WCH

What about all those "everlasting fire" verses in Matthew? Etcetera. There are a lot.

Rational BAC

Only if you take those passages literally.

Which I do not.

What always puzzles me is why atheists interpret the Bible in the exact same very literal way that the Fundies do.

Absurdity on both sides.

And what all of that has to do with Christianity is beyond me.

BadBadBad

I'm responding to you point by point. I've even addressed your entirely ad homenim complaint about my motives. Once again, I post not to pull your chain but to say exactly what I think of Christianity. That's the point. If hearing what atheists have to say about your silly religion pulls your chain, then don't post on an atheist board. Now, if you want to continue talking about Hell, then drop all this ad homenim about me and my motives. You can start by actually addressing the points I made in my previous post. It's funny how an ad homenim doesn't do that. Start by answering the questions you haven't, and by addressing the answers I've given to the questions you claim are unanswerable.

BadBadBad

Yep! Already been posted. Look back and see if you see an answer!

WCH

The difference is that it's only absurd to think these things are true. No matter how much you sugar coat it and selectively ignore passages, Jesus did say that those who don't follow him will suffer eternal punishment. Fundies respond to that by using it to condemn the evildoers, atheists respond to that by saying, rightly so, "This is a load of bull. How can you follow this guy?" Liberal Christians seems to just ignore the passages they don't like... which is pretty absurd.

It's interesting that, when there are conflicts in Biblical teaching, most Christians use Secular Humanistic methods of deciding which are true, rather than hermaneutic ones... such as on slavery. I have yet to hear a Christian say that slavery is okay, even though the Bible condones it many times and never once says anything against it. Rather, they reinterpret the passages which condone it to make them sound like they're in keeping with humanistic morality.

inquisitive01

No. After the questions you ask are answered, you come back with another jumbled-up list of what seems to be endless questions on the same subject (that was already answered).

If you wish your questions answered (if they can be answered by anyone, that is), I would suggest you list ALL of your (apparently many) questions in one post in a form that would make more sense, such as the following:

• QUESTION #1
• QUESTION #2
• QUESTION #3
• QUESTION #4
• QUESTION #5
• QUESTION #6
• QUESTION #7
• etc.

If you can do this in a sensible manner, rather than "coming up" with who-knows-how-many more questions related to the same previously-answered question (which is already answered, if an answer could be given), then I'll try to answer you. Otherwise, forget it.

Honestly, though, I don't see why you're wasting your time since it's quite apparent that you've already made up your mind. :huh:

BadBadBad

You want to keep the verses and the concept of hell, but you want to write in something that it clearly doesn't say. You also want to use the word hell, but throw out the doctrine that defines it.

Matthew 25:30 doesn't say:

And die ye the unprofitable servant: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth as your bones rattle in your grave forever.

Matthew 25:41 doesn't say :

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, die suckers.

If you want to throw 25:30 out and 41, and 46 then you have to throw out all of chapter 25. Oops there went the baby with the bath water. Got to throw out the silly analogy with the ten virgins and the one bridegroom. Then we've got Christ, God, Heaven, the second coming etc. etc. The anonymous author of Matthew wrote all those concepts in virtually the same sentences that defined Hell with a capital H. No that's right, it wasn't the author of Matthew that defined hell, it was the anonymous author of Mark. Matthew of course just copied and embellished. If Hell can't be taken literally, then neither can the rest of it.

BadBadBad

An answer to the argument was blatantly asserted or the answer begged the question. It's almost as if you think I should assume that I'm speaking directly to God himself and that His answer should be sufficient enough. God's answer clearly did not address the original argument or there were other difficulties presented by the answer that required follow up questions. In fact God's answer is entirely contradictory to the answer that God has given for hundreds of years. Certainly that requires further explanation.

It's the crummy answers that generate all the questions.

I'm not wasting my time. The point is not to have you (er God) answer all my questions. I can and have answered the questions. The point is to demonstrate how foolish Christianity is. You are doing a nice job of helping me accomplish that. Again, I'm sorry if that pulls your chain.

inquisitive01

"I can and have answered the questions."

If this is so, then why do you seem to have so many questions you want answered (since, once again, you seem to have already made up your mind, as I said earlier)?

Are you saying that you're basically going to "cop out" of this? If asking your questions in a reasonable manner (i.e., list ALL of your questions on one post in an orderly manner) is a waste of time for you, one must wonder why you started asking all these questions in the first place! I guess it wasn't a "waste of time" before? Well, which is it... questions you want answered OR a waste of time? :huh:

Rational BAC

My goodness brettc---we have argued long enough that you should know by now that I pick and choose from the Bible. So Mathew screwed up in some places. So what?

So most of the Bible is a screwed up masterpiece in its own way. So what? It was written from an oral tradition by man and then canonized for political reasons. Full of garbage, full of human error, full of shit.

Only fundies and atheists seem terribly concerned about all that.

Not me. I pick and choose what I think is correct. I think there is some truth in the Bible. Just got to look for it ---just as if you were searching for something valuable in a garbage dump.