Do you ever visit christian forums?
Offline So I was browsing atheist forums yesterday as bored people do, and ended up finding myself on www.teenchristianforums.com . In amongst the usual stupid and amusing xtian comments, I find this thread, http://www.christianteenforums.com/index.php?showtopic=34132 ,do you visit atheist forums? This thread contained gems of xtian wisdom like:
Granted, i know very nice atheists who are reasonable. But the "militant" atheists as they are so called these days are just rebellious people with bitterness in their hearts.
It's true.I'm just so damn bitter at Thor..
and my favorite
I joined an atheist forum, but I hardly ever go on. I get very discouraged seeing so many people bash my God, and it's just depressing to me. Don't get me wrong, I don't in any way think all atheists sit around and bash God all day, but I think that particular forum had a lot of satanists.
Told you we're satanists!
Now I'm not sure if I'd got to a xtain forum. Here's some reasons..
- I want to help them and teach about atheism.But there's alot of them on their site,and one of me. It won't take long to get buried under piles of 'jesus loves you' and 'you just have to have faith' posts.
- This particular forum(and others no doubt)seems to make it clear atheists aren't all that welcome.Note in the "god and bible" section, 5 of the 8 rooms are xtian only. Doesn't seem too welcoming.
- They welcome other faiths some other jesus site rules wrote:but,
People of other religions, belief systems, and worldviews are allowed;
some other jesus site rules wrote:you can't be mean to their god.Can't he (or they) look after himself? I'm sure they wouldn't think much of bashing other gods,or proselytizing to people like us., proselytizing, bashing (the Christian) God, bashing Christians, or attacking Christianity (or any of the aspects thereof) is prohibited.
- I'd laugh too much
I don't mean to pick on this site in particular,but in general do you find xtian forums as open and willing to debate as (most I've seen)atheist sites,and would you regularly visit one?
Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible
This is getting redudnant. My patience with the unteachable[atheists] is limited.
Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.
- Login to post comments
Seeing as i have yet to invent a device that allows me to strangle other people, from across the internet... and neither has any one else (to the best of my knowledge)... i see no reason to visit any theist website
^_^
What Would Kharn Do?
I wanted to try my hand at responding to a few theists that posted here, but they were usually demolished so quickly and so thoroughly by other people that I usually don't have much to add. Deludedgod is an absolute machine in this regard.
So I went to google to see if there was anywhere else open to debate and found a catholic forum. I jumped in a thread that was already going, started by somebody who was in pretty much the same position as me, but usually posts on the Richard Dawkins forums:
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=198820
It reached the 1000 post limit for a thread, and was then continued:
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=204516
That reached the 1000 post limit and was continued:
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=211200
That one slipped through their nets and I think hit 2000 posts before being shut down, and continued:
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=219892
This last thread is reasonably new still, but most of the theists have pretty much given up. I think the technical term is 'they were getting pwned'
FUCK NO!
I joined the challenge blasphemy forums when they first started their site. Mr. Rage was on there as well. We were doing a decent job of educating them on evolution and atheism when they made the executive decision to ban all non-christians from their boards so that they could "grow closer to god" whatever that means.
I also joined a christian chat room once. I left when I started reading things like "If we came from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?"
"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
I did once, essentially just to troll and TRY to make them think about what it was that they were spouting off ( I was 16, c'mon..)
I met a very wonderful lady that was also trolling said forums and are now married to her. So I suppose it can't be all too bad.
"If we all came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys? Like duh...those silly atheists! It makes more sense that a magical, invisible being that we have no evidence of is controlling our existence. hahaha"
Wow....no words.
*Our world is far more complex than the rigid structure we want to assign to it, and we will probably never fully understand it.*
"Those believers who are sophisticated enough to understand the paradox have found exciting ways to bend logic into pretzel shapes in order to defend the indefensible." - Hamby
fuck those choads.
I can't say that I would ever have the inclination to visit a theist forum. I think just the mere fact that I'm an atheist would be considered trolling in their eyes, and I definitely don't want to be an atheist version of a troll. However, if I was invited to such a forum to have a reasonable conversation about their faith and my atheism, I would be amenable to such a request. Not that I think that will happen any time soon.
I try to post regularly at christianforums.com, and make sure to post my blog entries there for discussion.
I also do a lot of reading there. For me it is good for a couple reasons:
I also don't see the purpose is proposing questions or ideas about religion to a strictly atheist choir. This type of preaching is unproductive despite the fact that it can and is often used as a method for people to gain publicity or recognition. The only 'believers' that are going to ever see it are ones that are already quite set in their ways. My intent is to go there and sew the seeds of thought and inquisitiveness that hopefully leads people to more questions and research. getting those questions to the people that need to question them, and in a way that doesn't make them defensive, to me seems the most valuable thing I can do.
That said, using the name I am using here I have been banned from many sites prior to my first post including catholicforums.
This is what irks me. These people claim so readily to have the truth,but they never want to explain why or defend it. A got into a bit of a debate with a xtian friend, an she said,"I don't have to defend god to people like you." No? If you're going to make outrageous claims then be prepared to answer for it. I think most christians apologetics skills consist of Pascal's Wager or less.
I'm going to go check out that forum..I'm also try to learn how to make a proper response,as well as arguments and counter-arguments.
Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible
Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.
Well, the intention for me is very different. My intent is not to argue or counter-argue. If my intention is to argue, then I support their ban as that would qualify me as a troll.
I try to respect the audience and the reason why people go to a forum which is why I try to present questions for people to talk about and think over, but I don't get into scientific or historical arguments since there are so many people already doing that, it generally causes people to be defensive. Once people are defensive they will be totally unreceptive to opening their minds to conflicts or oddities in their own belief system.
I also think there is a lot I have to learn from reading on those forums. There is a lot to be understood about why people hold on to their beliefs, and the many differing views on beliefs people have.
If you do get onto these types of forums and you want to be effective, productive, and not get banned I would say that the best advise I can possibly give is just to be very concious about your own trolliness.
I didn't really mean I go looking for arguments.However,if someone brings one up I want to know I am able to adequately defend my position. I agree that instantly attacking people on a forum would be troll behavior,but I don't think starting a intelligent debate would.
Your right that respect is important,even if it can be hard at times. A defensive,closed mind is a waste of effort. I guess it's important to show we aren't arrogant 'know it alls.'
Thanks for the advice.I hope I didn't seem obnoxious.Just trying to learn and always willing to do so
Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible
Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.
That's a bit shocking that they banned you due to your non-swearing username. I've managed to stick around for those long threads, so I hope I haven't been getting too trollish. Though I did post while drunk once or twice, so I may have been getting out of line, I'm not sure lol
It has been a great learning experience from my perspective. I can confirm that many of them DO cling to pascal's wager and god of the gaps. The most interesting and productive for me was the discussion on biblical prophecy. I was also happily surprised to find that a book by Carl Sagan "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" about human evolution has been the source I've referenced most in regards to many facets of their arguments.
The latest thread hasn't got much going for it at the moment, as far as I can see they are basically not bringing anything else to the table, they're just saying "you have faith too"
Yeah, I was surprised that my name alone would get me banned. But that was just on catholicforums as well as some other smaller ones. I guess they just want to reinforce their own faith and not be questioned *shrug*
I'm surprised to hear that about catholicforums. They seem to tolerate a lot of variability there. I used to post regularly--when I was still trying to be a Catholic.
How about Kos's Street Prophets?
www.streetprophets.com/
I have posted a lot at dailykos.com. I am ambivalent about this affiliated site though. It requires a separate registration from the dailykos and I just haven't bothered.
Too bad stupidity isn't poisonous.
I joined christianforums.com 2 days ago. I did this for a few reasons:
-To validate my non-belief by reading posts that are purely idiotic ex: A member of the forum said that because a marine threw a dog off a cliff, he obviously hadn't found jesus.
-To reach out to help show that atheists aren't all satan worshipping, blood-drinking baby eaters by engaging in threads in a non-threatening neutral way.
Slowly building a blog at ~
http://obsidianwords.wordpress.com/
Recently tried my hand at it on a social networking site. Had to be the most retarded 3 women ever in my 5 years of using forums. Arguements made no sense,and they always used personal attacks when i defeated their positions. Hopefully if i went to a more "reasonable" theist forum,i could get people that actually respect history and that don't act like children.
I sometimes go to theologyonline.com I can't stand being there for more than 5 minutes. It's like drowning in stupidity. The people there are SOOOOOOO fucked up and they give you infractions if you say a word they don't approve of. I got one just for saying "damn".
This is why I stay away. I get too....annoyed.
"What are your thoughts about how to discourage teens from masturbating, if it all? I found a site and it makes the case that it's bad."
"Some thoughts from MY perspective....
1. The Catholic Church regards this as a sin. Not being Catholic, that doesn't apply to me, but it does to you and your teen. The REASONS for that should be discussed. SOME teens are submissive enough to authority to obey simply on the basis of authority (parents, church, etc.). But most need to incorporate and firmly embrace the morality or it has little impact. They'll need to know WHY it's wrong or bad or whatever.
2. All the studies I've read suggest that 95% of teen guys and around 65% of teen girls do this with some regularity. In homes where such is considered "bad," it's secretative and the teen lies about it. In homes where it's not so considered, he/she is far more willing to discuss it. SOME consider the secretive (and thus unaccountable) aspect and the lying and guilt are bigger issues than the practice itself. Others passionately disagree."
"I know many disagree, but come on, would you have felt ok discussing masturbation with your parents??? If it's really something you feel strongly about, why not encourage a youth pastor/priest to have a conversation with him? He'll be far more honest with him, as long as you don't expect to find out from the youth pastor what your son said in the conversation."
"I've steered clear of talking about masturbation with my son, because, as it was said before, it doesn't specifically talk about it in the bible. However, we have talked about delaying dating until he's sixteen because of all the heartache and difficult emotions. Plus at the youth group he goes to they encourage the teenagers to pledge to the silver ring thing - pledging to save sex until they are married."
"I ignore it. Really.. I just don't think a teen needs their parent in their minds this much,sorry!"
"I have talked about this with my son, but he's just at the beginning stages of this being a possibility (not probability). Guilt as a deterrent is DEFINITELY the wrong way to go. I'm still trying to figure-out exactly what to say when the time is right, but I know that God will give me the correct words.
I, for one, am not going to abdicate my role as father/teacher and allow his school friends (or worse, some sex-ed class) to help my son decide the morality of something this personal.
I don't think this is too personal for a parent/child discussion, just so long as the parent is fully prepared to be honest when the child starts asking personal questions. ("Did you do that, Dad?"
Masturbation and guilt go hand-in-hand... no getting around that. But, if I can help him feel less guilty and help him keep his relationship with Christ strong, then I think I'll be doing a good job."
"One should also not shy away from the dark side of masturbation. The typical associated lust has been mentioned a couple of times. Lustful thoughts are sinful and your teen needs to know that. Masturbation can also be addictive and very frequent masturbation, especially in girls, can cause physical damage. Masturbation can affect later marital sexual relations both in terms of desire and in terms of sexual enjoyment. There are documented cases of both men and women who developed such personalized masturbative practices that they could not have orgasms any other way. For males, the increased pressure associated with self-stimulation vs. the pressure experienced in intercourse can be off-putting and make sexual enjoyment from intercourse less, well, enjoyable."
*Our world is far more complex than the rigid structure we want to assign to it, and we will probably never fully understand it.*
"Those believers who are sophisticated enough to understand the paradox have found exciting ways to bend logic into pretzel shapes in order to defend the indefensible." - Hamby
Yes, me and about 10 others from the stickcam room joined a facebook site for home school alumni. The profiles we made for our self's were so funny. I had stuff like spends free time searching the the arc, memorizing the bible, and had a young pic of Richard Dawkins in my profile. But no I don't like going to them to chat, or debate.
I wouldn't equate "recognizes a lousy lay who can't give her an orgasm" with "physical damage." I believe the person who posted (and believes) such stunningly ridiculous nonsense would be a total ZERO in bed, and seek any excuse in order not to take the blame for their ineptitude.
What a bunch of bullshit! I'd LOVE to see the citations ("documented cases" my ass) this moron would offer.
People like this are the reason we have SOOOOOO many delusional, ignorant morons. Rather than masturbate and do the rest of us the favor of leaving their future offspring in a crusty gym sock or the silk panties they stole from their sister, they're fucking without contraception and populating the world with more fucktards like themselves.
Only a fucking moron would prefer giving himself a handjob to sinking his dick in a warm, wet pussy! Hmmmm, of course, it's entirely probable that the reason such "males" referenced in these dubious "documented cases" actually prefer their cock in their own Kung Fu grip is because they can make it more closely resemble the tight male anuses they desire so much MORE than any vagina - especially attached to some virginal, uptight Christian prude.
(I'm feeling really MEAN tonight! And the anti-sex component of Christianity is one of my MAJOR beefs with their hoo-ha)
[edited for typos & further thoughts - jumped the gun and posted before previewing!]
Invisible friends are for children and psychopaths.
...And here we are, at the heart of the issue.
The magical world view, wherein any given thing or action is a lightning rod for 'evil energy' or 'good energy', and by this virute, is either contributing to the forces of darkness or the forces of light. And some things can even be polarized either way (as apparently masturbation can), so there's a 'light side' and a 'dark side' to it.
Y'know what? Just for this guy, my good chum, I'm going to do my part. The next time I masturbate to my fetish of choice, I'll do it for the good guys, being careful to avoid stepping into the dark side of the activity.
No, I wouldn't care to ever visit a christian forum. I have nothing to say that hasn't already been said to them (....well, nothing that isn't strictly inflammatory), and I'd just piss them all off.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
Wow that's just so sad. Even worse is I can relate to most of those statements from the sex ed. books I got. Everything in there is rubbish and can be disproven with actual scientific studies. What's wrong with these people?
Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible
Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.
I joined that one shortly after I joined this one. I was disappointed. You couldn't scare up a decent discussion there if Jesus himself was spotted flying up Niagra Falls backward in a barrel.
Your first point definitely applies. I never feel quite so rational as when I'm surrounded by ignorance.
COME TO THE DARK SIDE -- WE HAVE COOKIES
It's very similar to visiting mental patients at an institution.
It was interesting the first couple of times but then it became disturbing (pun intended).
People who think there is something they refer to as god don't ask enough questions.
I don't see much value in harassing Christians on their own pissing grounds. Lurking in unfamiliar territory did have a cautionary value for me. It showed that any group of people can reinforce each other's ideas, regardless of their content. It's certainly applicable here, and an easy thing to fall into. You come to a point where you're not sure whether your conviction is based on your reasoning and understanding of the situation, or is a parroting of ideas you may not understand, or just claptrap for the benefit of your audience.
You're funny.
And you're right, obviously. It makes me pissed too.
What actually made me angrier than the concept of "evil masturbation" was the fact that most of these posters, give or take a few, chose to avoid even discussing sex with their kids. They assume it would be too "gross" for them. Well, hellooo, it's only as "gross" as an immature mind makes it out to be. How do you think the kids got here?
It just boggles my mind how people can treat natural, human processes with such ignorance and stupidity.
*Our world is far more complex than the rigid structure we want to assign to it, and we will probably never fully understand it.*
"Those believers who are sophisticated enough to understand the paradox have found exciting ways to bend logic into pretzel shapes in order to defend the indefensible." - Hamby
Ah…those where good times. That was about a year ago when the Blasphemy Challenge was all in the news. They’re pretty much defunct now; their site now one of those despicable link farm pages.
Late last year I started looking for a decent Christian forum. There didn’t seem to be many theists posting on these forums as there were in the past, so I tried to find greener pastures. I tried two different forums (christianforums.net and thechristiandefense.com) but neither were a good experience. No one was much into discussing with me. I think it’s because I made it very clear that I used to be a Christian like them once. That gets them very defensive at the least, and a few of them won’t accept that I was a Christian at all. One of them told me flat out that I was wasting my time, because they weren't going to change their minds. So, words to the wise, that’s not an approach to take if you want some civil dialog.
I actually agree with their views on masturbation. Not to the same extreme as them, but the basic jist of it being addictive and such. If you're the type who never gets laid very often, and all you have as a form of release is jerking off, after ten years of this, it's actually damn near impossible to ejaculate via normal sexual intercourse. Yeah I'm speaking from personal experience.
Wish in one hand, shit in the other, see which one fills up first.
Indeed,I never got the 'talk.' Instead,I got a pile of Dr.James Dobson and other xtian sex ed books. I think I read like half of the one. I had to learn about it the old fashioned way-pr0n from my non-xtian friend. If it wasn't for that I woudnd't know how to reproduce
Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible
Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.
Well, who do we have to thank for that? Religion and feminism in America. The churches have tried to designed it so that the only way for a man to get laid is to marry a Christian woman. They've made sure prostitution is illegal, that women have the fear of Hell and irrational fears about VD. To save our souls? Hardly, to eliminate the competiton.
Modern Christianity is really just temple prostitution. Instead of just giving up some cash for sex, you give up your soul, you give her everything for sex. It's a way to get PWed men to marry whiny, sexually repressed, religious women that suck at taking care of a man's needs, then the man goes along with her religion and gives money to her church. He only stays with her and the religion because of the fear of Hell and lack of other options for sex(not love). This would be pretty hard to do if sex for money was legal.
Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success. --Mark Skousen