Obviously not. (Surely by definition alone).

Anyway, I was rooting around Technorati Tags for Christianity, and I came across a blog post titled “The Sovereignty of God and Prayer” and obviously took to it like a bull to a red rag. It is short and pretty much what you would expect from a blog taglined “Christian Resources for Young Women” (makes you want to vomit already, doesn’t it). Why do the more devout of the religious fools believers have to be so sexist?

The best bit is the first sentence: (emphasis mine)

So we believe God is sovereign and he predestines and elects those whom He will save.

Kind of makes everything else pointless. At the end there is a link to a post which “answers this” from the Ministry of John Piper (cant let the young Christian Ladies try to work things out themselves now, can we?). Sadly, this post is a complete, unadulterated non-answer.

It is long and rambling. It is full of references to irrelevant sections of the bible and it has the stormy writing style so loved by theists.

This is how it is summarised:

In other words, just as God will see to it that His Word is proclaimed as a means to saving the elect, so He will see to it that all those prayers are prayed which He has promised to respond to. I think Paul’s words in Romans 15:18 would apply equally well to his preaching and his praying ministry: “I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles.” Even our prayers are a gift from the one who “works in us that which is pleasing in his sight” (Hebrews 13:21). Oh, how grateful we should be that He has chosen us to be employed in this high service! How eager we should be to spend much time in prayer!

Says it all really.

It isn’t just Islam which has “believers” so morally bankrupt they are willing to perform all manner of heinous crimes as long as their particular imaginary friend tells them to. Thanks to excellent Blog Of The Gods, I came across a wonderful little snippet of crazy Christianity.

In response to this question:

If your god revealed to you in a set of flawless communications you could not dispute that you should kill every child you see under the age of 2, would you?

VoxDay (who calls himself “the Christian Libertarian commentator from WorldNetDaily”) responds: (original)

…The answer is yes, and how would you possibly take issue with that position regardless of whether you believe in my god or don’t believe in any god?

Wow. What a nice guy. Part of me thinks he is just saying things like this (I am cynical today) to create a “hardman” impression, as he is safe in the knowledge he will never, ever, be tested on this. Unless he does actually have some kind of psychological episode it is guaranteed he will never get this commandment (that said, the episode may not be far off).

It is no stretch of the imagination to work out that “VoxDay” is far from a deep thinker, but he continues his line of “reasoning” as follows:

And as we are informed in Revelation, He will wipe out many peoples through the acts of (presumably) His angels. Jefferson [person who posed the question] can complain that this makes God unworthy of worship all he likes, but that’s as irrelevant as complaining that Stalin wasn’t properly elected according to the Soviet Constitution. Although in this case it isn’t might makes right, it is a much simpler case of might = right. Obey or perish.

Blimey. My God is bigger than your God so do as I say. (I think this is an argument Atheists could win though, we can test who is harder me or God. I punch you then God punches you. Which hurt the most?)

You do not need a degree in Theology to work out that this is nonsense. Even as an Atheist I am aware that this is not the doctrine of Jesus and is even a bad interpretation of the Old Testament.

Showing the depth of his intellectual fortitude, VoxDay continues:

Now, I admit that if I was wrong and my god did not exist but another one did, one of his worshippers could likely provide a rational reason for why I it would be immoral to embark upon a toddler-slaying rampage. Of course, that would depend on the moral code of that other deity. And then, a Christian could certainly call into question the legitimacy of my divine orders; I’m quite sure that every Christian of my acquaintance would, in fact, do so.

Nevertheless, this is remarkably dangerous ground, not for Christians, but rather for anyone who is pro-science. If you are going to debate the legitimacy of a belief system based on the potential danger it presents, secular scientists are vastly more vulnerable than Christians.

It is almost funny. If this was intended as humour, good work VoxDay. If he is serious…. well….

As an aside, this has also been picked up by Pharyngula (who wisely comments they call Atheists Amoral) and in the comments floating around there have been some excellent ones:

I would turn it around and ask them, “if believing in God meant an eternity in hell, would you still believe?” (original)

There is also this one, which seems interesting in light of a previous debate about Children being born sinful or innocent:

You don’t have to believe you have been commanded from God to justify killing the young and unborn. Most born-again Christians believe that babies, unborn children, and the very young go to heaven if they die. (A few argue that you cannot know, but when pressed most Christians would have to say they can’t imagine any other fate for children too young to make moral choices). (original)

It seems the Doctrine of Original Sin (and being born sinful) is something still unresolved in Christianity. Oh well, they have only had the inviolate word of God for 2000 years to sort something out… 🙂

From the wonders of Pharyngula I came across this video clip, which is apparently a guy (P Funk) walking downtown being accosted by a couple of fundamentalist Christians. The guy makes some reasonable arguments, and lots of websites have him as “winning the fight” as it were – but you could argue either way.

The Fundies come up with the normal (stupid) arguments and the guy rebutts them pretty well. One which he fumbles (in my opinion of course) is in the last minute or so. The nutter says that once science claimed there were 9 planets in the Universe and look how many there are now. I think the guy lets the nut off pretty lightly but no one is perfect. 🙂

The main thing I find odd about this, is who took the footage? The camera work seems to be from one of the fundies – and if so, why? And why post it to YouTube? If the camera work was done by a friend of “P Funk,” why didn’t he help out and why isn’t there more footage of the nutters?

Anyway, take a look and you decide if it is real.

Philosophy, Christian, Nutcase, Religion, Fundamentalist, Atheist, Atheism, YouTube, Video, DV