“Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity” Thomas Paine
“Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being”. Thomas Jefferson
Christianity’sinflated numbers is like converting every Ethnic restaurant in the world to Mexican food by changing the sign on the door. Many of today’s customs used in the Church can be traced back to Rome, when Constantine permitted the process of converting the official religion of the Roman Empire from Paganism to Christianity.
But forget the word ‘converting‘. Changing the sign on the door is a lot easier and quicker than changing the whole building. Christianity was created on many customs that were practiced by Jews and Pagans (non monotheistic) at that time as religion and belief was interwoven with superstition. There is no difference today. There are literally thousands of different faiths that merely claim to be Christian.
The apologist answer; “But don’t misunderstand the use of the word ‘converting’; the birth of Christianity was not merely a recycle job. There’s little doubt that early christians adopted well-known customs to develop their religion and doctrine. To suggest otherwise is to say that the seeds sown by God for earlier faiths was a mistake. By definition, God does not make mistakes“.
So there you go, even though it was adapted through false religions, that was the will of god all along to have false religion carry the banner of truth. Ridiculous.
You’d think that god wudda got Mary PG so that Jesus was born on the winter solstice (Dec 21st) instead of whenever it may have been, but no. Why make it easy for the Church?
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It’s always interesting to see how the apologists try to reconcile the glaring contradictions in the Bible and in Christianity in general. The mental gymnastics are astonishing. That it gave Paine and Jefferson mental indigestion isn’t surprising at all. I often find myself wondering if the so-called conservatives who claim this country was founded on Christianity would think if they actually *read* the writings of the founders like Jefferson, Washington, etc.
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I know when I was in it, it was the case of everything that brought America together was by the hand of god. I was always under the impression these were all religious and inspired by god. They didn’t want anything to do with it. Columbus was directed by god as well. I’ve read what they had done to everyplace they visited. Very godly. Like, Old Testament angry god like.
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I too was taught a history filtered through a religious viewpoint, that Columbus and the Spanish explorers were godly men who wanted to bring “civilization” and Christ to the “ignorant savages” of the Americas. The reality was far different when I eventually learned what really happened. What they really did was destroy thriving civilizations, brought rape, murder, slavery, abuse and rampant theft. How they re-write history to cast religion in a positive light is absolutely mind boggling.
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This is one thing theist do that I hate
They say a particular outcome was the work of god, when regardless of how an event turned out it could be argued that it was the work of god
Let say USA never became a single country, or along the line of USA history, USA broke and became many countries. The christian will either say
1) it was god’s infinite wisdom and will that we and ( insert name of other fictional country here ) did not become one, who knows what would have happened
OR
2) It is god’s will that USA broke in ( put any fictional year here ). No one can question god
With the amount of sailors, explorers and good old pirates back then, and the fact that most kingdoms were trying to expand their colonies, sooner or later someone would have stumbled in what we now know as USA
I’m pretty sure it was Columbus knowledge of navigation that brought him to USA
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Lost document reveals Columbus as tyrant of the Caribbean
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/aug/07/books.spain
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Here too, is a post I did a while back. 1502, not 04. Lol. https://jimoeba.wordpress.com/2018/01/18/might-is-not-right/
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Lost document reveals Columbus as tyrant of the Caribbean
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/aug/07/books.spain
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Try to find the account of Bartolo de las Casas from 1504. Atrocious. I can find a link if you can’t.
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“By definition, God does not make mistakes”. Well, if he really does exist, yes, he does make mistakes. If he exists, that would mean he made Christians, and when it comes to being decent, empathic humans, there’s nary a group as effed up a poorly guided as they are.
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I see your word mincer is still broken Jeff. Hallelujah!
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I traded it in for a Christian baby mincer. Damn, it really makes some tasty baby!
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“By definition, God does not make mistakes”
Theist and their word games
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I do love me some Thomas Paine. “The Age of Reason” is a fantastic read.
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WTF!!!!!!!! You mean when I invested $1.5 billion in this “life insurance company” it DID NOT include underwriters or a corporate headquarters inside a real building!!!!??? That’s EXTRA!!!!!!?????? 😲 What else is missing and extra!? 😠
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So, following that logic, Islam is truer than Christianity, Ashtar Galactic Command is truer than Islam, Raëlism is truer than Ashtar Galactic Command, and Planetary Activation Organisation is truer than Ashtar Galactic Command.
Sweet!
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Shit, *and Planetary Activation Organisation is truer than Raëlism.
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The Sunni Muslims are technically the biggest sect in the world. They have a 1/6 chance of being the “right” one.
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Winged horses for everyone!
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You nailed it. Again. Without the dysentery and quite possibly more real.
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Thanks for sharing this celebration of two and a half of my heroes… Jesus, Paine, and Jefferson/2.
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Lol
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