butlerk

I guess I need to remember not to open my big mouth.

Anyway, I somehow let it slip to a couple of christians/fundies that I was atheist. Now they've given me a copy of this book "A Case for Faith" by Lee Strobel.

Has anyone read this book? I'm about half way through it and it already bothers me. It's the same basic argument over and over again for about 300 pages.

I was hoping for some original material, but alas there is none

Radorth

Reminds me of The Case for Atheism, which runs on for 300 pages which can be summarized as follows:

"If you can't see it with your own two eyes, it isn't there. Jesus was mean to fig trees and pigs, and we would take personal responsibility for all our sins if we had any."

Rad

Philosoft

That's a great review of Strobel's book, Radorth. Perhaps you might tell us what you thought of A Brief History of Time based on a literal reading of Genesis?

scigirl

Hmm, I haven't read Faith but I did read The Case For Christ by the same author. Ironically enough, it was part of my conversion from agnosticism to outright atheism. This book was the first I learned about how the early church put together the bible. They had an idea of how they wanted Jesus to look, they left out parts that did not agree, and included parts that agreed.
Hmm, so the Bible was based on the early Christian church, but Christians today claim their religion is based on the Bible? Hmm, can anyone say, "circular reasoning?"

I also love how he first uses some parallels amongst the gospels to prove its veracity, then uses the stark contradictions to also prove its veracity!

Wow I wish I could have done my thesis research like that. . . but alas I do have morals.

Well let us know how the reading goes,

scigirl

Daggah

And pray tell, who wrote this supposed "Case for Atheism," that isn't found anywhere on Amazon?

GunnerJ

Besides the absurd parody of evidentialism in the first sentence, it strikes me that nothing you just said has anything remotely to do with atheism or any "case" for it.

I'm glad that playing with your straw men keeps you amused, though.

butlerk

Daggah: The only books I'm familiar with on atheism are George H. Smith's Atheism: the case against God and Critiques of God by Peter Angeles.

Anyway, I find it kind odd that the fourth chapter of this book deals with why God kill innocent people. Yet, the primary argument is that God isn't really killing innocet people, it's just that the KJV doesn't interpret the original language properly and many words come out to be "innocent" where the NIV has a more corrent interpretation.

I've heard the argument of KJV vs. NIV many times before, yet I still conclude that no matter who or what translates the original text, they'll never get the meaning right. Not that I'm defending the bible, but Voltaire just isn't the same unless you read it in the original French.

Opera Nut

Try Bertrand Russell's "Why I am Not a Christian" and Mark Twain's "The Mysterious Stranger" and "Letters From the Earth".

And Freud on "Religion as a Psychological Weakness";
Marx, "The Opium of the People";
Emile Durkheim "The Social Foundation of Religion".

Classics.

Starboy

Twain's "Eve's Diary" and "Adam's Diary" are pretty funny as well and don't forget Twain's "Captain Stormfield's visit to heaven". That is a classic.

Starboy

lpetrich

Which makes one wonder why the Bible does not include a book called "How to Translate Me". An entity who intended it to be an absolute, final message ought to be clearer about what that message is supposed to be -- we should not have to waste time trying to puzzle it out.