Glad your back, I've been very busy, working less, more time with people. Email if you get a chance, would like to catch up. Thanks for reaching out.
I listened... 1. The god Mr. Harris spoke of does not exist, he and I agree on that. 2. He assumes that people who claim to be Christians can be trusted to know what they are talking about concerning god. I disagree. 3. He states emphatically the bible says that god will send innocent and just people to some burning hell. We disagree. 4. Mr. Harris states that god can stop suffering without being unmerciful and unjust. I disagree. God has the power to change evil people to good people in absolute support of man's free will. It is his moral duty to exercise that power which requires patience, which does not imply approval. 5. Mr. Harris reads the New Testament back words- he assumes that Jesus died as a human sacrifice offering an appeasement to god, when Jesus clearly stated he offered himself of his own free choice as an innocent in place of those guilty; not as a martyr for any good person but as payment for wicked and evil people. I don't know why people think god would punish someone who does not do evil. God would never punish someone who is innocent.
starving children in africa disagree because of christian genocide disagree. innocent people killed by earthquakes and tsunamis in asia disagree. innocent children killed in newtown massacre disagree. innocent children born with debilitating illness disagree. i can keep going. All evidence point to god as being a huge massive dbag.
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Is that what the evidence points to? So you believe God is responsible for earthquakes, and debilitating illness? If I believed God was what you apparently believe God is, then I certainly wouldn't believe in God. I just have a very different opinion of what God is.
Serious question, what's the difference between committing a sin and committing evil? Any difference? Breaking a Commandment... sin, evil, or both? What is the threshold between sin and evil? Is sin the act and evil the belief behind it? You say god would never punish someone who is innocent however a Hindu by virtue of his belief (evil) and his religious practice (sin) violates the first Commandment. Is he not going to hell? Are billions of people who by virtue of their belief and practice, influenced by where they were born and the cultures they were born into, going to hell?
I believe in God but I do not believe that God intervenes in day to day life. I think God set everything up and just let it roll and now here we are.
Thanks for asking good questions. Making a choice that is evil is sin. All the commandments have context, for instance Jesus said that all god's commandments are contained in two- 1. Love god with all your heart, 2. Love your neighbor just as much as yourself. The first command rids human pride and the second rids human selfishness. Human pride and human selfishness are causes of evil choices. That is the context. Everywhere in the bible god states that he opposes evil. Evil brings ruin to humans and human relationship (Jesus said evil originates in the human heart... including motive, attitude and choice). The first commandment's context is that true worship of god rids man of selfishness, pride, evil. God would support the worship of any god that existed and produced the same changes in humans. If a stone statue can changed a wicked human to a purely good human then god would be in support. I don't know enough about worshiping the sun and stars or statues to know if they can change the human heart from evil to righteousness. If a Hindu is pure and good and righteous as god is I would expect the Hindu to be rewarded by god not punished. That is consistent with all scripture.
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im a hedonistic atheist. that post i made is based on the idiotic christian logic that god is great, god is responsible for everything, and all that idiotic pretentious religious gibberish.
I wouldn't say God is a douchebag. But if he does exist, I believe he basically leaves us... and by us I mean the universe as we know it... to our own devices. We might be his science fair experiment. We might be his pet goldfish that he just look at when he's bored. The big bang might've been him farting for all I know. But I don't think he actually cares what happens to people either way. Which is why regardless of whether or not God exist, I will not worship such an entity. Because my existence good or bad surely is not anywhere near worthy of someone as powerful as God. Ironically, if our religions resembled more polytheistic pagan views, I'm more likely to care for gods. I can think of them as perhaps another species that evolved on Earth, or perhaps advanced race of aliens that settled here. Then I can at least relate to such gods.
Well that's not the logic I see as Christianity. It's not the logic millions of others of Christians see and use. But if that's the logic you want to grasp on to in your crusade, you're perfectly entitled to it. Keep going, you rebel you.
Religious people are so delusional... My favorite Sam Harris clip, must watch, he delivers like comedian even the host couldn't stop laughing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22cYcsVPOok A reminder how much damage religion can cause, see yahoo news about the parents who pray while their child was dying: http://news.yahoo.com/court-upholds-parents-convictions-prayer-death-123307685.html
You can disperse with all the semantics you want but that's the logic of your religion Christianity. You can personally cherry pick all the good bits you want in order to put up this obtuse front in order to excuse yourself from your religion's stupidity, hypocrisy and contradictions, but that's what christians such as yourself believe, that God is all loving, all knowing, and perfect despite evidence to the contrary. Nice feeble attempt at being a condescending prick while pretending to take the high road you christian you.
Well that's a view and an approach I've never heard in this context. Certainly seems a lot more in line with a message of love than the things I would typically hear, from the Pope recently for example. I appreciate the thoughtful reply, thanks.
You don't need to tell me what I believe. I actually have a better idea of what I believe than you do. Sorry if you have problems with that. There are other Christians who also believe like I believe. There are Christians that don't. I'm not putting up any kind of front at all. Trust me, I haven't cherry picked anything from the bible. You seem to have taken the most extreme, literal, and shallow interpretation of the bible and applied that to myself and apparently all Christians. You're entitled to believe whatever you want. You aren't entitled to tell me what I believe... at least not with any accuracy. I disagree with and get into debates with people who call themselves Christians because they interpret the bible the exact same way you do. You can use whatever personal insults you'd like. It doesn't make any point about what you believe or don't believe, but if that's what you present of yourself, then that's what you present. I have no issue with it at all. I just don't understand why you seem to have such a difficult time accepting that I believe God is love, and that those who know love know God. It's what I believe, and it's in the bible. After all we are talking about what I believe in this case. You've made your beliefs clear. I've accepted that, I haven't told you that you believe anything other than what you've stated. Why are you telling me that I believe something I don't?
