Originally posted by chaswrayIf you've been on the site for 2 years and Rob's only now starting to offend you, either you: A) Ain't been paying attention; B) Are a recent convert to Christianity or 3) Really did have a lobotomy and it slipped your "mind".
What gives you the right to insult me! As a Christian no one told me who to vote for. I'm pretty sure that quite a few people from all religions and philosophical trainings voted for both candidates. I do not have a lobotomy and am quite capabale of making my own decisions. I find your statement christian=lobotomy very insulting.
Originally posted by no1marauderHe has the freedom to express his opinions, as much as you do. But I don't think that extends to insulting any one group of people, or any single person, but that's just my opinion.
If you've been on the site for 2 years and Rob's only now starting to offend you, either you: A) Ain't been paying attention; B) Are a recent convert to Christianity or 3) Really did have a lobotomy and it slipped your "mind".
Originally posted by no1marauderOh, and btw, I tend not to pay attention to a lot of his posts as I know we differ in philosphies, much the same as I know I diifer from yours! Having said that, I must say I was surprised to agree with one of your posts in the Why did Kerry lose thread! Imagine that. I was never converted to Christianity. To me it simply means to treat your fellow man as you would like to be treated. You don't have to go to church and quote Bible scripture to be a Christian. And I don't force my beliefs on others. As to things slipping my mind, the older I get the more that happens😵 So maybe I did get a lobotomy, it just slipped my mind:'(
If you've been on the site for 2 years and Rob's only now starting to offend you, either you: A) Ain't been paying attention; B) Are a recent convert to Christianity or 3) Really did have a lobotomy and it slipped your "mind".
Originally posted by royalchickenUnfortunately, I don't have the patience of Prn. You reach a point where you realize reasoned arguments are a waste of time with christians. It is just as effective, and takes much less time, to just insult them.
That is demonstrably false under most definitions of 'idiot'. It is trivially true if you take 'idiot' to mean 'Christian', but that's not very helpful.
Originally posted by chancremechanicThis is true. They have been waiting patiently for 2000 years now for Jesus to come back and send every non-believer to the land of fiery teeth and gnashing brimstone. Or something along those lines. Rapturiffic!
I thought you'd moved to Canada, seeing as your boy lost the election...four more years of GW...can you handle it?....if you became a Christian, it would make the wait bearable....😏
Originally posted by rwingettThere are two approaches I use when talking to anyone with very strong beliefs that they are unwilling to criticize, because while reasoned argument is often ineffective, insulting them is unlikely to help the next person with views similar to yours who tries to talk to them about the same thing, and I think as a person who is not merely an atheist but an 'evangelical' one you would not want to fix a Christian's opinion even more.
Unfortunately, I don't have the patience of Prn. You reach a point where you realize reasoned arguments are a waste of time with christians. It is just as effective, and takes much less time, to just insult them.
The first appraoch is the most fun, and it's a good exercise too. Twice since coming to uni I've been approached by representatives of groups, both nominally Christian that I would term cults. In both cases, they were very friendly and very serious, and wanted to have a theological discussion. Clearly I was not going to make an impression by putting forth my actual (atheistic) beliefs, so I took the position of a very wishy-washy agnostic and made arguments from that viewpoint, which clearly didn't change their opinion but probably inspired more thought on their part than straight-up refutation would have. To the second group I spoke from the point of view of a very committed Catholic, which made them kind of edge away trading significant looks. I often use this approach on RHP, because it is much more important to be able to argue than it is to have a concrete set of beliefs, so I try to learn how to do the former as much as I can, and I don't especially care what opinions people think I hold (with some exceptions).
The second approach when talking to someone with very strong beliefs is to go into ''data acquisition mode'' and merely listen to what they have to say and come up with honest questions about it. An atheist seriously committed to furthering his or her cause is unlikely to do so in a simple discussion, but would do well to learn a little about the 'enemy'.
Finally, we have several examples of intelligent and well-spoken Christians on RHP; huntingbear springs to mind.
Originally posted by royalchickenBack a couple years ago when I was in school, these two girls ran up to me and said, "Hey you! Have you heard the good news?" to which I replied, "Uh, no. I supposed I haven't". "Jesus dies on the cross so that you could live and be free." The only thing I could think of in response was, "Good news? That's old news, girls." and walked away. I think even they got a laugh out of it.
Twice since coming to uni I've been approached by representatives of groups, both nominally Christian that I would term cults. In both cases, they were very friendly and very serious, and wanted to have a theological discussion.
Originally posted by royalchickenOf course you're right, but since I knew the post would be supressed very quickly (and it has) I had no qualms about letting it fly.
There are two approaches I use when talking to anyone with very strong beliefs that they are unwilling to criticize, because while reasoned argument is often ineffective, insulting them is unlikely to help the next person with views similar to yours who tries to talk to them about the same thing, and I think as a person who is not merely an atheist but ...[text shortened]... several examples of intelligent and well-spoken Christians on RHP; huntingbear springs to mind.
Originally posted by no1marauderLOL...no offense to chasray, but that was funny....you can take a short walk on a long pier now instead of the other way around, No 1....
If you've been on the site for 2 years and Rob's only now starting to offend you, either you: A) Ain't been paying attention; B) Are a recent convert to Christianity or 3) Really did have a lobotomy and it slipped your "mind".