"Proofs" that God doesn't exist

I found an interesting website last night, one that I encourage anybody reading this to look at, regardless of religious belief. The site is godisimaginary.com, and it's got a list of 50 "proofs" that God doesn't exist. These are not actual proofs that God isn't there, of course, since that's not actually provable, but they are very convincing. I've read through the first five, and if I had read these a couple of years ago I would have come out of the atheist closet a lot sooner. The first couple show that prayer doesn't work, just like I said a couple posts ago!

Anyway, I challenge all the Christians who happen to be reading this blog (all 2 or maybe 3 of you) to head to this site and read through a couple pages there. I know you probably won't, because you will usually refuse to even look at anything that contradicts your precious worldview. If this is the case with you, well enjoy living with your head in the sand I guess.

I will not be quiet. Just so y'all know.

So since I've been antagonizing religious folk on the internet quite a few Christians have told me something to the effect of "It's fine for you to be an atheist, but you shouldn't try to force your beliefs on other people." When people tell me this at first it makes me mad, then it makes me chuckle, and then I get mad again.

Since my intent is usually to offend religious nuts, I won't pull any punches or mince words here: people who tell me that are hypocrites.

To simplify things I'll address the rest of this post to those people.

First off, you are followers of a religion of which evangelism is a core tenet. You are supposed to force your beliefs on other people. The Bible tells you to. You don't have a problem with the act of forcing one's beliefs on others, you have a problem with my beliefs. Christians talk about God all the time, and hardly ever are they called on it. As long as Christians are talking about how much they love God I will continue to talk about how much I hate him.

Second, I am an American, and so are virtually all of you. As an American, I have the right to bash your religion, whether or not you agree with me. So either admit that you don't really support the First Amendment or be quiet. You can bash atheism all you want, too, but don't tell me that I'm wrong for talking about it.

You might ask, "Well why can't you just leave us alone?" If you were a bunch of peaceful Buddhists meditating in the woods then I probably would. But you're not, you're a member of a religion whose history is drenched in the blood of dissenters. Christianity has been a dangerous and detrimental plague on society for thousands of years, and until you collectively stop killing and oppressing your fellow humans, I will continue to speak out against you.

I will not be silent and I will not leave you alone.

Christianity confuses me

So I'm fairly well versed in Christian lore, but I just don't get it. Here's my understanding of the premise of Christianity.

A long time ago God created hell so he could send some rebellious angels there. Later he created earth and people. The people disobeyed him by eating some fruit, and "sin" came into the world. Now, because Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating fruit*, they were doomed to hell, where God sent all those bad angels eons before. I'm not really sure why this is, but it just is. Two to four thousand years later, depending on who you ask, God decided he'd give the people a break and sent his son Jesus to earth to die for everybody's sins. Why it took God a few thousand years to get his act together enough to do this is not clear. Anyway, Jesus, who was born of a virgin (apparently abstinence isn't 100% effective after all) was God's son, but was also God. He had to die, because that was the only way God, an omniscient and omnipotent being, could figure out to resolve the whole people are sinful because the first people ate some forbidden fruit and now they're all going to hell thing. So, because of some rules that God made up (I'm assuming, I mean, he created everything, right?) he had to kill his son so that he didn't have to just damn everybody to hell anymore. Once Jesus was killed after living a completely sinless life he rose from the grave and now all you have to do to get to heaven is telepathically tell him that you accept him into your heart.

Are you confused? Me too.

If any biblical scholars can explain to my why any of this stuff had to happen I'd be grateful. I really don't understand why God had to go through this big multi-millennia long drama in order to get people into heaven. Why couldn't he have just done it from the start? Does anybody understand this stuff, or do Christians just never stop to think about how the premise behind their religion doesn't make any sense? Lots of questions.

*I'll address how the story of the Fall is an illogical and unfair mess in a future post.

Imagine

I don't really feel like writing anything today, so here's a picture I've seen floating around the internet. Richard Dawkins mentioned in in The God Delusion as an ad for some kind of documentary.

Imagine. Likely the secularists will imagine a better world and the religious people will imagine a bleak wasteland of vicious hedonists humping everything in sight. Personally, I think it'd be pretty rad to not have to deal with suicide bombers anymore, because I doubt many would exist without the 72 virgins incentive.

Why do I see a bunch of wealthy Christians?

I've been to a lot of church services in my day, and one of the things I remember a preacher saying is if Jesus says something twice, it's way important, and if he said "he who has ears to hear, let him hear" or something to that effect then it's also very important. Today I'm writing about something that Jesus not only said twice, but said "he who has ears to hear, let him hear" about.

Open up yer Bibles and read Luke 14:26-35. Verse 33 is my favorite: "So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." (NASB) Verse 35 is the "he who has ears." Now read Luke 18:18-25. This is the story of the Rich Young Ruler, which most people who grew up going to Sunday School know, but almost nobody seems to actually care about. Notice verse 22: "And when Jesus heard this, He said to him, "One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess, and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." The Rich Young Ruler didn't like this, and became very sad.

Jesus' words seem very clear cut to me here. He says twice, in fairly plain language, that in order to be a follower of Christ one needs to sell all off their possessions. He doesn't say "Thou shalt give a little bit to charity when thy budget allows it" or "thou shalt volunteer at a soup kitchen no less than twice a year." He says you must give up all of your possessions and serve God. Now I know a lot of Christians who are by no means rich, but they're certainly not the widow giving all she had. (Luke 21:1-4)

So what gives? Why do Christians still have stuff? Before anyone angrily points out Luke 18:26-27, saying I pulled my verses out of context and ignored these ones, sure, things impossible with men are possible with God. But I don't think that this is just a get out of jail free card, allowing you to keep all your possessions because anything is possible with God. Jesus said in plain language that you were supposed to sell all your stuff and give your money to the poor. He said it twice. I don't think this one verse negates the numerous times poverty is extolled as a virtue in the Bible.