Sunday School

Sunday School June 18th 2023

This topic contains 16 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by  TheEncogitationer 1 year, 8 months ago.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
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  • #48719

    Turns out Jeopardy fans are unhappy that no contestants got this puzzle. Even I knew to say “What is Harold”?

    The Christian right is coming for the enemies of God — like us and this is what you get when their wolves lead the sheep.

    In Oklahoma the Wall of Separation could soon crumble into dust.

    Many atheists are forced to keep their non-belief hidden or face aggression and discrimination from Christians bigots who are always  busy gathering stones.

    Most Americans say religion is no excuse for anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. I think it is the reason for much of it though.

    Just how bad (or good) is denominational decline?

    World of Woo: I knew it would not be long before A.I. was adopted by Homeopathy.

    Environment: In this Massachusetts neighborhood, nearly every home is switching to geothermal energy.

    Some upcoming online events you might like to attend.

    Why the search for meaning is not a job for science — or religion.

    It has been determined that there are three reasons to believe in free will, at least in this Universe.

    Study claims Earth was created much faster than we thought (but still not in one day).

    Ancient humans traveled half the world to Asia before main migration out of Africa.

    Trump and his cult of cognitive dissonance.

    Long Reads: North Korea is a gulag.  Former Irish nuns reveal accounts of brainwashing and abuse.  MDMA and feeling the love. Escaping China with a spoon and a rusty nail. Why it seems everything we knew about the Global Economy is no longer true.

    Sunday Book Club: How to think like a philosopher.

    Some photographs taken last week.  And one taken on Mars.

    While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

    Coffee Break Video:  Bart Ehrman exposes New Testament errors. Skeptic – Michael Shellenberger on the UFO Whistleblower

    #48721

    Have a great week everyone!

    #48723

    Noel
    Participant

    Turns out Jeopardy fans are unhappy that no contestants got this puzzle. Even I knew to say “What is Harold”?

    I watched that episode with my wife. The contestants missed, I think they said, 20 questions that went unanswered. Not the sharpest bunch that day. All the religious were shocked (“shocked I tell you!”) that these people did not know the Our Father. I giggled at my wife, who was supposedly brought up Eastern Orthodox because her parents originated from the Balkans. Wife asked me, very seriously, one day, “Jesus was a Jew?”. She was never told that Jesus was a Jew.

    #48724

    Noel
    Participant

    Oh and Thanks for Sunday School Reg. You have a great week too.

    #48725

    Strega
    Moderator

    Thanks, Reg!!

    #48726

    _Robert_
    Participant

    RE: Many atheists are forced to keep their non-belief hidden or face aggression and discrimination from Christians bigots who are always  busy gathering stones.

    It was the smart move while I needed my career. As so many managers were big time church-folk. I knew it would impede earnings potential. Nowadays, just don’t ask me no questions and I won’t voluntarily mock your fairy tales.

    #48727

    TheEncogitationer
    Participant

    Reg,

    The Jeopardy story immediately reminded me of Dave Allen:

    “In the Name of The Father and The Son and into the hole he goes!”. 😁

    And, of course, the inimitable “Weird Al” Yankovic:

    #48728

    TheEncogitationer
    Participant

    Reg and Fellow Unbelievers,

    Many atheists are forced to keep their non-belief hidden or face aggression and discrimination from Christians bigots who are always busy gathering stones.

    I work with the public and don’t initiate conversation on religion and I make no religious inquiries. However, I sometimes get offered religious tracts.

    I always let the giver know: “Nothing personal, it’s business, but you would have to get permission from the Management to distribute any literature on the property.” If I were really pressed by an obnoxious tract pusher, I would ask: ” Does your God not believe in private property rights?”

    Sometimes I get inquiries about my religion from Christian customers. In such instances, I always answer: “To quote Thomas Paine: ‘My own mind is my own church.'”

    Once, an old duffer asked: “Was Thomas Paine a Christian?”

    I answered: “No, but he helped rally American Colonists of all creeds to fight The American Revolution for our Independence, so he was a good man in my book.”

    “Doing good won’t get you into Heaven,” the fossil entoned. “That’s only done through the saving blood of Jesus.”

    I replied as if to turn down an extra cocktail: “No thanks, I’m good. Here’s your receipt and change. Have a great day!”

    The social pressure of a Sunday evening line behind the man prompted him to move his electric cart forward. So we were both spared what could have been a heated engagement. I wouldn’t want that for a man in his obviously poor “Intelligently Designed” health.

    Whenever customers leave me with “Have A Blessed Day!”, I always quietly smile a Dr. Phlox-wide grin and give the Picard-esque reply: “I’ll Make It So!” 😊

    #48731

    I work with the public and don’t initiate conversation on religion and I make no religious inquiries..

    Same as. I seldom, if ever, ask anyone what religion they belong to, even if I think it is none. But if I am asked I will say I am an atheist and I still won’t ask them. I am not even curious about whatever version of whichever god they might believe in. I just don’t care. I am bored of them already. I have no concern as to how this might make them feel.  I will make no accommodation for them except to remain polite.  When they tell me I have offended them or that they find my utter lack of interest offensive, I will ask them to explain themselves.

    Most regret attempting to do this because they can hardly even explain it to themselves. They will leave exasperated or be fast to anger and curse me. I have still only politely asked them to define the god that they are asserting is real.

    The ones that make some attempt at explaining their subjective opinion  might spike some interest in me engaging with them if they have remained reasonably calm and articulate.  It usually does not take long to find that the apologetic arguments they use have nothing to do with the god they profess to believe in.

    I then ask them to explain what they believe they are immortal and if they can really communicate with the Creator of the Universe via telepathy?

    When I see the strain of cognitive dissonance on their face, I ask them if they would like to discuss this any further over a coffee sometime. That is the starting point in how I help a lot of people to become atheists 🙂

    #48732

    _Robert_
    Participant

    Apparently, cognitive dissonance is the key to heaven. Judas hung himself and he tripped, hit his head and as a result he spilled his guts for some reason. But did he buy the field of blood or did the priests? Ah, they both must have.

    #48733

    Unseen
    Participant

    Re: Denominational Decline

    While most denominations of Xianity are in decline there is an “incline” in nondenominational churches. They range from storefronts with a dozen or two adherents to megachurches with maybe tens or hundreds of thousands.

    In this regard, they resemble Islam which also has no centralized leader or council running the show. Rather individual self-declared Imams set up shop in a mosque of their own creation and their teaching differ greatly from one mosque to the next.

    Some are teaching holy war and others are as bland as the blandest of Christian churches.

    #48734

    I sometimes compare the variety of religions on offer to candy bars. They all have the same basic ingredients – chocolate, nougat, coconut, caramel and sugar to sweeten them but just in different amounts to distinguish them from each other.

    While most of them contain nuts, some have a higher percentage than others. When you compare the sizes that we were familiar with when growing up it is obvious that they have all shrunk. That is a healthier option for us all. The same is true of candy bars!

    And when you want a straight answer from a church you will be offered one with plenty of cheap fudge 🙂

    #48735

    _Robert_
    Participant

    Yes, and you end up with a cavity somewhere between your ears.

    #48736

    Unseen
    Participant

    @Reg

    “Life is like a box of chocolates.”

    #48739

    TheEncogitationer
    Participant

    Reg,

    The 6-year-old Evangelist who came preaching throughout the store one day came back in and queued in my register line, again citing John 3:16. I said: “Hey, Kid! You cited that one last time you came in. Do you have another?”

    He then said, in his usual cadence and modulation: “YES! FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT. 2 CORINTHIANS 5:7.”. He then proceeded to Evangelize the other customers behind him, including John 11:35, the shortest verse in the King James Bible “JESUS WEPT.”. I guess everybody has a throw-away line.

    When his Father concluded his transaction and I gave him his receipt and change, I then told the boy: “When you walk the streets, take Dad’s hand. Life is what happens when your busy making other plans. John Lennon.”.

    They smiled and waved Bye, not realizing I had contradicted walking by faith and not by sight and by quoting a man whose band was more popular than Jesus Christ. 😁

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