How to debunk the first cause argument without trying too hard

[Ronkonkoma]

You're quite right to be skeptical of a "debunking Christianity" site. Take it with whatever sized grain of salt you prefer. We encourage that sort of thing, around here!

I linked to it because he provides (as tends to be our tradition) a lot of citations and links to other things to read on the subject, and provides a (to my point of view, which I confess may not be entirely neutral, despite my best efforts) good summary of the issues.

And I could not agree more with the last part you wrote. As a Humanist, I believe that human compassion and love are what make this world tolerable, and that we suffer or prosper in direct proportion to how we are taught to show (and are shown) love.

Take a moment to blank your mind of what you think you know about the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and go read it again. It's my favorite thing that Jesus (is alleged to... I have to throw that in there so no one things I'm suggesting that I think the Gospels are accurate transcripts of anything the man said in real life) taught. And, unfortunately, most people get the point of that parable wrong. If more Christians really did grasp what he was saying, I think you'd find that more of us nonbelievers were on your side on most issues, or rather, you'd be on our side more often.

Hint: if you do not already know, it helps to know exactly what a Samaritan was, and what the Judean Hebrews thought of them in the first century. It may be worth a separate Google search before you start the Bible reading.

Thanks, will do, and comment on it. Just need some time. I just came from hungary.

Sure I just read the Good Samaritan, I think he was probably a real person that Jesus came in contact with. He pulled out two denari to help the beaten up guy. I gave some money as well to a mother with four kids on the Keleti platform in Budapest. Her tired kids slept on the floor all night and woke up with a Hungarian guard staring at them, and the store owner who happened to own the concession that they were sleeping in-front of. They were just staring at each other. "Farkas szem" (a wolf-stare, as they say around here so often). She was defiant and she wouldn't budge. I guess if they were thrown out they would be separated from her husband who was not with them. Was her husband traveling with them at all? Was he waiting for them in another country? When I was a small kid I found a mother duck sitting on a nest in some reeds in Hungary. I started kicking the mother duck for no good reason other than being a kid. She wouldn't budge off her nest because she had chicks. It was the same maternal instinct that she had going. her head was in a veil, at first she didn't understand my motives for giving her money, as though nobody ever helped her, or that in the heat of her standoff, she was caught off guard by a gesture of mercy. The guard left, it was only the store owner and her now. I pointed to her kids and she understood. She thanked me by pointing upwards. Was she Muslim? Probably. She could also have been a Christian for all I know. I wanted to bless her with a sign of the cross but held back. Just pointed up as well.

Another family I tried to help thought I was wanting to buy their son. Couldn't understand why I would be wanting to help them. I guess it says something about the world they came from. Or maybe the world they arrived in seemed so hostile to them that they didn't expect any solidarity. Even though they came to the Christian countries, often times they received only suspicion, a cold indifference, or outright hated. Another faily got on the train with a pair of twins. They each had a pair of roses pinned to their jacket. Somebody had a kind heart and gave it to them. Muslims are converting to Christianity "in droves." Maybe only to prevent deportation, because officially they face the death penalty in their countries for having converted. So the EU will not deport them. Or is it that they saw how their neighbor Christians suffered a real 21st century persecution by ISIS?

Either way, in Canada, the Christians I saw from Iraq were one of a kind people. They have large families and the kids learn Aramaic, the language of Christ. Their mass has more chanting, maybe some Muslim influence as well. They were living side by side with the muslims for more than 1500 years. I see these people as the salt of the earth. A far cry form the tepid and diluted faith of us westerners.