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Post by cassierae on Jun 20, 2008 11:35:52 GMT -5
My old church down the way from my work and close to my home put up an electronic sign a in which every day they have a new 'inspirational' Christian message. I went to this church years ago and have since diverted away from the commercialization of religion and choose not to categorize myself. Well, the sign yesterday said "Pity the atheist who thanks and has no one to thank." Who says an atheist doesn't have anyone to thank in life?! My sister is an atheist and I side more with them than any other. It offended me because it makes it seem like atheists and people who don't believe in a God or who choose not to make it part of their lives are sinners and loners who are angry and have no purpose. That's just not true and I hate it how people who are so religious try to make it seem that you are deemed a bad person if you aren't like them. How fair is that to the rest of us who are living out normal lives, working, going to school, raising families and supporting our communities without the need to have religion be a part of our daily lives if thats not what we believe in? I just thought i'd start a 'touchy' subject because I was a little taken back by the sign.
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Post by youthpastor73 on Jun 20, 2008 12:02:02 GMT -5
church signs are, indeed, stupid..... I make it a game to find the most ridiculous ones I can and call my friends about them.
I work for a church....I hate church signs.... I have atheist friends.... where's the support group for me?
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Post by Mud Room Donna on Jun 20, 2008 12:32:41 GMT -5
church signs are, indeed, stupid..... I make it a game to find the most ridiculous ones I can and call my friends about them. I work for a church....I hate church signs.... I have atheist friends.... where's the support group for me? I work full time for an agency of our Diocese, but my parents and brother are athiest. We can start our own support group. Now all we need is a catchy arconym! |
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Post by hotzester on Jun 20, 2008 12:34:35 GMT -5
What I don't understand is this. I could be wrong, I'm just not sure I follow. Cassierae, it seems you're shunning the churches for calling athiests bad people, but in reality, you're calling churchgoers bad people. It seems the intolerance is going both ways.
I mean let's face it - there aren't many religions that will tell you "Go ahead and believe in the other guys, we don't mind." At the end of the day, they all would rather you follow their core beliefs.
I'm like you - at the root of it, I'm a Christian. But I don't subscribe solely to any one school of thought. Truth be told, I actually borrow bits from Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism...I'm a churchy salad.
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Post by cassierae on Jun 20, 2008 13:00:28 GMT -5
I agree Hotzester, i'm the same way. I like to see things from all groups perspectives. I'm a mutt :-)
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Post by Derek on Jun 20, 2008 13:04:41 GMT -5
I go to a church, I go to a christian college, and yes I would call myself one. But that doesn't mean I agree with what other signs say or what christians say about other people. All people are entitled to their opinions, and I respect them. It's just when churches put up signs like that, religions get a bad rap.
Just my two cents
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Post by xxsloshxx on Jun 20, 2008 14:25:46 GMT -5
Has anybody been to zeitgeistmovie.com? Go there and skip to 19 minutes in if you are confused about religion. This movie explains everything. |
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Post by wienerpoopie on Jun 20, 2008 14:29:54 GMT -5
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Post by hotzester on Jun 20, 2008 14:46:41 GMT -5
Hey, if that's your thing, that's cool. Personally, I could never be an athiest. I'd much rather believe in something and be wrong than NOT believe in it and be wrong. lol
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Post by wienerpoopie on Jun 20, 2008 14:51:25 GMT -5
Hey, if that's your thing, that's cool. Personally, I could never be an athiest. I'd much rather believe in something and be wrong than NOT believe in it and be wrong. lol Im not pushing anything on anyone, im just suppling humar to the subject (hopefully)  |
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Post by Derek on Jun 20, 2008 14:56:00 GMT -5
Haha that is a good one
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Post by Mud Room Donna on Jun 20, 2008 18:59:12 GMT -5
My brother said to me last night, "the worst thing about being athiest is that I'll never know I'm right".  |
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Post by cassierae on Jun 20, 2008 19:53:58 GMT -5
How do you know your right? It's not that atheists would be wrong, how do you know YOUR not wrong for believing in God? It doesn't matter. What really matters is how you live, not how you die.
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Post by youthpastor73 on Jun 20, 2008 21:31:01 GMT -5
"What really matters is how you live, not how you die."
this is exactly what my faith in christianity is about - at it's core it's the thing Jesus sought to bring. We tend to focus on the Crucifixion and the "eternal life" side of things way too much. Personally, I find it hard to believe that jesus has only eternal life to offer nothing to offer me on how to live. the jesus who only gives me something after death to look forward to isn't much good to me while I'm alive
Too bad people worship one of the greatest "humanitarians" of all time (the dude healed blind people after all!) and claim to "follow him" but spend all their time complaining about abortion, gays and democrats. I'm not sure jesus would be a Christian today...
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Post by cassierae on Jun 20, 2008 21:36:52 GMT -5
Jesus was Jewish, wasn't he? Well in any case, morals and religion sometimes get mixed up. There's a difference in leading a good life because it's morally right as a society and doing good things because a book told you to or trying to get your one way ticket to 'Heaven.'
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Post by hotzester on Jun 20, 2008 21:39:15 GMT -5
Perhaps, but at the end of the day, if you're doing a good thing, that's all that really matters.
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Post by speedbump on Jun 21, 2008 23:02:28 GMT -5
"What really matters is how you live, not how you die." this is exactly what my faith in christianity is about - at it's core it's the thing Jesus sought to bring. We tend to focus on the Crucifixion and the "eternal life" side of things way too much. Personally, I find it hard to believe that jesus has only eternal life to offer nothing to offer me on how to live. the jesus who only gives me something after death to look forward to isn't much good to me while I'm alive Too bad people worship one of the greatest "humanitarians" of all time ( the dude healed blind people after all!) and claim to "follow him" but spend all their time complaining about abortion, gays and democrats. I'm not sure jesus would be a Christian today... Did he? Really? I wouldn't be so sure. |
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Post by FUCKTARD ! on Jun 22, 2008 12:09:02 GMT -5
My old church down the way from my work and close to my home put up an electronic sign a in which every day they have a new 'inspirational' Christian message. I went to this church years ago and have since diverted away from the commercialization of religion and choose not to categorize myself. Well, the sign yesterday said "Pity the atheist who thanks and has no one to thank." Who says an atheist doesn't have anyone to thank in life?! My sister is an atheist and I side more with them than any other. It offended me because it makes it seem like atheists and people who don't believe in a God or who choose not to make it part of their lives are sinners and loners who are angry and have no purpose. That's just not true and I hate it how people who are so religious try to make it seem that you are deemed a bad person if you aren't like them. How fair is that to the rest of us who are living out normal lives, working, going to school, raising families and supporting our communities without the need to have religion be a part of our daily lives if thats not what we believe in? I just thought i'd start a 'touchy' subject because I was a little taken back by the sign. I saw that same sign, and had the exact same thought. There's another sign at a church not too far from me. "Does your life shed light or cast shadows?" And my thought was, ALL light casts shadows. I have never been compelled to enter a church because of what's written on the sign in front. |
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Post by shaggytheclown17 on Jun 23, 2008 3:31:57 GMT -5
Well you know the belief in God is a personal thing, if you don't believe in him and instead think you came from a rock and a monkey, that really means you believe you have no greater purpose than to die n that good/evil have no meaning, so then that is one generalization you can make to decide if an atheist is a good person or not.
All my life I have met only one who was relativly nice n actually cared about what was going on in the world.
To believe in God is a very good thing.
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Post by shaggytheclown17 on Jun 23, 2008 3:34:57 GMT -5
What I don't understand is this. I could be wrong, I'm just not sure I follow. Cassierae, it seems you're shunning the churches for calling athiests bad people, but in reality, you're calling churchgoers bad people. It seems the intolerance is going both ways. I mean let's face it - there aren't many religions that will tell you "Go ahead and believe in the other guys, we don't mind." At the end of the day, they all would rather you follow their core beliefs. I'm like you - at the root of it, I'm a Christian. But I don't subscribe solely to any one school of thought. Truth be told, I actually borrow bits from Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism...I'm a churchy salad. I can see that as a good way, I myself am Luthern, a type of Christian, er born into it. I believe in Jesus n I believe the universe is about 6000 years old. |
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Post by FUCKTARD ! on Jun 23, 2008 4:55:14 GMT -5
Well you know the belief in God is a personal thing, if you don't believe in him and instead think you came from a rock and a monkey, that really means you believe you have no greater purpose than to die n that good/evil have no meaning, so then that is one generalization you can make to decide if an atheist is a good person or not. All my life I have met only one who was relativly nice n actually cared about what was going on in the world. To believe in God is a very good thing. WTF ? ? ? If I don't believe in God, or specifically your particular concept of God, then you're saying I don't have a higher purpose, and I don't have to be "good" This is the most ignorant idea i've ever heard. You should be banned for stupidity. Morality is not the sole property of Christians. |
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Post by wienerpoopie on Jun 23, 2008 7:20:43 GMT -5
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Post by hotzester on Jun 23, 2008 7:37:33 GMT -5
I've always wondered - if people evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?
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Post by wienerpoopie on Jun 23, 2008 9:26:20 GMT -5
I've always wondered - if people evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys? Life evolved from single cell organisms but they still exist, its all part of nature. |
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Post by hotzester on Jun 23, 2008 9:30:23 GMT -5
So the amoebas and paramecia that are still around...they're just lashing out? They're like the teenagers of the microscopic world, rebelling against authority? Or are they just non-conformists, who aren't going to go with the trend to evolve, because they think it's a fad?
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Post by wienerpoopie on Jun 23, 2008 9:31:12 GMT -5
You can also be an atheist and believe in reincarnation, the rebirth of sprit can be as much nature as an imaginary character.
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Post by hotzester on Jun 23, 2008 9:38:44 GMT -5
That's an entirely different (equally as interesting) debate - My understanding is that reincarnation (in which I completely believe) is mainly an eastern philosophy, and many western faiths don't believe in it at all.
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Post by wienerpoopie on Jun 23, 2008 9:44:04 GMT -5
So the amoebas and paramecia that are still around...they're just lashing out? They're like the teenagers of the microscopic world, rebelling against authority? Or are they just non-conformists, who aren't going to go with the trend to evolve, because they think it's a fad? Scientist have known for along time that evolution is relative too their habitats, genes, diet, so on and so forth. Example submarine volcanoes are home to single cell organisms that are thought to be from the near beginning of earth, this because of their harsh environment they can live no were else and are therefore unable to evolve. |
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Post by hotzester on Jun 23, 2008 9:46:34 GMT -5
So some single cell creatures can't live in volcanoes, so they turned into people. And others, since they could live in volcanoes, stayed single cell?
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Post by wienerpoopie on Jun 23, 2008 9:51:06 GMT -5
So some single cell creatures can't live in volcanoes, so they turned into people. And others, since they could live in volcanoes, stayed single cell? For the most part, but I think you need to talk to a biologist for better answers if interested and not wienerpoopie. |
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