My invisible man in the sky can beat up your invisible man in the sky
This morning’s talk radio featured two Mormon guys educating East Tennesseans about Mormonism. It was, obviously, an attempt to stir up some, err, something about Mitt Romney’s pending speech to The God Squad. Most of the callers would call in and ask questions to these two guys that were designed to be gotchas. You know how many angels fit on the head of a pin and do you guys really think God lives on another planet kinda nonsense that would have caused holy wars 800 years ago.
Anyway, to all you folks out there arguing about how silly one religion is compared to another, step back a moment. Let’s take a 30,000 foot view of things. You can’t really criticize one religion as silly for believing that billions of people were brought to earth in DC-10s or that God lives on another planet. And then tell me with a straight face that whatever particular magic your God did was real. Just saying.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Well. Put.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:35 am
You can’t really criticize one religion as silly for believing that billions of people were brought to earth in DC-10s or that God lives on another planet.
Agreed, in principle.
But ‘billions of people brought to earth in DC-10s’ isn’t attributed to God. It’s attributed to aliens. That’s a different ball of wax.
Believing that God led His people by fire at night and a cloud by day is not the same as believing there are little green men on Mars.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:48 am
I can remember when Hal Hill had some guts. That was many years ago. This Hallerin guy is a waste of time.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:59 am
That’s true. We should respect all religions.
Except Scientology. That’s shit’s nuts.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:59 am
s/That’s/That/g
December 6th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Couldn’t agree more. All religions (and astrology) are equally nuts. Except Pastafaianism.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
My invisible man in the sky can beat up your invisible man in the sky
priceless
December 6th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Except Scientology. That’s shit’s nuts.
Actually, that’s not my point. If the analogy had been between belief in non-physical beings, angels v/s thetans, then it would have worked.
But “My God’s magic is real but your God’s magic isn’t” doesn’t work when the other religion doesn’t have a God to start with and especially when it doesn’t claim a supernatural explaination for the event in question.
Before you can use the “You can’t claim your imaginary can do things but my imaginary friend can’t” you first have to claim your imaginary friend did it to start with.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Believing that God led His people by fire at night and a cloud by day is not the same as believing there are little green men on Mars.
Why not? They’re both supported equally by the evidence…
December 6th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Because one claims a supernatural source and one doesn’t. The first can’t be verified by science one way or the other, the second can.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Wait, what can be verified by science?
December 6th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Except Scientology. That’s shit’s nuts.
There is worse than Scientology as I show in this post at MCB.
Meet the beings from Thiaoouba.
Warning, you can waste a few hours.
But wait, there is more. Buy the t-shirt.
And of course, this guy is an expert on Global Warming. It really is one stop shopping.
I am fairly certain that Tom J. Chalko is the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard, who did not die.
I can’t wait for Tom Cruise to run for President.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Despite all the really cool skepticism here and sprained elbows from enlightened self-backpatting, God does exist. I know that for a fact, though I doubted for many years and was just as cool as the rest of you.
No I can’t prove it, anymore than you can prove the sun shined yesterday, though you know it did, the only evidence left is what you saw, everything else can be faked or even correctly assumed based on what we know, but not scientifically proven. We can’t even prove the sun didn’t go out just 7 minutes ago. We would be at least 8 minutes late getting the news.
However, that is all I can tell you about God, He is there or here. I haven’t been anointed with any knowledge that means you must listen to me and do as I say and send me your money, etc.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Leaving out any discussion of god, God, or Gods–anyone sending me their money wouldn’t bother me a bit. 🙂
December 6th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Wait, what can be verified by science?
Whether or not there are little green men on Mars.
December 6th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Straightarrow:
If you know it for a fact, post verifiable proof.
If this is strictly something to do with your faith, fine … but the second you state something is a fact, it become incumbent upon you to prove it as fact.
Facts are provable … that is the definition of fact. Everything else is either faith, or opinion.
December 6th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
There is much to be said for faith. If one does not believe in God, that is their right, literally, their God-given right. God reveals Himself to those whom He chooses. Some refuse to acknowledge that revelation and that, also, is their choice. That is between them and their Maker.
However, for those who would simply pooh-pooh the concept of a Higher supernatural Power, recognize that you are going against literally thousands of years of human thought. Antiquity is certainly not proof, but it does lend credibility.
For those who would insult others who have faith, recognize that you display an arrogance and hypocrisy that the church is often accused of having. Then again, why should such a thing matter to those who do not believe? With no god other than one’s own mind, why should one be accountable to his fellow man? Why be accountable at all? Let Darwinism be our guide and when only the strong are left to inherit the earth, let Machiavellianism push us to the end.
Perhaps liberty only counts on matters of armaments. Liberty on matters of religion is “silly,” “nuts,” and unprovable. Perhaps we should put an end to statements such as “the Second Amendment is there to defend the others.” Perhaps the Second Amendment is there to keep us armed when religion is abandoned, morality is subjective, and man genuflects at the altar of his own brilliance.
Just saying.
December 6th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Yu-Ain Gonnano: I was making a joke, but with a kernel of truth. I’m prejudiced against Scientology. I’m an agnostic so I don’t believe any religion, but I’m really disdainful of religions that still have that fresh paint smell.
As far as verification, what science does is falsification. Can you really falsify the Scientology nonsense about Xenu and engrams? Nope. No more than you can falsify the soul. Scientology is no more or less scientific than any other religion. It just has that icky smell of fresh paint.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Science is much more than falsification. While that certainly is a component, we falsified the earth-centric model of the solar system, but we also discovered the true orbits.
As for falsification, if we can piece together the evidence of a meteor strike wiping out the dinosours 65 million years ago, we should be able to detect the signs of a hydrogen bomb explosion 75 million years ago. (Since he named the volcanoes, you can’t even claim we just don’t know where to look).
Additionally, the disembodied souls (thetans) were taken to, among other places, Hawaii for implantation of “various misleading data”. This is despite the fact that Hawaii didn’t exist 75 million years ago.
Sounds fairly falsifiable to me.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
As a person who believes in a virgin birth AND a resurrection from the dead, I’m not really one to laugh at the parts of religion that most people think are “crazy”, because, well, most religion sounds crazy when you get right down to it.
My problem with Mormonism is the whole Proxy Baptism deal. I went into it over at my place, but the basic gist is that you can believe whatever you want as far as I’m concerned. Pray to a lamppost or your grandfather’s ashes or a meat pie in the shape of Mary. Whatever.
But don’t force your beliefs on someone else. That’s nasty. Rebaptising them as a member of your relgion AFTER they’re dead is, well, nasty.
December 7th, 2007 at 3:59 am
Kristopher, it was proven irrefutably to me. You would be forced to take my word for what happened, which is not proof. But I have seen the proof. Remember, I was a non-believer prior to that.
And before you state the next usual argument, the answer is no. I have not changed my mind because I need to believe, or that I am hedging my bets, in case I have been wrong most of my life. Nor do I think my rather recent belief indemnifies me for my past non-belief, so that next usual question is answered. If the writers of the religious texts of the world got it right, faith is the only way to redemption. Faith is believing in what you cannot prove. Since faith is not what brought me to the realization that God exists, but proof sufficient to preclude any possible denial on my part, I fear redemption will not be mine, simply because I did not arrive at my epiphany through faith.
I have already stated I can’t prove His existence to you. It has been proven to me as fact, but being as it was done in a way that had no meaning for anyone else on earth but me, it would not be a persuader for others, no matter how loudly I shouted it.
Of course, I can’t shout it, because His existence is all He showed me. He didn’t impart any wisdom or endow me with insight into His plan. He just let me know He was there. If one has lived as I have, that may not necessarily be good news, but there I am.
I would not presume to tell others what to believe or what religion is the TRUE religion, or if there even is one. I would not try to force others to believe I have seen the proof, but I will so state that I have, any time the subject comes up, just on the off chance that others may not err as often or as seriously as I have. But the choice is theirs. I suspect most will be like myself and not believe until presented with evidence that would only convince them, though not others.
December 7th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Really? ‘Cause before I got as cool as the rest of these folks, I believed in invisible stuff too.
But I got better.
December 8th, 2007 at 3:27 am
Sorry dear, you didn’t get better. And I will state again, I am not an evangelist. I am not trying to persuade you. I am merely telling you what I know. I just wish I knew what it meant.