Courtesy of Raw Story:
In a YouTube video posted on Monday, the Christian fundamentalist responds to a follower who is troubled by a contradiction in the book of Acts.
“If I was God,” Hovind explains, “I would write the book in such a way that those who don’t want to believe in me anyway would think they found something. ‘Aha, here’s why I don’t believe.'”
“And then they could go on with their own life because they don’t want to believe God anyways,” he continues. “I would put things in there that would appear without digging to be contradictions. I don’t think that’s deceptive, I think that’s wise for the Heavenly Father to weed out those who are really serious.”
Hovind says that he made a choice to “believe the Bible until it’s proven wrong.”
Believing in something until it is proven wrong is of course the exact opposite of the scientific method and a waste of critical thinking skills.
The actual correct answer here is that the Bible is an incredibly poorly written anthology of religious stories that were compiled by a committee, and the book has been repeatedly translated and revised over the years by even more committees of "religious scholars."
Committees make mistakes, of course men make mistakes, and therefore the book is riddled with mistakes, contradictions, and nonsense.
Only a self delusional, intellectually dishonest, cretin would force themselves to believe in something contradicted by such vast amounts of evidence.
One of the reasons the catholic church fought Luther tooth and nail was this very problem (among other things). The church recognized that if the people themselves were able to read the book for themselves they would begin to see all the problems with it.
ReplyDeleteThat's also one of the main reasons almost all xtian churches have "bible study classes". They can "guide" the participants around those contradictions by telling them there really isn't any problem and go on to the next point, thereby effectively eliminating the gullible's worries.
LMAO, Luther just wanted to control the $$$$$$ instead of the Pope.
DeleteWhat an irrational reason to try and use, since very few ( if any) church goers could actually read at that period of time in Europe.
9:45, apparently you can't seem to FULLY comprehend a statement. I said it was ONE OF THE REASONS.
DeleteYes, you are correct about few being able to read, but that was another of the things Luther wanted to correct. Go beyond the surface arguments and you can find an entire world not exposed by the basics.
Of course religion can be exposed by the basics.
DeleteIt was invented to control the poor masses and take what little they had away from them.
Oldest profession on earth, except for prostitution, and only one of the two gives you a return on your dollar.
I have just six words for this so-called grown up man:
ReplyDeleteGrow up. Your brain will thank you.
...sorry, seven words!
ReplyDeleteWhenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God.
ReplyDeleteIt is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel.
[Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason]
Satan's greatest invention was organized religion.
DeleteWe're of like mind, Barbara, but I would more likely say that his greatest achievement was the Old Testament. Once people accepted a sadistic god, he's been able to sit back and laugh.
DeleteI'll never understand how any thinking person thinks that "God" personally wrote the bible.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I've never understood as well.
DeleteElaine in Canada
Sorry.
ReplyDeleteI just can't dismiss one of the most widely read books in human history, especially if I didn't believe a word of it to be true. I would keep asking myself what, exactly, was I missing? Why do so many people, for so many centuries, find value in this Bible? I would think the fault, to paraphrase Shakespeare, lies not in the book but within myself.
I know Shakespeare's plays are works of fiction, but I read them anyway. And I don't believe I'm wasting my time, for they teach me to better understand myself and my fellow man.
Poor comparison
DeleteShakespeare does not require that you suspend your critical thinking skills and replace it instead with magical thinking.
Better to compare the Bible with the Hindu Veda, or the Tao Te Ching, or perhaps even more appropriately with books on Greek and Roman mythology.
The bible teaches us that we need to kill anybody that doesn't believe in its God, then in Part II that we are bad and need redemption from a man who "died for our sins" -- the whole silly notice of which was instigated by "sinning" Adam and Eve who never existed! So why did Christ have to die?
DeleteHe had to be die because he was a status-quo disturber, asked people to think for themselves and just be kind to one another. As have other leaders been killed far espousing the same message. Can't have that in a police state, which is what the Repubs would like to return to, to "make America great again."
Shakespeare does require you to suspend disbelief.
DeleteHis plays are full of fairies, ghosts, witches, and all sorts of magical spells.
"He had to be die because he was a status-quo disturber, asked people to think for themselves and just be kind to one another."
DeleteThat's a good thing to me.
I don't dwell on the murders, infidelities, jealousies, and self destructive hatreds in the works of Shakespeare either.
@ 6:53 and 7:01
DeleteNeither of the two instances you both point out require you to PERMANENTLY suspend your critical thinking skills. And further, Shakespeare is known to be a work of fiction. Far too many people look to and accept the bible as fact and truth, thus rendering their minds blind to real, provable facts.
To me, 7:01, I HAVE to dwell on those things you say you overlook. It adds weight to the argument that the so-called god in it is a mad, egocentric vicious piece of work.
8:54, there's a lot of truth to be found in "fiction:"
Delete“It is only a novel... or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language”
― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey.
I never forget that the universe is amoral. It does not care if you live or die. It takes eight minutes for our Sun's light to reach the Earth. Our Sun could blink out right now, but we wouldn't know our lives ended until eight minutes later. I don't dwell on those two facts either.
When I eat a piece of cake I savor the flavor. I don't think about the flour, eggs, and other ingredients that made it.
It's a choice. A personal choice.
Do you believe in Harry Potter also?
DeleteYou are quite right, 9:28. Many a work of fiction has been written specifically to mock or expose or condemn or whatever. Fiction can enlighten, can entertain and can even CAUSE one to think.
DeleteBut it still does not require one to PERMANENTLY shut off one's critical thinking.
To whom, 9:46, are you referring?
Exactly, Leland. Religious people remind me of the child who watches a Superman cartoon and climbs on the garage roof, cloaked in his mom's tablecloth, convinced he can fly.
Delete"But it still does not require one to PERMANENTLY shut off one's critical thinking."
DeleteNeither does the Bible. Let's do what many people would consider critical thinking. Let's try to imagine the simplest hypercube (4-dimensional) as defined by:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Hypercube.html
Unfolding a 3-dimensional cube will give you 6 squares. Unfolding a 4-dimensional hypercube will give you 8 cubes. Fold those 8 cubes back into a 4-dimensional hypercube, aka a tesseract. What does it look like to you? Personally, I can't imagine it. My mind can't think in the 4th dimension. Nor can I imagine the space God lives in. My mind can't think in that dimension. There are limits to what the human mind can perceive.
Why is the tesseract considered critical thinking and God considered supernatural? They are both saying the same thing to me: There are limits to the human mind.
@11:32
DeleteSupernatural:
1: of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe; especially : of or relating to God or a god, demigod, spirit, or devil
2 a) : departing from what is usual or normal especially so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature
b) : attributed to an invisible agent (as a ghost or spirit)
That's how Merriam defines the word. And I feel that describing or creating a thing which can snap its fingers (or even think of something) and create something new without any possible natural explanation falls into that category.
As for the limits of the human mind, not all human minds have the same limitations. I could not possibly grasp the mathematics involved in Chaos theory or a black hole. Others can and do. And usually (at least I haven't haven't heard of any that are otherwise inclined) they are non-believers.
The other side of the spectrum are fools like this guy above and Ken Hamm who believe EVERYTHING in the bible as undeniable fact and refuse to even consider the science behind something like evolution.
Their minds are shut down and cannot - or will not, which is even worse - think critically.
They believe in a good, merciful god, yet their own precious book says he orders murderous things and creates things which torment mankind and creates evil things to do harm to totally innocent beings for no reason. They believe in a god who orders genocide and infanticide and slavery yet they call it merciful and full of benefits for us?
Can you say disconnect? I call it a lack of critical thinking.
Are there those who are able to think critically and still believe? Yes. And it is their right.
But it doesn't change the fact that if you DON'T do what the bible tells you to do -regardless - you will go to hell. And that, to my mind, is shutting down the critical thinking ability of believers who DO it.
Thank you, 12:29, for your thoughtful answer.
Delete"And I feel that describing or creating a thing which can snap its fingers (or even think of something) and create something new without any possible natural explanation falls into that category."
Or it can be just our inability to fully understand something. For example, what you wrote can describe both God and the Big Bang:
http://www.big-bang-theory.com/
"According to the standard theory, our universe sprang into existence as "singularity" around 13.7 billion years ago. What is a "singularity" and where does it come from? Well, to be honest, we don't know for sure. Singularities are zones which defy our current understanding of physics. They are thought to exist at the core of "black holes." Black holes are areas of intense gravitational pressure. The pressure is thought to be so intense that finite matter is actually squished into infinite density (a mathematical concept which truly boggles the mind). These zones of infinite density are called "singularities." Our universe is thought to have begun as an infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense, something - a singularity. Where did it come from? We don't know. Why did it appear? We don't know."
Most evangelicals have never read their bible from cover to cover, they only believe the pablum and lies and distortions dispensed from their leaders.
ReplyDeleteKent Hovind is sadly typical of the type of "pastor" we find in thousands of positions of leadership around the world. No logic or critical thinking is allowed, just faith in
the Christian mythology and traditions.
As a young man, I read the bible many, many times all the way through, and have studied it extensively.
Most Christians have no idea of how cruel, stupid, immoral and unethical many of the mandates of the bible really are. They do not realize that much of it is purely the personal opinion of the writer, and should never have been included as "inspired" or the so called word of God.
The writings of Paul of Tarsus have over the centuries caused untold suffering, death, rape, deprivation, murder, and misery for untold millions of oppressed women. Related verses are still used by the so called Quivering movement (Think Duggars) to keep girls and women repressed, deprive them of education, and force them to marry young.
Examples:
Romans 1:32, Homosexuals deserve death
Ephesians 6:5 Slaves must obey masters in every respect
1 Timothy 2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.
The very same type of institutional oppression of women, slaves, and gays is present in Islam, and the more orthodox sects of Judaism.
----------------------------
Maybe the very worst of all the writings of Paul, is reflected in
Ephesians 5:22-24
"Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."
Of course these verses were loved by early "christian" priests and leaders, because they represented exactly the prejudices of their cultur and age.
Those passages have resulted in untold, and unimaginable suffering, abuse, rape, torture, deprivation, murder and mayhem for 2000 years since this one man wrote that
letter.
Good synopsis. Women have been a thorn in men's sided (from which they were drawn, apparently...) since Day One. Anything is useful to get them subjugated. Every time, in the course of history, men think women are getting the upper hand (education, forthrightness, political power, etc.), regressive lows must be reinstated.
DeleteThus the screaming by the GOP to stop all abortions and thus control women's bodies (if they can't kill ideas of equality). It will be a big deal in the next election, like gay rights was in the last.
Funny, haven't heard Trump raise the issue -- yet. Give him time he'll hit all the mean buttons, some just in time for the election, on 11 months away.
But will he last that long?
Religion is a pox on mankind. Fanatical/Talibangelical/Dominionist 'religion' is the worst. It will be the cause of his eventual demise.
ReplyDeleteYou can't pray away catastrophic climate change, pollution or nuclear war.
Just the other day, on this very blog, I saw a woman command a tornado to skip her home because she commanded the earth and wind. Hard to argue with proof like that! /s
DeleteI have never understood why the old and new testaments are considered books of the same faith? They seem to be in direct conflict on so many issues. Although I am not a Christian, I find the teachings attributed to Jesus to be worth aspiring to.
ReplyDelete"...I find the teachings attributed to Jesus to be worth aspiring to."
DeleteI agree with you here, 8:24. And you're right.The things attributed to him are great guidelines for a peaceful, loving, caring society. However, one does not need to elevate someone to godhood to add weight to those teachings.
I like what Gandhi said: I like your Christ. I do to like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
EDIT!
DeleteSorry, I left out NOT in the 2nd sentence of the last paragraph. It should have read "I do not like your christians."
I think we are in total agreement, Leland. I was raised Christian, but it never took. I always respected the teachings of Jesus, but could never embrace the faith, try as I might. I have no problem striving to be a good person, just because...but, I have to admit that I often wish there was a heaven and hell, because I think a lot of people would be in for a real surprise!
DeleteYes God, reveal yourself through your prophets like this idiot, Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggert, etc., etc.....If these are your spokespeople God, you have lost!
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you think Hovind has critical thinking skills to waste?
ReplyDeleteGod loves...to fuck with people.
ReplyDeleteHe/she/it must be a cruel and petty F'er.
DeleteSo then Ken Hamm is saying the Bible is basically worthless because if you need help on religious doctrine, it won't help you and it's trying to trick you? That the only way it wouldn't be trying to trick you is if you didn't need it or rely on it to buttress your faith?
ReplyDeleteThat makes no sense on any level.
9:34, welcome to the mind of the religious fanatic. There IS no sense there!
DeleteOh Ken, Ken, Ken shakes head. God didn't write any bibles. Anyone who begins a sentence with "If I were God" can pull my thumb. Now make yourself useful and peel me a banana.
ReplyDeleteSo, if I follow his reasoning correctly, the bible is a hoax and God filled it with lies and contradictions in order to weed out those gullible enough to believe anything.
ReplyDeleteBy those parameters, there would be no way to prove Ken's Bible is "wrong" because he could constantly find wilder and wilder justifications to disprove any facts contradicting his beliefs.