"If thy right hand offend thee..."
Posted on: January 10, 2008 - 2:35pm
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"If thy right hand offend thee..."
Holy crap. I didn't think there was a religionist out there with the courage of their convictions to actually pull THIS off:
Quote:
HAYDEN, Idaho - A man who believed he bore the "mark of the beast" used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said. The man, in his mid-20s, was calm when Kootenai County sheriff's deputies arrived Saturday in this northern Idaho town. He was in protective custody in the mental health unit of Kootenai Medical Center. "It had been somewhat cooked by the time the deputy arrived," sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. "He put a tourniquet on his arm before, so he didn't bleed to death. That kind of mental illness is just sad."
The lesson of history is that we do not learn the lessons of history.
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And yet such behavior as my parents believing that their prayers got me my job, or public figures attributing their success to the intervention of a deity is considered perfectly sane. What a sad double standard.
The Regular Expressions of Humanistic Jones: Where one software Engineer will show the world that God is nothing more than an undefined pointer.
If only all theists were as mindlessly self-destructive. Its a shame that Christians never accepted ritual suicide like the other crackpot cults.
See, this shit just pisses me off...
They call him mentally ill for taking the Bible literally (and I agree that he is), but then they see nothing wrong with all of the other christians who take all the other parts literally...such as jesus, mistreating women, etc etc etc. Either it's ALL mental or none. (and it is ALL mental)
damn.
"Chlorinating the Gene Pool"
... now wait a minute, it makes perfect sense,
just keep cutting yourself up and eventually you will sin no more .....
keep cutting .... you'll get there .....
Atheism Books.
I agree. Moderate Christians might not seem as looney as fundamentalists, but many still believe that an invisible Jesus is watching them.
Like you say, either it's all mental or none.
Frosty's coming back someday. Will you be ready?
Evolution. There's a reason that Christianity is much more widespread than suicide cults. A parasite generally survives better if it does not kill it's host.
Oh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!! TRUE! Great point!! Darwin's theory at work!
"Chlorinating the Gene Pool"
I think Christianity would like best if people cut out their brains - after all, that would be the organ actually reponsible for any "sin." No more brain, no more sin, no more thinking - perfect for Christianity!
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
I'm not sure anything would change as most theists don't usually use their brains as it is anyway.
"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
Was thinking occuring in the first place? It would seem counter-productive to me to get rid of the one thing that *could* help them get over the delusion.
There goes half his social life.
Once again, I will point out that the only difference between moderate theists and crazy nutjobs is how much irrationality they will put up with. This dude was doing exactly what the bible says, yet he's going to get locked up.
Other people who do exactly what the bible says don't get locked up -- for instance, the holiness churches that don't allow their women to cut their hair. This demonstrates very clearly that people don't use the bible to judge people, they use people to judge the bible. In other words, people pick and choose from the bible what they already find reasonable, and they judge people who interpret it a different way to be deviant. Sadly, everyone already finds their interpretation reasonable, so outside of the norms of society, there is nothing approaching an objective yardstick by which to measure behavior.
Put simply, people judge others on socially acceptable behavior. The bible does not dictate morality. Christian beliefs about what the bible really says change with society.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to announce that this post is the recipient of the First Annual Completely Coherent and Damn Funny I AM GOD AS YOU Award.
In a sharp break with tradition, this post makes absolutely perfect sense.
Careful, I AM, you have a reputation to keep. Try not to do this too often, ok?
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
I can't wait for the day Fundies start stoning someone for wearing a poly-cotton blend while eating oysters and planting two types of seed in the same garden. The more these nuts act out on biblical passages, the more they expose thier own mental illness.
Oh, and hello everyone.
What the world needs is not dogma but an attitude of scientific inquiry combined with a belief that the torture of millions is not desirable, whether inflicted by Stalin or by a Deity imagined in the likeness of the believer.
~Bertrand Russell
If only he were a Buddhist, we could finally figure out the answer to that old koan.
that some people believe somthing so stupid that they would cut off their hand over it
Wow. Just, wow. I guess this guy asked himself, What Would Jesus Do?