Atheists…in Churches???

We need more folks like “Jerry” who has taken issue with a so-called “Friendly Atheist” who had the sheer audacity to accept an invitation by Pastor Randy Frazee to speak at the Willow Creek Community Church about his…wait for it…his non-beliefs!

Jerry rants:

“Well, isn’t that nice! Instead of gathering a group of seekers and telling them about the Gospel, they gathered some seekers and told them about atheism.

Yes, he actually TOLD seekers about atheism!!! Jerry rants on…

“The reply comments at this blog are quite telling.”

Oh indeed they are…comments like this –

“I thought you were very articulate, and I greatly appreciated your courage to go to a church and share your beliefs with everyone.”

Or this:

“I was there last night and really appreciated your prespective on church and Christians. We learned a lot.”

We learned a lot??? How dare they, eh, Jerry! What is the world coming to?

And what about this?

“I think if people didn’t have doubts and struggle with their faith they would have to be brain dead”

Offense!

But the really caustic comment, the one that Jerry is so righteously concerned about, is this comment left by a lady called “Lee”:

“Funny, the challenge statement Randy made about knowing what you believe and why you believe it is the same one that led me down the path to atheism. The preacher at the church I attended at that time had made the same challenge to the congegation in our church and I took him up on it… and here I am today… an atheist. “

This is what Jerry is warning you about! Back to Jerry’s post, where he assures us he gets the point :

“Listen, I get the point, but isn’t this just a little (or a lot) absurd? Is it necessary to hear from an atheist what he does and doesn’t like about church and Christians? Are we then supposed to change to please him and other atheists in the (vain) hope that they might suddenly, because we are more friendly, have better window dressings, or less emphasis on actually believing in something, start worshiping God? Am I the only one who sees something seriously wrong with this? Isn’t this just ‘atheism evangelism’?”

I mean, really??!! The very notion of hearing someone’s point of view that may be different to your own and to discuss ideas and perspectives that differ to yours are nothing short of contemptible. In a House of God, no less???? Keep fighting the Good Fight, Jerry!!

Blame God (er, Me), Not Global Warming

Blame God (er, Me), Not Global Warming. That’s what Harry (a) Gaylord says, and he is of course 100% correct.

“If you’ve been paying attention to the weather news lately, there has been severe flooding in many parts of the world, including here in the U.S. In some areas, rainfall records are being broken. From Texas to the UK, Sudan, Nepal, and China, these floods are destroying property, infrastructure, and lives. “

Well, you might have heard this news if you’ve just been paying attention to “the news”, not just the weather news, but whatever…get to the point…

“So why are all of these crazy weather patterns taking place? Could it be because of the much-publicized global warming? Is the flooding because of people cutting down too many trees and creating too many roads for the expansion of civilization? Or is it that all of this is God’s way of sending a message to us?”

Aha…now we’re getting to the Truth of the matter!

“Personally, I’m not one who holds to the global warming doctrine.”

That’s right, because global warming is a doctrine.

The Gaylord goes on…

“People can be as hysterical as they want to try to get everyone believing that we’re destroying the Earth with too much carbon dioxide or whatever, but the Bible clearly says in Revelation that God himself will be responsible for Earth’s destruction after the Antichrist’s rise to power.

…I can understand that in some instances people may lay too much concrete and not plant enough trees to absorb the water, thereby opening themselves up to the possibility of destruction.”

You can? What’s wrong with you. You’re on thin ice, I tell thee…

“However, I think the idea that God is punishing people for their sins may not be out of line.”

Ah, that’s more like it…go on…

“With all the atrocities China has committed in recent years selling their unsafe products, forcing abortions on women, and persecuting Christians, it’s no surprise that they are the hardest hit of all the areas that have flooded. “

That’s right! The Heathens are to blame, for they are the Misbehaved, the Non-Believers, actively seeking to destroy Christianity. Therefore they are the ones who deserve a good old fashioned flooding, destroying their miserable sinning lives!

And China is just but one example. But, Gaylord* is not a mindless idiot. He’s a thinker! Look –

“I haven’t quite figured out why Great Britain or Texas are suffering, so I’ll have to keep investigating to find out, I guess. The sad part about these judgments is that I don’t think these people will learn anything from their punishments.”

Gaylord, think no more! I can tell you precisely why I’ve been wrecking places like the UK, Texas and Katrina – and it’s got nothing to do with so-called “weather” (pfff), it’s because the residents have not been praying enough! The UK is a largely secular state and doomed to Hell. Texans are known for enjoying their BBQs more than abstinence and Katrina, well Katrina residents couldn’t afford those really fancy churches I love, so that’s their punishment.

Now stop blogging, and start praying!

–

* Frankly, your surname is verging on the blasphemous – Harry…consider a surname change or you might very find your own kitchen under a rather large volume of nasty toxic sewage water I’ve been saving for the Nepalese. As you know, I work in mysterious ways…

Sacred Beliefs Are Just That

Non-theists are perplexed when Believers take offense to ideas that challenge the Believers’ beliefs. This quote from Douglas Noël Adams (DNA) encapsulates the rationale for the offense:

‘Here is an idea or a notion that you’re not allowed to say anything bad about; you’re just not. Why not? – because you’re not!’

He’s right of course. You can argue about anything else that you like (within reason), but you can’t argue about the existence Me.

But the question we shall explore here, is Why Not? Well, because you’re not! OK, but Why Not?

Well, answering the question beyond “Why Not” leads to a slippery slope for My Believers. As an example, if a Believer starts accepting the notion that it’s OK to discuss the rationale of My very existence, this only opens their mind to other ideas, and that can only lead to trouble. And as I have revealed to you previously, the idea of opening your mind to a rational discussion about My existence based on reason is an abhorrent idea, as it breaches the sacredness of your beliefs.

Let Me explain. Religion is a closed system. It is a closed system in the sense it must be protected from outside “intellectual” interference (read: Devilish thoughts). This protection is provided to you, by Me, through the notion that certain beliefs are simply sacred. The belief you have in Me is one of those sacred beliefs. And if this belief is sacred, it means that it may not be meddled with, questioned nor discussed at the dinner table (or anywhere else for that matter). The sacredness of your belief in Me therefore remains sacred. And if it remains sacred, it remains protected from outside “intellectual” interference. And the Truth of the matter is that without the sacred nature of your belief in Me the whole house of cards begins to collapse (or so the Heathens believe).

And so take heed of Mr Adam’s answer, as it is self-evidently correct and is the only possible answer you can provide to a Heathen without opening up a nasty can of worms that will eventually eat you up and burn you for all eternity.

God is Not Violent (well, just a little bit, sometimes).

Atheists often attack the “evil mumbo-jumbo” believed by My followers. And it’s time to put a stop to it, I Tell Thee!

The fact is, My sheep, you are not doing nearly enough to argue your case! However, there are some of you that are trying (in some cases, very trying). For example, let’s take Derek Whose Mind Is Twisted’s latest post as a splendid example of how you can argue against the idea that I’m a Bad Dude.

Derek starts:

“A lot of people today call Christianity violent. In this poll, most people think that Christianity is violent in practice. I still have no idea why people consider Christianity to be violent.”

To counter this fallacy, he quotes from Deuteronomy 13 Deu 13:1-5 (a chapter from My #1 Bestseller, available at all Good bookstores now), which Derek accurately summarizes:

“Think about it though. If a false prophet comes into Israel and turns many people away from God, therefore subjecting them to eternal torture in hell, wouldn’t it be better if that person were dead, rather than all the Israelites subject to the same fate?”

OK, I’ve thought about it…Of course it would be! How could anyone doubt this? Anyone (especially a false prophet) that turns my True Believers away from Me is better off dead. That means all the atheists too (let’s face it, you can’t get more false prophecies from anyone else). Apart from the fact that all my False Prophets are equally “wrong” or equally “right” depending on which side of which fence you happen to be sitting on, where’s the debate here?

And then reassuringly, Derek’s twisted mind reminds all you miserable sinners:

“A point to make is that no matter what God does, people will always refuse Him (until God destroys the earth, that is).”

So, at the end of the day, it’s all going to be OK. And then this mortal with My-Given genius concludes:

“That’s another reason God can kill people: We deserve it. Actually, we deserve worse, and this all results in supporting Christianity. Odd how an atheistic accusation will do that.”

I just don’t see how the Heathen can make a case against this piercing logic.

–

Update 7-28-07 – Derek has now changed his post without notifying his readers that he has done so. He also removed the trackback. See comments below.

Catholic missionaries invade Second Life

 It turns outs that Catholic missionaries really do believe in the Second Life.

“Catholic missionaries have always trekked to dangerous parts of the Earth to spread the word of God — now they are being encouraged to go into the virtual realm of Second Life to save virtual souls.”

There are plenty of potential converts in the Second Life, with around 8 million residents (mostly infidels just waiting to get mopped up by the zealots). This acts as a reminder to all you non-believers –  just because you might have escaped This Life it doesn’t mean that you can escape Me and my flock, as a Jesuit “academic”,Antonio Spadaro points out:

“While the virtual world might be a refuge for some people seeking to flee the real one, it is also full of people seeking something more from life, including, possibly, religious enlightenment, he said. 

Go Forth and Virtualize!

Via Innocent Bystanders.

The commandments are good rules to live by

I bid you Good (but not very “new”) news, My Loyal Believers!!

It has been confirmed that a Ten Commandments monument placed outside City Hall in Fargo, N.D., will remain on the lawn thanks to thousands of the Pious residents who said, “Enough is enough,” when the City Commission recently voted to move it.

To cut a long story short, the local community forced the City Commission to reverse its decision to remove it from the front of the City Hall. Warren Ackley, a businessman who led the petition drive (and who is now guaranteed a place by My side when his time is over in Fargo) explains:

“Common sense in the heartland prevailed…It’s a pretty innocent marker. The commandments are good rules to live by.”

The commandments are good rules to live by. No truer words spoken, Mr Ackley! But there is the small problem regarding which of My 10-14 Various Commandments are in and which are out according to different religions, and therefore how “correct” the monument is, as the following table from Wikipedia illustrates:

And then there is the insolence of the Heathens. They might agree in principle with the Commandments that have been enshrined into the Law of most civilized countries (e.g. “Thou shalt not steal”, “Thou shalt not murder”, etc.) but these ghastly atheists would obviously object to having the”rules” that Mr Ackley reminds us are good rules to live by, but have no relevance to the non-believers. The non-believers believe that the religiously grounded Commandments should not be shoved down their insolent throats (e.g. “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy” and “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”). But who cares what they think, since they simply don’t accept My Commandment numero uno – “I am the Lord thy God”. Everything else follows from there – they just don’t get it!

In utter desperation, the best the non-theists can do is to propose a second monument is laid beside the first – the Freethinkers’ Satanic monument would state,

“The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”

This Blasphemous quote is from the 1796 treaty between the United States and Tripoli, a document that is well known to be an utter fraud.

Atheistic Evangelism

Sometimes I regret the fact that I made myself omniescent. It means that I get to hear all your thoughts and all your concerns, including the  gazillions of your petty little gripes about the perfect world I created for you. And frankly most of it is utter tripe.

But from time to time, one of you surprise Me (well, not really surprise Me, ’cause I know what you have ever thought, what you are thinking right now and everything you will ever think – I didn’t create a Universal privacy policy when I created the rest of it). For example, in this post a “non-theist” is actually arguing against atheistic evangelism:

“We’ve always been very good at finding fault with religion, but haven’t always been quite as good at promoting rationalism. Believe it or not, there is a difference.”

The Heathen goes on…

“Personally, I think it’s a mistake to call it evangelism in the first place. Evangelism is a purely religious term that refers to preaching the “Good News.” Unlike evangelism, speaking out in favor of reason is not about preaching non-theism to misguided theists, or about bashing religion. I do not consider it evangelistic to promote critical thinking, science, medicine, or good education. Nor do I think it evangelistic to fight intolerance, injustice, bigotry, and irrationalism. Neither is standing for what you believe. As for whether reason can triumph, I submit that it can. America – indeed, the West in general – has been a reasonably successful (if imperfect) experiment in applying Enlightenment rationalism toward entire societies and methods of governance. What is needed is time. Time and an ongoing promotion of reason simply, plainly, and without equivocation, respecting that theism is not the result of an absence of intelligence, but an intellectual position one takes.”

In other words, the advice the infidel provides is “Don’t fight God’s fire with God’s kind of fire”. Instead, this J.C. Samuelson suggests, the anti-theists should use Beazulbub’s old and dirty slight of mind trick – “reason” Urghh!

Don’t you see, this is the Devil’s Work! So I warn Thee once again – watch out for the deceptive atheist!

Don’t Explore Evolution

Tut, Tut, Tut. The Discovery Institute is doing a very poor job at hiding its efforts to bring Me back into the classroon, this time by failing to hide its association with a website promoting a new book “Exploring Evolution”.

It was this post that smelled something fishy about the site and book, guessing that the site may have something to with those who claim that there is no intelligent designer behind My intelligent design:

“The text Explore Evolution is connected in some way with the Discovery Institute, a supporter of the move to introduce intelligent design to school children everywhere. Unbelievable!”

Yes, Believe!!!

So using My miraculous powers of knowing absolutely everything I did the following WhoIs search and found this:

Registrant:
   Discovery Institute

   Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
   Domain Name: EXPLOREEVOLUTION.COM

   Domain servers in listed order:
      NS1.DWSERVER.COM
      NS2.DWSERVER.COM

   For complete domain details go to:
   http://who.godaddy.com/whoischeck.aspx?Domain=EXPLOREEVOLUTION.COM
Verio Inc. - Growing Your Business, One Click At A Time

Registered with GoDaddy.com, eh? OK, let’s see what’s there:

Registrant:
Discovery Institute
1402 3rd Ave
Suite 400
Seattle, Washington 98101
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: EXPLOREEVOLUTION.COM
Created on: 28-Jun-05
Expires on: 28-Jun-08
Last Updated on:

Administrative Contact:
Scholz, Matthew webmaster@discovery.org
Discovery Institute
1402 3rd Ave
, Yukon Territory 400
Zimbabwe
US Fax — 206-292-0401 x114

Technical Contact:
Scholz, Matthew matts@discovery.org
Discovery Institute
1511 3rd Ave
, Yukon Territory 808
Zimbabwe
US Fax — 206-292-0401

Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.DWSERVER.COM
NS2.DWSERVER.COM

Registry Status: clientRenewProhibited
Registry Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Registry Status: clientDeleteProhibited

So why would My beloved creationists push for a book to be published in schools that argue for evolution? Well, it is because creationism has been banned from being taught in schools (damn the Supreme Court!), so by arguing for the case of creationism in scientific terms and arguing against the theory of evolution using non-scientific terms then the creationists have chance of getting around the ban (might as well try…).

Don’t believe Me? Well, Phillip Johnson, one of the founders of the Intelligent Design movement explained it in his own words on American Family Radio, January 10, 2003:

“Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit so that we can get the issue of intelligent design, which really means the reality of God, before the academic world and into the schools.”

Philip Johnson, American Family Radio, January 10, 2003

Please Phillip, don’t just give the damn plan away. People are listening!!!

Or William Dembski:

“Intelligent design readily embraces the sacramental nature of physical reality. Indeed, intelligent design is just the Logos theology of John’s Gospel restated in the idiom of information theory.”

William Dembski, (Touchstone Magazine, July/August 1999)

Dembski…disclosing this isn’t going to help our Cause!!!

And Nancy Pearsy, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute:

“If the broader impact of Darwinism was to remove Christianity from the sphere of objective truth, then the broader significance of the Intelligent Design movement will be to bring it back. By providing evidence of God’s work in nature, it restores Christianity to the status of a genuine knowledge claim, giving us the means to reclaim a place at the table of public debate. Christians will then be in a position to challenge the fact/value dichotomy that has marginalized religion and morality by reducing them to irrational, subjective experience.”

Nancy Pearcy, (Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity, 2004)

Oh Dear Me.

In this PBS interview from August 2005 (transcript at PBS.org), Jeffrey Brown asked Michael Behe, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture:

“JEFFREY BROWN: Okay. Professor Behe, is this a way to bring God into the classroom and, I guess the direct question is: Is the designer, the intelligent designer, is that god?

MICHAEL BEHE: Well, first of all, to answer your first question, no, this is not an attempt to bring God into the classroom.”

Not an attempt to bring God into the classroom, eh Behe? Well, that’s not what the book’s website says, which mentions the target audience as AP Biology teachers, High School General Biology teachers, Biology teachers, College-level biology instructors, College biology professors, Home school teachers, Parents, and oh yeah, “Interested adults”.

And now the Heathens know the Discovery Institute is behind the “Explore Evolution” book, we’ll just have to get on with another plan! What a bunch of baboons.

Blasphemy Challenge

The Heathens are at it again, this time really pushing the limits of poor taste with Blasphemy Challenge. <Sigh>

Luckily, I heard about this “Blasphemy Challenge” site by Listening to this chap who, quite rightly, has taken offence:

“What would happen if the tables were turned? What would happen if a Christian organization promoted going on YouTube and cursing non-Christians and damning them to hell? How would that go over? How about if all we said was “you’re all stupid for not believing like we do”? That would be disrespectful and dishonoring to God.”

Precisely! I mean, it’s not like the Good Cook Book itself condemns anyone to go to hell for their unbelieving ways, is it! Well, with the exception of Mark 3:29:

“Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”

And other examples a plenty from the Bible, but that’s hardly the point! The difference is, the Bible is right!

Questionable Fundamentalism

I hear all your thoughts. Occasionally I come across one that makes me realize that you are all doing a little too much thinking and not enough praying. Here’s a post from a Babtist / Fundamentalist who is on a very slippery slope to “enlightenment”:

“All my life I have never been able to accept evolution as possible. Science is squarely against it, as is the Bible.”

Good start. Of course science is squarely against evolution! Look, I created the Universe, I then created the Earth and then I created all of you lot, including the scientists (I was feeling creative at the time, sorry). I created scientists, so of course scientists have to agree that evolution is just the fantastical invention of man – follow?

“However during the last few years I have not been too sure about the age of the universe. I have done much study in this area from sources like the Institute for Creation Research, Answers in Genesis, Kent Hovind Ministries, and Reasons to Believe.”

OH YE of little faith!! Of course you are going to start having doubts if you read that kind of heretical filth claiming to be “science”! There’s only one Book that tells you all you need to know about the age of My Creation and how I did it, and it ain’t that kind of blasphemous claptrap!

But, you go on to make even more sense than you have done so far:

“I will not go into all the details here but what has been revealed to me is that it is impossible for Scripture and science to directly contradict each other.”

Exactly! Oh, sorry, I’m interrupting your splendid line of thought…

“If science absolutely proves that the age of the universe is 14.5 billion years old, and Scripture says that it is only about 10,000 years old—tops; then one or the other is wrong. We know that provable science cannot be wrong (it may be incomplete), and we know that Scripture cannot be wrong. Therefore what is wrong is the interpretation of one or the other (or both).”

You see, the problem is that you are misinterpreting the misinterpretations…you even shed some light on this yourself:

“The age of the universe is unquestionably just what it looks like, 14.5 billion years old. (This does not necessarily mean that evolution took place). Therefore it must be the way that Scripture is translated or interpreted that is incorrect. The six days of creation must be long ages of time.”

You poor, misguided soul. Listen to me – I created the everything – top to bottom – in six days and that’s that. The whole 14.5 billion years old thing is just the evil work of some oddball scientists who are trying to look clever to you by observing “facts” and then making up “theories” that support those “facts” and then look for “facts” that can test those “theories” – just look at evolution as an example of the kind of circular rubbish these so called “scientists” come up with (I really shouldn’t have experimented with those types…scientists are nothing but troublemakers). And you conclude:

“Perhaps I will go into more detail on this in a separate chapter later, but it would just confuse the issue if I went into much more detail here.”

No, please don’t go into more detail – you’ve enlightened us all quite enough with your penetrating and illuminating insights.

Look, you’ve proven without question that evolution must be a load of fantasy gone wild, however, you are just creating doubts in your own mind about the age of My Mystery, and you know where Doubt will lead you, sheep.

Just take My advice – stop reading hard science, stop learning about things so you understand their reason and for My Sake’s stop thinking for yourself! Simply stick your head in the Proverbial sand (with the exception of My several One Book(s) of Truth – take your pick) – for this is the only real way to learn the Truth.