I did leave....work. Now I am home. Not a lie, it’s just snowing like crazy here and there is nothing else to do right at the moment.

If only more fundies would drink the magic cool-aid. I’m sure god is demanding these sacrifices, and it would definitely make this world a less stressfull, war-ridden place.

Sure, we’d still argue, and possibly even go to war, over stupid things and for all the wrong reasons no doubt.
But at least we wouldn’t take our own lives so lightly and waste them on futilities like trying to prove that we are right and the other guy’s deity is a sham. We’d realise there’s only one life, and if we kill ourselves, it’s game over. For good. No retries and save games. Final.

It’s a scary thought, and I can understand how it scares many people that much that they’ve resorted to an elaborate make-belief afterworld, where you get that much desired second chance.

It takes courage to be an atheist.
Religious people don’t have that kind of courage. But once you’re past the fear of hell-fire and damnation, there’s a whole lot less to be afraid of.

But I don’t expect Rick to understand that. His brain just can’t grasp the concept.

Human sacrifice- If God demanded it then there is a positive to it.

You only have the word of the bloke who wrote it down.  Do you really not demand any proof for anything?  Did Moses take a stenographer up the mountain with him, or are you just accepting his word?  I’ve never really understood that bit about boiling goats in their mothers milk.

Frankly, I see very little name-calling here (or any for that matter). But that’s because I’m not interpreting the labels “moron” or “idiot” as name calling, because they are after all simply observation.

So far you’ve shown:

Almost complete ignorance of science.

An unusual dislike, perhaps even hatred, of science and scientific research (probably stemming from that ignorance). Except in those cases when the scientist is one of your own kind, and trying to prove the creation fairytale.

The inability to understand many of the things being said here, particularly when those things are explanations of why your interpretation of science and scientific facts is wrong. Just because you want them to be wrong or unfounded doesn’t mean they are.

The philosophical capacity of a 10 year old who still believes in Santa Claus. I don’t expect you to believe me here, but that’s probably part of the problem. From Pascal’s wager to reveling in your persecution complex, not once do you rise above a primary school level of philosophical maturity. You’ve essentially never outgrown the need for a parent-figure who’ll share your responsibility to live your own life.

You call it name-calling, I’m just observing ignorance and childishness for what they are. I also bet you think people here are angry at you, or something emotional and irrelevant like that. But quite the contrary is true. In fact, this is merely a very interesting discussion, and an intriguing peek into the fundie mindset. Fascinating really. And it would be totally hilarious if it wasn’t so utterly sad to see a grown person think the way you do.

You don’t think there were witnesses to these writtings. Why do you think they have been preserved for so long. Someone back then would have just thrown them away if they were not true. Witnesses of those days seen these things happen first hand and seen the impotance of preserving the writtings. These wars in the middle east have been fought since those days for a reason. They have passed on from generation to generation the importance of those places and everyone wants to claim it. The Bible is all the proof I need, it would not have made it this far and have so many followers if it were not true. Even though the apostles of Christ were tortured, beheaded, crucified upside down and put in boiling oil they never changed there story. I am certain if it was all a lie at least one of them would have fessed up before allowing that done to them. But not a one of them turned from what they witnessed and knew was truth faltered one bit. I have thousands of years of proof and God puts things in my life everyday to prove Himself to me even though He doesn’t need to. Some of you call Him an evil god, but he proved that wrong on Calvary when He bled and died for me.

Blah blah blah-fuckity-blah. For the last time fundie, come up with something original and stop reading from the standard True Believer™ script.

Rick shows up to spew some more nonsense..

Les- I am so glad you think I have a rotting brain, makes me realize I do stand out for Christ. I would have it no other way. I would be glad to be found guilty of being a Christian. You prove my point about you “so called” athiest’s getting nervous and shows your uncertainty.

You just don’t get it. Nobody here is nervous or uncertain, Rick. You’re not guilty of being a Christian, you’re guilty of being an idiot who just happens to be a Christian. There are plenty of Christians out there who manage to not only hold onto their faith, but still make use of the brains their God supposedly gave them. They are capable of having an honest discussion about their beliefs without falling back on tossing out Bible versus as though it means anything to anyone other than themselves. You are not one of those Christians.

You can’t just read the Bible, you have to live the Bible to find it convincing. It’s like just reading the bottle of medicine and then not taking it. It won’t do you any good unless you actually take it. You have to read it, think about it and try to put some of it to use and see what the results are.

And here is where you demonstrate what an arrogant asshole you are as well as being a clueless idiot. You obviously haven’t read anything on this blog outside of this one entry or you’d already know that I used to be a devoted Baptist in my youth. I was a True Believer for many years and I sincerely believed I had a relationship with Jesus and was doing my best to live a Christian life. How dare you come in here and presume to tell me what you obviously don’t know about whether or not I have tried to “live the Bible” as you put it.

It is demonstrative of your ignorance and bigotry for you to make claims about me that are patently wrong as though you know all about what kind of believer I am or may have once been.

If I am wrong then there has been a whole lot of smarter people than me that have been wrong through the years, and a whole lot of people smarter than you.

Being smart is no guarantee that you won’t buy into stupid ideas and popular delusions. Some of the smartest people in the world fall for the same scams as people that are clearly as ignorant as yourself. That’s part of why a scientific world view is the best approach to reality. It doesn’t mean you won’t be wrong, but it helps to ensure that you eventually get to the truth. Faith has no such self-correcting aspect to it. Faith tells you to just keep on believing the same stupid thing no matter how much it may contradict what the evidence tells you is true.

You can cut me down with words, use profanity in your statements, think I’m a complete idiot but I will never be convienced that you can not be changed if God decides to change you.

Of course I can be changed. I changed from being a True Believer into being an atheist and it’s entirely possible that I could switch back if given a compelling enough reason to do so. Only an idiot would claim otherwise. Here’s a tip for you: Nothing you’ve said thus far comes remotely close to being ‘compelling reasons’ to change my mind.

You’re right about one thing however. If I do change it won’t be because of any action on your part. Not if this is the best you can manage.

You may very well someday have a brush with truth. God loves everyone and does not want to see anyone perish. His patience will run out someday though, after he has given all the time he has alotted. When you are a Christian things happen in your life to prove that God is there. I have had countless prayers answered. I have also had countless ones not answered the way I wanted, but that’s ok apparently it wasn’t God’s will.

You haven’t had any prayers answered. You sat around hoping for something to happen and occasionally something happened that you could attribute to your imaginary sky fairy, but more often than not things didn’t turn out the way you were wishing for. If you’re anything like most True Believers you’ll attribute even the smallest bit of good fortune to your God smiling down upon you. Found a penny in the street? Just God telling you he loves you. Got over that cold last week? Just God healing you. Someone offer you a ride home when your car breaks down? Just God looking out for you. Doesn’t matter how major or how trivial you can attribute anything positive to your God.

Yet when something bad happens, well, that’s never God’s doing. If you’re a mild true believer then you’ll attribute it to bad luck. If you’re more hardcore or if it’s a “really bad thing” then you might attribute it to Satan or one of his demons trying to lure you away from God, but it’s never God’s fault. God either only does good things for you or he doesn’t bother to answer your prayer.

You can’t just be a knower of the word, you have to be a doer of the word.

Again with the arrogance of presuming to know whether or not I have ever been a “doer of the word.” You don’t know me, Rick. You should try to find out before you pass judgment on me.

If my statements have been so predictable because others have said the same thing then that’s good.

No it’s not good. If the argument didn’t win us over the first time then it’s not going to win us over the 700th time we’ve heard it. There’s nothing about your presentation that sets it apart from all the other idiots who’ve tried it.

I have also heard all the same things from people like you as well. You just use the same name calling and the same insults to bash us.

I made statements of opinion based on the available evidence. So far you’re acting like an arrogant, ignorant, asshole who thinks he has us all figured out when he obviously doesn’t have a clue. It would be name calling if I didn’t have a good reason to say the above things, but there’s ample reason just in the comments you’ve left so far.

You have no proof your theory is correct either. Scientist’s can make anything up they want, they write the formulas, they invented the so called carbon dating.

Now you’re demonstrating your ignorance once more. I can’t believe you’re suggesting that scientists just make shit up and there’s nothing backing it up. Does this mean you would be willing to argue that there’s no good reason that 2 + 2 should equal 4? After all, the rules of mathematics were just made up by some silly scientists. Surely your God, if he wanted to, could make 2 + 2 = 5 and show all those pesky scientists who’s the greater power, right? So go ahead and demonstrate for us how 2+2=5 and I’ll become a Christian on the spot.

Although, the flood in Noah’s days certainly explain a lot more about things than you want to admitt.

All Noah’s flood explains is how credulous you are.

By the way I hope you all have a merry Christ-mas.

And here’s hoping you have a Happy Yuletide!

You know, the holiday the Christians tried to usurp by calling Christmas and shifting Jesus’ birthday to the opposite end of the year?

Do you have proof the apostles were actually tortured?
In fact, do you have proof they even existed?
Do you even have proof Jesus really existed?

Do you realise that the bible you’re reading today is less than 30% of everything that was written down back then, and specific gospels were selected only for being pretty much consistent? Some gospels were just too much out there, or too contradictory with the others, to be included. They would raise too many questions, so they were unceremoniously scratched from the final release.

As far as written proof goes, I think the Dead Sea Scrolls are still proving to be a very annoying source of contradictory information, even though most of it consists of holes and missing pages. So even what can be interpreted is not adding up. Never mind the parts that are forever lost to decay and other damage.

Historians know a lot more about the origin of early christianity than you’ll ever be able to find within the confines of the bible.

But once again, the things they’ve found out make you feel very uneasy, so it’s much more convenient to ignore them and keep on keeping on in blissful ignorance.

Your statements sound alot like double standard. You seem to assume alot about me also. I never meant to make it sound like I was refering to you alone. It was a statement. You are assuming that I am an idiot just because I believe something other than yourself. I am sorry if I offended you, that was not what i intended to do. I was merely trying to state that I feel like that is why some people do not get anything out of reading the Bible.
As far as having any proof whether the apostles were tortured or even existed. Yes I have proof. It’s in the Bible. Do you have any proof I am wrong? The proof I have that Jesus existed is the work He does in my life, the work I see him do in the world. I know you don’t understand what I am saying but that’s my proof. It’s why they call it faith.
I do not mean to offend anyone, I just have my right to talk about God just as it’s your right to have your opinions. There’s really no reason for anyone to be called an idiot or stupid, jsut a difference in beliefs.  really don’t see where I have been hipocritical about anything. I’m just stating what I believe as you are about what you believe. All the talk about how crazy or stupid we are does not constitute discussion either. There must be something there or it would not be such a debate for so long.
By the way, who did come up with 2+2=4 anyway? And who decided that the work week had to be 5 days?!!!

Someone back then would have just thrown them away if they were not true

Perhaps you should pop down your local Sikh temple.  They’ve got lots of stuff very similar. If that constitutes proof- lots of old stories, then perhaps you should try another faith with lots of old stories.  Think of the money you’d save on haircuts and shaving gear.

Let’s talk science. As you raised it, let’s talk flood.  Now, we know what the current geology of the earth is.  Now here’s the clever bit. Geologists can work out what the geology would look like if the flood happened.  It doesn’t look like it does now.

The facsinating thing here is that Creationist haven’t tried to disprove the model. Rather they played that trump card “Godidit”. They said god made it look the way it does now.  No scientist can do anything there.  If the second you can not explain something you invoke divine will then yes, scientists will be unable to answer you.

1000 years ago people saw lightning and said ‘godidit’.  We now know what causes lightning- no divine intervention needed, just particles in the upper atmosphere rubbing together. So 1000 years ago it was nothing to do with god, it was just an unexplained process.

And who decided that the work week had to be 5 days

Trade Unions, socialist collectives workers rights campaign groups.

You are assuming that I am an idiot just because I believe something other than yourself.

Actually we assume you’re an idiot because you talk like an idiot.

As far as having any proof whether the apostles were tortured or even existed. Yes I have proof. It’s in the Bible. Do you have any proof I am wrong? The proof I have that Jesus existed is the work He does in my life, the work I see him do in the world. I know you don’t understand what I am saying but that’s my proof. It’s why they call it faith.

Yes what you described is faith and no, it isn’t proof. Faith != proof.

I do not mean to offend anyone, I just have my right to talk about God just as it’s your right to have your opinions. There’s really no reason for anyone to be called an idiot or stupid, jsut a difference in beliefs.  really don’t see where I have been hipocritical about anything. I’m just stating what I believe as you are about what you believe. All the talk about how crazy or stupid we are does not constitute discussion either.

And we have the right to call you a moronic fucktard. Especially because you actually are a moronic fucktard. It’s nothing more than the truth. It must be true or else you wouldn’t be debating it for so long. If you didn’t doubt that you weren’t a moronic fucktard why would you get so upset and mad over it?

Ya know, I’m subscribing to this one. Interesting it is, yes.

The Canyons the rivers all the fossil fuel buried under tons of earth. It makes sense to me anyway that like the Bible says..There was water on the earth and water above the 1st heaven. Which would have been between earth and the atmosphere. There was not always this much water on the earth. Anyway, I believe with the pressure and the healthy environment that the water above would have created was why the animals and plants got so huge. Then when the flood came the Bible tells how the water came up from the earth and down from the heavens to completely cover the earth. Now if water burst forth out of the earth and that much water started receeding once the rains stopped, it would explain why the earth looks like it does now. All the mud that silted in over the animals and plant life is was what caused enough pressure on them to create our oil supply. Before the flood men and animals probably could have traveled longer distances with only seas in the way instead of oceans of water cutting them off. This is why we find fossils and such preserved all over the earth. This would also be why you don’t find any trees any older than we do today.
I really don’t understand how scientists could make a model to look like the earth would after a flood if they don’t know what it looked like before one. Creationist’s don’t really need to try to disprove science because science is continually trying to disprove creation. Scientist’s are the one’s that are hell bent on trying to disprove something it seems to me.
Christians do not look at lightning and say God did it. We know God made the world and the universe to work in this way. Scientist’s are just way behind at figuring out how smart God really is to get everything to work together like it does. The way God makes the seasons all work, it’s really quite amazing. I think scientists are very smart for the most part. They just can’t understand that God could have been smart enough to put it together like that. They have a long way to go to try and figure out what He built.

Rick tries again…

Your statements sound alot like double standard. You seem to assume alot about me also.

Not at all. All of my opinions so far are based on the comments you’ve left. It’s entirely possible I have an inaccurate impression of you, but given the evidence you’ve provided that’s not at all unreasonable.

I never meant to make it sound like I was refering to you alone. It was a statement. You are assuming that I am an idiot just because I believe something other than yourself.

No, I’m concluding you’re an idiot because you keep demonstrating that you are by engaging in the same tactics even after you’ve been told they are pointless and by the fact that you keep making statements about people that you couldn’t possibly have any knowledge of.

I am sorry if I offended you, that was not what i intended to do.

Did I say you offended me? No. I’m annoyed by your arrogance and bigotry, but I’m not offended by it. It takes a lot to offend me.

I was merely trying to state that I feel like that is why some people do not get anything out of reading the Bible.

That may be true for some people, but it is a mistake to assume is true for all people. Which is exactly what you’re doing. You assumed none of us have walked that path and you have no reason to make that assumption.

As far as having any proof whether the apostles were tortured or even existed. Yes I have proof. It’s in the Bible.

You still don’t get it. The Bible isn’t proof of anything other than some people wrote some stuff down and said “this really happened!” Using the Bible as proof with people who do not accept the Bible as true is pointless and stupid. Where’s the historical accounts from outside the Bible? A single source doesn’t suffice. It takes multiple sources to lend credibility. Most of the events described in the Bible do not show up in any other historical records despite the fact that many of the events would have been major news of the time period.

The proof I have that Jesus existed is the work He does in my life, the work I see him do in the world. I know you don’t understand what I am saying but that’s my proof. It’s why they call it faith.

We understand what you’re saying just fine. I even accept that you are sincere in your belief. That doesn’t make what you’re saying true. It just means you have a penchant for attributing stuff to an imaginary friend.

I do not mean to offend anyone, I just have my right to talk about God just as it’s your right to have your opinions. There’s really no reason for anyone to be called an idiot or stupid, jsut a difference in beliefs.

Unless they’re acting like a stupid idiot. Which, in my opinion, is what you’re doing. And I say that not because you believe in God, but because you fail to grasp the very basics of having a rational discussion with people who disagree with you.

really don’t see where I have been hipocritical about anything.

I never said you’ve been hypocritical. I said you were being an arrogant, ignorant, ass.

I’m just stating what I believe as you are about what you believe.

Indeed. I believe you’re an idiot based on what you’ve presented so far.

All the talk about how crazy or stupid we are does not constitute discussion either. There must be something there or it would not be such a debate for so long.

That’s faulty logic. I can debate all day about completely pointless and trivial things if the mood strikes me. If I sit around debating whether or not Invisible Pink Unicorns prefer to consume beer and brisket over wine and fish for days at a time, and I’ve had such debates just for the fuck of it, that doesn’t mean there MUST be Invisible Pink Unicorns out there. It’s possible to devote a lot of time and energy to things that don’t exist and your God is just one of many such things.

Allow me to offer an example: Surely you admit that people have believed in other Gods throughout history. We know, for example, that for quite a long time the Greeks had a number of Gods they believed in. You surely don’t believe any of those Gods actually existed. Yet the Greeks built massive temples and engaged in elaborate rituals and generally wasted a lot of time, money, and energy worshiping those Gods. By your logic they MUST have existed otherwise no one would have bothered to go through all that trouble.

By the way, who did come up with 2+2=4 anyway?

The first examples of basic arithmetic as a mathematical system come from central Africa between 18,000 and 20,000 B.C.. The first examples of a formal understanding of most arithmetic principles comes to us from the Babylonians circa 1900-1800 B.C..

It’s probably a misnomer to say that any one person “invented” 2+2=4 seeing as the expression is pretty much a self-evident result of the development of counting. If you take two somethings and combine it with two other somethings and then count up the number of somethings you have you’ll end up with four somethings.

Moving on to your next reply…

The Canyons the rivers all the fossil fuel buried under tons of earth. It makes sense to me anyway that like the Bible says..There was water on the earth and water above the 1st heaven. Which would have been between earth and the atmosphere. There was not always this much water on the earth. Anyway, I believe with the pressure and the healthy environment that the water above would have created was why the animals and plants got so huge. Then when the flood came the Bible tells how the water came up from the earth and down from the heavens to completely cover the earth. Now if water burst forth out of the earth and that much water started receeding once the rains stopped, it would explain why the earth looks like it does now. All the mud that silted in over the animals and plant life is was what caused enough pressure on them to create our oil supply. Before the flood men and animals probably could have traveled longer distances with only seas in the way instead of oceans of water cutting them off. This is why we find fossils and such preserved all over the earth. This would also be why you don’t find any trees any older than we do today.

I now suddenly realize which creationist you’ve been following. I like to tune in on Dr. Carl Baugh on occasion just for the sheer humor factor of his presentations. It’s some very funny stuff if you can get past the fact that there are people out there, like yourself, who buy into that nonsense.

I’d ask the obvious questions your theory poses, but I’m sure you’d just cut and paste the silly answers found on Answers in Genesis and other creationist websites as a reply.

I really don’t understand how scientists could make a model to look like the earth would after a flood if they don’t know what it looked like before one. Creationist’s don’t really need to try to disprove science because science is continually trying to disprove creation. Scientist’s are the one’s that are hell bent on trying to disprove something it seems to me.

Most scientists don’t give a rat’s ass about creation or trying to disprove it. That’s not how the scientific method works and you’ve just shown you have no understanding of the scientific method.

Christians do not look at lightning and say God did it. We know God made the world and the universe to work in this way. Scientist’s are just way behind at figuring out how smart God really is to get everything to work together like it does. The way God makes the seasons all work, it’s really quite amazing. I think scientists are very smart for the most part. They just can’t understand that God could have been smart enough to put it together like that. They have a long way to go to try and figure out what He built.

And here, just as I predicted, is a textbook example of how you just attribute natural phenomena to God. You look at the seasons and think God is amazing when there’s nothing to show that God had anything to do with it.

You have no real grasp of science, no real grasp of logic, no real rational discussion skills, and an astounding lack of understanding of probability.

They say ignorance is bliss. You must be near-orgasmic.

Guess I just can’t compete with those invisible pink unicorns. I thought maybe they liked that magical cool-aid.
You error when you all think you have made me mad, I don’t get mad at such bashing. It really is kinda fun!! I sorta get a kick out of listening to others squirm when God is talked about and they don’t know Him. Makes it hard for them to figure out what to say so they say stupid stuff like fucktard and invisible pink unicorns and the like. You know, that mature stuff that you all are starting to use.

Rick babbled the following…

Guess I just can’t compete with those invisible pink unicorns. I thought maybe they liked that magical cool-aid.

Nope, they’re definitely a beer and brisket bunch. I should know, I have one in my garage and that’s all he ever asks for.

You error when you all think you have made me mad, I don’t get mad at such bashing. It really is kinda fun!! I sorta get a kick out of listening to others squirm when God is talked about and they don’t know Him.

You’re delusional again. No one claimed we were making you mad and no one here is squirming. If anything we’re probably laughing at you or shaking our heads in wonder at how one person can contain so much stupid without exploding from the pressure.

Makes it hard for them to figure out what to say so they say stupid stuff like fucktard and invisible pink unicorns and the like. You know, that mature stuff that you all are starting to use.

Nothing we’ve said is any stupider than the crap you’ve been trying to tell us is true. The idea of an Invisible Pink Unicorn is no more absurd than the idea of an Magical Old Man in the sky who hands out wishes to those who believe in him and sends the rest to an eternal torment.

There’s nothing mature about your beliefs. They are childish fantasies borne out of ignorance for no other reason than they provide succor for those who can’t cope with reality.

Rick- you sound like you might be a nice guy, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, and try to explain our position without calling names.  I’ll just rehash what has already been said here, but hopefully in a clear and concise way.

About the name calling: most people here, like anywhere else, are quite willing to be polite if they’re treated politely.  But what you may see as a sincere effort on your part to bring the Truth to us, we tend to see as just another drive-by evangalizing.

If you look through the archives, you will see that you’re not the first Christian to show up here with the Good News.  And when the Good News, time and again, consists of, basically, “the Bible is the Word of God because it’s true, and it’s true because it’s the Word of God”, and “whatever God does is good, because God is good”, then no rational reply is possible.  And after a while, people get tired of wasting their time, and they get pissed after the umpteenth time they hear the same thing.

You may not see it this way, but we regard what you are doing as arrogant.  Why?  Because:

1) You show up here and start making implicit assumptions about what we know and don’t know, and what we have experienced or not experienced, without asking us first, or checking out the archives.

2) You make pronouncements about subjects such as evolution without having done even a modicum of homework about them.  Only someone whose knowledge of evolution comes entirely from fundie evolution-deniers could ask: “if we evolved from apes, why are there still apes?” We, on the other hand, have done our homework:  most of us here have read the Bible pretty thoroughly, many of us have been Christians, and some of us are Christians still.  An equally clueless question about the Bible, as yours about evolution was, would be something like “if Santa Claus is Jesus’ father, why doesn’t Jesus come down chimneys too?” Until you do some research, all we can say to you is “no, evolution does not work that way”.

3) You impugn our motives for dismissing your arguments, by claiming that we’re “squirming”.  In addition to what Les said about this, I’ll add another reason we bother to discuss God with believers:  whether we want Him or not, He is shoved in our faces all the time (less here in Austria than in America) and plays a not inconsiderable role in the problems people have in getting along together.  Sure, there are economic reasons for distrust and hatred, but religion all too often makes them toxic.  Of course, there are religious people working for peace and harmony too.  But many conflicts are incited, and exacerbated, by religion.  I suspect we wouldn’t be immerded in Iraq right now if it weren’t for the support of the Bush Administration by the Religious Right.

So there you have it.  Rational, non-circular arguments are welcome.  Flinging Scripture at us, or simply asserting that the Bible is true, is not.  You can decide if you want to engage us on those terms or not.

Rick said:

As far as having any proof whether the apostles were tortured or even existed. Yes I have proof. It’s in the Bible. Do you have any proof I am wrong?

Did you even bother to read what I wrote at all? How about the fact that your precious bible is only a third (1/3) of everything that was written down in the centuries after the alledged birth and execution of your messiah. How about the fact that the other two thirds (2/3) are very inconsistent? If you’re using the bible as proof, how about showing us why it’s actually admissible as such? We don’t know who wrote it, we don’t even know when it was written down (at least no more accurately than “about 50 to 100 years after Jesus died"), and we have no idea of the intention/motives of the writers, so it’s very likely half the stuff is made up.

Just because you think it’s written by god, and just because the book itself says the same, doesn’t mean it is.

I think the bible would do well with the classic movie disclaimer:

Any similarity to real people or events is purely coincidental

Ii know you’re unable to grasp this concept, but try to imagine someone using Arthur Conan Doyle’s writings to prove that Sherlock Holmes really existed. The mind boggles at the idea. Yet this is exactly what you are doing. The fact that we don’t really know who the people are that wrote the bible doesn’t make it any more reliable. It actually makes it less reliable as a historical source.

Also, zilch, that doesn’t really look like an Austrian flag

exarch- I know, I know.  Even though there are some right-wing politicians who would like it to be…

Article in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune - apparently, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ own reviewers gave the movie great praise:
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/12204851.html
I guess it’s causing a bit of controversy.

Sweet, the day is finally here!  I speak of course of Pearl Harbor Day, but I will be seeing The Golden Compass today so it’s no longer just a day of national remembrance.

I merely showed up on this site because it had a link to the Golden Compass movie. I stated my opinion and started getting responses from other people. I did not even come to this site to discuss whether God was real or not. I know I have said all I need to. Like I said before, my intentions were never to sound arrogant or anything of the nature. It is like anything else, the more you say the more things start getting out of hand by both parties involved.
I answered questions or tried to anyway with my opinion. You all ask questions with your opinions in the way that you wanted. Plain and simple, 2 different views get 2 different responses.
Have a great day and best wishes!

I merely showed up on this site because it had a link to the Golden Compass movie.

Since that the first time the word “Golden” appears in any of your posts at this site, I doubt you came here to discuss that. Given that you’ve already shown that you’re a human sacrifice advocating, genocide approving liar with absolutely no set of functioning ethics, it doesn’t seem surprising that you’re shaving the truth now.

I stated my opinion and started getting responses from other people. I did not even come to this site to discuss whether God was real or not.

Discussing the existence of your imaginary sky-monster is exactly what you were doing. And did someone give you the impression that we were interested in your opinion?

Like I said before, my intentions were never to sound arrogant or anything of the nature. It is like anything else, the more you say the more things start getting out of hand by both parties involved.
I answered questions or tried to anyway with my opinion.

Actually you did not give your opinion. You just kept reading from the standard True Believer™ script. And you did sound arrogant.