Think: Reason

Facebook Bible Thumpers

I have this friend that I’ve known for 10 years or better now. He’s a great guy, gives of himself freely without expecting anything in return. As you can probably guess, this sets him up to be taken advantage of a lot. This being the case I know he struggles daily with all of life’s challenges (as do we all). As an escape, and as a way to vent, he hops on facebook from time to time and makes a status update.

This will be in response to a status update that he made in which I had an exchange with one of his friends. To see the full exchange, click here.

You can also read the exchange below:

Wes: I have to say that life sucks.

Richard : Beats the alternative…

Christy : Unless the alternative is heaven…..I second that, Wes…

Richard : http://www.lostrepublic.us/Graphics/DoubleFacePalm.jpg

Duramus : You have to go through the night to appreciate the day time bro

Richard : http://nicedeb.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/wh-double-facepalm.jpg

Darryl : Not when we walk with Jesus, my friend. His grace is new every day, his peace surpasses understanding, and he has plans for us that surpass our ability to imagine them.

Christy : That’s alltrue except even Jesus went through fire and water. The Bible says he went below before He ascended to heaven. Paul himself says, “If we have died with Him, we shall live with Him.” So if we walk with Jesus we will endure what He endured but on a smaller scale of course. If we enjoy our lives on earth too much, we would not appreciate heaven so much where we continually serve and glorify God. The more suffering we endure on earth for the sake of Christ, the more glorious will heaven be, because we are used to serving God and not ourselves.

Richard : Soooo, the shittier life is, the more awesome heaven will be by comparison? What a wonderful outlook on life :/

Christy : Haha was Jesus’ life ALL fun? Nope. If we walk the same road as Him yeah it ISN’T fun sometimes! But He gives us the peace and love and joy to do it. And yeah! It is a wonderful outlook on life. Our lives are only a blink compared to eternity. Wes, I hope this might help… A man I know traveled around the world trying to help people. He came across a girl in one country. The girl said, “I just don’t beleive in God anymore.” He said, “Why..?” She said “There is so much evil, so much suffering. Why would a loving God let this all happen??” This man told her how we still have an enemy to fight on earth–the spiritual enemy, the devil. She had never been taught about the devil before because “the devil was evil and too scary.”  He told her never to forget that God Loves you but the evil is caused by the enemy. Once she realized it, she believed again. We can’t lose sight of our enemy or, like a snake, he bites us suddenly, and we despair just as if stunned by venom. Mercy always heals us, but a lifetime of venom can cause death.

Richard : What about natural disasters, newborns killed days after birth because of a tornado. Is that God? Or diseases that kill entire families? Is that God? If it’s not God and instead the devil causing disease and natural disasters and presumably God doesn’t like killing little babies, is he powerless to stop the devil? BTW… what was the name of this guy you knew? She was an atheist, he told her about the devil and suddenly she believed again?…Really? Christy… are you telling a fib? C’mon now, “thou shalt not bear false witness”

Christy : I speak the truth. It’s your choice whether or not you beleive. look him up on You Tube. Fr. Edgardo Arellano of the Alliance of the Two Hearts, also known as Fr. Bing. He is an exorcist. Perhaps you should study scripture a little bit better. Because scripture also says “who are you to judge your neighbor?” The Pharisees also accused Jesus for things he did not do and killed him for it because they did not beleive either. And I will not argue, I will pray cause truly I care for you-I love you and Wes both. That is all I have to say.

Wes : Didnt mean to cause a ruckus. I know my friends care about me regardless of their beliefs. Thanks everyone for caring.

So let’s take a look at some of Christy’s claims:

Christy : Unless the alternative is heaven…..I second that, Wes…

This is the logical equivalent of saying, “Wes, jump off the Brooklyn Bridge… the water’s warm!” I always think it’s amazing that religious people who believe in heaven talk about how awesome it is, but fight so vigorously to stay alive. Since heaven is so awesome and you’re SURE that it’s there… why not sign a DNR and take up a really risky hobby? Since you can’t be 100% sure that there even is an after life, don’t you feel even slightly bad about telling other people to live their life as though there is one? Suppose for a second that you’re wrong and you convince other people NOT to take action to better their life (you know… the only one we KNOW that we have) because the next one will be super duper… wouldn’t you feel even a little bit guilty about causing them to waste their one and only life for nothing?

Christy : That’s alltrue except even Jesus went through fire and water. The Bible says he went below before He ascended to heaven. Paul himself says, “If we have died with Him, we shall live with Him.” So if we walk with Jesus we will endure what He endured but on a smaller scale of course. If we enjoy our lives on earth too much, we would not appreciate heaven so much where we continually serve and glorify God. The more suffering we endure on earth for the sake of Christ, the more glorious will heaven be, because we are used to serving God and not ourselves.

Anyone else catch the irony of what she’s saying above? So basically, since heaven is spending an eternity serving and glorifying God, you’d better start doing that now so you’ll be used to it so that when you get to heaven it won’t suck so much. Whatever you do, don’t “enjoy your life a little too much” (which according to her logic is accomplished by not serving and glorifying God and instead serving yourself to make your own life better?) because who wants heaven to suck? So if “enjoying your life” is NOT serving and glorifying God why would you want to spend an eternity doing it? Does that really sound awesome to people? Spending eternity serving and glorifying another entity? Really? It’d be like living in North Korea for an eternity where you’re made to worship a dictator.

PASS!

Christy : Haha was Jesus’ life ALL fun? Nope. If we walk the same road as Him yeah it ISN’T fun sometimes! But He gives us the peace and love and joy to do it. And yeah! It is a wonderful outlook on life. Our lives are only a blink compared to eternity. Wes, I hope this might help… A man I know traveled around the world trying to help people. He came across a girl in one country. The girl said, “I just don’t beleive in God anymore.” He said, “Why..?” She said “There is so much evil, so much suffering. Why would a loving God let this all happen??” This man told her how we still have an enemy to fight on earth–the spiritual enemy, the devil. She had never been taught about the devil before because “the devil was evil and too scary.”  He told her never to forget that God Loves you but the evil is caused by the enemy. Once she realized it, she believed again. We can’t lose sight of our enemy or, like a snake, he bites us suddenly, and we despair just as if stunned by venom. Mercy always heals us, but a lifetime of venom can cause death.

“Our lives are only a blink compared to eternity”… if you actually live for eternity. It amazes me that religious people claim to be the humble ones and then claim certainty on something like this. Is it humble to claim certainty about something they couldn’t possibly be certain about? At least an atheist is humble enough to say, “I don’t know”.

She then goes into a story she heard from a guy who claims that he spoke to an atheist and converted them by telling them about the devil. Christy… I’d believe in God before I’d believe this story. If an atheist doesn’t believe that God exists, why would they believe in the Devil? I take it you don’t believe in Zues… would you be convinced of his existence and become a believer if I told you about Hades? The fact of the matter is we’re both atheists, I just believe in one less God than you. How does this even apply to anything Wes is going through?

Christy : I speak the truth. It’s your choice whether or not you beleive. look him up on You Tube. Fr. Edgardo Arellano of the Alliance of the Two Hearts, also known as Fr. Bing. He is an exorcist. Perhaps you should study scripture a little bit better. Because scripture also says “who are you to judge your neighbor?” The Pharisees also accused Jesus for things he did not do and killed him for it because they did not beleive either. And I will not argue, I will pray cause truly I care for you-I love you and Wes both. That is all I have to say.

“I speak the truth, it’s your choice whether or not you believe.” Yea… I’m well aware of that, thanks. I don’t believe this story… but even if it were true what does it prove? NOTHING!!! It doesn’t prove a damn thing. It doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with Wes.

Here’s why I’m going off on you Christy… because you’ve been duped. You’ve been duped into believing that praying for someone somehow does more for someone than actually taking action to help them. Praying doesn’t do shit. You know how I know? Because nobody ever takes extra strength excedrin prayer when they have a headache. I’ve never seen anyone rushed into a hospital where a doctor says, “I need 20cc of prayer STAT!” Prayer is a way for people like you to feel like they’ve done something for someone when you haven’t actually done shit. It’s a way for you to feel better about NOT actually helping someone. It serves YOUR needs, not theirs.You believe that firing off some stupid ass tale that you heard from someone about something completely unrelated helps someone. You believe that helping another person involves throwing some tired ass cliche’ in their direction. You believe that what you’ve just done is better than simply saying, “What’s up Wes… how can I help?”

And there’s the rub… that might put you on the hook to actually have to DO something for someone. I’m pissed because you’re a charleton, a fake, full of shit. You preach love and toss the word around like it’s nothing. You don’t “love” Wes, you sure as shit don’t “love” me. I think you probably care about Wes… but I’m not buying the “love” bullshit. Christians like you spout that they love everyone so that they can be self righteous. You can take your fake love… I don’t want it. Stop lying to people and stop pretending to have all the answers because you don’t.

So no Christy… I don’t need to study scripture… you might want to study less. Put down the ancient book written by a tribe of illiterate desert nomads written thousands of years ago before man knew shit about anything and join us here in the 21st century… we’ve learned a few things since then. Pull your head out of your ass, pick up a science book and ACTUALLY look for answers rather than spreading false hope, false friendship, and false love.

Wes… I know this all sounds harsh man, but I can’t take it anymore. Every time you post, one of the Jesus turds hops on and does the same stupid thing. This isn’t friendship. Friends won’t sit idly by and watch other people feed you total lines of bullshit. You don’t have to just deal with your shitty situation. YOU have the power to better it. YOU have the power to change things in your life that are making you unhappy. YOU don’t need any help from a sky daddy and you certainly don’t need anyone to tell you you’re worthless and sinful, and need forgiveness. You’re a good man Wes, a man I feel privileged to have as a friend. I won’t pray for you Wes, instead… I’ll be there for you. I’ll be there for you when you need help. I’ll be there for you when you need support. I’ll be there for you when you need someone to talk to, I’ll be there for you when you just need a friend, and I’ll be there to stand up and say something when someone is causing you harm… in any way, intended or not even if it’s considered rude or hurts someone’s feelings.

Christy… you pray for me, I’ll think for both of us.

… and for anyone who thinks I’m just being an asshole and a militant atheist, I ask you to watch this video.