As is often the case, I get banned from Christian blogs since they can’t answer my points. They desperately need to pretend that no one ever counters them. So, below is a response to Bryce Van Vleet, who is yet another christian who has the “right” way to bother people about his imaginary friend. I find it amusing that he claims he is the #1 selling author of his books. Any author is pretty much that. (memes at the bottom for your delectation).
“I am glad you see that many Christians weaponize their religion to get privilege. The problem with your claims is that there is no one Christianity, but dozens if not thousands.
You claim your religion is the only right one, just like those Christians do. You cannot show one path to heaven, and christians can’t agree on which version of their god is the right one or which version of the religion is the right one. You disagree on the most basic things, and you have killed each other over that. All of you want obedience to your particular flavor.
I was a Christian, and I have read the bible and many apologetic books. That means I know how christians don’t agree and try to spin what the bible says. Your jesus says to bring those who don’t want him as king before him and slaughter them. You have made up your own version of Christianity that isn’t as vile as what comes from the bible itself. Universalism, escapism, etc all simply deny what they want out of the bible.
That being said, I would still deny your jesus since there is no evidence for the claims of any version of Christianity. There is no love or hospitality that includes the nonsense about about slaughtering non-believers, or a jesus that calls a woman a dog.
Your god fails even the half-decent definition of love in 1 Corinthians. Eternal torture isn’t love. Approving slavery isn’t love. Killing people, including children, for things they didn’t do or have control over isn’t love.
That your religion has children worried about being damned and their friends being damned isn’t love and that’s exactly what your bible teaches. The threats of your religion are no different than those from any other cult.
Your jesus/god is quite like Abbott. This god says no one but his chosen should live. This god says that if anyone should try to convert you to another religion, they should be killed. This god says that obedience to it is everthing, and if you do not obey it, you are damned. One of the problems with this is Christians can’t agree on what this god considers moral or considers to be a sin.
Christians can’t even agree on how they are supposedly “saved”, so again, no reason to accept your jesus at all. It’s bemusing, as a atheist, to watch Christians all claim that only their version is the “truth”. You’ve all ended up in a circular firing squad.
Is it faith in this god that saves one? How does one get this faith? Romans 9 and Matthew 13 has that the only ones who can get faith are those who are already chosen by this god, who allows them to believe. The rest are damned for no choice of heir own. Is that just or fair?
Paul claims only childbirth will save women. Is that a “work”? Jesus claims that belief is enough in other verses, and he claims belief and works are needed in the bit about goats and sheep. The author of james claims that it is both belief and works.
Then, you show a typical excuse that Christian often invent for themselves. When a Christian fails in his attempts to convert others, they claim that it wasn’t them, but their holy spirit that failed. Why would your jesus say to go out and convert and then allow you to blame someone else if you failed? That verse from Matthew is a curious one since it shows how much your god fails its followers.
You claim we can choose, and then you claim we cannot. Which is it? You claim only you know how this god wants you to act, and curiously other Christians don’t agree with you and also claim to have the only right answer.
Paul is quite a problem for Christians. He assumes the “unknown god” is his in his arrogance. Modern Christian try that too when they insist that everyone “really” agrees with them, when they try to claim morality is only from their imaginary friend. You have no evidence for your god just like the Greeks had no evidence for theirs. Every theist makes very much the same claims.
I, having been a christian, knows just how ridiculous those claims are. I know how Christians act if someone would dare to use the same silly patronizing nonsense in an attempt to “correct the object of their worship”. And Paul simply claims that people are damned, another baseless claim, if someone dares not to “choose” to follow his claims. He even attacks other Christians, insisting they are cursed if they don’t obey him. Those threats show just how your religion depends on fear and ignorance. That only some people followed Paul should tell you something, that this holy spirit is indistinguishable from personal choice.
There is no good news from a religion that cannot agree on the most basic things, and that cannot fulfill its claims. Chrisitans do no more “good” than anyone else, and like everyone else, they each make up their own morality. Each claims that this morality is agreed to by their god, and not one can support that claim.
The most effective gospel is one that can be shown true. Not a single essential claim from the bible can be shown as true. Not one Christian can do what jesus promises to his true followers. Not one can show their god caring for his chosen as it promises.
No one needs a Christian nation, since, again, there is no agreement on what Christianity even means. You still want to force your religion on others. You have cherry picked your bible.
BTW, your bible supports abortion. Numbers 5 shows that this god has no problem about ending a pregnancy either by magic or “bitter water” a herbal extraction that causes abortion just because a man is jealous. Add that to the repeated murdering of children, David’s son, the Egyptian children, the Midianite children and pregnant women, the children and pregnant women during the flood, etc, and I can see that this god doesn’t care about children at all. And I can see that anyone who worships such a god also doesn’t care about children.
Your bible preaches a gospel of obedience and control. Revelation shows this in spades. Your attempt to whitewash Christianity doesn’t work very well with someone familiar with it.
Club Schadenfreude 