After some thought, it has occurred to me that I may have made some errors in my assessment and poor judgement towards others on this site. Soon after joining such an elite group of brilliant and master-mind thinkers, I found myself offering retorts to certain commentaries which pertained to religion, and/or the absence of a loving and merciful God/Creator. I enjoyed discounting Atheism, just as much as the top Atheists in the group appear to enjoy discounting the idea of god and/or religion. Having been on both sides for long durations I felt qualified to make certain conclusions, that I must now renounce. You see, I grew up without religion, but as a small child I always felt their was a presence watching over me, often interacting with my conscience and sub-conscience dreams. As my intellect began to excel, I found myself and others challenging what I believed to me my natural instincts and inner traits, and soon I was just too smart for all of that fairy tale business the media had been selling me and others about God and religion. As a result of my intellect, I spent a good many years discounting the notion of God and religion, before God once again revealed him/her/itself to me. Andst while God is absolute to me, I've never belonged to any particular religion other than my own. In a recent God/no god discussion I had in here with Stu, I made the mistake of assigning the field of Science as his "religion". http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index...d-for-dancing-to-promote-islam.284135/page-36 While I may be correct in the notion that Science for many is indeed their religion, It was not for me to decide that Science was Stu's religion, as I now believe that determination could only be Stu's to make. And while their is indeed a new form of religious persecution taking place, far more effective than the old ways of burning people at the stake, beheading, etc., I again made the very distinct mistake of assigning the role of religious persecutor to Stu, as again, I now believe only Stu can make that determination for himself. Perhaps I have made those same mistakes with Pie, FreeThinker, F.C, Mr. Bill, and others in here, and if that's the case, my sincere apologies are in order. There is an old tradition that we still talk about today, and although many are clueless to the origins of its meaning, we still refer to this tradition when we say, "I'd like to bury the hatchet." For those of you who are uneducated, the term comes from a time when hatchets were highly valued and regarded as symbols of class and status. The higher the level of craftsmanship and adornments the hatchet exhibited, the higher the social status the owners would have among their peers and subjects. The most ornate of hatchets were reserved for chiefs, kings, medicine men. magi and the like. To make such a hatchet was time consuming and took greatly skilled effort. To offer such a gift for immediate burial, was to say "I am sorry for my actions, and to show you just how sorry I am, I would like to present to you this valuable item which I have worked painstaking hours, days, and weeks to make, and if you were to just bury this offering in the ground, we would both realize the sacrifices we have made in order for you to accept my apology." So, in the traditions of the old, I would like to offer a hatchet, so to speak, to Stu, Pie, F.C, Freethinker and all the others. But this gift need not be buried, unless desired, as it may actually be of help to you in your continued quest to discount the beliefs of others. During my recent discussion with Stu, I lightly researched what I believe to be the new weapons of religious mass destruction- the dreaded Meme. Memes have been daggers in the hearts and dreams of many, and at times have been able to sum up thousands of years of ignorance and evolution in a single sentence or paragraph. And since the Atheists have no bible or other single source/guide for their philosophical beliefs that I am aware of, perhaps they can benefit from this thread as a place to build up their arsenal of religious rebukes. Some of the memes I have gathered, I may add an explain of the problems they contain, as many are contrived from gross misinterpretations, and I do feel it is important to be informed when using such a powerful and effective weapons. Others I thought were just too humorous to pass up. Either way, feel free to add/borrow your own memes and thoughts, and know that my apologies have truly been painstaking. So now without any further ado, I present to you the Atheist Hand-guide to Religion.
The following is derived I believe from a misunderstanding about the actions of Jesus. Many will say that Jesus made a weapon, of sorts, and used it on the merchants within and around of the synagogue. They will say, if Jesus want's everyone to act peacfully, then he is a hypocrite for using violence against those he opposed. But, if one actually reads the passages, they will find that he used the whip to drive the animals with, and there is no mention of even a single lash landing on the ass end of a merchant. Jesus was just being himself, and so what if he got pissed and made a scene? He was right to do so.
I know, it does seem pretty messed up, and I would think rather difficult to explain IF you choose to believe every single printed word in the King James Bible, as some do. There are many lessons one can learn by reading the bible, and it doesn't take the magnifying glass eyes of God to see there are many human fingerprints all over the texts. Atheists might consider, What other source of written education is clean from the smudges of human fingers?
I appreciate that FC, but I don't find any instant gratification from it. It is just more like an IIWII (It is what it is) type of thing for me. I'm thankful, but I don't believe anyone is happier or better off because they believe in God or choose not to. We won't be punished for not believing in God, nor will the members in the republican committee be sitting at a seat close to HIS throne because they chose to believe in HIM, and make their beliefs publicly known in the churches. It's a perplex situation to explain but the simplest to accept. Happiness, I believe, comes from believing in the lessons that are taught to us, regardless of the source. Different people will learn different lessons, depending on their perspective, but the rewards come with the efforts that are made. There is no disgrace for not being able to recognize important lessons. Disgrace, in the human sense, comes from being able to recognize the lessons, but choosing to ignore them at a cost to others for selfish reasons. Jesus, understood and taught many great lessons 2000 ago, while many of his so called followers have grossly misunderstood them, or disgracefully choose to ignore them- Atheists and religious folk alike. I'm happy if you are able to benefit from some of those lessons, even if you are unaware of the gift you've been given. You just want what's best- that's both natural and holy reasonable. If you really want to know how to battle the persistent and pervading ignorance of these so called "Christian" thugs, just open any of the gospels and see how far off they are today from understanding Christ's true lessons. The informed Atheist is always better off. If you think that's my clever way of tricking you into reading any parts of the Bible, you may prove worthy of such a fine education after all.