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The Problem With Miracles - Sam Harris
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The Smartest Idiot -
Christian apologist William Lane Craig uses some sophisticated theology in an attempt to refute the axiom that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence by arguing that accepting the winning lotto numbers as reported by the evening news is comparable to accepting the miracle claims of Christianity as reported by the Gospels. The reason he gives is that any combination of lotto numbers is as improbable as, say, the resurrection of Jesus.
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Do You Need a PhD to Understand the Bible?
Do you need a PhD to understand the Bible?
Short answer: yes.
But a longer answer is called for. And the longer answer includes the fact that you need more than one PhD to understand the Bible.
When I say you need a PhD, I don’t necessarily mean that you yourself need to earn a PhD, much less several. But you will need multiple people with PhDs involved in the process. You will not understand the entire Bible without people who have expertise in Hebrew and expertise in Greek. Not just a smattering, not just a copy of Strong’s concordance or an interlinear. In order to get from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek text to an understanding in English, you need linguists, experienced translators, and also scholars of history who can clarify cultural and historical references, all involved in the process.
Not enough to deliver your divine word via text to an audience which has been almost completely illiterate since the dawn of civilization, nay, one must also make that message so complex that a legion of scholars is needed to try and decipher it. Placing not only scribes and priests between this god and his subjects, but an additional layer of academic arbiters. Making so that even the few literate people have a hard time getting it right.
An awfully curious method of communication for an omnipotent god with a message of vital importance; one that claims to spell the difference between eternal salvation and eternal damnation. He might as well communicate by riddles. In fact, a great argument can be made that that’s exactly what we have: Something between a riddle and Rorschach test, that claims to be the objective truth about the meaning of life.
(Source: azspot)
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It only takes a simple look at the origins and history of the Bible without the presupposition that it is an infallible holy book to understand how unreliable it is. To claim the Bible is the inspired work of god is like claiming ‘The National Enquirer’ is a legitimate source of news.
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High ResolutionThis is an inconvenient passage for many Christians that only applies when dealing with homosexuals.
(Source: atheistjack)
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High ResolutionThey got a ‘A’ in Immorality: The pastors withhold the truth they learned in university, from their congregation, because they figure that the truth would interfere with their cash-flow…
I suppose maintaining the idea that the Bible is the straight dope from God becomes a complicated apologetic exercise in light of the actual history of how it came to be. Much easier to just leave all that out.
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"Politicians who use the Bible aren’t necessarily interested in the truth or the complexity of the Bible. They are looking for one ancient sound bite to convince people what they already believe."
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Louis CK - God Is Like Shitty Girlfriend
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More flawed characters…and fewer morals…than a Shakespearean play…
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![confrontingbabble-on:
“The Biblical view of women…
The God of the Bible decrees that woman must submit to the dominance of man.
“The social and legal position of an Israelite wife was inferior to the position a wife occupied in the great countries round about… all the texts show that Israelites wanted mainly sons to perpetuate the family line and fortune, and to preserve the ancestral inheritance… A husband could divorce his wife; women on the other hand could not ask for divorce… the wife called her husband Ba’al or master; she also called him adon or lord; she addressed him, in fact, as a slave addressed his master or subject, his king. The Decalogue includes a man’s wife among his possessions… all her life she remains a minor. The wife does not inherit from her husband, nor daughters from their father, except when there is no male heir. A vow made by a girl or married woman needs, to be valid, the consent of the father or husband and if this consent is withheld, the vow is null and void. A man had a right to sell his daughter. Women were excluded from the succession.”
-Roland de Vaux, archaeologist and priest
Burn the daughter!
Cut off her hand!
Expose her breasts!
Female births get penalty
Female inferiority
God’s OK on abortion
Jesus will kill children
Kill the witches!
Moses’ mass murder
Rape my daughter
Raping and killing
Silence the woman!
Stone the woman
“Virgin” mistranslation
Virgin’s worth
Wives, submit yourselves!
Women shall not speak
Women’s sorrow
Rip up pregnant women
The wicked woman
Read http://www.nobeliefs.com/DarkBible/darkbible7.htm
Also…
1.In the Bible’s book of Deuteronomy it says that if a man marries a woman and then decides that he hates her, he can claim she wasn’t a virgin when they married. At that point her father must prove she was a virgin. (How is not explained.) If he can’t, then the girl is to be stoned to death at her father’s doorstep.
2. If you see a pretty woman among your captives and would like her for a wife, then bring her home and “go in unto her.” Later, if you decide you don’t like her, you can simply “let her go.” (Deuteronomy)
3. If a betrothed virgin is raped in the city and doesn’t cry out loud enough, then “the men of the city shall stone her to death.” (Deuteronomy)
4. In the book of Esther the king apparently decrees a sex contest among young virgin women to see who can best please him. (There is debate on how.) He eventually chooses Esther. However, since women are viewed as inherently dirty, Esther must be “purified” for twelve months before she can be made queen. (Esther)
5. Paul points out in New Testament Romans that “the natural use” of women is to provide men with sex. (Romans)
6. Heaven is to be inhabited by 144,000 virgin men who have not been “defiled” by women. (RE 14:1-4) [One wonders how this squares with God’s command to, “Be fruitful and multiply…(Genesis )]
7. A group of sexual depraved men beat on the door of an old man’s house demanding that he turn over to them a male house guest. Instead, the old man offers his virgin daughter and his guest’s wife: “Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine (wife); let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do with them what seems good to you; but against this man do not do so vile a thing.” The women were subsequently ravished and killed. (JG))
8. In Exod. we see that it is permissible to sell one’s daughter (but apparently not one’s son) into slavery..
9. According to St. Jerome, “Nothing is so unclean as a woman in her periods; what she touches she causes to be unclean.” In Leviticus it states, “If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days…if she bears a female child she shall be unclean two weeks….”
10. “A woman dropped a stone on his head and cracked his skull. Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, ‘Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say a woman killed me.’ So his servant ran him through, and he died.” (Judges)
11. Under God’s direction, Moses’ army kills all the adult males, but they mercifully just take the women and children captive. When Moses learns that they left some women and children alive, he angrily says: “Kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.” Throughout Bible history God is said to demand that thousands, if not millions, of men, women and children be slaughtered. And they are.
12. A man has an obligation to produce a child with his brother’s widow. If he refuses, his sister-in-law is to spit in his face in front of the elders. (Deuteronomy 25:5-9) And in case you are Jewish, you may be familiar with the Jewish prayer: “Blessed be the God who has not created me a heathen, a slave or a woman.”
We’ve only listed a dozen Bible quotes of this type, but there are many more.
Would we be wrong in assuming that even Bible literalists wouldn’t want these verses read to their children in Bible School? Plus, what parent would want their children reading Bible verses comparing the size of men’s penises to donkey genitals and their sperm flow to that of horses? Books are commonly banned from school libraries for much less.
Most Old Testament law dates back centuries to Jewish tribal law and would be considered not only immoral but illegal today. At the same time, fundamentalist, Bible-carrying Christians claim they are the for-all-time, inviolable Word of God.
Read http://www.cybercollege.com/antiwoman.htm](http://25.media.tumblr.com/df5967e7f9cab2f8d5c688dc69c5407c/tumblr_mni85bkNsD1rzlzxqo1_1280.png)
High Resolution“The Biblical view of women…
The God of the Bible decrees that woman must submit to the dominance of man.
“The social and legal position of an Israelite wife was inferior to the position a wife occupied in the great countries round about… all the texts show that Israelites wanted mainly sons to perpetuate the family line and fortune, and to preserve the ancestral inheritance… A husband could divorce his wife; women on the other hand could not ask for divorce… the wife called her husband Ba’al or master; she also called him adon or lord; she addressed him, in fact, as a slave addressed his master or subject, his king. The Decalogue includes a man’s wife among his possessions… all her life she remains a minor. The wife does not inherit from her husband, nor daughters from their father, except when there is no male heir. A vow made by a girl or married woman needs, to be valid, the consent of the father or husband and if this consent is withheld, the vow is null and void. A man had a right to sell his daughter. Women were excluded from the succession.”
-Roland de Vaux, archaeologist and priest
- Burn the daughter!
- Cut off her hand!
- Expose her breasts!
- Female births get penalty
- Female inferiority
- God’s OK on abortion
- Jesus will kill children
- Kill the witches!
- Moses’ mass murder
- Rape my daughter
- Raping and killing
- Silence the woman!
- Stone the woman
- “Virgin” mistranslation
- Virgin’s worth
- Wives, submit yourselves!
- Women shall not speak
- Women’s sorrow
- Rip up pregnant women
- The wicked woman
Read http://www.nobeliefs.com/DarkBible/darkbible7.htm
Also…
1.In the Bible’s book of Deuteronomy it says that if a man marries a woman and then decides that he hates her, he can claim she wasn’t a virgin when they married. At that point her father must prove she was a virgin. (How is not explained.) If he can’t, then the girl is to be stoned to death at her father’s doorstep.
2. If you see a pretty woman among your captives and would like her for a wife, then bring her home and “go in unto her.” Later, if you decide you don’t like her, you can simply “let her go.” (Deuteronomy)
3. If a betrothed virgin is raped in the city and doesn’t cry out loud enough, then “the men of the city shall stone her to death.” (Deuteronomy)
4. In the book of Esther the king apparently decrees a sex contest among young virgin women to see who can best please him. (There is debate on how.) He eventually chooses Esther. However, since women are viewed as inherently dirty, Esther must be “purified” for twelve months before she can be made queen. (Esther)
5. Paul points out in New Testament Romans that “the natural use” of women is to provide men with sex. (Romans)
6. Heaven is to be inhabited by 144,000 virgin men who have not been “defiled” by women. (RE 14:1-4) [One wonders how this squares with God’s command to, “Be fruitful and multiply…(Genesis )]
7. A group of sexual depraved men beat on the door of an old man’s house demanding that he turn over to them a male house guest. Instead, the old man offers his virgin daughter and his guest’s wife: “Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine (wife); let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do with them what seems good to you; but against this man do not do so vile a thing.” The women were subsequently ravished and killed. (JG))
8. In Exod. we see that it is permissible to sell one’s daughter (but apparently not one’s son) into slavery..
9. According to St. Jerome, “Nothing is so unclean as a woman in her periods; what she touches she causes to be unclean.” In Leviticus it states, “If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days…if she bears a female child she shall be unclean two weeks….”
10. “A woman dropped a stone on his head and cracked his skull. Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, ‘Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say a woman killed me.’ So his servant ran him through, and he died.” (Judges)
11. Under God’s direction, Moses’ army kills all the adult males, but they mercifully just take the women and children captive. When Moses learns that they left some women and children alive, he angrily says: “Kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.” Throughout Bible history God is said to demand that thousands, if not millions, of men, women and children be slaughtered. And they are.
12. A man has an obligation to produce a child with his brother’s widow. If he refuses, his sister-in-law is to spit in his face in front of the elders. (Deuteronomy 25:5-9) And in case you are Jewish, you may be familiar with the Jewish prayer: “Blessed be the God who has not created me a heathen, a slave or a woman.”
We’ve only listed a dozen Bible quotes of this type, but there are many more.Would we be wrong in assuming that even Bible literalists wouldn’t want these verses read to their children in Bible School? Plus, what parent would want their children reading Bible verses comparing the size of men’s penises to donkey genitals and their sperm flow to that of horses? Books are commonly banned from school libraries for much less.
Most Old Testament law dates back centuries to Jewish tribal law and would be considered not only immoral but illegal today. At the same time, fundamentalist, Bible-carrying Christians claim they are the for-all-time, inviolable Word of God. -
The Bible as a Rorschach test
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"Pretty much every time I conclude that a Church Father seems like a pretty cool guy, I learn that he hated Jews and/or women."
- 10 Things I’ve Learned About Church History From ‘The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1” by Justo L. Gonzalez (via azspot)When I read the whole article, I’m struck by the cognitive dissonance of the author. A kind of liberal Christian who acknowledges that the bible was assembled by extremely fallible men and that the totality of the church has never been in agreement on very importation doctrinal tenets (I.e. was Jesus God?). They acknowledge that the church has been behind some of history’s worst abuses of power… Yet, they they still believe that there is some benevolent god behind it all and that this book is his Word. It seems obvious that they care more about belonging to the rich tradition of Christianity than they do about whether or not it’s actually true or not.
(via thereisnogod)
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High ResolutionGod - so many times inferior to humans…
God IS the humans
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"Jesus unambiguously preached mercy and forgiveness. These are supposed to be cardinal virtues of the Christian faith. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of the death penalty, draconian sentencing, punitive punishment over rehabilitation, and the governmental use of torture. Jesus exhorted humans to be loving, peaceful, and non-violent. And yet Evangelicals are the group of Americans most supportive of easy-access weaponry, little-to-no regulation of handgun and semi-automatic gun ownership, not to mention the violent military invasion of various countries around the world. Jesus was very clear that the pursuit of wealth was inimical to the Kingdom of God, that the rich are to be condemned, and that to be a follower of Him means to give one’s money to the poor. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of corporate greed and capitalistic excess, and they are the most opposed to institutional help for the nation’s poor — especially poor children. They hate anything that smacks of “socialism,” even though that is essentially what their Savior preached. They despise food stamp programs, subsidies for schools, hospitals, job training — anything that might dare to help out those in need. Even though helping out those in need was exactly what Jesus urged humans to do. In short, Evangelicals are that segment of America which is the most pro-militaristic, pro-gun, and pro-corporate, while simultaneously claiming to be most ardent lovers of the Prince of Peace."
- Phil Zuckerman: Why Evangelicals Hate Jesus (via azspot)Therein lies the rub: the source from which these conclusions are drawn (the bible) is so damn subjective. It’s like using a Rorschach test to convey an imperative. That’s why I don’t think the bible will ultimately solve anything, and in fact it incites both sides of a disagreement like this to be even more strident in their assertions; using not empirical methods and new data, but their personal/local interpretations of an ancient inkblot, hitching their own world view to a divine warrant.
(via azspot)
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Atheists at the Creation Museum (by TheThinkingAtheist)
Such an education hahaha
This is a great video … we watch it utter disbelief!
Divine Irony
is a rich archive of religious delusions, scientific truths and political implications.
"Tell people there’s an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure."
-George Carlin
“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed”.
-Albert Einstein
![confrontingbabble-on:
“The Biblical view of women…
The God of the Bible decrees that woman must submit to the dominance of man.
“The social and legal position of an Israelite wife was inferior to the position a wife occupied in the great countries round about… all the texts show that Israelites wanted mainly sons to perpetuate the family line and fortune, and to preserve the ancestral inheritance… A husband could divorce his wife; women on the other hand could not ask for divorce… the wife called her husband Ba’al or master; she also called him adon or lord; she addressed him, in fact, as a slave addressed his master or subject, his king. The Decalogue includes a man’s wife among his possessions… all her life she remains a minor. The wife does not inherit from her husband, nor daughters from their father, except when there is no male heir. A vow made by a girl or married woman needs, to be valid, the consent of the father or husband and if this consent is withheld, the vow is null and void. A man had a right to sell his daughter. Women were excluded from the succession.”
-Roland de Vaux, archaeologist and priest
Burn the daughter!
Cut off her hand!
Expose her breasts!
Female births get penalty
Female inferiority
God’s OK on abortion
Jesus will kill children
Kill the witches!
Moses’ mass murder
Rape my daughter
Raping and killing
Silence the woman!
Stone the woman
“Virgin” mistranslation
Virgin’s worth
Wives, submit yourselves!
Women shall not speak
Women’s sorrow
Rip up pregnant women
The wicked woman
Read http://www.nobeliefs.com/DarkBible/darkbible7.htm
Also…
1.In the Bible’s book of Deuteronomy it says that if a man marries a woman and then decides that he hates her, he can claim she wasn’t a virgin when they married. At that point her father must prove she was a virgin. (How is not explained.) If he can’t, then the girl is to be stoned to death at her father’s doorstep.
2. If you see a pretty woman among your captives and would like her for a wife, then bring her home and “go in unto her.” Later, if you decide you don’t like her, you can simply “let her go.” (Deuteronomy)
3. If a betrothed virgin is raped in the city and doesn’t cry out loud enough, then “the men of the city shall stone her to death.” (Deuteronomy)
4. In the book of Esther the king apparently decrees a sex contest among young virgin women to see who can best please him. (There is debate on how.) He eventually chooses Esther. However, since women are viewed as inherently dirty, Esther must be “purified” for twelve months before she can be made queen. (Esther)
5. Paul points out in New Testament Romans that “the natural use” of women is to provide men with sex. (Romans)
6. Heaven is to be inhabited by 144,000 virgin men who have not been “defiled” by women. (RE 14:1-4) [One wonders how this squares with God’s command to, “Be fruitful and multiply…(Genesis )]
7. A group of sexual depraved men beat on the door of an old man’s house demanding that he turn over to them a male house guest. Instead, the old man offers his virgin daughter and his guest’s wife: “Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine (wife); let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do with them what seems good to you; but against this man do not do so vile a thing.” The women were subsequently ravished and killed. (JG))
8. In Exod. we see that it is permissible to sell one’s daughter (but apparently not one’s son) into slavery..
9. According to St. Jerome, “Nothing is so unclean as a woman in her periods; what she touches she causes to be unclean.” In Leviticus it states, “If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days…if she bears a female child she shall be unclean two weeks….”
10. “A woman dropped a stone on his head and cracked his skull. Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, ‘Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say a woman killed me.’ So his servant ran him through, and he died.” (Judges)
11. Under God’s direction, Moses’ army kills all the adult males, but they mercifully just take the women and children captive. When Moses learns that they left some women and children alive, he angrily says: “Kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.” Throughout Bible history God is said to demand that thousands, if not millions, of men, women and children be slaughtered. And they are.
12. A man has an obligation to produce a child with his brother’s widow. If he refuses, his sister-in-law is to spit in his face in front of the elders. (Deuteronomy 25:5-9) And in case you are Jewish, you may be familiar with the Jewish prayer: “Blessed be the God who has not created me a heathen, a slave or a woman.”
We’ve only listed a dozen Bible quotes of this type, but there are many more.
Would we be wrong in assuming that even Bible literalists wouldn’t want these verses read to their children in Bible School? Plus, what parent would want their children reading Bible verses comparing the size of men’s penises to donkey genitals and their sperm flow to that of horses? Books are commonly banned from school libraries for much less.
Most Old Testament law dates back centuries to Jewish tribal law and would be considered not only immoral but illegal today. At the same time, fundamentalist, Bible-carrying Christians claim they are the for-all-time, inviolable Word of God.
Read http://www.cybercollege.com/antiwoman.htm](http://25.media.tumblr.com/df5967e7f9cab2f8d5c688dc69c5407c/tumblr_mni85bkNsD1rzlzxqo1_500.png)
