(June 11, 2012 at 4:38 pm)Aiza Wrote:

(June 11, 2012 at 12:29 pm)Thor Wrote: Atheists don't always agree with each other? Absolutely true, in matters of politics, morality, and sports teams. But as for whether or not a god exists, atheists are 100% in agreement.

You sure? 100% Sure?



I think self-identified Christians are more likely to agree on whether or not a God exists than self-identified atheists are!

I call BULLSHIT. What is your source for this table?

(June 12, 2012 at 11:44 am)Mister Agenda Wrote: How do you make out that 'Do what I say or I won't let you stay dead' is not also a non-choice?

? Nobody "stays dead" so I'm unsure what you are referring to.

Quote:So you don't read GC's posts at all?

I have read some of her posts. I am just saying that it's not representative of the bulk of Christianity.

(June 12, 2012 at 12:04 pm)Mister Agenda Wrote: Try believing the people who actually understand what the word 'atheist' means. Just a thought.

lol he is the one who started complaining that Christians "can't even agree with each other".

Words are defined by how they are used, so if this trend at all continues, I wonder what the word "atheist" will mean in 10 or so years.

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(June 12, 2012 at 11:56 am)Taqiyya Mockingbird Wrote: Hemmorrhaging its membership in (HELLO: Educated!) Europe and America, while gaining members in (HELLO: Uneducated!) third world countries. And that is not the only reason to say it is in its death throes.

That isn't a reason to say its in its "death throes" at all. I don't think the word "death" means what you think it does. The Catholic Church I think is going in some interesting times. The implementation of Vatican II caused a lot of people to be poorly catechized, and a certain spiritual laxity. There are lots and lots of poorly catechized"cultural Catholics" which will continue I think to fall away, and plenty of Protestantized parishes which stick the tabernacle in a corner and have no devotion to the Eucharist or our Blessed Mother which continue to shrink out.

Devout and traditionalist parishes and communities though are growing very rapidly. My own parish, which kept its altar rail and devotion to the Eucharist, is growing very fast and we are considering opening up our own school. We have 4 priests, 2 deacons, and 2 visiting priests; and we've produced at least 4 more since I joined just under 2 years ago.

The religious community which I desire to join went from 4 women in 1997 to well over a hundred today, with an average starting age of 21. When I visited their community there were women from as far as Australia and Germany visiting, to say nothing of Canada/USA. The religious communities which are dying are the ones currently under investigation by the Vatican--the women who removed their habits, removed the liturgy of the hours, and adopted whatever "liberal" trends they could under the name of Vatican II.

Similarly, those parishes in Africa and Asia and such escaped the brunt of misapplication of Vatican II, and they are growing enough that the Church itself is growing both in terms of numbers and in terms of percentages worldwide, outpacing the death of more lax parishes in the West. We aren't growing as fast as Islam (and they've overtaken us as the largest religion if you count all of Islam as a single religion), but saying we are dying, nay, that we are in "death throes" over the purgation of a bunch of cultural Catholics is just goofy to me.

Quote:This has been done to death elsewhere, and of course you steadfastly refuse to face and admit the facts. You ain't fooling anyone.

What facts? It is a fact that this is how the Catholic Church estimates its numbers: for the service appeals on behalf of the Archdiocese. Higher numbers = more money owed to the Archdiocese.

(June 12, 2012 at 2:58 pm)Taqiyya Mockingbird Wrote: WAITAFUKINMINIT -- Buddhists do not believe in any creator god AT ALL.

Maybe? That poll says nothing about "creator god" or whatever, and its obviously true that the Buddha openly admitted to the extance of gods (Straight from the Dhammapada: "Even the gods emulate those who are awakened.") , so....hm.

(June 12, 2012 at 6:52 pm)Taqiyya Mockingbird Wrote: I call BULLSHIT. What is your source for this table?

Pew Research Forum's 2007 Religious Landscape study
http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report...ndings.pdf

They are actually a very major polling organization, and track many of the statistics associated with religious belief in the US.

This study made headlines a few years ago. Its the main reason why researchers cannot ask someone "Are you an atheist?" in order to measure belief in God since so many self-described atheists do (and a small minority of Christians etc. don't).

Interesting stuff.

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(June 12, 2012 at 2:58 pm)Welsh cake Wrote: Wings, a harp, and walking on clouds aside, how is that heaven? Isn't god omnipresent? Aren't you already worshipping your god right now?

I am not always worshipping him perfectly. In Heaven it is simple and constant adoration of God, and seeing him face-to-face, the beatific vision. No "wings" or "harp".

Quote:1. Hatred is but a strong dislike for someone.
2. I had Helicobacter pylori for years, it caused a lot of pain and suffering until it was finally diagnosed and purged with a cocktail of antibiotics.
3. Hatred is not the polar opposite of goodness or love, that's apathy.
4. My heart pumps blood.

1. Hatred is intense ill will. And yes, your feelings absolutely can hurt you, though maybe hatred wasn't the best choice of word (?). Even hate aimed at a legitimate source can cause suffering inside.
2. Sorry to hear about that. I said hatred causes suffering, not that it was the only cause of suffering. I think having bacteria burrow into your stomach lining can be another cause, though not so much when it comes to Hell.
3. Are you sure? The thesaurus would beg to differ: http://thesaurus.com/browse/love
4. Fallacy of equivocation. Pretty funny considering you just tried to claim I had no intellectual honesty.

Quote:Yes. It. Is. Do you not know the story of the disobedient prophet?

Sounds more like a pretty common turn of phrase back then which you cherry picked out of many more examples of disobedient people who were not killed (including many of our Apostles).

(June 12, 2012 at 2:38 pm)downbeatplumb Wrote: if 21% of atheists are supposed to believe in gods according to this survey. A group who by definition do not believe in god. Then the other results look rather suspect.

Lol that post should go down in history as one of the most stupid, crazy and outright bullshit posts ever on this forum.

What heaven is really like:


What hell is really like:

[quoteI have read some of her posts. I am just saying that it's not representative of the bulk of Christianity.[/quote]

True enough: GC is only another young earth creationist loon. They give the false impression that they are the majority because they are organised, loud and aggressive.

In the schools for the children of the chronically Catholic I attended, we pretty much laughed at the evangelicals, tolerated the Anglicans and Lutherans and dismissed the Mormons out of hand. (the more 'out there' sects such as the Adventists and JW were simply ignored)

The good Dominican sisters told us not to be mean to the protestant children. After all,it really wasn't their fault they were all going to hell. I should perhaps mention this was before Vatican 2 and the invention of ecumenism.




PS If you want to know what Catholicism was like in Australia at that time,read 'Angela's Ashes'

(June 12, 2012 at 2:38 pm)downbeatplumb Wrote: if 21% of atheists are supposed to believe in gods according to this survey. A group who by definition do not believe in god. Then the other results look rather suspect.

Big pile of fucking shit.
How can an atheist be an atheist if they have a belief in the existence of god?
Either you don't believe in god or you do. If you don't, you're an atheist, if you do you're a theist.

Only the religious fucktards could come up with something as stupid as that.

After looking through the link Aiza gave, It's obvious it was made by a religious nut job. The constant mention of 'god' and the fact they he/they keep capitalising the fucking word.

Remember, Ace, these are the same people who believe in three gods in one but one which is not three-and who believe that god is good eatin'!

(June 13, 2012 at 2:37 am)Epimethean Wrote: Remember, Ace, these are the same people who believe in three gods in one but one which is not three-and who believe that god is good eatin'!

The same people who believe in a zombie jew, talking snakes, parting oceans, an eternal place of torment and that the universe was created in 7 days etc etc.

Now that I think about it, it really is quite pointless to even begin to rationalise with people who can be so fucking stupid.

(June 13, 2012 at 6:36 am)Napoleon Wrote: Now that I think about it, it really is quite pointless to even begin to rationalise with people who can be so fucking stupid.

Arguing with them is a pointless endeavour. I mainly argue with them for the laughs, seeing as nothing else can come from it.

"You can't fix stupid".