Why "mysterious ways" don't matter.

[Minimalist]

It is not a pile of ... lol You just never saw the beauty in it. Trust me, it will never go away (thank God) :-)

Your bullshit is being abandoned in Europe every day. Its even on the way out over here. Humans learn slowly but they do learn.

Turn out the lights when you leave the church.

American church statistics have reported [via Goodmanson]:

In America, 3500 – 4000 churches close their doors each year
Half of all churches last year did not add one new member through conversion growth
Churches lose an estimated 2,765,000 people each year to nominalism and secularism

http://djchuang.com/2010/churches-closin...s-leaving/

[The Grand Nudger]

God was not invented. "He is the alpha and omega". I do not blame Him or the devil for my wrong doings. I do take responsibility for my own actions only because He is real. If there was no God, then right or wrong would not be real.

Right, right, and then you'd be out torturing cats, skullfucking dogs, and generally being a dick. I'd say that I doubted it, but in the case of some christians I'm not so sure.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

False dichotomy.

You calling it false does not make it false.

In this case it does, owing to the fact you've ignored every other variable about the evolution of your bible and it's vast myriad of amendments and omissions and the lack of information about almost all of the authors of the individual books.

Oh, not to mention that there is next to nothing of historic worth in many of the parts that claim to be reciting actual events.

So, you are a guilty of presenting a false dichotomy.

---

Most people accept teachings without investigating.

Oh good! What a virtuous way to live one's life.

"Hey guys, just accept it! No reason to question what we're saying to you. Hey, by any chance do you have some spare cash you could give us? It's all for he glory of The Lord so don't worry."

:-|

[Jenny A]

Next time do me the curtsey of attributing my quotes to me in future. Thanks in advance.

A father is not the creator of his children. A father is simply regenerating, not creating.

To regenerate is to form or create again. And that differs from creation how? More to the point, you simply asserted that one cannot understand one's creator. So far that's all it is, an assertion. So I ask again why can't something created understand it's creator. Hint: because The Bible says so is not a satisfactory answer.

Nope, you aren't talking about how to make the dish, but rather what it tastes like. No special knowledge is required other than to taste it, which many atheists have done.

If you have tasted it, you are acknowledging that the taste was real.

I personally have never believed. But there are many atheists who have believed strongly over a long period of time. They do not believe now, but certainly they have tasted. That they determined that taste to be a delusion does not make their experience less real.

]Why try to enlighten you? Because you are here and you are lacking in knowledge. The bolded parts of Proverbs say it all. The goal is not to take all hope away merely to ground you in reality.

I haven't seen nothing here that has given me hope and ground to reality. I have mostly seen individuals expressing their hate to believers. "God is the foundation of true knowledge". (Proverbs 1:7)

The fact that you don't find hope here doesn't mean anyone is trying to take it from you. I don't find hope in church, but I don't think anyone there is trying to take it from me. But then I don't go to churches to lecture about atheism. Nor to I promote atheism door to door.

You are here. You are essentially preaching. Does it surprise you that people respond?

There are people here who hate religion (I'm one of those with regard to Fudimentalism whether it be Islamic or Christian) and people who hate Christians, or Muslims or whatever (but hardly all of us). I reserve my hatred for individuals and there have been very few people I've actively hated. So far you haven't quite tipped me over the edge.

The necessity of inventing the devil is a consequence of inventing god. But rather than blame the devil, wouldn't it be better to take responsibility for what we do directly? That is what happens when you believe in neither god nor the devil.

God was not invented. "He is the alpha and omega". I do not blame Him or the devil for my wrong doings. I do take responsibility for my own actions only because He is real. If there was no God, then right or wrong would not be real.

I'm glad you take responsibility but I must disagree about god. God is invented, and having invented an all good god, the devil was a necessary invention to explain evil.

It's amazing to me how long ago the bible already prophesied about this very topic. "People who aren't spiritual can't receiver these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means." (1Corinthians 2:14).

Sounds much like a charlatan about to demonstrate ESP, or their ability to talk to the dead to me. It's the mark of a con-man attempting to deflect the inevitable mistrust before it begins.

The passage was not referring to talking to dead people. It was referring to God revealing the truth to those who are willing to receive them

Receiving a spirit that cannot be seen or heard except in your heart, head, or in visions is akin to ESP and paranormal things like talking to dead people. Jesus did die. He's a dead person.

Saying if you aren't open to believe you won't hear is exactly what Paul was saying. And his "knowledge" of Jesus was entirely through visions. It's exactly the way claiments of other paranormal activity anesthetize their hearers to reason in advance.

Especially if propped up by laws, wars, and suppressing everything that disagrees with it right? Even so much of the Bible has proved demonstrably false.

The bible has not been proved to be false. The bible can be tested and proved as I have done. People have lied about proofs that the bible is false and people receive this messages without investigating. If I was the devil that's what I would do too.

Taken literally, it certainly has been proved false. I probably have "investigated" rather more fully than you have. The Genesis creation story, Noah's Ark, and The Tower of Babel are counter factual. A competent high school education are sufficient to know that. I do know something about the archeology during the time period as well. It does not support Exodus.

[alexwenzel]

A father is not the creator of his children. A father is simply regenerating, not creating.

To regenerate is to form or create again. And that differs from creation how? More to the point, you simply asserted that one cannot understand one's creator. So far that's all it is, an assertion. So I ask again why can't something created understand it's creator. Hint: because The Bible says so is not a satisfactory answer.

Regenerate is NOT to create, even atheists know that. And no, I didn't read that from the bible. If you are all about science then give me proof that man has created something that understands us.

[Bad Wolf]

I call poe!

[The Grand Nudger]

If you are all about science then give me proof that man has created something that understands us.

The algorithm that handles netflix movie suggestions. Voila. How hard did you think that would be?

[Jenny A]

To regenerate is to form or create again. And that differs from creation how? More to the point, you simply asserted that one cannot understand one's creator. So far that's all it is, an assertion. So I ask again why can't something created understand it's creator. Hint: because The Bible says so is not a satisfactory answer.

Regenerate is NOT to create, even atheists know that. And no, I didn't read that from the bible. If you are all about science then give me proof that man has created something that understands us.

Explain why something created can't understand it's creator. It's an assertion no more. In the sense you are using the word create, there are no examples of a created being unless you assume god is a creator. I'm unwilling to make that assumption as there is no evidence for it.

[Angrboda]

And now we're on to word games.....

"A woman is a machine for turning cheeseburgers into babies."
~ Unknown

[Esquilax]

If you are all about science then give me proof that man has created something that understands us.

Why bother? We both know you're just going to redefine your terms, and every part of that sentence, so that nothing we provide is acceptable to you.