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Originally Posted by deist
Deists take the bible more literally than fundamentalists do, & fundmentalists are generally literalists when it comes to the bible, unless they are trying to justify a belief of theirs when they don't want to accept something at face value. For example, in Matthew 24 when Jesus said, "This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled", we deists take it literally & at face value, that by "this generation", Jesus meant the generation of Israelites then living in the first century. We don't add interpretations to Jesus' supposed words, we take them at face value. Likewise when Jesus told the high priest in Mark 14:62 that he would see Jesus sitting at the right hand of power & coming in the clouds of heaven, we take Jesus at his word without adding our own arbitrary interpretations. We believe Jesus meant the high preist would still be alive when Jesus came again, in the first century, which is the plain sense of the passage when you don't arbitrarily interpret it.
Deist, I will grant that many people - not just fundamentalists - tend to complicate things. And, we do need to be open to things that may make us a squirm a little. Fair enough?
However, as much as I can appreciate the author of God vs. the Bible that you recommend, "trying to save" my mind from that "dangerous" faith called Christianity - no thanks, my mind is fine.
As I suspected, this work not only asks and answers the same questions that skeptics before him have, he relied on their work:
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to the authors of different skeptic websites and information resources that I frequently visited as I came to a greater understanding of my own spiritual outlook. The insights they provided were invaluable, not just to me but to others as we all search for the truth. Among these web authors are:
* Steven Wells who wrote the Skeptics Annotated Bible (skepticsannotatedbible.com), which was of great help in pointing out many of the absurdities and contradictions of the Bible.
* The “Rev” Brendan Powell Smith and his ingenious work with Lego to tell the Bible’s story, including some of the passages most embarrassing to Christians. His website, thebricktestament.com was of great assistance to me in pointing out some of the more absurd and morally bankrupt passages of the Bible.
* Cliff Walker, the author of his “labor of love”, Positive Atheism (positiveatheism.org) for the exhaustive list of famous quotes, including those of our founding fathers. I also thank him for helping to expose the fraudulent founding father quotes, disingenuously spread by certain conservative Christians.
* Kenneth Humphreys, who authored both the “Jesus Never Existed” book and website (jesusneverexisted.com), for his tireless and exhaustive historical research into the Jesus myth.
* Brian Fleming for his documentary about the Jesus myth, “The God Who Wasn’t There” and his advice and assistance as I sought to publish this book.
* Reginald “The Infidel Guy” Finley for his informative radio program.
So see, before you question my openness to research you should see research to see if what I said was true - or follow that "do unto others" thing and take me at my word.
His is the sort of nonsense that doesn't attract many from his targeted audience, much like the Christians and Muslims that categorize him as "in league with the devil" don't inspire such skeptics to give them any serious consideration:
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I fight because I believe that these two religions are the greatest causes of misery, stagnation and bigotry in all of human history. I fight because of how much happier and more productive human civilization would be without them. I fight because if we don't bury our beliefs in Jesus, Mohamed and the Devil, they will bury us.
The old Crusades type argument by outrage again. I don't know about the Crusaders, that was well before my time, and I can't vouch for all Muslims but I wonder if there is any particular group that gives more of their time, money and other resources in helping others than most?
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However, one need not look at the more dramatically horrifying consequences of these religions to get an idea of their cost to humanity over the ages. In addition to terror and bloodshed, these faiths also bring sociological and technological stagnation. It’s no accident that the period in Western civilization when Christianity ruled supreme is called “The Dark Ages”. Neither should it be any surprise that once this Christian stranglehold on the mind and imagination of humanity was finally broken, this period was called “The Age of Enlightenment”.
Yes of course, things are so much better with those backward Christians out of the way.
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I don’t hate the Christian or the Muslim. They are the minds that I’m trying to save. It is the institutions, these viral memes, that are my enemy. Through rational discourse, I believe they can be brought down. As Soviet-style Communism peacefully collapsed one day when its adherents finally got tired of living under its yoke, I hope that these malevolent faiths will also go peacefully in the night.
Well now, that's how to win friends and influence people... attack all that's dear to them. Thanks, but no thanks. If I can't get past the preface without being attacked and offended multiple times I have no reason to give him any credibility when it comes to "the proper way to serve God."
