If I believe you are going to burn in hell for eternity if you fail to do something and I know what it is your supposed to do but don’t tell you what it is you need to do then I am a monster of the worst kind. Your problem is that you do not want to belive that you might go to hell because you know what the remedy is but you’re not prepared to take it. You’ve got it backwards. It is the Christians that know how to help you but don’t bother to because they just want to get along with everybody that you should be sickened by not those who are prepared to be mocked by you as long as they can help you make sure you get to heaven. It’s my job as a christian to lead people to Christ and I count it a blessing to be mocked in His name. Mock me all you want. I hope we can have a good laugh about it between singing songs of praise to the Lord God Almighy in heaven.
Peace.
Peace.
Steve
This movement is a really great idea that many do not understand. It really is a shame that humanity as a whole can’t step back and objectively look at itself and realize the sameness of us all. Regardless of your religious belief the true debate remains on whether we allow a untouchable, untestable, unprovable force act as our scientific explanation. OR we continue to use our five senses to collect and observe the natural world around us to look for explanation and repeatable process that accurately predict outcome. The debate over evolution is an attack on science as an industry. In my line of work if the scientific method is allowed to contain a loop hole of: “God wanted it to happen.”, “The FSM must have touched it with his noodley appendage.”, “Divine intervention”, I removes the repeatability and validity of my results. Though the previous statements would make my job easier and my line of work only partly affects humanity as a whole, this handicap given to areas like medical research and wildlife management could potentially cause a new generation stepping backward from the progress made in the last 500 years.
So while the debate rages of what god(s) to believe in, the role of mankind in the evolutionary process, and which religion is right, please stop and think on the this idea: How do you want your children, future scientist, and future engineers to use the scientific method? Using only observable evidence has allowed for the advancement of the computer you’re reading this on, the medicine when you’re sick, the car you drive, the soap you wash with, the clothes you wear and many other things.
I’m not stating that you should not have your deity in your mind, heart, soul. I’m saying that I want you to keep your deity out of my science.
Holy wars and intolerance are caused by the lack of communication between sides. The inability to place one’s self in the other person’s shoes. Names and hateful ideas further the division. I suggest if one wants to be taken seriously one should use words and actions of respect. Please keep this in mind when you post you opinions, it is easier to communicate when defenses are down.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post and remember FSM, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hindu, Buddhism, etc. are not my concern; please just keep science scientific.
Thank you,
M.L.B.
Well stated my friend!
A big “Huzzah” for incoherent hatemail!
Mock, and the door shall be opened….
RAmen
Arrrgggg
Have I arrived too late for the sing along?
Beautiful, M.L.B.!
“Your problem is that you do not want to belive that you might go to hell because you know what the remedy is but you’re not prepared to take it”
Hey Steve, the concern for our souls and not flaming us is a nice gesture. But here’s where I see an impasse.
You believe, as an act of faith, that there’s heaven, hell, the ethical Christians go to the former, the bad guys and non-believers roast in the latter.
While I believe, just as strongly that ethics, charity, kindness etc are to be held highly, but no one religion has a monopoly on God. So I am incapable of seeing your remedy as the only way.
Furthermore, the idea of a loving god casting people into eternal torment for the simple crime of not believing in him, seems very contradictory. Which leads me to two scenarios. 1. God’s loving, forgiving and all of that, or… 2. God casts unbelievers/the irreverent into eternal hellfire for not believing in him, which would be like me taking my dog to the pound because she stole my sandwich.
First scenario, I, and the rest of us kind-hearted heathens are fine. Second scenario, I’d rather not kiss up to an omnipotent petty jerk in which case I’ve made my choice.
So… since my own religion points to something similar to the first scenario, I have to decline your offer of singing songs of praise. My voice would make a deaf cat howl. But I would be happy to join you for a mango smoothie and nice plate of pasta, I-told-you-sos held back.
This guy’s no fun. When’s Fatima coming back?
I don’t get it. Why are people so upset about the FSM? I know that many others have said the same thing in numerous ways, yet I can’t stop myself. When I heard the word about the FSM, I literally thought, “Now here’s something I can believe in! I’m home at last.” That was after I stopped laughing. I have never felt that way about Christianity or Jesus. I can’t help it. I just can’t buy it. Furthermore, I don’t want to buy it. Am I a potential convert to Christianity that has been nabbed by the enemy? Is that what they are so angry about.? There are plenty of other people in the world that the Christians can convert. So they lost one. They never had me in the first place.
did God invent the comma on the eight day?
Yeah, Fatima was like a rabid hatemail freak!
That was so funny I’m still crying.
I’m gonna die laughing.
To add to the comments by Drosera, how can a diety maintain that it/he/she is just when it/he/she gives a person free will and then punishes them to eternal damnation for using it? Seems like a rigged game to me…
To add to Juannino’s comment, as somebody once remarked, the problem with the Judaeo-Christian notion of hell is that it invovles inifinite punishment for finite wrongdoing.
Nobody has ever been able to explain to me how this fits with the concept of a ‘loving god’.
And I’d be far more convinced by hate mail that was properly spelled and punctuated.
Or perhaps not.
They just dont get it. Everyone knows god came from somewhere(duh). God is just His lacky. Jesus may have died for our sins, but who gave Jesus his last supper? (pwnd if i do say so my self) P.S. Was the first midget the “roaming gnome”?
While I can admire Steve’s deddication to his beliefs I have to say I feel he takes it a bit far. If you have told someone what you- as a Christian- believe and they fail to accept it and make it their own then you need to take the hint and let it go. One of two things will most likely happen if you fail to. 1. If the person had any slight interest in crossing over into your belief then pushing them to far is going to lession the chance. You ought to let them take the time to mull over the idea on their own- but accept it if they choose not to follow you. 2. If there is no chance of them changing to your philosophy they are at best going to resent you for being overbearing and at worse they are going to start acting out against what you believe. What really bothers me about Steve’s message- besides that second sentence being a bit confusing- is that it is in response to a request to realise that science and religion should not be used to justify eachother- it can’t work. Science is what we can see and test in the physical world. I don’t care how devout you are- God is not something which can be proved by science. Go ahead and teach religion in school for all I care- objectively and not just a single religion would be best- but keep it out of the science class.
Dear Steve:
so, if I believe that killing puppies and children is wonderful and when I fail to follow this “ideal” I am the worst monster of all time. So, I am off the hook with others because I believe this to be true with all my heart?
I am mocking you because you are mock worthy. Believing something is true does not make it true. People believed, quite sincerely, that Hitler was a wonderful and just person. People believe that speaking out against the things we disagree with is unpatriotic. People believe in UFOs and astrology. Belief does not equate to truth; it is merely belief.
If you wish to believe in God, heaven and hell, then more power to you. But, if I have to be threatened to believe as you do, then is my belief valuable? I say that coerced belief is not true belief. If I act in ways to keep myself from eternal damnation, then I am acting in a selfish manner. But, if I act to help others with no concern about eventual reward (because I find it unlikely that this paradise exists), then my actions are far better than those who fear punishment for their lack.
Those of you who proclaim your love for others and God while preaching hate and fear are only deluding yourselves. If there is a just God, then it will recognize and reward “good” acts that non-believers commit. And, it will see the selfish and ancaring acting that “believers” commit. If there is any justice, then the believers will enter paradise and be distraught about the exclusion of the believers who strayed from the path of kindness and humility.
I hope you can let go of your arrogance and strident nature before it is too late. Remember that the meek shall inherit the earth, but you, sir, are not meek by any stretch of the imagination. And, no matter what you believe about yourself, you are causing more harm than good with your attitudes and written hatred.
“the problem with the Judaeo-Christian notion of hell is that it invovles inifinite punishment for finite wrongdoing”
Fortunately, the vast majority of American Jews shun the ridiculous “Lake of Fire” idea.
Could it really be a lake, anyways? I mean, how big does a lake get before it becomes a sea or an ocean or whatever? Wouldn’t it be crowded? There aren’t that many Jews in the world, so there’d be a lot of people in this supposed “lake.” Maybe that’s the idea, it should be really crowded so if someone farts it’d really suck. I like that and I’m afraid of it so now I will wear a silly hat or pray to a ceramic figure on two sticks so that I might not have to live in a lake or pond or something when I die. PS, a “Sea of Fire” would be way worse, because salt water kicks your ass if you get cut. Fresh water feels really nice.
how about in my religion: the easiest level of hell-fire is where you are strapped down and your feet are boiled to the point where your brain sizzles… good thing God has infinite mercy, or else i would be screwed.