Courtesy of the Friendly Atheist:
The Bible says: “The fool hath said in his heart ‘There is no God’.” Atheists say there is no God. Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in God has, but not atheism. Atheism has never given anyone peace of mind. Atheism has never dried a tear. Atheism has never given an intellectual answer to the creation. Atheism is bankrupt and empty; it’s brain dead.
If I may, let's take these one by one shall we?
"Atheism has never painted a masterpiece." Well neither belief nor the lack of belief create any actual art, however if the idea is that Atheists cannot create art, well that is simply ridiculous. In fact there are many who believe that Leonardo Da Vinci himself was an Atheist or at least an agnostic.
"Atheism has never dispelled fear." Wrong. It has dispelled the fear of hell and eternal suffering.
"Atheism has never healed a disease." I would argue that atheism, or at least a lack of faith in God's ability to cure disease, is behind every known cure. If doctors and scientists had faith that only God could heal the sick, there would be no vaccines, surgeries, or chemotherapy.
"Atheism has never given anyone piece of mind." Oh, this could not be more wrong. Atheism frees the mind like almost nothing else. The weight that is lifted off of a person once the burden of faith is removed is impossible to adequately explain.
"Atheism has never dried a tear." Well speaking as an Atheist who has worked with children most of my life, and wiped away too many tears to count, I find this argument insulting and unworthy of response.
"Atheism has never given an intellectual answer to the creation." In fact Atheism is the ONLY pathway to truly understanding how everything that is, came to be. Once we remove the barriers that religion places in our way, there is no limit to what we will someday be able to discover and learn about ourselves, our world, and our universe.
Simply put this guy's a moron, and his arguments are pathetic.
By the by, if you think you recognize the name John Hagee, that might be due to the fact that he was the Evangelical pastor that John McCain cozied up to during the 2008 campaign before he had to reject him after finding out that he had said that the Holocaust was part of God's plan.
Oh yeah, THAT happened.
"Atheism has never...."
ReplyDeleteOnly because the stupid shits refuses to even CONSIDER all that atheism IS doing OR he is too stupid to recognize the pain, agony, death and destruction that organized religion is responsible for.
Of course, if atheism took over, he would be out of a cushy job that enables him to JUDGE other people, or get them to give him their money, or make them give their autonomy over to him and his ilk, or....
Or Divorce his wife to marry his Secretary.
DeleteGryphen, well done! I agree with you on all points.
ReplyDeleteSarah thought it was God's plan she be President. Funny how wrong their God can be.
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing, that image of this POS preacher flanked by flags is obscene.
DeleteWhat the holy fuck is with the big ass flags flying in the breeze behind him? This is not THEIR country, it is ours, left, right and neutral. Quit acting like this is your country Evangelicals.
ReplyDelete@4:37
DeleteIt IS their country!
They just don't want to share it with anyone who doesn't agree with them, which is why they scream "WAR ON CHRISTMAS" every time someone tells them they CAN'T put their crap on public property.
To me, THAT is their trouble.
In the case of THIS asshole, I would think it has more to do with convincing his "sheep" that theirs is the only way for the country and going away from it is why the country is in such trouble.
That a a black man in the WH!
Excuse me. That should read that "and" a black man.
DeleteHe’s just preaching to the choir.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the belief in God’s Plan has helped some people cope. My parents lost four of their six children; two to an inherited disease (both were unwitting carriers), one baby died shortly after birth, and a boy of twelve drowned playing in a neighbor’s livestock reservoir. If my mother hadn’t been able to call it God’s Plan, I’m not sure she would have survived that. The boy who drowned was her favorite, and she fully intended to turn him into some sort of preacher, the bigger the better. Seeing the rise of Sarah Palin, I think she might have made it, but God’s Plan thwarted her plan.
Dad accepted it all as bad luck.
You would think "bad luck" would sit better than "god is an asshole."
DeleteDarlene, I'm so sorry! I have been reading your comments for years. I always liked that you gave your name on every comment. That is just a tragic family history. I hope your parents appreciate having you!
DeleteTEXAS MEL
Thank you.
DeleteDad loved me to bits, but Mom resented me challenging her absurd religious proclamations. And I look like the boy who drowned, so there was that issue as well. We did NOT get along. Dad rode herd as best he could, but he had to farm, so I received a string of injuries from my mother and surviving brother. As adults, my brother has suffered much more than me, since he doesn’t know how to behave.
John Hagee, the great evangelist, also divorced his wife to marry his secretary. I lived in San Antonio during that time of "consternation". I am constantly amazed that their rules are bent to fit their situation.
ReplyDeleteIf you want a truly eye opening window into what is going on in human hearts that is utterly depraved, read this article
ReplyDeletehttp://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/10/20/195730/89/
Here we have "christians" openly touting how their "prayers" have cause death, suffering and mayhem.
Research the embedded links, and they will lead you to many other pages and websites outlining the horrific movements that have sprung up as militiant fanatic religious people are striving to
subject the planet to their madness.
These are the people that beat and starve their children in the name of religion
These are the same people that would with hold even life saving medical
treatment for their kids because an ancient book or "prayer" should be better
These are the people like Hagee, Dobson, Pat Robertson, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland,
David Barton, and $arah fucking Paylin who live lives of luxury while grifting billions from
ignorant and misguided sheeple.
These are the people that twist bible verses so badly that they even have declared
that soldiers with PTSD are acting ungodly, and should be ashamed
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/16/ptsd-biblical_n_4274898.html
People like Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Michelle Bachmann, and Louie Ghomert
who want to overthrow democracy and the Constitution, and force theocracy and Dominion on the rest of us
These are the same people who flaunt their lawlessness by turning their churches into hotbeds of political activism, against the IRS code.
There are millions who have escaped to tell the tales about the suffering, violence and misery.
www.nolongerquivering.com
Www.exmormon.org
www.rightwingwatch.com
www.freakoutnation.com
http://www.experienceproject.com/groups/Escaped-Jehovahs-Witness-Cult-But-Healed-Slowly-After/214601
www.godsownparty.com
Thanks for the links, AJ. You never disappoint with your good links to relevant topics.
DeleteI've been on a self-imposed media-fast for the past two weeks, so I don't know really WTF has happened in the whole world outside my little cocoon, including sports scores for my fave teams since the Cardinals lost the World Series.
It will be interesting to see how little I have missed in "real news" versus the BS that is just part of the filler for the 24/7 newshole.
Anyone who watches "Criminal Minds" has a difficult time believing there actually exist humans who do such terrible things to others. Likewise, we have a very hard time understanding how these religious types can be so very cruel, while spouting their misinterpreted bible.
DeleteThe evil, the willfully ignorant and the pitifully stupid will always be among us. It's just up to us non-believers to eventually outnumber them. And that WILL happen.
Did you copy that verbatim? Because what he meant was 'peace of mind.' And as much as I want to give him a piece of my mind, he would just write me off as an inferior woman.
ReplyDeleteDamn you beat me to it.
DeleteSue wrote: Did you copy that verbatim?
DeleteGryphen generally provides links to his sources. Because of the "piece of mind" bit, I followed the link to The Friendly Atheist. From there I followed Hemant's link to the Right Wing Watch article by Kyle Mantyla. Kyle's link for the "piece of mind" passage is to a YouTube video, which has no transcript. Presumably the misspelling is Kyle's.
Normally I just check Gryphen's source, but I'm not quite ready to start work yet.
I did just cut and paste that part and was so focused on refuting what he said that I did not search it for grammatical mistakes.
DeleteMy bad. Fixed now.
Gryphen, when you're quoting someone verbatim I for one am fine with an exact copy, with perhaps a "[sic]" where it's called for. Fix one bit, and you risk comments on the bits you didn't fix.
DeleteLack of belief in the infallibility of the Bible has never proven the Earth is round.
ReplyDeleteScience didn't land us on the moon - religion did!
I was on a bus trip to Branson last week and we heard about a baby that was born with a birth defect. So we all prayed for that baby! And that baby got better! It wasn't the atheist surgeons that attended 16 post-high-school years of education or the state-of-the-art equipment. NO - it wasn't the science that saved that baby - it was our prayers, praise Jesus for being wise enough to put all of us on that bus to Branson in time to pray for that baby!
Remember: the football team that prays the hardest before the game, and especially at halftime, will always win the game.
I sincerely hope that was a snark.
DeleteI cringe at people like John Hagee who falsely represent Christ. If John Hagee followed Christ, the miracles and healings would follow him. When the man preaches, he's full of hot anger, and pounds that pulpit and waves the bible in the air like he'd love to smack someone with it.
ReplyDeleteIt's written that God would have wanted the Jews to accept the Messiah that God sent and when they couldn't believe it was him, they would later be brought back into the full fold by the gentiles that they looked down on. Supposedly, this is a plan where God first came to them, so they could introduce him to the world, but they failed, and then the heathen were given a chance to enter the fold as adopted sons and daughters to the family, but then they dropped the ball and eventually started rejecting others from coming into the fold.
It shows that mankind (when he gets a good thing) wants it all for himself and would exclude others from entering in). God is not a religion. And when I hear men like Hagee so self-righteously think they are on that train track to heaven, while trampling on innocents and casting them out, I realize, finally realize, that the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ, had to come to take on the sins of the world, because no man can get it right, and many men seek power and glory for themselves. Every church has failed. But God doesn't fail. And the Church that's spoken of in the bible is an invisible church that is made up of those that Christ decides to have, so that no man can brag and start to point the finger and judge and condemn.
I don't want to offend atheists here, and you, G. I've discovered that they can practice kindness and goodness and give of themselves just as much as those who profess Christ. I remember a verse in the OT, where it speaks to the whole world in relation to who God chooses and who he rejects, not based on good works, but on their attitudes towards others. I can't quote it verbatum, but it goes along like this, that He would provoke the Jews to jealousy for Him, by embracing the gentiles into the fold.
I believe God would embrace all those (right-wing fringe christians wouldn't accept), those who are the outcasts and bring them in and embrace them to cause the self-righteous churches to jealousy.
A perspective from a rogue christian, who feels God's love, for me and for all you guys.
"Atheism has never given anyone [peace] of mind." Oh, this could not be more wrong. Atheism frees the mind like almost nothing else. The weight that is lifted off of a person once the burden of faith is removed is impossible to adequately explain.
ReplyDeleteHaving recently acknowledged the fact that I am an atheist, I know first hand that what Griffin said is true.
6:18, I am not trying to provoke any angry response or seem belligerent with this question, but would you mind telling me what form of christianity you practice? In a little more detail than "rogue christian"?
ReplyDeleteOk a double post on this thread, but this one is TRULY representative of how extreme the militant Christians are becoming, and how urgently they want to overthrow our Federal government
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/joyner-our-only-hope-military-takeover
Rick Joyner goes on the record in hoping for a MILITARY TAKEOVER of our government by force.
Yes kids, he is advocating that armed rebellion is the only way that the Teaparty and religious types can ever wrest control away from the legisilative process.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/joyner-our-only-hope-military-takeover
Of course, they took that segment off of Youtube because they were embarrased about it later on, and he tries to soft pedal it
http://www.morningstarministries.org/resources/prophetic-bulletins/2013/martial-law#.Uk7tL6Vc_Hg
This is just another small glimpse inside the minds of these believers who only want theocracy and Christian domination of our society, even if they advocate taking it by force
" 'Atheism has never dispelled fear.' Wrong. It has dispelled the fear of hell and eternal suffering."
ReplyDeleteThis was the most liberating moment for me. I still believe there maybe something greater than this realm, but there is no fear of what might come. Hell is religions creation to control the masses.
I think the current state of religion has caused many of us to realize just where we stand. I no longer call myself a christian, not for a long time. Not sure if I fit the agnostic, or atheist. I have had personal experience from the beyond, so I believe there is more than nothing, but not heaven or hell or any judgement.
ReplyDeleteOh. My. Sweet. Jesus.
ReplyDeleteJust another hit on Obama, who, if he turns out to not be a follower of Muhammad, must be an atheist.
And neither have you John.... Pigs can't work in hospitals...
ReplyDeleteGryphen,
ReplyDeleteTonite driving home I was listening to XMRadio Progressive channel and heard a commercial about an atheist social group! I think it was online. I missed the name but thought of you!
Atheists are brain dead?!?!?! Coming from Hagee, I'll take that as a complement. He's simply not equipped to deal with the real world without the crutches. The thing with Atheists is there's a lot more to us than the "God" issue. I don't mean any disrespect for believers, but we cope with life differently without a belief in a higher power, yet we cope with the same things everyone does. We're not more nor less human as Hagee and his ilk seem to believe.
ReplyDelete