What is the most ignorant thing a Christian has told you?

[trdsf]

but i still disagree, i dont think a political engine is enough to truly spread religion, yeah maybe people get scared and say whatever, so i retain my stance that focusing on the history of religion is insufficient

The power of the state is plenty to enforce the spread of a religion; in point of historical fact, it's nearly necessary.  And when the penalties for not adhering to the state religion include confiscatory fines, torture, and/or death, people are going to make whatever mouth-noises are necessary to keep the officials happy.  And after a couple generations of making mouth-noises, people start to accept that as the 'natural' and 'normal' way to be, for lack of any experience with any alternative, and start believing it.

This is why the history of the spread of Christianity is one of first co-opting local traditions so as to appeal to the local peasantry, then of making themselves useful to the local lords by bringing a limited amount of literacy to support the operations of their fiefdoms (and the profoundly seductive idea of the divine right of rulership), and inevitably ended with the state-authorized legal abolition of all other forms of worship (with a grudging and not at all universal exemption "allowed" for Jews).

Christianity didn't sweep the West as a philosophical fire -- it came at the point of a sword.

[Contemporary Protestant]

alright, christianity become the official religion in 325 when it became a political weapon of sorts

what bout the first 250 years?

this is probably my last post today, my shift starts soon

[Savior2006]

The most idiotic thing I've heard recently is that the Earth is only 6,000 years old from a retard on CF known as Conamer.

That was bad, but we've all heard that stupid bullshit before. But what was worse was why he said it. He said something to the effect that he'd explored the subject outside the Bible, and then came back to the Bible.

He said that ultimately "my faith came first."

I said, that's why I didn't like religion. There was no reason for anyone on the planet to think planet fucking Earth is only thousands of years old (and I have no idea why it's specifically 6,000 either), but "your faith came first."

[leo]

alright, christianity become the official religion in 325 when it became a political weapon of sorts

what bout the first 250 years?

this is probably my last post today, my shift starts soon

Christianity  was a small Jewish sect in the first 250 years.  Without the Roman Empire adopting christianity , christianity would probably exist  today as a very small cult.

[Solitary]

That there is an invisible God that all powerful, loving, and created the universe! How would he know? idiot! Solitary

[SGOS]

CP honestly I feel that I'm playing the last person to post wins game with you  in this thread. You simply don't want to listen. You are ignoring my replies and the other members replies.

He's here to defend the faith.  Listening and responding would be unproductive.  The idea is to invite reason and then ignore it.  This gets God coupons, which can be traded in later on.

[Aletheia]

alethia, i getcha, and correct putting self first is an undesirable triat

However, as we both now accept, a purely good individual would inadvertently die precisely because of excessive selflessness. Self-interest is a required trait insomuch that we need it so that we do not die from neglecting our needs. It does no good if everyone is willing to give but nobody is able to accept. Self-interest is a neutral trait - it is neither good or evil. It is necessary for our survival as an individual, and by extension, to those who depend on us.

You keep searching for a black and white world that conforms to your own simplistic views of morality, but the world is a multitude of shades of grey.

[aitm]

Funny the timing of this…quaffed a couple cold ones with the bro-in-law at a local pub today, somehow got talking about his kids and some issue at church that they send the kids to (he and the wife don't actually go of course) anyhow, he asks, "you're not particularly religious right, aren't you an atheist or something". I said, "yep". And he says, "so whats up with that?". And I said, "well I like shrimp and lobster and bacon"
"whats that got to do with it?"
"well, god says you can't eat that"
"what, no he doesn't"
"sure does, and your tat's are the same abomination as getting your ass hammered by a fag"
"what?"
"yep, and you can't shave your beard or get your hair cut and if some fuck rapes your daughter you have to let him marry hery".
"bullshit, you're fucking with me"
"read the piece of shit yourself"
"fuck that, hey have you tried that new IPA?"

[Contemporary Protestant]

i do see morality as black and white, it is obviously situational, but i do think it is foolish to say that such and such behavior cant be right or wrong

i think self interest, if put first can be very bad, when i say be selfless, i dont never fulfil your own needs, i just dont think that putting self first is moral

[Mermaid]

i do see morality as black and white, it is obviously situational, but i do think it is foolish to say that such and such behavior cant be right or wrong

Right and wrong is subjective. To some, it's wrong to have premarital sex. Or to go over the speed limit, or drink caffeinated beverages.
There is behavior that is widely accepted as wrong, such as murder, but almost anything can be justified and rationalized. Murder is wrong, but executing people on death row is righteous.

Morality is most definitely not black and white, and that is right there at the foundation of the problem with religious followers.

[Contemporary Protestant]

oh my, i am so embarrassed, thats a typo, i meant to say not black and white

[Mermaid]

oh! Hahahahaha

[Savior2006]

"read the piece of shit yourself"
"fuck that, hey have you tried that new IPA?"

Sounds like a smart man to me. Which IPA was he talking about?

[trdsf]

alright, christianity become the official religion in 325 when it became a political weapon of sorts

what bout the first 250 years?

this is probably my last post today, my shift starts soon

Initially, political power didn't matter -- the first generation of adherents thought Jeshua bar-Joseph was returning in their lifetimes.  And it existed as another sect of Judaism more than it did as an independent religion.

After the first couple generations of believers died off, it settled in that the second coming wasn't imminent, and it became necessary to exist in the real world.  And unlike Judaism or Roman religion (or really most others in that area, to the best of my knowledge), Christianity was (and is) a religion that assigns itself the "responsibility" to convert people to that belief.  Judaism is non-proselytizing.  The Romans weren't all that bothered with what was believed in their conquered territories as long as they paid their tribute/taxes and didn't revolt.

The simple path to survival, of course, is to take control of the leaders of the state.  First, early Christians had to disassociate themselves from the Jewish community, which had engaged in several revolts against Roman authority from the late first to the middle second centuries.  And second, they had to convert useful numbers of Roman citizens.

Interestingly, as the only (or one of very few) proselytizing religions in the area at the time, that put Christianity in the same position as a 'cheater' in the reciprocal altruism scenario posited by evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers: it engages in an activity that preys upon the rest of the community, which does not engage in that activity themselves.

And of course once in control of the state, it didn't take long for Christians to be given political and official preference over non-Christians, for the church to start wielding the political and financial power of the state, for other religions to first be elbowed aside, and then ultimately for them to be made illegal.

And in any case, what, really, does it matter what happened in the first two and a half centuries?  It comes across like you're saying "Christianity was oppressed once, so that mitigates the oppression they've engaged in over the 18 centuries since then."  I'm quite frankly more appalled by what Christianity did when it took and held political power for the most recent 90% of the last two millennia, than in what it suffered when it didn't have political power in the first 10%.  Clearly, it did not learn what it means to be a victim, and a victimizer.

[aitm]

Sounds like a smart man to me. Which IPA was he talking about?

Whatever beer is the most nasty and bitter is what he loves. I am old school yellow fizzy stuff.