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Hobbes
New Member
USA
34 Posts |
 Posted - 07/02/2002 : 03:18:19
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I recently received an e-mail from a friend who is desperately trying to save my "wayward" soul from the fires of hell because I don't believe in god anymore. She informed me that some orginazation (I don't know who) is putting up billboards with messages from god on them. Unfortunately, I deleted the e-mail, so I can't quote any of the messages she told me about, but they were predictably trite, overused, and half-witty. A few examples:
"Don't make me come down there"
"My way is the highway"
"Be good or I'll make rush hour longer"
and the one that pisses me off the most,
"Knock off that big-bang stuff"
Obviously, god created us with free will and curiousity just so we could subordinate that will and curiousity to his commands, especially with such a clear and uncontridictory source as the bible. (see the Webster dictionary's definition of sarcasm if you're having trouble with the last sentence.
Anyway, feel free to respond with comments and questions, and if anyone knows who exactly is coughing up the money for these ill-conceived holy advertisements ('cause that's what they are), then please let me know.
Why the f--k didn't you tell us there was someone in the bathroom? Slip your mind? Did you forget there was someone in there with a god damned hand cannon? -Vince, Pulp Fiction
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
 Posted - 07/02/2002 : 03:46:43 [Permalink]
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There is an article by Massimo Pigliucci on this web site about those billboards. It is from last June, so I guess it is not a recent problem.
I personally think that they should rethink those advertisements, as barely concealaed threats by a selfconfessed massmurderer are not the best way to get new customers.
The whole idea is about one step up from a highwayman telling an unsuspecting traveler that it his money or his live. Of course the churches and sects don't just want your money they also want your unquestioning obedience. And their weapon (God) by closer inspection turns out to be a bluff.
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Hobbes
New Member
USA
34 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2002 : 04:20:32 [Permalink]
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I read that article, and the link the "the wedge theory" article that he wrote at the bottom and was impressed. I'm going to have to start reading him regularly. I don't understand why religion has to have such a stranglehold on science for these people. My father is a very tolerant Methodist, and a retired aerodynamics and astrodynamics engineer, and for him, religion and science exist in two seperate categories. There was a great quote in on of the article linked by another thread (the origniator has escaped me for the moment), "science and religion are seperated by faith, and it detracts from the glory of both to demand that they be combined." These billboards are signs of people trying to force religion as a scientific theory, when religion is necessarily divorced from science.
And Newton said, "y'= lim h->0 of [f(x+h)-f(x)]/[(x+h)-x], thus, Calculus was born, and Newton saw that it was good. |
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Rev. Tarthpeigust
New Member
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2002 : 09:28:10 [Permalink]
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There are plenty of religious billboards in Mississippi already, such as "Got Jesus" and "Read the Book. There will be a test."
There's a sign when you enter a town close to mine that reads, "Jesus Is Lord over Vardaman" Maybe that's why they grow so many sweet potatoes. Jesus gives them a little extra help for telling the heathens they're not welcome there.
"I believe that the extraordinary should be pursued.
But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
--Carl Sagan |
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2002 : 09:56:15 [Permalink]
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Damn! That reminds me! I need to fill up my current role of film to get it developed in hopes that a CLASSIC billboard that we pass on the way back from Atlanta turned out ok.
I can't wait to show you guys! 
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fortiter in re, suaviter in modo |
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The Rat
SFN Regular
Canada
1370 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2002 : 18:13:41 [Permalink]
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quote:
Obviously, god created us with free will and curiousity just so we could subordinate that will and curiousity to his commands, especially with such a clear and uncontridictory source as the bible.
Oh yeah, but you know why we have free will, right?! It's so that we can decide for ourselves whether we want to spend eternity on a cloud strummin' a harp, or whether we would rather spend it burning in a sulphurous lake forever.
Jeez man, this is sooooooo easy. It's all cuz god luvs ya, doncha know?!
Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.
Edited by - The Rat on 07/02/2002 18:14:27 |
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Hobbes
New Member
USA
34 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2002 : 21:36:09 [Permalink]
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Well, I imagine that if god is as good and compassionate as religious folks make him out to be, then I hope he wouldn't consign someone to an eternity of suffering and pain because they had some very convincing rational reasons for not believing he exists. If I'm going to wind up in hell because I wouldn't take the existance of an all-powerful diety on FAITH, then so be it; I'd rather burn than give up my skeptical nature.
And Newton said, "y'= lim h->0 of [f(x+h)-f(x)]/[(x+h)-x], thus, Calculus was born, and Newton saw that it was good. |
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The Rat
SFN Regular
Canada
1370 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2002 : 05:34:25 [Permalink]
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quote:
A few examples:
"Don't make me come down there"
"My way is the highway"
"Be good or I'll make rush hour longer"
and the one that pisses me off the most,
"Knock off that big-bang stuff"
We've got some similar stuff up here. A church that I pass often had one that read, in obvious reference to Sunday afternoon football; "Let's get together at my place before the game. - God"
Well, if there's a good tailgate party, some chili, and I can get roaring drunk and fart throughout your service, maybe I will!
Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom. |
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Slater
SFN Regular
USA
1668 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2002 : 09:49:02 [Permalink]
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quote:
Obviously, god created us with free will and curiousity just so we could subordinate that will ...
Gee Hobbes, it's time to go back to Genesis to point out a little known fact to the next Xian who says this to you.
God doesn't give man "free will" in the bible. In fact he expressly forbids it. He tells man that he will die the very day he gets free will.
It's snake who gives free will to man and says that god is lying about dying that very day. The dude goes on to live almost a thousand years so the snake is the one being honest in this fable.
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My business is to teach my aspirations to conform themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonize with my aspirations. ---Thomas Henry Huxley, 1860 |
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Sixdays
New Member
20 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2002 : 09:37:18 [Permalink]
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ROM 14:11 It is written: "' As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'"..........Even the skeptics.
Six days |
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2002 : 09:50:06 [Permalink]
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quote:
ROM 14:11 It is written: "' As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'"..........Even the skeptics.
Six days
I can't argue with this logic. In this case the Bible states something true.
It is as sure as God existence that everyone will bow before him. I. e. not!
What exactly is your point?
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Xev
Skeptic Friend
USA
329 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2002 : 11:10:50 [Permalink]
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quote:
ROM 14:11 It is written: "' As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'"..........Even the skeptics.
Wow, Jenna Jamison is God.
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Every problem has a solution. Only sometimes the solutions involve imaginary numbers and make my head hurt. |
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Slater
SFN Regular
USA
1668 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2002 : 11:21:21 [Permalink]
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quote:
ROM 14:11 It is written...
It is written? What is this supposed to be, "The Arabian Nights?"
Back when the Roman Empire could put people to death for not being Xians you could get away with that crap.
But this is the United States --a democracy--there are no "lords" here and we don't kneel to anybody.
Time to stop acting like you were a slave Six and get up on your own two feet.
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My business is to teach my aspirations to conform themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonize with my aspirations. ---Thomas Henry Huxley, 1860 |
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Xev
Skeptic Friend
USA
329 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2002 : 13:22:25 [Permalink]
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quote:
But this is the United States --a democracy--there are no "lords" here and we don't kneel to anybody.
Unless we're interning for Clinton. *Then* we drop to our knees. :)
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Every problem has a solution. Only sometimes the solutions involve imaginary numbers and make my head hurt. |
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Physiofly
Skeptic Friend
USA
90 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2002 : 19:21:47 [Permalink]
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quote:
ROM 14:11 It is written: "' As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'"..........Even the skeptics.
Why is it you think that you can argue a point by simply quoting from a book of Middle Eastern mythology?
"Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a
deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions." - Niccolo Machiavelli
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Bradley
Skeptic Friend
USA
147 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2002 : 22:31:00 [Permalink]
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quote:
ROM 14:11 It is written: "' As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'"..........Even the skeptics.
Six days
The kindest reply I can make to this abyssmally naive comment is that there is no deity powerful enough to make ME get religion. If you're going to convert this Atheist, you're going to come up with something better than that one. I've horse-laughed holy rollers for less ridiculous babble.
"Too much doubt is better than too much credulity."
-Robert Green Ingersoll (1833 - 1899) |
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