Here's the stupidest argument I've heard, courtesy of Ray Comfort (apparently it was the argument that convinced him... somehow.)
WARNING: You may have heard him talking with his Heterosexual Life Partner Kirk Cameron about the banana and the Crocoduck. This argument is far stupider and much less logical than those arguments.

1. Jesus said that thinking about adultery is morally the same as actually committing it. (Mt. 5:28)
2. If one believes a law is unjust, he is punished for breaking it all the same.
3. Therefore, God exists.

I'm sure I'm missing some step that makes this make some sort of sense, but it seems that Comfort sees fit to not tell other people what it is. Even the Crocoduck arguments make some logical sense if you have no knowledge whatsoever about how the principle of Common Descent even works, but this one... it boggles the mind.

"I used to be an atheist! Then one day I stopped my car and prayed......."

"I was just like you, an atheist. Then I was about to have my electricity turned off and found the money to pay it, therefore God exists."

"God is real because he talks to me."

"Jesus appeared at the foot of my bed......"

"Because God can do anything."

That kinda crap I find utterly ridiculous.

(May 27, 2010 at 8:50 pm)Rev. Rye Wrote: Here's the stupidest argument I've heard, courtesy of Ray Comfort (apparently it was the argument that convinced him... somehow.)
WARNING: You may have heard him talking with his Heterosexual Life Partner Kirk Cameron about the banana and the Crocoduck. This argument is far stupider and much less logical than those arguments.

1. Jesus said that thinking about adultery is morally the same as actually committing it. (Mt. 5:28)
2. If one believes a law is unjust, he is punished for breaking it all the same.
3. Therefore, God exists.

I'm sure I'm missing some step that makes this make some sort of sense, but it seems that Comfort sees fit to not tell other people what it is. Even the Crocoduck arguments make some logical sense if you have no knowledge whatsoever about how the principle of Common Descent even works, but this one... it boggles the mind.

Huh??

(May 27, 2010 at 8:50 pm)Rev. Rye Wrote:

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Here's the stupidest argument I've heard, courtesy of Ray Comfort (apparently it was the argument that convinced him... somehow.)
WARNING: You may have heard him talking with his Heterosexual Life Partner Kirk Cameron about the banana and the Crocoduck. This argument is far stupider and much less logical than those arguments.

1. Jesus said that thinking about adultery is morally the same as actually committing it. (Mt. 5:28)
2. If one believes a law is unjust, he is punished for breaking it all the same.
3. Therefore, God exists.

I'm sure I'm missing some step that makes this make some sort of sense, but it seems that Comfort sees fit to not tell other people what it is. Even the Crocoduck arguments make some logical sense if you have no knowledge whatsoever about how the principle of Common Descent even works, but this one... it boggles the mind.

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Wow! That has to be the worst argument ever. I'm impressed. In fact I'm truly bowled over.

My mom once said some apologist crap to me, something along the lines of: "atheist believe deep down, they just won't admit it. That's why they try so hard to disprove God"

My Grandmother says the same thing. When I first told her that I do not believe in god, she said: "Yes, you do. When the time comes, you will find him." It's the same thing as the "no atheists in foxholes" claim.

(May 28, 2010 at 4:06 am)mem Wrote: Huh??

Well, here's the argument in Ray's own words.

Quote: I offered, "It's really easy to prove God's existence." He replied, "It's not healthy for me to talk about God." I said that I could understand that, and added, "But you are a reasonable and open-minded person, so you can listen to me for two minutes."

He gave me the okay, so I told him how he could know for sure that God existed, that God had given him a conscience and that if he even lusted after a woman, Jesus said that he had committed adultery already with her in his heart. I also mentioned that if a criminal was given a death sentence and he said to the judge, "But I don't believe in the electric chair," it didn't change reality.

He politely listened, and said, "Well, I'd better board the plane."

I might have been missing some vital step that would have made Ray's argument make any damn sense, but from this, I doubt it.

Oh yeah, my mom mentions the "atheist ion the foxhole" argument all the fucking time. I hate it.

(May 28, 2010 at 9:03 am)Eilonnwy Wrote: Oh yeah, my mom mentions the "atheist ion the foxhole" argument all the fucking time. I hate it.

Yeah, this is a stupid argument. Why would someone turn to a fictitious being in a time of strife? Does your mother turn to Zeus or Apollo or Allah? If not, then she should understand why an atheist does not turn to her deity in a time of strife.

(May 28, 2010 at 10:40 am)Thor Wrote: Yeah, this is a stupid argument. Why would someone turn to a fictitious being in a time of strife? Does your mother turn to Zeus or Apollo or Allah? If not, then she should understand why an atheist does not turn to her deity in a time of strife.

Obviously my mother doesn't see it that way. She goes to AA, depends on her belief in god for a lot of things, especially when things get tough. She thinks that believing God in your worst time is the only way to deal. I can understand the feeling, it's appealing and it comforts her.

She just doesn't understand that you can't force belief, that not believing in God when hell is all around you that it can be a clarity. Knowing you need to depend on yourself, be responsible and do what you can to get out of that situation, not pray.

I see my non-belief as a strength, she sees her belief as a strength.

It's an emotional argument, not a logical one. That's why she doesn't understand that it means nothing to me.