Thought for the day

[guno]

very poignant on this day above all others

"A silent, invisible, intangible, undetectable ‘god’ is literally indistinguishable from a non-existent ‘god’. It is a source of deep shame and a great embarrassment to our species, that we must still even discuss such primitive, infantile delusions."

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

You do not have to discuss it, Guno. You choose to discuss it. Every time you make one of these threads. No one is forcing you to do a thing. But neither shall you force those you disagree with into silence. Understood?

 

[guno]

Clara Barton
On this date in 1821 (Dec 25th), American Red Cross founder Clara Barton was born in North Oxford, Mass., the youngest of 5 children. Her parents were members of the Oxford Universalist Church. Barton was deistic and remained a creedless Universalist throughout her life. She was reading by the time she entered school at age 4, and became a teacher by age 17. At 29, Barton entered the Liberal Institute in Clinton, N.Y., to hone her teaching skills. By the time the Civil War broke out, she was working in the U.S. Patent Office in D.C., where she first organized a relief program for soldiers. When she learned that soldiers were dying not from injuries but from lack of medical supplies after the battle at First Bull Run, she organized a successful relief drive. The U.S. Surgeon General granted her a pass to travel with the Army ambulances, which she did for the next three years. After encountering the Red Cross in Europe, she came back to the United States, lobbied for ratification of the Treaty of Geneva, then founded the American Red Cross in 1881. She resigned as its director in 1904. She was a supporter of woman's suffrage and other liberal reforms. D. 1912.

 

[deltex1]

very poignant on this day above all others

"A silent, invisible, intangible, undetectable ‘god’ is literally indistinguishable from a non-existent ‘god’. It is a source of deep shame and a great embarrassment to our species, that we must still even discuss such primitive, infantile delusions."

If you are troubled....look to men like Guno..he will help you.

 

[AmericanFirst]

very poignant on this day above all others

"A silent, invisible, intangible, undetectable ‘god’ is literally indistinguishable from a non-existent ‘god’. It is a source of deep shame and a great embarrassment to our species, that we must still even discuss such primitive, infantile delusions."

I find it surprising that you can think.

 

[guno]

Dec 26th

“It was only when I finally undertook to read the Bible through from beginning to end that I perceived that its depiction of the Lord God--whom I had always viewed as the very embodiment of perfection--was actually that of a monstrous, vengeful tyrant, far exceeding in bloodthirstiness and insane savagery the depredations of Hitler, Pol Pot, Attila the Hun, or any other mass murderer of ancient or modern history.”

—Steve Allen, Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion & Morality, 1990

 

[Meriweather]

Dec 26th

“It was only when I finally undertook to read the Bible through from beginning to end that I perceived that its depiction of the Lord God--whom I had always viewed as the very embodiment of perfection--was actually that of a monstrous, vengeful tyrant, far exceeding in bloodthirstiness and insane savagery the depredations of Hitler, Pol Pot, Attila the Hun, or any other mass murderer of ancient or modern history.”

—Steve Allen, Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion & Morality, 1990

Reading the Bible from start to finish without also having at hand a reference library teaching about the culture and people of the times is almost as bad as reading a foreign language without a dictionary and translator present. When reading, it is also vital to put aside what we know now and work within the confines of what was known then. It is like sneering at six-year-olds, living in a jungle, for not knowing algebra.

God meets us where we are, and draws us from there. If nothing else, we should at least take that much from Biblical teachings.

 

[guno]

I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the South is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes-- a justifier of the most appalling barbarity, a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds, and a dark shelter under which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection. Where I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me. . . I. . . hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.

-Frederick Douglass (After the Escape)

 

[guno]

"Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense."
-- Chapman Cohen

 

[guno]

"You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical, absurd and primitive stories, and you say that we are the ones that need help?"
-- Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith

 

[guno]

A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition.
José Bergamín

 

[guno]

“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise.”
James Madison (1774)

 

[guno]

 

[guno]

 

[Mindlight]

Thought for the day. Since atheists will burn in hell and Christians live forever with God this life is Christians only hope of retrieving something of value from these peoples thoughts and their lives. When this life is finished all of what they are that is not remembered by a Christian will be lost forever.

So hug an atheist today and listen for something worthy of eternity in them. Even if you cannot save them maybe you can snatch a pearl or 2 of wisdom from the lake of fire.

 

[guno]

Thought for the day. Since atheists will burn in hell and Christians live forever with God this life is Christians only hope of retrieving something of value from these peoples thoughts and their lives. When this life is finished all of what they are that is not remembered by a Christian will be lost forever.

So hug an atheist today and listen for something worthy of eternity in them. Even if you cannot save them maybe you can snatch a pearl or 2 of wisdom from the lake of fire.

Its your hell christer, so burn in it

 

[Mindlight]

Thought for the day. Since atheists will burn in hell and Christians live forever with God this life is Christians only hope of retrieving something of value from these peoples thoughts and their lives. When this life is finished all of what they are that is not remembered by a Christian will be lost forever.

So hug an atheist today and listen for something worthy of eternity in them. Even if you cannot save them maybe you can snatch a pearl or 2 of wisdom from the lake of fire.

Its your hell christer, so burn in it

Do not be deceived God will not be mocked if you mock God it is you who will reap destruction.

 

[Avatar4321]

very poignant on this day above all others

"A silent, invisible, intangible, undetectable ‘god’ is literally indistinguishable from a non-existent ‘god’. It is a source of deep shame and a great embarrassment to our species, that we must still even discuss such primitive, infantile delusions."

we aren't talking about such an imagined god. We are talking about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers. He is neither silent, intangible, undetectable etc.

but instead of getting to know Him which is the privilege of all men, you, in your pride, have rejected Him. When you are ready to know Him, He will be waiting for you.

 

[Avatar4321]

A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition.
José Bergamín

so global warming and evolution are superstitions now? Amusing.

somehow I think you don't actually believe that quote

 

[Meriweather]

Thought for the day. Since atheists will burn in hell and Christians live forever with God this life is Christians only hope of retrieving something of value from these peoples thoughts and their lives. When this life is finished all of what they are that is not remembered by a Christian will be lost forever.

So hug an atheist today and listen for something worthy of eternity in them. Even if you cannot save them maybe you can snatch a pearl or 2 of wisdom from the lake of fire.

I believe it is wrong for Christians to say, "Atheists will burn in hell." Paul indicates that God's law is written on every human heart, and there is that verse about unbelievers being judged by their own hearts. Because our own hearts may be less magnanimous and forgiving, this could be a harsher judgment. Scripture also tells us faith is a gift, and that God will test us. Could it be no faith/belief is a test in which many will pass? I am not sure how well I would if I was tested by a removal of faith--but I can testify that the atheists in my family are no more fodder for hell than believers are.

If anyone needs an extra assurance of God's love--not to mention the love of God's people--it is the atheist. The last thing they need during their test of no faith is for some to judge them as only fit for hell.