How does a lack of belief in a divine Jesus require faith? Does a lack of belief in bigfoot require just as much faith as belief in bigfoot? Does a lack of belief in alien abductions require just as much faith as belief in alien abductions? Does a lack of belief in Santa Clause require just as much faith in Santa Clause? I'm not trying to be rude with my comparisons, I'm just wondering why you think it requires "faith" to not believe in a divine Jesus, considering there is no empirical evidence to support the existence of such a figure. I would suggest it doesn't require "faith" to not believe in Jesus' divinity, but rather intellectual honest in saying "I don't know, but I don't have any evidence to believe Jesus was divine". Here's a compilation of materials I've put together that express the doubt I have in a divine Jesus ever existing: http://losingmyreligion.ca/videos/the-case-against-christ/ I recommend the articles over the video. The first linked article is particularly interesting.
"thrown to the lions" is metaphorical now. obviously, i wasn't being serious. there is tremendous hostility towards faith from a few here that I generally just try to stay away from. seems there's less than a live and let live approach and a lot more of a Jim Rome "you're stupid, I'm smart" approach.
15 million views in two weeks isn't viral, it's media driven. Plus look at the production value. This is an advertisement....not a viral video....maybe 10 percent of the views are viral...the rest purchased. This is a million dollar campaign. You can use media to pump up views by creating search ads on YouTube driving to the page as well as embeds and distributing the video through ad networks. That is what had been done hear. Most likely you will see this view begin to flatline pretty soon now that the peak of the campaign is over and they did all their PR.
I know man - I was just being stupid/goofy with my comment as well. You're a good man. I understand your perspective and reaction to a thread like this. But I also think that most people are cool with a "live and let live" even though they don't agree with the reasons for your faith. As an atheist, I do think religious people typically have irrational reasons for believing in a personal god. However, I respect their right to believe - as long as they're not intolerant based on their beliefs - even though I don't necessarily respect the beliefs themselves. I wish you could sense the respect to "live and let live" a bit more - but it's just never going to be at the forefront when there's an actual religious discussion or debate going on. Hopefully you sense it outside of these discussions though, because you should have the freedom to believe what you want, no doubt.
I don't know man... seems pretty viral to me whenever I look at my Facebook news feed or visit Reddit. Media-driven or not, Christians are loving it.
lol i guarantee i will see this on sunday morning. churches love to be hip and shocking and bold by showing this kind of stuff and then go straight back to being the same judgmental, politically-slanted religious church they always were. i'd be much more impressed if the message was more about social issues, like don't use jesus to try and take away the rights of gays, or maybe point out the hypocrisy of hating islam/muslims when your religion ain't all that different. yeah more and more christians are becoming comfortable publically saying "christian=/=republican" (this guy, derek webb, rob bell, shane claiborne, chris hedges etc) but i'm waiting for it to go further. I suspect that kind of video wouldn't be nearly as popular.
You seem pretty rational about it, but DonnyMost speaks in "a matter of fact" type tone about it. He has it all figured out, lmao. The beautiful thing to me is that nobody knows and anyone who acts like they do is a real tool.
You keep saying this, but I've never seen you actually bring any substance with it. Please, tell me, what do I claim to know that 1) I do not know or 2) is unknowable.
I think the thing this thread emphasizes is how us Christians (myself included) present ourselves to the world ... With the way most Christians (myself included) behave, I cannot fault others for having a negative attitude towards Christianity in general. Of course, if we were perfect examples, we wouldn't need Jesus in our lives in the first place. Our goal should be to be to serve Jesus purpose and live our lives as the best examples we can be.
insult something you don't agree with, rather than reply to the OP and original video: check get response from someone regarding their perception of your insulting audacity: check backtrack by acting like it wasn't as much an affront as it was with a "why you mad, tho": check for the trifecta.
Thought this was a respectful response you guys might not have seen: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ru_tC4fv6FE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Don't worry MadMax. If DonnyMost throws you to the lions you will be reincarnated in another form. While DonnyMost will be reincarnated as a lower being (Mavericks' fan) for the bad Karma he accrued by throwing you to the lions.
^This shows your intelligence level... This thread could not have continued to exist without your highly anticipated input.
And this is the "religion" the video was talking about. I grew up with a Catholic influence, my mom making my brother and I go to Catholic church and Bible study. I HATED it for the same reasons you stated. It didn't seem right. It seemed opposite than the God I was being preached to about. I turned my back on "religion", "faith", God and all for many years because of it. Within the last year though, I've happened to found myself with new avenues towards God.... ones that is based upon the things the video speaks to about Jesus. Religion is MAN made, it has started wars, it has caused conflict between other RELIGIONS, that there are restrictions and boundaries to your faith, that we must always strive to be perfect, has rules, it talks about how you are a bad person for sinning and you must always earn God's love. This is the Catholic RELIGION I grew up in. But, Jesus stands for FAITH. Jesus stands for LOVE above all else. Jesus stands for acceptance for everyone else, no matter what he or she believes. Jesus knows nothing of politics nor being judgmental. Jesus stands for that anything and everything is possible. Jesus stands for that we are all born flawed beings who will sin, but forgiveness is given because someone sacrificed themselves to bear those sins for you. Jesus stands for a God's love that we all already had since before we were conceived and will ALWAYS have until we die and beyond, no matter what actions we take in between. You can look at him in the video talking about "JESUS" as a real, divine being who walked the Earth, or just a symbolic entity..... the message is the same. Whether you believe in God/Jesus or not, the video makes a clear, defining line in the sand between the two entities, and a good one in my own opinion.
