To former Christians: Why do you no longer believe?

[gremcint]

what is a poe aside from ghosts in zelda?

[Lachrymose]

http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Poe%27s_Law

[Lace Neil Singer]

I love reposting that; not cuz I believe in it being something real a fundie said but cuz it's just so darned funny. XD I dare you; read that thru and not totally crack up with mirth.

[jackfaire]

That link made me angry because no one even questioned it. No one even bloody thought of the possibility that there was a good reason to be upset by the woman's offer of prayer.

What if like I have heard people say this woman said to this sick little girl, "The power of prayer will convince God to heal you"

This is bullying because you just told a little girl that if she gets sicker God hates her and doesn't care. You are giving her false hope.

Offering to pray for me and my family when my dad passed was not comforting and warm it was offensive and yes abusive.

All I would hear was, "I will pray that God helps you in your time of need but fuck if I will lift a finger to do shit to help you"


Sorry for the threadjack but things like that get my goat.

[gremcint]

On a young ass.
John 12:14
And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon.

Deep down I had always known Jesus had had sex at some point.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Let me respond to the whole "created the world in 6 days thing"

Consider the construction of a house. There are steps that must be taken and a logical order they must be taken in. You have to build a foundation before you can build walls and you have to build walls before you can build a roof, etc.

If you were to say, theoretically create a planet. You'd had to form the land first, then the atmosphere, then the water, then the life and so forth, there would still have to be a logical sequence of events.

It makes sense to me that the "6 days" described in the bible was simply a means of illustrating that, assuming God did create this world and everything in it, the creation of the world followed a logical sequence of events, just like building a house would.

[Parrothead]

If you put the Big Bang/ Evolution side-by-side with the Creation story, they dovetail quite nicely.

Timeline doesn't, but everything else does.

[Ghel]

It makes sense to me that the "6 days" described in the bible was simply a means of illustrating that, assuming God did create this world and everything in it, the creation of the world followed a logical sequence of events, just like building a house would.

If you put the Big Bang/ Evolution side-by-side with the Creation story, they dovetail quite nicely.

Actually, no. The biblical account of creation is in a different order than the events known through science. For example, the earth is created before the sun and stars. Birds and whales are created before insects and reptiles. Flowering plants are created before any animals. The biblical account of creation is the sort of thing we would expect from a group of patriarchal bronze-age nomads trying to eke out a living in the desert. It is not the sort of thing we should expect from an omniscient god trying to inform and advise his creations.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Actually, no. The biblical account of creation is in a different order than the events known through science. For example, the earth is created before the sun and stars. Birds and whales are created before insects and reptiles. Flowering plants are created before any animals. The biblical account of creation is the sort of thing we would expect from a group of patriarchal bronze-age nomads trying to eke out a living in the desert. It is not the sort of thing we should expect from an omniscient god trying to inform and advise his creations.

There's plenty of literature out there poking holes in both creation theories.

But I do recall once watching a program that dealt with evolution and the notion that our entire planet and all the life in was the result of some incredible random convergence of matter.

I don't remember the exact numbers, but they said the odds of the universe and our planet randomly coming together were astronomically low. They claimed it would be the same as hitting consecutive jackpots on over 1 000 000 slot machines. Theoretically possible, but realistically impossible.

Also the Ben Stein film "Expelled" deals with a number of legitimate scientists, who believe, without attributing it specifically to a God or creator, that there may well be some element of design within nature.

[Ghel]

I think we're getting off topic here with the creation vs. evolution debate (which is really a false dichotomy anyway). There are other threads that talk about creationism and evolution. This thread is about why former Christians no longer believe, and part of that, for me, is that many parts of the bible, including the creation account, are at odds with reality. If we can't trust the bible on things that we can verify, then how can we trust it about things that we can't, such as the existence of God or life after death?

[HYHYBT]

You have a more accurate source for unverifiable information, then? And if you did, how would you know?

What I can't get over is the idea that anything not theoretically provable (before death, of course) must be false.

[Lachrymose]

Words just can't describe..uggh..

Take a look at this thread..I know it's a bit off topic, but since I brought up RR earlier..just...ugggh.


http://rr-bb.com/showthread.php?t=122484

Specifically:

http://rr-bb.com/showpost.php?p=1649945&postcount=7

[Nyoibo]

Words just can't describe..uggh..

Take a look at this thread..I know it's a bit off topic, but since I brought up RR earlier..just...ugggh.


http://rr-bb.com/showthread.php?t=122484

Specifically:

http://rr-bb.com/showpost.php?p=1649945&postcount=7

Stop it, the stupid, it burns and the ignorance stings.

At least one of the posters over there had the decency to be shocked by that post though.

[Lachrymose]

Stop it, the stupid, it burns and the ignorance stings.

At least one of the posters over there had the decency to be shocked by that post though.

*whistles*

[Ghel]

You have a more accurate source for unverifiable [emphasis added] information, then? And if you did, how would you know?

I'm not sure what you mean by this, but there are ways of getting to verifiable information. Instead of relying on a single book written by people who didn't have access to modern science, you can read about actual research that has improved our understanding of how the universe works. One of the important things about scientific research is that it is repeatable, and therefore we can use it as a basis for expanding our knowledge. There is nothing in religion that comes close to that sort of explanitory power.

What I can't get over is the idea that anything not theoretically provable (before death, of course) must be false.

What I can't get over is that so many people can't accept the answer "I don't know." There's nothing wrong with saying that we don't have an anwer to something right now, but someday we might. It isn't justified for anyone to say, "we don't know how such-and-such happens, therefore god did it."