Have you read G.A. Wells’ The Jesus Myth?

Interesting that the little shit only allows opinions that are in line with his own beliefs.  No true discussion.  I suppose he’s like most of the exgay assholes.  Likes to start a fire but hates to deal with the consequences.

Can someone really be ex-gay?  I don’t even knows what they would entail.  Would an ex-gay guy be a gay guy who discovered how fun sexual congress with women is?  Would that guy really have been gay though, or just bi and ignorant of their own orientation?  Maybe I should look at the guy’s site and see what he says about it….  Then again, I don’t really care that much….

Nope, I haven’t read The Jesus Myth yet. It’s another on my long-list of books to look into.

Anyone interested in a good skeptical site on Jesus should check out…

New Testament Studies, Professor Wells…

Crappy designed site with interesting info.

I might be a bit of an odd duck among atheists because I’ve NEVER read the bible outside of a couple of reading assignments in college.

So I guess I am somewhat ignorant about the specifics of christianity.  But what I do know about it doesn’t pass the smell test.

Cool, I can quote myself here.
My response…

I couldn’t disagree more with your statement. I’ve been reading SEB for a while now and I find that most of the regulars are well versed in your particular brand of self-delusion; Christianity.

These Atheists have read your Bible in depth and have studied the nomadic origins of this belief system. Those who know the evolution of the xtian mythos can hardly succumb to its trap.

Ironically, your ending question “Why is this always so misconstrued?“ should be turned back on you. Why do you assume that Atheists know nothing of your belief system. Every Athiest I know has been raised in a home of one belief system or another and after years of study and honest contemplation have decided that no system yet presented has withstood their own personal test of honest intellectual validation.

You, like most believers, just don’t seem to understand that an Athiest can not be pidgeon-holed into any one category other than that they “have NO belief system”, period. Athiests can be of any nationality, “race”, indoctrinated into any religion, or have any sexual preference. Some (a minority) do positively affirm that there are no gods at all. Most simply live a life free of superstition and the supernatural and have no beliefs at all.

I do not believe in your god for the same exact reason that I do not believe in Zeus. I’ve studied both fables, I know their origin and both easily rejected. If I HAD to pick one tho, I think I’d go for the more loving and caring god of the civilized people of our first democracy, Zeus, over that psychotic jealous god of the desert nomads that you bow down to.

-Spocko

“Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on a man. The Christian god is a three headed monster, cruel, vengeful, and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites.�?

- Thomas Jefferson

 

What Spocko said.

I studied Christianity (and quite a few other faiths, too) so that I could understand what made them ‘tick’. And I studied Christian history and religion as a means to defend myself when I was attacked for being a Pagan back in my youth.

The result is that I know more about Christianity than most Christians, and what I learned about the faith convinced me that it was not my cuppa.

Doesn’t stop ‘em from trying to convert me, though…they just don’t understand ‘no, thank you’.

Sunfell

I’m really a duck out of water when it comes to discussions about religion.

I consider myself fortunate to have been raised from birth as an atheist and having never followed any religion myself, often have trouble understanding those who do.

That said, I have gotten around to reading pretty much the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments. A feat which has raised more questions than it has presented answers. While some parts of it are genuinely interesting, uplifting and even cool, for the most part it is the least inspiring work of fiction/philosophy I have ever read.

It’s all about endorphins. Everything.

And where penises belong, and don’t belong.

Can location information be derived from a trackback?

I have a growing suspicion that Ben is a front, perhaps for a social studies or theology class, at Taylor University, a private, fundamentalist Christian college in Indiana.

Ben, the ex-gay blogger claiming to be turning away from homosexuality and toward God may not be gay (or real) at all. A WHOIS database search lists “Ben’s” blog, scatteredwords.com, as registered to an address at 236 West Reade Avenue, Upland, IN 46989-1001. That’s the mailing address of Taylor University, a private, fundamentalist Christian college in the midwest. The writer (or writers) of Scattered Words claims to be from Washington, DC.

http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/103032/index.php

He never comments on other blogs and I suspect this is because he doesn’t want to leave an IP address.

Then again, conspiracy theorist that I am, I would just love to know for sure.

If he really is a 22 year old Christian who doesn’t want to be gay anymore, I wish him luck. I simply wish he could do it privately with less controversy. Gay homophobes are tortured personalities but they make their own beds and deserve to sleep alone in them.

The IP block of the server proper is assigned to HopOne Internet Corp.(R), with contact phone numbers in the 202 area code. Perhaps Ben is from DC, but currently attending Taylor? Whatever.

Trackbacks do transmit an IP address when they are sent. Ben’s trackback a couple of days ago was: 66.36.229.134. Which, as Elwed says, points back to HopOne in DC. It’s also consistent with every other trackback he’s ever sent.

Not that that means a damned thing, though, as I don’t live anywhere near where SEB is hosted.

Yeah, proxies and all of that make trackback ips almost worthless when it comes to detecting the origins of a user. Maybe this Ben is nothing more than some annoying student someplace with nothing better to do than trying to pick a fight with atheists. Although from what I’ve read he’s doing himself a disfavour by entering intellectual combat unarmed