I actually find your responses quite interesting, I think you are completely mad, but interesting non the less.
Since when does Christianity demand slavery? I thought it was the opposite. Christ died for everyone's ones sins. Emphasis on everyone's. Doesn't matter if you heard of him, say 5 million hail Marys, accept Him as your personal savior - it's all in vain (at least if you're seeking eternal paradise). He already did everything and nothing you can do to get out of it if it's all true. And yes, I know it's a shock to hear a non-perversion of the bible for non-commercial gain.
Atheists have no religious questions to answer, no beliefs to defend, no reason to hate, no lies to tell. Atheists are free to inquire about anything; without taboos. Atheists are free to think as they like, and most important of all, change their minds. Atheists are not required to accept limitations; for instance, insisting that all things must have a creator, or even that there was a beginning to time. Atheism can only exist in contrast to theism. Alone in its pure state it never was, is, or will be. I am not an atheist. I have enough trouble thinking independently without the ballast of being pigeon-holed. If I was created, my creator has me on a need to know basis. Clearly my creator thinks I have no need to know its nature or even of its existence. Nevertheless, I am able to create. If I want penicillin, I will get a pot full of mold, and feed it faithfully. I will keep it warm and provide for its needs. If the mold wants to interpret my actions as love, that's fine with me as long as it keeps shitting out my antibiotic. And if my bugs want to make war, and cruelty and hate, that's also fine with me, so long they procreate faster then they kill one another. In fact its better that way. The weakest will disappear and I will get my product faster. I have no idea if there was ever a first of anything, time, matter, energy, emotion. If there was, it is only my stupid limitations which prevent me from thinking it might have happened on its own. But, if I was created, and that seems possible, then it would have been for a reason. I would inevitably serve the purpose for which I was created. Here's a thought: Maybe GOD created man to get HIS carbon dioxide back into HIS atmosphere so HIS earth could once again be really hot, like HE likes it. That way man would conveniently vaporize when the job was done. It's as plausible an explanation as any other, isn't it? And this explanation also shows you how clever our GOD(DESS) really might be.
So then, does that mean that you're not choosy about who/what you're enslaved to, or you just don't know that you're enslaved? BTW, While you were checking out, and proclaiming, all those "contradictions" in Scripture (that you have yet to produce. . .even one), did you not run across a Teaching of JESUS CHRIST regarding THE WAY of becoming an HEIR and/or A JOINT HEIR with JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, is to first become a Servant? But that's right, you don't believe "The Bible", just the "contradictions" that you once thought were there, huh? Oh well, to use some of your words, "I don't have the same yearning for" ignorance, that 'ats/ags' do.
Is nehemiaH really calling us ignorant? You do know what it means, right? Ignorance is defined as: From dictionary.com Does he really think that that applies to us, in this case?
The bible was written by men and is full of imperfections: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ Even the new testament was just arbitrarily compiled from various documents that fit the doctrine of the religious rulers at the time and most others, like gnostic texts, were discarded and their followers were persecuted by the "orthodox" movement. It's all very human and arbitrary. Actually, liberal christian don't have a problem with that, only the ultra conservative christian still consider the Bible to be inerrant, and they're not known to be the brightest of the bunch.
Well let's start at the beginning and just see if your so-called "imperfections" are in fact "imperfections", or just ignorant assertions. According to your source "[I]http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/[/I]", it states regarding Genesis 1:1, " (1:1-2:3) "In the beginning..." ASSERTION: The first of two contradictory creation accounts. Compare with Genesis 2:4-25 in which the order of events is entirely different. FACT: Genesis 1 deals with the entire "earth"; whereas in Genesis 2:5 we're introduced to "the field"; kinda like a place where you're getting ready to plant stuff. . .like "a Garden", maybe. See, "the earth" is not "the field", but "the field" is a part of "the earth". Now if your source of "imperfections", can't even get its first claim correct, need I go any farther exposing your source for the garbage that it is? Awww, what the heck, here your sources 2nd assertion: "(1:1-2:3) The Genesis 1 account conflicts with the order of events that are known to science. In Genesis 1:1, the earth and 'heaven' are created together 'in the beginning,' whereas according to current estimates, the earth and universe are about 4.6 and 13.7 billion years old, respectively. In Genesis, the earth is created (1:1) before light (1:3), sun and stars (1:16); birds and whales (1:21) before reptiles and insects (1:24); and flowering plants (1:11) before any animals (1:20). The order of events known from science is in each case just the opposite." Now would these "conflicts" be something that all of "science" agrees on, or just the theories of the parts of "science" that you choose to believe? And why would your source state, "The Genesis 1 account conflicts with the order of events that are known to science"? Doesn't that imply that there's something that "science" doesn't know? And it really doesn't help your source's credibility when it uses words and/or phrases like, "current estimates", "are about", etc. And here's a question for thought, If, as you believe, GOD Created the earth before HE Created Light, could it be because, HIM Being GOD and all, HE really didn't need the Light??? But seriously, GOD didn't Create Light. . .because. . .HE IS LIGHT (1John 1:5)! So far, your source ([I]http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/[/I]) is 0 for 2. . .and at the very beginning of the Book it attempts to refute!!!
I have a question, but I am afraid it will be offtopic. It is : ST. JOHN 8, VERSES 21 & 22 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins; whither I go, ye cannot come. 22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? Because he saith; whither I go, ye cannot come. Doesnt it mean that , Jesus Christ (Ppuh) said that (Jews) they would fail to kill him and they would never arrest him. Jesus (Ppuh) told them he would go his way and they would still be searching for him trying to arrest him, Jesus (Ppuh) told them they would not be able to find him or arrest him, as they could not go where he would be already gone. So can we understand from the view of Christianity that , that Jesus was not killed , because they will not be able to find him to kill ?
So, Rub3X is chickening out on the question on his definition of the Universe. Isn't linking to Wiki the same as admitting as he's out of his depth on the question? Because a link to Wiki can be taken to be the same as "I don't know", right? It seems obvious that Rub3X isn't brave enough to defend any direct answer he could give us - because he has no answer. Game Over for Rub3X.
No, the above statement is patently a lie, because the atheist standpoint has been soundly disproven, and Religion and Science have been coming closer and closer. (I've already given you the Parallelism argument, and Entropy argument, and below I give the Social argument.) From what I've read here, the atheist standpoint as stated in this thread is simply a mask for religious intolerance and ugly bigotry. I'm sure gweb will prove me right in a minute, but in my experience in this thread, the atheist standpoint - or, as gweb wrote, "the answer that has been given to [us] so many times on this thread" - the atheist answer is a ugly position of name-calling, insults, arrogance, bigotry, intolerance, HATRED, and in many cases flat-out lies - as in the claims in the post above. One of the most compelling cases AGAINST atheism is that atheists can't be trusted - that in the absence of any moral guidance, atheists feel that anything they can get away with, is justified - because, at the end, atheists feel that if there is no moral center to the world, then it's all right to lie, all right to hurt others. In the end, this is yet another argument in FAVOR of God, because socially people would be unable to live together without some form of rules that includes trust and some form of "love thy neighbor". You'll notice that the atheists on this thread do not even attempt to defend their own bigotry, as they feel that their religious hatred is justified. In the absence of any moral center, atheists really need to validate their claims, but they can't, so they lie, lie, lie. Ah! THERE'S THAT SMELLY RANCID BIGOTRY I was expecting. Look at the hatred, the coldness in gweb's words; read his total indifference to other's pain - look at his lies Lies, LIES about his fervent wish that Christianity die, and with it people's hopes die. Doesn't his words read somewhat evil? As if he is indifferent to the pain of others? He seems to rejoice in his wish that a belief system based upon LOVING one another goes away. And it seems that gweb's wish is that that Love be replaced with his own boiling hatred. I'll bet he will rejoice in other's pain. I dunno, maybe gweb has never experienced Love in his life. But certainly he hates seeing it in others. See the hatred? Look at the obvious bigotry and intolerance! Look at the name-calling! gweb must be a very lonely man. He deserves our pity and our prayers.
No, they don't. See, this is what atheists do - they stereotype people and make things up!!! And on THIS thread - atheists lie. How many times will you broadly stereotype people to fit your own preconceived notions? I am a Christian, and like most Christians I believe the theory of evolution. Does that bother you? Does that blow up your theory? Do YOU ENJOY BELIEVING that there are people that do not believe in the theory of evolution - because then you can look down on people? Maybe atheists aren't known for thier compassion. I'm a Christian and I support the theory of evolution. Does that bother you? Look, when you selectively hand-pick the characteristics of a few people and then unfairly paint the majority with those behaviors - that's called "stereotyping", which is the doorway to bigotry. Shame on you. How about if I cite figures as to the number of atheists in jail? Can I write "Atheists overall tend to commit murder more than the religious". Would you consider that to be a fair and accurate statement, hmmm?