What was also equally hilarious, was that this guy also used rust as another example of something that isn't a thing, rather describing it as a corruption of a good thing - like evil.

This completely ignores all the "good" chemical uses of iron oxides, and perhaps some old christian artwork used iron oxide as a pigment.


What really fascinates me is the willingness to use such obviously flawed arguments to prop up ones faith. It seems to me that they understand the problem, they find the first "solution" to the problem even though it is clearly not a solution if you think about it for more than 3 seconds, and continue to use it, stick their fingers in their ears and stubbornly refuse to think about it. They then try and turn the conversation around so that they can continue avoiding the issue.

I would call it dishonesty, and this is the reason that these religious types really wind me up. Not only are they being dishonest to me, but to themselves as well. The consequence of this being that if everyone reasoned like that, zero human progress would be made.

(February 11, 2015 at 9:47 am)Homeless Nutter Wrote:

(February 5, 2015 at 3:50 pm)FreeTony Wrote: Having a discussion on another forum, I am astounded at the following argument:

God created everything, but he didn't create diseases/cancer etc because these aren't "things".

So we end up with both the claim that everything must have been designed due to blah blah blah, followed by "except all the bad bits which weren't designed".

Interestingly enough, the Bible itself says this is not the case:

Isaiah 45:7:
I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the Lord, do all these things.

Evil is not the absence of good, and darkness is not the absence of light. Most importantly, God says he created it all.

^By that god is neither good because he does more bad than good if anything.

(February 11, 2015 at 10:23 am)JonDarbyXIII Wrote:

(February 5, 2015 at 3:50 pm)FreeTony Wrote: Having a discussion on another forum, I am astounded at the following argument:

God created everything, but he didn't create diseases/cancer etc because these aren't "things".

So we end up with both the claim that everything must have been designed due to blah blah blah, followed by "except all the bad bits which weren't designed".

Interestingly enough, the Bible itself says this is not the case:

Isaiah 45:7:
I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the Lord, do all these things.

Evil is not the absence of good, and darkness is not the absence of light. Most importantly, God says he created it all.

You have just illustrated why it is good for atheists to read the Bible. That way, they can point out the fact that Christians almost universally ignore it, regardless of whatever pretenses they might make.

For an easy way to find some interesting bits, one can visit:

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com

However, one should take care and read the bits to which it refers when reading about the contradictions or whatever, as the maker of the site seems to have gotten carried away occasionally.

Hmm. I had a "discussion" with Frodo where I told him a load of stuff Yahweh had done that was obviously evil. Before I'd even said what verses I was referring to, he told me I had misinterpreted it and he'd heard it all before. He also admitted to not having actually read it all through though, so I wonder how he was more certain he was correct than me.

(February 11, 2015 at 11:07 am)robvalue Wrote: Hmm. I had a "discussion" with Frodo where I told him a load of stuff Yahweh had done that was obviously evil. Before I'd even said what verses I was referring to, he told me I had misinterpreted it and he'd heard it all before. He also admitted to not having actually read it all through though, so I wonder how he was more certain he was correct than me.

By his faith delusion, of course. That's how they can all cherry pick the verses that conform to/confirm their mental image of god and ignore the rest, defending the heinous portions by claiming WE'RE the ones that don't understand, or are interpreting it wrong, and that the Bible is the infallible word of god, rabble rabble.

That's the hook of religion. Everyone has their own pet imaginary god. They have shared characteristics due to the source material, but they differ wildly in temperament and even action. So, everyone's god is perfect for them, individually. That's the benefit of having sometimes vague, always inconsistent stories as the source material. The person invested in deriving meaning from it will simply fill in the rough spots with what they want.

(February 11, 2015 at 10:51 am)Pyrrho Wrote: You have just illustrated why it is good for atheists to read the Bible. That way, they can point out the fact that Christians almost universally ignore it, regardless of whatever pretenses they might make.

I don't think atheists need to read the Bible in order to refute it. I heard it said (I wish I could remember the source) that a scientist doesn't need to read Superman comics to know that a mild-mannered reporter didn't take an unprotected journey to the moon.

However, I do agree that it can help. I've read the Bible more than the vast majority of Christians because religion (any religion) fascinates me. Yet, it's been an added bonus of reading the Bible that I can see it for the mess of contradictions that it is--to the extent that I have an entire book I'm trying to get published on the subject.

It certainly makes it fun talking to theists when you can refute almost any of their doctrines using their own book.