johntheapostate

Any person can be guilty of giving more weight to information that confirms there point of view. But most Christians take it to such extremes that I think it must be aproaching a psychological disorder.

They can all point to the passages that confirm there view, but when I point out passages that directly contradict there belief, it seems they resort to mental tactics that aproximate a child insisting in the existance of the tooth fairy.

When I went to Bible study, all lessons were carefully prearanged, with the study leader carefully guiding us to the pertanant verses and explaining there meaning. We were never encouraged to do independant study.

It was only when I got older and started studying on my own that I realised that the claim that the Bible was the word of god was bullshit. Why are people like me able to see through the lies and contradiction while some of highly educated Christians we sometimes get here will not or can not grasp what came to me after only several weeks of personal study.

When I started I believed that the Bible was the word of god, I had accepted Jesus as my personal savior, I believed in a literal interpretation of the bible, I believed that I would go to hell if I did not believe. What exactly is the differance between my brain and there brain.

Most of these intelectual Christians were raised in a liberal environment, most do not even believe in a literal interpretation of Genisis. Do they not see the utter absurdity of there claim that the New Testement is literaly reliable truth when they deny the literalness of the story that constitutes the only justifacation for the Jesus myth.

I was raised in a conservative town, everyone that I knew was a Christian, I had no access untill after I had deconverted to any skeptical information at all. Let me tell you how much easier the whole process would have been if I had owned a computer and had access to web sites like this.

When I go to apologetic sites the utter desperate patheticness of there reasoning would have caused my deconversion if I had read them as a Christian

And the pride some Christians have in the profound intelectual nature of Pauls thinking. I wish it was possible for me to debate him on this forum. I would tear him a new one in a hurry. Is his thinking so flawed that it comes across as profound to those people with the proper indoctrenation. The publishers of my NIV study bible felt it was neccesary to include a disclaimer excusing Pauls creative interpretation by writting that he operated under the authority of the holy spirit.

Just felt the need to rant. You may let this thread slip into oblibion if you like.

Anne Fidel

Please, rant away and allow me to join you!

I have this problem with my family. I have not admitted my actual athiesm, but I think they've figured it out. My father doesn't dare debate me on the Bible, because he knows that it can't be defended logically. He's so highly-intelligent that I can't comprehend why he believes unless it's just because he wants to. My mother, on the other hand, is fond of quoting scripture that denies gay rights, but when I throw some anti-women scripture at her (she's quite a feminist), she says that if you understand God, you'll know which scriptures are to be believed and which don't apply. There is no arguing with that lack of logic. It's absolute brainwashing at the least, and I think it is extreme self-delusion. I'll never understand how they can approach everything else in their lives with such logic and skepticism, but they refuse to point their intellects at the Bible. It really is scary.

mirage

Too right! I've started paying more attention to the Bible lately, having largely ignored the thing despite my vaguely Christian background. There are some really juicy bits! The whole thing is really quite embarrassing for Christians, particularly the OT. I read Paul's letters over Chrimbo and quite enjoyed them, especially the immediacy and little personal touches ("Do you see these big letters? This is my hand!"), but there is absolutely no deep thought there at all, and many laughable arguments, though all passionate. It's a nice snapshot of a Doomsday Salvation cult, but now a mile out of whack with Christianity in the vast majority of its modern incarnations.

The mental and sophistic gymnastics engaged in by liberal Christian thinkers to uncover the "deep truths" about the human condition and God, the complex layers of meaning beyond the literal in his patently wrong eschatology is amusing in itself.

The misogynist statements are fantastic.

Having read some Jesus myth stuff in BC&H I was on the lookout for earthly Jesus references. He quotes the OT a million times to back up his most trivial arguments, but Jesus only once (IIRC) at the final dinner. He does make reference to meeting Jesus's bro' James though (A new one on me since reading Mark! I had no idea the big C had siblings, shows how ignorant I am.) He also makes explicit reference to an earthly crucifixion and resurrection a few times.

johntheapostate

I still remember when the Bible code came out. Some Christians I knew where all excited about this new absolute proof that the Bible was the word of god.

But when some skeptics came out with EWS messages that blasphmised god and Jesus they suddenly had a change of heart and said that the equal word spacing messages could be found in any text of sufficiant size.

Why do they not apply the same reasoning to the bible.