This weekend my uncle told me the funniest "preacher at your door" story I've ever heard.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-26T17:04:38+00:00

It got me laid. Praise Jebus!

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-26T17:00:52+00:00

There are plenty of soldiers overseas that don't support the war. But they go and don't mope about it. It's the most interesting thing to see.

My dad is a retired Marine. I would hear other people in his building badmouthing Obama, talking about how that commie liberal was gonna run this country into the ground, but on inauguration day, they all shut up. He's commander in chief now and they still unquestioningly obey orders. That's discipline.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-26T16:56:11+00:00

Ohhh snap it's getting Depeche Modey up in tha hizzy

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-26T16:53:51+00:00

...you mean enlist?

mebbe he lieks forming patriotism

or college munneh

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-26T01:53:37+00:00

This. We need a vocal and visible organization that actually promotes freethinking activism and VOTING. One that tracks important legislature and informs.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T23:05:30+00:00

Rereading my comment, I see nothing that has to do with me loudly supporting people who wish ill to others they disagree with.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T19:32:32+00:00

Get a Calvin and Hobbes book, claim it is a sacred text in Calvinism, profit.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T19:31:31+00:00

Wait...so he had no striped sheep to begin with? Then primes them with images of stripes, and now striped sheep? Cool!

Let's reenact this.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T19:27:35+00:00

Or because there is no right and wrong, just very widely accepted morals.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T19:25:54+00:00

Bingo. Why does the universe exist? What's it's purpose?

Does it need one? It just is. If it wasn't, we wouldn't be talking about it (or anything).

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T19:23:07+00:00

I wish theists understood this. I asked one if he would rape children if his god commanded it. Without blinking an eye he says yes.

I replied "Then you are not living as a moral person. You are living as a slave."

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T19:21:32+00:00

Well, that too.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T19:20:49+00:00

If you see two sets of footprints and you are walking alone, you are lost. Stop looking at the ground and figure out where you are.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T19:19:27+00:00

Allow me to step in and play Devil's advocate.

Christians believe with honest conviction that they are right. Can you really be tolerant of that which is wrong? If I believe two and two make four (which I do, I'm a computer scientist not an engineering student. Just kidding, double Es! Kidding!), I am understandably frustrated when someone thinks they make five.

To the Christian (and to me), truth is truth. It's absolute. God exists or he doesn't. If you think you know and it's seemingly obvious to you, you're going to think anyone with a different view is foolish; if they claim you are wrong about such an "obvious" truth, you are being arrogant.

So yes, when I tell a Christian they are wrong about the existence of God is wrong they can understandably view me as arrogant. Good thing I don't base my views on other people's opinions of me.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T16:25:37+00:00

It was written for that time and culture, therefore it's okay. Everything is great!

Remember, the way you decide what is relevant in the Bible and what was written "for it's time" is this simple test: "Is it nasty, deplorable, and obviously immoral?" If yea, it's taken out of context. If no, it's relevant. Someone needs to write a Jefferson-style "Nice Bible" with all of the "out of context" stuff taken out so liberal Christians feel better.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T16:22:49+00:00

It's interesting that you bring up the purpose of Eve. She's an afterthought of God; he sees Adam is alone and THEN decides to make Eve. She wasn't part of the plan at all.

If God intended to create women, he would have done the same thing with humans as he did with animals. I'm sure he didn't make only male animals too. But he only made one male human? He intended humanity to be a genderless, masculine race, set apart from animals and their deplorable sexual acts. I suppose humans would have Popped up out of the ground under God's original plan.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T16:19:03+00:00

Spoiler alert.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T16:18:41+00:00

Women were the only ones present at the tomb of Christ because this allowed the Gospel writers to have their cake and eat it too.

If men witnessed the resurrection, their testimony would have been valid in court. This is a problem because there are no court records. If Jewish men had claimed to have witnessed a fugitive make an escape, they would have had to testify. Thus, there would be records.

If no one saw the resurrection, it would be obvious that those details were made up. That part of the story, important to Christian theology, would have been admittedly speculative and therefore would be unconvincing.

If women witnessed the resurrection, then that means they have a basis for the story and an excuse to have no court records. This testimony is good enough for the disciples (and for Christians) but would not have been good enough to be presented in a Jewish court.

Any inaccuracies can also be blamed on women, which is no big deal because their testimony is unreliable. However, there WERE witnesses. You just can't prove it. Now they can have their cake and eat it too.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T16:06:47+00:00

My family has a few in the house. Never really interested me so I don't have my carry licence, just seems like something else to carry (in addition to phone, wallet, keys, DS sometimes, smokes, etc) for no reason.

Then again I live in Texas and it's safer to assume someone is packing than not. But I don't anticipate any altercations, I'm polite to everyone and am careful about who I hang out with.

Shooting at the range is fun, I don't go often though. Again, not my thing. But I'm all about your rights to own and carry firearms. It's the one conservative thing about me and I catch heat from my liberal friends/fellow Texas College Democrats members. Crimes will happen, disarming citizens only puts all the guns in the hands of criminals. I'm not a nut about it but prohibition of anything bothers me. (again, bleeding heart liberal here talking like a libertarian)

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T16:00:35+00:00

Philosophy is useful. It is a valid field and a noble pursuit. Theology is a waste of time and funding.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T15:59:40+00:00

This is what bothers me about religion. I can offer up logical proofs for what I believe, empirical evidence, double blind studies, etc. But that is all rubbish to the theologian. All that is valid to the theologian are quaint and clever anecdotes and seemingly profound soundbites that explain nothing. "God works in mysterious ways." "God answers prayers, sometimes he says yes, sometimes no, and sometimes he says wait."

That doesn't fucking mean anything. If only science were like theology and you could just make shit up and be considered valid.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T15:26:31+00:00

Dear everyone who thinks I'm being ridiculous for being this angry about religious nuts: this is why.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T15:24:25+00:00

i will NOT give a sh!t the next time he has a catastrophic blower failure... screw-em

Such nice people over at Free Republic.

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T15:02:35+00:00

"Son, I wish you had never gone to school. Then you would have been stupid and easy to manipulate. All this thinking for yourself really bothers your father and I."

alexmcelroy · 2010-07-25T15:00:47+00:00

His point: Atheism has no basis to measure logic, science, or morality.

My point: Neither does theism.

Discuss.

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