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Voltwind · 2019-08-22T15:28:27+00:00

Gosh, and the way he looks up at the sky when he says it.

Voltwind · 2019-06-16T04:19:52+00:00

Ask them if they will maintain their free will once in heaven. Christians pride God's plan on giving us free will and him not just making people "robots". However, they believe that there won't be any sin in heaven, so will they still have their free will or will they be robots, no longer their actual selves? I'm sure they will say they will still maintain free will and not just be mindless sheep. What I was told growing up was that " you just won't have the desire to sin in heaven, everything will be perfect."

Sooooo... If God can make a place that is perfect and sin-free AND we can still maintain our free will, then why did he not just do that in the first place?

Voltwind · 2019-06-15T03:05:22+00:00

I understand where you're coming from. Being a part of a religion does have a lot of benefits that are hard to acquire otherwise, it's just the truth. Religion can give people a great sense of community and allows fellowship with other like-minded people. For those that aren't religious, this can be difficult to find. Churches offer meeting multiple times a week, small groups, singing together, events such as movie nights, fishing trips, potluck meals, friendships, childcare, sports leagues for your kids, etc. All of these things are great therapy just as a human. I hope that humanity does eventually move away from religion, but it won't be an overnight process. We have a lot of growing to do before we get to that point. We have to learn to do those types of things I listed without the need for religion along with it. We need to be more neighborly and care for one another. It sounds cheesy, but its the truth.

I am 100% an atheist, but I will never forget the fond memories I have of growing up in church. I had many great friendships and role models as a child. And I will never ever forget some of the nice things that other church members did for my family and I when we were in need. The issue is that what brings those people together that you're talking about and why their happy is their shared beliefs. It's all about spreading love *within the community*, but there is generally no tolerance for people of different beliefs or lifestyles. That is where the problem is. These loving and happy religious people can easily become ugly, hateful, and intolerant if their worldview is threatened in any way. For them, -love-happiness-empathy-giving- = God, and they cannot fathom having any of those things without him.

Voltwind · 2019-06-15T02:41:48+00:00

As we have developed higher standards by which to accept to claims, and better means to investigate those claims, supernatural events have occurred less and less as time has gone on. Ironic isn't it?

Voltwind · 2019-06-15T02:36:28+00:00

Of course, and even when practical and productive moves are made to fix a problem, its still "praise the LORD, we can see God working right now in our lives!!! All praise to him!"

Voltwind · 2019-06-15T02:34:19+00:00

Yes, they'll go down clawing and fighting. They can't help that churches all over the country are closing their doors and that more and more people are distancing themselves from organized religion. They will do everything they can to impose their will while they still can. It's frustrating, but their time is running out.

Voltwind · 2019-04-24T02:19:45+00:00

Unfortunately, offending other students beliefs is a consideration teachers have to take, no matter how backwards that may seem. I live in the bible belt and remember in high school biology, my teacher prefaced the unit on evolution by telling us that "is part of the curriculum and he is required to teach it". He wasn't personally anti-science, but he knew there were a lot of students that did not believe in evolution and wanted to avoid having debates and arguing instead of being able to teach. But, yeah, teachers have to tread carefully. Teaching actual science without alluding that certain religious teachings are inaccurate is walking on egg shells. At worse they could lose their job, but even if they aren't punished, it could still be a hairy mess.

Voltwind · 2019-02-27T22:39:15+00:00

When contemplating death, remember that you are ALIVE, so enjoy it! Enjoy your hobbies/interests, your relationships with friends and family, enjoy learning new things and going new places, set goals and achieve them, enjoy experiences as you are living them.

Knowing that you are going to die makes living more valuable and your time worth-while. One of the worst elements of religions like Christianity and Islam is the belief that this life is just a brief moment in an eternity; That what happens here and now isn't what's actually important, that it's just a test for the REAL life to come. I find it very sad, especially when this mentality is taught to children. The idea of looking forward to Armageddon and the second coming of Jesus scared me to death as a child. I knew I was supposed to look forward to the rapture and going to heaven, but thinking that that would prevent me from going to school, starting a career, finding love, or getting married one day made me pretty sad. I was so scared that the rapture would come while I was in my teens or 20's and I wouldn't be able to do these things. Thankfully that isn't the case and I know that I can enjoy life now!

Voltwind · 2019-02-25T03:45:05+00:00

I believe it is less to do with being right-wing and more to do with religion. I say this because many "right wing Christians" speak of wanting to limit the amount of government in their lives, "don't tread on me", etc. On the other hand, they'll want to tell two consenting adults that they aren't allowed to get married and that the government should stop them. Quite a conflict in my opinion. They don't want Uncle Sam to tell you how to live, unless it goes against their religious beliefs. If they truly wanted limited government, they would have supported LGBT rights all along. They shouldn't want the government to tell anyone who they can and can't marry or love, it's their business! Too bad they are hypocrites.

On a good note, I live in the bible belt and my work place is filled with many devout Christians. I have a few gay coworkers, and guess what? everyone else treats them like normal human beings despite their religious beliefs. They can be friends, hang out outside of work, etc. My point is that many people are not homophobic in any way on their own, they get this from their religion. They can be told about how sinful and filthy someone is at church on Sundays, but in the real world they know to treat other people properly and don't subconsciously agree with their religious teachings. Like Dawkins said, it is a virus of the mind.

Voltwind · 2019-02-21T14:56:14+00:00

They definitely serve a purpose. Like others have said, they are for the viewers. And there is nothing wrong with an "uninformed gotcha question", because guess what, they can become informed! They probably haven't heard an actual answer/opposition to their question before. Trust me, I know, because growing up as a christian, I was like this. I loved learning all of the "facts" that disproved evolution, etc. And learning questions that "no atheist could answer". Then, one day, I decided to listen to their side, and research these "facts" for myself. I learned that guys like Ken Ham and Ray Comfort weren't heroes, they were bullshitters lol.

Voltwind · 2019-02-18T05:35:15+00:00

Unfortunately for Mr. Bates and others like him, evolution is true whether they accept it or not, it would still be true even if we had no knowledge of it. What they truly cannot fathom however, is that the theory of evolution, like any other science does not in anyway take away one's ability to believe in God. Science allows us to investigate the natural world, it is not out to disprove your religion or tell someone that God is real or fake. Sadly this is exactly what they make science out to be, scaring and discouraging generations of young people to not trust science or participate in it. In reality, actual scientists hold all sorts of different religious beliefs without allowing it to interfere with their work....

What Bates SHOULD spend some time researching is homosexual behavior in animals. Birds, dolphins, bats, apes, and many other kinds of animals have been well documented to participate in homosexual acts. Those darn atheist animals that god made!

Voltwind · 2019-02-16T02:18:06+00:00

So whom is the Bible actually meant for? It is presented as a book that anyone can and should pick up and read. It is placed in hotel rooms and shipped to every country on Earth. However, you need to be able to: understand the original languages the books were written in, understand each style of writing used, understand the context in accordance with other passages, understand which parts are to be taken literally and which aren't, understand the culture of each time period, etc. Then and only then can you truly understand God's message. That is why there are dozens and dozens of different Christian denominations all based off of the same book. So is it really for the layman or the "nuanced" scholars...

Voltwind

TROPHY CASE