What's the best way to shut up a theist?

[Zidneya]

Either a head shot or decapitatition.

Or is that zombies......

I can never remember the difference.

The headshot and decapitation are for stupid little teens who appear in werewolfs and vampires love triangle teen romance films.

And for zombies you need to plant a peashooters, sunflowers, some jalapeños and mabye a cabbage-pult.

[ThomM]

Hi Zid new user.
I have one question what's the best way of shut up a theist, there's this woman who has been visiting a website that I have and constantly leaves religious messages. Now at first I responded what she wrote me (she quotes a verse of John from the Bible, and then told me that I should be grateful that Jesus sacrifices for me). But the she left message after message and every time I say something (not meant to her pretty much everything)she says something about religion back(I ain't kidding you can check if you want). So what should you recommend it?(personally I ain't gonna let her make me her own conversion experiment) Refute any idea until she gets tired? Go to her web page and leave her messages?(she has friends of her who visit her webpage that's why I haven't done it) Stop refuting her and tell her to …. up (well you know the idea) I don't know what would be the correct approach against what she said.

Ironically I told her that she's gonna quit this conversation with a certain sense of disappointment because I’m not gonna change my mind, y[/font]ou know like pretty much all theist does.(I wouldn't have told her that, I think that's was what made her to keep going)

Ask her if her son ever disobeyed her - and if she says yes - ask her if she stoned him to death as the bible instructs?

And if she had NO children - tell her to read - 1 Timothy 2 which explains that women must bear children to be saved - and then say you do not want to talk to the unsaved!

OF course - just admit you always had an interest in people who still believe in fairy tales long after they should have grown up -

[Zidneya]

SHE SEND ME 3 PAGES WITH STATEMENTS, ON BOTH SIDES!!!!

THANK GOD SHE DOESN'T HAVE MY ADRESS.

I MEAN COME ONE!!! IT'S NOT LIKE I'M THE MOST DANGEROUS ATHEIST THREAT TO CHRISTIANITY.

So you feel that I am disrespecting you? Why exactly? Because I am telling you about God? Well... then don't you think I would feel YOU are disrespecting GOD by not believing in Him? No. Not really. It's a difference of opinion... And also, the reason I said that I am don't think you are less than me is because you have been quite defensive... so have I.

I don't KNOW things about you (aka. personality, personal life, interests...) but I do SENSE that your life and heart are incomplete. That can happen, you know...

I don't find the emptiness in your art, or your disinterest in political stances (I don't like that sort of thing either... the best thing to do is just nod or stare hard when people go off on political tangents... ). I find it in your words. If you were not empty, you would have something to believe in: God. No. Strike that. If you had no emptiness, you would know the basic feeling of FAITH. In whatever, whomever.

Good luck with the surprise Have fuuuuun!!!!!!!! So. The point...

The emptiness is not really a "bad feeling"... grr. Sorta hard to explain... it's just a lack of SOMETHING... Faith, perhaps, or completeness... I am speaking, here, from the point of view of someone who used to have a very shaky belief in God. It's more of a feeling than a knowledge, this emptiness... and, I think now we are far enough into this... er, conversation... for me to ask you: Why exactly ARE you an atheist? Just curious... if you don't want to share the reason it's OK... Anyways... I think, from your statement of "having a God to solve the problems in my life" and "atheism promotes independence" that you have a bit of a... twisted... view of exactly HOW God works. That's OK, too.

When you become a Christian, the only thing you put in God's hands is, well, your entire life. Not meaning that He solves your problems for you (even though prayer can help: God sometimes DOES show us things); not meaning that nothing bad will happen to you, or that you won't be "thinking for yourself"... but meaning that you understand that God has absolute control of your fate (whatever He allows to happen to you), and that you seek Him as the source of life. Eternal life. That you have faith in Him - not to deliver you completely from evil (not yet, anyways) but to protect and somewhat guide you. Through an understanding of God and His laws, you become better prepared for life.

I don't know if you have heard the Bible described as a sword and shield. That's exactly what it is. It is a spiritual sword that can help us go through life, with God in mind as the... overseer... of all things.

That again. "I don't want to change your beliefs". I don't. Not really... MEANING I don't want to change them FORCIBLY. I don't simply wish to "indoctrinate" you, or something. What I want is to help God out a bit. Believe it or not, He is working in your life right now (and in mine). In ALL of our lives. I believe that God led me to your DA profile - to you - to have this conversation. So I am not really trying to change your mind - though I do want you to come to faith in the Lord.

And God does not make the "choice" for us. We are totally free to choose between belief and unbelief... and, yes, between Heaven and Hell. (Those are the... end product... not really "what counts now". Even though Hell is VERY real. And not fun. So is Heaven... I mean, it's real.) God HOPES for us to make the choice of belief, because He loves us and wants us to spend eternity with Him (that's why Jesus died in the first place). But He doesn't FORCE us. We have the free will to choose. And if you choose Him (belief), you will be cleansed of sin... forgiven. Sure, you'll still sin here on earth, and you'll still have troubles, but the "end product" will be different - and your emptiness will be full.

Well, I HAVE only talked about God so far (and all the other things you've mentioned have been related) but... is that bothering you? If you want to talk about something else apart from this conversation, feel free to send me a note or comment on something of mine and I will have a "nonreligious" conversation with you, if that is what you want. I don't mind. I like talking to people.

The reason I said that is because, well, you asked why I only discussed God with you. I took that to mean "do you only discuss God WITH ME, or do you discuss Him with other people". Now, I see that you meant: why are we only talking about God? My bad. Sorry...

I know that there are others out there who don't know WHAT to believe... But why would you count them lucky?

I am starting to see now why you are an atheist... you were dissatisfied with Christianity? Was that it? Did you find the whole concept of God too... big, and invisible, to wrap your mind around? Well, that's where faith comes into play!

And the fact that the Padre wouldn't answer you makes me mad. Sometimes, people will... twist... religion, and the holiness of God, to suit themselves. I'm not saying that this was what the Padre was doing, but I am just reminding you that people are imperfect, but God is perfect. And he DOES have a sense of humor... He probably would have answered you...

Which I will do now, just cuz you asked: 1. Cain's offspring? You mean where did they live or where did they materialize from? I'll answer that when you clarify. 2. Dinosaurs in history books, but not in the Bible. Well... dinosaurs were never MENTIONED in the Bible, but recently, there has been evidence that Noah carried them in the Ark! Read this (sorry for all the popup ads...): http://www.christianpost.com/news/din… Cool, huh? I think they DID exist in Bible times... but of course the theory of evolution just messes up the time scale. 3. I have no idea if the Virgin Mary was... hot... or not. Really. And yes, it is a good question, I suppose.

I go to your page talking about God BECAUSE I AM TRYING TO REACH YOU. Ya know, I have become strangely fond of you, but you really frustrate me sometimes. And I'm not "imposing" on you... I think. At least I am not trying to (as I said earlier!). Just because I am talking to you about God doesn't mean that I am choosing what to believe for you! If that was true, we wouldn't be having this conversation! I DO hope you'll come to believe in God, but I'm not forcing you to! I can't even DO THAT! Duh.

I dunno. If you want to "convert" someone to atheism (how do you convert someone to something that's not a religion is what I would like to know... hmm... =_=), you could go ahead. Probably won't get far. Just sayin'.


About evolution: Yes, if you believed it, the theory of man-from-apes WOULD disprove Adam and Eve. But can you prove that man-from-ape is true? No. They have never found "the missing link", and never will, because IT DOESN'T EXIST! Also, the theory of evolution began when Darwin formulated the idea that species could adapt into different species based on inter-specie adaptation. There's a big difference.

And I have never heard of any evidence disproving that the Jews were not captive in Egypt. If you could present me something about that, please... just a link is fine. Thanks. But... they DID find an ARMY (an ancient army) at the bottom of the Red Sea... hmm... interesting, don't you think?

That particular anthropological study could be very shaky. Due to, record-keeping at the time, or distribution of peoples, etc, etc. What you would need to find is a study disproving that the Jews ever existed, and then your point could (maybe) stand.

And about the Flood, even evolutionist data about rock strata growth and fossils shows that a worldwide cataclysmic inundation DID occur. So I don't know what you meant by that.

This Leviticus passage is more a "ritual cleansing" than an actual medical healing. Of course, God could have directly healed lepers if He so chose (Jesus did, here on earth), but remember that there WAS little medical knowledge at the time, and leprosy was considered a defilement, an incurable disease. But, with God, all things are possible.

Bats are birds: once again, small scientific knowledge. The ancient Jews did not KNOW bats were not birds. Birds as we classify them today, anyways. God had no such classifications: He knew what He created, but I suppose He chose to let the writer of Leviticus classify bats under birds.

The Mesopotamian texts: every people has had superstitions about how the world was created. That doesn't mean that the Bible can be dis-proven.

At the time of the council of Nicaea, the church was a place for powerful people to sit. The church DID control the people, to some extent. They established extra-Biblical (note: they did not WRITE THE BIBLE) conventions for the people to follow... but they were only sinners, like the rest of us, and perhaps blinded by power and greed. Wouldn't have been the first time.

Death is the eventual consequence of going against God anyways. (I know that sounds really cold, but it's true.) Also, this is, again, written by a man (who also sinned) INSPIRED by God to write it. God is perfect. The leaders of the ancient Hebrews were not. There is nothing "cruel" about God's nature.

Those passages you said were "instruments of intolerance" were part of the Hebrew code of law at the time, and display more of an intolerance for sin than other cultures. It's funny, because Jesus' conduct in itself totally disproves any "intolerance of other cultures", as He walked with and taught (and now loves) any person from any background of sin or culture.
As for the Corinthians passage (did you mean 1st Corinthians, or 2nd Corinthians? 1 Corinthians 4:4 seemed more likely to be what you were talking about, so it is the one I will answer for... if you meant 2nd Corinthians, let me know.), it does NOT disprove that God is loving. "For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the LORD." I do not see how that implies that God is not loving. Yes, He is the one who judges us for our actions - we should not judge each other; that is not our task: it is His and His alone. The fact that He is our Judge (a perfect Judge) does not mean that He does not love us: it is through belief in Him that we escape being judged harshly by Him - but He still loves all of us. A lot. That's why He gives us all an equal chance - in life and the day we will stand before Him - to believe. That's the whole point of Jesus's sacrifice.
Matthew 18:7-9 is, as a matter of fact, ridiculous... if you take it literally. The thing is that Jesus did not mean it literally. He spoke and taught in parables and metaphors. Jesus did not mean "cut off your hand and put out your eye". He was using dismemberment as an example of what you are to do with sin in your life. An example of what He meant, that can easily be applied today is: if you have something, say... on your hard drive, that is sinful - adulterous pornography, or an article worshiping the occult - you should delete it, get rid of it. Cast it away from you. If there is a lie in your life, you should get rid of it. Things like that. It is not an encouragement to maim yourself, but an exhortation - represented by maiming - to try to minimize sin in your life.
The Crusades and the Inquisition might have been performed in the name of God, but God did not instruct them, nor condone them. Jesus spoke of those who would do many false, sinful things in His name... but He would not truly be in the hearts of those people. Throughout history - like you said - there have been many horrible things done "in God's name". But, in truth, these were twisted, sinful, greedy people who knew that they could falsely use God's name to control people. Letters from Popes who led crusades have shown dangerous ulterior motives behind them. The Inquisition was launched by the Catholic Christian Church against the Protestant Reformationists because the Protestants (though not perfect, of course), were not satisfied with the Church, and felt that their religious leaders were twisting and corrupting the teachings of God... this is exemplified by the Crusades and Inquisition - sinful practices that were not of God, not truly.
A geocentric universe? Are you really putting that up to disprove the Bible? Why would you? In no place does the Bible say that the Earth is the center of our solar system. It does not give any such details. We know that a heliocentric universe exists (and God knew that long before: He designed it.), and people like Copernicus and Galileo figured that out. Once again: God did not say, or the Bible did not say, that our solar system is geocentric. People - because of small knowledge and ignorance - did.
This leads me to another point (before I keep answering your arguments): the earth is so perfectly created for life that it is impossible to have created it spontaneously, as the theory of evolution states. Even the Second Law of Thermodynamics can disprove the Big Bang theory: The entropy of the universe can never increase, it only decreases or stays the same. ("Entropy" means "disorder".) This basic, proven scientific law implies that the universe could never have been created spontaneously, because matter would have been going from a less ordered state to a more ordered one. Also, the perfect conditions of the earth for life all point to a supreme Designer, who made the earth for life to thrive on.
That said, we will now move on. The intolerance that this shows for women? Well, 1 Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. Was he God? No. Was he inspired by God? Doubtless! But he still wrote according to the traditions and practices of society (both Christian and non-Christian), which, in this case, was for women to be submissive. However, when we want to discuss whether or not something in the Bible is true, it is always better to look for proof in the life of the Son of God, than in the letters of an apostle (who was still influenced). Look back a bit and to Jesus's life. He had female followers. He taught them, same as men. He treated them the same way He treated everyone else: with love and respect. God does not have any preference over men, women or children, of any race or color. As a matter of fact, His male apostles thought He was weird for teaching women (as well as healing lepers, eating with poor folk, and speaking to Samaritans). The Saducees and Pharisees spoke against Him for teaching women (and other "misfits"). God does not have intolerance for women, nor does He condone their oppression (or oppression of anyone).
Also, I want to talk a bit about Paul. You probably know that he came to faith through a miracle of the Lord, and began preaching and spreading the Word - especially to the Gentiles. He chose to not marry, because... well, I guess he never felt like it. But Paul didn't really have anything against women, either. Yes, he followed the traditions of the time and society by agreeing women should be submissive and meek, but even this society understood that women were important: just as much so as men.
If you want to believe that our social environment makes us "ill" and that we are not really "sinful", then you must ask yourself why our environment makes us ill. Because it's sinful. So even if you don't want to acknowledge the sinfulness in human nature, you must still admit that there is sin in the world. You might ask yourself where I am going with this. You'll see in a minute. So, now that we have established that the world, if not humans, are sinful, then we can ask where the sin comes from. Not from God. It comes from the Great Adversary... the Devil, destroyer of light. In God's terms, part of sin is also rejecting Him. He gives us the innate truth to believe in Him, but since our world is sinful, not everyone will make that choice (which is what the Devil wants, BTW). He doesn't pre-program our fates, and then judge us for how He made us; He judges us for the choices we make. We will all sin, but if we believe in Him and the cleansing power of Jesus's sacrifice, we will be redeemed.
There may be a close relation between our neuron firings and the way we THINK, but not what we actually BELIEVE in. The soul does, of course, tie to the mind, but it is a separate entity, in a way... and is subject to "supernatural" influence, as you put it.
I don't see any of the contradictions you mentioned.
And what I meant when I said God cannot be seen is that you can't really SEE Him, tangibly... unless He chooses to reveal part of Himself (and note that when Moses saw God, he only saw PART of Him... and glowed for the rest of his life). That is what I meant. But of course, you can see God indirectly - I see Him everyday - if you so choose to look. I think that is the general idea.
In that second-to-last paragraph, a lot of the things you claimed Christianity is are unfounded through my responses above, but I would like to address a few more: the religious dogmas of the world will come and go, will be sinful, perhaps, but God's truth endures. "divine attributes inside a unique selection of believers is quite unfair" The selection of believers is not unique, nor unfairly distributed... nor do believers have divine attributes. And you can see that Christianity certainly isn't hurting the diversity of the world... and even if it was the sole religion, it would not hurt diversity at all: you can still have different cultures with the same belief in God.
People tend to over-complicate religion, and also cause misunderstanding to others (such as your good self). Also, people (INCLUDING your good self) in this "narcissistic", skeptical, sin-worshiping world tend to undermine faith A LOT... when it is really the basis of many things. People with debilitating illnesses have healed because of faith (whether or not it is religious) and the strength of their minds (which God created). That in itself implies that the power of faith is great, and that of God is stronger. He doesn't want us to sell into the lies and deceptions of this world.
God is the proof of Himself.

WHY IS SHE SO OBSESSED WITH REFUTING ATHEISM

AND WHY SHE HAD TO CHOOSE ME TO DO IT!!!

[Jackalope]

I have nothing to add to this thread except this - every time I see the thread title, I read it as "What's the best way to chop up a theist?"

[Zidneya]

I have nothing to add to this thread except this - every time I see the thread title, I read it as "What's the best way to chop up a theist?"

Don't put ideas in my head that may cause that I end up in jail.

[Mothonis]

SHE SEND ME 3 PAGES WITH STATEMENTS, ON BOTH SIDES!!!!

THANK GOD SHE DOESN'T HAVE MY ADRESS.

I MEAN COME ONE!!! IT'S NOT LIKE I'M THE MOST DANGEROUS ATHEIST THREAT TO CHRISTIANITY.



Dude just block her.Who cares what she thinks? she just there to proselytize to you and not have a real discussion

block her and move on

---

[quote='Losty' pid='655600' dateline='1398221805']

Hey! I bought that for you to use no one else.

[ManMachine]

Hi Zid new user.
I have one question what's the best way of shut up a theist, there's this woman who has been visiting a website that I have and constantly leaves religious messages. Now at first I responded what she wrote me (she quotes a verse of John from the Bible, and then told me that I should be grateful that Jesus sacrifices for me). But the she left message after message and every time I say something (not meant to her pretty much everything)she says something about religion back(I ain't kidding you can check if you want). So what should you recommend it?(personally I ain't gonna let her make me her own conversion experiment) Refute any idea until she gets tired? Go to her web page and leave her messages?(she has friends of her who visit her webpage that's why I haven't done it) Stop refuting her and tell her to …. up (well you know the idea) I don't know what would be the correct approach against what she said.

Ironically I told her that she's gonna quit this conversation with a certain sense of disappointment because I’m not gonna change my mind, y[/font]ou know like pretty much all theist does.(I wouldn't have told her that, I think that's was what made her to keep going)

Internutters.

There's one in every forum... see if you can spot the AF internutter.

MM

(Hint: - there may be more than one)

[Confused Ape]

AND WHY SHE HAD TO CHOOSE ME TO DO IT!!!

I'm guessing it's because you haven't used deviantArt's block feature where she's concerned. If she's tried converting other atheists and they blocked her you're the only choice.

[Tonus]

Make a game of it. See how many words you can get her to type up with as few words of your own as possible. If you can get a wall of text from "so how can I be saved" that would be like 500 points.

[archangle]

I say "yep.".

"what ya wanna do tonight?"