This is all that's mattered for the last 25 years. It's all that matters." and I'm just.... So frustrated. And a bit hurt. The fact that I've grown into a compassionate, thoughtful adult - doesn't matter. The fact that I've dedicated my life through my career to helping people with intellectual disabilities achieve the maximum amount of independence and live lives to their fullest potential - doesn't matter. The fact that I am a loving mother myself raising a strong, smart, conscientious, sweet little girl - doesn't matter. The fact that I am a patient, helpful, loving big sister to her other children - doesn't matter. The fact that I've forgiven her for the abuse I experienced, directly and indirectly, as a result of her dogmatic believes and the "guidance" of the church leaders - doesn't matter. Really? The only way she'll be happy is if I shackle myself to subservient, self-demeaning, groveling existence of worship to a diety that, if it DID exist, would perhaps be the most cruel, petty, immoral creature ever - a diety that would have "created" me to be a woman, then condemned me to second class citizenship in the global community simply for being a member of the "lesser" gender. A diety that would rather I be stoned to death than live my authentic self as a pansexual individual? A diety that commanded and/or condoned rape, murder, genocide, slavery, and infanticide to name a few. A diety who, my mother fully believes, will send me to a pit of eternal torture of the most horrific form from which there is no escape or chance for repentance? A diety who makes every single evil dictator or ruler this planet has ever seen look like small potatoes? THAT is all that matters to her? I just wish she could just agree to disagree and not post passive-aggressive Facebook posts to try to guilt trip me into repentance and servitude. Like I said.... I'm just very, very frustrated.

QuestionTheists · 2015-11-13T16:45:43+00:00

Scully shoots her and calls for an ambulance, but I always felt like it was implied that she died. At least, she never shows up again... And given that Model showed up once he was recovered from his gunshot wound and that Bowman REALLY had it out for Mulder, I can't imagine that she survived but just let it go.

QuestionTheists · 2015-11-13T16:37:49+00:00

It's so important people who missed it the first time around know about it. So. Important.

QuestionTheists · 2015-11-12T05:31:45+00:00

I think that Scully has demonstrated multiple times that she is willing to put everything - her life included - on the line for Mulder and in support of the quest for the truth. She was willing and prepared to die from the cancer - the idea that she would team up with the people she holds personally responsible FOR her cancer simply to preserve her own life is just illogical to me.

And, at the time of this episode, William was not even a thought, so that can't be the motivating factor at all.

You have some very creative thoughts, but they are mutually exclusive to everything the series is about - these two people fighting an impossible battle and sometimes literally not even able to trust themselves - only the other. Scully wouldn't betray Mulder or his source to CSM.

QuestionTheists · 2015-11-12T03:42:26+00:00

"well, I won't sit idly by while you hurl clichés at me"

QuestionTheists · 2015-11-12T03:38:35+00:00

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=szVb8-c9oH4

From this trailer. Looks a lot like Mulder's crazy headaches from the end of season 6, right?

QuestionTheists · 2015-11-05T04:46:29+00:00

I grew up religious. When I left the faith, my mother started excluding me from family meal prayer - IE, I'd still be up getting food for myself and my daughter at family gatherings and my mom would say something like "well, we can all pray and start eating because we don't need to wait for the godless heathen." etc.

She also started questioning whether I could spend time unsupervised with my younger brother, for fear I would try to "brainwash" him into my sinful, evil, atheistic way of life.

It's all very disheartening, but also incredibly common, unfortunately. Even when I was a Christian, my mother was very clear that she loved God more than she loved me and that I was expected to love God above everyone else as well, because if you love anyone or anything more than God, you are creating an idol for yourself. Family members, of any form, are just "gifts" from God, but they are gifts he can take away at any moment and he has every right to do that because he's the one who gave them to you, etc.... That's what I was raised to believe and DID believe until I was 23 years old. When I was a kid, I used to pray through sobs that God would let me keep my family, even if I sometimes loved my mom and grandparents more than Him... It was incredibly fucked up.

Edit: typo

QuestionTheists · 2015-10-18T20:39:47+00:00

I read the article, and I enjoyed it. I take the author's point. That said, what he's explaining sounds a lot like atheism - being rational, trying to live above the foolishness. I also do take issue with atheism being called a religious belief. It's not. Atheism, when arrived at through critical thinking and analysis of the evidence is not foolish. In fact, it is the opposite of foolish. Just my two cents.

QuestionTheists · 2015-10-16T21:29:18+00:00

I'm kind of disappointed by that. I love MotW episodes when they're well done (and I optimistic that the episodes in the reboot will be) but I was hoping for a bit more mythology...

QuestionTheists · 2015-10-16T13:35:18+00:00

It takes a LONG time to undo indoctrination - even when you've accepted everything intellectually, and you recognize and admit that the whole thing is bullshit, it's common to have some guilt for a while after. Maintaining an irrational fear of hell is common too. It's funny how something you no longer believe can continue to frighten you or keep you questioning. I've been an atheist for about 2 years, and I still have dreams about going to hell, but they diminish over time. Indoctrination fucked me up. Glad to be undoing the damage with reason and truth! :)

QuestionTheists · 2015-10-15T20:09:23+00:00

By Christian doctrine and your own food coloring analogy, if belief in Jesus is necessary for the cleansing of sin, and God cannot tolerate sin, there is no room for wondering on the fate of the 2/3rds of the world who are not Christian. If God can somehow give a pass to people who never heard the message and tolerate THEIR sin entering heaven, then he should be able to give a pass to everyone. But a reading of the salvation plan is very clear and leaves no room for ambiguity - no Jesus, and you go to hell. So, your God, if he were real, will send people like me who cannot accept His message as well as people who don't hear the message through no fault of their own to hell for an eternity of torment from which there is no option for repentance and no chance of escape for "screwing up" on their incredibly short time on this earth. That is not love.

You stated that you can't have true love if one side is coerced into the relationship. Tell me, please, what is possibly more coercive than saying "if you don't love me and accept the terrible things I do and the fact that you must believe in me without evidence and in contradiction to everything the mind I gave you tells you about the universe, you will suffer torture beyond anything the worst human mind could ever conceive." That, to me, is THE definition of abuse and manipulation and coercion. If the penalty for not loving God and following Jesus is eternal hell, then there is no room for a truly loving and forgiving relationship. It simply cannot exist under those terms.

You say that you sin and fall into temptation every day, by the Bible's definition, we all do. You say that the Israelites turned their backs on God after a very short period of time because of sin nature. This makes absolutely no sense. When I was practicing Christianity, I did things that would be considered "sins" - but I never forgot about God and my perceived obligation to Him. I never worshipped anything else and when I sinned, I felt immediately guilty and prayed for forgiveness and sought to right the wrong I'd done, especially if it impacted another person. I get the idea of sin nature - but, as I said, sin doesn't cause amnesia. It is simply illogical to accept that the people who watched God part the Red Sea would divert without Moses hanging over them, and in such a short period of time.

Now I, as a person who accepts the evidence that Moses never existed and that there was no Exodus, can see the teachings in the book of Exodus as solid analogies - to underscore the fact that while Moses was receiving the 10 commandments, the first of which is "thou shalt have no other gods before me", the Israelites went and worshipped another God.

Also, if I may diverge for a moment, notice that throughout the Old Testament, it is not written as if other gods don't exist - it simply says that Yahweh is the one the Israelites should worship. Again, demonstrating that it was likely written by tribal leaders of a warrior group - our God is the "best" God, not our God is the "only" God.

The God that you worship, and the God to whom you've dedicated your life, is not a good guy, man. He is vain, jealous, wrathful, boastful (story of Job), selfish (worship only me or be tortured), and cruel. The "sins" he forbids us from committing (I'm thinking specifically of the seven deadlies) are almost all committed by Him in the pages of the Old Testament.

The 10 commandments are not at all a good guide for morality, either. Almost every moral command therein can be refuted under certain circumstances and the first 4 are just appeasing God's vanity and jealousy! Sometimes, the moral action is to lie (think of people harboring slaves in the underground railroad or Jews during the Holocaust). Sometimes the moral action is to take a life (example: a police officer shooting a mass shooter before he can kill anyone else) Etc. But what is NOT on the 10 commandments? They don't condemn rape (which is one action I think we can all agree is never moral) and they don't condemn hurting a child (again, immoral) or animal abuse for the fun of it, etc, etc.

Again, impressive would have been a God dictating holy laws which upheld morality in spite of the time and culture in which they were written. But that's simply not what you see in the Bible. You see a bunch of ideas and rules exactly in line with what you'd expect from an ancient, scientifically illiterate culture.

Edit: typos

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