Not only are there books written by former evangelical preachers (“Godless” by Dan Barker, or “Why I Became an Atheist” by John Loftus), but there’s an in-depth study being conducted by Dr. Daniel Dennett on a dozen-or-so clergymen who are closeted atheists (http://richarddawkins.net/articles/4547). So there’s really no excuse to use this argument anymore, unless you want to claim that somehow every single one of these once-devout ministers was merely faking it… which you are at liberty to do, of course. But you would be doing so based on your own unfounded convictions and not based on rationality or reason.

bow and kiss my ass or i will let your child stay sick.

[bows and kisses ass]

ok i will heal your child!

i screwed up and certain characters are not included (tags hehe)

ok i will heal your child!

in what way is this the acts of a moral all powerful god?

could he not heal the child? could he not have simply _prevented_ the child from getting sick? if he is all powerful then why does _anyone_ _ever_ get sick?

why must she believe in order to get a child saved? shouldn’t a moral god save the child despite any belief involved? why is it the mother that must kiss ass to save the child? i would still think it’s wrong if the child where required to kiss ass but at least then it has a direct correlation here. one to one as it where. in this case it’s one person being punished until another does what they want.

this child was held hostage until she gave up the ransom.

note, all of this is assuming this story is 100% factual and the events and intentions are exactly as YOU have argued….

sure. contradiction solved.

let me call you a wambulance.

look. either your ideas are true, and can stand up to the unmerciful beating of conflicting ideas….or they are not.

when you quit because you simply disagree no matter what anyone can show you about your beliefs….well yeah, that says more about YOU then your beliefs doesn’t it?

yes, lets mind it. as in why would an all knowing, all JUST god who supposedly has _perfect objective moral teaching_ treat anyone unequally?

why would a preacher who was also supposedly god and when god has all these supposed traits act….COUNTER to these traits? oh yeah the culture…well then thats ok then.

all are equal but some are MORE equal.

what exactly did they do to get this favor? oh yeah, born being the people he favored.

sure makes perfect sense now.

did the disciples have to stay in the city to see jesus risen or where they commanded to leave the city to see him?

how many people came to the tomb?

how about the whole plagues issue in egypt….did the animals all die….then get driven out….and die again? didn’t they all die at the beginning?

etc etc etc.

tons of issues and contradictions. just because you say you can read between the lines to figure it out (hey wasn’t there something in corrinthians about not doing this? nah that would be a problem then…) doesn’t mean it makes sense. if you change what the text means or even what it flat out says….how are you following the texts?

i love romeo and juliet, the space battles where awesome.

spend them well.

“atheists need an absurd religion to be the major religion of the world so they can easily bash it.” ALL religions are absurd. The New Testament is not less absurd because there’s a lower body count. I don’t limit my disgust to Christians; when New Agers, Hindus, or Umbanda followers try to hijack my government, stand in the way of saving the environment so our species can go on living, and expecting me to bow my head when they “bless” boats and football games, then I will be standing up to those crimes and impositions, too.

Atheism is not futile. It is freedom from servility, hypocrisy, and self-destructiveness. I’ll steal a line from an old sci-fi show – it’s humanity’s last, best hope.

So, carry on fighting with Mark about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin or which ancient gaggle of dingbats uttered which bit of superstition.

If anyone has a sense of humor, the Matthew passage makes more sense. Jesus is purposefully saying that he only came to save the Jews, knowing full well what his mission is. The purpose of the story, again, is to illustrate that one is saved because of the faith they have in him, and not in some dogma.

By the way, he *was* fully human, too. So what is it to the Caananite woman that he compared her people to dogs. She didn’t care. What she wanted was her daughter to be healed, and Jesus knew that. He just wanted to test her.

Contradiction solved.