My former Pastor: "You're not accountable to anyone."...

[Thor]

Ok, so we just talked on the phone, but he said that why not just look at porn magazines, why not just "live it up", because you're not accountable to anyone??

Here we have Page 18 of the Creationist Playbook. If you don't believe in their deity, you have no morals because "you're not accountable to anyone".

What crap.

As has already been pointed out by Adrian, we are all accountable to family, friends, co-workers and society at large. Next.

He also said, where are you going to go when "your hear melts down", ie, hard times hit?

What is he implying here? Because you're an atheist you'll run around robbing and killing when hard times hit? Plenty of believers already do that. In any case, an atheist will turn to the same people a believer will turn to in hard times: family, friends relief organizations and the government (probably in that order).

Finally, he said that morals come from somewhere,

Ask him where morals come from. When he says "from God", you can say that you'd rather not get your morals from a being that says it's okay to keep slaves. You can also say, "If morals are from God, then there should be no confusion or disagreement about what is moral." You could then point out that devout believers disagree on moral issues such as birth control, gambling, drinking alcohol, the death penalty, abortion, homosexuality, etc... Surely, this brilliant being would have provided us with clear, unambiguous instructions as to what and what is not moral. But he didn't. Why is that?

and that we are getting worse rather then better, as human beings-presumably without Christianity.

Yes, everything was better in the good old days.

More hogwash.

Ask for examples of how "we are getting worse". Then point out how chaotic things were in the 1930s. Prohibition plus a depression created criminal enterprises that literally killed anyone who got in their way. Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, etc... caused mayhem unequaled today. You can also mention how blacks were regularly lynched, intimidated and lived in constant fear. An interracial couple could not walk down a street pretty much anywhere without a real risk of being attacked. Gays wouldn't even think about revealing their secret. Things are immeasurably better today than they were years ago. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

I accept one and only one moral authority,conscience

BUT, I AM accountable for my actions in my daily life. I WILL be held accountable at law if I say I run over a fuckwit,(even accidently) or set fire to some drongo loudly using its mobile phone within my hearing..

As a social animal,I'm also accountable to other individuals for some of my behaviour,such as keeping my word.

My position is that of Egoism: That like every other animal on the planet, human beings are essentially self interested.That includes most believers,who obey their moral precepts from hope of reward or fear of punishment.(being held accountable by some transcendent power)

In my opinion, the moral man does what he thinks is right for its own sake.

There was a Greek ,over 2000 years ago who bemoaned the decadence of the youth of the day.I was a child of the 1960's. WE were going to fix the mess left to us by our hypocrite elders---and a bang up job we did too.

Old farts* criticise youth because they are jealous, ignorant or stupid.


*being an old fart is a state of mind,not of age.

[krazedkat]

Ok, so we just talked on the phone, but he said that why not just look at porn magazines, why not just "live it up", because you're not accountable to anyone?? How do I answer that objection to my Atheism?? He also said, where are you going to go when "your hear melts down", ie, hard times hit? Finally, he said that morals come from somewhere, and that we are getting worse rather then better, as human beings-presumably without Christianity.

I really would like to know how to answer him.

1) He makes porn sound bad
2) The bible is arguably worse than porn since it makes people rationalize and defend something completely irrational
3) Go to FRIENDS when in a bad time, they fucking respond (God does not, I know from experience, prayed my heart out in elementary to stop getting bullied, never happened)
4) Morals come from us and you
5) Our lives are GREATLY improving, I bet he wants to live in the dark ages, what an idiot.

[Watson]

Maybe there was something he hoped you would understand from what he said.

[krazedkat]

Maybe there was something he hoped you would understand from what he said.

The preacher? The preacher was just trying to guilt and scare the OP into Christianity...

[Watson]

Oh yes. I'm so sure that was what he meant to do. I agree with you. /sarcasm.

[krazedkat]

Let's see, telling him that with out Christ he is immoral: GUILT!

[theVOID]

What else did he intend to achieve by asserting (falsely) that if you aren't accountable to God then you aren't accountable to anyone? This is nothing more than an attempt at demoralizing the OP, to make them believe that they no longer have a moral standard.

It's despicable.

[krazedkat]

He also demeans the rest of humanity, saying we can't help the OP in times of trouble...

[chatpilot]

Everything you said in your post regarding what your pastor said to you contain all of the common elements of Christian manipulation.
1. why not just look at porn magazines, why not just "live it up", because you're not accountable to anyone??
Classical Christian guilt trip ploy geared at making you feel worthless and degenerate without God.

2. He also said, where are you going to go when "your hear melts down", ie, hard times hit?
Classical you are nothing without God ploy, in other words without him to sustain you you are useless.

3. he said that morals come from somewhere, and that we are getting worse rather then better, as human beings-presumably without Christianity.

Classical God is right and without him you cannot possibly know right from wrong, again this goes back to the guilt trip ploy. The only way this is true is if you dismiss all of the tales in the bible, especially the book of Leviticus where they had laws for all ills of society back then that continue to plague us today. As a society we are better off without primitive religious beliefs because through those same beliefs we espoused slavery, sexism, murder, etc. We have managed in this day and age to shake ourselves free from some of these primitive and intellectually demoralizing beliefs.