What they say and what they mean

[Blackleaf]

This is a thread for translating the many stupid things uttered by those of the Christian faiths. Feel free to add to the list, if you know of some that I missed.

1. "The first and most important right is the right to believe." A quote from the infamous "God's Not Dead 2" movie.

Translation: "The first and most important right is the right to believe in the Christian God, the Bible, and Christian doctrine, and to force our religiously-charged ethics on others."

2. "The good Lord gives and he takes away."

Translation: "Shit happens."

3. "God helps those who help themselves."

Translation: "God ain't gonna do shit for you. You're responsible for your own success."

4. "Bless their heart."

Translation: "Ignore the hateful thing I just said about that person."

5. "I'll pray for you."

Translation: "I'll bring up your issue next time we meet, but I'll totally forget about it in five minutes."

6. "I feel God leading me to ____."

Translation: "I think that this is a really good idea. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm not."

7. "Love the sinner, hate the sin."

Translation: "I give myself permission to criticize your actions based on my personal beliefs, which are obviously superior to yours."

8. "I don't put God in a box."

Translation: "My opinions of God are more valid than others'."

9. "Christianity isn't a religion, it's a relationship."

Translation: "I'm aware that religions are losing popularity, but I want to believe that mine is somehow more special than the others."

[Mike Cl]

There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Which means that god loves me and not you.

[Hydra009]

"God's Word" - man-made text determined by men to come directly from God

"the end times" - the end of the world is just around the corner, just like last week.  And decade.  And century.  And millennium.

"judeo-christian values" - perceived common values between Judaism and Christianity, mostly used as a euphemism for Christian fundamentalist values

"spread the good news" - to proselytize for Christianity, typically a conservative branch of it

"pearls before swine" - used to express disdain for people who weren't easily swayed by the speaker's proselytizing

[Atheon]

"I'll pray for you." - I have no idea how to respond to your reasoning and evidence, so I give up.

"Have you accepted Jeeeezus as your personal savoir?" - "Pleased to meet you."

[21CIconoclast]

How many times as the Atheist heard these statements?

1.  "Thats not in my bible!" 

When in fact, it is shown by the Atheist that those damn embarrassing propositions are most certainly in the Judeo-Christian bible.


2.  "You're misinterpreting those literal passages"

How can one misinterpret a literal passage? Only the pseudo-christian can perform this insidious act. The irony is the fact
that only disturbing passages need interpretation to take them away from embarrassment, whereas, passages that are accepted don't need convenient interpretation.


3.  "The god of the Christians is the same god for the Jews and Muslims" 

Only the truly ignorant Christian posits this statement, whereas, all three primitive faiths contradict each other in their respective god's inspired word within their holy books. Therefore, the same god could not have written all three of the aforementioned faiths holy books. 2+2=4.


4.  "I only want to use these passages in my bible, and not yours because they're disturbing and an embarrassment to my argument."

The old "Cherry Picking" of verses that are not embarrassing, where the Christian Yahweh god expected his followers to eat the entire Cherry Pie!


The comical bottom line when all the dust settles, is the FACT that all pseudo-christians use the cherry picked version of the JUDEO-Christian bible!

[reasonist]

One can only shake the head with stupefaction when so much ignorance is displayed! Have you guys asked yourself what this guy Randy Carson is trying to accomplish by posting on a atheist forum? If he thinks he can convince a single person here with his 2,000 year old 'eye witnesses' then he is dumber than thought. The hope or intent that anyone here buys into his ridiculous rants and discards all evidence to the contrary, is naive and condescending.
Yeah, I take the word of a  Lawrence Krauss, or a Stephen Hawking or a Neil DeGrasse Tyson or a Richard Dawkins anytime over the feeble attempt of an ignorant layman!  The attempt alone to convince anybody here that miracles and talking animals are historical facts, tells you a lot about the audacity of the poster.
So what is his purpose here? Obviously trying to lure anybody from rational, skeptical and independent thought towards conjuring the spirit world, is an abject failure from the start. One can only imagine what a pathetic life this guy must have in order to sit in front of the computer all day trying to convince people that his superstition is based on facts. What a waste of time and life!

There are only two possibilities:

A) Religion is a human invented racket and belongs into the dustbin of yesteryear. In this case people like Randy Carson waste their lives on a scam, trying to square a circle.

B) One of the three monotheistic religions tells of a true historical event and the good book is the word of a deity. If the Torah and the NT are true historical facts, then us heathens have been wrong. On the other hand the flock commits to voluntary enslavement and adoration of the most heinous monster imaginable! They wallow in their unworthiness and kneel in front of a sadistic, capricious, genocidal, misogynist mass murderer!

Both options are a no no for thinking people.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

When it comes to their beliefs as soon as they say, 'I...'
I pretty much just think,  "Ok, well just shut the fuck up.."

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I really could care less what Randy is selling. I'm not buying.  It's just more psychobabble..

[Mike Cl]

Why does Randy post here?  In his very own words:

Two reasons:

1. They are unsure of their atheism, and the existence of solid theists and sound theist arguments makes them nervous about their god-less worldview, and
2. Because they secretly want me to convince them that there is a God.

that is why many theists post here.  Many of us ask for 'reasons' why the willfully ignorant people post here.  Well, there you have it.  They do not live in a world of 'reason', but of belief and faith.  That is why there is so much disconnect between the atheists on this board and theists.   I don't think a fundamentalist theist can have a meaningful discussion with the atheists here, since the fundamentalist does not accept reasoning or critical thinking as being important, and often times, misleading and sinful.  We, on the other hand, do not see any value (except of the negative sort) in belief and faith.  There is no common ground to meet on.  If the theist that comes here has any doubt about their beliefs, then there may be a glimmer of hope that some real communication can happen.  Other than that, Randy tells us why he is here.  And he will stay as long as anybody responds to him.

[Blackleaf]

There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Which means that god loves me and not you.

Like Yoda speaking, that sounds.

[Baruch]

Like Yoda speaking, that sounds.

Don't mess with the Force, you stormtrooper!

[Mike Cl]

This is another reason Randy keeps posting here:

"Thank you for giving me an additional opportunity to post Catholic truths in a forum frequented by skeptics. Your continued participation in this thread is such a blessing, and I am sure that other forum members will not soon forget your efforts which make this possible."


So, as is quite obvious he is not and never was interested in swapping ideas.  I could care less what you think and why you think it.  He only wants to post here to air this 'truths'.  He cares not if they are lies, if they are moral, it they make any sense--just to post them in an area skeptics are. 

[Randy Carson]

This is another reason Randy keeps posting here:

"Thank you for giving me an additional opportunity to post Catholic truths in a forum frequented by skeptics. Your continued participation in this thread is such a blessing, and I am sure that other forum members will not soon forget your efforts which make this possible."


So, as is quite obvious he is not and never was interested in swapping ideas.  I could care less what you think and why you think it.  He only wants to post here to air this 'truths'.  He cares not if they are lies, if they are moral, it they make any sense--just to post them in an area skeptics are.

Of course I want to present the truth of the gospel. And sure, I'd be happy to discuss it with anyone here. But that's not what 21CIconoclast is doing, is it?

Have you read his recent posts about the "unpardonable sin"? Do you think he is interested in real discussion?

[reasonist]

This is another reason Randy keeps posting here:

"Thank you for giving me an additional opportunity to post Catholic truths in a forum frequented by skeptics. Your continued participation in this thread is such a blessing, and I am sure that other forum members will not soon forget your efforts which make this possible."


So, as is quite obvious he is not and never was interested in swapping ideas.  I could care less what you think and why you think it.  He only wants to post here to air this 'truths'.  He cares not if they are lies, if they are moral, it they make any sense--just to post them in an area skeptics are. 

Proselytizing, in true christian fashion! A wonderful quote from Hitchens:

"I would be quite content to go to children's bar mitzvahs, to marvel at their Gothic cathedrals, to 'respect' their belief that the Koran was dictated, (though exclusively in Arabic to an illiterate merchant), or to invest myself in Wicca and Hindu and Jain consolations. And as it happens, I will continue to do so without insisting on the polite reciprocal condition-which is that they in turn leave me alone. But this, religion is incapable of doing. As I write these words, and as you read them, people of faith are in their different ways planning your and my destruction, and the destruction of all the hard won human attainments. Religion poisons everything."

[Mike Cl]

Proselytizing, in true christian fashion! A wonderful quote from Hitchens:

"I would be quite content to go to children's bar mitzvahs, to marvel at their Gothic cathedrals, to 'respect' their belief that the Koran was dictated, (though exclusively in Arabic to an illiterate merchant), or to invest myself in Wicca and Hindu and Jain consolations. And as it happens, I will continue to do so without insisting on the polite reciprocal condition-which is that they in turn leave me alone. But this, religion is incapable of doing. As I write these words, and as you read them, people of faith are in their different ways planning your and my destruction, and the destruction of all the hard won human attainments. Religion poisons everything."

Exactly, Randy comes here to simply poison the watering hole.  As he has shown time and again, he is not the least bit interested in an exchange of ideas.  He does not respond directly to any question put to him.  It is easy to see with him, the total disconnect between skeptics and theists.  He is only wasting his time and our time.  I still have not put him on ignore, nor will I.  I just don't read his posts or respond to him in any way.