“The fool that said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good” Psalm 14:1First off, they should know this is meaningless to an atheist. We don't believe in Psalm or any books of the Bible.
Secondly, if we did give a crap about the Bible, this very passage highlights a contradiction when Jesus said “…whosoever shall say, “Thou fool,” shall be in danger of hell fire.” Matthew 5:22. It was an opening bit of the sermon on the mount that basically made anger an equivalent sin to murder.
Speaking of Matthew, "judge not lest ye be judged."
Statistically speaking, there is no reason to believe that atheists do less good or more harm than theists.
And lastly, why not defend your beliefs with reasons why you believe rather than quote one of the oldest insults in the world? Seriously, get some new material.
If you are a theist who doesn't open with this line, this post isn't meant for you. Just know that it is extremely common, so if you see one of your buddies do it, please pass along this sentiment.
That quote and others like it are quite common...just look at the debate I was in with that fellow Stan...The idea that atheists are immoral or amoral is a tedious one. There is nothing to back that claim up. Nothing.
ReplyDeleteYou also make a good point regarding the bible. Theists should recognize that they will get much farther in a conversation with an atheist if they leave the bible out of the conversation. It is just not going to work with atheists.
Defending one's belief with reason is a great point. It is something that seems to get lost in the shuffle of these conversations way to much...on both sides.
I posted "Morality Week" while you were gone. The comments on a couple posts go on far too long.
ReplyDeleteNevermind that the verse in question does NOTHING to deal with the underlying question; it merely makes the expected 'ad hominum' attack as a distraction/deflection. It assumes when it might have explained. Why is someone a fool for saying ther is no god? *crickets*
ReplyDeleteI've always been annoyed when theists get their pantries in a bunch when you call their IDEAS stupid. They seem to forget that this verse goes a lot further and as pointed out before its just an ad hominem attack on the character of the non believer.
ReplyDelete*nod* imbrocata has it right. When getting this, I've wondered what a song has to do convincing me of anything? Last I checked we don't all live in a yellow submarine, despite the Beatles being much better songwriters than David was.
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