Guest_guest.

You are a very naughty boy. 🙂 You've sucked me in like a huge vacuum cleaner. I've taken the 'bait', hook, line and sinker.

Here goes:

My bible has 1207 pages devoted to the old testament in which such writings of the genre you have quoted seem common.

However it only has just 327 pages devoted to Christ's supposed testament. It's the 'good stuff' I'm told.

That's a ratio of 3.69:1 of Jewish(non-Christian) to Christian teachings. Here we have two different religions with the heretical offshoot, Christianity, plagairizing the scriptural teachings of its spawning ancestor. Interesting that certain books of the rejected religion's scriptures were adopted!

Let's just consider these latter 327 pages. Are they also the inspired word of God as well? Are they any better or worse?

Or they just the words of primitive Hebrew tribesmen trying to make sense out of their Judaism in the light of Christ's largely misunderstood message?

This is what the born again Paul(Saul the ex-pharisee), the father and instigator of western Christianity as we know it today, wrote:

Romans:13 Duties toward State Authorities

Everyone must obey state authorities, because no authority
exists without God's permission, and
the existing authorities have been put there by God. 2 Whoever opposes the existing authority opposes what God has ordered; and anyone who does so will bring judgment on himself. 3 For rulers are not to be feared by those who do good, but by those who do evil. Would you like to be unafraid of the man in authority? Then do what is good, and he will praise you, 4 because he is God's servant working for your own good. But if you do evil, then be afraid of him, because his power to punish is real. He is God's servant and carries out God's punishment on those who do evil. 5 For this
reason you must obey the authorities-not just because of God's pun-
ishment, but also as a matter of conscience.

6 That is also why you pay taxes,
because the authorities are working
for God when they fulfill their duties.

7 Pay, then, what you owe them; pay
them your personal and property
taxes, and show respect and honor
for them all.

How come we tried Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg? Weren't they obeying orders as unequivocally instructed to do by Paul? Why try them in court, when Paul, God's author, specifically states above:

"Everyone must obey state authorities, because no authority
exists without God's permission, and
the existing authorities have been put there by God."

So all the horrific powermongers of the world like Caligula, Nero, Hitler, Pol Pot, etc were put in place with God's permission; note that the bible says: "no authority
exists without God's permission".

The warmongering Bush has God's permission to be in authority to blot out so many lives with that same omniscient God knowing well in advance what Bush would do???

What sort of a God is this God of the Christians???? A blood thirsty monster?? Or are we allowed to ignore the biblical writings that don't suit our cultural mores?

and hey, bev, I'm with you on the 'genitals as large as those of donkeys'. hubba hubba!

This is for you Guest_guest - a little present.

There is No God (And You Know It) - Sam Harris

Somewhere in the world a man has abducted a little girl. Soon he will rape, torture, and kill her. If an atrocity of this kind not occurring at precisely this moment, it will happen in a few hours, or days at most. Such is the confidence we can draw from the statistical laws that govern the lives of six billion human beings.

The same statistics also suggest that this girl’s parents believe -- at this very moment -- that an all-powerful and all-loving God is watching over them and their family. Are they right to believe this? Is it good that they believe this?

No.

The entirety of atheism is contained in this response. Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which the obvious is overlooked as a matter of principle. The obvious must be observed and re-observed and argued for. This is a thankless job. It carries with it an aura of petulance and insensitivity. It is, moreover, a job that the atheist does not want.

It is worth noting that no one ever need identify himself as a non-astrologer or a non-alchemist. Consequently, we do not have words for people who deny the validity of these pseudo-disciplines. Likewise, “atheism” is a term that should not even exist. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma. The atheist is merely a person who believes that the 260 million Americans (eighty-seven percent of the population) who claim to “never doubt the existence of God” should be obliged to present evidence for his existence -- and, indeed, for his benevolence, given the relentless destruction of innocent human beings we witness in the world each day. Only the atheist appreciates just how uncanny our situation is: most of us believe in a God that is every bit as specious as the gods of Mount Olympus; no person, whatever his or her qualifications, can seek public office in the United States without pretending to be certain that such a God exists; and much of what passes for public policy in our country conforms to religious taboos and superstitions appropriate to a medieval theocracy. Our circumstance is abject, indefensible, and terrifying. It would be hilarious if the stakes were not so high.

Hi OMW,

I will be most interested to hear what you think of "Letter to a Christian Nation". It's a quick read, only 90 or so very small pages. (But not cheap! In hardcover, it costs as much as a regular size book.)

Re the donkey genitals, you said "On the other hand, if he is alive, you are keeping him alive in your minds, in your feelings, in your anger, and in a quest to talk about donkey genitals...."

What I quoted was part of what you said, with some extra words removed. Movie ads do it all the time when they take tiny snippets out of movie reviews... of course it's dishonest if they leave in words that contradict the intent of the original writer. I didn't think I had done that to you... in my rush to focus on the donkey genitals.

Is anybody else laughing as hard as I am every time I see that phrase "donkey genitals" now??? I really think it needs its own thread. Donkey Genitals Appreciation Society, or something.... (WD, you around anywhere? Sounds like your kind of thread; wanna get us started?)