tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post8865636809206924136..comments2023-09-29T05:32:04.308-07:00Comments on StrangePegs: Why There Is No Hope For Your "Christian" FriendsAndrew Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-9821342677999949362017-02-16T20:56:37.313-08:002017-02-16T20:56:37.313-08:00Rusty: Only 75%? That's not too bad, then.
I d...Rusty: Only 75%? That's not too bad, then.<br />I don't think I would survive, right now, if I still lived in the South.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-40925816666752447792017-02-16T04:26:31.711-08:002017-02-16T04:26:31.711-08:00Great post. I'm knee deep in a world where abo...Great post. I'm knee deep in a world where about 75% of the people I know think like the people you describe in your post. It can be... frustrating. Rusty Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09887821877521181811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-1527854570475897442017-02-14T15:52:13.748-08:002017-02-14T15:52:13.748-08:00Nancy: You could call it a test, but I don't t...Nancy: You could call it a test, but I don't think it's one sent from God. I don't think God needs to test us in that way. He doesn't need to bother.<br />But, yeah, there is a burden of responsibility, and they are all going to try to get away from bearing it by saying they never liked Trump and felt forced into that decision.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-57599273314507162902017-02-13T20:36:32.905-08:002017-02-13T20:36:32.905-08:00I will continue to believe the election was a test...I will continue to believe the election was a test. You were either on the side of humanity, decency, and compassion, or you weren't. No one can legitimately call themselves a Christian if they voted for Trump. (See the Beatitudes.) We all knew exactly who he was and what he'd do if he got into office. Now that he is, every life lost, every indignity, every crime his administration commits is on those who voted for him. Redemption isn't very likely. Nancy Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05735642863696266005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-79443419989872457762017-02-11T22:59:03.998-08:002017-02-11T22:59:03.998-08:00Which is why I have a stack of them in the closet....Which is why I have a stack of them in the closet. :PAndrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-59433735135426997302017-02-11T22:58:25.389-08:002017-02-11T22:58:25.389-08:00Janie: The great thing about that is that the word...Janie: The great thing about that is that the word there that we translate to mean "day" is more accurately translated to mean "the time it took to take a journey." It wasn't a set time at all. But culturally we're all still locked into the King James version of the Bible even though parts of that translation are incorrect.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-54634385233790602002017-02-11T22:57:05.128-08:002017-02-11T22:57:05.128-08:00I've read some David Brin! Pretty good stuff.I've read some David Brin! Pretty good stuff.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16208411347934458436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-70991535031881245952017-02-11T22:55:36.361-08:002017-02-11T22:55:36.361-08:00D.G.: No, I don't follow Brin, but I do have a...D.G.: No, I don't follow Brin, but I do have a stack of his books in my closet that I haven't gotten to yet.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-4636837062610002112017-02-11T22:54:15.751-08:002017-02-11T22:54:15.751-08:00Symbology: I paraphrase that one a lot.Symbology: I paraphrase that one a lot.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-28131673361777521312017-02-11T22:52:33.568-08:002017-02-11T22:52:33.568-08:00Jeanne: Yeah, there's a whole "museum&quo...Jeanne: Yeah, there's a whole "museum" to it.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-84798185672434691812017-02-11T22:51:35.019-08:002017-02-11T22:51:35.019-08:00Briane: Dogma is the hallmark of conservative thin...Briane: Dogma is the hallmark of conservative thinkers. You can't argue people out of that no matter what kind of facts you have.<br /><br />What I believe about God is that He is beyond comprehension, so, whenever anyone starts talking about understanding God or knowing what God meant by something or saying they have it all figured out, I know that person is full of shit. I'll use the pro-life people as an example, because that's an example of extrapolating the mind of God from something that's not in the Bible. A Bible that says that it's okay, even good, to take your kids out and stone them to DEATH if they are inordinately disobedient. If you try to talk to one of them about it, they will generally say one of two things:<br />1. "But that's different..."<br />2. "That's not what God really meant."<br />So, see, they are claiming to have some inherent understanding of the intent of the will of God.<br />Bullshit.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-68031028822036472492017-02-11T22:34:16.258-08:002017-02-11T22:34:16.258-08:00Lexa: Here's an interesting thing about empath...Lexa: Here's an interesting thing about empathy:<br />Empathy is a sign of intelligence, in that less intelligent people have a very difficult time with the thought processes (imagination, really) involved in being empathetic.<br /><br />Coincidentally (not), Conservatives tend to be less intelligent than liberals. They have very rigid thought processes and lack (guess what!) imagination.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-51260351906924988412017-02-11T12:06:38.607-08:002017-02-11T12:06:38.607-08:00I'm a Christian. When other Christians tell me...I'm a Christian. When other Christians tell me that scientific evidence can't be true, I remind them that we don't know how God defined a "day" when He created the Earth and we don't know everything that happened during a day. A day could have been a million years. Of course, they look at me as if I'm crazy.<br /><br />Love,<br />JanieJanie Junebughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10573607241326291404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-53039909627016333522017-02-10T23:29:05.070-08:002017-02-10T23:29:05.070-08:00Thanks, Symbology, for that Asimov quote. How true...Thanks, Symbology, for that Asimov quote. How true. I believe in science, and Darwin's evolution theories. (Andrew, Have you read any of David Brin's posts on his blog Contrary Brin? He's a physicist, advises NASA and has written many scifi novels.)D.G. Hudsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213237734772028645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-85536471059766448072017-02-10T22:51:30.598-08:002017-02-10T22:51:30.598-08:00There is a cult of ignorance in the United States,...There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been.<br />The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life,<br />nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'<br /> ― Isaac Asimov<br />Symbologyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16602452302393058810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-72551583483206882032017-02-10T12:46:17.816-08:002017-02-10T12:46:17.816-08:00I really hate anything that requires belief in spi...I really hate anything that requires belief in spite of evidence to the contrary. And the thing that gets me is that medieval biblical scholars like Thomas Aquinas thought that the history of the bible shouldn't be taken literally...but these days there are people who think it's stupid to believe the Earth is more than six thousand years old. Like it's so impossible to believe that god might be more complex than people can hope to fathom.J E Oneilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-21349473940420326742017-02-10T10:45:10.590-08:002017-02-10T10:45:10.590-08:00I've often wondered about the kind of God I be...I've often wondered about the kind of God I believe in. Or was raised to believe in, as my beliefs shift and over the past few years, especially, I've questioned a lot of things I once took on faith, literally.<br /><br />People see God as a sort of genie: tricking us, demanding blind obeisance, demanding perfect moral rectitude. They they come up with human-invented solutions to get around these rules. One of the more ridiculous, not to mention awful, ones I heard was a craze (an actual craze) in which people who wanted to commit suicide would kill a CHILD, and then before they were executed for the crime, would confess and be forgiven. They would then get into Heaven, whereas suicides wouldn't because you couldn't be forgiven the mortal sin of suicide before you died. They'd kill KIDS because that way the kid, still innocent and young, would go to Heaven, too. PERFECT SYSTEM.<br /><br />If that truly WAS God, then I'd just as soon not believe in him. Any god that would allow such a system to work is not a god I want to follow. <br /><br />I often say that if your god wants you to treat people cruelly, if your god is okay with torturing a gay person to death or kicking your teenage daughter out of the house for getting pregnant, that's not the kind of god I want to follow. If that god IS in charge, I'm screwed either way. So why bother following those rules?<br /><br />In reality it seems like people use the rules of religion to justify their own beliefs, rather than to inform their beliefs. If you want to disbelieve science, then treating the bible literally is the way to go. Then you have to come up with a reason for the things science says are real, so you say God is testing you. That's my favorite one: God is testing you. <br /><br />So I agree: you can't argue with them. Not because they're Christian, per se, but because they won't let anything shake their beliefs, and will simply think around your comments or arguments.<br /><br />It's sad. But, then, there are a lot of people who aren't Christian that do the same thing.Brianehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-77784208696150730302017-02-10T08:19:12.117-08:002017-02-10T08:19:12.117-08:00There's no way to win an argument with people ...There's no way to win an argument with people who don't accept facts and science and rely on unproven faith to form opinions. But most of my Christian friends aren't rabid about religion. The thing that ticks me off the most is that the GOP consider themselves morally righteous vs the liberals, but have come to act against the spirit of Jesus's teachings. Zero empathy and sympathy for others, and only selfishness, greed, and intolerance.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07735576044552810103noreply@blogger.com