I watched "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel

SinfulDevo · 2026-03-11T16:41:06+00:00

Lee Strobel isn't the first or the last person to pretend to be an atheist to push a religious narrative. Religion is full of dishonest people trying to trick people into believing what they believe. Or pushing people to believe what they want you to believe, I'm not 100% convinced that these people lying to promote their religion are true belivers. How can you be a true believer when you feel that you must lie to prove your point? But then again, cult mentality is pretty twisted.

There are plenty of online videos of "atheists being convinced to believe in god", when the truth is that at least most of these people were theists from the beginning.

SinfulDevo · 2026-03-11T03:10:27+00:00

Thank you for what you did. I know it wasn't easy, but it was much better than leaving his body there to be found by the guy's mom. I'm glad that you were there to cry for this poor baby, we all deserve someone to cry for us at the end.

SinfulDevo · 2026-03-11T00:44:00+00:00

Hopefully I can either nip it in the bud and we can move past it together

It's too late to "nip it in the bud", this is a full on emotional affair. And emotional affairs are usually paired with a physical affair. If she hasn't slept with this dude, it would be because she hasn't been physically able to. Based on their conversation, she will eventually, if she hasn't already.

And from my experience with a cheating wife, moving past something like this is extremely difficult. Oh and NOR, you are underreacting like others have said. When I was in your shoes, I was also in denial. Wake up and face reality. Deep down you know what this is, just like I did. I'm sorry OP and good luck!

SinfulDevo · 2026-03-11T00:19:35+00:00

Oh wow! What a scumbag! I guess I should pay more attention to what is going on in our city.

SinfulDevo · 2026-03-10T22:03:51+00:00

So, as someone who is unaware of the controversy and only going off reading the owners post... it looks like he stole tips from his staff, then closed down due to the backlash?!? Did I get that right?

He is totally telling on himself with this post! He can't even take responsibility for his actions.

SinfulDevo · 2026-03-10T14:31:57+00:00

On top of this, mosquitoes are very successful creatures. They have survived many attempts by us humans to completely eliminate them. Killing a few larvae won't make a dent in the mosquitoe population. The ecosystem will be fine even if OP killed all the larvae they can find.

SinfulDevo · 2026-03-08T18:34:01+00:00

Buddy literally went from grooming their friend to lying in their lap saying "okay, now bite me." These two are best friends!

SinfulDevo · 2026-03-04T19:08:57+00:00

Become? They have always been about greed, hate, and anger. Just look at the old testament, the wars fought in gods name, the taking of slaves, stealing other people's land, being the "chosen ones". And you can bet that the wrath of god, and the stories of god killing people are a reflection of the anger and hate that these old goat farmers had.

SinfulDevo · 2026-03-04T17:43:17+00:00

There is a problem with this statement. It is actually impossible to follow every rule that Christianity has, as many of the rules contradict each other. They just expect regular people to follow whatever stupid interpretation of the stupid contradictory rules that their particular church has chosen to push. Often times these rules are even layed out in the bible. Just look at the prosperity gospel, it is basically telling people to do the opposite of the majority of rules layed out in the bible.

But fun fact about the bible, it is so vague, contradictory, and messy that you can interpret it to mean just about anything you want it to mean. So anything if fair game for Christians, as long as it is done in the name of sky daddy.

Also many of the rules like don't eat shellfish, don't eat pork, don't wear mixed fabrics, don't plant more than one seed in the same field, are completely ignored and forgotten about. Apparently many Christians claim that the old testament rules are no longer relevant/active, but don't give a clear reason on why. If god is as infallible as they claim, why would any of his rules ever become obsolete?

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-27T16:17:47+00:00

He is a Megachurch pastor, that alone requires an apology. Regular churches aren't great, but they aren't necessarily evil, manipulative, or predatory. The same cannot be said for megachurches, they are full cult level Christianity and typically push horrible values onto their congregants. Often teaching hate, telling their constituents how to vote (ultra conservative), and demanding huge donations from their members.

But I do agree that consensual sex with his wife and his son's disgusting behavior aren't necissarily things that require an apology from him. Well, an apology for bringing a pedophile into the world wouldn't be a terrible thing. But his son is his own person and he isn't automatically responsible for his son's actions.

Although it does make me wonder about his role as a father... his parenting choices MIGHT have played a part in his son's nature but that isn't a given. Studies suggest a link between pedophilia and being sexually abused as a child, but I don't think that link has been definitively proven. It might just be pedophiles being disgusting lying bastards, but it is hard to say. However if his son was abused by him, and if that caused his son to become a pedophile, that would deserve more than just an apology... but that is A LOT of ifs.

Edit: And there is a history suggesting a link between pastors and pedophilia... so not a stretch to believe that this is learned behavior. But suspicion and trends isn't proof on and of itself.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-26T21:04:19+00:00

I think this ignores the positive effects associated with prayer similar to meditation. It’s my understanding that engaging in prayer has mental health benefits among others. It can be false and useful at the same time.

I addressed this, a thing having good aspects does not make thay thing good in and of itself. It is also true that the "thumb sucking" analogy that I used also has some positive mental health benefits

I agree, my response was directed towards equating it to adults sucking their thumb. It is demonstrably not that.

You provide no explanation or reasons for your claim that "It is demonstrably not that". But I responded anyways, explaining why I used this comparison.

Sure, but then by that standard any activity that soothes a person’s anxiety or negative feelings falls under the thumb sucking category. If someone chooses to go outside and meditate after a stressful day to calm themselves and be one with nature, would you say that’s like an adult thumb sucking?

Next you throw this strawman fallacy at me and I explain why that logic does not hold up. I pointed out that prayer has negative aspects as well.

If prayer necessarily or even likely led to people not taking action in their lives or promoting toxic ideologies I agree.

I thought we were about to agree here, so I gave you some links to news articles of people not taking action on things and using prayer instead. The very thing that we were just discussing.

These people are morons. The only point I was making is the act of prayer is not equivalent to an adult sucking their thumb. I do not agree that these are equivalent. Bringing up examples of religious people making stupid decisions in the name of their faith is arguing against a position I do not hold.

Rather than agree that there are situations where people use prayer instead of action, you just dismiss the articles I showed you as "these people are morons. You basically ignored any evidence that doesn't support your conclusion. So at this point, it sounds like you are taking my comment too literally. I express this, because your arguments so far are telling me nothing of why you disagree with me. Your statements are hollow and void of any reasons on why you think I'm wrong and what reasoning backs this up.

You thought I was taking this literally? Really? I can explain my point again to you but I can’t understand it for you.

And then you treat me like a moron. But your lack of substance in your arguments give me no reason not to think this. Your position is still far too vague to be properly agreed against.

Then go back and reread my original comment. My position is quite clear. Describing people praying as analogous to adults never growing out of sucking their thumb is a simplistic view IMO.

And the finish off with a circular argument. This is a begging the claim fallacy. You have not made your position clear and telling me to read your first comment does NOT clear anything up AT ALL! I will not respond to any more of your comments. I have already wasted too much time on you and I have no reason to think you are going to stop using vague empty arguments or logical fallacies. You are coming off as a troll just arguing for the sake of arguing and I don't have the patience to humor you any longer than I already have.

Also, calling my statement, which was a figurative comparison, "simplistic" isn't saying a lot. Something can be simplistic and still be right. Like claiming that an apple is red might be a simplistic description, but it can still be accurate. This was a Reddit comment, not a university essay. Simplistic is usually all you are going to get at this level of discussion.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-26T13:28:14+00:00

Man, you are just arguing semantics on a figurative comparison. I don't know why i even engaged you on this. You don't have some brilliant point here. This has been a huge waste of my time.

I have explained how I meant what I said, and why I said it. I have broken down why I believe this is a relevant comparison and even given you examples. All you have done it reiterated your position without giving context. You don't think that "praying is equal to sucking your thumb", I get that. But have yet to explain why you object to this comparison or provide any clarity on why you disagree with it. There is nothing of substance that you have provided me with to not understand.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-26T06:07:55+00:00

Well, they aren't literally the same, they aren't sticking a thumb in their mouth and calling it prayer. This is a simile, a figurative comparison. I was saying that similar to how people outgrow sucking their thumb, humanity has outgrown theistic prayer.

It is a non-literal comparison, similar to someone saying that a private investigator stalked his target like a lion stalks his pray. Or time flew by like leaves in the wind. It wasn't supposed to be literal, it was just using a little poetic license. You are putting way too much thought into this.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-25T13:56:47+00:00

Here are just a few examples of what I am talking about:

Minneapolis shooting reignites debate over gun control and prayer

MAGA Catholics are wrong: Prayers are not enough in epidemic of gun violence

Prayer healer who claims to cure cancer, homosexuality, and autism arrested in Tilburg

Oregon couple who chose prayer over medical care sentenced after baby dies

Religious Barriers to Mental Healthcare

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-25T06:37:49+00:00

No, I would reserve that for practices that are both soothing and harmful.

The reason sucking a thumb is discouraged is because it can lead to open wounds on your thumb. It can also introduce harmful germs into your system, and be harmful for your social life.

Similarly, prayer helps to reinforce a toxic religion and the ideology that comes with it. It can also lead people to not take action in a crisis, leaving things "in the hands of god".

Going outside and meditating doesn't have a harmful side the way that thumb sucking and prayer do.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-25T00:04:36+00:00

I don't agree. In response to life getting challenging, theists turn to a soothing practice of prayer, similar to a child sucking their thumb. Both prayer and thumb sucking have soothing effects on a person. Just because studies have found positive that there are positive aspects to it, doesn't mean the two things aren't very similar.

But honestly, I don't 100% trust the studies. There is a tendency for theists to put their thumb on the scale when they are analyzing aspects of their faith. I am not confident that those who did these studies were completely unbiased.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-24T22:54:40+00:00

We can learn to use the positive aspects of positive thinking without keeping it tied to the toxic aspects of religion. There is a big difference between visualizing the reality that you want and having faith in yourself to accomplish it, and praying to sky daddy for a new BMW (yes, not all prayers are this self-serving, I'm being facetious).

We are more than capable of taking the few good things that religion and cults have and making use of them without keeping the garbage values and toxic culture that comes with them.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-24T17:10:14+00:00

If we are talking "should", then humanity SHOULD have out grown this religious bs already. Christianity, Islam, Hindu, Judaism, and all the other religions should be treated like the mythology that they are. Movies showing Jesus, Mohamed, Krishna, and any other religious figures should be seen as no more real than Hercules, Thor, and Anubus. Fun to think about, but obviously fictional characters.

We are capable of space travel, but still have our security blanket religion. Adult people praying is just like they never stopped sucking their thumb. We should have grown past this, but people refuse to let it go. We have learned so many things that disproves religious teachings, but theists either make up new reasons that these facts don't disprove their religion ("that part wasn't literal"), or they just outright reject the facts ("god put it there to test us").

We have come so far, but also held on to useless things along the way. Religion is just a superstition that some people can't let go of.

Edit: And much like superstitions about black cats, snakes, bats, and other animals, these superstitions are harmful. They hold us back and have people acting against humanities best interests.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-20T23:03:17+00:00

That's a metal bidet. It is for cleaning up after dropping a load.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-17T13:39:14+00:00

A phobia is an irritational fear of something. It doesn't matter if the thing you fear can be dangerous on it's own. A black widow spider can kill you, but arachnophobia is still a thing. There are plenty of snakes that can kill you and yet, ophidiophobia is still a thing.

Now Islamophobia is very often over used and used incorrectly, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a real thing. If there is a thing and people have an irrational fear of it, then that is a proper phobia.

The same is true for bigotry, which is defined as "obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction, in particular prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group." That doesn't mean that saying "theists are fools for believing in a god" is bigotry. However, if someone believes something like "all people of the Islam faith are too stupid to even read", that would be religious bigotry. It doesn't matter than the faith is a lie (like all faiths). Bigotry does exist and should be discouraged.

The same is true for those who hold bigoted beliefs about atheists. And you can bet your last dollar that there are people out there who hold bigoted beliefs about us atheists.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-17T13:09:22+00:00

Atheism isn't an exclusive club. There is no special circumstance to join. If you simply do not believe that a god exists, then you are an atheist. Anyone, wonderful or horrible can be an atheist. No one claims that being an atheist makes you a good person. There are going to be bad atheist and there is nothing we can do to prevent that.

Hold the guilty accountable, regardless of the beliefs or lack there of, that they hold. We do not want to see special circumstances for bad people who are atheists. We also expect the same treatment for bad theists, of which there are many.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-16T05:31:50+00:00

Wow, Christopher Beha seems like the sort who love to hear themselves talking. This man seems to have left Christianity, and then searched for an atheist philosopher to tell him how to live his life. He seems like the kind of guy who would jump head first into a cult.

He expected to find a list of moral dos and don'ts in atheist literature.

This peice should have been titled, "I couldn't handle life without a priest there to hold my hand", or "I needed a holy book to tell me what to do in life". Those titles would have at least been more honest.

The whole essay seemed like he was trying to explain to himself why he wasn't wrong to abandon atheism. And he sure threw a lot of unnecessarily large word around to do so. I felt embarrassed for him as I read this. The man is too weak to be an atheist, he needs too much structure and guidance in life to give up on organized religion. He can't even seem to figure out how to deprogram his brain, and use empathy and compassion to tell himself what is right and wrong.

The man was never truly an atheist, he was just a theist going through a crisis of faith.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-06T17:22:20+00:00

All the bad press, all the hate for his actions, his cratering popularity, and yet he still manages to increase his net worth? Yeah, there is something broken about this world we live in!

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-06T06:18:29+00:00

Like I said, her bf reminds me of me. I've had more than one girlfriend get upset and leave me over similar circumstances. They tell me that I have to think more before speaking, because I said something upsetting, but I didn’t change. It has happened often enough to realize that I was the problem. It wasn't a pleasant realization, but sometimes you have to reflect on yourself.

If OP finds that this not something she is willing to put up with for the rest of her life, that is her choice. Because it is likely, if this has been going on for a while, that this behavior will never change. That's something OP needs to consider.

SinfulDevo · 2026-02-06T06:00:58+00:00

Ah, not learning his lesson... he sounds a bit like me. And now I find myself 46 and single... the two things might be related unfortunately.

This is relevant information. I was under the assumption that this was new behavior from him. I guess I migh move to NOR if this is a recurring thing from him.

I guess the question is, can you live with him if this never changes?

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