Drugs are tools. How you use a tool is up to you. They don't reach out and grab you.

Would you say that AK-47's are tools also, and how you use the tool is up to you?

Absolutely - you can own it and store it without bullets, or own it and use it as military personnel for its intended use, or you can be a massive fuckhole and shoot people up with it. The gun does not turn you into an unsanctioned murderer. I'm for stricter gun laws and better mental health screenings - not banning guns.

I own some pretty wicked kitchen knives. Haven't stabbed anyone yet. I own a car. Haven't rammed in to anyone yet. Messed with guns a bit - haven't shot anyone. Had prescription drugs - haven't abused them.

My mother gave me personal responsibility and responsibility over others at a young age. I guess I turned out okay. I even give to charity and participate in street cleans. Imagine that.

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: Atheists aggressive proselytize nihilism to children and young adults, luring them in with pornography, through state subsidized education which often teaches atheism despite 80% of America being Christian and through Hollywood and the mainstream media which are full of sensuality and violence and a worldview hostile to Christianity.

Not teaching your religion is not the same thing as teaching atheism. When public schools teach children they shouldn't believe in God, get back to us. And where did you get the lure them in with pornograpy bit?

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: They do this to make money, without concern for values. While many of these people are not actually atheists, the cultural movement is heavily indebted to atheism and liberal views of religion which go hand in hand.

I would be ashamed if I made up stuff like that about theists.

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: Atheists do not make any effort whatsoever to define how to be a good person. They have no structure to replace the church.

Some of the most profound moral philosophers have been atheists. When you tell someone it's unwise to jump off a cliff, you don't need to be able to replace jumping off a cliff with another activity.

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: They have no answer when their kids are all victims of drug abuse. They have competing theories about how to be a good person, but there is no authority. They don't seem to care that they lead their converts into nihilism.

Funny thing, I know hundreds of atheists in person (I organize a Meetup), and I only know one couple among them with a kid who had a drug problem. Theists have competing theories about how to be a good person, but there's no authority. An atheist's moral philosophy depends on their moral convictions, not their atheism.

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: Atheists get there message through using music. They try and teach young kids it is ok to have sex before marriage.

Theists get their message out through using music. They have whole radio stations pumping their propaganda out. Christians even have their own brand of music in imitation of secular rock and roll. Musicians who believe in God are often the composers and promoters of music that encourages people to have sex before marriage and use drugs.

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: They tell them it is ok because they care get an abortion later.

One quote please. Just one.

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: Much of the atheism in the US does not happen through careful analysis of philosophical texts, it happens through people being exposed to music that is very sexual, appeals to peoples sense of rebelliousness, and offers a world without rules or constaints.

Yet I've never met an atheist who deconverted for any of those reasons.

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: One other thing: atheists are commonly liars. Atheists lie all the time. I have been in so many debates with atheists where they would twist what they were saying to such a huge degree that it was clear that they had no idea what they were talking about and they didn't care.

Absolutely nothing you've said in this post is actually true. Liar.

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: Atheists are often very arrogant. They are proud, but typically they have not read more than a few books from the other perspective.

As a Pew Study found, on average, atheists know more about religion than most believers. I absolutely encourage Western atheists to read the Bible. It's an important cultural document, and it would be nice if more Christians actually read it. And if you want to debate Christians, their apologetics aren't as hard a slog as you might think, due to their amusement value. jstrodel, want to talk about a book by an atheist about atheism that you have read?

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: Atheists are typically very uneducated about religion. When you compare them to the average, religious, unsaved person in America, who goes to church once a year, yes that is true, they may know more about the Bible than them.

Then were not VERY uneducated about religion are we? If we know more than the average occasional churchgoer, and that describes most Americans, if we know more about the Bible than them; that would make us MORE educated about religion than the average American. I've read the Bible through twice, cover-to-cover, once KJV and once Living Bible. I don't even know how many times I've read Genesis and the NT.

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: But when you compare atheist knowledge of the scriptures with Christians,

If you're defining only the Christians most knowledgeable about the Bible as Christians, could be.

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: or if you yourself are somewhat knowledgeable about the details, you will get annoyed at the lies and arrogance of the atheist movement, as they advance their agenda with anime and videogames and marijuana and pornography, all aimed not at the mind, but at the senses, and the senses of the young.

Have you heard that we're only 3% of the population of the USA? Theists run America, and most of the people you're describing believe God is real.

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: I have met several atheists who were proud of being assholes. I would say this is representative of much of the group. They actually self-identified with the term "asshole".

I could go on and on.

Self-identified atheists tend to be honest about themselves. If we didn't value being honest over being popular, we'd pretend to be theists. So an atheist who is an asshole is more likely to be honest about it; while a theist who is an asshole, such as yourself, is likely to lie about it, especially to themselves.

If I haven't said before, Mister Agenda, I might be in love with your brain.

(March 5, 2013 at 8:57 pm)jstrodel Wrote:

(March 3, 2013 at 7:13 am)Confused Ape Wrote: golden rule

Atheism says there is no more reason to obey the golden rule than to obey it, changing it from a rule to something that one person considers to be a good opinion to have.

Where does atheism say that?

(March 2, 2013 at 6:16 pm)jstrodel Wrote: Atheists do not have the Golden Rule, atheists have the Golden Opinion. Of course no society in history has ever been run off of Golden Opinions, and the only atheist societies in history that have followed the utopian and naive dreams of a society ruled by good opinions have been the Communists, who, predictably, turned out to violate these utopian principles more than anyone else.

"Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself." – Confucius

You know what Confucianism doesn't have? Gods. It's a humanistic moral philosophy from before the term 'humanism' was invented. From several hundred years before the term 'Christianity' was invented too, for that matter.

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(March 6, 2013 at 12:03 am)jstrodel Wrote: I know plenty of atheists who are nice people.

So why do you keep saying such horrible things about atheists as a demographic? Would you say these things to the faces of your nice atheist friends?

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(March 9, 2013 at 10:21 pm)ChadWooters Wrote:

(March 7, 2013 at 10:36 am)Darkstar Wrote: I don't think the Nazis represent Christianity at large, but they were largely Christian.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer refutes you.

The only thing that could refute the contention that the Nazis were largely Christian would be evidence that they were mostly non-Christian. I expect better from you, Chad.

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(March 15, 2013 at 11:32 am)thesummerqueen Wrote: If I haven't said before, Mister Agenda, I might be in love with your brain.

Thanks so much, that's particularly flattering coming from you, my queen.

I suspect you wouldn't be able to be as honestly complementary about the rest of me, sadly.

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(March 10, 2013 at 2:48 pm)jstrodel Wrote: Atheism is the easy way out. Atheism says make up your own view of ethics without any kind of rules or oversight and if you screw up, don't beat yourself up, no big deal. Some people may work hard at it, but the majority I have encountered don't.

Yes, figuring out what is right and wrong for yourself is so much easier than accepting an authority to tell you what is right and wrong.

(March 10, 2013 at 2:48 pm)jstrodel Wrote: I would be burned alive for what I believe.

Not by us. We think burning people alive for what they believe is wrong We can't point to a book with authority to dictate that, which I know in your eyes means we can't say burning you alive is wrong, but somehow, every atheist on this forum has figured out that it would be wrong to execute you...or even punch you...for what you believe.

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(March 10, 2013 at 3:06 pm)jstrodel Wrote: How do you know how to relate the feeling of empathy to specific actions? How do you relate quantities of empathy to actions. Or by empathy do you just mean "I try and be a nice person and basically do whatever I want"

It's complex. I can't put a whole life time of experience in making moral judgements into a paragraph. But it's far more likely that 'try and be a nice person and treat others the way I would want to be treated if I was in their position' was meant than your version.

(March 15, 2013 at 10:22 am)jstrodel Wrote: Are you saying that you have the same authority to define the dangers of drugs to people as a psychiatrist? I think you are extremely proud.

No, which is why I gave sources.

(March 15, 2013 at 10:22 am)jstrodel Wrote: Look at what the entry you posted says: "Cocaine is a very addictive drug, and some people easily lose control over its use"

Please tell me you're joking. Did you miss the part where I said all of them but marijuana are obviously dangerous, and I was just using them to contrast?

(March 14, 2013 at 10:35 pm)Darkstar Wrote: Now, before your moralistic head explodes, I didn't include hard drugs as a means of defending them. Quite the opposite. I intend to contrast their obvious dangers with the more subtle and managable risks of marajuana.

^This.

(March 15, 2013 at 10:22 am)jstrodel Wrote: What makes you think you are at the same level as a doctor? Do you really think you are that smart? You said you are 18 years old. Why do you believe you know as much about medicine as a doctor? The medical community says those drugs are very very dangerous.

Yeah, except marijuana which is only kinda sorta dangerous if you misuse it.

(March 15, 2013 at 10:22 am)jstrodel Wrote: Suffice to say, the issue of whether drugs are illegal or legal has little bearing on whether drug abuse is dangerous.

Quite right. Drug abuse. It is difficult to use but not abuse hard drugs, whichc is why I said they were dangerous. It isn't that hard to use marijuana responsibly if you try.

(March 15, 2013 at 10:22 am)jstrodel Wrote: If you take drugs to get high, it is very dangerous. Ask your doctor if you should take ecstasy before you do it. How many of the people that take ecstasy talk to their doctor about it first? Probably very few.

Maybe because it's illegal? (And I don't know much about it, which is why I never brought it into discussion)

(March 15, 2013 at 10:22 am)jstrodel Wrote: Your skeptical (if skeptical is the right word, you trust yourself an awful lot)

You trust yourself even more. You think you don't even need to give sources.

(March 15, 2013 at 10:22 am)jstrodel Wrote: epistemology that refuses to acknowledge the harmful effects of drugs

Uh, hello? What do you think those articles were?

(March 15, 2013 at 10:22 am)jstrodel Wrote: and your lack of concern for established medical authorities

What are you talking about? Where do you think those sources were from? The site is called webmd, as in Medical Doctor.
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(March 15, 2013 at 10:22 am)jstrodel Wrote: shows that atheism may indeed be responsible for the way that you see drugs, which is different from how other groups of people see drugs.

The ones who use it for religious purposes probably see it differently. Oh, wait, they aren't True Theists™.

No, medical authorities say, don't smoke marijuana, it's bad for you. People that smoke marijuana typically use it every day, the ones who are serious about it. This is not true for everyone, but there are many, many people who form the bulk of the marijuana community who use it 1-6 times a day. Marijuana is a very dangerous drug. Many lives are lost after year after year of daily use. It may not kill many people, but it leads to large numbers of people incapacitated by drug abuse. Many get into other drugs through the community that forms around it.

Quote:It isn't that hard to avoid abusing marijuana, if you try

How do you know that? How do you know you won't be one of the people that have an issue with it? I have dealt with drugs and depression at the same time, it is rough, I used to smoke a bowl everyday pretty much or a few times a day because I was so depressed from taking other drugs. It is hard to get out of it. Telling people that they are just weak and they need personal responsibility is not a compassionate approach to dealing with addiction. Marijuana is addictive. It is easy to abuse, especially when you already have a miserable life.

Oh come on jstrodel!

Darkstar is the only member who actualy had the time do post long replies to your long replies, instead of simply not replying because your replies were to long.

You could at least give a long reply yourself in response to that.

Qualify "bad". Gives you temporary hallucinations? Destroys your health? Carcinogens from smoking? Please, I'm all eyes.